NCIS - 7.11: "Ignition" Review

McGee gets to take lead on a case close to his heart involving rocket packs, whilst Gibbs 'nemesis' arrives in the form of a lawyer, M Allison Hart. We know how he hates them!

Forest rangers find a burned DB, which is only burnt on one side.   Ziva (Cote de Pablo) looks up stuff on the Internet and wonders why hair loss pills are advertized, why would she need more hair?  Tony (Michael Weatherly) replies it's not her her, it's for men.   Ziva: "Like I need more men."  No after the experiences she's had with them, she doesn't.  But doesn't stop her from looking.  McGee (Sean Murray) comes up with a novel idea.   An industry where they take hair from women and use it for men.   Her Internet skills need tweaking, not "Tweeting."  McGee finds a link stating Col Bell (Robert Patrick) has been released from prison.  He should print it out on paper for Gibbs.

The DB, Sayers was a test pilot.   Tony comments the other half of him is crispy like a "McDLT."  Which isn't a nickname for McGee.   Sayers' arm blew off prompting Tony to add, "Looks like he pulled a Scarecrow."  From the movie The Wizard of Oz (1939).   Gibbs refers to the squirrel as a "flying monkey" later.   Neverending references to this movie, had one mention in episode 1.5 of Castle too.     Ducky (David McCallum) and Palmer (Brian Dietzen) arrive on an (ATV) quad bike, he wouldn't let Palmer drive.   McGee works out he fell from the sky.   Metal parts are scattered everywhere.   Tony finds another DB, that of a squirrel and a fuel tank.   Ducky says McGee has an instinct and thinks 'the bird is ready to leave the nest.' McGee is certain he knows what killed him: his jet pack exploded.   Gibbs (Mark Harmon) asks him if he thinks or he knows.

Sayers call sign was 'Hondo' ( 1953) like John Wayne.   Ziva thought he was The Duke.   That was the name of a movie, which Tony didn't clafirfy for her.   He was stationed at Paxtent River airbase.   Tony and Ziva have to talk about rocket belts.   McGee's passionate about the subject and they've spent enough time here together, so they've cottoned on.   Tony wants to tell them about the special features on the Thunderball (1965) DVD.   McGee tells Abby (Pauley Perrette) about the rocket pack too.   He showed her his Powerpoint presentation.   Five years ago rocket belt residue from  flame suits included kerosene and hydrogen peroxide.  

McGee mentions the charges being dropped and the relationship between Bell labs and tells Gibbs about jet packs.  How at the opening ceremony of the 1984 Olympics one man flew over his head in one.  McGee's got leads.

Sheridan (Jeff Hephner) says Sayers was allowed jobs outside of the squadron and Sayers was careful.   Victor Tillman (Marcus Giamatti) also test flew jet packs.   Palmer gets to fly solo on the autopsy of the squirrel and I refrained from mentioning the crispy critter, oh never mind, just did.   And has a desire to share a story.   Ducky allows him to do so as long as it doesn't interfere with his work and it wouldn't cos he was taught by the best.  His junior year abroad he stayed with a  French family.   He explained he was afraid of squirrels and how his mother would trap them and release them on the other side of the river.   'Recon'  the French word for shark he confused with squirrel.   Which Gibbs doesn't have time for.   COD related to Sayers.   Squirrels eat human flesh and this critters last meal was soft tissue and so was poisoned.

McGee gives a presentation on flight to Gibbs.  Gibbs has to headslap Mcgee after this talk!  McGee in charge of the case has to send Tony and Ziva to the jet pack company.   Gibbs: "the price of being in charge."  Tony doesn't understand McGee staying behind.   They're being followed.   Tony's not touching Tillman for his keycard in his back pocket.  Cos he doesn't want "man mans" with him, to quote Ziva, ha!   Ziva sneaks up on their tail outside and snaps a photo.   Tillman was hiding money from his ex wife, Vanessa (Melinda Page Hamilton) and Sayers was on her payroll too.   McGee questions Tillman when he's brought in.   Tillman was working on a patent for mixed fuel, it was his from the divorce.   Their tail was a PI and Ziva assumes it could have been following Tony, Tony retorts it might be for her.  Cue M Allison Hart (Rena Sofer) and Tony's immediately weak at the knees, well we all know our Tony, I was just putting it mildly.   Only she's not interested in Tony.   Tony: "I'd be happy to hold anything you need." Allison knows who they all are.  

McGee tells her no one's been charged with a crime.   Allison wants him released.   Tony comments on this being a car wreck.  Tony: "Chicks mowing him down and McGee doesn't even know it."  Ziva and Tony commentate on the spectacle, Ziva: "She seems to be enjoying it." Haven't heard Tony use 'chick' before.   Allison harps on about financial records being removed without authority, perhaps McGee should be charged with a crime.   McGee looks at Gibbs, who asks why her client is hiding behind a lawyer?  He should contact her directly in future.   Gibbs asks if she was once a redhead cos he feels like he knows her, yeah like one of his exes.  She wasn't but she knows him, he'll take any shortcuts for a conviction.   That doesn't sound like Gibbs.   Allison knows when they start bar fights (7.10 Faith) and break into impound yards (7.3 Inside Man).   She asks if he has any respect for the law, yeah like she does!

Abby asks what kind of a name is Mallison?  Palmer determines Sayers couldn't fly as he was already dead.   Abby ponders the source of the igntiiton.   McGee thinks the fuel was mixed together the wrong way and had a removable valve, so whoever made the valve is the killer.  Vanessa comments that 'whenever two people try to extricate their lives, frictions inevitably follow'.   Tony: "That true boss?"  Ziva knows what stubborn men are like.   Thought Tony was going to refrain from bringing up Gibbs' marriages.   Sayers told her what  Tillman was up to, Vanessa is also Allison's client.   Gibbs calls that a conflict of interest, her interest is justice.   So is his, he has her card.   Tony mentions movies, Yojimbo (1961) and A Fist Full of Dollars (1964), as Allison is playing for both camps here.   Gibbs wants to know the lawyer's (Allison's) and the pilot's end game.

Tony is confused and Gibbs knows Allison is trying to prevent him from questioning her clients.   Ducky notices Allison is getting to Gibbs.   She acts like she hates him, but talks like she likes him.   Ducky: "Ever been married to her?"  Oh perish the thought Ducky! Gibbs thinks that would explain plenty.   Ducky found acidic erosion inside Sayers' nose and stomach, i.e.  vomit but none in his face shield, so he was dead before he was strapped to the jetpack and a remote control was used.   Can be used up to a kilometre.  Tony: "I don't speak Canadian, how far is that?"  That's British too.   McGee thinks it's neither of the Tillman's and Sayers stole the equipment.   Gibbs mentions TOD was 13 days ago, Vanessa has an alibi.   Allison calls him Mr Gibbs.   He thought they'd seen the last of each other as far as the case goes, but she claims she needs to keep an eye on him, cos she doesn't know what he's doing; yeah, meaning him not the case and not his reactions either.   Just Gibbs the man she has to eye.   The evil eye more like.

Palmer comments on blood out pouring out of the eyeballs and Abby thinks it's impressive, but McGee says there's an art to flying a jetpack, need to be an expert engineer to build a remote and they're looking for both.   The jetpack belonged to Sayers and uses jet fighter engineering.   The intention was to make him crash and dispose of the DB.   Gibbs calls McGee Elf Lord.   Gibbs does his own legwork, she took the case pro bono and was looking for Gibbs.   She didn't pick this fight but she's glad to be in it.  

Powell (Chris Bruno) tries to escape on the jetpak and McGee uses the remote to bring him back, with Tony struggling to grab the remote from McGee like a little boy.   Can't believe he kept the jetpack there all this time!

Gibbs wants photos of Allison, so does Tony, could "get lost in those icy blue eyes." She knew them all before and  she's with Bell in the photo as it was cropped and Tony says Gibbs got that off a pinky, well it wasn't that hard.   Tony wonders what she's up to.   Apparently it wasn't just the jetpack on fire this episode but Gibbs and Allison.   Okay there's meant to be an attraction there of sorts, she's the one doing the pursuing, but we know she's not Gibbs' type: she's not a redhead, she's a lawyer and very sure of herself.   Seems like she had an answer to everything that came up, or should that be well-prepared answer.

Abby was right when she called her 'Mallison', as in Mal, as in trouble!  Much as I like Rena Sofer, she somehow didn't quite fit into the show.   Yes she was an effective would-be nemesis for Gibbs, but she came on a little too strong if all she wanted to do was to get close to him.   Did she think he wanted a fight and that's how he likes his women.  Whilst trying to maintain an air of mystery.  That 'Mr Gibbs' was beginning to grate the number of times she said it!

Tony also mentions the film Better off Dead.  (1985)  Chris Bruno in a bad guy role and his brother Dylan will also appear in a bad guy role in the two final episodes of this season.

Many fans didn't like the addition of Rena, it wasn't as if she was going to be there forever and Rena in an interview told of how one of the security guards at her children's school came up to her and told her he didn't like what she was doing to Gibbs.  Gosh some people can't distinguish between reality and fiction!  Many didn't want Gibbs and Allison developing a romantic attachment, cos Gibbs was theirs!

Desperate Housewives - 8.10: "What's to Discuss, Old Friend" Review

The women are shocked to discover Vance is dead. Bree is rescued, as she would be and she receives another note. Susan runs off to Oklahoma to break the news to Alejandro's family.

Mary Alice (Brenda Strong) "Bree Van de Kamp (Marcia Cross) had always wanted to live life with elegant grace.   That was also how she wanted to die: Chardonnay, lingerie...she had everything she needed for an elegant death, except privacy."  Renee (Vanessa Williams) knocks on the door and shouts, finally knocking the door in.   She doesn't find Ben there but sees the gun and reads Bree's suicide note.   Mary Alice: "Renee Perry had no idea just how close her friend had come to suicide and Bree had no idea how close she had come to being hit."

Mary Alice: "Keeping secrets is a lonely business - that's why we all search for someone to confide in...not everyone you tell your secrets to, will be happy  about it." Tom (Dog Savant) tells Lynette (Felicity Huffman) she shouldn't be involved in this cos it's Gaby's (Eva Longoria) and Carlos's (Richardo Antonio Chavira) mess.   She's helping a friend but she's supposed to be the smart one.   Lynette needs his support.   News comes of Vance being killed in a hit 'n' run.   Gaby is worried about Carlos and she sees it on the news.  

Renee drugged Bree so she would sleep and she's coming back tomorrow too, in fact she's moving in.   At least Bree has someone who cares about her.   She's removed laces from her shoes and also her shower curtain cos it was ugly.   Bree is shocked at the news cos that rules her out as a suspect since she was otherwise occupied.   Susan (Teri Hatcher) sneaks out with a suitcase.   She's running to New York to see what it's like, then Mike (James Denton) can join her later.   But his business is here and he doesn't want to move.   Susan is just running away.

Gaby, Lynette and Bree break the news of Vance's death to Susan, surprised she hasn't heard for herself.   Bree wonders if it really was an accident  Gaby doesn't believe it's any of them.   Susan thinks of Carlos and Gaby lies that he's in rehab.   She's still keeping secrets.   Lynette believes they can now go back to normal, but what's normal for them? Her marriage is practically over, Carlos is drinking, Bree almost killed herself and Susan still wallows in her guilt.   They all agree it must be an accident.   Didn't Mike take Susan's suitcase inside? So what was it doing outside as Susan carries it in after the women leave her house since they would have asked her where she was going if they had seen it?

Tom told Bob (Tuc Watkins) and they need a lawyer.   He's kind of a wimp for a lawyer and since when is he supposed to be making judgements about his clients? He's not paid for that.   They no longer need him with Vance's 'accident.'  Mike tells Susan everyone has secrets and they need to get on with their lives.   Susan shouldn't be depressed.   Gaby heads for the police station and offers her condolences for Vance to Murphy, (Michael Dempsey) who calls Bree a bitch and he doesn't suspect it was an accident.   Lynette thinks it must be someone who knows about what they did and is protecting them.   She and Bree draw a chart, but nothing makes sense.   Bree thinks someone else might know.

Karen (Kathryn Joosten) tells Gaby that Carlos came home drunk and she slaps him.   Carlos doesn't recall, he's going on about killing Alejandro, but that was in her defence.   Gaby finds their car is missing.   Renee is equipped to give Bree advice cos she studied Intro to Psych and slept with a psychiatrist, which makes her qualified.   Bree tells her they're not really friends, but she doesn't have any friends and she didn't consider anyone else when she was being selfish in wanting to end it all.   Renee: "I will not let anyone kill themselves on my watch.   I will not go through that again."  Referring to her mother.

At the funeral, Tom tells Lynette to stop smiling and she still means everything to him.   She invites him home for movie night.   Susan cries and Vance's aunt (Lee Meriwether) turns up, giving Susan an idea.   She asks Gaby what Alejandro's other name was and finds he was living in Oklahoma City.    Carlos calls it risky being here and a cop recalls him from that night when Carlos wanted to confess something.   Gaby interjects he beat her with a candlestick and Gaby defended herself from him.

Bree asks about the suicide but Renee only talks to her friends.   It was her mother and she didn't save her the second time.   Bree tells her about Mary Alice and how she forget the pain she caused.   Renee "will always be the person who saved my life."  And the best friend she'll ever have.   The car is at the police lot and Gaby is taking him back to rehab and threatens if he ever goes to the police again, she'll be burying another body in the woods. What? She didn't learn from her first mistake?

Lynette recalled his fave beer but he forgot she likes the thin crust pizza.   Tom thinks Jane is forgiving and would never criticize his pizza choice.   Lynette was hoping if she said something enough times he'd hear her.   After 23 years it makes her feel like she's not important.   She sends him to Paris.   Susan leaves again, this time for Oklahoma and feels guilty cos Alejandro got a call the night they buried him, means he has a family and they don't know where he is.   So that's why he got the signal, which Vance told Ben about last episode, but he didn't say it like that.   Vance implied Alejandro made the call, darn thought it was more than that.   Gaby sees Susan leave and she 's visiting a family.   Now who's keeping secrets?

Mary Alice: "It's a lonely business keeping secrets.   That's why we all search for someone we can confide in...an ally who will understand, an advisor we can trust; a friend who will never judge.   Yes we all need help hiding the darkest truths of our lives because as soon as you're told one secret - another appears."  Bree receives another note: "You're welcome." Who is helping Bree? It's not Orson is it, just he's also one for 'hit 'n' runs. You know his track record.

Didn't think Renee could be serious - but she has been in the past when discussing her mother (even got drunk over her last season at the dinner party.)  Here Bree makes her recall it all, extremely painful memories for her since she was just a schoolkid.   Thought Gaby was reckless in questioning the policeman over Vance - like plodding Murphy didn't even bother to ask why she was being so nosy, not to mention how forthright he was in letting her speak instead of sending her packing.   Not like she had any info for him.

Bree was ending it all - the last time she'd have any of her luxuries surrounding her (not that she did in that hotel room, which is where she chose to be, instead of at home) cos it was such a selfish and insensitive thing to do choosing to go out that way.   Paper cup for wine, no proper lingerie etc.   How uncharacteristic was that of her, just as contemplating suicide was out of character too.  

Gaby slapping Carlos was done in 12.3 Not While I'm Around when Zach was stalking Gaby.   Renee breaking down the door was done by Lynette in Sweetheart I Have to Confess when she busted in Nora's door.     Tom opened a pizza parlour against Lynette's wishes and he still couldn't bring home her fave thin crust pizza here.   Tom also tried to keep his secret of Kayla from Lynette and here she reveals her secret to him, albeit in last week's ep, never mind.   Carlos should know Gaby's threat of burying him in the woods if he does anything foolish like confessing to the police again wouldn't be empty since in Sweetheart I Have To Confess, she pushed him out the window for manipulating her.

Tom telling Lynette not to smile at the funeral was the same as Carlos telling Gaby the same in 17.5 The Story of Jessie and Lucy.   Bree had her gun here just as she did in the pilot and in Not While I'm around.   It appears Bree is never without her gun.   In 20.5 Rose's Turn, Susan tried to remove the things Dave wouldn't try to kill himself with and here Renee did the same with Bree.

I know the 'death' ep has been screened in the US at the time of writing this,  hand on heart I haven't seen it or read the spoilers or news.   I want to watch it for myself, but I have a horrible feeling that it may be Mike.   Follow: Susan desperately wants to make a new start in New York, Mike wants to stay.   Susan is trying to get over her guilt by running off to Oklahoma now to appease Alejandro's family, not knowing a thing about them or his life there.   She's thinking of herself as usual.   So Mike could become a target of retaliation.   But Susan doesn't think.   So with Mike out of the pic and the show ending, she's free to move to New York or anywhere else and all this cos she still feels guilty.   I doubt it will be nay of the women, cos the show will prob go out as it began with all of them in there still around.

CSI 12.7 Brain Doe Review

A car stops at a diner and then is involved in an accident as it hits a Jeep and a truck gets involved too.  A brain which doesn't belong to anyone involved in the accident is found at the scene which forms the mystery this ep.  Nick (George Eads) and Sara (Jorga Fox) process the DB's car and she finds oxycodone.  Morgan (Elisabeth Harnois) is excited about the brain and getting into it.  Doc (Robert David Hall) finds it belongs to a male as the average male brain weighs over 3 pounds, that's why they're so dense, okay my bad joke!  She likes to poke the brain too.  It's not a specimen as it's not in formaldehyde, so it could have come from "black market brains."

Greg (Eric Szmanda) and Catherine (Marg Helgenberger) arrive back from court and Catherine comments he should be relieved he wasn't asked if he was a doctor.  The Sheriff (Barbara Eve Harris) offers Catherine a job in DC on the Forensic Science Commission, stating you have to "move out to move up."  It's not easy for women in law enforcement,  hey it's not easy for women in any field.  Brass (Paul Guilfoyle) finds two brains were transported.  Ryan (Erik Aude) was a suicide and suffered from repetitive trauma.  Catherine sees Vartaan (Alex Carter) and doesn't have much to say to him at the scene where another DB has been found.  Lt Seligson feel in his backyard and his brain was removed from the Jewish burial site.  That's why his brain was taken since it wasn't embalmed, I was going to say 'pickled.'
Catherine believes the brain they found must belong to him and they've got "a brain collector on the loose."

Henry (Jon Wellner) doesn't find the DNA was a match to Seligson.  Sara notices yellow powder on the ground, same as she found in Clegg's car, the DB from the accident.  Hodges (Wallace Langham) compares the shoe print found at the scene and it matches Clegg's shoes.  Morgan mentions DMT: dimethyltryptomine, a painkiller and Clegg had traces of chicken nuggets in his stomach.  Hodges posits the food was from Tasty Time and there are 22 in the area since he goes there.  Greg checks the receipts from the diner.  Sara comments he ordered the no 17 special before.  Surveillance shows Clegg met with someone to swap the brains.  The plates match a Dr Hanson Eller, a private pathologist.

Leading to the Seneca suicide of Ryan at a cabin there.  The certificate was signed by Eller. Ryan's wife, Joyce (Robyn Lively) talks of him suffering from Chronic Traumatic Encephalitis.  DB (Ted Danson) tells her his brain didn't arrive at the hospital.  Ryan was a SFF fighter.  He had memory problems and he beat her. There's motive. Brass chats with Ryan's son, Declan (Kai Caster)and tells about his own father who used to beat him.  Brass finally hit back and it felt good for a second.  He was also a cop.

Joyce found Ryan and called a family friend, his trainer Bill (Victor Webster).  Eller's car is located with him inside, a GSW to the left temple, a car was parked next to his.  Nick finds a 9mm casing on the ground.  David (David Berman) finds the brain delivered to the hospital belongs to Seligson and a hack job was done to remove it.  Morgan notices the cuts were made in a hurry.  Doc says Clegg needed the brain swapped so it couldn't be studied and it was fresh.  He wanted to ensure no one found out about the disease.
Hodges gets nuggets to eat and he tells Sara the powder was talcum from the gym.  Hodges goes to a gym, he's ripped.  Clegg and Ryan were both in the SFF and attended Bill's gym.  He's just signed a multi-million dollar deal and he thinks Greg and Sara are a couple, well maybe once upon a time they could have been.  DB tells Charlie (Brandon W Jones) he lied to him and his coach.  Brass looks at photos from the suicide and sees the gun on the floor.  There was no GSR on Ryan's shirt so it wasn't a suicide.

DB says the "smoke and tyres cleared" and they need to get their brains in order.  Nick believes Ryan's brain has a secret, DMT is in his brain.  Bill could be doping the fighters and the brain would prove this says, DB, "if we could get it to pee in a cup."  Hodges analyzes the brain and finds both Clegg and Ryan were using DMT.  Bill called Clegg when Ryan died and Joyce was having an affair with Bill which Ryan found out about.  She shot him and called Bill.  But I said it was Declan, that's why he was so quiet.

DB tells Charlie to go back to school and take his suspension.  Charlie feels like a freak and DB tells him he's new here and they're both weird.  Others don't understand him here.  "We are weird."  Nick has the ball, number 17 and DB promises he won't tell anymore stories and Nick cuts the ball open.  Ryan played football and it contains drugs.  Nick: "I guess you never really know what's  important..."  The syringes are a match to Bill who still has the gun.  Why hold onto the gun?  The bullets match and he shot Eller.

Declan tells Brass he shot Ryan and he doesn't regret it.  It feels good.  Brass doesn't want him to talk but it's too late and he confesses all.  Brass was assuming this episode but he's allowed, he doesn't deal with the evidence or forensics, he assumed Joyce was beaten and so she had to shoot him.  After relaying his own personal story to Declan about his father; it doesn't occur to Brass that Declan may have been in the same position.  Where Brass used his fists, Declan used a gun.  The look on Brass's face when he realizes this and the scene fades out on him for a change, and on a sad note.

This is in contrast to DB as a father and his relationship with Charlie, though he lies to him and his coach, he comes clean in the end but he knows he won't get beaten.  Catherine is given a chance for her demotion to lead her to better things if she accepts the DC job.  DB's story about the cow was about a traffic accident near a ranch, where a horse was injured and the officer shot him to put him out of his misery.  The bullet ricocheted off the horse's skull and kills a nearby officer.  The chief asks the question: what colour was the horse?  Nick: "If you miss one small detail, then who knows what else you miss.  Cos you never know what is important," as he later repeats.  Hodges: "That is a good story."

Morgan and her brain excitement, she may have a brain fetish! Ha.  George didn't get any scenes with his former Savannah co-star Robyn Lively.

Stargate Atlantis 5.12 Outsiders Review

Beckett (Paul McGillion) is working on a planet where the inhabitants have the Hoffan virus.  The Atlantis team bring him supplies.  The people were survivors and came to the planet.  Beckett has been telling funny stories about Rodney (David Hewlett).  The Wraith arrive too, not a surprise.  Teyla (Rachel Luttrell) doesn't believe it's a culling since there aren't any Darts.  Elson, ((Joel Polis) the village leader says they're looking for survivors/refugees from the planet.  The Hive will destroy the village.  Beckett comments on the Wraith dying if they feed on Novo (Agam Darshi) or anyone like her.

Sefaris ((G Michael Gray) calls a meeting and Sheppard (Joe Flanigan) gives them another way out.  The village won't be culled since the people aren't any good to the Wraith.  The Wraith won't know where the survivors are unless they're told.  Jervis ((Sean Tyson) doesn't agree to this and he's the obligatory dissenter and trouble maker in such eps.  Sheppard thinks they could get to the gate and take the Wraith out, thus getting the survivors out before the Hive, but then the Wraith could kill them anyway.

Rodney thinks they could get jumpers for help but they're stuck on the planet as more Wraith arrive.  Sheppard's new strategy is to stall them.  Jervis rounds people up for the Wraith.  Sefaris also betrays them.  Ronon (Jason Momoa) comments it felt good to stun them and the people are taken to the mine to hide out.

Sefaris gives them Beckett and is killed whilst Rodney and Beckett get beamed onto the Dart.  Rodney has experience escaping from the Hive ship but Teyla was queen last time.  Beckett also comments Tyre didn't escape from one of these on his own.  Beckett is an expert in dealing with the toxin and helped develop it and the Wraith will spare their lives if he finds a cure.  Beckett can't do it since if the Wraith can detect the Hoffan drug then they can hunt the people down and begin to feed on humans again indiscriminately.  Also mentioning the Hippocratic Oath.

Sheppard has a plan and Ronon comments he's got one of those "Beckett faces."  Beckett refuses to help the Wraith commander who feeds on Beckett and dies.  Beckett tested himself and it worked.  He needs to delete the data and Beckett has the Hoffan drug inside of him.  Rodney explores the hive and sends a comms message to Sheppard who tells him to take out the Hive weapons.

Elson lets Jervis and the men free in order to get the Wraith to honour their deal and tells him the people are in the mine.  Beckett and Rodney escape and come across the Dart bay but two can't fit inside of a Dart.  Rodney comments their must be a weight limit.  Beckett: "What's that mean?"  Yeah Rodney, pot calling kettle black there.  Rodney has an idea, what another one, ha.  The mine is empty and explodes after being detonated by Sheppard with the Wraith inside.  The Darts are launched and Rodney and Beckett arrive in the beam after reprogramming the culling beam, since he knew they'd launch the Darts.  Beckett is going with the villagers since there might be something in his cells to help the survivors.

A bit of a stand-alone episode in some respects since it's about the Wraith looking for survivors of the Hoffan drug to eliminate them, as they're affecting their feeding habits.  Providing us with the news that Beckett has the drug inside of him.  Plenty of funny scenes here with Beckett and Rodney, especially since Rodney is caught again after only recovering from his abduction last ep.  Strange he didn't have his usual escape plans to hand this time though he does reprogramme the dart beam.  So he never thought about doing that before?

Also Sheppard's 'ruthlessness' in a dire situation is seen this ep as he detonates mines in the er, mine; killing not only the Wraith but Jervis and others too.  Some may consider it just punishment for their betrayal.  Safe to assume they didn't see that coming.  I say Sheppard's ruthlessness but it was a military tactic on his part and warranted under the circumstances in a kill or be killed scenario.

Paul McGillion in an interview with Pop Cultural Zoo commented, "We're having some really good laughs doing it.  It's been great.  David and I are pretty much throughout the episode."  Of course the Wraith wouldn't keep their word, who did the Balarans think they were dealing with anyway.  See the ep Seteda for  such a betrayal.

Castle - 2.9: "Love Me Dead" Review

Castle and Beckett look into the killing of a supposedly well-respected ADA and the Mayor wants the matter dealt with swiftly. Suspects are piled high but Castle lets himself be played by a beautiful woman.

Castle (Nathan Fillion) overhears Alexis's (Molly Quinn) phonecall and she's keeping something from him which he won't like.  A DB lands on a couple's car, turning out ot be ADA Jack Buckley.  The Captain (Ruben Santiago-Hudson) is at the CS and the Mayor wants it solved.  Beckett (Stana Katic) asks if she hasn't taken Castle away from something, or someone? He says he's "a cool dad." Esposito (Jon Huertas) says there was a fight and Ryan (Seamus Dever) finds his belongings on the roof.  Castle likens the murder to Cape Fear (1991).  Castle is fast becoming Tony DiNozzo (Michael Weatherly) in NCIS with his non-stop film references which have become commonplace this season.

The women at work mention Buckley's casefiles which Castle thinks will prove to contain a goldmine of suspects.  Scarlett (Michaela McManus) appears to be upset and they recall a man being brought to the office in handcuffs, a Johnny Knox (Jonathan LaPaglia). He has an alibi, his AA sponsor is a reverend.  That was convenient.  Johnny wonders about Castle and Castle asks if he works out.  Oh finally someone who hasn't heard of Castle.

Ryan doesn't get any leads from forensics but Buckley used to take the subway home, so why did he end up in a garage?  Someone was following Buckley and they have a surveillance camera photo.  The reverend was shifty looking anyway and there's a reason why they didn't show him being questioned.  Castle recognizes the man from the photo since he was in Buckley's casefile. Norman Jessops (JB Smoove).  Castle knew "his file would solve this case."  Ryan comments on Castle's Robert Di Niro send up.

Castle and Beckett go to a bar to apprehend Norman and she doesn't want to get involved in the bar fight since she doesn't want to be hit, which is no surprise as this happens to Castle.  He adds he was in a bar fight once (yeah most likley in Firefly.)  Beckett replies she's not Castle's girlfriend, we're back to those comments this week.  Norman recalls Buckley argued with an Asian man in front of a building and he doesn't want to go back to prison.  Norman isn't a 'wordsmith.'

He rides with Beckett and Castle to find the location of the building and he can get out of his handcuffs which fascinates Castle, well something had to.  Locksmith School turned him down on account of him being a felon.  Beckett is mean to him and Castle agrees.  Norman shows Castle how to remove the cuffs.  Alexis calls Beckett to ask her advice and if she wanted to talk to Castle, why would she call him on Beckett's phone?  Beckett admits keeping secrets from her father.

The Asian man is Paul Cho (oh great, now we're even getting Mentalist names in here.  He was Buckley's ex brother-in-law.  Castle thinks of Family Feud. Cho (Charles Chun) has a penchant for call girls and calls a number.  The girl comes to him.  Cho was attacked by a man in a mask who warned him off Danton.  Castle wants the gir to wear sexy clothes, since there's no reason why they can't enjoy the interview.  Castle positvely salivating when he sees her.  It's Scarlett.  "Did she look like that before?"

Buckley was a client and helped her get a job at the office as an Intern.  She doesn't know Danton. My qualm, she has to know who Danton is especially as she doesn't maintain eye contact when answering this.  Castle ponders why Buckley would investigate a call girl service he was using? Oh and Castle's outburst at seeing her probably gave her the idea to use him.

Castle drops the charges against Norman. He likes him.  Castle then talks to Scarlett who gives him some sob story about being poor and alone in the big city.  Castle asks "What's a nice girl like you...?"  He's old fashioned.  She got into this line of work cos of a friend.

Castle then asks Martha (Susan Sullivan) about Alexis's secret and she's probably talking to Beckett cos women talk to other women.  Castle is aware of this as his depth of female characters was praised by the New York Times.  He should ask Alexis but he doesn't when she returns home.  Martha comments Alexis has more Rick Castle in her and he doesn't like that.

Police detective Navarro (Danny Nucci) couldn't get Danton cos theplace was cleared when they raided.  Dantonelli used to run the service but he's in prison, so the service was franchised out. Navarro comments on Ryan's "honey milk." The business was given to Buckley in return for a shorter sentence.

Ryan and Esposito give Castle more cause to worry over Alexis.  Castle thinks this case isn't just about money.  Beckett believes Buckley wasn't the boss anymore and Scarlett had to have known about Danton.  Scarlett names Johnny after Beckett promises to protect her.  Thing is Scarlett lied once so there's nothing to prevent her from doing it again.  Buckley is dead so she can say whatever she likes and no one will question it.  Castle knows Scarlett is capable of making it on her own, another clue here, cos she just has.  He thinks this is a great story for a book.  Johnny has an alibi.

Scarlett turns up at Castle's beaten up.  She gives him a photo of the reverend with her, thus breaking Johnny's alibi.  Castle is nice to all beautiful women who turn up on his doorstep and she just plays him again, after kissing him.  Beckett is angry Castle didn't call her.  Nor did he tell her about the snog.  Johnny was surveilled, again a clue.  Castle finds Scarlett is misisng from the hospital.  Johnny was under surveillance so he couldn't have beaten her.

Out comes the Writer's vest again for Castle.  Scarlett shoots Johnny and she'll get off with self-defence.  Beckett is wearing a Castle shirt, well it was similar to his.  Norman sees the lock in the CS photos from Johhny's place and notices the dead bolt was open.  Beckett doens't want to write him a letter of recommendation for the locksmith school.

Castle calls Scarlett, he got the number from  apublsiher friend.  Buckley needed Scarlett to run the service. Strangely Scarlett doesn't recognize Castle's voice when he calls her.

Alexis wanted to go on a French exchange student programme but decided against it and wanted Beckett's advice cos she'd been on one.  There's always Oxford for her choice of Unis, which worries Castle.

Michaela McManus was typecast playing a law student here as she went on to play an ADA in Law and Order SVU.  Don't know what to make of the entire handcuff scene with Norman since Castle's already proven he could get out of cuffs in the Pilot and later episodes.  Also all the so-called evidence Beckett had was circumstantial, if that and they were just going on Scarlett's word.  (Appropriate name for her.)  She had the photo too which she could have taken herself with  a hidden camera, proving Johnny didn't have an alibi for her, which added more weight to his being guilty.  Yet I remained unconvinced. It's just my cynical side, ha.

Castle in agony over Alexis's secret and Beckett tormenting him even further was no fun and when I was beginning to like her too.  If he did that to her, she'd be all over him (not literally or otherwise) for interfering in her personal life, as she did with her mother's case, for example.  Not saying she had to break Alexis's confidence but she didn't have to relish treating him like that.  Oh and in The Mentalist territory here, had to get a character called Cho. Must be pretty difficult finding a different Asian name.  Mind you in season 4 of the show, Kimball Cho (Tim Kang) is stepping out with a pro.  Castle getting hit in the bar - a trait too familiar with Patrick Jane (Simon Baker) suffering umpteenth hits to his nose!

 Honey milk was mentioned by Ryan in 2.2 The Double Down.

Doctor Who - 6.7: "A Good Man Goes to War" Review

The Doctor finds Amy and her baby, goes to war and the real truth is revealed about River Song. Then the Doctor disappears again promising Amy she'll get her baby, Melody back.

 This episode does contain some "SPOILERS" as River Song (Alex Kingston) would say, so if you don't want to know what happens before you've watched the episode then DON'T READ!!!!

Thank you BBC for the mid season finale.   We never get a mid season break here with this show, or any show and it's really disappointing that the powers that be decided on one now!! When the ep was shown for the first time last year.
Amy (Karen Gillan) wants to tell her baby that she'll be cared for and loved, but she can't lie to Melody now.   She'll have to be brave because "there's someone coming, someone who won't let them down and an army can't stop him."  Amy wants the Eye-Patch woman (Frances Barber) to leave the baby.   Amy continues, "he's the last of his kind and he's lived for hundreds and hundreds of years..because this man is your father - the Last Centurion."   She's referring to Rory (Arthur Darvill) but she could also be talking about the Doctor (Matt Smith) in another time, another place; but she'd never do that.

Twenty thousand light years away.    Rory has a message for the Cybermen from the Doctor and a question from him. "Where is my wife?" The Twelfth Cyber Legion monitors everything in that quadrant.   They ask for the Doctor's message, which can be heard outside, viz the explosions.   At the army base where Amy is being held, two soldiers talk about the Doctor blowing up an entire legion.  A message can be heard reminding them that they cannot interact with the Headless Monks without consent.   Lorna Bucket (Christina Chang) tells them the Monk's head meant doubts so they follow their hearts.   In which case shouldn't they have been pacifists.   Lorna first met the Doctor when she was little in the Gamma Forests and he told her to "run." One of the soldiers is sacrificed to become one of the Headless Monks, as a donation.

London 1888 AD.   Parker drives home 'M'lady' in a carriage.   (Hey this isn't Thunderbirds.)  She is Vastra the Silurian (Neve McIntosh) she tells her maid,  Jenny (Catrin Stewart) that Jack the Ripper has taken his last victim.   She ate him.   The TARDIS appears for her.   It's time for her to repay a debt and they'll need swords.

The Battle of Zaruthstra 4037 AD.   A nurse is needed and Sontaran, Commander Strax, (Dan Starkey) enters to administer to a boy.   The TARDIS appears for him too, he had to pay penance for his past and perhaps his penance is over.   (Yes it was over for him.)  River returns home to her prison and Rory arrives to ask for her help.   The Doctor took her ice-skating in 1814 on the River Thames for her birthday and Stevie Wonder sang for her.   Darn, missed the clue when she said it was her birthday!  Rory mentions Demons Run.   She refuses to go, she can't, not yet.   She mentions the Battle of Demons Run being "the Doctor's darkest hour, he'll rise higher than ever and then fall so much further."  She can't be there until the end (for her big reveal.)  River: "This is the day he finds out who I am." So do the others, or wasn't that important enough to get a mention.

The Eye-Patch woman, named Kovarian asks Dorium (Simon Fischer-Becker) what he knows.   They've been waiting for the Doctor for a month.   He replies people in the galaxy owe the Doctor a debt and he's raising an army.   He knows their base is on an asteroid and they call it Demons Run.  There's an old saying: "Demons Run, when a good man goes to war."  The TARDIS comes for Dorium too.  A colonel gives a speech against the Doctor, rousing his troops.   Knew the Doctor had to be one of the Monks.   Lorna gives Amy the name patch she was sewing and calls it a Prayer Leaf.   If she keeps it, her child will return to her.   It says the baby's name in her language.   Lorna tells her she met the doctor when she was little, just as Amy did.   She tells Lorna the Doctor isn't famous.  Lorna: "he's like a dark legend."  Amy accepts the leaf.

Colonel Manton (Danny Sapani) spouts on about the Doctor being nothing special, "on this day, in this place, the Doctor will fall."  A repetition of what River said about him rising and then falling really.     The army is allies with the Monks and the Colonel tells the soldiers why they're Headless, revealing what's under the hoods.  The Doctor also reveals himself from under his hood.   The Monks can never be, as the Doctor adds, "surprised."  The lights go out and he walks away in the dark, spotted by Lorna opening the door with his Sonic.   She follows him out and in the chaos a soldier shoots a Monk.  The base is taken over by the Doctor's own army.   Kovarian tries to flee with the baby, but Rory stops her.   She tells him he can't take over her ship.   But the Doctor's army can, including Captain Avery (Hugh Bonneville).  

The Doctor wants the Colonel to order his army to "run away."  So he will be known as 'Colonel Runaway,' and be famous for those words.  As it wasn't a good idea to get to the Doctor "through the people I love."  Kovarian tells the Colonel to give the order.  "Good men have too many rules."  The Doctor replies, "Good men don't need rules...today is not the day to find out why I have so many."  Rory rescues Amy.   But the Colonel and Kovarian wouldn't give up so easily, nothing happens that easily.   Amy was right when she said they took the baby away.   Rory cries, he wanted to act all cool.   She introduces Melody Pond Superhero, not Melody Williams, (Rory's last name) she's a Geography teacher.   The Doctor speaks all languages including baby and replies to the baby's gurgling that his bow tie is cool.

Vastra repeats what River said: "...you have never risen higher" and now he's going to fall.   Strax says he can feed and change Melody.  The Doctor senses she's tired and brings out his cot.   Amy asks if he has, or has he ever had, children.   She was on this base the entire time.   The Doctor hugs Amy, her heart, soul and mind were on the TARDIS.   When she saw the Eye-Patch woman, that he explains was "reality bleeding through." Last episode he said they were remnants of a time memory.  Rory asks if the signal was being projected into the TARDIS the whole time.   He couldn't say Amy wasn't real since they could have been listening.   He answers the cot is his.

Vastra repeats what he once told her, "anger is the shortest distance to a mistake."  Dorium tells him they found what they were looking for.   Melody has human and Time Lord DNA.   Lorna warns them it's a trap, as she heard Kovarian talking about it.   Lorna wanted to meet the Doctor again, "a great warrior."  Amy says he's not a warrior and Lorna asks why he's called a Doctor then.   (River will explain this soon.)  The Doctor insists Melody is human and doesn't know how this happened, or when.   The child 'began' after Amy and Rory's first time on the TARDIS together on their wedding night.   He refers to sexy fish vampires ( season 5's Vampires in Venice episode) and running about.

Lorna explains the Headless Monks aren't alive so they're not registered as life forms on the scanners.  Doctor: "...can't cook themselves a Time Lord...why would a Time Lord be a weapon."  See they surrendered too readily, too late.   The Monks attack.   There's a flashback to 6.2 Day of the Moon, when River mentions the girl was a human in the suit.   Kovarian calls the child "hope in this endless bitter war" against the Doctor.  There's a forcefield around the TARDIS and the Monks take over the base.  As they fight, River explains:
"Demons Run when a good man goes to war.
Night will fall and drown the sun
When a good man goes to war.
Friendship dies and true love lies
Night will fall and the dark will rise
When a good man goes to war.
Demons Run but count the cost
The battle's won but the child is lost."

When everything is revealed at the end, it had to be River who narrates this, which is of significance.

Kovarian tells the Doctor, she fooled him once - with Amy, as Flesh and she didn't realize it would be so easy" to fool him again with the baby."  Melody was flesh, at least the baby Rory rescued.   Strax is a nurse, not a warrior and he dies, just like Rory is a nurse and not a Centurion.   Lorna warned them.   She met him once in the Gamma Forests, he doesn't remember her, but lies "I remember everyone" and says they ran.   They always do.   River arrives and he gets angry at her.  He questions where she was when he's been there for her all the time she wanted him to be.   She couldn't have prevented this.   River could have tried.
 River: "So my love could you."
Doctor: "This wasn't me."    River insists this was his doing.   He makes them all afraid.   He's able to turn an army around, just by using his name.   She explains Doctor means "healer and wiseman throughout the universe." To the Gamma people, Doctor means "mighty warrior."  As Lorna said.   River claims they will turn Melody into a weapon as they fear him.   River evades answering the question of who she is, focusing on the cot.   The Doctor reads the cot and realizes who she is and does a smooching action with his lips, indicating they kissed.

The Doctor will find Melody.   River tells Amy to concentrate on the cot, but it's Gallifrayan and that can't be translated.   She shows Amy the leaf.   There's no word for "the only water in the forest is the river."   The Leaf reads 'River'.   River: "It's me - I'm Melody.   I'm your daughter..."

When do they get Melody/River back?  Great episode and what a reveal.  At least I said that's what Idris meant in episode 4 (The Doctor's Wife) when she told Rory "the river's in the forest."  Knew it was about our River.   Also if that was River in the future, his future (her past) as a girl, she kills the doctor as the weapon she's been turned into.   Is that why she's in prison now.   I used to say that in the episode Silence in the Library when River was first introduced , that she must have killed someone, or done something to get her into prison.   Thus far it's never been revealed what she's done.   Also, ironically, she dons a spacesuit in her first ever scene.   As did the child who kills the Doctor in the season 6 opener, The Impossible Astronaut.

What an exceptional twist though, to have River as their daughter and her falling for the Doctor.   Being used as a weapon, it begins to fall into place now.   At least some of it.   Though you can tell it was a bit of an afterthought, as Amy and Rory only appeared in the show in season 5 and River's been here a lot longer.   The Silurian sister Vastra talked about was from The Hungry Faith and Cold Blood episodes.   The Spitfires which attack the base, flown by Danny Boy, were in Victory of the Daleks.   Dorium first appeared in The Pandorica Opens, last season.   The Headless Monks were alluded to in season 5's The Time of Angels.   A pity the Daleks will no longer be appearing in the show anymore!

Matt Smith has been quite dark in his portrayal of the Doctor, especially these past three episodes, as well as interjecting with funny moments.   Then running off at the end of the episode, conveniently leaving River to explain who she is to Rory and Amy.   Knowing Amy was Flesh all along, no wonder he gave her all those suspicious looks, especially everytime she wanted to tell him about his future.   Apparently Amy hadn't been Amy since before they went to America.   So maybe, just maybe he knew about his death anyway.   Maybe it's just me but I like to think he did.

CSI: NY - 1.11: "Tri-Borough" Review

The CSIs investigate three different cases in three different boroughs of the city. In two of the stories they claim it was an accident, but that's the case in only one case.

In story 1, a DB is found on a subway track, without any wallet or keys.   There's no evidence of a struggle.   Rail electrocutions are foot to foot, here Mac (Gary Sinise) says it's hand to foot.   Mac asks why the kid crossed the rail and Stella (Melina Kanakaredes) as always has a reply, "To get to the other side."  Mac: "One way or another."  Hawkes (Hill Harper) hasn't officially identified him yet and refers to "slick" shins.   The DB was covered with a hydrophobic substance and there was presence of anti-mortum bruising.   COD was ventricular defibrilation.   Underwent "locking on" phenomena which is the result of AC current.   The subway runs on DC and has the opposite effect on the muscle tissue.  The burns are post mortum.

Danny (Carmine Giovinazzo) admires a painting in a gallery, in story 2.   Kylie (Kelly Hu) asks "You like what you see Messer?"  Leo Whitfield, ( Sean Vincent Biggins) an art dealer with no priors has been shot.   There's no signs of a robbery and Danny replies, "I can see why." Ron Leatham (TJ Thyne) owns the bookstore across the street.   Danny notices high velocity blood spatter on another painting near the DB.   There's evidence of powder burns so he was shot at close range.  GSW was through and through.  An insurance document is found at the scene: "This is to certify that 'Inhumanity' ...owned by Charles Downright of 234 reason Street, NY was destroyed by fire on 6 October 1814." A bullet is also found.

In story 3, Aiden (Vanessa Ferlito) looks into a DB found at a construction site, with a smell emanating from his clothes.   Bill Lamakkia (Brad Prepon) was filling in at the site.  Aiden asks if anyone saw anything.   Flack (Eddie Cahill) with his usual reply, "When does anyone ever see anything?"

A note is found in the DB's clothes and olive oil covered his body.   Also a finger from a statue is found as well as a digital camera.   In the fist story.   The DB couldn't let go when he was shocked.   The body was found blocks away and twenty houses on the same power grid lost power last night.   One house has a statue outside with a missing finger.   The owner, Bob Galanis (Ray Abruzzo) doesn't recognize the Vic.   Mac says he was dumped in the only neighbourhood that lost power.   Stella comments Mac is having "one of those connected moments." The digital camera has photos with a date and a place, Prospect Park.   Stella: "We have a where and a when."   Mac: "In order to get to a what, we need to start with a who."  A man on the camera footage leaves behind a newspaper, with a fingerprint.   Funnily enough the newspaper was still there.   Randy Ortiz, the Vic (Freddy Bouciegues) was into free running.

In the second story, the bullet is traced  to a homicide.   The suspect in the case was Paul Gianetti (Jay Acovone) and was related to the Pastelli family.   Gianetti tells Danny that Whitefield sold him a fake painting.   Whitefield wanted a gun.   Danny tells him he's not a rookie.   Kylie says the painting is authentic.   Danny runs an x-ray, which shows the paint used was lead, which was used back then.   Today white paint is titanium based, but lead based can also be based.   He then carries out an infra red spectral analysis to see if any new paint was added.   There are hairline cracks in the paint which are also in the signature.   Danny concludes the document is a fake, but the painting is real.

Hawkes identifies COD in Aiden's Vic as a massive cranial fracture.   His skull was shattered with one blow.   The smell from his wound is a chemical smell.   Hawkes: "Down here we call that a James Brown.   It's funky."  The chemicals are found in deodorizers and disinfectants, found in a portaloo, aka portapotty.

At Randy's apartment, Stella and Mac find burned CDs and DVDs, with the name, 'Julie G'.   (Noa Hegesh)   Also expensive olive oil.   Which matches the body swab from Randy.   Exclusively sold by Galanis, which gives them the connection.   Mac: "There's no coincidence in crime." They go back to the house with the broken finger statue.   The lock is broken on the bedroom door and olive oil is present on the sheets.   There's a handprint on the window and burnt skin on the flagpole outside.   Randy was electrocuted there.   The pole had crocodile clips on it and some prints on these match Bob Galanis.   The others don't match.

In story 2, Danny tests the ink on the documents, iron was used in inks in 1814.   It's not the ink that was forged, have to look at the paper.   The painting was Carbon 14 tested.   Showing the paper is as real as the painting.   Reason Street used to be Greenwich Village, named after Thomas Payne's the Age of Reason.   Reason street was actually Raison street, which was Barrow Street, named after Thomas Barrow.   Danny missed what was staring right at him, that there was a Reason Street and a fire, but not in 1814, but 1776.   Became barrow street in 1809.   Barrow Street art gallery, so Whitefield was a forger.   The painting is real, so the document isn't important.   Mac: "So someone else killed your art dealer."
 Danny: "I need to find the evidence."  Think he said that for Mac's benefit, ha.

Aiden and Flack return to the CS and Flack says: "After you, may be evidence."  The toilet was knocked over when Bill was still inside.   Prints outside match Brian, who was caught drinking on the job.   Flack finds his alibi checks out.   Aiden says the chemicals in the toilet flush match the clothes, but not the chemicals in the wound.   There's an odd chemical out as it's found in airline toilet disposal.   Blue Ice.   Any liquid from a plane freezes, when the plane descends, the temperature rises and falls.   The site is near La Guardia.   Flack, putting it so eloquently, ha, comments "So a crapsical killed this guy."  Yeah it was a case of death by potty.

Whitefield's past is clean so Danny has to go back in time.   He finds that the first page in a book is blank, so if a page was used from an old book, the earliest he can document it is 1840.   Leading to Leatham's bookstore, who wipes his glasses on a handkerchief.   Blood spatter is on the cover of a book and the first page is missing.   He lent Whitefield his books and he was shot in a struggle.   Leatham took the money, stating history can't be reproduced, but adds Danny, "You can die trying."

In the fist story, Bob broke the bedroom lock, so the prints would be his on the cable.   His dying was an accident, he was protecting Julie like he's protecting his son, Will (Carter Jenkins) whose fingerprints are on the cable.   His wagon gave him away, as it has traces of olive oil.   Mac says it was Randy perspiring that killed him.   Will asks if you perspire when having sex.   He thinks "it was cool,"  Randy being electrocuted.

The first time three stories were covered in an episode of CSI:NY.   None of the killers actually showed any remorse for their actions, Will thought it was cool watching someone die and Leatham claimed he did it for the preservation of history, yet murder is murder, even if you try to say it was an accident, cos covering it up makes it even worse.   The painting Danny looks at in the art gallery was actually painted by Carmine and is entitled, 'Sister Tight'.

Aiden gets another chance to work on her own, though her cases this time didn't really prove difficult and was the one which was actually a real accident.   In CSI episode, Sex, Lies and Larvae, Catherine proved the painting was fake, but not to such elaborate lengths as Danny proving it was authentic here.   In the CSI season 2 episode Caged, the librarian was also concerned about rare books.

NCIS - 7.10: "Faith" Review

Christmas sees the arrival of Gibbs' father and the murder of a Marine who had converted his religion, much to the chagrin of his family. Tony has to buy a Secret Santa gift and McGee and Ziva get to tease him about this.

A couple  in the park to cut down a Christmas tree, find a DB in his underwear in the snow.  Gibbs' (Mark Harmon) father, Jackson (Ralph Waite) turns up unexpectedly early.  Gibbs asks whose fault it really is for him not being here sooner.   As in years ago.  Gibbs doesn't have cable and only a black and white TV, also he got rid of the guestroom too.   He still has Kelly's bike.   Gibbs is surprised he actually came.   He needs curtains on his window, loved the snow effect.

Tony (Michael Weatherly) "Man up chilly willy," he says to McGee (Sean Murray) and should embrace his inner "McGrizzly Adams." Ziva (Cote de Pablo) isn't cold and Tony refers to her as a "frigid ice queen" and she's cold blooded like a lady Komodo dragon.  Ziva is wearing thermals.   Good to know.  Tony will give her $50 for them, well they won't fit him for starters and Gibbs isn't even wearing a scarf! The dead Marine's father is Minister Ellis (Joe Regelbuto).  Nearby the DB, they find towel and soapy water.   Ducky (David McCallum) comments if he had turned around it might have saved his life.   McGee notices the recent footprints in the snow, but they didn't necessarily have to belong to the killer, they could be of those who found him.  The Vic had a compass as he was praying there.   Which is why he had a prayer mat.  Gibbs says he was praying when he was killed.

McGee finds he changed religion 8 months ago.  Tony comments he's not Tiny Tim but desperate times calls for desperate measures and he took a catalogue from the neighbour's doorstep.   Nothing's safe or sacred when Tony's around.   He needs a gift for Secret Santa, for Dolores ( Kate Fuglei).   McGee recalls he wished her a Happy Valentine's and she threatened him with sexual harassment.  Col/Reverend Ellis thinks it could have been a hate crime.   His son was married 2 years.   Gibbs remembers Col Ellis, he's a Reverend now and blames himself for pushing his beliefs onto his son.  His other son, Patrick (Brando Eaton) was an obvious suspect for me, since it had to have been someone in the family who killed him.

Palmer (Brian Dietzen) asks if Muslims really pray five times a day.   Ducky replies it takes dedication.   He's waiting for the cleric before the autopsy, but finds lacerations to his shoulder and neck, the blow was in a downwards motion.   There's paint residue and thread in the wound, so he knew his attacker.   Tony accepts some chocolates from Gibbs' father.   Gibbs calls Tony "Bubble butt." Tony says his metabolism is slowing with age, that's not all that's slowing.   Thomas's wife, Tina ( Lindsay Pulsip) had a fling and he found out.  The Chaplin Sayad (Corey Reynolds) likens the Marine code to the Islamic code: of honour, commitment and courage.   Ziva comments that ignorance and bigotry remain problems in the military.   Thomas tried and found something missing in his life.  He changed his name to Tariq Bashir and the others found his need to pray inopportune.   They should speak with Lewis Tibbins (Aaron McPherson) as they didn't get along.

Gibbs liked the smell of coal.   He's building toys, it's more about the wood for him.   His father comments he doesn't believe in Santa but in hobbies.   Gibbs wants him to help, the toys are for the childrens' hospital.   Ziva says this bar is where "red throats" hang out.   Tony corrects her with "rednecks." Thought she would have recalled that distinction and gotten over it by now after season 3's ranger episode, Ravenous.   Where they were at a similar bar and she made the same comment about rednecks.  But no, she still got it wrong.   Tony: "They call you Mr Tibbs."  (Hey that's Gibbs' name from McGee's book!) He calls Ziva his probationary sidekick.  Tibbins comments how a pretty thing like Ziva has never killed anything.   Little does he know.   Ziva begins a bar brawl when she cuffs Tibbins.

Tibbins admits no one liked a devout Muslim on patrol.   He didn't kill Thomas; but was paid money to convince Thomas to quit the Corps.   Tony tells him they were paid to be bigots.  The money was wired.  Abby (Pauley Perrette)  introduces McGee to Carol Wilson ( Meredith Eaton) whom she attended college with and is her best friend.    She drinks Caf nog and asks McGee if he can arrange for Carol's nephew, Fisher (Harrison Forsyth) to speak with his mother on Christmas Eve as she's on a destroyer.  McGee replies Sat feeds are restricted.

Tony finds two marines accepted the bribe.   Ziva speaks ten languages and Tony suggests Ziva should check out the Interpol lead.   Gibbs' fireplace is clogged and he brought his mother's decorations for the Christmas tree.  Gibbs leaves his gun in the front room which his father doesn't like and wants Gibbs to listen to him, just this once.   Tony finds the money came from the Reverend's account and comments people do things for misguided reasons.   His son was a Marine, not people and Gibbs says he was still subject to the same laws.  The Reverend didn't want Thomas discharged but only wanted him to stop practising his faith.  Gibbs is angry the Reverend paid off men his son trusted with his life.  The Reverend refers to Thomas as having a different God.   Gibbs: "One and the same Colonel."

Ziva and McGee watch Tony squirm with Dolores.   She knows he's her Secret Santa.   Ziva suggests he should kill her with kindness.  Abby says her job involves the "keen eye of science" and has cooked gingerbread cookies of herself.  Which Ziva refuses to eat as she can't eat Abby.  She found traces of aluminium and titanium in his wound and the killer was athletic.   Gibbs believes the weapon was a baseball bat.  Ducky and his father laugh over old stories about Gibbs and the sheep.   Ducky has a "roose to be goasted."  His father is sweet and more accessible than Gibbs.   Clearly Ducky's well into the Christmas spirits!  But can still make determinations as to how his father is feeling.   Ducky tells Gibbs his father is lonely and under emotional distress and Gibbs isn't Martha Stewart.

McGee says he has orders from Admiral Nicholas Whitebeard of the North and Tony calls him McScrooge.   Tony tells them Vance (Rocky Carroll) found out Col Ellis was visiting the SecNav at the time and Thomas's wife drove him.   The Chaplin receives a note in the mail saying Thomas died because of him and refuses protection.  He speaks to teens and said it's immoral for someone to not accept them.   He spoke to Patrick's class too.  

Abby feels like Scrooge being visited by the three ghosts of Christmas: Ziva, Gibbs and McGee.   It took someone with speed and agility to kill Thomas.   Tony comments he has those abilities.  Tony calls Ziva Probette and asks where her holiday spirit is.   Patrick played Lacrosse.   Ziva mentions Abel and Cain who killed his brother (as I suspected.)  Well the brother did it.   Patrick lost his temper.   He killed him for their father as Thomas was embarrassing them.   The Reverend slaps him, he found his God, but Thomas was his son.   There's the 'his God' comment again.   The Reverend thinks he turned his back on Thomas.

Gibbs and his father talk, he spoke with Betty.   He was going to be robbed in the store and he had his gun, so he shot the robber.   It's not the first time he's killed, but it's the first time he saw his face, cos everything looks different from a cockpit.   He wonders how Gibbs did it all these years since he was a sniper.  Gibbs says it's not meant to be easy.   Tony gives Dolores her present, the doll she wanted as a child but never got.   He looked in her personnel file as he has clearance.   Fisher gets to speak with his mother courtesy of McGee.   Abby believes McGee will make a great Santa.   Gibbs takes the sack of toys for the children, looking very much like a Santa.

Plenty of controversy surrounding this episode when it was aired in the US, with some groups angrily suggesting this was not an appropriate subject matter for a Christmas episode.   Let's see what was wrong with those comments.   Well firstly they didn't show any Christmas spirit, Christmas isn't purely about religion, it's the sentiments involved and what it truly stands for, giving and being charitable.   It's not to berate another religion, any religion.   And clearly they missed the point completely here.  But I won't go on with that discussion here, as this isn't the forum and it's old news.   This episode was about fathers and sons, what with Gibbs' own father paying a visit and they had plenty to talk about.   The contrast between their relationship, with Gibbs taking the time out to talk and comfort him, not being afraid to show he really does care for his father; to the Reverend making judgements about Thomas, who was his son firstly and religion shouldn't have come into their relationship.  Being a Reverend he should have known better and since when do you put down another religion, he's meant to be a man of God, the same God.

Lots to think about in this episode, as well as the fun bits too.   More references from Tony to films and shows, such as Hee Haw, The Grinch, Newhart and They Call Me Mr Tibbs.   Abby's skeleton Santa.   Ziva says "Bah, Humbog" instead of Humbug.   Meredith Eaton was married to Michael Gildon, who played Abby's friend, Marty, in season 4.   The catalogue Tony takes from his neighbour is called 'Larry and Diamond' an allusion to Larry Fuentes, who does the special effects on the show and Diamond Farnsworth, the stunt co-ordinator and son of actor, Richard Farnsworth.   Also hard to believe all that snow was actually paper.

Desperate Housewives - 8.9: "Putting It Together" Review

Vance gets closer to finding the real truth opening up a number of suspects and motives in his eventual 'accident.' Lynette comes clean to Tom about her part in the cover-up.

 Mary Alice (Brenda Strong) "Whenever Bree van de Kamp (Marcia Cross) was feeling low, she found solace in the act of baking...when her first husband passed away she baked coffee cake...when her second husband went to jail she made sugar cookies.   So when Bree's best friends stopped speaking to her she thought hot cherry scones might thaw their chilly relationships."  Susan (Teri Hatcher) doesn't answer the door and Juanita (Madison de La Garza) claims Gaby (Eva Longoria) is in church, but it's Thursday.   She was told to say that.   Lynette (Felicity Huffman)  replies she wonders why no one will talk to Bree.  "Bake your way out of this one." She's isolated.   Lynette calls her controlling which is what she tried to do to them, but that's just Lynette talking about herself. She's controlling and manipulative as this episode will show.   Look at how she used her predicament to make Tom (Doug Savant) stay in the country!

Bree's on her own.   Mary Alice: "Yes, Bree had always taken comfort in baking but when baking failed her - took comfort in something else." She drinks.   See she could have bonded with Carlos (Richardo Antonio Chavira).   She would have had an ally in him and then maybe she wouldn't have to resort to drinking, even if he was.

Mary Alice: "In a place as peaceful as Wisteria Lane [peaceful, sorry I have to interject, how many killings, so-called accidents, fights, have they had on this Lane?] the smallest crime can prompt a call to the police...yes the women were used to calling the police.   What they weren't used to was the police actually calling on them."  Vance (Jonathan cake) brings them in for a "casual chat."  Susan claims it's hard to say why an artist paints and doesn't know why she painted that.   Vance presumes it's cos she feels guilty over what she did.  He asks about Ramon Sanchez, why did Alejandro have another name.   Vance thinks Lynette would have made a good cop and she must stop lying.   Vance thinks what she's hiding is a reason for Tom leaving her.   Lynette slaps him and maybe that gave her an idea to actually stop Tom from leaving for Paris.   She slapped him cos he told her to forget he was a cop.

Vance says Sanchez has two girls who may never see their dad again and that ain't no bad thing either considering his track record as an abusive father.   He was appealing to Gaby's personal side here cos of Carlos and they have two children.   The way he said this line made it seem as if Vance knew Carlos actually did it, or that he was trying to break Gaby.   She claims Carlos is in rehab cos he had an affair which triggered his drinking.

Bree drinks some more and crashes a women's night out at a bar.  She calls one Lynette and refuses to leave them alone.   So why didn't they just change tables?   Ben (Charles Mesure) knows Bree doesn't recall the night before and Bree doesn't want him to tell anyone.   He suggests she should start making up with the friend who hates her the least.   Renee (Vanessa Williams) spies them together and assumes they spent the night with each other.   Hey she took her time, I said that when Ben came to Bree's rescue with Vance.

Susan tells Mike (James Denton) she always does that thing "when I lie to you."   He asks what.   Susan: "Like I'm gonna tell you." She thinks they should get away for a while and Mike says that will make Vance suspicious.   Gaby is refused entry to the rehab centre to see Carlos and sneaks in with a family.   She claims to be the boy, Jimmy's (Jeremy Luke) girlfriend.   He doesn't recall her and thinks if had her as a girlfriend, then he needs help, cos of her looks.   They always give Gaby a line about her looks and body.   She said the same to Vance earlier when he said Carlos had an affair and she asked why he would cheat on someone with her figure.   Carlos is vacuuming which Gaby comments he doesn't do at home.   He tells her, "what you think he knows is about one tenth of what he knows."  Carlos claims Vance must be stopped.   That's one motive and threat.

Lynette discovers Tom has already left for the airport and Susan approaches Felix (Leslie Jordan) for the money from the paintings sale.   He asks if she's "jumping off a bridge?" No that's Bree, kind of.   Renee asks Ben why he hugged Bree and Vance arrives to question Ben about his girlfriend, Bree.   Maliciously saying that to make waves between the two of them.   He's closing down construction on the site since Alejandro/Ramon made his last call from there.   How did he make his last call from there when he was already dead?  Does this mean Carlos didn't kill him but someone else did, maybe whoever sent the note to Bree?   Vance is shutting Ben down for as long as it takes.   Giving Ben motive also.

Tom talks about Lynette to Jane (Andrea Parker) and she'd like him to stop.   Look at Tom running off to Paris already with his new girlfriend/mistress.   Lynette confronts him in the men's room and shows him she's removed her ring.   She tells Tom about being an accessory.    Bree wonders why Vance didn't question her.   He's determined to bring Bree and the others down.   Gaby says this won't end until Vance is stopped, another motive from her.   Jane catches them in the loo and Tom says he's staying but can't tell her why.

Susan wants to move to NY cos Felix puts the idea into her head.   Bree deals with Vance and will sign a confession if he keeps her friends out.   He loves seeing Bree in pain, she's too resilient.   She has nothing else to offer.   Vance believes she should have taken his offer of marriage.   Well then she wouldn't have discovered how much of a psycho he really is.   Renee asks Karen (Kathryn Joosten) if Bree has been entertaining Ben lately.   She doesn't think Ben would cheat on her and Karen thinks Renee is hot.   She reminds her of herself 35 years ago and she should fight for Ben.   Renee would have liked to have met her 35 years ago.

Mike doesn't want to move and it won't deter Vance.   Susan no longer sees her friends anymore and wants to leave.   This also gives Mike a motive too.   Moving isn't his dream and once again it's about Susan once more.  Vance is pursuing a different angle on the investigation and shows Gaby a clipping of Alejandro.   Susan and Lynette all had a different reaction to the photo of him but Gaby smirked.   Why?  Ramon is Alejandro and he's opening an official casefile.   Now that's Gaby's motive as her world comes crashing down.   Carlos has checked out of rehab so he has no alibi.   Ben isn't home when Renee knocks and she sees Bree drive away.   Will she follow her and rescue her?  Seems likely cos she thinks she's meeting with Ben at a seedy hotel, like she did with Karl.   Not that Renee probably knows about Karl.   Vance is run over in the road.

Mary Alice: "Just when my friends needed each other most they find themselves utterly alone...one needed to find her husband...one the consequences of revealing a secret...but for one of my friends, the sense of isolation was so complete there might be no escaping it."  Bree sees Mary Alice in the flesh or imagines her and asks what happened to her prefect life on the Lane and her dear friends.    How did she lose it all?  Mary Alice replies things change and she's not unhappy where she is.   Bree picks up the gun...here the US had it's Christmas break but the rest of us will get the episode next week, even if it is two months late!   At time of writing.

Don't much like Gaby's high and mighty stance when she's the reason behind Bree's situation and yet she refuses to speak to her now.   She's so caught up in her own world that she doesn't see the tell tale signs of despair in Bree.   Same goes for Lynette and Susan dreams of running away, that'll make her forget her guilt.   Lynette possibly just sees it as a chance to hang on to Tom.   Yet they're all selfish.   Gaby is the cause of all their problems as far as Alejandro is concerned; and for the tightening noose now around their necks,  all cos of a smirk from Gaby.

An episode that was much better than the past ones with plenty of angst and it was also character driven but still being predictable in places.   Mind you Mary Alice appeared to be smirking at Bree, the way she smiled and replied, "things change." Willing Bree to pull the trigger like she did and prove she's just as weak.   Mary Alice wasn't prefect or had the perfect family but Bree is so very different to her.   She may seem aloof at times but has her head screwed on straight.

I'm still intrigued as to why Vance told Ben, Alejandro used his phone at the construction site.   No really and no one picked up on that.   Ben didn't want Vance hanging around there cos Mike reburied his body there.   Does Ben know he's buried there?   Surprised Vance didn't bring in Karen who is oblivious to what's happening anyway.

Death by car accidents also seen in 2.23  Remember and the conversation about the lie was also done in 21.6 A Little Night Music; part of Gaby's conversation.  Gaby: "You were doing that thing you do when you lie."  Carlos: "What thing?"  Gaby: "Oh like I'm gonna tell you."  Bree's motel room in 6.1 and Mary Alice appearing to Lynette when she was taking pills and having personal issues.   Nothing's changed then aside from the pill popping.   George (Bree's beau) was in seven episodes and was killed in 2.9 and Vance was also in seven episodes and was killed off in 8.9.  In season 6 Bree was at the motel room 217 with Karl.

The Closer - 6.11: "Old Money" Review

Flynn is attacked after leaving an AA meeting and this leads to one of his old cases and accusations of witness tampering. Fritz tells Brenda Tommy Delk may make her assistant Chief.

Flynn (Tony Dension) has just attended his AA meeting, when a man approaches him to speak about the meeting and how he stays sober.   As Flynn leaves and heads towards his car, he is attacked by a man with a knife.   Flynn manages to shoot him and calls Captain Raydor (Mary McDonnell) for help.   He gives her his gun and tells her what happened before passing out.   At the hospital, he wakes to find Provenza (GW Bailey) at his bedside with a balloon, stating "It's a girl."  That's all they had, how did I know that's what he'd say?   Brenda (Kyra Sedgwick) is also there.

Raydor tells Flynn if he can describe his attacker and ID him, then she'll take on the case, but if he can't then Major Crimes can investigate.   He says he can't and when she leaves he says he knows what his attacker looked like.   He was attacked by Bobby Harris (Michael Smith) and Provenza and Gabriel (Corey Reynolds) leave to check out his home.   Money is found there, which Tao (Michael Paul Chan) comments is a batch of 'old money'.   Flynn mentions his AA meeting and they're anonymous when Brenda asks him for a list of attendees. What was Brenda thinking?  The name suggests it's anonymous and he feels she should ask Fritz (Jon Tenney) about it.   Bobby was found where he was dumped in San Bernadino.   Flynn: "Who would want to kill me?"
Brenda: "Lots of people, I'm sure, but who would actually go through the trouble?"

At home, Brenda tells Fritz she should accompany him to his meetings, which he thinks is a good idea, but her real reason is wanting to find the man in the sketch, i.e Bobby.   Fritz asks for five minutes with her to canoodle and she leaves specifying she didn't say when that five minutes would be.   Before that, Fritz tells her Tommy Delk may be appointing her assistant Chief, but she doesn't want Pope's (JK Simmons) job, he's her friend.

The team search through all of Flynn's past cases and he notices Rick Zuman (Peter Paige) who was accused of money laundering.   His bookkeeper gave testimony against him and an FBI informant also vanished.   Brenda talks with Rick, whose case is on appeal since the witness against him, Florina (Svetlana Efremova) claims to have found God and changed her statement, saying Flynn coerced her into making it.

Raydor didn't tell Brenda about the investigation on Flynn cos she can't share that info under the law, showing Brenda, Flynn's large case file and gives her Florina's file.   Brenda confronts Pope as to why he didn't tell her about this investigation.   When given the chance, he gets to reply this is the first he's heard of it.   Brenda will make Florina come to her.   Taylor (Robert Gossett) and Gabriel go to her house in order to warn her about a hitman who has been hired to take care of the witnesses in the case.  Describing him as Hispanic in a blue hoodie and driving a certain car.   When they leave, Sanchez (Raymond Cruz) circles the house in his hoodie and looks through her window.   She calls 911 and Provenza receives a call back from the police, then tells them to ignore her calls.

Florina shows up as Brenda wanted and Brenda shows her the money they found.   Florina wants to revert to her original statement.   She was paid the money by Jeff (Michael Mosley) but she only has his number.   She arranges a meeting with him.   Buzz (Phillip P Keene) is annoyed Brenda is making a mess in his car.   Of course Jeff, turns out to be the man at the AA meeting and is enamored with Rick.   Brenda meets Jeff and tells him if he pays her money, she'll won't charge him with dumping Bobby's DB and gives him bags with a tracker inside.  Raydor arrives at the storage facility with Fritz who finds some of the bills match FBI serial numbers, part of their investigation when the informant disappeared.

Brenda bets Rick she can make him confess showing him the money and that Jeff made a statement, causing Rick to confess like she said.   Brenda notices Raydor's being nice to her so they can help each other out.   Brenda wants her five minutes with Fritz now in her office.   An episode where Brenda already has her plan to ensnare Rick by running a play on Florina, even before the end of the episode, since that's when her 'tricking' the suspect usually comes into play.   Here she gets to trick Florina and Rick as well.   Rick is thinking he could fool Brenda and win his appeal.   Sorry no one's managed to fool Brenda thus far and if they do, she gets her own back in the end anyway.

Perhaps Raydor was being nice to her just incase Brenda gets to be Assistant Chief, helping her out to get into her good books.   Fritz wouldn't mind Brenda getting the job either.   Even Provenza notices Raydor's up to something as he comments at the start.   She even said hello to Gabriel.

CSI: Miami - 8.12: "Show Stopper" Review

The CSIs investigate the death of a popstar and is Jesse's mysterious past beginning to catch up with him, after Calleigh questions him on using the Hummer for personal reasons.

A singer bursts into flames on stage and is pronounced dead by the EMTs.   Ryan (Jonathan Togo) points out their evidence is on the gurney, but her doctor, Dr Beckham (Alan Ruck) isn't interested.   Ryan did however manage to snag the costume.   Calleigh (Emily Procter) wonders how the world's greatest popstar could have caught fire and survived.   Ryan says she didn't survive.   Horatio (David Caruso) arrives.   The way Horatio drove to the CS in slow motion with the crowd outside, looked like they were all waiting to see him!  ME Tom (Christian Clemenson) is in a bit of a huff since he can't get access to the Vic.   Horatio telling them to get out of his way, cos he's taking charge of the situation.    ME Tom doesn't see any signs of edema from the lungs so she wasn't breathing when on fire.   Horatio spells it out, "She was already dead."

Jesse (Eddie Cibrian) talks with the pyrotechnic guy and asks if anyone could have tampered with them.   They were meant to go towards the audience.   Jesse believes the fire masked who killed Phoenicks.   She was sprayed with bronzer beforehand and so was covered in accelerant as Calleigh puts it.   The make-up woman inadvertently states "she shouldn't have burned."  Ryan comments she was flat-lining when she was here.

Julian (Brennan Elliott) her manager calls her death an 'inconvenience'.   Horatio: "I call it obstruction."  He was backstage when it happened but she didn't have any enemies (that was an understatement.)  He comments people become targets when they're famous.   Rick Stetler (David Lee Smith) corners Calleigh to ask about the mileage discrepancy in her log.   She can't account for it and tells him Jesse borrowed the Hummer, too late, she already put her foot in and dropped him in it.   Then tries to backtrack by saying she can't remember.   Cos she's gonna have it out with Jesse later.

Walter (Omar Miller) comments on how tiny Phoenicks dress was and he was a fan.   He has such eclectic tastes in music and other pursuits doesn't he, also confessing to liking rock music a few episodes back.   Ryan isn't a fan, "I'm not an 11 year old girl."  That was really dismissive and abrupt from him.   Sometimes it's hard to tell what's going through his head.     Ryan notices a point of ignition on the dress and some strange metallic wiring on the dress.   Her designer didn't design her clothes and the wires weren't part of the dress.   Julian dealt with everything.

Travers (Christopher Redman) identifies the wiring as copper from a stun gun, which in turn ignited her make-up, the bronzer.  ME Tom explains her COD was a heart attack resulting from fatal muscular interruption.   No stun probes were found on the DB.   Ryan comments on her having a nose job, but she hasn't had one and her wisdom teeth are still intact too.   Horatio: "Who is this?"  It's not Phoebe Nichols (Lucy Hale) on the table, but Vanessa Patten.   Phoebe quit.   No one else knew except Julian and Horatio calls that fraud.   Melanie Nichols, (Jackie Debatin) Phoebe's mother and manager tells Calleigh she was fired.   Phoebe also emancipated herself.   (Get the impression this was really based on Britney, and other teen popstars of today; at least parts of her character.)  Calleigh thinks Phoebe may be the real target.

Dave (Wes Ramsey) reconstructed the CS, of sorts, with the use of the footage from cameras and phones and recreated the concert.   A 180 degree picture of the events reveals a pickpocket in the crowd stealing her bracelet.   Identified as Robbie (Erik Scott Smith) she owed him money and he's her number 1 fan.   An obvious clue, it's always the number 1 fan who has the greatest involvement in such cases.   She ignored him and Ryan notices his bitterness.   Calleigh checks Phoenicks' website and Jesse asks her if it's personal or business.   Phoebe is actually alive and Jesse associates this with Elvis.   Calleigh adds Elvis is actually dead.   Jesse: "Is he?" There's one place owned by Phoebe's umbrella company which they haven't checked out.   I was about to ask when Calleigh was going to confront Jesse about the mileage but I thought too soon, ha.   Jesse is defensive when she does ask and he's very angry saying he'll handle it and then apologizes for his outburst.

Inside they hear singing coming through the walls, leading to Phoebe.   (In a scene almost similar to the CSI season 11 House of Hoarders episode; where the mother had her daughter tied up as she was a killer.   Only Phoebe wasn't a killer here and her mother was guilty.   As was so obvious.   Oh and CSI:Miami filmed this a year earlier.   Jesse thinks she was drugged with sedatives and Calleigh notices something in her arm.   Jesse processes the house and finds a bottle of Haloperidol.   Tripp (Rex Linn) brings in Dr Beckham and tells him not to play dumb.   She was drugged since she suffers from mania and was to be kept drugged for the duration of her tour.   He didn't kill her but Horatio says she'd have become a living legend if she died during a performance.

Calleigh reassures Phoebe her whereabouts won't be revealed during the investigation.   Phoebe dreamed of being a singer but doesn't want that anymore.   The implant in her arm was a GPS tracker.   Phoebe bonds with Calleigh since she's the only one who shows her any kindness and doesn't want her to leave.   She promises to return later.   Dave examines the tracker and finds the signal hasn't been deactivated.   Conveniently, as in the previous episode, the web feed was still active leading to the suspect.  This leads to Melanie who was tracking her as Julian wouldn't let her near Phoebe.   Watch her look down and left when Calleigh questions, always a sure sign the suspect is lying.   Phoebe thinks it's weird looking at her own funeral, but this should be for Vanessa, not for her.   Calleigh reassures Phoebe she'll find something else to do; but she has to let people know she's still alive.

Walter and Ryan process the evidence and Walter notices the bracelet is still here.   Ryan tells him to take it to the evidence locker.   He asks Ryan to use ALS (Alternate Light Source) to examine the bracelet; revealing a sticker on it.   Ryan calls it an anti-theft microtag.   Walter thinks it's from the stun gun, so the serial number can be traced.  All stun gun models have microdots when they're fired and the number can be tracked to the stun gun.   Which was traced to Robbie, as we knew all along.   He protested too much about not knowing it was Vanessa and not having a stun gun.   Melanie was his accomplice and she wanted to reveal Vanessa as a fake.   It's always parents who do it for the money and fame; living vicariously through their children, cos it's what they always wanted.   See previous CSI: Miami episodes where this has been done.   Such as Cyber-lebrity.

Jesse apologizes to Calleigh for earlier, allowing her to get things off her chest.   She doesn't know what to think and doesn't know him.   Well that's true, he left when she arrived and has only just returned; so she wouldn't have known him that well in the space of a few months.   To her, he walks around "with an air of mystery" and she knows he's hiding something.   (Don't think she can read Delko (Adam Rodriguez) as well either and she's known him longer.   Well rather Jesse walking around mysteriously, than Delko! is what I say.)  She's seen all this before and wonders if she can trust him.   So finally getting Jesse to spill: that he's been following a woman he knew in LA.   She's in danger as he knows the man she lives with.   He worked on an investigation in LA where a woman was killed by her husband and it was this same man.   He also killed Jesse's wife.   His lawyer got him off.

So the mystery deepened as far as Jesse's past was concerned, but still brought up more questions than answers; such as when he was married, for how long, what really happened and is he telling the truth now or do we still think he's nothing but a stalker with nefarious intentions.   Calleigh took him at his word, which either makes her really gullible, trustful or was she just stringing him along, pretending she believes him.   Since she didn't have much to say after that.

However, questions aside, we know Jesse isn't bad, Horatio wouldn't have him working here if he was and look how many times Ryan's been in trouble and he's still here.   Jesse calls his use of the Hummer a personal errand, which is exactly what it was.

Rick on the scene and the bracelet not being placed in evidence is a future plotline in itself.   But you know by now whenever Rick's on the scene, nothing is ever simple or straightforward which is good.   It's like he has a menacing effect and keeps the show interesting.

Ryan, unlike Stella (Melina Kanakaredes) in the CSI:Miami/CSI:NY intro episode, MIA/NYC-Nonstop, didn't manage to be as intrusive as her when wanting evidence from the Vic before being taken away on the gurney.  

CSI: Miami loves its fire/pyrotechnics episodes.