The Closer 7.3 "To Serve With Love" Review

Flynn (Tony Denison) and Provenza (GW Bailey) think it's easy money when they're hired to serve papers by a lawyer.  They can find the man by using a phone number and Buzz (Phillip P Keene) knows how to track him down.  Provenza offers Buzz a third, $200, but they're getting more.  Steven Hirschbaum sounds familiar to Provenza.  Of course they're keeping the actual money amount from Buzz.  Buzz's car has a broken taillight which I noticed when they went into the hotel.  Hirschbaum is served but doesn't want them to leave, claiming he's afraid.  Gunshots are heard when they are outside and his DB lands on Buzz's car.  Provenza says they should call Gabriel (Corey Reynolds) and the others.

Provenza lies about them being here to take Buzz to dinner.  Tao (Michael Paul Chan) finds three casings and Sanchez (Raymond Cruz) finds the photo with Provenza posing with Hirschbaum (Adam Arkin).  Fritz (Jon Tenney) arrives.  Brenda (Kyra Sedgwick) isn't happy about them moonlighting and doesn't want to talk to Provenza who asks for her signature to make their off-duty working legal.  Doyle (Andy Milder) the lawyer called them. Brenda's angry cos of Raydor's transparency audit.  Fritz tells them only the FBI knew he was at the hotel.
Dr Morales (Jonathan Del Arco) finds Hirschbaum wasn't circumsized and is found to be Scott Esposito, an actor.  Gabriel likens Hirschbaum to Ken Lay who he believes is in Figi and Fritz tells Brenda it's the FBI's job to locate Hirschbaum.  Provenza and Flynn worry about not being paid and with just cause since it's apparent they won't be paid either, which is how an episode that's about them always ends up, with nothing but trouble.

Hirschbaum switched with the actor after he checked into the hotel.  Doyle claims to have been working at his office and that Hirschbaum's daughter, Andrea (Katie Lowes) gave him his private number.  Taylor (Robert Gosset) is about to brief the press on the murder and Brenda and Fritz don't tell him Hirschbaum's still alive.  Pope (JK Simmons) thinks his widow is hot.  Brenda thinks calling her a widow is premature and Pope agrees to the LAPD rep lying to the press since it's only Taylor.

His wife, Shannon (Amy Gumenick) repeats three times that she had an argument with him and he left;  uh oh a case of a dumb blonde.  Whereas Andrea wants a copy of the death certificate already.

Tao finds Esposito's phone is still in use and Brenda suspends Flynn and Provenza for 72 hours and gives them the number to track down the number.  Buzz refuses to help.  Provenza convinces him Doyle will pay for the car and an extra $200 will be his.  Provenza flashes his badge off duty to send the limo driver away and Provenza gets hit by Hirschbaum's phone.  Buzz drives up for a quick getaway when the FBI arrives.  Thought they couldn't find him.

Hirschbaum says he didn't steal the pension funds and Provenza calls Sanchez who tells him about the FBI thinking he's been kidnapped.  Brenda speaks to Provenza pretending it's Taylor in front of Fritz, so you knew that he'd walk in.  Shannon was the only one who knew he was at the hotel, she was too ditzy to have wanted him dead.  She also knew of his girlfriend, Lisa, their personal trainer.  Small world.  Brenda notices Buzz's taillight.

Hirschbaum offers the three money to look the other way which Provenza is tempted to accept.  Buzz is shocked they're thinking of accepting it.  Fritz shows Brenda sketches of Flynn and Provenza.  Buzz discovers his light was broken outside the lawyer's office, obviously it was him and Doyle follows them back to the motel after Provenza gets another subpoena from him.  Doyle is arrested as he tries to break into the motel and Fritz arrests Hirschbaum who entered his offshore account numbers into the phone.  Pope tells Taylor he took one for the team and he should be able to put a positive spin on arresting a murderer or he's in the wrong job.

The Vic's blood and bullets were matched to Doyle and his car.  Doyle claims he only killed an actor, was that meant to be funny?  He's broke and doesn't have any money so they won't be getting paid.  Knew that was coming.  Buzz gets the reward since he's a civillian and he bought the phone Hirschbaum used.  He gives them a third, $200 each like they were giving him.

Flynn knew things would go wrong from the outset, "anything that starts with you whispering, ends up with other people shouting."  Well if that's the case then the same can be said for last episode when Provenza whispered to Brenda about Raydor wanting to question everyone.  Oh and the wife sitting behind the daughter in English class was a funny line.  Kenneth Lee Lay whom Gabriel mentions was CEO of Enron.  He suffered a heart attack before sentencing in 2006 and conspirators claimed he was living in luxury somewhere as the funeral was held in private and he was cremated.

Supernatural - 1.14: "Nightmare" Review

Sam's visions increase and become more painful. One vision leads them on the trail of a boy who turns out to have had a similar experience as Sam when younger.

A man drives home and gets locked in a car, the engine starts and he dies inside.   Sam (Jared Padalecki) has a vision and they need to go.   Dean (Jensen Ackles) thinks it's probably just a nightmare.   Sam hasn't seen the man before, his name is Jim Miller (Cameron McDonald).  Sam pretends to be Sgt McGready over the phone using the number plates from the car to get an address.

Saginaw, Michigan.   Jim is already dead when they arrive and a woman thinks it was suicide.   He seemed normal an hour or two ago.   Sam wonders why he  has premonitions if he can't prevent them from happening.   Dean thinks it could be nothing supernatural.  Sam believes he was murdered by something, he watched it happen, something trapped him and he doesn't know what's happening.   Dean tells him he's worried and he looks like crap.   They check out the house.   Dean knows people talk to priests and so they dress up as priests.   Sam: "This has got to be a whole new low for us."

They're called Fathers Frehley and Simmons.   Dean pigs out on cocktail sausages.   Sam: "Tone it down Father."  Dean asks Alice Miller (Beth Broderick) if her husband had a history of depression.  He was found by Max (Brendan Fletcher), they moved here five years ago.   Dean then comes out with his usual questions about having electrical problems, hearing odd noises at night.   He was a normal father.   Max woke up and heard the engine.   Sam: "it's tough losing a parent especially when you don't have all the answers."

Dean uses the EMF upstairs and doesn't find any cold spots, or a sulphur scent, he used an infra red scanner.   Sam thinks it could be be something else and not the house, he's right.   Sam now has a vision of Jim's brother, Roger, (Avery Raskin) getting decapitated near the window in his apartment.  Dean asks Sam if he's going to be sick cos he doesn't want the car getting dirty, especially the upholstery.  His visions are more intense and painful, he's also getting them when he's awake.   He wonders why it's happening to him and why they're connected to Sam.  Dean: "It doesn't freak me out."

They try to stop Roger but he doesn't listen to them and goes into his apartment.   They try the fire escape but it's too late.   Dean wipes their prints off the railings.   Inside there aren't any signs of anything.   Sam saw a dark shape in his vision, perhaps being connected to the family itself, like a vengeful spirit.   Dean mentions some have attached themselves to families, such as Banshees, like a curse.   Sam thinks it could be revenge as the men in the family are dying.   In that case it could also point to a woman killing them off.

Sam believes Max may be in danger.   Sam: "I know one thing I have in common with these people - both our families are cursed."
Dean: "Our family's not cursed, we just have our dark spots."
Sam: "Our dark spots are pretty dark."
Dean: "You're dark."

They dress as priests again.   Sam finds that Jim and Roger were close, they used to be neighbours.   Max used to live in the other house.   Dean asks if he had good memories or if anything unusual occurred involving Jim and Roger, he's just asking.   Max calls them normal.   Dean replies no one's family is normal.   He should know speaking from personal experience.   They speak with neighbours and one of them recalls the family.   Max used to be beaten and yelled at.   His father was a drunk and Roger was like him too.   Max's stepmother, Alice did nothing to protect him.   He called the police and Max's real mother died in a  car accident.  

Sam has another painful vision and sees Max terrifying Alice, she did nothing to stop the beatings.   He levitates the knife towards her eye and stabs her.   Sam knows it's Max now and he's using telekinesis.   Dean: "he's a spoon bender."  Sam was connecting with Max.   They both have psychic abilities.   Dean calls him a monster, what happened to him doesn't justify Max murdering an entire family.   Sam is adamant they're not going to kill him, he's a person and they can talk to him.   Dean takes his gun anyway.   They burst through the door.   Max sees Dean's gun in the mirror's reflection when he opens the door.   Max uses telekinesis to shut the door and windows and also takes Dean's gun.   Sam says he's not lying, he saw Max kill them all.  He's having visions about Max.   Sam was drawn here to help him.   Dean doesn't want to leave Sam alone with him.

Dean takes Alice upstairs.   Sam can't understand what he must have gone through and he has to let her go.   Max was beaten last week.   Max calls his ability a gift when he found out he could move things, he was no longer helpless.   He knew he had to kill his father,  it's about not being afraid.   Max was blamed for everything including his mother's death.   She died in the nursery when he was asleep in his crib.   She burnt whilst pinned to the ceiling.   Sam knows it true cos it happened to him too.   Something killed them.   That's why he's having visions in the day.   He got his ability about 6 or 7 months ago.   Sam thinks they are chosen.   Sam and Dean are hunting for the killer.

Max insists in not letting her go, but Sam tells him his nightmares won't end, he's not alone.   Max locks Sam in the closet.   Dean tries to stop Max and he shoots him dead with a levitating gun.   Luckily and as we already knew, it was only Sam's vision.   Sam uses his anger to move the dresser from in front of the door, telekinetically.   Sam tells Max this isn't right and it won't solve anything.   Max turns the gun on himself.   Alice informs the police that Max threatened her with the gun and attacked her.   Sam and Dean are family friends and tried to stop him.

Sam still believes he could have gotten through to him.   Dean doesn't want him to torture himself.   Sam is glad they had Dad (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) they were lucky.   Dean never thought he'd hear Sam say that.   If he had drunk more tequila and less demon hunting, then they'd have had no childhood at all.   Well Sam had a childhood, Dean not so much.   They turned out fine cos of Dad.   Sam ponders why the demon killed their mothers.   Dean doesn't believe it's about Sam (he was wrong) but the demon.   Sam lets Dean in on his telekinesis and Dean gives him a spoon to bend.   It's not something he can control but Dean doesn't think it will happen again.   Sam asks Dean if he's worried Sam may turn into Max (well not until next season.)  Dean isn't cos he's got him.   Dean suggests they should go to Vegas cos of Sam's premonitions and win big.

But maybe deep down, Dean may be a little concerned, but this won't come to fruition until the end of the season.   Lots going on here with the revelation Max's mother was also killed in the same way as theirs.   With us fans being given just enough on there being others like Sam out there, just to keep us drawn in.   Yet they didn't wonder why Sam had those powers as no one else in their family does.   Dean again making light of Sam's abilities when Sam is serious, Dean doesn't want to think about anything that deep.

The episode where they dress as priests causing lots of palpitations and plenty of Hail Mary's to be said, ha.   No really, who'd have believed they could be such hot priests!  Sam played the more convincing priest cos of his own spirituality, as we'll see later, Sam prays.   Also priests wouldn't gorge on food like Dean!  Their names Fathers Simmons and Frehley were members of the band KISS.

Sam played Det McGready on the phone at the start, this was a character from the film, Home Room.   Was it better for Max to turn his anger on himself when he was found out, if that's the case why didn't he just end it years ago, not that I'm saying it was the right thing for him to do, but he just seemed to give up when they arrived.   Also we see Sam's caring side here, he'll try and talk an Eskimo out of an igloo before he has to resort to violence and killing.   Dean is ready anyway: think later, act first being the hunter that he is.   Then again, it was almost always Dean who had to do the killing in the early seasons, or Dad and Sam was kind of shielded from all that.

Sam's ability of telekinesis only appeared when he knew Dean was in danger.   (See season 1 finale.)

CSI: NY - 7.1: "The 34th Floor" Review

Lyndsay shoots Shane Casey, rescuing Danny and Lucy. Whilst newest recruit, Jo Danville, stumbles across a body in their deserted crime lab. Surprised no one is there to greet her.

This new season 7 episode opens where it left off last season, with Shane Casey (Edward Furlong) holding Danny (Carmine Giovinazzo) and their baby at gun point in their home.   This was Lindsay's (Anna Belknap) attempt to play 'macho woman', now that Stella (Melina Kanakaredes) has gone.   No, really, Lindsay has even taken to wearing high-heeled stilettos (one of Stella's traits in the show.)  Anyhoo, moving on - this cliff-hanger from last season, wasn't so much a hanging-off-cliff moment, waiting for Lindsay to fire the bullet and put us out of our misery in not having to watch her macho posturing and inflating nostrils, for too long, and kill Casey.   This was CSI:NY's attempt to give this bland character some backbone and make her interesting, failing miserably.   It'll never work, Lindsay's not your average Cat (Marg Helgenberger) or Sara (Jorga Fox) from CSI who can portray bucket loads of gumption and emotion in one blink of an eye.

As my friends and family will attest to, as soon as season 6 was over and even before the end credits rolled, I opened my big mouth and told everyone it was Lindsay who fired the gun, and that's all that happened.   Okay, I hate being right, but what can you do!  It was the only logical explanation, since in TV world, none of the regulars get shot, fatally, only wounded, but never killed off, unless they're leaving or it's a radical move on the part of the writers.

Careless Lindsay then drops the gun to the floor, it could have gone off, or misfired, that was mind bogglingly clumsy with a baby in the house, and she calls herself an officer.   Of course Lindsay would shoot Casey with his taunts.   Mac (Gary Sinise) arrives on the scene to provide comfort for her, as she and Stella were his obvious favourites.

5 months later and bland Lindsay is being awarded the Combat Cross (officers do more in the line of duty, than she did here!  Hey Flack (Eddie Cahill) never even received so much as a thank you, when he was injured by the bomb in season 2, when he tried to get that man out of the building before the bomb exploded, making him the last one out, bearing the full brunt of the explosion!! And his life hung in the balance.   Okay, I'm biased.

Whilst receiving her medal, she has more flashes to the night in question and the shooting.   Mac, unofficially shutting down the lab, since the workers wanted to come down for her.   Most of them wouldn't even have met her, let alone know who she is.

New recruit, Jo Danville (Sela Ward) arrives arrives to find the lab deserted and a DB (dead body) to boot.   Danny hopes this doesn't become a regular occurrence, i.e.  finding bodies in the lab before they've read the paper.   Jo comments she thought the crime lab was "BYOB: bring your own body."  (Yes we guessed that before it was spelled out for us.)  Since there's no Stella, someone had to carry on the comedic proceedings (even if they are distasteful a lot of the time).   Mac has time to play pleasantries with Jo, but orders the workers abruptly to their duties: "Hey, what the hell are you doing - incase you missed it, we have a murder victim in the lab!"  Er, that's what they were looking at.   Wouldn't find Horatio (David Caruso) or Gil (William Petersen) treating his staff like that, or even shouting to them either! To quote Abby (Pauley Perrette) from NCIS "Bite your tongue!" Mac.

It's ascertained that the murder victim, Sarah Nelson, (Katie Boggs) doesn't work in the lab, but in the same building, since she pressed the button in the lift (elevator), which was to their floor, she knew where to come.   Mac tells Jo they usually greet the new recruit with a practical joke, not a real murder.   Since when, didn't see any pranks being played on Lindsay when she arrived in season 2.

Rigour suggests the DB's been there for 8 hours.  She was choked before she died and there's strange peticule hemorrhaging in her eye.   Mac's impressed with Jo's initial findings and questions how she got to their floor, er, in the lift.  CS (crime scene) analysis, with flashbacks, shows how Sarah could have arrived on their floor.   She doesn't have a bag or jacket, so she must've worked in the same building and since she pressed that button in the lift, she knew this was a crime lab.   (Thought the crime lab would be a crime lab, i.e.  have an exclusive building, just like they did in season 1 not share with others.)

Flack introduces himself, no one introduced Jo, they had to do it for themselves, or she introduced herself, that was rude.   Flack: "they don't usually murder people in the lab - this is new to them." (Eddie's let his hair grow, thus the action had to move on 5 months too, since everyone's got a new or different style.  Preferred Eddie with his shorter style myself.)

Lindsay attempting to play tough guy, as in not needing to be analyzed by the Department shrink, routine in all officer-involved shootings.   (Lisbon (Robin Tunney) in The Mentalist did a much better job in season 2 of protesting and not wanting to open up!) Lindsay was just downright rude, especially when she tells her she doesn't need to know her personal life history, Well I don't either!

Adam (AJ Buckley) fingerprints Jo and she accuses him of coming onto him, for fun, she's read his 'thick' FBI file - which Adam being Adam, makes him nervous.

Jo finds a tissue with lipstick in the office where Sarah worked and deduces she was ready to go out, or to meet a man.   Danny finds she was pushed against the window but not stabbed there.   Hawkes (Hill Harper) finds gravitational blood drops indicating where she was stabbed.   Flack tells them the security cameras were tampered with.   Sarah was killed whilst Mac was still at work.

Sid (Robert Joy) analyzes her eye to find thread-like strands in her eye was not peticule hemorrhaging.   She was also pregnant, which provides them with a motive, though they haven't worked this out yet.   The murder weapon was something with double blades and Sid suggests it could be scissors. Jo analyzes Sarah's expensive clothes and surmises she was seeing a rich, married man.   Adam accesses her phone and discovers she had 'Enemy X' programme on there, which indicates the location of people she wanted to avoid.

Lindsay receives a gift from Stella to congratulate her on her bravery award, she's the boss in New Orleans now.   Probably throwing her weight around at the NO crime lab now!  She sends her a frame with a bravery quote.  Oh how thrilling (not.)  Since Stella was a main character, it was left for an ancillary character, like Lindsay to tell us where she's gone and that took a while coming.   Mac consoles Lindsay by telling her she's a warrior and "can't be broken."    He wouldn't do that to any of the guys on his team, he'd be ordering them back to work ASAP.   Danny returns the medal she threw away.

Flack's got his jackets back, so when do the suits and ties return.   That's what I'm holding out for, ha, (amongst other things) that and the appearance of David James Elliott!!

Sarah's phone leads to their first suspect Rudy Aronika, (Lawrence Monoson) who couldn't have been the father of her baby since he had a vasectomy, so she was seeing someone else.   Flack comments on Jo's interview methods with the box of tissues on the table as an added touch.   Mac bet her a steak dinner the tissues wouldn't work, well they did, but no mention of the dinner later.   Odd they had Flack ask Mac what he thinks about the suspect, since usually he'd give his own opinion.

There's a hit on the blood from Sarah's blouse, indicating the victim of a mugging, Teddy Westwick.  (Brett Tucker) he has a pet tarantula and is married.   Big clue when he tells them his wife and daughter are everything to him.   His arm was cut when he was slashed in the mugging and he claimed not to know Sarah.   Flack tells him scissors are a strange form of weapon to be used in a mugging.   (See later when Jo also says this.)  Flack wonders what the mugger could have wanted from his office, if he came to see him here and then attacked him on the street.   So, if Teddy was walking home when he was attacked, then why was there blood only on his shirt and not on his jacket etc.

Lindsay gets a hit on the mystery prints belonging to burglar, Alex Brodevesky (Sean MaGuire).The scissors were used on both victims.

Cue chase time: one of my favourite bits are the Flack/Danny chase scenes!  That's what we live for!  Danny jumps down from the balcony after Alex and lands on the sofa, Flack telling him it's his turn to jump.   Flack takes a flying leap onto Alex and gets punched in the face for his troubles.   Ouch.  Why was Danny jumping from a height when he's just recovered from his shooting.   Also the Flack/Danny interrogation scenes make this show.  Alex saw Teddy kill Sarah, that's why he attacked him in he street, Alex was stabbed in the back and used the scissors on Teddy in self defence.

Jo concludes the burglary was premeditated and the scissors were grabbed in the heat of the moment.   She conducts an experiment in the lab on how the blood was found on Teddy's shirt cuff.   She knows they can't decide whether a suspect is innocent or guilty, but she's going to see if the "science proves my theory."   She's attempting to create new rules - this gives her the quirk to her character.

Adam finds Alex pushed against the wall in the struggle and Hawkes explains the arterial spray from Teddy's wound was on the newsstand, nowhere near where Teddy was stabbed, so Alex was stabbed first.   Jo: "know every answer - leave no questions." Another one of her mottos.   She's not sure how the blood got inside the cuffs of Teddy's shirt, it could only get inside from a 'stabbing motion'.   So Teddy stabbed Sarah.  The strands in her eye are identified as tarantula hair.

Teddy realizes he's been busted, but how did he know this, what he heard the sirens several floors down!  As he's already on the ledge of the building, unless we didn't get to see him run when Mac turns up.   Sarah was going to ruin his family's life with the baby. NB note Flack's hair is combed down by the time he reached the outside of the building.   Also Mac fires his gun even before Teddy got his gun fully out.   Trigger happy there.   How did he know Teddy would actually fire?

Mac tells Jo all of his cases are like this and welcomes her to the New York crime lab.   Jo: "She's still a beautiful city."  Nice to have a parting comment about the city since the show is set in New York.

CSI:NY is guilty of hiring Aussie soap rejects as guests, first it was Holly Valance from Neighbours, Sharni Vanson from Home and Away (whom AJ Buckley dated for a time) and then Brett Tucker from Neighbours.   British viewers will recall Sean Maguire from Grange Hill  and London's Burning.

Desperate Housewives - 7.6: "Excited and Scared" Review

 Hallowe'en on Wisteria Lane sees Susan fired from her job, Mike leave for Alaska and Bree finds out about Keith's probation for assault. Juanita is jealous of Grace and asks Gaby what's so great about her.

Mary Alice (Brenda Strong) narrates how Renee (Vanessa Williams) is afraid she won't be the centre of attention anymore and so she's decided to keep the tradition she had of throwing a Hallowe'en party in New York.  It's not for children since you can't swear in front of them.  Tom's (Doug Savant) mother, Allison (Lois Smith) asks Lynette (Felicity Huffman) to buy her some handcream.  She asks Allison to wake Paige up at 3.  Paul (Mark Moses) takes his wife, Beth (Emily Bergl) to a counsellor, who tells him he should "date" his wife.  She confesses she's still a virgin.

Susan (Teri Hatcher) admits to Mike (James Denton) what she was doing on the web in her lingerie and he's frustrated he can't provide for his family.  He should have taken the job in Alaska.  She tells him Paul is blackmailing her into selling their house and he wants to hit him with a hammer.  Susan stops him, she'll take care of Paul herself.

Juanita (Madison La Garza) brags how she amassed two pillowcases of candy last Hallowe'en.  She finds Gaby's (Eva Longoria Parker) necklace in Grace's (Cecilia Balagot) room and takes it.  Gaby tells her she didn't steal it, but she gave it to Grace as she's "poor." Next time they're at Aunt Rosie's, Juanita can "recover" the gold earrings she's missing, since Juanita's good at "recovering" things.

Lynette returns home to find Paige is still asleep and Allison accuses Lynette of shouting at her.  It's so obvious there's something wrong with her, but Tom refuses to believe it, until she goes missing after going to the market to buy more candy.

Susan visits Paul with a basket of muffins and after finding a thumb-tack hole in the wall from the calendar, she advises him he's in breach of his lease agreement and has 60 days to vacate her house.  She takes a muffin and pounds on it with the hammer, warning him that's what will happen to him.  (NB watch out for the muffin disappearing from the counter top in the next shot.)  She doesn't know if there are raisins in the muffins as she has rats.

Keith (Brian Austin Green) takes Bree (Marcia Cross) to see his apartment.  She's surprised as she was expecting a bachelor pad, not potpourri.  He has a female roomate.  Paul informs one of the mother's from Susan's school about her "extra curricular activities" and gets her fired.

Lynette finds several bottles of handcream in Allison's case and Tom insists she's fine because she recalls everything that happened when he was at Camp Kickapoo.  He won't take her to the doctor, just as he refused to see one when he was depressed.  Bree is reassured by Keith's roommate that there's nothing more between them.  Bree finds a letter from State Corrections addressed to Keith.  Apparently, Renee knows he's on probation for assault.  He defended his girlfriend at the bar.  Renee asked the bartender before she went out with him.  Renee suggests Bree have an argument with him and if he hits her, then she'll know he's violent.

Gaby makes a princess outfit for Grace and when Juanita sees her in it, she wants one too.  Gaby makes her go as a dog because she knows the dog will get more candy than some "little Mexican girl!"  (But Grace is Mexican too!)  Beth pays Paul a weird compliment after their date and he tells her he needs someone he can trust by his side, before he misread the signals and kisses her.  She slaps him and he wants her to leave.

Renee dresses as Marilyn Monroe at her party and Keith doesn't recognize who she is, even after she sings "Happy Birthday, Mr President."  He calls her Michelle Obama.   (Well he knows who she is!)  Lee (Kevin Rahm) also turns up dressed as Marilyn.  Bree receives unwelcomed advances from a man at the party, she's dressed as a cheerleader and asks Keith to deal with him.   He loses his temper and tells Bree that's who he really is.  Bree says everyone comes with baggage and tells him she's the Fairview lush.

Juanita cuts Grace's hair when she gets the crown stuck in it, after she sees Gaby hug Grace when she gives her a candy.  Carlos (Richard Antonio Chavira) calls Lynette to pick up Allison and Tom turns up to witness her slap Lynette.  Gaby smashes up her house with MJ's club and is stopped by Beth with a gun, telling Susan to leave her husband alone.  Beth and Paul consummate their marriage.

Juanita asks Gaby what is special about Grace and Carlos tells Gaby she has to stop seeing Grace for a while, they have to protect their daughter.  Gaby replies they're both their daughters.  Mike leaves for Alaska or he'll end up killing Paul if he stays. Tom takes Allison to an assisted living facility.

Mary Alice ends by saying that people are in fear, some are worrying, some are learning the truth, others are being sent away.  "The world is a scary place -- it's even more terrifying when we have to face it alone."

CSI: Miami - 9.01: "Fallen" Review

The show returns with a bang or should that be gaseous explosion, as the CSIs battle to find evidence to bring psychopath Starling to justice for Jesse's murder. With the CSIs finally bidding farewell to one of their own again.

The episode begins with Horatio (David Caruso) rushing back to the lab, with Starling (Roger Bart) repeating a quote from Hamlet: "Revenge delayed  invites madness."  Don't know if that was a jibe at himself or the CSIs wanting to bring him to book for the murders of his faculty members.   Why didn't Delko (Adam Rodriguez) think about shooting out the window for air, instead of opting to carry out Calleigh (Emily Procter) and failing miserably in the attempt and dropping on top of her at one point.   No, it was left to Horatio to save the day and them and for Natalia (Eva La Rue) to find Jesse (Eddie Cibrian).   Also when last we saw them none of the CSIs had their lab coats on.   And what happened to the lab extra in the green jumper who was propped about all over the place in the season 8 finale.

They made a miraculous recovery after inhaling the halon gas which Delko describes as poisonous, no after or side effects for either one of them, so all the CSIs managed to crawl out into the hallway except for Jesse.   Natalia was the most distraught when she found Jesse, especially when she couldn't revive him and Horatio telling her "he's gone."  What a cop-out Jesse going like that, as are all the episodes where one of the CSIs gets killed off, viz Speed (Rory Cochrane), who was shot in Lost Son.  Here Jesse just hit his head when he fell and casually, or coincidentally  fell over the vent, inhaling the brunt of the gas.

ME Tom (Christian Clemenson) removes Jesse's clothes and comments his autopsy would have been even fuller if Horatio hadn't shot out the window.   He believes Jesse died from cerebral hypoxia.   Horatio explains oxygen deprivation, to clarify for those who don't know what that is.   There was no trace of any toxic gases.   He also suffered subdural hemorrhaging, hitting his head when he fell.   Horatio takes Jesse's badge, he'll deal with his things.   All the evidence they had amassed against Starling has been destroyed or compromised.   Ryan (Jonathan Togo) looking rather trim, says they have his gun, but Calleigh shoots that down (no pun) by adding the gun isn't linked to him.   Tripp (Rex Linn) says he doesn't know how Starling got the gas when he was behind bars but they'll find out.   Obvious answer being he had an accomplice and no surprises for guessing who, as Melissa (Kristen Hager) immediately comes to mind.   He was her mentor after all and so they were closely associated.

Horatio deals with Starling in no uncertain terms and tells him his name, Jesse Cardoza.   Starling has no regrets or remorse and only replies Horatio can't stop what's about to come.   Horatio tells the CSIs they need to get Starling for Jesse's murder and with all his past killings he left clues.   They start with the note Horatio was given and with Melissa.   Natalia has the dubious honour of trying to question Melissa who just wants to conveniently drive away and is deliberately evasive.   She wanted to be so helpful for her thesis when she was trying to get one over them, but now she doesn't have a word to say, not even after she's been told Starling killed a police officer.   That'll change.

Nikki (Alexandra Adi) tells Calleigh the note was printed on an inkjet printer, which uses wet ink so they could match it to Starling's printer.   Well he wasn't so clever using his own printer for starters.   Ryan is in the ventilation duct and finds traces of halon, which Horatio says is a fire repressant.   Delko adds it's been banned.   They open up the AC unit to find tanks of the gas.   Someone got into the AC system and again we're shown Jesse falling near the vent.   Not very good security for a crime lab if that can happen so easily.   In custody, Starling manages to remove one of his cuffs.   The lettering under the rust on the tank shows it belongs to Dade University.   Horatio being rough with Starling and the rest of the suspect's in this episode, don't get to see him heavy-handed very often, but still can't match the hands-on approach they had with Horatio when he used to help out int he lab, which is missed, cos these days he doesn't do much, except stand around, which is where the producers make their mistake.

Walter (Omar Miller) asks why no one's cleaned Jesse's face; he's still being processed.   They had a basketball game today which Walter would've won.   As we get flashbacks to them paying ball from the season 8.10 episode, Count Me Out.  His mother wants him returned to California and Horatio will make that happen.   He begins to clean Jesse's face and finds a piece of glass.   The glass was from the room and so he tells Natalia he wants to now where it came from.    The glass is tempered and there are roller marks on it.  The glass matches Starling's camera as there's another flashback to Jesse falling down , talk about rubbing it in.   Dave (Wes Ramsey) tells Walter the server's down and Jesse gave him a memory card to check.   Deleted photos can still be obtained from the card.

Ryan says there was 6% concentration of halon in Jesse's blood, so they can add to the area of a same sized lab and work out when Starling set off the gas and where he was at the time.   It takes 5 seconds to get to 6%.   Ryan does the math, or at least most of it for Delko, and they work out it took 35 minutes, "before we all fell down." As Delko says, but he wasn't even here.  Ryan says Starling was teaching, so he had an accomplice, well that took long enough and the first thought they have is of Melissa.  Who is tied up in her house with a gun rigged to the door, she had to have rigged it herself.   Horatio got to the the second floor pretty easily.   If Starling was meant to be so clever than all of them put together it's a wonder he didn't realize they would find out what he's done, they solved all his clues too.   She says a man was waiting for her when she got home and the gun belongs to Keith Garwood (Channon Roe) a janitor at the university, who was the dupe, the patsy.  

Three canisters of gas are missing and Horatio, again losing his cool, tells him the murder of a policeman carries mandatory death sentence.   Garwood's not talking since he doesn't want to be his fourth Vic, that should have been fifth; if you count all of the Vics, including the professor who survived when Natalia saved him.   Calleigh feels the rifle round weight is wrong.   The gun powder has been replaced with sand, so the gun wouldn't fire, which Delko says is lucky for Melissa.   Starling repeats "tick tock" whilst in solitary.   Nikki says the note had shiny areas on the paper, which makes Horatio think of invisible ink, which fluoresces under UV light.   Symbols have been drawn between the words which Horatio calls a cipher.   Natalia says different cultures depicted such symbols and the Mayans depicted 'end of days' as Horatio says.     Natalia mentions bubonic plague, prompting Delko to recall what was written on the cologne bottle in 8.24 All fall Down.

The server's down so they have to look through the books, manually, whilst Horatio just stands by and doesn't help.    The symbols read: 'Man Marks Earth Ruin'.  Travers (Christopher Redman)  repeats the Byron poem it's from, but he doesn't know what it means.  Horatio finsihes: "but his control stops at the shore." There's a bomb at Pier 25, near the Byron Hotel.   The bomb threat turns out to be a hoax, with 'poof' written inside the box, cos it's a distraction by Starling who is about to escape en route to prison, again that was apparent.   Tripp gets knocked around in yet another escape attempt by car.   They just happen to take him to prison already, thought they would have waited till the case was over.   There's gunfire from the van and again that was firing automatically.   Since if Starling rigged the rifle to fire automatically in 8.24, then he'd have done that again now; as Calleigh confirms it was a remote-rigged rifle.   Delko ask the silly question of how this was done when Starling and the accomplice were in custody, since duh, they have the wrong accomplice.

Horatio recalls Melissa had dud bullets aimed at her cos she wasn't meant to die.  Walter  and Dave find deleted photos of Starling and Melissa together on the memory card.   Horatio tells her she gassed his lab for Starling and all the evidence points to her.   She's taking the fall for him, but suddenly she wants to deal, whereas before she had nothing to say to Natalia.  Starling is making his getaway on a yacht, thought he'd have left by now and yanks the wire from her.   She killed a cop fro him and Starling thought she was smarter than that and admits she wouldn't have been able to gas the lab unless he told her how.   She shows him the real wire on her belt.   Tripp arrests him for Jesse's murder.   Horatio: "Jesse Cardoza was our friend."

Calleigh gives Jesse a Saint Christopher to send him on his way, dressed in his uniform.  "Have a safe trip."  They find Walter playing basketball, they knew he'd be here.   Delko: "We're always here for each other."  Ryan's on Walter's team cos he and Calleigh bet money and he's going to throw the game.   Ryan still talking about gambling.   Horatio throws a basket for Jesse, "this is for Jesse."

Shame to see another CSI leave the show in such a manner, seems everyone has to be killed off.   But Eddie Cibrian was a particularly great addition to the show.   Now who's going to find their clues and point them in the right direction.   His character of Jesse was particularly compelling and passionate, in that he was a CSI who cared about the Vics and solving crimes.   It was a pity he had to be killed off since his part could have been left open.   Also Adam Rodriguez returning to the show.   I don't have any qualms about making my feelings known and Delko was one character I never was into since CSI:Miami began and it was sad that one actor had to leave to be replaced by a cast member who never really left the show back in season 8.  Jesse was a little like Speed and his character was more interesting and had potential, just as Jesse did.   Speed questioned the job and their reasons for doing it, when at the end of the day, some criminals got away.   Delko more or less accepted the job.  Adam's photo in the opening credits, replaces Eddie's at the end.

Anyway Walter had a touching farewell with Jesse when he cleans his face.   Both happy and bitter sweet moments too.   Only fitting that a newer cast member Omar, like Eddie, was to share this scene with him, since they both got on so well.   Any fun scene was spared until the end as Jesse's mother wanted him back home.   No mention of a mother before now as is always the case.   First Jesse lost his wife and then we lost Jesse.   Next episode he'll be all but forgotten.

As for the storyline, well Starling was going to be caught by hook or by crook, it's the nature of the show and had to be done for justice for Jesse.    Starling's so-called intelligence was no match for the forensics and the CSIs and at the end of the day, that of an accomplice.   Emily being hidden behind set pieces and not being shown full view in front of the camera to mask her pregnancy.

CSI 12.15 "Stealing Home" Review

This was one of those CSI episodes where you don't know whether to laugh or to cry at how dismal it really was, especially considering the family feuding, done to death in CSI episodes and then this one took the prize as having the house as the killer.  Or should I say killer house comments.

Sara ((Jorga Fox) asks Nick (George Eads) if he's dating the nurse from last episode, see I said that didn't I in my last review.  The mega flirting that was going on there!  Then she asks about Doc Robbin' niece from 12.4 Maid Man and Nick's 'keeping his options open.'  Yay Nicky, we always knew he was a ladies man!  The scene doesn't show a murder or some other crime taking place as is usually the case but this time the crime's already been committed.  Dwayne (Jason Sklar)reports his wife missing and also his house has been stolen.  Nick asks if someone's "after the house or the wife?"

Finn (Elisabeth Shue) has to undergo her routine lie detector test and when asked if she's had sex with animals she replies her first husband was a dog and her second one was a pig.  DB (Ted Russell) knew she'd get that in.    At least she says the photo ID is much better than the Seattle one.  Just in case you can't recall she's from Seattle.  Morgan (Elisabeth Harnois) takes her on a tour of the lab, including unofficial tour.  Brass (Paul Guilfoyle) did I mention he was absent from the last episode, well I have now; finds the car belongs to Dwayne's wife, Debbie and Jimmy (Randy Sklar) arrives.  He being Dwayne's twin brother.  Marla (Kira Sternbach) is their sister and she's treated like dirt.  Ugh what a family.  No wonder Sara's glad she's an only child.  Nick posits if they figure out what happened to the house, they can figure out what happened to the wife.

Sara doesn't find any prints but Nick finds four sets of shoeprints.  He tells her how easily a house can be moved overnight, making him an expert on house removals too, ha.   Jimmy tells DB Debbie (Ashley Williams) loved to gamble and Dwayne says as a result they had to move in with his mother, who didn't leave a will.  Their father left ten years ago with their money.  Fred (Larry Anderson) moved in but he wouldn't steal the house, Marla says.  Dwayne threw Fred out and it was Debbie's idea.  Marla doesn't want the house and who can blame her with all the bad luck it carries.  It's definitely cursed.

Greg (Eric Szmanda) and DB are called to a CS where the Vic has been run over.  David (David Berman) doesn't find any ID on him but he has tread marks on his DB.  He lost an arm and a leg and was run over by a big rig, like the type needed to move a house but no one made that connection here!  DB notices there's not much blood and David adds his blood wasn't circulating.   Causing Greg to comment he was already dead.  Hodges (Wallace Langham) reads out the house number, '528' on the surveillance video.  Nick: "As opposed to the other houses stolen last night!"  Finn arrives and tells Hodges she heard about his tentacle fetish (revealed in 12.1 73 Seconds  And asks how he answered the sex with animals question on his lie detector test. Well, maybe he didn't have a fetish back then relating to octopus.

They map the route of the rig from the surveillance until it leads off into the desert.  Nick: "follow the destination, find the house."  He's been getting lots of those lines this episode.  He calls Brass for a helicopter to locate the house,  which was heading East.  Nick: "wrap it up, take it back to the house."  Which DB finds amusing! There's a DB under the house.  Finn says he's wearing "ruby red shoes."  Hey I was going to make the Wizard of Oz connection!  DB: "I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore."  The Wicked Witch of the East was killed when Dorothy's house landed on her after the tornado.

David finds the DB's chest concaved so he was crushed by the house when he was attempting to fix the jack holding it up when the house was being lowered.  Idiot!    Nick notices his shoe impression matches those he took from the house's original site.  He also recognizes him as Dennis from the surveillance photo.  Inside the house Finn notices the high velocity blood spatter and an air bubble on the wall inside the blood spatter indicating the blood was expirated.  The cast off pattern shows a short arc from beating and sharp force trauma.  The DB was stabbed four times.

Dwayne refuses to give a DNA sample and Debbie turns up alive.  She was out gambling, well lucky for her, even if she was a loser at gambling.  Now she can put up with more family feuding and join in too.  Doc Robbins (Robert David Hall) finds a piece of the murder weapon inside the Vic, the tip of the knife.  Greg says he was stabbed which makes it Finn's DB.  He's Fred as his DNA matched the blood from the house.  DB posits he fell out of the truck when it turned a corner.  Marla knew Dennis and asked him to steal the house as a favour, since he wanted to go out with her.  Sara: "that's one killer house."

Morgan and Nick search for knife in the house and Nick finds a skeleton in the closet.  The house has killed four people.  Morgan: "makes it a serial killer."  Possible blunt force trauma on the skeleton and Nick finds a dead blowfly showing the DB decomposed in the wall.  That was out of Edgar Allan Poe again.  Only he wasn't buried alive.  It's been dead ten years.  Again the clue being that's how long Walter's been gone when he left them.  So really that's a giveaway to the suspect.  Henry (Jon Wellner) comments their "mummy is a daddy."  The DB in the wall is the biological father of Marla.  Epithelials under Fred's nails match Dwayne which is why he was reluctant to give a DNA sample.  He claims they fought when he threw Fred out.

DB sends Morgan out "with boyfriend Greg" only she doesn't react to that; to look for the knife handle/blade.  They find some fragments on the road and a partial print is found after they join the pieces together.  Morgan was good at jigsaws.  It's a match for Walter (Jeff Kober) found on AFIS.  Nick sent the papers he found with the mummy to QD, which doesn't explain why he's the one who worked on them.  The DB was Tony, a handyman and he was Marla's father.  He wrote her mother letters and was her soulmate.  Tony was reported missing.  Her mother wanted to leave Walter.

Brass ran a search on Walter using his full name and found a hit.  He used his credit card in Vegas two days ago, not very clever when he could have gotten away with murder if he hadn't turned up.  Or would he?  I mean why bury the DB in the wall to begin with instead of disposing of it elsewhere.  He killed Tony and Fred caught him in the house when he was retrieving the skeleton.  He killed Fred and had to leave him behind cos the house was moving.

Finn threatens to divide the house for the siblings with a chainsaw and Marla donates it to charity since no one was willing to pay the bill for the damage the house caused.  Sara suggested Marla give it to charity to get out of paying.  Finn comments the lab is like family so why'd he want her here?  DB: "best of the best can only get better."  She doesn't want a repeat of Seattle, was that when he fired her as Greg mentions earlier on.

Even after catching the killer, not said if they found the rest of the house stealer's, surely they need to be found too and was Dennis really a dumb criminal, was he crushed by accident or killed, well it's a question no one thought of.

The Vampire Diaries - 2.20: "The Last Day" Review

Events heat up as they try to find a way to prevent Elena from being sacrificed. She and Stefan spend a day together as if it could be their last. Damon takes matters into his own hands, as only Damon would.

Elijah (Daniel Gillies) says tonight is the full moon and they should prepare to prevent Klaus from breaking the curse.   If Klaus (Joseph Morgan) manages to break it then he'll be a true hybrid.  Damon (Ian Somerhalder) wonders why he's letting them break it since they have Bonnie (Kat Graham).   Damon says he'll write her an eulogy.   Elijah explains the moonstone will channel the power of the full moon to release the spell in the stone.   Klaus's sacrifice must include one vampire and one werewolf.   He will then need to drink the blood of the doppelganger, "at the point of your death."

Elijah has an elixir with mystical properties for resuscitation which he got for Katherine.   Damon sarcastically comments that's his plan.   Oh and Damon doesn't wear a shirt either!  "A magical witch potion with no expiration date."  Elijah tells him the ring only works on humans but a "doppelganger's a supernatural occurrence" and the ring won't work for Elena (Nina Dobrev).   Elijah knows Klaus will have a werewolf by tonight, i.e.  it's meant to be Tyler (Michael Trevino).   Lockwood (Susan Walters) calls Tyler asking him to return, with a little persuasion from Maddox (Gino Anthony Pesi) and then throws her down the stairs.   Stefan (Paul Wesley) says they need to put their faith in Elena and bet on her instincts.   Damon says maybe he shouldn't be sure about her instincts.   Elijah warns the elixir may not work.

Jenna (Sara Canning) holds a crossbow on Alaric (Matt Davis) who has a message from Klaus after he let him go, the sacrifice will be tonight.   Tyler arrives back as he would do.   Matt (Zach Roerig) can't pretend anymore.   The sheriff (Marguerite MacIntyre) explains about vampires, her family was raised with this, it's all an act, he doesn't have a soul or humanity.   Thought Damon was the sheriff's ally but she thinks of him as a killer.   Matt wonders why the sheriff hasn't done anything since Caroline (Candice Accola) is her daughter.   Matt believes Damon is the problem, not Caroline.   Well he would say that.

Alaric doesn't recall anything of what happened to him.   Elena wants to make Damon understand why she's doing this.   Damon replies they want it to work but he's sure it won't.   He can't lose Elena and he turns into a vampire and makes her taste his blood.  This way he knows Elena will return if she dies.   Stefan wonders "How could you of all people take that choice away from her?"  They fight as usual and Damon comments Stefan only wishes he could have done it himself and stakes Stefan.   Elijah tells her that giving her vampire blood means the elixir won't work.   Damon doesn't know anything and Elena will never forgive him.   Elijah: "Never for a vampire is a very long time."

Alaric tried to protect Jenna from all this but she can handle it.   She's glad he's okay.   Jules (Michaela McManus) has been helping Tyler, oh look another werewolf, giving Klaus plenty of choices now.   Tyler left for a reason.   Madddox goes after Tyler and Caroline is attacked.   Damon messed up and meets Klaus at the bar.   "Klaus I presume." Damon and Stefan "Fancy my doppelganger."  That's old news cos they fancied Katherine too.   Damon asks for a month but Klaus has everything he needs for the ritual and if Damon wants to live then he should stay away.   Without a werewolf he can't perform the ritual.   Alaric says Damon will be dead anyway.   He'll help Damon.   Maybe Elena will forgive him then.   After all that, Alaric still helps Damon, but little does Alaric know his world is about to collapse around him.

Stefan takes Elena to the waterfall.  She knows how she feels and it's fine to tell Stefan.   As her last day as a human Stefan wants her to climb to the top of the mountain.   Alaric invites Damon in to see Katherine and he demands to know where the werewolf is.  Caroline is the vampire Klaus is sacrificing and he has Tyler too.   Damon tells her Elena has vampire blood in her system and he can compete with Stefan for Elena's love forever.   In the tomb the witches gave her vervain.

Caroline tells Tyler he shouldn't have come here.   Elena wonders what the best part of being a vampire is and Stefan replies, be anyone, do anything, "live more intensely, love more powerfully."  Emotions are too overwhelming so they turn them off.   Klaus asks what Katherine's been doing, compels her to take her bracelet off and stand in the sun, as a means of testing her.   She burns until he stops her.   Maddox asks which one Damon wants to save.   Matt shoots Maddox.   Damon's here to rescue Caroline and he knocks Matt out.   Jules helps Tyler deal with what he is.   Caroline deserved someone better than Tyler but she doesn't hate him.   He needs to get to his family's cellar and lock himself in.   Damon doesn't want Tyler to make him regret this.   Damon tells her Matt knows Caroline's a vampire.

Stefan knows Elena's thought about drinking vampire blood to survive.   He'd want to be with her forever, but it was selfish to ask her.  Damon did it cos he loves Elena but she loves Stefan.   Elena doesn't want to be a vampire and he doesn't want her to go with Klaus.   He tells Damon that Elena's already gone and Tyler turns into a werewolf, fighting Damon.   Elena's with Greta (Lisa Tucker).   Damon asks Klaus to postpone the ritual and he can kill him for it - it was all him,  "impulsive vampire in love with his brother's girl."  If that was the case then he and Elijah had feelings for Katherine yet they each were dismissive of them.   Klaus was aware one of the brothers would stop him.   Werewolves travel in packs so he's got Jules.   Didn't think of that did they.   Jules was the convenient little scapegoat.  Always have a back-up.

Luka's sister is in league with Klaus.   Katherine had to go along with Klaus or he'd know she was on vervain.   Jenna is Klaus's back-up vampire.   She's in transition.    Klaus couldn't use Damon cos he was bitten by a werewolf and was as good as dead.

So that's it then, Damon forces Elena to 'drink' his blood so she will turn into a vampire, perhaps if the sacrifice goes ahead and she  will come back as such.   How did he know this would actually work?  She's the doppelganger and not exactly the same as everyone else, i.e.  other humans since her blood is what Klaus craves, thus there are no guarantees she will actually turn.   This way as Damon comments - he'll know she will stay alive, once more he's so certain his 'plan' will work.   This he does even if Elena never forgives him. He'd prefer her around, to losing her forever.   That wasn't his choice to make - as Stefan and Elena later talk about her choice and if she'd ever want to become a vampire.   She decides against it.   She wants to grow old.

Well fine for Elena, she has/had a choice though it appears to have been temporarily removed from her for the present, but others like Jenna are put through the wringer with no such luck.   Stefan was too late to stop Damon from possibly 'converting' Elena and look there's another brother battle.  We couldn't see that coming.   Yeah I'm being sarcastic.   Elena is the 'meat' in the sandwich or the blood shake ha, even if technically she's Stefan's girl.   Damon just won't let her go.  He doesn't get the message and he doesn't want to either.   That's his choice.

So instead of being together, all romantic-like on their last day, potentially, as the title suggests, Stefan takes Elena to the waterfalls.   She must have seen those already; as if that'll be her final memory.   Matt comes to the rescue this episode. It's about time he took some action instead of wallowing and shoots Maddox.   He finally takes a stand against the sheriff, showing he does care about Caroline and will help her; but it's too little too late, cos she's kind of moved on to Tyler.

Greta clearly had not time for her family who were in search of her, since she wasn't "lost," she tells Elena.   She was too busy siding with Klaus to notice or care..

Jenna becomes part of Klaus's back-up plan, or rather he probably thought of her as this when he was 'possessing' Alaric.  Damon gets bitten by Tyler, knew that was on the horizon, but rest assured, no lead actor/character will be killed.   Though Damon is clearly doomed.   It's just a way to get some sympathy from Elena, well it won't hurt, when she eventually finds out.   Damon when he wanted Elena to come back as a vampire was so true to his character and it would be something only he would think of and actually go through with.

NCIS - 7.20: "Moonlighting" Review

The agents help Fornell investigate a killing and the suspects include a judge garnering a higher Federal appointment. Also Susan turns up to be a thorn in McGee's side all over again and Gibbs is in fear of having his secret outed.

A Navy Petty officer hears shots fired and ends up getting shot too.   McGee (Sean Murray) has killed a thousand people in a day, news courtesy of Tony.   According to Tony (Michael Weatherly) Palmer (Brian Dietzen) the,  'autopsy gremlin' is in the office, it's apparent what happens when sunlight hits his skin.  Commitment issues are part of this week's episode.   Ziva (Cote de Pablo) says it's not a record killing a 1,000 people.   Palmer has a henna tattoo.  Gibbs (Mark Harmon) comments they shouldn't get him wet, cos as Gremlins do, he'll multiply, ha.

Two duds tell what they heard and saw.   Gibbs tells them to use words, "helpful ones" and ask if they're sure there were 2 of them and not an echo.   They drove off.   McGee matches the fingerprints of one of the DB's.   Ducky (David McCallum) asks if McGee's magical new machine can tell him how they died.   Tony adds McGee should know it was a GSW to the head.   He killed people in a video game.   The other dead man was Petty Officer Roebuck (Andra Fuller) and the other DB was found hanging from the pier.   Tony used to like spending time with McGee.   McGee scans him too and an AFIS hit suggests to contact the FBI.   The petty officer witnessed a hit.  

Gibbs comments on Fornell's (Joe Spano) beard.   Fornell's undercover and Gibbs says he thinks he's Kenny Rogers.   Gibbs calls him 'The Gambler.'  Delmar (Mark Allen Stewart) was part of organized rime, he turned State's evidence and was in witness protection.   What about Gibbs and his beard/moustache in season 4, or should I say caterpillar!

Palmer scratches his back, he's around sand.   Ducky tells him sand mites bit him.   The COD is drowning and he had punctures on his feet.   Delmar was in FBI custody so Gibbs suspects they have a leak.   Tony starts to speak about middle school now and how the smart kids checked the dumb kid's homework.   McGee asks which one Tony was?  He doesn't answer so figure it out for yourselves.   Tony hopes Rick Sack's was the leak.  The FBI used Coopershawk Security, an outside contractor.   Tony: "...can't take what career criminals say at face value."  Therefore the punctures on the feet, pain doesn't give an accurate reading.   So how does he know? Has he tried this when taking a polygraph?

Fornell asks the judge Evelyn Wallace (Isabella Hoffman) who sat on the last trial to grant an order, which she refuses.   She was my suspect anyway.   She does allow them to have access to Delmar's testimony.   Fornell says he has a cup of coffee every morning and Gibbs says it's his fifth cup and it's not even 4 0'clock yet.   McGee finds a way to hack into Cooperhawk's and he looked before they saw the  judge.  The personnel file comes up with Susan Grady (Jackie Geary) the NCIS polygrapher.   Tony: "One of McGee's specialists - meaning she specializes in McGee." Susan got clearance from Director Shepherd (Lauren Holly) to go freelance.   Gibbs tells her it's not his fault she feels guilty.   The building explodes.

Abby (Pauley Perrette) uses a megaphone to give orders.   McGee says the explosion wasn't an accident.   Gibbs questions Susan.   She and McGee didn't have a relationship.   McGee adds she practically sexually harassed him.   Susan hugs McGee.   Vance (Rocky Carroll) has a surveillance camera in the conference room, but doesn't have one in the lift yet, so Gibbs' conferences are safe, for now.   Gibbs wants to borrow Vance's TV.   Vance replies everyone makes mistakes that's why God invented knocking.   Susan is treated like a leper at NCIS, like she's going to discover their secrets.   The Internet was down, so the techs came in.   That was a clue.  She believes fate brought her and McGee together again.   Vance calls her lucky or Gibbs says she may be involved.

Palmer makes a joke about carrying a rabbit's foot for luck, should get his money back.   Ducky: "If you've finished your multi-species insensitivity."  Tony makes sickly faces over the DB, but it's not the first DB he's encountered throughout his career.   He then tells Abby, Susan has taken a shine to McGee and she replies McGee is naive in matters of the heart.   Was that from personal experience, Abby?  However she mentions his last girlfriend tried to kill him.   In 7.7 Endgame.   Oh Ziva - where's she been all this time, goes on to ask my question when she wonders if Abby is speaking from personal experience.   Abby responds it's classified.   Also why has it taken Abby this long to be told Susan has a thing for McGee, surely she should have known already the rate they gossip at.

Cue McGee in Abby's lab with Susan, with a bed for her to sleep on.   Abby listens in to them on her computer.   Susan remembers not all the records were destroyed, she has some at home to study the data - she can't read people without her machines.   When they log on, someone is stealing files from her home.   Tony believes Susan knows something.   They ID a missing Coopershawk employee as Gus Templeton, (Daniel Sauli) the janitor.   McGee wants to go with Tony so he can avoid Susan.

Tony sees it as an opportunity to give McGee some lady advice, and McGee posits he'd rather get a lap dance from a nun.   Palmer's 'out-girling' him.   He should give Susan a chance, she's got a nice butt underneath.   So he's been checking her out.   Gus talks about arson and McGee says this wasn't mentioned to the media.   Gibbs says he's lying.   Ziva talks about subtle tells to notice he's lying but to Gibbs, it's all about the gut, he's never been wrong.   Ziva thinks McGee might be playing hard to get with Susan.   Gus is too scared to speak for fear of being killed.   He had gambling debts and cleared them in exchange for his access card, allowing them to pose as computer techs: Peter and Arnold Rafferty, mentioned in Delmar's testimony.

Ziva thinks they've "hit a schamu."    Susan corrects her, "snaffu."  Look Tony's already mentioned that word before.   Tony: "Roll with it."  Abby finds the brothers killed the petty officer and Delmar, they were incinerated by the explosion; they weren't there to kill but to hide something and the gas exploded.   Susan straps Gibbs to the polygraph machine and says there are questions involving each case.   Oh she was getting a bit too close for comfort for Gibbs.  Tony comments Gibbs has never taken a polygraph before.   Vance shows up to see the spectacle, saying Gibbs has "been dodging this for years."  Gibbs asks if he needs a buzzer and Susan says no as it makes the "test-ee" too nervous.   Wrong choice of words there!  Gibbs refuses to answer if he's ever been involved in a felony, cos we know he has from his flashbacks at the end of season 3 and in season 4.   I.e after his wife and daughter were killed.   Gibbs comments  failure will lead to loss of  security clearance and job.

Abby finds a list of clients of Coopershawk and this includes Judge Evelyn, who else.   She was handpicked for a Federal nomination.   Does Gibbs want anyone digging up his skeletons.   They give Judge Evelyn a polygraph and it keeps going off on the 'no' answers.   Fornell says Delmar's case ended up in her court.   She went to Coopershawk to become a better liar.   To "mete out vigilante justice from a higher bench."  Gibbs tells her it was murder by proxy, the brothers did her dirty work.   There was no evidence she was involved in any crime, except for the break-in, she left behind  red hair.   Fornell is disgusted, she was appointed judge, not jury and executioner.Tony tells them they found a hair but it wasn't red.

Tony: "Dear God someone fed him after midnight,"  referring to Palmer.   He's allergic to henna.   No one wants to apply balm to his back.   Seems to me Palmer is allergic to many things.   McGee asks Susan out and she refuses.   Well he had his chance.   Abby will be relieved, she's very protective of McGee, even to the point of excessive jealousy, for someone who doesn't have romantic feelings for him.

An episode highlighting vigilante justice is wrong and that even the highest judge can't escape the wrath of NCIS, or should that be Gibbs.   Also directly referring to Gibbs, which is what he did, meted out his own brand of vigilante justice down Mexico way.  But as is obvious, Gibbs doesn't want anyone knowing about his past, that's why he's evaded the dreaded polygraph for so long.   As in this show and as they say, "truth will out" very soon.   Which is just as well, cos it was kind of dragging on for about 3 years and now they can put it behind and concentrate on something new.Susan last appeared in 7.3 The Inside Man.   Delmar was in 6.5 Nine Lives, so how come Fornell has to tell Gibbs what Delmar was involved in now ; if he's already been in the show.   Why did McGee have to scan his prints for a possible ID, Gibbs should have recognized him.   Unless it was just an oversight to get Fornell involved in the episode.

Tony calls Agent Sacks, Rick, instead of Ron, played by Don Franklin.   He appeared in season 3.9 Frame Up, he questioned Tony when he was framed for murder and Tony joked he had a piece of spinach stuck in his tooth, making him self conscious.   Then returned in 4.1 Shalom and in 4.10 Smoked.   Tony calls him "Agent Slacks."   So it's no surprise Tony would have liked him to have been the leak in the FBI.

Only Gremlins (1984) was alluded to here, though Fornell does allude to Gibbs being Batman - when he says, "I'll save him a trip to the roof to flash the Gibbs signal."

CSI: NY - 1.23: "What You See Is What You See" Review

Mac comes across a shooting whilst in his coffeeshop, talk about a case falling in your lap. Here he also meets a woman who takes a shine to him and asks him out after he saves her life.

Mac (Gary Sinise) comes into his usual coffeeshop for breakfast and comments on the woman's new boyfriend.   He orders what we think is the usual, oatmeal, raisins and maple syrup.   A woman talks to Mac, he's an oatmeal person.   The waitress, Amy (Emily Harrison) accidentally drops a plate of bacon on the floor and a man holds a gun behind a newspaper.   Another man pulls a gun and is shot, so is Amy.   Mac helps her.   Mac: "Save it for your new boyfriend, Amy, you're gonna tell him about how you survived all this."
Flack: (Eddie Cahill) "I'm never gonna get a better eye witness account than this."  Mac recalls there were three shots fired, first ricocheted off the metal chair, which Danny (Carmine Giovinazzo) finds went through the pastry tray and into the wall.   The second hit Amy and the third hit the man.   There are prints on the phone.   The killer was alone and left a DNA sample.  Another man alone in the booth gave $20, it wasn't "just a nickel and dime robbery."

Stella (Melina Kanakaredes) speaks to the woman, Rose (Penelope Ann Miller) at the counter who doesn't know what she saw.  She was distracted and Stella has to talk to the man, i.e.  Mac.   Stella: "You're free to go" as if she's a suspect and not a witness.    Rose gives Mac the address of a bar she goes to. He saved her life and she wants to buy him a drink.

Hawkes (Hill Harper) finds the DNA belongs to Adam Baxter who has a minor rap sheet.   He cracks the bone containing the bullet so it drops out. He doesn't want to risk scratching the stria.   Aiden (Vanessa Ferlito) processes the evidence from the shop.   Danny finds there were three years of activity on the gun for unsolved crimes and then nothing.   Aiden wants to tell Danny about mandatory psych evaluation.   He claims she's not his mother.   Aiden is looking out for him which Danny couldn't see in 1.21 On the Job and here we get another mention of it which is good continuity; since Danny didn't think anyone was in his corner and here Aiden is showing him she was and still is and he doesn't want to know.   Maybe it was the rejection she gave him, ha.  Danny: "Don't worry about it, I can handle it."  Something he always seems to say.

Aiden checks the DNA on the swizzle stick on CODIS, which comes up with Steve Collins.  (Garret Dillahunt)  He spent 5 years in Rikers so that's why there was no activity on the gun.   His apartment is checked out, where they find a bloodied shirt with tape on it and a rent money envelope on the floor.   Mac processes the clothes.   Stella finds his DNA has one allele in common with his mother (Sandy Martin) who doesn't know where he is.   There's a swizzle stick in the coffee which is a dead giveaway.  Shoeprints on the carpet lead to the trailer outside.   Stella has her permission to look for him.   There's a gun inside.   Mac tells James (Dave Power) to return to hospital and Amy's brother calls her Aiden and not Amy.

Stella and Mac need evidence and ballistics confirms Steve was the shooter, Stella: "That combined with your eye witness testimony."
Mac: "...means he goes free."  Steve is released and shot at by a biker.   The gunshot originated from across the street.   Mac rides in the ambulance.   Steve has been "handled."  He has "evidence to back up what I saw."  He's working as a confidential informant that's why the tape was on his shirt.   You'd think they would have known the significance of the tape, working in forensics and in the police.   He was wired in the coffeeshop.  

Aiden compares the bike tyre tread and some other substance left behind.   Flack helps her out.   Aiden takes tyre impressions from the spin out.   Aiden: "It's all about the tyres Flack, not the bike."
Flack: "speak for yourself."  Well it's not like he's going to check out the treads so he checks out the bike instead, ha.   One matches a Suzuki.   IBIS reveals nothing on the casing.   COBIS: where all legal guns sold in NY are test fired, only state that does this.  The gun belongs to James, brought it for Amy for protection.   He sold his bike for cash.   Flack canvassed the neighbourhood and there's no sign of the gun.   He also informs of a department turf battle.  No one knows who's handling Steve.   Aiden uses GCMS to check the unknown substance.

Hawkes finds Steve's mother was killed and she was an innocent Vic.   She was beaten and strangled.   Garbage bin down the street with metal object and a blank piece of paper was in her mouth.   Mac: "On a blank piece of paper what are they trying to say?" Stella analyzes the paper.   Danny want to psych eval and it's over for him.   He checks the murder weapon which reveals glucose and fructose, the first shot hit the pastry tray.  Caffeine is found in the trace from the boot sole.   Mac believes the shooter was in the shop.   Stella finds the paper is used to print counterfeit bills.  

Steve was Secret Service bait for the counterfeiter.   Mac: "That's why we don't rely on eye witness testimony.   I saw what I saw but the evidence knows what was really going on."  The ink on the paper can change colour and the Secret Service didn't tell them of this.   Research is needed in these colour changing particles and this leads them to university.  The professor (Ben Bode) says the assistants have no money and a list of former assistants reveal Amy's boyfriend's name, Dennis (Wil Hornef).   Amy gave him the gun.

Dennis's phone is traced to a warehouse with a bike outside and a printing press.   He needed US Treasury paper and was meeting Steve.   When Mac arrived in the coffeeshop, Clark coughed warning him.   Tyre treads match and the gun is in the bike.   Clark missed Steve and killed his mother with a printing press component.   Steve was no longer needed.   He will be tried for Adam Baxter and says Mac: "I'll be the first on the witness stand." Mac looks at Rose's card.   Danny tells Mac he did the eval, "What about you and me, we good?"
Mac: "We'll see." Yeah it'll take all of summer til season 2, then Lindsay will come along and they will be all good, he and Mac.   So much for Mac saying that's why they don't rely on eye witness testimony, yet in 1.21On the Job he did look at eye witness testimony and statements from the witnesses who were in the subway at the time of the shooting.  They may not have been probative but they are necessary.   Besides eye witness testimony is used in trials and it's subject to cross examination.

Stella asks if he talked to Danny about his eval, like she cares now all of a sudden after the fact.   Mac tells her Hawkes wants to be in the field, he should've seen that coming.   Stella removes his tie and he meets Rose.   Funny Stella gets a date when Mac gets one too.   As for removing his tie they were removed next season, aside from Flack's, nah I'll remove that myself, ha.

It would have been good to see Danny at his psych eval since we'd get an insight into his character and how he behaved there, or answered questions.   No, we had to endure that with Lindsay in season 7.   Hawkes was good as an ME but they probably wanted to move him away from that and into CSI territory.   He felt he was ready to leave the lab.   Haven't written much about Hawkes this season so I suppose this was a good way for him to actually do something different each week, giving more insight into him.

CSI episode Table Stakes involved analyzing the suspect's drinking straw for DNA.   Season 3.14 One Night Stand episode of CSI:Miami where a counterfeiting ring was exposed.   Mac loses his temper with a suspect here.

For some reason Carmine said he would have liked to have had a romantic moment with Jane (Sonya Walger) from the lab.   Ironically Carmine also commented that they could have been cancelled after the first season, but "I think we came out with a bang."  I wanted to mention that as CSI:NY is once again 'on the bubble' regarding cancellation by CBS.   I think that's pretty disgusting especially since fans and actors found themselves in the same predicament last year too.   It always comes down to the wire with CSI:NY which is unfair for all concerned.    Season 8 was already cut in terms of the number of episodes.  What else do they want - blood?!  They'll do the same thing with season 9.

Supernatural - 1.12: "Faith" Review

Dean electrocutes himself and is on the verge of dying before Sam takes him to see a faith healer. Where as luck would have it, not only does Dean get saved to the detriment of a chick, but there's more evil here than expected.

Dean (Jensen Ackles) and Sam (Jared Padalecki) are on a hunt.   Dean uses a stun gun on the Rawhead, who preys on bad children and electrocutes himself when he crawls into some water.   Sam uses a fake credit card to pay for the hospital bill.   Dean under the alias of Joe, found some children in the basement.   The doctor tells them electrocution triggered a heart attack and his heart is damaged.   The most he has is a few weeks or months.   They can only keep him comfortable, they can't work miracles.   Which is what this episode is mostly about.   So already they were playing havoc with our guys and putting their lives at risk and the death that stalks them with hunting is made even more real for Dean now.

Dean: "You don't actually watch Daytime TV, it's terrible."  Yeah as we know that's an in joke since Jensen was in a Daytime soap, Days of Our Lives.   Dean says Sam's going to leave town without him and he'd "better take care of that car or I swear I'm gonna haunt your ass."  Sam doesn't find that funny.   Cos even in Dean's darkest hour he still jokes and can think only of his beloved Impala being in good hands.

Dean is realistic, well as much as he can be by putting it into context for Sam, who refuses to give up on him.   Dean drew the short straw and that's the nature of the job.   Dean asks Sam what he means by 'he's got options', burial or cremation.   Well from what we'll see, hunters are normally cremated.   Dean: "I know it's not easy, I'm gonna die and you can't stop it."

Sam dials 86 69073235 and gets a voice message.   He tells Dad (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) that Dean is sick and he's going to do whatever it takes to get him back.   Dean checks out of the hospital, "I'm not gonna die where the nurses aren't even hot."  Sam can't believe how non chalant Dean is being.   Sam: "You know this whole 'I laugh in the face of death thing' it's crap.   I can see right through you."  Sam's been on the Net for days and calling Dad's contacts too from his journal.   He says they're heading to Nebraska to see Roy Le Grange ( Kevin McNulty) a faith healer.   Sam said they were going to a specialist.

A man tells everyone Le Grange is a fraud.   Sam: "When people see something they can't explain, there's controversy...maybe it's time to have a little faith Dean."  Cos even if Dean doesn't, Sam has enough faith for the both of them.   Dean only has faith in reality.   Thus bringing up the entire believing in things he can see argument, as Sam rightly questions, "how can you be so skeptic with the things we see everyday."
Dean: "Exactly, we see them we know they're real." Then comes the whole evil exists cos Dean can see it bit and people are evil which is what it's real.   Sam: "If you know evil's out there, how come you don't believe good's out there too."
Dean: "because I've seen what evil does to people."  Maybe God works in mysterious ways and Sam believes for them both.   Dean notices hot chick, Layla (Julie Benz) which makes his face light up.   Dean: "Well I bet you she can work in some mysterious ways."

Sam and Dean had to sit at the front in the tent  Sam notices the cross on the altar.   The Reverend Le Grange is blind and his wife, Sue Ann (Rebecca Jenkins) reads him the news  Le Grange preaches.   Dean mutters and Le Grange calls him to the stage.   Dean comments he's got sharp ears.   He's here to be healed and the Lord picked Dean, not Le Grange who picked him.   Sam tells him to go.   He puts his hand on Dean's head, Dean goes down on his knees and faints.   When he wakes up, Dean sees a dark figure behind Le Grange.

The doctor finds there's nothing wrong with Dean's heart.   A 27 year old suffered a heart attack yesterday and Sam just believes it's a coincidence.   Dean can't put aside the feeling he felt wrong when he was healed.   Sam believes since he's been seeing  a lot of things he would have seen the 'spirit' too.   Dean: "Excuse me psychic wonder, you're just gonna need a little faith on this one."  Dean getting Sam back for his wanting Dean to believe, now it's Sam's turn.

Dean visits Le Grange in an attempt to make sense of what happened to him.   Le Grange only had a short while to live, he was in a coma, after praying for a miracle he recovered and he was able to heal.   Dean wants to know why him.   He was guided by the Lord and he saw a man "with an important purpose in his life...a job to do and didn't finish."  That's drawing us to the fact Dean is a hunter and he's got  a lot more to do and more lives to save, especially considering how far they have to go in order to get the demon that killed Mom.   Sam discovers the dead man was healthy and was running before he collapsed.   Something was after him.   The clock stopped at 4.17, that's when Marshall died.

Layla's mother, Mrs O'Rourke (Gillian Barber) talks to Le Grange and tells him about her brain tumour, it's the sixth time they've come but he won't be seeing anyone else.   Her mother asks the same thing Dean did, why him over Layla or anyone else?  Sam says sorry to Dean.   Marshall died the same time Dean was healed.   He checked the obits and found six people died when someone else was healed of the same symptoms.   Trading one life for another.    Dean is angry someone died to heal him.   Le Grange heals another man, whilst a jogger in the woods is chased by the Grim Reaper (Alex Diakun).   Sam didn't know and he doesn't understand how Le Grange is doing it.  

Dean believes something else is behind the healings.   Deep down he knew it, there's only one thing that can give and take a life like that, a reaper.   Sam asks if he believes it's the Grim Reaper like the Angel of Death, that collects your soul.   Dean corrects Sam it's not THE reaper, it's A reaper.   There is a reaper lore in every culture.  Reapers stop time and they're only seen when they come after you, so Dean saw him.   Sam believes it's controlled using the cross as seen on the Tarot card.   More exposition on how in early Christian era when priests used magic, some went to the dark side, necromancy.

Dean says they're using black magic to control the reaper.   Sam tells Dean they can't kill Le Grange.   Dean: "Sam, the man's playing God, he's deciding who lives and who dies, that's a monster in my book."
Sam: "We're not going to kill a human being Dean, we do that we're no better than he is."  Here's the first time Sam comes up with this argument to counter Dean always wanting to kill first and ask questions later.   Sam always wants to find an alternative method before they resort to killing.   Sam says if a black spell is being used they need to work it out and how to break it.   They return to the service and Dean thinks maybe there's a spell book.   Sam takes a look at the book, an Encyclopedia of Christian history back at the house, whilst Dean stalls Le Grange.   He finds it hidden behind this book, clippings of a gay man, an abortion worker.   He's choosing Vics he thinks immoral.  

Dean must stop him, just as Layla is chosen to be healed.   Dean stops her from going on stage as something bad will happen.   The reaper goes after a man outside.   He and Sam run.   Dean shouts 'fire' to evacuate the tent.   Le Grange isn't behind it, but Sue Ann.   Dean spots her medallion and she hides it.   He's not a healer.   It's not fair on Layla, he can't explain but Le Grange is not the answer.  

Le Grange agrees to see Layla in a private session.   Le Grange really believes he can do this.   The book has a binding spell for trapping the reaper using  a black altar, human bones and blood.   Sue Ann crossed the line.   She was desperate and wanted to save her dying husband.   Sam says she's forcing the reaper to kill people she thinks deserve it.   Dean: "God save us from the people who think they're doing God's work."  Need to find the cross and destroy the altar.   Dean tells Sam about Layla being picked and Sam is adamant they can't let someone else die, even if it's not nice.  

Sam: "You said it yourself Dean, you can't play God."   Sam finds Sue Ann's altar with an 'X' marked on Dean's photo.   She gave Dean life and she can take it away.  He knocks over the altar and she traps him in.   Dean is wicked he deserves to die.   Dean sees the reaper after him again.   Sam breaks her medallion cross and nothing happens to Layla.   The reaper comes for Sue Ann.   A pity Sam broke her cross as Layla would've been healed, considering the reaper was going to kill Sue Ann anyway.   That was a waste of a life.

Dean says sorry to Layla.   She tells him you have to have faith when miracles happen and even when they don't.   God works in mysterious, which was said earlier on.   Dean isn't much for praying but he'll pray for her.   Layla calls that a miracle.   Dean had his moments in this episode, first he was going to die and coming to terms with that, but he didn't really since he just laughingly brushed it aside so he didn't have to go into the whole touchy/feely talking aspect of it with Sam.   Then he's saved, by some miracle, which turns out to be evil at work.   Then meeting someone who deserved to be saved more than him in Layla.   But what made him think that since Le Grange told him he's got to work to do.   Then he feels guilt at being saved at the expense of someone else's life.

This episode highlighting the differences between Sam and Dean's beliefs.   Sam believes in God and has unquestionable faith, even in things they can't see, whereas Dean is more into believing evil things as they've seen those time and again.   Could signify the good and the bad in them both, which will make sense in the future when we get the reveals about Sam and the demon that Killed Mom.   Or put it simply, Sam was the one who believed in good, thus will have his faith tested at every outset especially when Dad tells Dean what he knows about Sam.   Dean believed more in evil and so he remains good throughout.   Sam was like Scully (Gillian Anderson) in the X Files always maintaining her faith throughout.

With hindsight, after watching the later seasons, there are plenty of themes in this episodes which became future episodes in their own right.   There was more on reapers, then the Tarot cards which we got in season 4.12 Criss Angel is a Douchebag,as well as the necromancy aspect too.   Great to see Julie Benz too.   All the time I was typing this I had George Michael's 'Faith' going through my head!   No film references in this episode and also Dad doesn't show up again, not even to see his son before he dies.   This was Eric Kripke's fave episode from season 1 as he realized there was more to this show;  such as "is your life worth more than someone else's life.   It's a metaphysical and moral study of the boys' universe" as he told the season 1 companion to the show.