The Vampire Diaries - 2.16: "The House Guest" Review

Katherine wants to help. Jenna asks about isobel, and Bonnie and Damon look for the burial site of the witches who were massacred there. Speak of the devil vampire, Isobel arrives.

Damon (Ian Somerhalder) thinks Katherine is Elena (Nina Dobrev) as she's wearing her clothes and then Stefan (Paul Wesley) thinks Elena is Katherine, but she is really Elena.   Katherine thinks it's easy being Elena and they all need her, especially since none of them know what Klaus looks like.   Matt (Zach Roerig) asks if Caroline's (Candice Accola) made her decision or she should leave him alone.   Stefan feels this may be Katherine's only chance to get Klaus.   Damon tries to burn Elijah (Daniel Gillies).  Katherine only tells him afterwards that he can't get the dagger back now and he wonders why she didn't warn Damon he would die if he used the dagger.    Cos Damon would burn her.   She always gets what she wants.   She wanted out of the tomb and knew he'd die, she didn't care.   Stefan wants the Martins on their side.

Jenna (Sara Canning) asks about Isobel.   Elena asks her how they can tell someone what they know.   Alaric (Matt Davis) wants to be with Jenna but can't until he can tell her about Isobel.   Bonnie (Kat Graham) says she's looking for the site of the witch massacre centuries ago and if she can't find it then she can't help.   Emily told her about the witches.   When a witch dies violently, it releases mystical power marking their place of death with this power.   Elijah was looking for this place.   Stefan says Elijah didn't have a weapon to kill Klaus cos he didn't need one.   If the burial site is found, a weapon won't be needed.

Jonas (Randy J Goodwin) thinks Elijah should have killed them.   Jenna and Caroline wallow in their relationship problems.  Sometimes it's hard to tell he truth.   Lukas (Bryton McClure) tries to channel Elijah with a spell and astrally projects himself and finds himself in Damon's cellar and thinks he sees Elijah.   Emily died on the massacre site.   Damon doesn't believe Katherine is being sincere about helping.   She's not lying and she senses a presence.   When she's not around, Damon shows Stefan a passage from the journal.   Lukas removes the dagger from Elijah and Katherine tries to push it back in.   Jonas tells Lukas to kill Katherine.   Damon uses a flame thrower to burn Elijah calling it a "crazy-assed witch attack."  Lukas burns.

Alaric sees Jenna at the Grill.   Matt ignores Caroline.   Jenna can handle whatever Alaric's keeping from her.   Jenna: "Not tonight Ric, tonight I have traded you for Senor Tequila."  Caroline compels the singer on stage to let her sing and does a rendition of Eternal Flame, appropriate for what's happening not only in terms of burnings, but their relationships and ironically, Caroline will always be eternal, ha.   Hey I thought of this song the other day.   Matt kisses Caroline and Jonas attacks Stefan.   Damon stakes Katherine for the dagger, next time he'll put it in her heart.  

 John (David Anders) and Isobel want Stefan and Damon out of Elena's life and made Katherine a deal: killing Elijah would get her out of the tomb.   She could help with Klaus and kill Stefan, the deal was to save only one of the Salvatore's and she chose Stefan over Damon.   Why is that not surprising that Katherine has been making all these deals and counter-deals?   That she would be working with Isobel.   Only last episode she lied about the dagger and also how not killing Elijah would get her out of her tomb.

Bonnie mentions dating Jeremy (Steven R McQueen) to Elena.   He's had pain in his life and he deserves to be with Bonnie, she gives them her blessing.   Katherine knows what to do about Jonas, who wants Elena to get his daughter back.   Elena tells him he doesn't need Elijah.   Matt is hit with a bottle in his neck by Jonas and Caroline makes him drink her blood.   It's not Elena but Katherine, how many of us weren't surprised with that revelation.   It's too common an occurrence not to happen.   She kills Jonas and attacks Bonnie.

Damon insists it was Katherine's idea.   They need Elena if they're to take on Klaus.   She's not a threat to Elena.   Alaric loves Jenna but can't tell her about Isobel's death.   Jonas gave Bonnie her powers back and wants her to kill Klaus.   He also told her how to do this.   Damon says the town knew Emily was a witch and Katherine turned her in.   Katherine knows he's lying about the site of the massacre but Damon's not in the mood to take on Katherine. He tells her there are six bedrooms in the house and she should use one.   Yes six rooms but they all use the same one bathroom!  Caroline's blood healed Matt: she's a vampire.  Vicki knew.   Isobel returns.

Seems funny that Jenna wanted the truth from Alaric and she didn't get it from him, but Isobel turns up and that came as a shock, even to Elena.   Plenty of shocks, twists and surprises this episode too, would an episode be complete without them.   It seems Matt finds out what happened to Vicki and he's the last one to know, as well as who or what Caroline is.  

Funny Alaric was being honest about Isobel being dead and she arrives on his doorstep.  What was Jenna meant to think, duh, he was lying.   She probably thought Elena was keeping this from her too.   Damon is responsible for many deaths on this show, or he wouldn't be Damon, but the way he used the flame thrower on Lukas was gruesome and what a way to go, being burned like that and he wasn't even a vampire.  

Not one death, not two, but three.   Jonas also gets killed (so much for wanting to kill Klaus by themselves).   Another plan falls by the wayside (as they so often do).   At least Jonas gave Bonnie her power back and told her about the witches' burial site.   Damon finally tries to burn Elijah's body this week, but that was a bit too late, then telling Katherine to find her own bed (he wouldn't have done that centuries ago!)  It seems Damon may have been peeved Katherine chose to save Stefan over him.   Yes Katherine, many of us were!

Katherine can't really be trusted considering she's done so much back-stabbing (pun intended?) always putting herself first and just plays everyone against each other.

Lie To Me - 2.10: "Tractor Man" Review

Cal and the team must prevent a disgruntled farmer from detonating a bomb and at the same time, determine if he has a real bomb on board his tractor. But he has an accomplice.

A farmer drives up and parks his tractor with a trailer in tow outside the Treasury building, demanding to speak to the president.  Cal (Tim Roth) has a group of school children at the Institute and gives them a talk on lying, in an attempt to determine who stole the class turtle.  He wants the culprit to own up instead pointing the finger cos he can do that anyway.  He introduces Ben (Mekhi Phifer) as an FBI agent but he needs Cal and Gillian (Kelli Williams) urgently.  Eli (Brendan Hines) is left in charge of the children.

No one can leave the building since it's safer inside but everyone needs to be kept away from the glass.   Cal examines Harold's (Sean Bridgers) face closely by use of the cameras and doesn't believe he shows signs of bomber anxiety.  Ben's boss, Steele (Miguel Ferrer)  arrives and suspects there is a bomb on the tractor as ammonia readings have been picked up.  Cal wants to be in charge since it's his call.  Harold has a wife, Mary (Jennifer Irvin) back at the farm and his son.  Ria (Monica Raymund) and Agent Irving (Sean Blackmore) are sent there.  Mary doesn't believe Harold could set off a bomb and Ria picks up on her fear.

Eli can't seem to keep the children entertained or focused so Cal suggests he should get out his guitar.   Steele wants snipers placed and Cal has to distract  Harold, who tells Cal the bomb will explode of anything happens to him.  Harold isn't lying but he too shows signs of fear as if someone else is pulling the strings, or is holding a gun to his head and Cal knows what that's like (re his past.)  Ben notices the explosives on the seat  which weren't visible before.

Ben also finds the 911 caller who called in the threat is Ron Jackson (Ronnie Steadman) and he too has a farm, which Ria and Irving check out..  In the barn, blasting caps used for explosives are found.  Gillian listens to the end of the call and  and posits there was joy in the caller's voice since when you smile, this is visible in your speech.  Ben wants to use a water disruptor on the tractor which will help to limit the effects when they detonate.

Harold admits Mary is being held and he was forced to do this.  Ria is warned about Dave Miller, (Sam Littlefield) the man also at the farm and she stalls him long enough for Irving to arrest him, after Ben calls him.   Oscar overhears Steele talk about the bomb and Cal admits there is a bomb but he has to keep this secret from his friends.   Oscar later acts strangely and Eli tells him a about story about being in love with a girl from the sixth grade.  He wrote his feelings down in a song and gets Oscar to do the same.  He smiles.   Their teacher, Miss Angela (Felicia Day) admits she's afraid and Eli does too.

Jackson's phone is located to a downtown hotel and Cal tells Ben what to look for since he'll be disguised, but ends up accompanying Ben.  They spot the white van with the bomb and search the crowd.  Cal spots Jackson and asks him about Harold and he opens up his phone.  Cal gives the signal and Jackson is shot.  Eli and the children sing about white lies, which Gillian listens in on.

Jackson was going to tell Harold how to disarm the bomb and he's willing to sacrifice his life to save others.  Harold says goodbye to Mary and Ria plays the video of Dave being questioned and Cal sees he's lying about the bomb.  Cal agrees to go out alone and rescue Harold, which he does and opening up the trailer he finds it full of corn.    Cal is actually pleased with Eli's actions and their teacher plants a kiss on Eli.  The turtle thief confesses and Cal tells her he'll have a job for her here.

Plenty of character dynamic in this ep with Ria out of the office, even if it appeared convenient for the purposes of the storyline.  Eli entertaining the 'troops' and Cal had to venture out too and take risks with his life, as well as Harold's.  Cal not being certain again at times if there really was a bomb or not but he did put himself in the firing line to rescue Harold.  Luckily Emily wasn't around to see this since he promised her in Secret Santa he wouldn't put himself in that position again.  More reference to Cal's 'secret' past when he says he knows what it's like to have a gun held to his head.  In the Secret Santa episode he mentioned his stint working for MI6 in Bosnia and also suspect he may have found himself in a similar position in Ireland.  Gillian took a back seat in the ep as she was relegated to the background.

Guess Eli had to get a song in since he sings and writes his own songs under The Brendan Hines.  This one wasn't written by him.  He released an album of his own songs in 2008, entitled, Good For You Know Who.  "...everybody does it because it feels all right and it's more polite, but a lie's still a lie even when it's white..."

Like Cal's arguments with Steele for saving Harold. Even Ben ended up arguing with him since Steele was so hasty and so establishment in his eagerness to react.  Don't know what was going on with Jackson and the 911 call, since he could have exploded the bomb and gotten away with it instead of using Harold as a distraction.  What was the point of focusing that much attention on Harold?   Also it appears Eli has forever been enamoured with girls, going back to sixth grade!  Though he does get a kiss out of this scenario. Who was jealous?

CSI 12.14 "Seeing Red" Review

Nick (George Eads) and Morgan (Elisabeth Harnois) are about to tuck into a burrito when a car crashes into a billboard trailer.  They pull the driver from the car and Nick discovers he has GSW to his head and abdomen.  Wanted to ask what Morgan was doing out with Nick but guess they were on a work break, slash that to eating break and besides they're not going to be an item.  If they were then she'd have gotten her wish to be with Nick, alone ha.  Mind you she doesn't want Greg (Eric Szmanda) either.  That burrito looked horrid and they didn't even get to eat it.

The driver, Wes (Jesse Mccartney) tells Nick, "they're bleeding, they're dying."  So he recalled that as an immediate event but nothing else.  Hey look a cast member didn't get to say the last lines before the opening credits. Nick asks the nurse for his clothes and Doctor Stewart (Michael Bryar French) and nurse call him "crime lab."   DB (Ted Danson) arrives with a shirt for Nick since he's all bloodied and tells him he did a great job.   The nurse, Lauren (Nazanin Boniadi) brings him the Vic's clothes and the bullet recovered from Wes's abdomen.  She comments on how Nick's done this before and Nick replies, "more times than any person should have to."  Hey she's a nurse, sure she's in the same position too, so what a comment for her to make.  Also whenever our Nicky is around a woman they always have him acting a little weird in the sense of maybe this'll be the one for him and sometimes some flirting is thrown in.

Morgan  finds the car belongs to Elena.  There's no GS or high velocity blood spatter anywhere and Sara (Jorga Fox) concludes he wasn't shot in the car.  Vartann (Alex Carter) discovers Elena is missing.  Wes has no memory of who shot him but has bruising on his hands.  His parents say he has friends and he lives at home.  His father, Jonah (Philip Casnoff) doesn't recognize Elena and comes up with a comment that Wes wouldn't hang out with someone like her.

Henry (Jon Wellner) cuts out pieces from the shirt to analyze for DNA and finds there were three other Vics involved, including Elena.  One was a match to her brother Juan.  DB knows someone who can help, a blood whisperer, "sometimes blood is all you need."

He goes to recruit Finn (Elisabeth Shue) at a forensics seminar and calls her "Jules" which she hates and not in front of other people either.  DB: "of all the mock crime scenes in all the world..."  Paraphrasing Casablanca. She knows how it ended last time, which isn't a comment to a romantic past since DB loves his wife and wouldn't do anything like that, so it has to be about a past case since at the end he says she's been out of the game for a while now.  DB purposely leaves behind an envelope  for her.  He also says that playing the Vic means she misses him or not.  When she had that wig on and was playing the Vic that hair resembled Catherine,  don't know if that was just an oversight or if it was meant to have been staged that way.

Wes will only talk to Nick, as any Vic would and he recalls a man in a room with a gun and he tried to fight him.  Flashes to a bloody man and woman.  The way their heads twisted round was just like the heads twisting from the Master when he all the people on Earth changed into him in Doctor Who.  David Tennent's final episode.  Wes also remembers another woman and Nick gives him the pendant he carried in his pocket.  Her name is Vicky (Sarah Dumont).  Greg analyzes the bullet and matches it to a liquor store robbery.  It has Wes's DNA and an unknown female donor.  Sara calls it a through and through as the bullet went through her.

Finn turns up and lays down some ground rules: 1.  call her Finn.  2. they're never going to talk about the past.  Hey this is CSI the past is always mentioned here.  3.  Needs a safe word for when DB gets all Zen-talking.  This being 'stop.'  He gives her $1 consultation fee.  She asks for the best DNA mind around which is Greg of course.  She tells Greg that blood spatter can also help reconstruct blood events, which is what she does.  There was a struggle with a man, leading to blunt force trauma.  Elena was also fighting with Wes and Juan fired though Vicky.  They assume Wes is innocent in all of this just cos he appears to be a Vic and never for a second think he could be the perp.  Also since he was probably left for dead.  Well that part was right.

Vartann ran a web search on Vicky and found photos of Jonah with Vicky, his former PA.  So they were probably having an affair.  She then chased Wes as his mother, Leslie (Mary Page Keller) thinks and Sara asks her if she thinks someone else could be signing her cheques, such as her husband.  Jonah tells DB that Wes was driving the Bentley as it's at the scrapyard, when DB tells him it crashed through Vicky's wall.  Greg shows Hodges (Wallace Langham) some coats and he thinks they're new lab coats.  They're work smocks from Elena's car and Vicky's apartment.  Hodges: "Laverne and Shirley go femme fatale."  He analyzes for trace.  Morgan finds the phone records of Elena, Juan and Wes and pinpoints a business park.  Here they find Vicky and Elena's DBs.  Elena's face is beaten up and Vartann comments that he knows someone who can help, i.e Juan.

David (David Berman) finds TOD was 18-24 hours ago and Doc Robbins (Robert David Hall) says same as Vicky.  Nick says she bled out but Elena wasn't so lucky as David discovers every bone in  her face was crushed.  Nick finds the weapon and says, "what happens in Las Vegas kind of stayed on Las Vegas" and Sara raises him as if a bet.  Wouldn't expect those sorts of lines from them.  Sara notices the print is from a workboot and they follow it out to find tyre treads, as well as red paint transfer and crusty white substance.  Hodges finds it's sodium bicarbonate and the paint was royal crimson red from a 1950's Austin Healy.  Soda blasting is used in auto shops before a car gets a paint job.

Juan makes a run for it as expected and Vartann gets a chase scene as Juan runs into the police car.  Morgan comments maybe he can fix the dent before they take him in.  Finn reconstructs the CS and finds Wes had the gun.  Juan fought him and Vicky and Elena tried to intervene.  Juan fired though Vicky and hit Wes and then shot him and ran.  Elena had 10-12 blows to the head and there's a knee impression in Elena's blood from Juan.  Juan wasn't the trigger.  Juan was in trouble all his life and the one time Elena needed him he couldn't help her.  It was obvious Wes did it. DB tells Juan he's got a smart friend who is his friend too. referring to Finn.

Nick tells Wes he hurt them all.  Wes replies he doesn't know the man who did this and Nick agrees with him.  DB offers Finn a position and she'll think about it.  She returns his dollar and will call him maybe.  DB: "maybe I'll answer."  She writes his name on the envelope, "Diebenkorn" and no one is meant to know that.  So how come she knows his name and no one else doesn't.  Also at least we got his name revealed.  They could have had us guessing what is was for a while.

Hey Vartann returns after Catherine's left, a bit silly he wasn't in her last episode. but think it was must be the ultimate compliment for Michael Vartan to have a character named after him in CSI.  (See my Celeb Style Icons Blog) since Anthony Zuiker's wife is a big fan of Michael's.  Pity they didn't get him as a guest star in an ep!!

CSI has had many episodes where the amnesiac doesn't recall whether they did it or not and in this case he was guilty.  CSI:Miami 7.12 Headcase where an amnesiac was found wandering the street.  Also CSI:NY 7.3 Damned If You Do where a mother suffers amnesia after being beaten and the CSIs think it was her son.  hey Hodges always comes up with some throwback to an earlier age reference, this time Laverne and Shirley, maybe his mother watched that too.  I recall that show.

 At least Elisabeth looks to be a good replacement for Catherine and her character was subdued especially since she could have been more gung ho in her first appearance and a bit too full on, luckily she wasn't and it seems like she really cares about her work and was moved when DB mentioned Juan having her as a friend who helped him out in the end.

Desperate Housewives - 8.4: "School of Hard Knocks" Review

Susan decides to take a painting class, Danielle returns home, Renee suggests Tom is having an affair and Gaby is in yet more strife with the PTA at Juanita's school.

Mary Alice: "It is often said that children learn their most important lessons outside the classroom...master the art of conversation..but for Gaby Solis the art of morning drop-off was something she never learned."  Gaby (Eva Longoria) drops off Juanita (Madison De La Garza) and lets her out before reaching the drop off point.   She is faced by Dana (Beth Littleford) who removes Gaby's drop off privileges.   If Gaby can take the placard from her then she can have it, but Gaby can't reach it.   Mary Alice (Brenda strong) "Some of our most important lessons are learned outside the classroom and when it came to school politics, Gaby's education was just beginning."

Mary Alice: "When it came to her separation, Lynette Scavo was determined to do everything by the book...kept perfect records of her household expenses...convinced her by the book approach was the right one." Tom (Doug Savant) and Lynette (Felicity Huffman) are considering counselling to find a way to reconnect.   Renee (Vanessa Williams) wonders if that's the case then why does Lynette dress so awfully if she wants to win him back.   Tom's whitening his teeth and working out and Renee thinks he's having an affair.   Lynette thinks he's taking care of himself and she's not.   If he was dating he'd tell her.

Bree (Marcia cross) checks the mail and fears another letter.   Gaby doesn't believe whoever sent it is good at blackmailing them.  Gaby also believes Susan (Teri Hatcher) is acting normal now and she couldn't be further from the truth.   Danielle (Joy Lauren) arrives, her husband, Leo has left her.   Susan needs to know if Mike (James Denton) still loves her and he replies there's nothing she could do to make him stop loving her.   He's just relieved she's not having an affair.   Susan wants things back to normal, which is what Gaby just said.   Mike tells her it won't be easy since things like this just don't disappear, he's done things like that.  She wants to attend a painting class and they decide on no more secrets between them.   Now if they could tell Tom and Lynette that.

Gaby has to walk Juanita to school from the B parking lot and the other mothers, Melissa (Lindsey Stoddart) and Rachel (Jillian Armenante) talk about Dana, who is in an elected position.   Gaby didn't vote for her cos she doesn't vote.   She wants to storm the PTA meeting like Braveheart, or the 300.   Andre Zeller (Miguel Ferrer) looks through Susan's portfolio and she confesses she's a fan.   He doesn't see her illustrations as art, which is about, "tearing guts out and smearing it all over the canvas" and calls her a bored housewife, which was a mistake.

Bree wants to talk about Danielle's future and tells her she turned into an alcoholic sitting in the chair after her marriage ended.  (Oh could the blackmailer be Danielle? She turned up conveniently and in need of money.)  She needs start-up money for exercise equipment she designed.   Tom's taken to protein shakes for lunch and Lynette confirms their appointment with the counsellor.  Gaby attends the PTA meeting for freedom and to oppose Dana.  Dana gives Melissa and Rachel their placards back and Gaby now has to park in the C parking lot;  which was over doing it.

Renee finds Danielle has been selling a fantasy 'sex swing,'  which she buys too.   Lynette buys Penny (Darcy Rose Byrnes) a tablet so she can spy on Tom via webcam when she's over there.   She sees him with a younger woman, Chloe (Ruby Lewis).  Susan shows Andre her painting of a lone tree.   He comments the tree is lonely like Susan cos there's no more Oprah.   Susan is shallow and so is her life and she's afraid of ugly.   She knows what ugly is and Susan lets rip when she loses it with the canvas and paint.   Bree tries out the equipment not knowing what it's for.   Danielle accuses Bree of always judging her.

Mike tells Susan, "It's not going to go away, it's a part of you."  It's like he doesn't want his dark past to be a part of him but it is.  Susan wants things the way they were.   Bree admits she's not perfect and has no right to be critical and isn't in a position to judge Danielle anymore.   She agrees to become a silent investor.   Susan returns for her portfolio and she's late for class.   Andre wants the 'crazy woman' here all the time.

Lynette wants to spy on Tom.   Renee: "So he can lie to you through his unnaturally, white teeth."  Gaby drops Juanita off at school and drives into Dana, accidentally, then has to apologize.   She can't work as PTA president and so Gaby will have to work as Acting President.   Dana was fun before she took this job and had a husband and hopes this will do the same to Gaby.   Lynette meets a doctor, Jane (Andrea Parker) at the fitness centre and talks to Tom.   She asks if Tom is really serious about Chloe and he replies he's had drinks with her mother, Jane.   He was going to speak about it at counselling, but Lynette no longer wants to go.

Mary Alice: "We often learn our most important lesson outside of the classroom...the powerful truth about the state of our relationship...sad fact life's colours aren't always rosy...wait for the chance to teach a lesson of their own."  Vance (Jonathan Cake) is still distraught over Bree and can't let it go.   A file with Alejandro's photo is placed on his desk.   Some would say it's about time Gaby got to take on some adult responsibilities and from next episode's trailer, it appears some of what Dana said to her about not having time for her husband may ring true.   It's been a long time coming, since Gaby has gotten away with so much, including roping the others in to cover Alejandro's death.

Susan just appeared to be her usual ditzy self when it came to the art class and getting angry.  She doesn't usually express it in that manner; no she clumsily makes mistakes and how much of that pent up rage actually have to do with Alejandro.   Bree taking some responsibility with how she's dealt with Danielle in the past.   Lynette and Tom just seem to go from bad to worse, nothing new here then, with Lynette's mind working overtime when he said he's only had coffee.   Thus far.   Appears she's determined to drive him away for good, like this show.  ha.  

Mike actually understanding Susan's plight and it would have been difficult to comprehend if he hadn't been able to understand what she's going through.   Apparently Bree didn't attend Danielle's wedding as in the episode, Kids Ain't Like Everybody Else, was when she first met Leo.   The episode title is from an unmade Stephen Sondheim musical this time: Climb High.   Andrea Parker is best known for her role on JAG and Pretender.

Supernatural - 1.9: "Home review

Dean reluctantly agrees to accompany Sam back home on a case, when Sam dreams about the tree in front of their house and a woman in trouble. In Kansas they meet Missouri and Mom.

Lawrence, Kansas: a woman, Jenny (Kristen Richardson)  looks through photos and her daughter, Sairie (Haili Page Philippe) says there's something in the closet..   But the closet is empty.  She puts a chair in front of the door so it won't open, but the chair slides away.   Jenny finds a chest in the cellar with photos of the Winchesters: John, Mom, Dean and Little Sammy written on the back of the photo.   The door opens and there's fire.   The woman screams through the window.   Sam (Jared Padalecki) dreams about her.  He draws the tree.   Dean (Jensen Ackles) surfs the Net and finds a case about a trawler crew being missing.   Cattle mutilations and a man shooting himself int he head three times.   Real X-Files territory.   Sam's seen the tree before in photos and knows they must go back home.

Dean: "Okay, random, where'd that come from?"  Sam tells him their house was rebuilt and there's people there who need their help.   Dean must trust him.   Sam: "I have these nightmares and sometimes they come true Dean.   I dreamt about Jessica's (Adrienne Palicki) death for days before it happened."  Dean thinks it's a coincidence.   He dreamt of blood dripping, fire and did nothing about it.   Now he's dreaming about the tree, the house, it must mean something cos that's where it all started.  

Well Sam's secret is out now, at least about his dreams/premonitions.   Sam thinks a demon could have killed them.   Dean: "First you tell me you've got The Shining , then you tell me that I've gotta go back home, especially when...when I swore to myself that I would never go back there."  Dean's done plenty of swearing so he's sworn to himself too, bad joke.   He's just like Dad (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) then since he didn't go back there either, though we find that Dad had been in Lawrence (and is still there when they arrive.)  Yet Dean knows they have to go.

Jenny opens the door and Sam introduces them as Sam and Dean.   They wanted to see their house and she found their photos, now that couldn't have been a coincidence.  Yes but now they could have been anyone using their names.   She has a baby int he kitchen, Ritchie (Jamie Schwaneback) who loves his juice.   She moved here from Wichita.   They have lots of happy memories and the light flickers, there's rats, the sink's blocked.    Dean asks if she's seen the rats or if she's heard them.   Up to his usual questions.   Sam says there's nothing in the closet.   Sairie says something came into her room and it was on fire.   Sam adds that flickering lights and scratching is a sign of a malevolent spirit.   Dean: "I'm just freaked out that your weirdo visions are coming true."  As if they wouldn't.

Dean tells Sam he doesn't recall much from that fateful night, the fire, heat and he carried Sam out the front door, which Sam didn't know.   Mom (Samantha Smith) was on the ceiling and the Thing disappeared.   Sam needs to find out if it's the same Thing and needs to talk with neighbours, friends.   Dean calls Dad.   There's a voice message: 8669073235.   Dean: "Dad, I know I've left you messages before, I don't even know if you get them.   But I'm with Sam and we're in Lawrence and there's something in our old house...I don't know what to do, so whatever you're doing, if you could get here please.   (he breaks down.)  I need your help Dad."  Well that plea fell on deaf ears.   At least Dean had the courage to actually step foot inside the house, unlike Dad, who not only didn't go into the house, but didn't even show his face when his son asked for help.

Plumber Joe (Jerry Rector) comes to fix the sink and puts his hand down the disposal, only to lose it.   Now who in their right mind would put their hand down there.   The mechanic at the garage tells them it's been 20 years since John disappeared, but he loved Mary and the kids.   Something caused the fire, an electrical short in the ceiling.   John read books and went to see a palm reader in town.   There's a Missouri Moseley (Loretta Devine) in Dad's journal.   Dad: "I went to Missouri and I learned the truth." Dean thought he was referring to the State.

Missouri: "You boys grew up handsome and you [Dean] were one goofy looking kid too."  She takes Sam's hand and says sorry for Jess, she can read thoughts and sense energy.   She tells Dean not to put his foot on the table, which he was thinking about doing.   She went to the house with Dad and she could sense the Thing.   It was evil.   Ritchie wants his juice.   Missouri thinks something is back in the house, keeping an eye on the place... "It feels like something's starting."
 Dean: "That's a comforting thought."  The door to the baby pen is opened and Ritchie gets shut in the fridge.   They return to the house with Missouri, Dean wanted to show her the house he says.   There's something in the house wanting to hurt the family and she wants to stop it.  There's a dark energy in the house centre;  Sam's nursery where it all started.   Dean uses his EMF.   Missouri: "amateur."

Missouri doesn't believe it's the Thing that took their mother.   It's a different energy than the last time she was here.   There's more than one spirit here.   Missouri: "all those years ago, real evil came to you - it walked this house, that kind of evil leaves wounds and sometimes wounds get infected.   This place is a magnet for paranormal energy."  A Poltergeist is here and it won't leave or rest until it's killed Jenny and her children.   Dean: "Nobody's dying in this house ever again!"  Missouri makes some poultices and Dean even tastes it.   The poor boy is starving again, ha.     They need to be placed inside the four corners of the house walls.  Should destroy the spirits and purify the house but they need to work fast.   Sam takes his time putting the poultice in and the lamp cord comes after him, like a snake and the knife drawer opens in the kitchen.   Look a knife for Dean.   Which is thrown at him.   Sam gets strangled with the cord.   Dean saves him after he puts the pouch in the wall first.

The spirit seems to have left and Missouri says Dean will clean up the house.   But Sam's dream hasn't taken place yet, when he saw her in the window.   Dean watches the house from the outside and Sam has a bad feeling.   He sees her at the window.   Dean goes for the children, just like he did with Sam that night and gets to kick down the door again, as in the Pilot when he came looking for Sam at the end.   Sam gets trapped int he house;  he's thrown around and pinned to the wall.   A figure appears and turns into Mom.   Sam tells Dean not to shoot, he knows how it is.   Dean: "Mom."  She just ignores him and makes for Sam to say sorry and she tells the spirit to leave her house, to let go of her son.   Then turns into fire.   Sam: "Now it's over."  Jenny gives them their photos.   Missouri: "Your mom destroyed herself going after that thing."  To protect her sons.   She tells them to keep in touch and was never heard from again.

Missouri returns home, where Dad is and was all this time.  She believes, "the boy, he has such  powerful abilities, why he couldn't sense his own father, I have no idea."  Dad wants to talk to them but not yet, not until, "I know the truth." So after all that, he waits around when his sons are in trouble.   Can't forgive him for ignoring Dean's pleas like that when he's clearly distraught and not just about returning home.   Okay so he knows they can handle themselves, especially Dean, but that's no excuse.   He was practically begging for help.   A bit selfish in Dad not wanting to step foot in that house.   


So nothing much is revealed about the events from that night or what killed Mom, since this was a Poltergeist Mom came to fight, but why did she wait until the boys arrived to do that.   (Get me, calling them boys now! ha.)  Missouri didn't tell Dad Mom's spirit was possessing the house, not that we know of anyway.   Perhaps he already knew and this was another reason why he didn't want to go back.  Clearly the traumatic events were too overwhelming for him to go there.   Probably another reason why their photos,etc, were still in the house.

Dean realizes the extent of Sam's visions and so does Missouri.   Of course Sam not being able to sense Dad was to open up a whole new can of worms, casting doubt on whose son he really is, or why that Thing was in his nursery and how everything started there.

Some bloops in this episode, when Jenny gets Ritchie out of the fridge, the child lock on the door is opne, but when Ritchie was inside it was locked.  Dean's phone number on the phone message is different to the one used in 1.4 Phantom Traveler.   Sam's strangled by the lamp - the lamp behind him moves away, in the next shot, it appears to be further away.

CSI: NY - 1.20: "Supply & Demand" Review

Mac et al investigate the killing of a boy and get themselves into a case of drugs. Stella has another complaint lodged against her. Mac must apologize to a Vic's father.

A girl hears gunshots from a neighbouring apartment.   A boy is dead and the lock is broken.   The place has been trashed and so has the Vic, comments Mac (Gary Sinise).   The blood trail and the position of the debris reveals the Vic was shot and dragged near the door and the killer was using the DB to send a message.   The Vic was Will Novick (Devin Cromwell) from Hoboken, a business major at Chelsea Uni.   Jordan, (Lindsay Parker) the roommate was a freshman who ditched classes.   Mac: "Killer could've come for one thing, left with another."  There are no usable prints at the CS.   Blood spatter from the gun is revealed after the place was trashed.  Stella (Melina Kanakaredes) finds theatre tickets with blood.    There are razor scratches on the glass and traces of heroin.   Jordan is missing.

Hawkes (Hill Harper) finds a fatal GSW to the head and other various evidence of beatings.The Vic wasn't a user.   Mac needs to follow all leads.   Will's father says he wasn't a dealer and Jordan's father, Martin (Matt McCoy) paid her rent.   Danny (Carmine Giovinazzo) determines the purity of the product.   Stella checks out Will's social security number and doesn't find any paycheques since high school.   But there were deposits.   Stella: "The worst part is the people they leave behind."  Aiden (Vanessa Ferlito) matches the blood on the tickets to the Vic.   Two tickets are missing.   Will was a scalper and Jordan was seen a month ago by Will's digger.   Jordan's purse with broken straps is found in an alley still containing cash and credit cards.

Mac discovers a knife used in a home invasion, which has synthetic fibres consistent with furniture cushion fillings.   Fresh blood is on the ground.   High velocity spatter is on the wall and a gunshot ricochet mark.   The blood trail leads to the end of the alley, where a man jumps out and attacks Mac.   He knows his rights and under the Fourth Amendment he can't be forced to undergo surgery.   A phone is found in his pocket.   Jordan wanted to use the laundry but didn't have a bag with her.    Stella believes Jordan could be in danger of a run in.   Flack (Eddie Cahill) finds the college has its own laundry.   Aiden examines scrapings from Deroy's (Don Wallace) fingernails and uses a tazer on him.

Stella checks the PDA with the name of Paul Collins who was 18 and OD-ed.   Danny mentions there being white powder in the baggie.   There were two incoming texts for a meeting on campus.  The phone rings.   Jordan was the dealer not Will.   Mac answers the phone and Stella has to ask what he's doing at this number.   Would've thought that was obvious.

Stella wants to prevent a fatal OD and shows Jordan a photo of Paul.   Flack: "Well I'm the cooler head.   You knew you blew it."
Stella: "I blew it, what about Buffy the friend slayer back there."    Flack says there's a Chinese wall around Jordan.   Aiden discovers superglue on Deroy's  hands and clothes.   Compared to Jordan's DNA sample.   The witness was collateral damage.   Mac processes the contents of the purse to find a time line or links to Deroy.   White residue is in the purse.   Stella looks at Jordan's financial records.   Flack: "There's nothing more depressing than looking at a rich kid's money line."  Six weeks ago her cards were paid off and then frozen.

DNA from Jordan's lipstick match Deroy's fingerprints.   Her bag was snatched after 11am.   Aiden sues the student ID to track done what she did.  Stella shoves an autopsy photo in the face of a teen and it's the fourth complaint against her in three years.  Mac doesn't want any management tips from IA Chief Hillborne (Joe Morton) and tells him to run his own staff as he does his.  Thar's just it though Stella can get away with anything and does.   Stella: "I know how trials work Mac."
Mac: "Good, act like it." That's all the reprimand she got.

Aiden looked for more heroin to check and found a designer bag with more drugs.   But the bag is a fake.   She took it apart and superglue was used to glue a fake insignia.   Someone got the wrong bag and they check out the fashion district.   A card was swiped at 11.31, Andrea Alixx has a campus address.   Jordan sold her drugs.   Aiden looks at different bags from each store.   Seven stores use the same benzene based glue and one uses superglue at a warehouse.   Danny notices powder on the table.   Flack gets a warrant to search Jordan's home.   Stella: "Thar's why evidence collecting is so important.  People lie."    Water in the toilet bowl is positive for drugs.   The water diluted the drugs.   Deroy had her address and she never told Will and the jury won't forgive her for not warning Andrea.

Mac says they were thorough, disposed gloves, shirts, shoes, weapons but not the T-shirt which has stray blood from Will.   Deroy killed for sport.   His distribution ring is broken up.   He'll be taken care of in lock-up.   Mac apologizes to Will's father for doubting his son.  "The evidence is solid."  Another episode where Mac apologizes to the Vic's family for making hasty accusations and assumptions, just as Danny did with the gypsy cab driver's son in 1.18 The Dove Commission.   Stella has been over zealous as per usual in her treatment of suspects, but doesn't really get much of a dressing down.   She also loses her temper again and is a loose cannon, even if she was looking for justice.

Stella also missed finding the blood spatter in the alley and the knife and she arrived there before Mac did, so not much of a thorough investigation of the CS on her part.   What was the point of flushing the contents of the bag and not the bag in its entirety and why keep the T-shirt of everything else has been discarded.   Stella hates criticism so doesn't acknowledge Flack's comment about losing her head when interviewing.   The IA chief was especially introduced for the next episode when it all goes pear shaped for Danny.

CSI episode Chaos Theory also had a missing roommate.   In CSI episode Play with Fire, Gil (William Petersen) defends Catherine (Marg Helgenberger) just as Mac defended Stella here.

NCIS - 7.17: "Double Identity" Review

The agents look into the death of a marine and Tony once again suspects one of the two wives. All about double ids, stolen money, and attempts to get their hands on it.

A park policeman hears gunshots in the park and finds a dead marine.   Tony (Michael Weatherly) is washing and drying his sock in the office.   There, bet you didn't think he could also do his washing there, I mean after the countless number of shirt changes and deodorant refreshers, ha.   Tony got his feet wet.   Ducky (David McCallum) comments Gibbs (Mark Harmon) is working him too hard and he doesn't have time to do his laundry except in the office.   Tony stepped in a puddle whilst texting Ziva.  (Cote de Pablo).   He thinks cos she's a Probie that she's also his PA.   Ducky loves the rain, don't we all.   Actually it's mostly raining in NCIS, especially when one of their own is killed off, or hurt.   Tony asks for talc.

McGee (Sean Murray) notices Ducky is wearing a tie and not his customary bow tie.   Gibbs gives Tony socks and he only wears one white one.  The park policeman comments the DB has muddied prints and when the FBI were involved in a case, they identified a man with a mobile fingerprint scanner which lights up McGee's face.  Tony says they haven't been issued with those yet.   The policeman prints McGee and his police record comes up, which was meant to have been expunged.  "You broke into a police impound yard?"  Tony to McGee: "What's the matter with you?" Notice Tony didn't seem too perturbed by this, since his police record may not have been expunged either.   But then being in the PD formerly, Tony probably still has his connections.  (Or not.)  McGee doesn't have a middle name.   Thought that would always be 'Probie'.  Ha.

The Marine, Lt Mayne  has a wife and he was MIA in Afghanistan 6 years ago.   (Mark had a cold when these scenes were filmed.)  Tony's face lights up this time when he hears 'wife.'  Tony to Gibbs: "You subscribing to the DiNozzo theory - always suspect the wife."  I was waiting for him to come up with that.   Gibbs smiles, that'd be too obvious.

Ziva removes Tony's sock from the lamp and she can't resist smelling it.   Yuk.   Ziva has a fetish for smelly socks ha, or the fact they belong to Tony and she just can't help herself.   Well she's been accustomed to smelling his armpits and when he passes wind.   Mayne was on a three man deep cover recon mission and went missing.   One of the three, Gontz (John Edward Lee) was dishonourably discharged.   Abby (Pauley Perrette) has a puppy in the lab, Mortimer is a seeing eye dog.   The gun is unregistered with the Mayne's prints.

Abby notices Ducky not acting like himself, "un-Ducky like."  He left during lunch.   Gibbs thinks he's fine, he said that about Tony in season 4 when Ziva was certain he had some sort of an illness everytime he slipped off to the hospital.    Gontz is questioned.   They left Mayne there to get the car after he broke his leg and he disappeared there.   Holcomb (Michael Rose) is the major and they both repeat the same story verbatim.   Ziva and McGee look at each other.

Mayne is conscious but can't be questioned.   His second wife, Rachel (Christine Lakin) shows up providing Tony now with two suspects in the wives club.   She met him two years ago and they were both runners.   She didn't go jogging that day cos of her hamstring.   They've been married over a year and he lied to her about his family and also inheriting money.   McGee finds over $5 million in one account and Mayne was worth over $22 million.   PI Iger (Joe Guzaldo) investigated him.  

Tony sneaks in to question Mayne.   Thereby agitating his condition and he dies.   Tony asks the doctor if he's ever been married.  he's been married twice but not at the same time.   The question Tony should have been asking is why isn't he married already ha.  Ducky wears another new tie.   He needs some personal time but everything fine.   Gibbs tells him half his team is worried about him and Ducky guesses which half, Ziva and Abby.    So anyway why didn't Mayne return to his first wife, Leah (Susan Misner) even though she'd want to know about the money, none of the other marines disappeared.   Ziva sits inside Iger's dirty car.  "Stake-outs are brutal." Particularly when Tony's around.

 Iger ran credit card checks on Mayne and had a  photo of a a marathon runner, he thought he knew him.   Holcomb hired him.   McGee comments he acted shocked.   Tony jumps on the bandwagon about one of the wives being guilty, or so he thought but Holcomb looks guilty.   Gibbs finds it's all connected to what happened in Afghanistan.   Tony looked like he was expecting a slap..   Holcomb and Iger are escorted so they 'meet' in the lobby, on purpose, courtesy of Ziva and McGee.

Iger told Holcomb it wasn't Mayne and he never come to terms with what happened; he was lying again.   Ducky discovers Mayne never broke his leg.   Abby suggests Mortimer should have a playdate with his mother's Corgis.   Abby finds a second gun was involved.   Ducky comments his "neckwear seems to be a source of fascination."

Tony finds an Afghan drug lord claimed the Americans stole money from him.   Tony: "he is the weakest link."  Gontz took fire and found the money.   They left Mayne to guard the money and Mayne stole it.   It rains again.   Holcomb is seeing Leah, he used to check up on her and his own marriage fell apart.   She called him from the hospital and was trying to protect Holcomb's career and marriage.   Their alibi checks as they were together in Falls Church.   Tony still suspects Rachel, wife number 2.   He thinks "the hotty did it."

Tony hates the rain, he had his car washed.   Gibbs comments you wash the car in Winter.   Ziva recalls Iger's car was clean outside and the phone was turned off.   Ziva says he never turns his phone off.   Tony and McGee check out Iger's car and Tony wants to break in.   He gets McGee to use his computer programme.   McGee says he's got a record and no warrant.   He has an App on his phone with which he can use the VIN number to access all the data and download all the codes.   Tony thinks his MIT education paid off for something as he unlocks the door.   McGee should patent it.   Tony then gets him to access the files on Iger's laptop.   McGee still falling for Tony's "requests" though not as much as he used to.

Ducky gets flowers for his mother and Abby follows him to the cemetery.   He missed her at the opera, Madame Butterfly.

An e-mail is found on Iger's computer from the private lab which matched the print to Mayne so he knew about Mayne.   He has a registered .45.   Tony says by withholding this info he could blackmail Mayne.   Tony regrets they can't use the info cos McGee broke in and obtained it illegally from his computer.    Tony posing on the car as if he hasn't done anything wrong and didn't put McGee up to it either.   Gibbs stops Iger with the car and he claims self-defence.  

Ducky was going to tell Gibbs soon about his mother's passing but he didn't want to impose with his personal loss and wanted to deal with it himself.   He also met a woman, a real estate agent, Sophie, who  is younger than him.   He's selling the house and found a home for the dogs.   Gibbs thinks Sophie doesn't like his bow ties then.

A lot going on here especially with Ducky as we see he lost his mother and then met a woman who hates his bow ties and is really just attempting to change him.   What is It with PIs and money.   There was also a PI in season 2 episode Blackwater where the PI wanted the reward the dead marine's family had put up.   He was one of McGee's 'mentors' as he was a writer.   Okay he was someone McGee was in awe of.   Tony telling McGee it's "all about the Benjamen's."

Michael Rose was also in the season 1 episode Left for Dead.  Re the mobile fingerprint scanner, in 7.7 End Game, Ziva used a similar device to to ID a Vic.   Randy Vasquez was also in JAG as Gunnery Sergeant Galindez.   Nina Foch, Mrs Mallard, passed away in December 2008 and this was written into the show as Ducky's mother also passing away.Tony could have quoted the film Three Kings but didn't, wonder why.  

Bible class: Leah and Rachel were sisters who were both married to Jacob.

Lie To Me - 2.9: "Fold Equity" Review

Cal et al are in Las Vegas to find who kidnapped a player for the World Series and Cal goes wild, even after Gillian warns him about Vegas and 'roulette.'

A finalist, Jake (James Immekus) at a World Series poker tournament is missing after he witnesses a murder and Cal (Tim Roth), Gillian (Kelli Williams) and Ben (Mekhi Phifer) are in Las Vegas to scope out his disappearance and monitor the other players.   Cal is requested by even organizer, Ellis (Todd Stashwick).  The one place where Gillian told Cal not to go in episode 2.1 The Core of It when they were having financial trouble and yet, funnily enough; they end up here.   Gillian: "...promise me you'll never go back to Vegas."  Well someone made Cal forget that promise.

Ria (Monica Raymund) and Eli (Brendan Hines)  hold the fort at the office and end up in a bet when Eli keeps talking about his date and Ria tells him she's only into him cos of the expensive restaurants he's talking her too.   Ria seems jealous.   Yeah maybe she wanted to eat at those restaurants too!  There was a brief moment of visible attraction when she leans into him telling him to look into her eyes to show him her dilated pupils and Ria touched his leg.   Then she backed off quick smart.  Perhaps this moment was nothing more than lust!  So if Ria didn't like him romantically or lustfully in the past, why did she dilate her pupils to demonstrate, more importantly if there was no attraction there, how did she get her pupils to dilate?   Silly question, oh never mind.

Also why the big fuss over who Eli was dating, just co he has the world's lousiest success rate when it comes to women, er, Ria hasn't fared much better when it comes to men.   Did Eli not read the micro expressions in Ria's face when she was that close to him?   Eli and Ria's burgeoning 'friendship' seems rushed for someone who didn't much like him.   A case of when the cat's away - this is what they'll end up doing at the office.   Let's hope not.   Ria had a nerve trying to play Eli since she doesn't lie or much like those who do normally or voluntarily.   Yet she had no qualms about doing so when he was seeing someone else.   She was peeved at him  for lying on several occasions in season 1 and for drawing her into that web of deceit too, but it seems okay for her to lie now.

A distinct lack of continuity here when Cal doesn't leave use his webcams behind to monitor his office, okay they didn't have to show him visibly watch his staff, but at least he could have mentioned it.   Since this was his second foray away and Gillian was with him this time.   Think that 'spying' was just to watch Gillian and his rival back then.   The "world's best liars" in one place and yet they weren't good enough to fool Cal.   They were full of it, manipulating and using each other.   Mason (Richy Jay) faked the kidnapping to remove Amadeo (Jose Pablo Cantillo) as a player and competitor and he was doing much the same to Mason.  Poppy (Abby Brammell) accuses Cal of not being able to read her and where did she get off criticizing and insulting Gillian and her walk.   Cal: "[Gillian] feels women like you bring out the worst in me."  Which they do and she did.   So much for defending Gillian that's all he had to say.

Highlights: Cal telling Ben to bet on 00, Ben betting on his own lucky numbers.   Ben decides he's going to show Gillian there's more to Vegas than gambling and (crime scenes, ha!)  Gillian finally letting her hair down in another black number.   Cal in his suit and tie just so he could bet everything on his numbers of choice.   What a huge risk that was, especially as roulette was one game where he couldn't cheat by reading the roulette table for lies.   Cal thinks Gillian is "smothering" him when she mentions the "pull this town has on you."

 Once again showing she knows a lot about Cal and his past, more so than we do.   Hey Ben was a former drinker, should he even be gambling; appears that too is an addiction for him, or is it just cos they're in Vegas.   You know the saying, "What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas."  Maybe Cal had that in mind when he slept with Poppy.   After Gillian called her "roulette" and tried to make him stay away.   Not only did he get to play with Poppy but also the roulette table at the end.

I didn't much enjoy the main storyline of this episode, the interaction between the characters was more interesting.   The way people were using each other; including Cal who managed to have a good time out of it all with Poppy, who was also using him too.

This episode was out of order production-wise and was supposed to air during Fox's Simpson's Week.   Hence Cal's reference to sideshow Bob.   Also after Cal and Gillian being so close in the past,  this week it was as if they hadn't progressed at all in their 'relationship', especially having been with Poppy and then taking her to the CS where the DB was found.

Cal: "You know what my fave poker phrase is?"
Ben: "All in, open limp, the nuts?"
Cal: "On tilt. It's so expressive."

CSI: Miami - 8.20: "Backfire" Review

Ryan and Calleigh are caught in another housefire and Calleigh succumbs to smoke inhalation, exacerbated by her previous condition. Then returns in ghost-like form and attire.

Calleigh (Emily Procter) and Ryan (Jonathan Togo) are involved in another housefire and she runs inside to save a boy she sees.   Ryans tell the officer to stay out, "We don't need anymore heroes."  She finds a boy upstairs, barely alive, so how come Calleigh was the only one to see him at this point when there was nothing wrong with her, since he's too far gone to be saved, it means she had to have seen his spirit calling for help.   But she's not in the hospital yet and hasn't succumbed to her symptoms.   She and the officer fall though the floor upstairs, when Ryan carries the boy out.   Calleigh is overcome by smoke.   Horatio (David Caruso) tries to save the officer, Leah (Megan Markle) whilst the boy reaches out exclaiming he's not dead.   Ryan notices his burnt hands and thinks he may have started the fire.   Ryan lets the EMTs know Calleigh's had respiratory problems before.   Ryan says it could be an accident, or adds Horatio, murder.

Tripp (Rex Linn) questions the boy, Patrick's (Robert Bailey Jr) grandfather, Henry Dawson (John Beasley) who believes Patrick to be at school and he wouldn't set the fire.   No that's cos Henry suspiciously looked guilty himself and that was a giveaway.   ME Tom (Christian Clemenson) finds Patrick had 70% carbon monoxide fumes in his blood, making COD asphyxiation.   Also he has third degree burns and a chemical smell on him.   Ryan: "...find it in your heart to give me a sample."  Was Ryan grovelling after the last episode, where he was so rude to ME Tom by hanging up on him.   Calleigh walks in behind Ryan saying she's okay for work, but Ryan can't see or hear here, though it looks like he may be ignoring her.   Thus she's not really there.   Ryan: "Calleigh, Calleigh, Calleigh, you always gotta be you."  She couldn't have saved Patrick.

Calleigh proceeds to peer through the microscope and identify an oil-based solvent.   Ryan calls Jesse (Eddie Cibrian) to find the painter.   Patrick had turpentine on his hands.   Walter (Omar Miller) describes that as an accelerant.   Walter suggests they find the area with the deepest charring, which will locate the point of origin.   Ryan uses the mini-ray to find heavy concentration of turpentine.   Walter feels a draft which the others don't.   Jesse thinks Walter doesn't want to be in the house as he's watching too many Rob Zombie movies.   Good to see Jesse knowing lots about Walter in their burgeoning, short-lived friendship! Patrick protests his innocence but no one can hear him.   Jesse notices the house had sprinklers but they weren't on during the fire.   Walter spots the absence of insulation in the house - turning the house into a killer.

Horatio questions the contractor, he let the fire burn and he didn't get round to the insulation as Henry wanted to save money.   Horatio arrests him.   Cue Calleigh in a white suit which she doesn't normally wear, and seems to be surrounded by a glowing light, akin to a halo, someone overdid the lighting!  Cos we know she's really not there, not her colour for starters, she doesn't wear all white, at least not for many seasons.   In the UK, there was a show from the '60's called Randall and Hopkirk, Deceased, about private investigators and Hopkirk was killed, subsequently returning as a ghost dressed in a white suit.   Only Randall could see him.  Calleigh is at the CS.   She notices an oily substance in the burn, finding a second point of origin.   Calleigh can hear Patrick as she's in a coma.   Patrick's hanging around until he clears his name and asks if she would believe him if he was dead.   Calleigh gets angry, she's never seen a ...ghost?

Tripp questions Henry's neighbour, Stephanie (Robin Bartlett) who set their lawn on fire, but claims she's not a criminal.  .   She wasa infuriated with the workers making noise at 6am.   Horatio believes she's hiding something, which she was.   Walter finds a second point of origin in the house, just like Calleigh, wax paper on the wall, which is combustible.   Jesse finds the box of wax paper in the kitchen.   Henry chews tobacco, another clue.   He denies setting the fire.   Tripp informs him Patrick has missed school on several occasions this past month.   Patrick wanted to work on the House.   Jesse believes the fire could have been set for Henry.   Patrick says the fire began in the hall.

Jesse talks with Natalia (Eva Larue) and Calleigh gets into the lift with them, but they still don't see her.   They visit Calleigh in the hospital.   Delko (Adam Rodriguez) comments she's worse than he thought.   Patrick adds no one can hear her.  Calleigh asks if she's dying.   Only she and Patrick are able to see each other.   Jesse tells Walter that Calleigh is holding on.   Horatio isn't convinced Patrick set the fire intentionally.   He could have been cleaning brushes.   Jesse says if so, then the fire was an accident.   Walter feels the draft again.   Jesse: "feather's not gonna scare away a ghost." Since we were having a surreal CSI:Miami moment this episode, it would have been good if Walter could have seen a ghost, okay that sounds far fetched, but at least we could have been led to believe the draft he was feeling was Patrick leading them to the DB body, but then he didn't know about it.   The feather floats away in the draft and Walter says the wall hasn't been sealed properly.   A DB falls from inside.   Jesse thinks the fire damage masked the smell and they wonder when he died.

ME Tom identifies Ralph (Chris Dollard) as a plumber.  Horatio surmises he died before the fire.   He has burn marks on his knees from electrocution (here's another reference to electrocution in a CSI:Miami episode.   Second one this season too.) Horatio: "Maybe that floor was hot."  Jesse finds exposed wire in the kitchen and water would have been needed to conduct electricity.   Jesse having to explain that again as in the season's earlier episode, Bolt Action.   Ryan finds evidence of water damage and Jesse checks the fuse box which contains a penny inside from Key West.   Pointing to the Stephanie.   What a silly neighbour, putting it mildly, she was a danger to everyone.   She admits the penny is hers.   Ryan tells her she's admitting to murder.   She "treated him in kind."  She had to stop the noise and freely admits to murder like she's proud to have committed it.   She'll sleep like a baby in prison - not.

Ryan tests the sprinklers and gets himself wet in the process.   Calleigh watches and says he's on the right trail and counts steps to the lawn.   She needs to let them know what she's discovered and at this point she goes into defib, just as a way of getting through to them, or so we're expected to believe.   The doctor (Scott Alan Smith) explains the smoke aggravated her pre-existing lung disease.   She writes a message for Horatio, who claims it makes perfect sense as she was first on the scene and probably saw something.   Land surveyors measure distance.

 In Miami, the water line is buried at 36.   Digging up the garden, there's a towel on the water pipe.   Horatio thinks the water was turned off and the carbon dioxide solidified turning into dry ice, this froze the pipe and stopped the water from flowing.   Tobacco stains are seen on the towel, proving  Henry set the fire.   Well, something always gives them away.   Jesse tells him he'd have let Patrick take the blame for him.   Henry did it for a better life, for the insurance, but crime doesn't pay.   He sees Patrick briefly.  Calleigh felt like she knew Patrick.   Horatio doesn't put his shades on which was good, almost as a mark of respect for Patrick.

Oh wow, Miami's foray into ghostly territory, was going to type ghastly, never mind.   What with kooky neighbours, hyped up on adrenalin and not caring about the cost of human life, she killed for some sleep.   Henry killed for money, though it wasn't intentional on his part, he'll have to live with the death of his own grandson on his conscience forever.  Then Walter and his drafts, Calleigh as a would-be 'ghost' and Patrick as a ghost and it wasn't even Hallowe'en.

CSI:Miami also likes its fire episodes, such as Alexx (Khandi Alexander) and Delko getting caught twice in fire, once in the Everglades in Slow Burn, a good episode with Joe Flanigan.   Then this was Ryan and Calleigh's second encounter with a fire.   In the previous episode, Smoke Gets in your CSIs (from season 7.14) Calleigh refused to get medical help, choosing to chew gum instead, which had a toll on her health.

Ryan here wasn't as obnoxious as they've made him out to be in some episodes, but he didn't visit Calleigh in hospital though and neither did Walter, which was a shame, since Walter asked Jesse how she was doing and Ryan was with her in the beginning.  Most of the CSIs were making prejudgements this episode, with plenty of suppositions, before the evidence was in, but Ryan kept on with his one theory about Patrick being responsible for the fire, just like in the previous episode, he was sure the DB on the beach was an accident, or a prank gone wrong.  Lots of questions to answer though, was it an accident, deliberate, was it murder, did Patrick do it.   No wonder the poor boy had to express his innocence, even as a ghost.   Calleigh was the one who provided the clue, the nail in the coffin, oh that was in poor taste, never mind.

The thing I didn't like about this episode was that just as in the season 8 opener, Delko, in his hospital bed was looking back at how it all started, how the team got together; there were lots of events he wouldn't have known have taken place, in the same way here, Calleigh kept cropping up during their investigation, when there's no way, logically, she could have done that.  

Desperate Housewives 8.23 "Finishing the Hat" Review

Mary Alice (Brenda Strong) takes us back to how it all began, at least for her and how Martha Huber (Christine Estabrook) realized she was keeping a secret.  Mary Alice wasn't a convincing liar for someone with a secret.  Martha was so insistent and she just couldn't handle her.  Mary Alice: "This is how it started; the woman who had lived on the street for years came outside and introduced herself to the woman who was moving in next door...and just like that, Martha Huber figured out I was hiding something...and my new neighbour made it her mission to find out what my secret was...and this was the beginning...of the end."  (Also for the show, ha.)

Flashes back to 8 years of episodes and gunfire from Mary Alice et al.  "It was just after breakfast when Susan Delfino told her friends she'd soon be moving from Wisteria Lane.  They were shocked their old friend was already leaving...so shocked it took them a moment to notice another had returned."
Katherine (Dana Delaney) returned only to offer Lynette (Felicity Huffman) a job as CEO in New York.  Her pastry company is going great.  Bree (Marcia Cross) comments on how Katherine mistakenly thought her croissants were best on the Lane.  Renee's (Vanessa Williams) wedding dress was ugly, as she tells Ben (Charles Mesure) "beauty is suffering."  Ben now realizes why it's bad luck for the groom to see the bride before the wedding.

Carlos (Ricardo Antonio Chavira) tells Gaby (Eva Longoria) the gardener quit as one of them was too hard to please.  Gaby just tells him to find a new one and gets promoted to new Head of VIP Sales.  Gaby worries she'll mess up.  Notice how the men's roles were all reversed at the end of the show.  The women were all working and in charge.  Susan (Teri Hatcher) pushed Julie (Andrea Bowan) on a date with her obstetrician, Dr Baily (Wes Brown).  Julie reminds her she found Mike (James Denton), which Susan replies made her lucky.

Karen (Kathryn Joosten) wants Bree to find the Johnny Mathis song, Wonderful for her the record and she needs a record player too.  Trip (Scott Bakula) calls Bree who isn't interested.  At least he didn't give up on her.  Bree liked him but can't trust him.  Karen wants Roy (Orson Bean) to get his number as it's "fun to screw with peoples' lives one last time."  Lynette tells Katherine she and Tom (Doug Savant) are back together and she can't take the job.  Katherine thinks Lynette won't be happy just sewing buttons and okay she was right but that's not exactly the way you recruit someone.

Gaby returns home late and Carlos ate her steak, he asks if she lost her phone?  She gives him an expensive watch and he likes it but then recalls that's what he used to do to her.  He used to buy her jewellery for being a lousy husband and Gaby also quotes him too.  Carlos should have paid more attention to her.  Gaby: "you're sexy when you're angry."
Carlos: "that's mine too."

Lynette bumps into Natalie (Nike Doukas) who makes Lynette realize she misses work.  That meeting looked like Katherine had planned it.  Carlos hires a new gardener, a woman, just like Gaby and John were floozing.  Renee's dress was horrible, as I've already said and that hat, what was with the hat?  The second one was much better and more her style.  Bree checks on Karen before she leaves for the wedding and Roy tells her Trip found the record for her and a record player.  Karen was happy.  He tries to convince Bree that Trip's a good guy and he didn't even drop by Bree's either.

So anyway what was Julie even doing in the limo?  Gaby and Renee go to the store to get a new dress for Renee after Julie's water breaks.  Suppose that scene was one last funny piece of action in the show when Susan steals the limo and Gaby and Renee run off without paying for the dress and shoes and run all the way to the wedding.  What no taxis?

Renee taking the dress from the woman was how she typically shopped in New York as she mentioned to Bree a few eps ago.  Gaby and Renee's escapade on the street, where else would you see such a scene and the passer-bys didn't even notice Renee having a shouting fit at Ben.  Oh and Gaby needing to pull her dress up every second!

Lynette wants the job and Tom claims she was negotiating her salary with Katherine.  He would go anywhere with her if he "believed it would finally make her happy."  But nothing will make her happy and complete.  Ben invites Trip to the reception and Bree just happened to be standing by the cake and the door.  She thanks him for helping Karen and he replies, "once helped out a client of mine."   He asks if she's got anything else to say to him - like giving him a second chance.  He wants her and Bree asks why?  He knew everything about her.  He won't beg for her and she thinks he manipulated her when he kissed her so he knows all her flaws.  He explains everything she did only makes her human and he doesn't want to "love an ideal."  Of course panning in on the cake signified a wedding for them too.

Carlos is sorry for the joke with the gardener and Gaby admits that was a shameful thing in her life, having the affair and it was for Carlos too since he neglected her.  There Carlos says what I said earlier on, "our roles are reversed now."  Gaby has grown up since then and they do the Tango.  Susan tells Julie she may have one torrid affair left in her but if she feels lonely, she'll have all her memories.  Lee (Kevin Rahm) and Bob (Tuc Watkins) toast the couple and Lynette makes a speech about herself, well it was about herself really, as everything always was. Bree has her make up done at this point after making out with Trip!

Lynette was already happy and toasts "to remembering" - the show no doubt!  Tom agrees to go to New York with her and Karen passes listening to her song.  Julie gives birth, which was a tribute to Karen, as one life ended another began.  That's the cycle of life.  Roy calls Bree, but no one else.

Mary Alice: "Susan Delfino moved from Wisteria Lane on Thursday..."  The women play poker for the last time and know Gaby's tell of tapping the side of her glass.  Bree says it is the last time they will play and Gaby used to have a fantasy of them staying here - of how she stays gorgeous and they all age.  Lynette adds she's dreamed about that.  Mary Alice: "It was a promise made in all sincerity but sadly it wasn't meant to be."

Susan drives around the block one last time.

Funny Bree had to go to Kentucky to get elected!  The new home owner, Jennifer (Lindsey Kraft) has a secret of course cos that's how Mary Alice started out too and she looks like she'll be boring.  But we don't get to see what's in the box she hides.  Appearances by Mike,  Rex, (Steven Culp) George, (Roger Bart) Karl, (Richard Burgi) Martha, Mary Alice, et al, as Susan drives away. Including: Lillian (Elle Geer), Alma (Valerie Mahaffey), Ellie (Justine Bateman), Juanita Solis (Lupe Ontiveros) and an uncredited one by Vance (Jonathan Cake).

Bree didn't have a relationship with her lawyer as Mary Alice says in the opening, since they only kissed and she didn't see him again after that.  Ben and Renee never got a mention at the end and neither did Lee, Bob or Roy.  They weren't members of the cast proper but could have had a line about them, it would have been fitting.  It's as if they weren't even part of the Lane and especially Renee, she wasn't an original but deserved a mention.  Oh and Paul appeared at the end too as a ghost, so take it he's dead now too. It was Paul. I had a feeling Susan was going to drive into Mike as she wanted to drive round the block. Oh and what happened to Orson too?

So ends an era. The title of this episode was a song title from the Stephen Sondheim musical Sunday in the Park with George.  Marc Cherry had the idea for the ghosts of Wisteria Lane since season 1.  Also Mary Alice killed herself on a Thursday and Susan leaves the Lane on a Thursday when she moves away.  Roselyn Sanchez auditioned for the part of Gaby.  Marc Cherry also wanted Nicholette Sheridan back as Edie but that wasn't possible cos of the court case which led to both fans and critics complaining of this.

Lynette also met Natalie at the store in the Pilot and there were more references to season 1, such as Lynette being married to Tom and still being married to him at the end.  Bree was a conservative in the first season and she goes back to being this again at the end.  In Ah But Underneath in season 1, Carlos lavished Gaby with gifts, which is what Gaby was doing for Carlos now.  Susan was single when she moved to the Lane and single when she left, albeit with her children and grandchild in tow.  Katherine returned as she first arrived in season 4's Now You Know, with the camera showing her heels.

It's a shame that after being through so much together, none of the women kept in touch in the future.  Though it's understandable, I know people like that who used to be my friends.
As for the wedding cake reference as I pointed out between Bree and Trip, Mary Alice called Bree and Orson the "perfect couple" in the episode It Takes Two.  Bree was married to Rex, then Orson and now Trip.  As for her career in politics, would these conservative women really have accepted her with background of indiscretions, okay it's nitpicking, but still.  No wonder she ended up in Kentucky.

In the Pilot, Lynette, Gaby, Bree and Susan were introduced in this order and that's how they were shown in the end too.
Mary Alice and Paul Young kept their secret hidden in the toy box (as shown in One Wonderful Day) and the newcomer, Jennifer keeps hers hidden in a small box. "No secret remains Buried..."  it's as if the Wisteria Lane curse will continue for whoever moves in, though it wasn't like this for every resident.
Mary Alice: "Even the most desperate life is oh so wonderful..."

The Vampire Diaries - 2.15: "The Dinner Party" Review

Damon throws a dinner party to try to lure Elijah into a trap and use the dagger on him. Jonathan lies to Damon about the dagger and Katherine is free of her compulsion.

Elena (Nina Dobrev) reads John Gilbert's (David Anders) journal and Jonathan (Joe Knezevich) in a flashback says he can prove there aren't any vampires with the use of a compass, but it begins to whir.   Can't run from a vampire and he is killed by Stefan (Paul Wesley) who else.   Tyler (Michael Trevino) ran away from home.   Damon (Ian Somerhalder) has a dagger to kill Elijah (Daniel Gillies) and tells Stefan he's got a murder to plan.   Damon: "Yes Stefan I've become you, how tragic for all of us."  Alaric (Matt Davis) turns up at Jenna's (Sarah Canning) tour of the property with Elijah.   She's on one of Elena's list of loved ones to protect.   Elijah comments he doesn't go after younger women.

Bonnie (Kat Graham) needs practice with her magic and tells Luka (Bryton McClure) everything is normal when he says she did something to him, but he doesn't believe her.   Elena has agreed to sacrifice herself for Klaus and Stefan disagrees.   Jonathan wrote things which Stefan hasn't told her.   He didn't know about Jonathan's journal and that he'd survive, Stefan calls himself a monster.   After becoming a vampire, he went to the darkest place.   Flash to Stefan's past blood fests and Damon gets rid of Stefan's female company.   Damon wants to stay alive and clever like Katherine.   He's had it with Stefan and is leaving town,  leaving Stefan to kill himself.   Elena: "Sounds like you were Damon."  Stefan was much worse.

Alaric leaves Jenna with Elijah.   Andie (Dawn Olivieri) wants to help with the dinner party.   Damon will host and Jenna agrees.  Damon feeds Katherine, "You're almost pretty again." John's back in town and told him how to kill an original.   Katherine asks him if he told him whether it was true or not.   She doesn't want Damon to kill Elijah or she'll be compelled to stay in the dungeon forever.   Can be killed with a dagger and white oak ash.   Damon doesn't want to help her out.   Katherine's confirmed it's possible to kill an original, which Damon will.

Stefan only knew how to "hunt, prey or kill."  Had an endless blood supply during the war.   He met Lexi (Arielle Kebbel) then and didn't know about the vampire massacre.   Lexi calls him a ripper.   There are good and bad parts to being a vampire and Stefan is bad.   Alaric is hiding things from Jenna and John's telling her things she doesn't want to hear.   Alaric doesn't want anything to hurt Jenna and he makes this clear to Damon, like he'd listen or care.   Elijah's stronger and faster than Damon so he needs the element of surprise.   John arrives to the party, he invited himself.

Bonnie tells Elena everything about her and Jeremy and she might not like hanging out together.   Elijah says he and Elena have a deal and if he crosses him will kill everyone.   Jenna lets it be known that Damon's family isn't a founder family of Mystic Falls.  Damon wonders why Elijah wants to know the location of the witch massacres.   Jonathan researched the originals and has a sketch of the dagger.   The oak was burned and the ash was saved and the dagger was forged by the ashes.  "It must be brandished by humans alone or it will bring death to all who wield it."  John wants Damon to use it.   (This was shown in 3.9 when Elena uses it to kill Mikael.)

John told Jenna Alaric wasn't being honest about his dead wife and wants his ring back.    Stefan calls Alaric.   Elijah didn't tell Damon why the site is important and Alaric interrupts, he forgets about dessert, writing Damon a note, 'Dagger will kill you if you use it.'  That's something John was being sneaky about.   Elena hates him so there's no need to keep him on Elena's list.   Alaric stabs Elijah.   Stefan wants to ensure Elena keeps her life and she's giving up, but she shouldn't  like Lexi didn't let him give up either.   Lexi tells Stefan to let the pain back in, "When you can hurt, you can love." Everything's intense as a vampire and he wants Elena to fight for survival (repeated again in season 3.)

Alaric is Damon's friend and he doesn't have any, so he doesn't want anymore lies from him.   Elena says it's forbidden for one vampire to kill another so both died.   Bonnie tries to channel Jeremy.   Klaus has Luca's sister and Jonas (Randy J Goodwin) wants to get her back.   Jonas tries to kill Bonnie and takes her powers.   At the cabin, Elijah can't come in  so he'll wait.   Elena wants to negotiate and threatens to kill herself but he'll heal her and she'll become a vampire like Katherine.   How will he heal her if he can't come in and get to her body.   She makes him promise not to harm anyone she loves.   Elijah doesn't so she stabs herself and when he finally agrees, she stabs him.

Damon tells her not to pull the dagger out of Elijah.   Jenna asks about Isobel.   Alaric isn't honest with her cos he doesn't answer when she asks.   John can put her right about Isobel if he wants and returns his ring. He'll need it more than Alaric after what he did to Damon.   Damon takes the moonstone from Elijah's pocket but why leave him lying around in the cellar?   Elena wants things done her way now.   Does Stefan recall Lexi and has a flash to her?: 'His hate will get to him'.   Katherine got out as she knew Damon would kill Elijah if she begged him not to and when originals die, the compulsion is released.   Originals can compel vampires and Katherine agrees to help Damon.

Elijah gets stabbed not once but twice, first by Elena and then Alaric all in the same episode.   He'll return since no one stays dead in this show - not for long and only if they're absolutely not coming back.    Sometimes this stabbing frenzy goes a bit over the top but it would be Alaric to stab Elijah with the dagger, cos he's human and John keeping this from Damon - that a vampire who kills a vampire also dies, John sees it as a way to get rid of Damon.   No can't do that.   Alaric mentioning he's the only friend Damon has and he'll say this again next season, so it was fitting to see him save Damon and write him a note.  The fact that he actually read it was another matter.

John turned up at the party not only to cause trouble for Damon, but for Alaric with Jenna.   Why didn't Damon just throw John out and why the need for him to cause friction between Alaric and Jenna?   It's up to Alaric to tell Jenna about Isobel (or not) as and when he wants.   Isobel being mentioned can only mean she'll turn up soon enough, as does anyone who is remembered.   Stefan's turn to convince Elena to fight, as Lexi did for him and again lots of this will be repeated next season.   Why did Alaric give the ring back to John? In this town it's needed, considering Damon didn't exact  any sort of revenge on him.

Also knew Katherine was playing Damon when she said he can't kill Elijah or she'll never be free of his compulsion.   She also didn't tell him about the dagger or didn't she know, cos Stefan didn't know either until Elena read it in the journal.   Only now she's free does she agree to help Damon.  Feels like Damon would rather be rid of her.   Yet another plan falls by the wayside, or so it seemed to, but Elijah was put down...for now.

Lexi was known as Alexia Branson when Stefan meets her.   Alaric: "You said there wasn't going to be any violence."
Damon: "Said the guy who did all the killing."  Damon telling Elijah about the lion, the witch and the wardrobe when he said he needed to find the burial ground, along with the doppelganger and the moonstone.

Supernatural - 1.8: "Bugs" Review

Sam and Dean investigate some strange creepy crawlie, goings-on, are mistaken for gay and Sam admits some home truths about him and Dad, much to Dean's displeasure.

Oak Plains, Oklahoma.   Workers at a site find a sink hole and one falls in to be attacked by bugs.   Sam (Jared Padalecki) reads in the paper about a local death being blamed on a medical mystery.   He thinks they could get occasional day jobs to pay their way.   Dean (Jensen Ackles) wins some money, nope hunting's their job.   Don't think anyone can imagine Dean on an actual job!  They're good at hunting.   The man died from Creutzfeld-Jacob disease, human mad cow disease (X-Files territory here, or should that be Scully (Gillian Anderson) territory since Sam is the one who mentions it and you know what Dean says, Sam's the red-headed girl and he's Mulder (David Duchovny).   Dean: "Isn't that on Oprah?"
Sam: "You watch Oprah?!"  Of course amongst a million other shows, ha.   Dean changing the subject asks why it's their case.

Sam posits geekily (!) brain degeneration takes years and this man's brain disintegrated in an hour or less.   Dean's unhappy it's always work and has no time to spend his 'hard earned' money.   (Yeah on booze and chicks.)  They drive to Oasis Plains estate, the site of the injury.   Sam finds whatever it was, worked on the inside of the brain and they need to go down the hole, but don't know what's there.   Dean flips a coin, he's not afraid.   Sam goes down instead and finds dead beetles but no other tracks, tunnels or signs of any other creatures.   Some beetles eat meat, but normally it's dead.   They need more information on the area.

Dean suggest they start at the show home, free BBQ, that signals all you can eat for free, for Dean.  As Sam says, "free food's got nothing to do with it."
Dean: "No, I'm a professional."  Dean knows growing up in such a place would have freaked him out, it's so normal.   Sam: "There's nothing wrong with normal."
Dean: "I'd pick our family over normal everyday." The developer says they accept all sorts of homeowners regardless of sexual orientation.   Dean insists they're brothers.   Lynda (Carrie Genzel) mistakens them for a gay couple too.  To which Dean replies to Sam: "...okay honey."

His son, Matt (Tyler Johnston) likes bugs, a spider comes towards her and Sam picks it up, yuk.   Sam comments Matt's on a first name basis with his father and it reminds Sam of him and Dad (Jeffrey Dean Morgan.)   Dean recalls Dad never treated them like that.   Sam: "Dad never treated you like that - you were perfect, his was all over my case." Cos Sam was out of line at times.   Sam recalls he wanted to play soccer but had to learn bow hunting.   Here comes the brother differences and how Sam believes Dean was the favourite whereas that was Sam, cos in all families the youngest is always the favourite.   Dean wasn't perfect as we'll see in some later episodes.   He just had to do what he thought was right and that was in hunting.

Dean realizes this wasn't the first strange death, there was one from an allergic reaction to bee stings a year ago, before the development was started.   Sam adds hauntings sometimes include manifestations of bugs.   Sam likens it to Willard who liked rats.   There are cases of psychic connections between people and animals, elementals, telepaths.  Dean likens it to Lassie and Timmy.   Dean wants to try the steam shower in the house.   Lynda is attacked in the shower by (CGI) spiders.   Sam hears the call on the police scanner.   Dean: "Shower's awesome."  With towel over his head; like a girl!  Then has to venture out in the rain!  Dean notices the spiders in the towel (fake plastic ones more like.)

They follow Matt into the woods where he collects bugs.   He knows somethings happening to the bugs and he tried to tell his father but he wouldn't listen, "he's too disappointed in his freak son."
Sam: "I hear you."
Dean: "You do."  Sam comforts him as he can go to college in two years and get away from him.   Dean: "What kind of advice is that - kid should stick with his family."  Sam notices the earth mound in which Dean puts his hand and pulls out a skull (and he just had a shower.)  Sam says it's an unmarked grave, so why the bugs and why now?

Dean gives Sam the third degree, why did he tell Matt to leave his family like that.   Sam: "I know what the kid's going through."
Dean: "How about telling him to respect his old man - how's that for advice."  Great let the fireworks begin.   These moments are classics for this show.    Sam knows this is about him, Dean thinks he didn't respect Dad, which he did, but he couldn't do anything that was good enough in his eyes.   Dean agrees Dad was disappointed in Sam.   Sam: "Was, is always has been...because I wanted to go to school and live life, which in our family made me the freak."

Dean: "You were like the blonde chick in The Munsters."  Again Dean tries to inject some humour in this conversation which has been on the cards for a long time..   Sam recalls Dad threw him out of the house and Dean also recalls that fight, "I seem to remember a few choice phrases coming out of your mouth."  Then Sam comes down to the bit about finding Dad, eventually but he probably won't want to see him.   Dean admits Dad wasn't disappointed in Sam, he was scared of what would happen to Sam if he wasn't around and rightly so.   Look at everything that will happen to Sam.   Dad used to see him at Stanford even when they were arguing to ensure he was safe.   So why didn't Dean do that too, keep in touch.   Seems like Dean's the one who had more of a grudge against Sam for living his life than Dad did.   But that's to come.

They have an appointment with a professor (Jim Byrnes)who tells them events 170 years ago on the Native American time scale, when there were no tribes and relocation was common.  They should talk to Joe (Jimmy Herman).   They admit they're not really students.   Dean: "Truth is..."  He shouldn't start a sentence with truth is and is rebuked by Joe.   Truth is they're liars.   He likes Sam, he's not  a liar.   Joe tells them what his grandfather told him: 200 years ago his ancestors lived here and the US cavalry came to relocate them, they resisted and on "the night the moon and the sun share the sky as equals, the cavalry raided and they resisted and on the sixth day everyone was dead in the village.   On the sixth night, the chief whispered to the heavens, no white man would ever tarnish his land again, nature will rise up and protect the valley."  Sam says it's the spring equinox and the houses have been built on cursed land.

Dean tells Sam you don't break a curse you get out of its way.   Matt finds bugs outside the house and Dean calls and says he should say there's a gas leak and leave.   (Travis doesn't recognize Dean's voice.)  Dean suggests not to tell him the truth cos he'll think he's crazy.   Matt told his father the truth.   Dean: "What happened to the plan?"  Dean hears a swarm approach, they cover over the doors and windows.   Sam says they need to outlast them as the curse will end at sunrise.  Dean sets fire to bug spray and they head for the attic.   They're attacked and just as the spray gun runs out, hey presto it's daylight.

The development is on hold, Matt throws his bug collection away.   Sam wants to find Dad, so does Dean and Sam wants to apologize for what he said.   He was doing the best he could.   Dean knows they'll find Dad, apologize and then Dad and Sam will fight again.   Yes that's true.   Not one of the episodes high up on my favourites list, but at least we get some arguing between Sam and Dean, which was stewing and building up.   That's the best bits in this show, well some of them anyway.   That they're brothers and of course siblings fight, families fight, but at the end of the day it's not over anything trivial.   Then they kiss and make up, ha.  The first time Sam and Dean being mistakenly alluded to as gay.

The bees through the fireplace reminded me of The Birds (1963) and I know I've said it before but it did.   Anyone who hasn't seen that Hitchcock classic should watch it and then see some similarities between the swarm attack.   Also what Jensen and Jared do for their art, they were actually faced with real bees, cos the fake ones were too small to film.   Yeah bet a lot of us would have liked to have applied ointment to their bite marks!!  Dean calling Sam the blonde chick, Marilyn in The Munsters, since in their family she was the freak, as she was human and the others were monsters.   Thus Sam was the normal one in the Winchester family and thus the freak.