666 Park Avenue 1.3 "The Dead Don't Stay Dead" Review

                                        
After the secret door closed on Jane (Rachael Taylor) last episode she finds herself stuck with no phone battery and then sees a little girl who grabs her ankle.  Anybody else would've been out of there quick smart, but she can't get out you see, so it was funny, amazing or just plain incredulous that Henry (Dave Annable) was the one to find her.  I mean I know Jane's been spending more than her fair share of time in the laundry but how did he know she was there and more importantly how did he wake up, seeing as how he's always dead to the world when Jane has her dreams/nightmares and doesn't stir at all.

Gavin  (Terry O'Quinn) greets Annie (Aubrey Dollar) a writer of obits moaning about having to write them, especially since she tells Brian (Robert Buckley) her mother wrote stories but was unpublished.  Gavin apparently thinks "cue deal here" and inspires her to let her imagination run world.  Thus she types up an obit for Diebold (really Die Bold) and turns him into an American hero with links to the CIA and the Russian Mafia and an assassin named Kandinsky.  Just cos she sees the name on a book.  Huh Kandinsky reminds me of Revenge and Ashley who was going to talk art with the Russians in order for them to not make her a sex slave.  Sorry digression there, unless you're a Revenge viewer!

She sits stuck in traffic in a taxi and the news mentions the death of Diebold, it's her obit being becoming reality.  At work she looks at her mother's photo and prints a retraction of her obit lying about what a well published author she was.  Er, this was all wrong, I mean even if she's an obit writer, you don't embellish or make up obits.  Hey anyone recall Over My Dead Body the TV series from the '90's, the lead was an obit writer too.  Anyway after Annie writes her mother's new obit, her clothes change and she's called in to write about Diebold, this time a 'serious' article on him.  Serious that's funny since she'll make it up too.

Apparently Gavin's little ploy of letting her imagination run wild means whoever she thinks up becomes real.  Cue Kandinsky as she describes him she arrives at the Drake, zigzag scar 'n'all.  Knocking on her door, she sees him through the peep hole and he captures her, holding her hostage.  Hey she can't change the story since her hands are tied and me thinks she must type in order for events to take place.

So it's the anniversary of Sasha's death.  Sasha being Gavin and Olivia's (Vanessa Williams) daughter.  Jane finds out when she asks Gavin about the orchids in the building, whilst wanting the original blueprints to the Drake.  He's taking Henry to his club and he wants her to take Olivia to lunch.  Cue Olivia back from another shopping expedition.  Jane tells Henry about the girl and her ankle but he thinks she heard voices through the grate.  She might be a little crazy.  Though for now, Jane appears to be the same one of the lot.

Gavin steers Henry towards higher ambitions and he has an interview with a councilman for chief of staff but that's in 4 weeks, to which Gavin tells him the position could already be filled.  What's with Gavin and his quest to acquire real estate anyway, some dream of his to build a hell on earth.  Anyway Henry walks up to the councilman (Clark Johnson) and scores himself a job after he tells him he won't be elected mayor and will be out of a job in six months.  Later councilman wants his incentive for giving Henry the job as Gavin wanted, but Gavin isn't obliging.  Instead Gavin wants a certain piece of real estate which he refuses.  Thus Gavin shows him the exit, through the liftshaft!  Gavin and lifts!

Brian wants Henry to check his lease agreement to see if they can break it but Henry tells him Gavin made a good deal.  Of course it's unbreakable.  Henry then notices Alexis (Helena Mattsson) who strips in front of the window again but covers herself up when she sees it's not Brian perving.  Yeah and what was it with Alexis walking in on them and straight to their bedroom too earlier on.  Brian invites Henry and Jane out later on.

At lunch Jane confides in Olivia thinking she might be a little crazy and Olivia confides in her about Sasha and a letter she left her, which Gavin doesn't know about.  She takes Jane for a speedy spin in the Porsche and stops before hitting the concrete wall.  Saying Sasha killed herself even though Gavin calls it an accident.  He has to know she killed herself, heck he probably drove her to it.  That's why what I don't understand is that if she was Olivia's daughter and his, why no deal to bring her back, or at least some sort of necromancer ritual or something.  Jane mentions "sometimes I feel the dead won't stay dead" and then realizes what she just said.

Jane finds herself in the laundry again and Gavin brings the blueprints to her there, just when she was seeing blood drip from the door in pints.  How did he know she was there?  Scratch that, why didn't Jane realize he found her there and came all the way down there to give her the blueprints.  Bit far fetched wouldn't you say.  Brian and Louise (Mercedes Masohn) take them to a club and Henry lets slip about the lease as Louise doesn't know.  Apparently Brian was a bit of a celebrated writer with a play on Broadway.  So what happened, he didn't make a deal with Gavin and thus lost his ability to write.  Alexis turns up too, ugh.  Wish they'd get the story over with her already.

Jane sees the girl in the corridor and she tells her "don't let him out."  She heads down there again in the night and brings back a suitcase. Olivia burns the note, but not before we see the words, "he is evil" written in it.  Referring to Gavin so why doesn't Olivia believe or is she under his thumb too.  Gavin aspires Henry he should aim higher and be the campaign instead of running it.

So referring back to Supernatural and this episode and the "dead won't stay dead line" and title, Supernatural had a similar episode with Dean mentioning how "what's dead should stay dead."  Quite a few similarities here too between the too, with the girl appearing when she's dead, the creepy dolls, and toys and how she walked across the screen.

I somehow feel Annie got her just desserts for making up obits like that and selling them as real journalism.  It's not as if journalists haven't got a bad name already, along with lawyers, yes this means you Henry.  He's kind of a wimp wouldn't you say, if he has dreams he should follow them and not settle for second best, easier said than done, but he has to have Gavin telling him to reach his goals all the time and realize his potential.

Why was Olivia so interested in Jane and Henry's sex life, it's too similar to Brain and Louise, first they couldn't 'get it on' and now they can after Louise returned from hospital and that scene with Brian and Alexis last ep.  What's Olivia doing, manipulating the Drake's resident's sex lives or something?

Revenge 2.9 "Revelations" Review

Emily: "For the righteous a revelation is a joyous event.  The realization of a divine truth.  But for the wicked revelations can be far more terrifying when dark secrets are exposed and sinners are punished for their trespasses." Funny this opening has religious connotations as far as revelations are concerned.  Haven't done that before.

Conrad (Henry Czerny) and Victoria (Madeleine Stowe) are at a skeet shooting party and Victoria inevitably excels in this, as does Emily (Emily VanCamp).  Infact most everyone turns up here, all who are plotting that is.  Where introduced to us is Salvador Grobet (Joaquim de Almeida) [may as well have called him Grab-it - the way his name was pronounced, ha] has a bit of a wondering eye for ladies (used loosley where Ashley (Ashley Madekwe) is concerned) and who Daniel (Josh Bowman) wants to side with him in the takeover for the Grayson Global board.  Thus Daniel brings skank Ashley to the fore, a big mistake on his part especially since Grobet is a womanizer, having problems with his wife and also since further down the track it will be revealed just how much of a schemer Ashley really is.

Emily and Aiden (Barry Sloane) root for Daniel to become CEO and so they'll have a line to the initiative with Aiden having a place on the board.  Nolan (Gabriel Mann) is there too with the NolCorp takeover being on the agenda and he tells her he's got an ace up his sleeve but doesn't tell her what that is exactly.   No to mention Conrad getting a call from Helen (Wendy Crewson) who tells him Daniel will be in danger if Conrad and Victoria prevent him taking over as CEO.  She hangs up when Victoria grabs the phone.  Aiden kisses Emily's cheek when he leaves and Nolan points to his own cheek too but he doesn't get a kiss.  In fact he gets a surprise instead when he turns up at Grayson to lose 51% of his company to Daniel and he has to oblige cos of Marco (EJ Bonillo) who hasn't all but told Daniel where the money disappeared to.  Instead he's angling for a job, his old one as CFO, which we know has been taken over by Padma (Dilshad Vadsaria).

Marco continues to harass Nolan even at the bar, infact to the point of blackmail and Nolan later tells Padma he's looking for a position for Marco.  She's livid about that but I wouldn't trust her either so I didn't like him telling her how how Nolan intends to be a Trojan horse inside the company.  I find it remarkable that Marco was also able to piece together that Amanda (Margarita Levieva) never got any of the money judging from the Stowaway and he has more ammo to hold over Nolan.  So maybe she likes to live in poverty and is miserly, did he think about that?  Apparently he and Mason would have had a goo,d seedy double act going.

It's Carl's christening and Jack (Nick Wechsler) foolishly invites the Ryan's too.  Foolishly since it's not until later that Matt (Jonathan Adams) turns up and warns him about the brothers and how they are Joe Ryan's sons and he needs to get out from under their thumbs.  Emily is envious of Amanda and how she's got her hands on Jack and has a family too and Amanda notices this as she tells Emily she too deserves a family and should give up on this revenge business, asking when it's going to be enough.

Matt is beaten up by and Nate, mostly Nate (Michael Trucco) and when he's found by Charlotte (Christa B Allen) he tells Jack that he shot Joe and their father hid the gun on the boat.  So what's he going to do with that now.  Their father's little black book goes missing and later Nate brings it back with Matt's name crossed out in red.  I was surprised that it took Jack that long to spell out the connection between the Ryan name with that of Joe Ryan.  There can't be that many Ryan's about in the same place and conveniently stumbling into the Stowaway too.  Jack asks Nolan for help on info on the brothers and he finds they're nasty people.  Nate having a criminal record and Kenny (JR Bourne) doesn't even own a house here.

Emily and Aiden spy on the Grayson's and watch Ashley as she tries to poison Daniel against Aiden.  Thus Emily comes up with a plan of sending Victoria footage of Ashley and Conrad together.  This she shows to Ashley and Conrad who claims it was when they were divorced and she adds it only happened once.  Victoria tells him he has "wormed your way into the very nadir of repugnance." Oh those classy lines Victoria!  Conrad tells Victoria she can get revenge on him after they save Daniel.

Daniel however is in no mood to be saved as he follows in daddy dearest footsteps showing he's a Grayson through and through. Victoria attempts to use Ashley to seduce Salvador into siding with Conrad but that backfires when Emily finds out and Aiden shows Daniel the footage of her dirty deed.  Thought Daniel would have had more brains and would have figured out Ashley was doing the dirty on him with Conrad, I mean she was working for him, and providing other 'favours' for him wouldn't be that far removed.  Eeww, especially after she was also with Tyler.  Gosh, talk about cast offs!!

Danie turns up courtesy of Aiden and takes a photo of Salvador and Ashley in bathrobes to use as leverage against him.  If he doesn't side with him then he'll send it to his wife. Victoria attempts to force Daniel's hand and tells him not to go through with the takeover since he'll be in danger but she can't elaborate.  Thus he gets his way and becomes CEO.  Breaking the news to Aiden that there's no place for him on the board since he has acquired NolanCorp and so their profits will increase and no one wants to vacate their place.  Well that was a turn up for the books.  After all that.  However they got Daniel in with the initiative.  Later Daniel deletes photos of him and Ashley but keeps the ones of him and Emily.  Then picks up a card with the message, "welcome to the fold."  And a clock, which contains a camera and none other than the initiative watching.

Taking leaves out of Emily's books are they?! Ha.  Oh come on, would you keep a clock from a stranger?  It didn't even look expensive.  Victoria slaps Conrad and he can "take your pick" for whatever that was for.  Victoria calls Emily for help with Daniel but sees her with Aiden and will call her back.

Emily: "Revelations can help us accept the things we need the most.  Expose the secrets we so desperately try to hide and illuminate the dangers all around us.  But more than anything, revelations are windows into our true selves, both the good and the evil and those wavering somewhere in between, with the ultimate power to destroy all that we cherish most."

Plenty of backstabbing going on here, using Nolan's phrase of "come to remove the knife from my back" and Emily having to come up with countermeasures to counteract the countermeasures so they can get their own way in the end.  About Ashley, has she so very little memory or bairn cells, how come she doesn't recall Aiden as the bartender from that Russian bar, where perhaps she should have been left.  Let's face it, the Hamptons has done very little for her.  Oh that look she gave when she was preening herself in the mirror when Victoria spies on her.  Was she trying got mimic Madame Victoria.  Sorry love, you failed miserably!

Daniel's prob on a mission to get Emily now and maybe his refusing to have Aiden on the board was his way of getting one up on Aiden as far as she's concerned.  Daniel does have a shady side to him but don't think it's any match for the initiative or indeed whatever Nolan has planned for him and I can't wait for him to continue his Trojan horsing around!

Mr Selfridge Series 1 Episode 9 Review

                                       
The episode opens with Agnes (Aisling Loftus) and Henri (Gregory Fitoussi) wanting her to stay for longer with him, but she's already been late for work before, it's fine for him to show up late.  Though she needs to fix her hair.  Gordon ((Adam Wilson) is excited about seeing Sir Ernest Shackleton (Mark Dexter) at the store as he's there to give a lecture on his exploration to the Antarctic.  Rosalie (Poppy Lee Friar) gets a bouquet of flowers from Roddy (Oliver Jackson-Cohen) which Rose (Frances O'Connor) thinks are for her from Harry (Jeremy Piven).  Don't think he'd be giving her flowers especially since he hasn't really done anything wrong or to feel guilty about yet, ha.  When Rose finds out they're from Roddy to encourage Rosalie with her drawing.  Rose asks for the flowers to be returned and for no more to be accepted from the same address.

Rosalie won't go to the lecture and runs to her room.  Rose tells Harry that Roddy was here and he's furious he wasn't told before.  Rose thinking she could handle it, or more likely, deep down she wanted to see Roddy again, it was apparent when she later tells Rose why she can't see Roddy.  He's a man and she's just a 17 year old girl and he came to their house uninvited by her parents.  Even if Rosalie is infatuated with him, when she's a mother she'll understand what Rose was trying to do.  To be a good mother and she hopes she can teach that to Rosalie.  When Rosalie tells her about the pain in her stomach when she thinks of Roddy, Rose can understand what she's going through cos she feels it too.

Miss Bunting (Pippa Haywood) puts an envelope addressed to Harry in her bag and leaves her place.  Obvious what she is going to do.  The staff are late and Grove (Tom Goodman-Hill) doesn't know where they are.  Kitty (Amy Beth Hayes) comes in flustered saying there's an incident at Bond Street station with the tube and she was able to get out.  Gordon wonders what it is to be a good leader, something which Harry will ponder later on. Perhaps he should have also thought what it means to be a good family man too.

Crab (Ron Cook) asks if he can help Irene (Anna Madeley) at the Fashion department since Henri once again steals Agnes away for help with a window for Shackleton's visit.  A lady is embarrassed to ask for underwear whilst he's there and so Miss Mardle (Amanda Abbington) is brought in instead.  Clearly the two have a rivalry especially when Miss Mardle tries to sell some material to a customer.  Who walks away undecided.

Grove breaks the bad news to Harry concerning Miss Bunting, found under the tube and they identified her as well as a note addressed to him.  Doris (Lauren Crace) listens in and is upset by the whole news.  Grove comforts her, obviously making a play for her now since clearly Miss Mardle no longer interests him and tells Doris the same thing he did a few episodes ago about her having a good heart and being caring.  Especially when she recalls his wife and his looking after her.  He suggests they meet at the teashop later on as a tribute to Miss Bunting.  Grove thinking he should have written her a referemce himself. I said that too, but it's too late now.

The news distresses Harry and he wants to pay for the funeral expenses as well as attending in person.  Frank (Samuel West) has been fired and asks Harry for a job as press officer but Harry can't think about that now which not only surprises him but sets him straight off to Ellen Love (Zoe Tapper).  She thinks he can help her edit the play she's acting in and even more so when he tells her he has woes about "our mutual friend."

Victor (Trystan Gravelle) pays a visit to Lady Mae (Katherine Kelly) after having gotten time away by telling Perez (Timothy Watson) that Fortnam and Mason are designing a new menu and he should check it out as Harry would appreciate it.  She once gain falters on giving him any backing for his restaurant and Victor tells her he can't see her anymore.  "Dear heart" (as she calls him, so I called her the same, ha) wasn't too pleased about that as she turns up to the store later on with news that she will see Lord Loxley and ask him for money.  However Victor sees through her telling her she only wants to control everything.  Particularly after her, "you'll be in my debt" line she used on Harry too.  He refuses and they part ways.  But Agnes still believes in him.

Irene catches Henri touching Agnes's cheek and asks her if she loves him, if she does then she won't stand in the way of true love.  Agnes admits she doesn't and Irene warns her about her job which is what she should be thinking of.  Valerie (Josephine de la Baume) returns and Agnes did look jealous of her coming back but she's only visiting.  SO it was strange why Agnes said she doesn't love him.  Valerie wants Henri to come back to New York but he doesn't want to return.  Agnes commenting on Valerie's outfit as being from New York, but she says it's French through and through, which was funny since it reminded me of Charlie Chaplin for some reason, you know the tie and hat.

Harry receives Shackleton and has a press call, with Shackleton asking Gordon to put forward a question, thus his line of "what makes a good leader," which Shackleton doesn't answer yet.  The display is of the car he used in the Antarctic and Gordon is able to tell him everything on what the furs are made of etc.  He'll make a good explorer but he wants to follow in Harry's footsteps.  Harry replies there's plenty of exploring to be done here in the store, that's how those objects were found.

Rose sees Roddy with Rosalie and Harry takes care of him, he was rather restrained.  Roddy tells him how he doesn't appreciate Rose and he humiliates her and all the time he was with Ellen.  Harry threatens to destroy his painting career if he sets foot in the store again or has anything to do with his family.  Thought he'd have a change of heart about being true to Rose but that wouldn't be the case obviously.  Shackleton speaks of having to come home to save his men, he put his men first and brought them out of the cold.  Harry talks to his Head of Departments, reading out Miss Bunting's letter of not wanting them to be unhappy for her and to move on.  He says he left an employee out in the cold and it's never to happen again.

Poor Crab didn't even get Shackleton's autograph!  Harry looks at Rose's portrait and says he's going to have another one commissioned but she doesn't want that.  Then confronts her about Roddy telling him she loves him.  She replies "you believe whatever you want to believe."  Prompting him to storm out and head to the club, where he meets a woman in red.  Here we go again, he finds someone else or was that Ellen again?

Harry has his chance to make amends with Rose and he didn't take it.  Didn't think he'd let Rose leave with that sort of an answer and would have demanded more from her.  Since her telling him earlier on that nothing happened wasn't enough.  Then again it's back to double standards again and it's okay for the man to have his affairs but not for his wife and any other woman.  Not that I'm endorsing extra marital affairs or anything like that, but talking about the times they lived in!

Kitty was showing off mighty airs and graces too with having Doris call her 'Miss Hawkins' and she reprimanded George (Calum Callahan) for being on the shop floor.  Wouldn't he know where he belongs without her pointing it out.  She the apologizes to Doris and suggests they go for a bun and tea.  But Doris has plans.  Irene and Miss Mardle become one step closer to being friends as Irene remarks on it being lonely in the snow and ice.  Miss Mardle replies you don't have to be there to be alone.  Irene also mentioning how hard it is for women to find a man and if you so, then you can't work.  It's unfair that's why she joined the suffragette's and Miss Mardle agrees to go to their next meeting.

There's quite a lot happening in the penultimate episode in terms of new relationships being put forward for series 2 to explore and new avenues to pursue in terms of storylines.  Was Harry's threatening of Roddy enough to keep him away, he is kind of shifty and doesn't listen, wanting his own way, or has Harry's actions driven Rose to him?  Harry can't stay away from other women and even the trauma of the day hasn't led him to make amends or to give up his philandering ways for a while, then again some would say Rose only has herself to blame this time round, she practically drove him away.  Yet she still loves Harry.  Their relationship is complex, to say the least.

666 Park Avenue 1.2 "Murmurations" Review

                                             
The scene opens with Gavin (Terry O'Quinn) walking out of the lift to the tune of 'you belong to me' which was appropriate considering practically everyone's soul from the Drake does belong to him.  Especially ironic, eerie as the same line plays when Henry (Dave Annable) walks out too.  Lift inspection shows there was nothing wrong with the lift and Jane (Rachael Taylor) goes into the room vacated by John Barlow in the Pilot; since the wall 'devoured' him.  Jane is peeved and tells Tony (Erik Palladino) about this since she's the manager and no one told her.  Also telling him it was Gavin who gave her the job, seeing as he may have wanted it.  Masses of birds fly out through the window, exiting from the hole.  Of course all Alfred Hitchcock fans will point to his movie, The Birds.  Which I also mentioned even before Jane does.

She gets in an exterminator who tells her they're starlings and there are hundreds of them down there.  Jane was game popping her head through the hole, anything could have happened, but it wouldn't, not to Jane, not yet anyway.  He tells her the starlings are called 'murmurations' like a murder of crows, collectively used to describe them.  She also has him dig open the hole in the laundry, where the door was concealed.

Henry and Jane have been invited to yet another party thrown by Gavin and Olivia (Vanessa Williams).  Where Henry was meant to chance upon the new building Gavin wants to build on the land he is acquiring in a  deal with Frank Alpern (Mike Doyle). The couple are also introduced to Danielle (Mili Avital) who remarks on Henry being 'a keeper.'  She's having troubling dating and keeping any man and Gavin books a table for her at a swanky, romantic restaurant for her and her date.

Jane sees Nona (Samantha Logan) and tells her about her missing necklace, belonging to her grandmother and she'll keep an eye out for it.  What I want to know is why if Nona is a clairvoyant doesn't she save the people she sees in her visions, or at least tell someone about them. Not that there's anyone she can trust there, so maybe she may find an ally in Jane.  It's almost as if she's part of some 'deal' with Gavin.  Nona ventures down to the laundry and steals the exterminator's rabbit's paw, having a vision of him being attacked by birds and killed.  Though when we see him he's attacked by the birds and is run over. hey she stole his good luck charm!

Henry's invited Gavin and Olivia over to dinner and Jane must cook for them.  He also mentions the case he's working on, re the land acquisition to Jane and the land has traces of poisonous elements so can never be developed.  He can't tell Gavin cos he'll lose his job and he'll end up in Indiana.

At the restaurant, Gavin invites Danielle over to join him and his friend, Frank, for a drink as he's interested in her and naturally they hit it off, or so she thinks.  Jane had another dream the night before, though it wasn't really a dream, but she sees a dead man wake up, when she goes to get the laundry late night.  She asks Tony about any murders at the Drake and he tells her there have been suicides but no murders.  Yeah the suicides being of people who can no longer live with the deals they've made.

When she returns home from visiting Louise (Mercedes Masohn) in the hospital where she doesn't want to get in the middle when Louise suggests she's thinking about suing Gavin for the lift incident.  Jane finds an envelope slipped under her door containing a cutting about the murder of a man at the Drake, shot to death.  Jane later has a vision and sees him being shot by a woman.  Relevant since Frank tells Danielle he's married and she's sure she didn't see a ring before.  So she was just a one night stand to him and she stabs him.  Gavin naturally walks in to save the day and reminds her of all the other men she's killed over the years.  She glimpses herself in the mirror and she's old.  He tells her she'll be fine in the morning, which she is.  Gavin wanted her to kill Frank since he wanted to get out of the investment with him.

Gavin tells Henry he knows he couldn't tell him about the land and he's glad since it shows he's got integrity.  Anyway he sold the land to a Chinese company before news got out it's worthless.  Brain (Robert Buckley) is finally seduced by Alexis (Helena Mattsson) and no amount of curtain drawing will change that.  Gavin gives Louise a cheque, virtually buying them off for the lift 'accident.'  So they're his now.  Funny the timing of that cheque which came after Brian has been unfaithful.

The scene where the exterminator was attacked was reminiscent of the bird attack in The Birds, where they wait to pounce on their Vic, which was rather atmospheric.  Olivia, only used in the dinner scenes and taking Danielle shopping.  Please, that's all she used to do in Desperate Housewives and prob Ugly Betty too.  the dead man, Ed was a resident of apartment 7G, which is now inhabited by none other than Danielle.  But the apartment was probably hers to begin with.

Gavin doesn't want Jane to remove the birds since it's their home too and will come in handy no doubt to remove future dissatisfied 'customers.'  He also wants Jane to clear up the basement.
Gavin: "Finding love makes it worth the pain of searching for it." Gavin's creepy line which he says twice and both times to Danielle.  I want to know what happened to Olivia's daughter and why she didn't or couldn't save her.  Did she make a deal, or couldn't she?  Also wondering how she met Gavin to begin with?

This ep was relatively tame, you know, no scary, terrifying moments which you'd think you'd get in a show with such a title.  Seems the powers that be are taking too long in building up the stories and the suspense, no wonder it was cancelled by ABC.  The plots needed to be more attention-grabbing from the outset.  Should have taken a leaf out of Supernatural for how to do scary!

The Mentalist 5.11 "Days of Wine and Roses" Review

Lisbon (Robin Tunney) pays a visit to Judge Davis (Amy Aquino) in the hopes of getting a warrant to proceed with the investigation on Volker (Henry Ian Cusick) particularly his financial records to ascertain the identity of the hitman he used.  She's obtained an independent autopsy on the Vic Amanda Shaw, as her death was ruled a suicide, the pathology report indicates the ligature marks aren't consistent with suicide.  The judge is surprised Bertram paid for an other examination but Lisbon admits she paid for it herself.  The judge thinking this is personal for her.  Which it is considering she promised Amanda she would protect her and keep her safe.  She feels Judge Davis won't be intimated by Volker or the fact he's friends with the governor.  How wrong could she be.  Good to see Lisbon being so emotionally involved, just as long that doesn't lead to her making mistakes.

She then arrives at another CS where Patrick (Simon Baker) is already there, observing the chess players, one in particular, as he drinks from a whiskey bottle.  He remarks on Lisbon's mood, hoping she has found a breakthrough in the Volker case, or love cos she deserves it.  At this point many will say it's kind of odd Patty should have said that considering he hasn't mentioned anything like that before.  Don't think it really means anything about his 'feelings' for her though.  He seemed genuinely sincere and anyway she doesn't reply.

The Vic is a model, Charlie (Michelle LaRue) who Patrick points out shaved her legs and so was meeting someone for a date.  They always get those tell tale indicators which point to a date or romantic evening.  Whilst Lisbon is left to talk to the first responders, Patrick makes a beeline for the cheese players.  He challenges one of them by taking the place of his opponent on the undertaking he'll win his money back for him.  Then asks where the Vic's wallet is since he bought an expensive bottle of whiskey since he's not that good a player.  As Patrick takes him to check mate.

Lisbon and Patrick talk with Charlie's parents, Jeff (Sam Hennings) and Lisa (Kathe E Mazur) who tell them about her Lisa's stolen ruby necklace but Lisa's insists the maid did it and so she had to fire her.  Especially since Charlie liked her and wouldn't want her to be fired of Charlie had stolen the necklace.  Charlie was at a drug rehab facility, which is the duo's next point of call.  Curiously there was no sighting of the maid.

At rehab Dr Reuben (Dennis Boutsikaris) who runs Oasis Ranch Rehab, has a psychiatry degree which Patrick finds amusing, not to mention perfect since the psychiatrist almost always does it.  Re Pilot ep where Dr Linus Wagner (Zeljko Ivanik) was a psychiatrist, aka the Red John copycat killer.  Nice bit of continuity going a long way back.  Though he did appear in the show again in season 3's Ball of Fire.  Reuben also he points out Patrick must have been in a facility himself, which he has.  But Patrick seemed rather standoffish in the sense he was nonchalant with the place since he's had his fair share of psycho analysis.  Maybe it was just a touche moment as Patty looks at Lisbon, ha.

Reuben also mentions they have high profile patients that they have to keep reporters out, also how people who are newly sober tend to act out sexually.  Surely not a reference to Patrick, since he does have a Red John obsession meaning he can't move on and meet someone else.  Mind you, that wasn't the case with Lorelei.  He did sleep with her albeit in the interests of getting info on RJ and then there was Erica.

Van Pelt (Amanda Righetti) finds Volker paid a Charles Milk $25,000 and Volker turns up in her office.  He tells her she looks good which was just his way to get under her skin and unnerve her since Lisbon did look relieved to have him gone when she throws him out of her office.  He mentions she's been working out, but that was after he tells her she should have asked him for his financial records as he believes in transparency.  yeah to the point in being so 'free' with the detective investigating him.  Has he been spying on her, should say perving, he's rather creepy.  Lisbon did look a little out of her depth without Patrick there to interject and basically butt in with his observations and wry comments.  However throughout the ep she insists she doesn't need his help and will handle this on her own.

Patrick is complimentary of her good police work, admiring her "pluck."  Yet he's worried Volker may be inside her head, he knows what that's like, having an adversary inside his head.  He wants her to be careful.  Whilst he sneaks off into the rehab facility and continues to nose around, er, investigate.  Lisbon sends in reinforcements in the form of Cho (Tim Kang) well to babysit and it's always Cho.  Like he and Patty have some sort of an understanding.

Patrick meets Johanna Lyle, who was Charlie's counsellor and tells Patrick she's not a doctor and also that she doesn't smoke.  She's also been burning the midnight oil she claims by having to work nights.  Anyway she was my suspect as soon as she opened her mouth!  She introduces them to Charlie's roommate Susie (Mary Lynn Rajskub) and Patrick notices a card from her parents saying they're proud of her.  The roommate asks Patrick if it's 'Jane' as in Austen or 'Jayne' as in Mansfield, obviously cos the two have different spellings.  Patrick replies 'Austen'.  That was a clue for later since it relates to the spelling of his name for 'journalistic purposes' since Van Pelt finds Tweets posted about the facility and celebs/patients there.

Patrick proceeds to gatecrash a rehab class where he wafts around the jasmine perfume which he sprayed onto his hanky from Charlie's bottle.  Obviously smells trigger memories, but in this case it was just another ploy.  There are two men there Armando (Jean Paul San Pedro) and Phoenix (Ken Luckey) and one of them is her boyfriend, so he sets them up saying Armando was sleeping with Charlie.  Then once again steps back in true Patrick form where they're at each other's throats.

Patrick later surmises Lisbon is going to her Thursday night poker game and it's an attempt for her to try another judge for a warrant.  This time she asks Judge Manchester (John Rubinstein) and uses the 'fear' card to get her way.  Obviously Volker or someone got to Judge Davis since she doesn't oblige with the warrant for Milk.  It was apparent the way she refused and even Manchester knew about Davis refusing.  Anyway Lisbon gets her warrant and also a call from Volker telling her in no uncertain terms Milk won't be helpful, which turns out to be true since Van Pelt finds him at a railroad crossing dead along with other two others, apparently a drive by shooting.  That was convenient.  But were the couple just innocent bystanders?

At rehab Patrick speaks with Susie again and asks her for a cup of tea, then thanks her by calling her Margaret, her real name.  That's why she asked him about Austen or Mansfield.  Also no addict would have a stash of camomile or mint tea.  She found Charlie changed after she received her parents card and was writing a letter in Spanish which she threw out.  She only knew the words 'Lo siento' Spanish for "I'm sorry."  Thus Charlie was writing to the maid.  Patrick then sets about stealing belongings from the patients.  He's with Lisbon when she gets the call about the thefts and she doesn't accompany him, but turns up later.  Cho sees Patrick pocket a watch in their rouse to draw out the killer.

This leads to another meeting with Reuben and Johanna and surprised that no one saw how Patrick's behaviour had changed.  As he now acts like he's in need of help for his kleptomania.  Lisbon mentions the ruby necklace is found in his car and lo and behold, my suspect, Johanna heads directly to her secret hiding place and pulls out the necklace! No one even knew she had the necklace so why go and check.  Even of they did find it they wouldn't know for certain who had put it there.  This time Rigsby (Owain Yeoman) gets to talk with her, darn and last time I said it was always Van Pelt who did that.

Johanna's a gambling addict and was in debt.  She needs the money and so killed Charlie for the necklace.  Rigsby is disgusted she let her parents believe their daughter was an addict and she claims she's got a disease.  Rather ironic since she's there to help people in that very same position and yet she can't help herself. Especially after her line to Patrick, "it's not your fault, there's nothing to be ashamed of,"  re his kleptomania.  Well no there isn't considering he's not a kleptomaniac to begin with.  But you Johanna are a whole different ballgame.

Nice moments: Patrick with his fists in response to Reuben with his thumbs up!  Also Lisbon finally asking Patrick for help after thinking she could go it alone.  Hey she deserves some credit here of course she managed quite a bit without Patrick being around.  That meeting with Volker and then the phonecall from him.  She exhausted all legal avenues like a good detective.
As for Patty, made a few boo-boos, okay Johanna didn't smoke but spent time around smoke, thus a reference to casinos and she mentions not having to commute between here and halfway to Reno.  What's in Reno?  Casinos.

Patrick playing chess against himself, priceless.

The title could be a reference to the 1896 poem Vitae Summa Brevis by Ernest Dowson : "They are not long the days of wine and roses.  Out of a misty dream our path emerges for a while and then closes with a dream."  Could mean all kinds of things here, re Lisbon's path emerging with Volker, wonder how long that will last.  Hopefully not long since we don't really want Lisbon getting her head all messed up in the same way as Patrick with Red John.  It could get boring having two elusive adversaries for both our leads.

Also the title is a 1962 Jack Lemmon film about two people who become alcoholics and need to deal with their addiction.

CSI:NY: Beyond 10 Seasons...or at Least 10

                                       
Every year CSI:NY comes up with exceptional stories and every year it ends up being on the bubble, whereas other lightweight shows always get renewed without problems.  This year with the close of season 9 in the US, the show once again finds itself on the bubble.  You'd think by now that all concerned with the show would get some kudos and recognition from the network after 9 years of hard slog.  But no.  Guess it's too much to ask for a show to get a renewal for a double figure 10 without any hassles, or keeping fans on tenterhooks.

Pam Veasey commented on how "it is sort of an incredible challenge each year to leave it open."  As she told TVGuide.  As well as adding "no one told us to write it so it ends."  Well no one would, would they?  Maybe that's a good thing and maybe it isn't.  But I for one have been saying it every year the show has been on the bubble, this is the third time now, that there should be at least 10 years of CSI:NY if not more.  Practically mentioned it in most of my articles. Of course we want more seasons!

Season 9 was more character focused and though it has yet to air on TV in the UK, Channel 5 have put it back this year for some reason since we used to get it in February.  Hate the way their excuse is to say that "schedules are fixed a few weeks in advance" so they won't know when it's airing but they didn't give any reason as to why it's not being shown now.

Gary Sinise said the season 9 finale entitled Life Today is a "very nice ending.  I think people who have watched these characters grow will enjoy it."   The episode involves Mac (Gary Sinise) and Flack (Eddie Cahill) under siege in the precinct as an angry mob gathers outside.  They're angry over whether or not an unarmed man was shot by the police.  We all know how tense those scenarios can get in real life too.

Hopefully it'll be as exciting as Snow Day.  That was a great Flack ep: never seen Flack run around so much!!  However on a serious note Gary explained how the plot is kind of based on events from the 1970's when a police station was 'stormed' and officers were injured.

However some fans are already bemoaning the end of the show since they point to Hill Harper, who played Sheldon Hawkes, leaving and joining Covert Affairs.  Thus they feel he knows something the rest of us don't.  Which isn't necessarily the case, especially since Hill tweeted that if the show returns he could be back.  Though that could even be for just guest spots.

I for one however refuse to give up and am keeping everything physically able to crossed!! I need my Flack fix and Danny (Carmine Giovinazzo) and Jo (Sela Ward) and Adam (AJ Buckley)...

You can reminisce season 1 with my book New York Minutiae. An Unofficial and Unauthorized Guide to CSI:NY.  Available online from amazon, Barnes and Noble, WH Smith etc

The Vampire Diaries 4.11 "Catch Me If You Can" Review

                                        
Lots happening this episode as Rebekah (Claire Holt) recaps what Stefan (Paul Wesley) said last episode about each of the players being on a team paired together and how they have nothing.  The sheriff (Marguerite MacIntyre) arrests Shane (David Alpay) after what April told them last episode and he's not talking so Bonnie (Kat Graham) tells her father (Rick Worthy) she wants a minute with him and what a long minute that turned out to be.  Before Shane was arrested, he helped Bonnie control her magic which she was unable to do.  Here he mutters under his breath that they're right he did kill those council members in a ritual.

Stefan and Rebekah break into Shane's office and look for a headstone that will help them in the search for the cure.  Rebekah also tells Stefan how he was great in the '20's they had more fun.  He says he was crazy back then and she remarks on the sex being great cos he replies, he was crazy and it was crazy sex.  Ugh you just thought they'd be at each other's throats there and then but no, someone breaks into his office also looking for the headstone.  When they try and question him, they realize he's been compelled since he bites off his tongue and then stabs himself in the neck.

Klaus (Joseph Morgan) says the plan's changed and he sends the vampires after Jeremy (Steven R McQueen) so he'll have to kill them.  Otherwise Matt (Zach Roerig) will be killed instead.  They're hunted in the woods by the vampires and head for the cabin as they won't be able to get in.  Elena (Nina Dobrev) arrives of course and saves Matt.  Then takes Matt home.  Wouldn't he have been safer at the cabin., not only that but then he turns up for work too.  Meanwhile Kol (Nathanial Buzolic) has Damon (Ian Somerhalder) and Jeremy cornered at the Grill.  He wants Jeremy to back off from killing the vampires which he killed instead cos he doesn't want Silas raised to bring an end to the world, Kol being an immortal.  Of course they refuse and so Kol captures Damon after he tells Jeremy to run.  Jeremy standing there like that, dumfounded instead of running.  Oh my Jeremy what long eyelashes you have!

Kol compels Damon to hunt Jeremy and so will continue to do this since no one can un-compel him.  Damon later spies Jeremy at the Grill when Matt returns to work and makes a beeline for him, he can't help himself.   They end up in the tunnels and Jeremy shoots Damon before making his escape.  Elena calls Stefan for help and Rebekah answers.  Seems like Stefan won't help.  However he does turn up to help when Damon is about to attack Jeremy.  Telling her she hasn't seen him when he's not in love with her.  Neither have we.  Unless the Ripper counts.  Thus this shows us a new Stefan who no longer is whiny, and pining after Elena all the time.  Instead he and Rebekah finally get together, just what she wants.

Rebekah is also tormented by both Kol and Klaus when she has the white ash dagger pointed at her by Kol and Klaus has to save her too.  He tells her she needs training in daggering a sibling and she storms off too.  Well he's had plenty.  Kol also tells her about how this family is broken mentioning Elijah not rearing his head and she replies this family was ruined before the search for the cure.

Stefan has Damon tied up in the cellar so we're back there once more and tells him he can't let him out as he will kill Jeremy and since he can't be un-compelled he'll have to stay there.  His curse, ha. is not being able to see Elena either as he'll compel her to let him out.  Elena insists she won't but she can't control compulsion anymore than Damon can and plus there's the sire bond.

Shane mentions how Grams must be in agony and he knows Bonnie wonders about that, causing her to lose the plot once more with her magic.  Until he stops her. He tells her father he's the only one who can control her and he insists she listen to him.  That was manipulative of Shane the way he used her to get out and still keep his plan for raising Silas on track.

So who sent the mysterious compelled stranger to retrieve the headstone?  Also Rebekah hides it from Stefan since she's the only one who didn't betray him, like he did when he rescued Jeremy.  Showing he cares about Jeremy or maybe he has some other ulterior motive.  Elena will be in his debt now for what he did for them.  Klaus arrives at the Gilbert's house and tells them he's their only protection against Kol but they don't buy it.  Elena comes up with the plan that in order to kill as many vampires as possible Jeremy should kill Kol and thus all those vampires he sired will also die, speeding up the process and revealing the tattoo on his arms.  Take it none of the main leads were sired by Kol then.

Good to see Damon and Elena being kept apart, ha, for those who don't want to see them together.  Also Matt points out how she's changed as a vampire since she wouldn't have trusted Damon with Jeremy.  But Elena is still selfish and moans too much, so that hasn't changed much, ha.  It's like she's pushed her brother aside in order to do anything for Damon and to have Damon, like telling him she loves him, as if that will stop him from killing Jeremy.  Also Elena had no qualms about all those vampires/people who will die with her plan to kill Kol.

CSI 13.1 "Karma To Burn" Review

                                     
Season 13 opens with the continuation of the two-part story with DB (Ted Danson) from Homecoming, still on the hunt for his missing granddaughter, Katie (Mia Hayes).  He opens his safe and takes out his gun, something his wife, Barbara (Peri Gilpin) thought she'd never see him do again.  DB: "Neither did I."  Finn (Elisabeth Shue) gets a text about Ecklie (Marc Vann) and makes a call to DB and thinks Crenshaw (Billy Magnussen) is up to something but she goes along with him hoping to get some whereabouts on Katie.  The CSIs arrive at the CS and Sara (Jorga Fox) leaves messages for Nick (George Eads) who's nowhere to be seen, or reached.

DB insists on conducting evidence gathering even if Sara tells him it won't hold up in court, which is the furthermost thing from his mind.  Sara found some trace outside, some sort of plaster and finds the same inside.  As well as an LVPD torch under Katie's window.  Ecklie is rushed to hospital and Morgan (Elisabeth Harnois) sits outside waiting for news.  Greg (Eric Szmanda) arrives and she asks David (David Berman) to get back to work.    DB picks up the note on Katie's bed reading "KARMA."  Which is what Ecklie said last episode about McKeen's son being killed.  He got his family and now McKeen (Connor O'Farrell) will get DB's family too in return.  DB only wants Brass's men on the case since there's a cop involved and there will be more dirty cops on the payroll.

Finn is taken to a club by Crenshaw and he takes her phone after she says she was in touch with Moreno (Enrique Murciano) and leaves the guns in the glovebox.  Obviously he's going to have another concealed weapon and can pick one up from anywhere.  Finn is bored and he leads her to a backroom and pulls a gun on her, taking her to Katie where she's being held by crooked cop Kimball (Peter Onorati).

A call is made to DB providing him with proof of life which makes him even more determined to kill McKeen.  Kimball wants DB to talk with McKeen after Brass already paid him a visit, he's in holding.  McKeen wants the $2 million which Gilmore (Craig Sheffer) had his wife steal from McKeen's drug dealers.  That's why she was shot.  Only no one can find Gilmore.  DB's got 24 hours or Katie dies.  Not likely McKeen will hold up his end of the bargain anyway.  He's after payback and revenge.

Two cops find Nick drinking and he throws a beer bottle against the wall.  They take him in, thought he was asking for a beating, ha.  Finn is left alone with Katie, reassuring her everything will be fine.  She opens up an air vent and gets her to climb in before Crenshaw returns and she's beaten up by him, but not before putting up a fight of her own.  Obviously sleazy Crenshaw wanted something more than that from her.  Sara is called by Nick and finds him in a cell.  He quit but she tells him he can quit tomorrow, not tonight.  He sobered up pretty quickly to get to work.

Greg says they found the abandoned car used in Ecklie's shooting and the rifle inside belonged to a cop.  They need the pellets from the hospital and Hodges (Wallace Langham) volunteers to collect them, just cos he wanted to see Morgan.  She tells him about how when she was little she wanted him shot and now that's happened and then kisses Hodges.  Well nothing will come of that of course.  They find a lead to a new sex club opened in the area, after analysis of the note doesn't reveal anything.  DB wants Sara to break the paper down and see where it was manufactured.  Nick and Sara find sex ads on the reverse of the letters and Greg narrows down the ink that was used, dating back to 2008.  Thus giving them the location of the defunct factory.  SO Finn is still giving as good as Crenshaw and is about to be shot by him when Moreno shoots him.  Hey the cavalry arriving just in time.

She's distraught that Katie is nowhere to be found even after a lengthy search and DB is angry that she let her alone like that, but she should get checked out at the hospital.  The trace Sara found shows animal hair inside which is analyzed as bovine hair.  Henry (Jon Wellner) comments on Nick's appearance when he returns to work.  Whilst DB has problems with his family especially Maya (Brooke Niven) who doesn't want him protecting her or lying to her anymore, as he did in Seattle about the campus killings.  She slaps him and there's nothing he can do.

DB is having flashes about identifying Katie's DB on the table and also about shooting McKeen in his cell and he really can't control his anger.  As his mind plays tricks on him, though it's understandable he would be that way.  He wants Doc Robbins ( and everyone else to get to work and find him some real evidence but Nick refuses to leave.  Instead he tells him Gilmore's phone is still on and he knows where he is. They find him and he tells them he paid McKeen the money already.  Suddenly a shot is fired and he's killed.  Brass is angry as Gilmore was a material witness in the police corruption investigation and DB and Nick led McKeen right to him, since McKeen didn't know where he was and wanted Gilmore dead all along.

Doc finds traces of a fungus in Crenshaw's lungs responsible for Valley fever and the search area is still too wide, seems like anything they come up with seems too little for DB and in the end it's really him who figures out the puzzle leading them to Katie, re the animal hair.

Greg finds the bullet used on Gilmore belonged to a former cop and Finn finds DB on Katie's bed where he figures out she's still alive.  Otherwise Crenshaw would have killed them both after they delivered proof of life.  Then sees in Kimball's file that he has children of his own and a daughter the same age as Katie thus he wouldn't hurt her.  He also realizes that the trace in the plaster dated back to World War II when they built houses using animal hair to hold the materials together.  Nick had always maintained they were looking for a dairy farm or something along those lines and they narrow down the area where such houses were built.  One such house belongs to the former cop's wife.  Here they find him dead along with two other cops but no sign of Katie, except for blood.  Finally they see scuff marks in front of a dresser and DB finds Katie behind it.  The man told her to hide.

Outside Kimball is cornered and claims he's not a rat and is about to shoot himself when Brass shoots him first.  DB brings Katie home and sees another image where he hears Barbara saying she can't do this anymore, after she looks at CS photos on his desk.  Nick and Sara have an argument over his quitting and she tells him, "words have consequences," she didn't verbally quit.  She left a note for Grissom and walked out.  Greg breaks up their fight by saying they're family and don't treat each other like this.  Yeah they do.  Oh and Ecklie pulls through.

Just to mention Moreno was working with Crenshaw all that time and he didn't realize he was dirty.  Not that that's any sort of criticism against him but it's kind of like his stepfather, Sam Vega last season being into what he was.  Enrique Murciano didn't have much to do in his two scenes which is a bit of a waste of both actor and character.
                           
Liked the way Brass paid a visit to McKeen after putting Mitchell (Larry Mitchell) on the door outside and threatened him if anything happened to Katie, "I got people too."  You can see the number of years he's spent with the PD putting him in good stead to throw his weight around and especially with someone as despicable as former undersheriff McKeen.

DB really showed his emotions this episode and was put through the wringer by practically everyone concerned.  At least he got one over on McKeen by transferring him to a federal facility where he'll spend the rest of his days in isolation.  Oh and the $2 million was donated to the Crime Lab in McKeen's family's name.  SO much for his kind of Karma!  A lot of friction around the lab too with Nick and Sara and she just doesn't want to see him quit even if he tells her it's not up to her.  She took a year out to clear her head and came back, but he doesn't want to hear it.

Greg being thoughtful and bringing Morgan a change of clothes at the hospital was just so Greg!  Showing her he's there for her, not that she really acknowledges him or anything.  Hoping something more is said about those Seattle campus murders since it seems to be another big part of DB's life in Seattle, they can't just mention it and not bring it up again.  Overall it's a typical CSI episode where the evidence finally does its job and reaches a happy conclusion for DB and his family.  Hopefully we'll get back to seeing our CSIs on screen for longer in episodes to come.

Revenge 2.8 "Lineage" Review

                                            
This upside takes us back to 2006 showing how Emily (Emily VanCamp) met Aiden (Barry Sloane) and saved Ashley (Ashley Madekwe).  Seems like Emily already knew Takeda (Cary Hiroyuki-Tagawa) and she helped him take Aiden under his wing.  The Grayson's aren't without their own flashbacks, as Victoria's (Madeleine Stowe) mother, Marion (Adrienne Barbeau) drops into town for Thanksgiving, new man in tow, Mr Greevey (Matt Riedy).  She plans on marrying him and Victoria reluctantly lets her stay.  Daniel (Josh Bowman) is still at college and is into poetry in a big way. To the point of actually getting Conrad (Henry Czerny) to read some of his poems, as if he'd actually approve of a son of his writing poetry.  Perish the thought, as he did with his poems!

Jack's (Nick Wechsler) father, Carl (Brian Goodman) has a run in with Joe Ryan (Michael Rose) who is nothing more than a thug extorting protection money from the businesses at the wharf, as are his sons, present day.  It's funny though how Jack doesn't recall the name Ryan, unless he never heard it, since he would have recalled them now and been weary of starting a partnership with them.

Ashley apparently was about to 'sell' herself in return for money  and Emily sends her away with money after getting details on the whereabouts of a Dmitri (Timothy v Murphy).  He's into girls and trafficking them.  Was going to say nothing's changed with Ashley then, ha.  Emily tells Aiden who is tending bar, his Russian stinks. Takeda tells her about Colleen who is missing and turns out she's Aiden's sister.  He foils Emily's plan to get in with Dmitri but she saves him from Aiden shooting him.  However that was shortlived as Aiden manages to get his revenge on Dmitri and shoots him anyway, all that for nothing.

Victoria flashes back to the men her mother knew, who always liked her back when she was 15 and how she became who she is now cos of her.  Victoria tells Greevey of the time her mother threw her out, and how beforehand she had her shoot Thomas otherwise she'd never see her mother again.  Maybe that would have been a good thing.  Victoria wrecks her mother's last chance at making a 'life' for herself, well ensnaring another rich man and afterwards she and Conrad comment on how he paid Greevey the money for staging the meeting with her mother.  SO she got her revenge, as did Conrad, kind of by burning Daniel's poetry.  He's good but Conrad wants him to run Grayson Global.

Carl's friend shoots Ryan with his father's gun and they let that storyline go all season 1 until now, until his brats take over from him. Nolan's (Gabriel Mann) CFO, Marco (EJ Bonilla) tells him the accountants have discovered the account in the Cayman's is missing over a billion dollars and he comes clean about David Clark being an investor and how he couldn't let his daughter suffer.  Seems like Nolan gives his heart too readily to people who stab him in the back, as Padma will probably do the same.

Present Day

 As Dcclan (Connor Paolo) tells Kenny Ryan (JR Bourne) [surprised no one's heard of them and their dirty dealings,] they can't sell expensive booze and Kenny mentions what his father used to say.  Aiden can't believe he ended up with her six years later and she shows him her father's conspiracy box, with the affinity symbol which he sees on her wrist.  Ugh don't trust that Aiden cos there's more to him than meets the eye, especially the way he looked at her tattoo.  Emily remarks about "a never ending journey."  Is that her revenge or the time the show will be on air, ha.

Daniel calls Marco for news on NolCorp and he's more than happy to oblige.  Victoria wants Conrad's help to protect Daniel and he regrets how perhaps he should have let him become a poet after all, now he's in the firing line.  They have to stop him from taking over the board.

It was good how the pieces from six years ago all came together in the present day, of how Victoria got revenge on Marion but then she and Conrad turn around and basically manipulate Daniel into doing what they want him to do and became his father in essence.  Victoria of course not learning from her past and her mother's mistakes, is destined to continue making her own.  SO no matter what revenge she got on her mother, she still isn't any better than her.  As for Conrad he was married before meeting Victoria and it seems that Victoria probably manipulated him into marrying her too, judging from that painter lover of hers from season 1 and everything that happened between them.  Including Conrad's affair with Lydia.

They keep adding more facets to the Flight conspiracy as Aiden knows about it and his father was a baggage handler at Heathrow, but says his father would never do a thing like planting a bomb, if I heard right.  So what did the Russian mobsters have to do with the plane, or was that just one of Takeda's missions since he tells Emily after she pulls this one off, she can get back on track to her own revenge.  Let's hope this part of the plot doesn't get too confusing as they get more people involved in it.

Funny Victoria having spent time in a mental institution when she was 15, didn't help though, ha.  She and Emily's mother, Kara also being in the same boat of being put away due to circumstances beyond their control.  But what did David see in Victoria to begin an affair with her anyway.  Wonder if Victoria saw a reflection of Marion when she looked in the mirror and not of herself?  She is after all, her mother's daughter.

Oh and it seems everyone had the same hair styles post 2006 and circa 2006!!  This flashback episode was similar in many respects to that of season 1's episode 20 Legacy, back to 2002 when Emily was about to get that cheating guy of hers with the toilet seat.  here Ashley locks herself in the toilet and Emily has to save her.  Back then Nolan had to rescue Emily and have a talk with her, also his hair was long in 2002, just as it was in the present day.  here it's short in 2006, just as it is present day.  Really no wigs available??  Jack had long locks in the 2002 flashback and also had Carl.  The infinity symbol was also shown and how Emily had it tattooed onto her wrist, as it was alluded to here again this time by Aiden.

Mr Selfridge Series 1 Episode 8 Review

                                      
This episode opens with another distinguished store owner coming to dinner with Harry (Jeremy Piven) from across the pond; FW Woolworth (Michael Brandon) and he is to opening a new store in Brixton.  Whist his wife, Jennie (Lisa Eichorn) and Rose (Frances O'Connor) share pleasantries, the men engage in some rivalry.  With Woolowrth talking about how he intends to open a store for everyone, be thrifty, whereas Selfridge's is for the wealthy.  Harry should stick to the duchesses.  Harry doesn't believe that having a store like Woolworth on Oxford Street can be good for business.  Rose sees that Jennie is suffering immensely and doesn't look well.  Jennie remarks on how she preferred it when they were "coming up" in the world since they had each other and spent more time together.  Something that must have rung true for Rose too.

Rose speaks with Lady Mae (Katherine Kelly) about Rosalie's (Poppy Lee Friar) coming out and Lady Mae suggests she move onto the next step of meeting eligible bachelors.  She invites her to the next soiree and Harry accompanies her too.  Where surprise, or not so surprisingly, Rose finds Rosalie talking with none other than Roddy Temple (Oliver Jackson-Cohen) alone.  Well it's no secret he'd worm his way back in somehow and Rose doesn't like him being here.  Let alone spending time with Rosalie.

So on Sunday Rosalie feigns illness to get out of going to church and when Rose returns home she finds Rosalie with Roddy and very cosy they looked too.  He claims he was giving Rosalie a drawing lesson but Rose wants him out in no uncertain terms and wants him away from her daughter.  Telling him Harry will be home soon and will have very different ideas about the impropriety in a drawing lesson.  Yeah should have let Harry beat the crap (sorry) out of Roddy too!

Harry sets to work on the store, asking his staff what he can buy for a penny.  Answer being hardly anything.  Thus he comes up with the idea of a mid-season sale.  Anything for a penny, or as cheap as chips, open to all and not just the rich.  Taking on Woolworth's "pile 'em high, sell 'em cheap" ethos.  Especially after Crab (Ron Cook) tells him Mrs Crab (Wendy Nottingham) will be frequenting Woolworth's for her cheap shopping.

Lady Mae gets Victor (Trystan Gravelle) to make ice cream for her guests and he's just realized, I so wanted to say, the penny's just dropped, ha;  she won't be funding his restaurant anytime soon, if ever.  She wants him to leave the back way so her guests don't see him.  Also she thinks he's rushing things and she doesn't like to be rushed.  Agnes (Aisling Loftus) gets closer to Henri (Gregory Fitoussi) and spends the night with him.  He's more into refined things and the opera and she doesn't even know what that is.  She likes the way he can tell a story and admits one day she'd like his job, but that's not why she likes him.  Agnes takes him to Spitalfield's and he notices a display where everything is packed together.  Giving him an idea for a store window display.

Agnes finds Victor waiting for her when she returns home and invites him for coffee.  Him thinking he may still have a chance with her.  He comments on her large bouquet of flowers, probably from Henri but she doesn't tell him that.  He mentions not being able to get the investment since she made him roll over and beg like a dog but he didn't get a biscuit in the end.  he mentions the 'she' word freely now whereas before it was a slip of the tongue and he didn't know the possible investor was a woman.  At the Palm Court, Ellen Love (Zoe Tapper) wants her usual table as she brings Tony (Will Payne) in tow.  But Victor tells her it's Harry's table, however she's insistent.  Harry wants some menus revised so that the ordinary customer can eat there too and when Victor suggests the menu change he's cut off by Perez (Timothy Watson).

Harry has to endure Ellen and Tony who tells her she's starring in his new play, having to make smalltalk with them.  He tells Perez to let him know when they're here next time since he doesn't want to bump into them.  Grove (Tom Goodman-Hill) decides on the assistant for the Accessories department, he opts for Doris (Lauren Crace) which I said, but Miss Mardle (Amanda Abbington) makes him change that to Kitty (Amy Beth Hayes) as Miss Mardle knows her own mind and his, better than he does his own.  This comes after their little 'altercation' when Grove needs more time to decide what he wants to do about their 'relationship.'  He was with his wife for 12 years and doesn't know whether he loved her or not.

Grove gives Doris his wife's clothes for Miss Bunting (Pippa Haywood) and tells her Harry has refused a reference as he's not willing to do that for someone who steals.  Victor comes up with an idea of selling ice cream and candies for a penny throughout the store during the sale, which Gordon (Adam Wilson) thinks is great and so does Harry.  Kitty sells Mrs Crab a hat but we don't now who she is until Crab introduces her to Harry.  She's done an awful lot of shopping and Crab will be amazed.  That he will, especially at his bank balance, ha.

Rose returns home to find Roddy with the children again and when she tells him to leave he attempts to  blackmail to make her come to his studio and then he won't have to come here.  She hates how he's using Rosalie to get to her and calls him "insufferable."  Well he is cos he can't take the hint that she doesn't want anything to do with him.  As he leaves he bumps into Harry on the street but doesn't know who he is.  Oh they should just set Harry onto him and be done with it.  What makes him think Harry or Rose would deem him a suitable match for Rosalie, he's practically a penniless painter! And nothing more than a cad, besides he doesn't want Rosalie but Rose and what better way to get to the mother than through the daughter. Did he think he was fooling anyone by being so obvious.

Woolworth tells Harry he's done wonders with the sale, which is to last for another two weeks, but he's leaving cos Jennie isn't well and he should have seen the signs before.  Family is everything at the end of the day.  He'll be opening a store in Croydon.  That may have opened Harry's eyes and made him rush home to the family, but don't think it will last that long.  Was Miss Mardle really looking out for Doris when she wanted Kitty to have the job saying she won't be so easily taken in, like she was.

Lots of loosening of corsets and purse strings in this episode!  Not to forget Crab getting excited at the prospect of an "automatic nutcracker."

Wonder how long Agnes will have her head up in the clouds as far as Henri is concerned, especially considering she was kind of a rebound for him from his other love.  Also the way Agnes keeps calling him a "fairytale prince" living in a castle.  A Chateau, he responds, but he says it wasn't such a good life.  As for Lady Mae's dress didn't think she would wear that to her 'soiree' and Rose appeared as if she was about to fall out of hers any minute now!
Also wonder if Harry would stock My NCIS Unofficial and Unauthorized Guide to NCIS the TV Show??  Anything for a quick buck you know, ha!!  Seeing as he was "prepared to sell anything from an aeroplane to a cigar."

The Mentalist 5.10 "Panama Red" Review

Lisbon (Robin Tunney) and Cho (Tim Kang) are called to a CS where the DB of a dead climber is found at a gym.  She calls Patrick (Simon Baker) but he already had news of the call as he sits on the makeshift bed in the attic.  He's still enthusiastic about having shaken hands with Red John and so has met him.  Lisbon thinks he's obsessed.  She texts him Jeremy's apartment address and he meets her there; telling her someone's already been over the apartment.  There's a photo of Jeremy and his advisor, Alice Burns (Susan Gibeny) at his graduation.  Plus this time round, Patrick is intrigued by a puzzle box.  Well we all know about Patrick and Puzzles.  There's a hidden safe behind the books which he tells them are in the wrong order and the safe is empty.

Alice speaks with Lisbon and Patrick about how Jeremy was brilliant and gave her a puzzle box too.  She's also dying but has marijuana cigarettes to smoke.  He was working for a Matthew Gold at Westerly Organic, where they grow the stuff.  Matthew (Troy Ruptash) laments about not being able to grow more than 99 plants and how he was once a businessman, well once a businessman, always a businessman.  There's motive right there and he was my number one suspect.  Patrick noticing the seeds he's shown them.  Patrick then chats with Carson, another worker who is high and tells them how Jeremy paid him $8,000 to have his car fixed.  Patrick telling him to use eyedrops and breath mints.

Patrick uses a magnet to open the puzzle box and finds a keycard to JG Allen Tobacco company, letting himself in, he gets caught of course and tells Lisbon he left message on heh voicemail.  Patty asking if he should get down or put his hands up, only from Patty!  Jeremy's boss Francesca (Nicole Bilderbeck) says he was working for her on a project developing seeds, called Turbo Wolf.  Patrick tells them Lisbon's not his boss, but she adds she is.  He finds out that Jeremy's work area was bugged and Jeremy stole the seeds when he found out they were to be put into storage.

The security guard, Elwood (Michael Whaley) is brought in for questioning but doesn't say much.  Patrick finds Jeremy's notebook but can't decipher the code, so he makes up the name of a pharmaceutical guy, Olivier and copies part of the code from his notebook.  He gives a copy to the security guard, one to the boss and one to Matthew.  Thinking one of them will be able to decipher it.

Cho is brought onto task again by Tamsin Wade (Monica Gabriela Curnen) as part of the Rapid Response Unit and they break a counterfeiting ring.  Whilst in pursuit, Cho comes across Summer (Samarie Armstrong) at the raid.  She claims to be a bystander, but Wade wants to press charges. Rigsby (Owain Yeoman) tells Cho he dodged a bullet with her, also cos Summer is pregnant and is engaged but the baby's not his.  She was visiting with Chuck.  When Cho and Rigsby go to arrest him, there's another chase, as usual and Cho gets the brunt of it.  Oh Rigsby you need to speed it up a little.  Chuck (James Jordan) is willing to testify against the ring if he's given a deal which includes Summer being released.  ADA Osvaldo Ardiles David Norono) is on hand to make the deal and he didn't want to prosecute a pregnant woman anyway.  But Wade did and she's annoyed Cho went behind her back and she can't trust him, though she would have shot him down if he had told her what he wanted to do.

Patrick and Lisbon get Rigsby to play Olivier and see who comes a-calling at the hotel room.  Soon enough Francesca tells him she has the seeds and lets Rigsby sample the product, which immediately gets him high.  Matthew also arrives thinking he's got the real seeds.  Patrick thinks they should split the $4 million between them and Francesca refuses.  Matthew wants to and lets slip how he broke into the safe for the seeds, as well as killing Jeremy.  Van Pelt (Amanda Righetti) tells him Francesca changed the seeds so he killed Jeremy for nothing.

Patrick hides Lisbon's keys in the puzzle box and then she smashes it with a hammer from her desk, he can't believe she keeps it in her desk and she tells him he doesn't know everything about her.  Hmm wonder what that was about then, you know Lisbon having secrets, just like Patty does.  Also a brief parallel at the beginning when they met with Alice and she tells them that Jeremy could be secretive, ring any bells here, as said.

A fairly routine episode, a little slow in places since there wasn't much on Red John, not that we expected there would be.  At least Summer came and went, so we don't have to put up with her anymore, didn't like her storylines either, she wasn't quite right for Cho.  Didn't think much of Wade either, calling them "ladies" when she walks in.  Her character is a bit too much like that of Det Wallowski, that Monica used to play in Lie To Me.  Infact she seems to have similar character traits here too. Then referring to Lisbon as "your cute boss" to Cho, what's up with that?  Maybe she has designs on Cho, romantically, maybe she's another one who's up on the CBI and its nuances, perhaps even in league with a certain RJ, but that sounds a bit far fetched, even for me to mention.

Patrick: "I know I met Red John now, shook his hand."  Which is just more teasing on his part for viewers, cos not much will come of this anytime soon.  Of course that could mean just about anyone under the moon and also a convenient way for producer and writers to name just about anyone as RJ when they feel like it.  Patrick could just as easily have met him on screen, in TV speak, meaning the meeting didn't really take place until it's actually written in somewhere along the way in a script.  Also his saying "it's a curse some people live by" when Alice tells him Jeremy would be impressed he figured the puzzle.  Reinforcing what we know about Patrick already, he is gifted and is good at what he does. Yet has to suffer those with less intellect than him.  Must be frustrating especially since it sometimes makes him come across as a bit arrogant at times.

 Liked Patty coveting the puzzle box as soon as he found it, "it's mine"  me adding to that line perhaps, "me precious."  Haven't seen him that possessive before.  I would have called Patty cute here, never mind Lisbon, ha.  His hair kept changing almost every scene too.  His was back to his old self here a little his RJ 'obsession' aside and especially the way he sympathized with Alice when he asked her what's wrong with her.

Lisbon: "You only think you know everything about me."  Isn't Patty supposed to know everything, even about Lisbon.  The way she smashed the box showing she doesn't really have time for his 'games' and if she wants to, she will take the lead and be his boss.  Though Patty was gobsmacked and a little heartbroken I guess that she didn't ask him how to open it, or indeed how he did manage to open it.  In that respect, Alice was more interested in than Lisbon.

Rigsby hungry again and wanting the cheese, as does Patrick when he finds his con is getting interesting!  Some funny moments from Simon and Owain here showing us just why even Red John aside, this show is so riveting.  Even if Poor Van Pelt is left to interview the suspect after arrest and always break the bad news to them of how they needn't have bothered committing the crime, or it was futile.

CSI 11.4 "Sqweegel" Review

                                          
Everyone's heard of the Anthony Zuiker 'Digi-Novel' Level 26: Dark Origins and this is an episode which takes a character from that, Sqweegel, and is incorporated in a CSI episode. Very dark and creepy too.

The CSIs are called to investigate the brutal attack of Margot Wilton (Ann-Margret) in her own home by a masked intruder.  Nick (George Eads) runs into Ryan Fink (Mitchell Fink)  whom he saw on TV and calls him a "real hero" for saving children from a fire.  Ray (Laurence Fishburne) comments on the photos on her wall being cut up and the scrapings are found on the floor.   Catherine (Marg Helgenberger) notices the number of awards she's received.   An award on the wall has also been turned upside down.   Ray: "...up to us to turn it right side up."  The case that is.   Nick finds the glass on the French doors in the kitchen have been cut through.   Ray notices blood on the walls, the bed and the headboard, as well as the cast off on the walls, indicating the attacker was on top of her.   He also spots the trail of blood on the floor, the prints being unusual as they go from footprint, handprint, handprint, footprint.

Outside, Greg (Eric Szmanda) takes some scrapings on the window ledge for analysis.   Nick tells him he's found the entry and exit, so too has Greg.   All the other windows were varnished shut, and there's a dust void on the sill, showing he's been through the window many times.   So they're looking for someone small.   Or says Nick, a "leprechaun."

Nick has more questions than answers now and Ray wonders if Margot is "lucky to be alive, or left alive by design." Since all the messages he's left behind, show the attack was personal.   There weren't any fingerprints so Nick posits they need to examine the evidence he didn't leave behind.

Margot describes her attacker as being 'slippery', wearing gloves and African American.   She recalls his eyes and he had braces on his teeth.   Ray removes her stitches so he can take photos of the cuts sustained during the attack.   Her son died.   She asks why the 'cute resident' stitched her up at all.   Ray: "I'm not cute?"  Tells him to 'gotta hell'.   For all her philanthropy, she was a nasty piece of work, in the sense that even though her backstory is sad and you can sympathize with her, she appears abrupt.   She would've preferred cute Greggie to have taken photos instead!

Catherine still checks the bedroom for prints and Greg remarks his Papa Olaf would say, "when the going gets rough, keep your chin up."  Greg's so into looking up isn't he, especially since he did the same thing in the first episode of this season when looking for the remote controlled plane.   Also looking up is clearly something these people don't do.   He finds the attic, but Catherine tells him "I don't do attics - I'm dirty enough."  Well, she did in Nick's stalker episode from season 2, entitled, Stalker.  She joined Gil (William Petersen) in the attic then.   I thought of this same episode here and then Catherine said it later.   Great minds think alike! Ha.   Greg finds a hole in the ceiling, her attacker was watching her and calls him a 'kinky rat' who can use a lipstick camera, and finds mouldy orange peels in one of the drawers.   He was living up there.   Nick walks in with Margot's mail, which the attacker had been reading and Catherine states: "You and Margot have something in common - stalker."

Nick: "That was a long time ago."  He was very dismissive in tone about her remark, so he's clearly over that incident in his life and has put it behind him, otherwise he didn't want to bring that up again.   I think he just didn't want to remember it, as it was a "traumatic memory" for him, to swipe Ray's phrase.  Either way, it's good to see that he doesn't like to dwell on the past and particularly, bad things like that, since it would put him off concentrating on this case.

Nick says they were sleeping together; he would lay under her bed.   We get Ray's new concept: 'the hourglass of evidence'.   In the absence of evidence they must turn over the hourglass.   Thus comments Greg, "the absence of evidence is evidence."   They have to analyze everything they've 'found' and fill the bottom of the hourglass, eventually leading to the "truth."  The evidence must be examined again.

Hodges (Wallace Langham) notices the attacker's void on the carpet from under Margot's bed smells like urine.   Nick sniffs  and says it's not urine.   Hodges telling him that Grissom would've tasted that.   EEww.   But he's not Grissom.   Lots of mentions of Gil lately.   Just incase he may be forgotten, which isn't very probable.   Nick tells him if it's sweat then they can get epithelials from it.   After Hodge's analysis he finds the attacker has a fetish.   The amylase stain was sweat with trace amounts found in latex fetish spray; slide on latex suits with a zipper on the back.   Which made him sweat.   Hodges: "time to get kinky."  Just in time for Catherine to see his little dance.

Greg brought up the kinky rat phrase and next thing you know, Nick and Catherine visit a sex store.   Catherine making particular reference to the Doberman mask being real.   She tells Nick that all sex crimes begin with fantasy and she's been here purely in a professional capacity only.   Nick tells her he had to ask and if she's okay.   Catherine replies by asking Nick if he's okay.   Hey this scene reminded me of the episodes of CSI:NY, whenever Flack (Eddie Cahill) and Stella (Melina Karakanades) were on a sex case, or a new-found fad craze, they'd come up with such comments and steely looks and Stella would always be one step ahead, knowing all about it.   The store owner helps Catherine out on her cases and he recalls selling the spray 6 months ago, with some custom-made head-to-toe latex suits.   He has photos from which can only be glimpsed the one brown eye and one blue eye of the attacker.   Nick repeats here what Hodges said about him sweating because of his zipper.   The man left his name as "Ian Moone."  The obvious question to ask is why he'd leave his name behind if he hasn't left anything else.

This Ray deciphers as an anagram, to read "I am no one."  A woman is attacked in the carwash with her daughter in the backseat., as she makes a call.   This was the reason she was murdered.   Catherine and Greg find traces of the woman's blood in the car and Greg discovers he was hiding in the boot (trunk) where the spare tyre was kept.   Hey I said he was hiding in the car already.   He left behind an 'A' on the windshield of the car in blood.   Catherine shouts "a 425a: suspect on the premises" - which she was a little slow off the mark with.

Brass (Paul Guilfoyle) asks Alise (Emily Skinner) what happened and relays the questions as if he's talking with her doll.   She tells him "Sqweegel."  Her husband, Jason Jones, (David Julian Hirsh) tells Brass his wife, Carrie (Laurie Fortier) was appointed to the Family Values Committee and was another "hero."  David (David Berman) finds old wounds on her body.   Jason speaks of a break-in they had and she was cut.   Doc Robbins (Robert David Hall) examines her as being cut twice.   David identifies the weapon as box cutters or a straight razor.   She had injuries to her neck and a severed carotid artery.

Ray stipulates she had identical wounds, all similar in length so it has to be the same attacker.   Under Carrie's bed they find voids indicating the attacker was also here.   Brass lets them know about the "Sqweegel" comment which he assumes was the noise from the squeegee on the window, but if Alise had her headphones on, how did she hear the sound.   Greg's traumatic image being 'deja vu'.  The same Mo.   They look up to find a hole in the ceiling.   oh come on, who cannot see that gaping hole in their ceiling, either that or they don't clean very often!   Nick finds a DVD in the bed.   This contains video of her having an affair with another man, which explains the 'A' on the windshield, Ray describes as a 'scarlet letter'.   Jason remembers the attacker telling her, "I know, confess."  Brass thinks she was hiding her dirty little secret and was given a chance to repent, as was Margot.   Ray tells her the same line, but she insists on going home.

Also figured out she killed her son, even if she considered it a mercy killing and he asked her to end his suffering.   Margot finds fresh orange peel in the drawer, whilst searching for her letters.   Nick's called out to an abandoned car belonging to Ryan.   He finds blood inside.   The attacker chases Margot.   The slimy slithering was creepy.     She confesses to him and then shoots him but he gets away, having replaced her gun with blanks.   Greg takes her letters and steams them open.   Ray finds Ryan's DB under her bed, dressed in a latex suit.  Ryan Fink has the same scars.

Brass hears on the tipline how Ryan started fires, just to save the children from them.   Ray asks: "the biggest secret of all, who is Ian Moone?"
Who replies, "I am no one..."

The first CSI case where the killer leaves behind no evidence - other than some sweat on a zipper - which isn't much to go on, presenting the team with a dilemma.   Also why would he reveal his different coloured eyes in a photo, when he's hidden/masked everything else about him.   To throw them off track, provide them with false evidence of his true description.

For fans of the Digi-novel, or for those who haven't read it yet, you can still read it and watch this episode without there being any dangers of spoilers.

Personally I liked the allusion Catherine made to Nick's Stalker episode, not only to keep up the continuity for older viewers, but to alert the more newer viewers to such plots.   Making sure some of CSI's best episodes aren't forgotten and also how some cases still have an impact on the CSI's personal lives; even though they don't like to admit it.

Sara was conspicuously absent this episode, just like Brass was last time.

666 Park Avenue 1.1 "Pilot" Review

                                                           
From the outset people like me need to suspend any notions of shows/films they have watched before to look at this show with fresh eyes, for me that would almost entirely be Supernatural. Yeah okay, out with the moans and groans! The first scene opened with the Doran's at a concert watching a violin player, when said violin player arrives home it's clear he's made some sort of a deal since Gavin calls him and tells him his ten years are up, with him begging for another year.  Instantly the thought that occurred to me was making deals and selling one's soul are the realm of Supernatural.  Especially the early seasons.  You see the crossroads demons, if they feel generous will give you ten years in any deal you make, which is a signed and sealed contract.  After which it's collection time and collection's a bitch, or in this case hell hounds.  This violin player gets dragged back into the Drake though a hole in the door and is never heard of again.  being sent to warmer climes.

You see Gavin Doran (Terry O'Quinn) owner of the Drake and his wife Olivia (Vanessa Williams) are demons you might say, okay he's the devil it appears; who occupy the penthouse of the Drake, that being on the 13th floor and obviously the number 999 Park Avenue is really an inverted 666. The devil's playground you might say.  Cue naive couple, except they're not married Jane Van Veen (Rachael Taylor) and Henry Martin (Dave Annable).  She's an architect and he's a lawyer working for the mayor which is convenient for Gavin as he's into buying and selling ad not just property, but also souls and making deals aren't the usual sense of the word to you and me.  Their plan is to get Henry.  Thus I had to wonder what sort of a contract Jane and Henry signed when they were hired as resident managers.  Not being able to resist the lavishness and decadence of the apartment they were provided with.

At first Gavin rejects Jane giving him any input on the building and what should be changed but later on after they've been to the concert themselves and Olivia has bought an expensive red dress for Jane, Gavin is more than willing to let Jane look over the plans to help him renovate the Drake keeping as many original features as possible.

The couple also meet Brian (Robert Buckley) a struggling playwright who spends his time playing voyeur watching the woman across the street, whom his wife, Louise (Mercedes Masohn) hires as an assistant and then conveniently gets her head struck in between the lift doors and ends up in hospital.  Also there's John Barlow (James Waterston) who Jane meets when his hand is dripping with blood.  He's just killed a judge for Gavin.  John now gets Mary back.  Half expecting her to return as a zombie which she probably was, but she's not long for this world, unless John kills another vic, this time the man whose property Gavin is after.  Oh hold on, John and Mary really?  As in John and Mary Winchester from Supernatural, no, they couldn't find any alternative first names!

SO anyway at the concert Jane feels Gavin trying to kiss the back of her neck and Henry puts this down to her drinking.  Also Jane's found a dragon mosaic which was part of a fraternity.  That night she sees Mary jump off the building telling her to leave here.  She thinks she dreamed it but when we see her dirty feet we know it really happened.  There's also Nona (Samantha Logan) a thief who even warns Jane about little things going missing, you see she's a clairvoyant and remarks on how beautiful Jane's necklace is, which she steals.  Olivia also remarked on the necklace.  Anyway Nona has a vision of Jane running in her red dress, probably in 'hot' pursuit by Gavin.  That's another aspect that's meant to draw us back in for the next ep.

Also John can't come through with killing another vic so he's sucked through the wallpaper, so much for wanting his wife back, really do these people think they will get what they want.  Even if it's just on TV. So gullible.  Wonder if Brian will ever get past tying the title, "Disappearing Ink" before he disappears along with the show.  Oops, sorry it already has.

The show based on the novels of Gabriella Pierce, aims to lure viewers in with the thrill of the supernatural and the occult and its lavish setting, with this down on their luck couple who just might not be able to resist the lure of hitting it rich and striking a deal or two of their own.  Though the show has been cancelled by ABC in the US, there are still two episodes to air.  As for me, well I'll have to reserve judgement until another few eps since for me there was a strong sense of deja vu, but then again, that's just me!

Rachael Taylor was in shortlived Charlie's Angels remake and Dave Annable was in Brothers and Sisters.