CSI 11.22 "In a Dark, Dark House" Review

                                                 
Ray finally has his showdown with Nate Haskell, and the rest of the team have to find the evidence to prove he acted in self-defence, or was it murder.

In a dark, dark house, a struggle ensues between Ray (Laurence Fishburne) and Haskell (Bill Irwin).   Ray subdues and cuffs him using regulation issue flex-cuffs.   (Important for later.)  He then cuts the cuffs and they go head-to-head.   Obviously Ray would come out the victor.   Before all this, Haskell taunts Ray saying he's killed many.   Ray doesn't want to shoot him.   Ray would beat Haskell up in that way, with such violence and rage; partly for himself and mostly for Gloria (Tracee Ellis Ross).   He knew how to play Ray and that's exactly what Ray did, he went for the taunts.   Haskell says they "share something special."   He assaulted Gloria, including torturing her and that got Ray's goat.   Brass (Paul Guilfoyle) had to arrive first at the scene, so he could help Ray.   That's why the camera focused on the cuffs which Ray left on the floor.   Brass advises Ray to refrain from speaking with anyone.

Greg (Eric Szmanda) and Sara (Jorga Fox) process the CS and the rest of the house.   Sara commenting serial killers "always go home." Greg adds that Arvin Thorpe, the farmer, (Raymond J Barry) was lying.   Brass: "He's still lying, face up."  Dry wit from Brass, he's in no mood to be funny though.  Brass insists Ray acted in self-defence.   IA will be working the case and they need to help Ray.  This could have been interpreted in two ways, either they help Ray since he's one of them, or they find the evidence vindicating Ray and proving it was murder.  Greg tells Sara that Ray "had more to fight for."  Not only in terms of trying to stay alive, but also fighting who he is inside.

Catherine (Marg Helgenberger) arrives at the hospital with Nick (George Eads) and she will process Gloria.   Nick would hug Ray, but he's evidence.  Nick tells him Ray saved her life and that's all that's important.   He notices white trace on Ray's hands and blood stains on his T-shirt.   Ecklie (Marc Vann) tells Brass he'll handle IA Det.  Schultz (Jay Karnes) and the process should be straightforward.   Greg and Sara measure the distance that Haskell fell from the banister.   Sara comments plenty of force would have been needed.  David (David Berman) finds a contusion on his back from the railing.   Greg mentions the GSW to Thorpe's head.   He was beaten and stabbed 13 times; indicating he was Vic number 13.   There should be blood from all four of them.

Catherine comforts Gloria, she survived and Haskel''s dead, so she beat him.   Gloria has the same white trace on her hands as Ray.  Haskell hooked her arms to the walls.   Greg finds the 9mm gun used on Thorpe and probably on Tina (Amanda Wyss) too.  Sara, they'll "let the walls talk." She finds large amounts of blood spatter on the walls, hidden beneath the wallpaper.  This was Haskell's room as a boy.   Sara: "Nate Haskell died in the house, but I think a serial killer was born in this room." She determines the first blood sample wasn't human but animal.  Nick surmises Thorpe knew what Haskell was doing, so Ray was more likely dealing with more than one killer.   Greg's done his research and tells Nick that this was Thorpe's main residence until 1976, then he brought the house across the road, so he didn't want anyone to know what was going on here.   Nick thinks the more bodies they find, the better it will be for Ray.

Gloria's mother, Nora Parkes (L Scott Caldwell) loses it with Ray and blames him for everything Gloria went through.  Determining whose blood was where and how much, Sara finds most of the blood belonged to Haskell.   Greg tries to make sense of it by saying Ray got some punches in but it doesn't mean he could have gotten Haskell under control.   Ray's shoeprints are in the blood, so he must have picked Haskell up.   Greg says he was fighting for his life.   Sara posits one man can dominate the other.  "We're looking for the truth here."  Outside, Nick, Hodges (Wallace Langham) and Henry (Jon Wellner) find pets in graves; which increase in size.   Hodges digs up human remains.   Ecklie gets dirty and helps out.

Catherine has to deal with Schultz, who'll get her report when it's finished.   He comments they've been through this before with Warrick (Gary Dourdan).  By the way, should they have even been on this case, since Ray's one of their own.   Doc Robbins (Robert David Hall) tells Catherine, Thorpe was the only justifiable murder as Haskell suffered childhood abuse.  He suffered blunt force traumas in a fist fight, you could "call it karma."  Also there are marks on Haskell's wrists from the cuffs.   None of the injuries will affect his final COD, which is what he also told Schultz.   Catherine advises Ray against looking at Gloria's SAE (Sexual Assault Exam) results.   Ray need to do this and he's clearly distraught and angry at the same time.

Hodges finds an adult male with a crushed skull in one of the graves wearing a Superlux logo on his overall.   Henry recalls his grandmother used to have a Superlux pink oven.   Greg shows Nick the Superlux mini-fridge.   The Vic was a salesman and his name was Douglas Nathan Haskell.   Missing since 1976.   Haskell took his name.   One remains belongs to Lois, Haskell's mother.   Thorpe beat and killed her.   Haskell used to hear everything that happened in his room, which was next to theirs.

Sara tells Catherine, from the blood evidence Ray dominated the fight.   Catherine says Ray should have cuffed him and the marks were from flex-cuffs, department issue.   They didn't find any at the scene, unless Ray cut them off.   Catherine decides they must "let the evidence speak, no cuffs present,  no cuffs used." Catherine visits Gloria in hospital wanting to ask her what happened; but changes her mind and asks how she is.   Mrs Parkes tells her Gloria made her dream to play music come true.   Ray was scared of having a baby with her because of what he'd pass onto the child.   That's why their marriage ended.

Sara checks Ray's kit and finds 3 cuffs.   Greg asks if she'd do the same if he were in Ray's place.   Sara explains they've 'all had their dark moment where they had to fight our way out and up to the rest of the team to shine a light on it.'  Sara needs to know what she's dealing with.   We know that Brass replaced the cuffs. Catherine confronts Brass as there was no mention of cuffs in his report.   Ray had all three in his kit.   Brass: "I look out for my team, how about you?"  Catherine already signed off on the report.   Brass has come a long way since season 1 and the Pilot episode and the second episode, when he berated  Warrick for getting Holly killed.   Brass also knows how to stock a kit, he was in charge of the team in the Pilot episode.   Then again there's always that line that isn't meant to be crossed and Brass has crossed it as far as Ray is concerned.   Understandable Haskell was a monster as everyone keeps saying, but was it up to him to watch out for Ray.   He hasn't known him that long and not as well as Doc and Nick.   Anyway did Ray even have his kit with him.   He went into the house alone, and it's not really procedure to carry cuffs with him on his person, but Ray did since he'd have to hold Haskell, if he got the chance.

Mrs Parkes apologizes to Ray, it's not for her to judge his actions.   Ray goes back to the house, where Brass admits he covered for him.   If Ray admits what he did to anyone, he'll be taking him down too.   Though he doesn't refer to himself by name.   Brass says he killed in self-defence and Ray says he did what he did for Gloria.   Ray finally giving in to his dark side which he's been rebelling against for years.   Flashback to what really transpired.  Ray beating up Haskell.   He's going to take Haskell's kidney like he took Ray's Then throws him over the banister.   Brass finds him at the house and wants what happened to stay between them.   Brass took the cuffs (as we know).   The white trace on both their hands was chalk from the floor.   Gloria was writing music on the floor.   Another flash to her playing The Swan by Saint-saens, on the cello.   She doesn't think it's appropriate music for their first date.   Ray: "The music saved her life."  Brass adds she knew Ray would come for her.

Doc Tells Ray he needs some reflection, that Haskell wanted him at the house to turn Ray into a helpless child, just like Haskell was.  Ray says Haskell saw Ray as his reflection.   Ray's father was on the other side of that wall, but Ray trained himself to be good.   Doc: "You are good."

Ray attends the IA interview saying, "fact is that I killed a man."   Schultz asks if it was self-defence or murder?

Now that Laurence Fishburne has left CSI, the writers have more leeway as to how they want to conclude this story next season.   Also Marg Helgenberger and Paul Guilfoyle were negotiating their contracts too, so if they do return it will be interesting to see how next season develops.   Especially Brass's relationship with Catherine, who is certain Brass had a hand in replacing the cuffs and removing the other cuffs from the house.   If Ray replies he murdered Haskell, then effectively he'll be taking Brass down with him.   They're kind of bound together in their pact, which wasn't really of Ray's choosing.

Well there was nothing more left than to see Ray go down the route he did, fate was written for him and he conceded to it, more so for Gloria.   That's not justification for turning into something he's fought against all his life.   His actions weren't right, but they were understandable.   If he had been an ordinary member of the public, self-defence wouldn't have to have been questioned so rigorously, since he 's a CSI, that line has been crossed by him.   As Doc reminds Catherine, he'd have done the same for his own wife.   Sara was the only one striving for the truth, aside from wanting Ray to be innocent, she was looking for evidence to prove this, not rely on friendship or instinct.   She was the only one doing her job.   Catherine wanted to but as she said they didn't have any evidence to prove it wasn't self-defence.   Catherine wasn't happy with Brass.

Greg wanted it to have been  a fair fight.   But that Ray got to overpower Haskell shows the difference in their physical stature.   Haskell remained the weak boy he always was, using drugs to subdue his victims and terrible torture to act out his childhood abuse onto them, before killing them.   Catherine says Ray could have cuffed Haskell and left it at that.

Catherine questioning Gloria, at least attempting to, was almost as if Gloria could tell her something to "save" Ray and prove the case of self-defence for him.   Nick, strangely, had to focus on the 'other' storyline: that of digging up Haskell's past.   Never giving up on Ray though and knows the more they find, the easier it will be to vindicate Ray.   Even Ecklie mucks in, which he hardly does, but he was on Ray's side too.   Maybe he's going soft in readiness for his daughter, Brody's (Elisabeth Harnois) arrival in season 12.

A shame Laurence Fishburne decided to leave and concentrate on movies, as there would have been a wealth of personal stories arising from the fall out.   At least there'll be no more Haskell, so it was good they ended that part of the story when they did.   Though Haskell will leave his mark and legacy on the entire team.   We'll have to wait for January 2012 in the UK for the new season!

Downton Abbey Series 4 Part 4 Review

                                             
Mary (Michelle Dockery) has set up the meeting with the tax people in London being accompanied by Branson (Allen Leech) and Rose (Lily James) wants to go too.  She'll try and work out a payment plan so they can pay off the tax over a period of time and reminds Robert (Hugh Bonneville) of how he says they're the caretaker of Downton and so that's what they're doing.  Cora (Elizabeth McGovern) telephones Rosamund (Samantha Bond) to ensure Tony Gillingham (Tom Cullen) gets an invite to her house too whilst Mary is there.

The doctor (David Robb) is planning on setting up a clinic and hopes Isobel (Penelope Wilton) can help out which she'll think about.  Edna (MyAnna Buring) confronts Branson about their one night stand and he apologizes for misbehaving since he was drunk but she wants more out of it and jumps to the conclusion that she might be pregnant in which case she wants reassurances that Branson will marry her and be a father to her child.   He thinks she's being premature and won't promise to marry her. Of course anyone knows what she had up her sleeve once she got his assurance she'd have found someone to have a baby with and pas sit off as his.  Thomas (Rob James-Collier) listens to them talking though he doesn't know what it's about.

Anna (Joanne Froggatt) is still avoiding Bates (Brendan Coyle) and at breakfast she sits down next to Green (Nigel Harman) at the table but Tony's leaving today and so will he.  It was rather off Anna having to sit next to her attacker and then with the others, Bates and Mrs Hughes (Phyllis Logan) talking about her hitting her head and cutting her lip, with Green still around.  She still hasn't told anyone especially not Bates as she still tells Mrs Hughes she doesn't want Bates to kill him and then watch him be hanged.  Mrs Hughes thinks he deserves to know and especially since she's cold towards him but says it's got nothing to do with Bates.  Mrs Hughes bringing up the question of what Anna will do if she's pregnant, to which she replies "I'll kill myself." Selfish attitude of course, then what does she think Bates will do when he finds out the truth later and take matters into his own hands.

At Rosamund's house, John Bullock (Andrew Alexander) is also there and wants them all to go to the Lotus club for dancing and a jazz band.  Rose jumps at the chance and Tony asks Mary so Branson is roped into it too.  John being called away whilst he had already started his game of cards and whiskey so he's drunk when they arrive there.  Making a spectacle of himself and Rose on the dancefloor, leaving Rose to be rescued by Jack Ross (Gary Carr) who takes over as her dance partner.  Though Rosamund is not too pleased with this and sends Branson over to get Rose away from him.  As Ross goes into a song about a "rose...by any other name..."  Rosamund isn't pleased with Rose and Ross cos she mentions him as a black singer.  Was it cos he was black or a singer or both?  Obviously it's not the done thing.

Everyone wants Mary to get together with Tony and he confesses his love for her and even asks her to marry him, otherwise he'll have to announce his engagement to Mabel Lane-Fox and with a name like that no wonder he doesn't want to marry her.   Tony comes down from London to stay the night and invites himself practically.  Anna being relieved he didn't bring Green with him.  She's asked Mrs Hughes if she can move back to the house since it will be easier for her.  Everyone's noticed Anna's attitude, even Cora but she fobs it all off.  To the point where Bate has to have a heart to heart with Robert who advises him that they love each other but all marriages have a rough period.  Bates doesn't know what the problem is which makes it harder to fix.

Mary's noticed Branson's been off too lately and suggests he should tell someone.  He wants to tell her but can't cos she's Sybil's sister and she won't like what he has to say and hate him for it so he confides in Mrs Hughes, as does everyone.  She'd make a fortune as a counsellor if it was the done thing in those days!  She helps him out by calling Edna's bluff after finding a Mary Stopes book in her room, yes she was rummaging through her belongings.  She tells Branson she's not pregnant cos she's been reading up on how not to be and if he'd agreed to marry her then she'd have found someone to have a baby with.  Mrs Hughes even going as far as telling her she'll tie her down and tear off her clothes so the doctor can examine her!  This causes Edna to leave in a huff claiming family troubles.  Yeah cos she wasn't in the family way herself, ha!

Thomas is relieved to see her go, thought they were buddies, as they exchange insults.  Even thought for a second she'd push him down the stairs in her fit of rage.  This means Anna has to be Cora's maid too which makes it even easier for her to move back here.  Glad to see the back of Edna, don't know why they even had her back!

It's no fun being downstairs either as Ivy (Cara Theobold) gets to cook and Daisy's (Sophie McShera) still pining over Alfred (Matt Milne) who's still piing over Ivy.  Alfred finds an ad for training at a school in London and wants to apply.  Though there's no guarantee they'll have him, Daisy's upset cos he might be leaving.  But Mrs Patmore (Lesley Nichol) tells her it's better if they part as friends instead of her love being unrequited when he doesn't feel the same way as her.

Alfred thinks Ivy might be interested in the training too and Daisy deliberately sends him to the boot room where he sees her kissing Jimmy (Ed Speleers). Who can't understand what the fuss is about cooking and does have dreams of his own, which involves drinking champagne and living the high life.

Edith (Laura Carmichael) is in London with Michael (Charles Edwards) who Robert likes now which is news to the Dowager (Maggie Smith) and Edith spends the night with him.  Then sneaks back late night when she's seen by Rosamund's maid.  She was careless especially since they just had that conversation about the servants leaving early and coming back at a certain time in the morning so everyone can get back to their own beds.  A story told to her by Cora and Robert, who of course were in their right beds already.  Rosamund is disappointed in her and tells her she'll regret what she's done in the future if not now, cos of the times they live in which may be changing but not for people like them.

Mary refuses Tony's proposal cos Matthew "still fills my brain" and he will for a while to come as we've been hearing about Matthew now for four weeks.  He doesn't want to let Mabel down so Mary tells him to go ahead and do what he must.  As he says something similar to Rosamund; that he's in the position where he has to marry.  Another repeat of the Matthew/Lavinia storyline, where he was engaged to her cos Mary kept putting him off and couldn't declare her feelings for him.  Although this time round Matthew is the cause of her rejection.  Which is understandable as she can't be expected to forget him already and move on with her life.  Isobel and the Dowager having a similar conversation earlier on about how Isobel doesn't want Mary to be sad and knows she will find someone else.

Glad Edna's gone but it seems Thomas is going to bring in someone else who will turn out to be another troublemaker like O'Brien, but can think of only furthering her own career and prospects.  As he tells Robert he has someone in mind to replace Edna, someone older, which Branson is pleased to hear.  Mrs Hughes gives Carson (Jim Carter) a framed photo of Alice so he will look at her and remember her, also showing he's human to the rest of the staff.  

Some choice words from Branson as he tells Edna "don't speak her name" when she mentions Sybil and also "There is nothing but regret in me," after what he did with Edna, it's no wonder.  Not to mention Mary and her reference to Edith as being "about as mysterious as a bucket."

Still there's no justice for Anna, as she refuses to go to the police still and not confide in anyone else, especially her husband.  She knows Bates yes, enough to keep going on about him jumping to murder as his first reaction to such news, but she doesn't give him the benefit of the doubt, that he will react in a less violent manner and seek to make things right for her first by being there for her and not judging her.  Mrs Hughes's line to Edna, which may have been a little funny, "I'll tear the clothes from your body and hold you down, if that's what it takes," could be seen as insensitive judging from the events of the last episode concerning Anna.  Also Mrs Hughes is aware it was Green from the look she gives him from afar when they're leaving.

Another line of wisdom from Mary as she tells Branson that someone else would have been ashamed of her too if she had been honest with them at the time, meaning when she told Matthew about her night with Mr Pamuk in series 1, but he didn't hold it against her.  Branson finding Mrs Hughes was the only one he could turn to and not be judged by her. Which is what everyone appears to be doing this ep.

CSI 11.21 "Cello and Goodbye" Review

                                         
Catherine receives a call regarding a DB found in LA, accompanied by Ray, they find Haskell has kidnapped Gloria. Leaving behind more clues for them to follow, will Ray save her in time? Catherine meets Ecklie's daughter.

Haskell is in the process of enjoying his baked Brie dessert, that looked revolting, akin to blood when he cut into it.   Gloria (Tracee Ellis-Rose) and Phil (Dean Norris) invite Haskell and Tina (Amanda Wyss) over and just completely trust two strangers.  Haskell drugs their drinks and catches a glimpse of himself in the mirror.   Ray (Laurence Fishburne) has nightmares.   Tina admires Gloria's ring.  Haskell asks how Gloria met Ray and attacks Phil.   Ray showers, as does Haskell, who washes the blood away.  We're meant to draw conclusions here in the sense this is something Ray will do when he goes in pursuit of Haskell.  Catherine (Marg Helgenberger) calls Ray about a DB found in LA.

SID called them in and Brody Morgan (Elisabeth Harnois) wanted them here.   Catherine asks her if she eats at her CS.   TOD is 48-72 hours.   He has sharp force wounds.   Ray explains that Phil was Haskell's eleventh Vic, even though he didn't stab him 12 times.   This is Vic number 12.  Flashes to Ray meeting Haskell for the first time in the season 9 episode.   There's a blood pool at the condo and it's a gory sight.   Ray immediately opens the parcel and finds a postcard of the Willoughby Observatory, with a message "You never forget your first time" written on the back, as well as Gloria's ring.   Greg (Eric Szmanda) has access to the surveillance footage of Gloria's garage and sees them coming home and Tina and Haskell leaving in their car.   They realize Haskell looks the same and Catherine admits she was wrong about him having surgery to his face.  Det Sosa (Danny Nucci) admits he was wrong about them wasting their time in LA.   Catherine assures Ray they'll find her.   Ray: "three days and three nights of heaven on earth and then just heaven."  Those were Haskell's words.   It's been 72 hours already so Ray believes Gloria is dead.   He can't do this and Catherine lets him return to Vegas.   Was that really what he wanted to do, did he just say that so he could search for Haskell on his own, or did he have a change of heart on the way to the airport.

Catherine calls in Sara (Jorga Fox).   Ray has a flashback to Haskell's first kill.  "You never forget your first" echoes throughout this episode.   Ray has officer Blake (Michael King) drive him to the airport, but Ray has  him stop at the bar, for a drink.   Think Ray changed his mind on his way to the airport which is why he uses the excuse of a drink to give Blake the slip.   Ray calls the only person he can talk to..."understand when I've done what I've had to do...only person I have ever loved is dead.   Only one thing left for me to do.   Goodbye Al."  Meaning go in pursuit of Haskell, and, or kill him.

Sara says they were drugged.   Catherine feels she knows Brody from somewhere.  The blood on the walls looks like high velocity spatter to Brody but she realizes their CS has been contaminated by flies, didn't Sara hear them buzzing.   Sara explains this is Haskell's MO: to kill the man and take the woman alive.   There's blood and tissue on the knife.   Phil was hit, strangled.   Brody's use of artistic language to describe the CS, "blood was the paint, body's the brush" and Haskell painted a Picasso.   Haskell wanted Ray to feel the horror.   Brody says Haskell wanted to get inside Ray's head, which we already know, he's been in his head for a while now.

Sosa tells Catherine Ray never got to the airport and cue Ray arming himself with a weapon and a laptop.  Ray looks at another postcard of the Observatory.   Catherine calls Nick (George Eads) "sounds like he's in a dark place."  Yes he is and not just inside his head, but also where he'll end up in the house at the end of the episode.   Haskell met Gloria and Phil at a benefit concert.   Catherine needs to know about the lore/history surrounding the Observatory, but Brody's only into science.   Sara reminds her they already have someone into both, i.e.  Greggie.   Willoughby J Willoughby was into money laundering, where he made his profits and he shot his wife in the head.   Catherine now gets the joke with the postcard and the ring and tells them Haskell wanted Ray to play.   Telling Greg to "work your magic." Ray is also working his magic and follows Tina to a hotel.

Nick tells Sosa there are some CSIs left in Vegas.   They find Tina dead; shot once in the head and once in the leg, as well as being beaten.   Tickets are scattered about with the same message: "You never forget your first."  Brody e-mails Nick a copy of the ticket.  Catherine recalls she's Ecklie's (Marc Vann) daughter.   She took her step-father's name.   Brody processed the hotel room and finds DNA belonging to an unknown African-American.   Catherine still posits Ray isn't armed and that providing DNA isn't compulsory.   Sara also defends Ray as not being a murderer.   Nick finds Ray and waits for him in his room.   He pinged his cell to track him down.   Nick: "I'm part hound dog."  He's here to help and he knows Ray didn't kill Tina.   Cos Ray wouldn't just suddenly change his character completely and become who he was fighting against becoming all those years and do something out of the ordinary.  It's obvious Haskell would have killed Tina, you know, it's her own fault, not like she didn't know that was coming after everything he's done and who he is.

Ray tells him the blood on the ticket was Gloria's.   Haskell wanted Ray to find her.   Nick tells him Haskell is turning Ray into a fugitive and is leaving them clues.   He's been doing that since the last episode.   Nick calls the lab and Hodges (Wallace Langham) wants to know if he's found Ray.   As his Dirty Harry "antic can reflect badly" on the team.   Greg identifies the tickets to Santa Monica Pier, prompting Ray to recall his first date with Gloria in Baltimore was at the carousel.   Haskell turns up and says this is their first, unchaperoned date, but Ray's brought Nick and Haskell escapes.   Nick is arrested for flaunting his gun in public, ha.   Nick: "I'm not getting on my knees."  Before his escape Haskell warns Ray if he shoots him then he'll kill Gloria too.   But Ray located Gloria without Haskell leading him there.

Ray tells Sosa he doesn't know why Haskell didn't shoot him, but he took the gun from a mugger.   Catherine sends Ray home and very much plays the boss here, putting her foot down.   Telling Nick she sent him to find him, not "cowboy up on some vigilante mission." She can understand Ray doing that but not Nicky.   Who still insists they'll get Haskell.   Sara analyzes the beach sand from Gloria's condo, probably sand from construction, such as sand blasting.   Brody: "rings of a tree give up its history" and so will the layers of the paint chips.

Doc Robbins (Robert David Hall) picks Ray up at the airport, he'd have been here even if Catherine didn't tell him to come.    He believes Haskell wanted to hurt Ray not kill him.   Ray uses Hodges' passkey to access the computer at work, or he threatens to go "all Dirty Harry" on him.   Greg knows about Willoughby and tells him he donated land to LA and was a bigamist, shooting his first wife, who survived, witnessed by his second wife and his seven year old son, Arvin.   His first wife was in a psychiatric hospital in LA and his son lived with his uncle.   His wife's maiden name was Thorpe and was from Nessus, Nevada.   That's why last week's episode was set there, most of it anyway.   That's where Gloria is.   Ray goes through the Nessus school yearbooks and finds Warren Thorpe in one from 1976.   Haskell is Thorpe's son and he kills him.   Catherine and Nick don't find anything at the hospital, but a note, "Made you look."  Ray finds Gloria still alive at the house and Haskell holds a gun to him.   So Ray will end up shooting him in self-defence and Gloria may be too traumatized to say anything.

Oh well, guess all those clues from last week were for the benefit of viewers, never mind, aside from farmer Thorpe (Raymond J Barry) who else would refer to his son as "squirrely-looking."   - Only a father, I'd have gone for weasel.   That was the part about the bandages when I said Haskell wasn't fully bandaged and Thorpe gave an accurate description of Haskell, which if everyone had been paying attention would have shown he didn't have surgery done.   There had to have been some sort of connection to the farm and this wasn't Tina, as Thorpe appeared to have misled them.   Didn't Thorpe recognize his own son until he killed him.

The call Ray made to Doc could just as well have been to Heather (Melinda Clarke) since he confided in her, but it was a nice change to see it was someone much closer to home, as they have developed a close friendship with Doc, who plays the call for Nick, with whom Ray also shares a special friendship and good to see Ray asking Nick if he's "got his back."  He didn't really have to ask as Nick would be there for him, he found him after all, just as Nick would be there for any other CSI too.

Brody is added as a permanent  character in season 12, which is good to see, at least she's someone watchable and not smug.   No need to say who I mean, from CSI:NY show!  She's an expert too on insects it seems and happens to be estranged from her father, Ecklie, in the same way as Brass's (Paul Guilfoyle) daughter, Ellie.

Funny moment when the team, almost all of them, arrived in LA, pointed out by Sosa.   Didn't have to venture far as the show is mostly filmed there.   Willoughby J Willoughby killed his first wife, well attempted to and it's not revealed until later he had a second wife and a child.   This must have been an allusion to Haskell killing Tina, shooting her in the head.   Although she wasn't his first wife, or any sort of wife.   Of course Ray wouldn't have killed Tina, he'd be giving in to the darkness inside of him and he's not a killer - he's a doctor, one reason why he told this to Heather in Unleashed, he wanted to save lives, not take them.

There are numerous flashbacks to past episodes to keep the Haskell story in perspective and to remind us this vile man is nothing but a killer and that he was named the Dick and Jane killer on the basis of this and met with Ray back in season 9, 19 Down for this specific reason.   Reference also to the number of stab wounds which mirrors the order in which Haskell's Vics were killed.   Phil being number 12 and Ray being the eleventh in the episode Meat Jekyll.   Greg getting involved in research for Willoughby, that's his forte (and maybe I shouldn't say this, but no mention of his book either.)

Haskell leaving the bodies at the farm (it wasn't a body farm, bad pun) was another clue for Ray, that we also missed, he was telling Ray who he really was and where and how it all started, with his grandfather, Willoughby.   Willoughby J Willoughby was based on Griffith J Griffith, a Welsh-American industrialist, who donated land to LA - known as Griffith Park and left money in his will to build the Griffith Observatory in 1935 and the Greek Theatre, also located in the park.  He shot his wife in 1903 in the Hotel Arcadia and served two years in prison.   She survived, but was disfigured.

In CSI episode Eleven Angry Jurors, Nick uses tree rings to solve a crime and here Brody mentions tree rings too.   Paint chips to tell the history of a building have been used in many CSI episodes and most recently in the season 7 CSI:NY episode The Untouchable.

Danny Nucci was in the CSI:NY episode Vacation Getaway.   Michael King playing another police officer here after his stint in CSI:NY episode 3.8 Consequences, where he played a corrupt officer,  Det Dean Truby, part of Flack's (Eddie Cahill) team.

Scandal 2.15 "Boom Goes the Dynamite" Review

                                                        
David (Joshua Malina) leaves the school where he's teaching and drops his papers, thinking he's being followed.  He rushes straight over to Olivia's (Kerry Washington) where Harrison (Columbus Short) thinks they're after Wendy's flashdrive and so won't hesitate to k.., David finishes for him, kill him.  He hasn't seen anyone but has a feeling.  Olivia sends Huck (Guillermo Diaz) to watch him and Huck by now is reeking. Obviously it's cos of his waterboarding torture which makes him have an aversion to the water, or as he tells Quinn (Katie Lowes) at the end when she confronts him about it, it's the rain and when it stops raining he'll be fine.  Yeah cos this is Washington, the sunshine state!

Olivia meets Jake (Scott Foley) at the restaurant which he doesn't like at all cos he can't have a date here. He takes the wine and they leave, ending up at the Jefferson Memorial.  She calls it  a meeting, he insists on date.  She wants to ask about him Albatross.  Wendy knew about it so she must have told him too.  He will answer but then they'll go back to their date.  He tells her it's about State Department documents being sold to Tehran and some dead man did it.

Mellie (Bellamy Young) thinks Fitz (Tony Goldwyn) is drinking too much cos he's not sleeping and she has him under her thumb for now.  She leaves for bed and he has a visitor in the middle of the night.  All so mysterious until we find out it's Jake.  He seems to know Fitz very well as they reminisces as they name drop other friends they knew.  We get the big reveal that it was Fitz who wants Jake to watch Olivia.  Gotta wonder why.  It's gone from photo surveillance to full blown video surveillance but he won't tell Jake why, even when he tries to pry.  He just tells him she's no good.  Well Jake is learning all about Olivia for himself since 'dating' her isn't in his brief.  Though right about now even Jake can't put two and two together and figure out the real extent of their 'relationship' and how far the animosity goes.  I call it animosity cos it's a love/hate relationship as far as Fitz and Olivia are concerned.

Olivia has a new client, the Caldwell, a political dynasty, Peter (Eric Mabius) wants their youngest, Will (Sam Page) elected as governor of North Carolina.  To do this Olivia tells him he needs a wife but everyone thinks he's gay cos he hasn't seen anyone for ten years.  He denies being gay but anyone could see it's cos of his feelings for his sister in law, Marion (Lisa Sheridan) and vice versa.  Yes it was one of those stories which will be close to Olivia's heart, least so cos she's going through the exact same thing.  Broken heart, lost love nothing will come of it.  So they need to find Will a wife.

In a quiet moment, quiet, ha, Abby (Darby Stanchfield) gets it on with David again on the desk which appears to be Olivia's office, I wasn't looking, ha.  But they do that again in the car later on, David's car, saw that, ha, and she tells him it doesn't mean anything.  The terrorists send the Whitehouse a video showing one of the hostages being beheaded which Mellie is privy to, as is Cyrus (Jeff Perry) and Cyrus knows they must launch a drone strike and show strength.  Fitz agrees to do this and later tells his other staff that it was Mellie's idea, "blood for blood."  Mellie thinks she should speak with the families to tell them they're negotiating behind the scenes.  Cyrus hates being left out in the cold but obviously Fitz seems to be relishing it.  Also he confides his feelings to Olivia and hates how Mellie is getting in on the act and his job. Olivia thinks he should just let her be Mellie cos sooner or later she'll put a foot wrong and then Cyrus will step in.

Jake watches Olivia be unhappy in her bedroom in her robe and calls her.  She undresses but at least he had the decency to turn the camera off, thus far!  Mellie thinks she should talk to the families, a conference call, and tell them what they're doing.  Cyrus gets his own back as he blabs to a reporter that she should call in too.  This gets leaked obviously and Fitz isn't too happy.  Mellie is summoned which she enjoys and is told off about going behind his back giving out military info to civillians.  Meanwhile Abby tells the potential wife of Will about what she'll be getting into with the family and clearly she puts her off.  Thus they go for the second choice.

Olivia is invited to the fundraiser and learns Fitz will be there too.  Harrison calls to tell her one of the candidates leaked the story to the press and she wants him to handle it.  Which he does by telling the reporter he can have the entire story instead of just this one breaking news one.  Fitz makes his speech endorsing Will as candidate and watches Olivia who doesn't seem to be interested in him, as she gets a call from Jake and Harrison, he tells her the story is handled and Jake, calling him Henderson, thinks he's Olivia's man.  Yeah right.  Anyway Jake wants a second date and she's really happy which Fitz picks up on from afar.

Olivia realizes Will has feelings for Marion, took her time cos if she was on the ball, she'd have picked it up sooner, like the first time we're shown her.  She sees the two of them together and tells him to end it, giving him a speech about how Peter loves her, will never leave her, they have children, celebrate anniversaries whilst he has nothing.  He should end it and make his own life.  Easier said than don as she's the voice of experience. Olivia finds out Peter already knew about the two of them, but family comes first.   Fitz summons Jake again and asks if Olivia is seeing a man.  He lies and tells her there's no man involved.  I want to see how long this lie lasts and does Jake really think he can keep seeing Olivia without Fitz finding out.

Didn't know whether to be happy or not, in a sly way, the way in which Jake pulled the wool over Fitz's eyes he kind of deserves it for everything he's done to Olivia really.  I mean everything like having her at his beck and call and then just dropping her like that cos his what, pride is hurt amongst other things.  Instead of confronting her and Cyrus and the others about the vote rigging he just plays them.  Of course they know he knows but he should face it like a man too.

The other aspect of the episode is that a woman named Molly (Mageina Tova) comes forward.  She's been following David cos she knows who killed Wendy.  She saw him having a fight at her house and she knows he knows too.  Olivia gets Huck to find if there's any footage at her house.  Huck manages to unencrypt one of Wendy's files and Olivia is surprised too when she sees it.  Also Grayden Osborne (Kurt Fuller) tells Fitz that he's done a thorough check and the mole isn't in the CIA or any of the other agencies.  That's cos it's you.  That much was obvious.  Seems Fitz is no longer running a tight ship, especially after being shot seems like everyone's crawling out of the woodwork.  Cos lo and behold, Molly IDs Osborne as the man who argued with Wendy as he appears on the TV.  Small world is Washington.  And there was Kashfar bounded again over and over.

Some choice lines from Jake this ep, such as " I can never get used to calling you President."  "Who would have thought you would be here?"  Kind of harks back to that whole vote rigging again.  I know that was dealt with but looks like Fitz wasn't capable of achieving or amounting to much on his own.  Mellie said that, his own father said that too, and now Jake is saying it.  Though hopefully we get some more reveals on how well they know each other and from where.  Aside from the navy it looks like, since Fitz was in the navy too. Maybe Jake harbours a little resentment towards Fitz and so is happy to 'mess' around with Olivia on the side.  Kind of implying he may have an inkling that this is personal for Fitz.  Only an inkling.  But still can't help but get shivers when thinking none of Olivia's conversations are private any longer.  Shame they don't don't talk about private stuff anymore.  Though Cyrus does mention their feelings about Mellie.

Love Olivia's white dress, you know she's not going to get up to any hanky-panky by the sorts of clothes she wears, no short skirts here, or any skirt and this dress was too tight! ha.  Though have to see what she wears with Jake!  Enjoyed this ep, Scandal hotting up as it hasn't of late, especially with the Defiance eps!

CSI 11.20 "Father of the Bride" Review

                                            
Nate Haskell is back on the scene as a video sent to one of his bride's father sends Ray into a quandary. Sophia returns as Deputy Chief. Haskell's next targets are revealed.

Nick (George Eads) and Ray (Laurence Fishburne) searching for a CS at the beginning, was almost indicative of Ray's search for Haskell (Bill Irwin).   Who else would leave DBs in his wake.   Nick comments on there being lots of manure here and Ray can smell it, can't help wondering if that was a snide remark about the B.S churned out by Haskell in this episode.   No one was really on the ball, I have to say as far as Haskell was concerned.  Rray nearly drives into a, "holy cow" as Nick says.   Hey Nick should know all about cows from the question Gil (William Petersen) asked him: "What do cows drink?"  All those seasons ago.   They comes across scattered DB parts in a barn.  Ray was oblivious he was stepping in manure.   Nick Ids the larvae, as is his new speciality now, so they were dead up to 96+ hours ago.   They find hands from a male DB and a female DB without hands.   Nick: "She body, he hands."

Ray is called back to the lab where he finds Catherine (Marg Helgenberger) and Brass (Paul Guilfoyle) watching a video from Haskell sent to  his bride's father.  Haskell left him "enough breadcrumbs to follow."  He's afraid to catch him or "maybe you don't like looking in the mirror, Ray."  He knows how to get Ray riled up.   Vivian's (Kate Blumberg) parents got the video and she's one of Haskell's brides, as seen in the Targets of Obsession episode.   In the video, Vivian appears to be tied up and beaten.   It looked like it was all an act.   As Haskell wouldn't really turn on one of his brides without good reason.   Her parents, Avery (Bruce Davison) and Jean (Roxanne Hart) Tinsdale got the video 4 days ago and Ray was right when he said she's probably already dead.   Tinsdale says she only calls when she needs money, well this was one of those times, only Haskell was the one who wanted money.  Catherine comments they don't want Haskell killing her, or adds Brass, anyone else.

Doc Robbins (Robert David Hall) tells Nick he smells of a portaloo/portapotty.   The killer went "happy with a hand axe."  Contusions around the cut were post mortem.  Indicating the same tool used by the same killer.   Archie (Archie Kao) is unable to tell where the video was filmed.   When arrives newly promoted Deputy Chief Sophia Curtis (Louise Lombard)  heading up a Haskell task force.   She wants to call in the FBI as she thinks Haskell is no longer in Vegas.   but Ray wants her to hold off on doing that, she was right he probably wouldn't still stick around, not when it's obvious he's got a personal vendetta and agenda against Ray.   So perhaps it would have been better if they had been called in.   Archie traces a wi-fi signal to Vegas, which was convenient.   Haskell calls Tinsdale to arrange a meeting place.

Doc Robbins thanks Nick for taking a shower, not that he did it for him.   He examines the female torso as being fit so natural causes as the COD is ruled out.   She has a scar probably from liposuction.   (Knew both cases would be connected to Haskell.)  Nick gets a hit on the hand to a Dr Kole.  Arriving at the Dr's office, Nick and Greg (Eric Szmanda) find 2 blood pools and blood spatter on the wall.   Nick finds a bullet in the wall with tissue remains and Greg finds a chart without a name on it.   This must be the primary CS.   Ray chases and catches Tina (Amanda Wyss) at the meeting with Tinsdale.   When questioned by Catherine she tells her she admires Haskell's courage as he's a Vic of the justice system.   She hates Vivian.   Catherine: "...couldn't even if I tried "to put words in Tina's mouth, that is.   Her lawyer (Terry Bozeman) mentions a cop beating a civillian warrants action, but Ray isn't a cop and he didn't beat her, he apprehended her.   Thought doing something like chasing a suspect is something Ray would have left to the cops.

Henry (Jon Wellner) says Hodges (Wallace Langham) is moving out of his mother's house, so he can help Ray with the prints on the box.  He finds a perfect print on the tape which matches Haskell.   Ray calls it his signature.   The box contains a half torn photo identified as Jack, Vivian's ex husband.   If he was Vivian's first husband didn't this strike anyone as a clue, that perhaps he was meant to signify Ray, thus providing an indication of who Haskell was really after.   Tinsdale lies about the conversation with Haskell.   Brass tells him the phrase, "wasn't the deal..." relates to Tinsdale.

Nick determines the blood matches the time line of the maggots on the DB.   Greg thinks Kole was seeing a patient and both were killed.  Nick prints Lydia Kole, (Tawny Kitaen) the doctor's wife, who she saw him 5 days ago.   Nick's reaction to her 'faking' noises was a little uneasy, he looked around to see if anyone else could hear.   Greg matches the bullet Nick found to the gun used in the Haskell escape, thereby connecting the 2 cases together.   Thus Haskell was at the office.   Nick believes Haskell had plastic surgery, which must have been to throw them off the scent, since he hardly had anything done to his face.   That's not something Haskell would do, he wouldn't alter his appearance in such a dramatic way, where would be the fun in that, in which he so readily revels.

Brass comments Haskell's "like the Joker in Batman - except without the laughs."  Ray surmises Haskell isn't holding Vivian for ransom.  Kole and the nurse, Teagen (Shy Pilgreen) were already dead when Tinsdale got the video.   See, the photo of Vivian's ex is a reference to Ray.   Archie retrieves the video file on the computer deleted by Tinsdale, he was hiding secrets, and abused his daughter, Vivian.   Haskell was blackmailing him and Catherine says the money was already paid to Haskell.   Everything goes back 5 days.   Ray rushes off after Haskell, but where would he find him and Catherine stops him from blindly doing so.  She says Jack disappeared after Vivian was married, so Haskell is talking to Ray, yes he is but no one got the gist of what he was really saying.   They'll go after Haskell together.

Tinsdale is dead at his house, an apparent suicide.   His wife allowed him to abuse Vivian.   Haskell leaves a message on another computer for Ray.   Greg matches the blood pool at the office to Kole and the bullet matches Teagen.   The DNA doesn't match the torso but to an unknown male and there's no match to Haskell either.   They return to the barn and the farmer (Raymond J Barry) tells them Tina was shacking up with a "squirrely" man.   He also describes the man with a bandage on his face, which he assumes was the result of an accident, but everyone assumes his face was fully bandaged when it wasn't.   At the house they find tyre treads from a  yellow sports car which sped away.   Inside there's electrical equipment, also the smell of decomp and as Nick puts it, "snap, crackle maggots." Officer Akers (Larry Sullivan) identifies the music on the radio as Bach's Cello Solo in G, "that's just not right."  They find DBs in the bath.   Nick: "Talk about not right."

Brass identifies the driver of the car as Frost,  who rented the car but didn't return it.   Blood from Kole's office matches and Catherine found Frost's file, so Frost was there when Kole and Teagen were killed.  Ray thinks the chart Greg found belonged to Haskell.   David (David Berman) matched Vivian's hands by the colour of her nail polish.  Ray checks her hands as positive for lead so she fired a gun.   Doc Robbins determines all the Vics were killed 4-5 days ago.   It was obvious Tina was the one who chopped them up and killed Vivian.  All the electrical equipment was bought by Tina and all the videos were recorded the day after Haskell escaped.   Ray figures out they're not in Vegas, finally, just as Sophia predicted.   Again with the surgery that Haskell never had! Catherine posits they're both fugitives, "plastic surgery, bimbo, Porsche." Leading Brass to say they need to call LAPD.   Since they'll fit in there.   Cue Ray's ex, Gloria (Tracee Ellis Ross) and husband Phil (Dean Norris).   Didn't know Gloria was a musician and that she played the cello.   The same symphony Officer Akersidentified.   As if Haskell didn't know she was Phil's wife and Ray's ex.

Good work on Brass's part seeing as he's been to LA in Hollywood Brass.  That's where everyone goes with bimbos and expensive cars.   When Nick and Greg arrived at the house it's a shame no one figured out the significance of the music.   That was a glaring clue, Haskell's "breadcrumb" he left for Ray but he wasn't there when the DBs were discovered.   Wonder if he'll find out next episode.   Also why didn't Ray work out Haskell would go after Gloria, especially since she's a newly married bride, Haskell's forte.

Great to see Sophia back (Louise Lombard is a great actress and she's always under utilized in everything she's been in!)  Pity she won't be around for long.

Haskell has led the CSIs a merry dance (oh Catherine mentioned Haskell dancing with Ray) in his attempt to make them work damn hard.   So whilst they were 'wasting' time on DB counts, he was well away in LA, exacting out his own sickly thought-out plan: his "best laid plans," all the while being a thorn in Ray's side, with his taunts and egging him on in the videos.   Yes he was playing Ray in a cat and mouse game and Ray fell for it when Catherine said much the same thing.   Ray was ready to bring it on, go in blind.   I can't help but feel that the photo of Vivian's ex, Jack was an obvious and direct reference to Ray in all the clues but no one clicked.

The cello music wasn't mentioned so we'll have to wait and see if it's mentioned next episode and if Ray works it out.   Brass only mentioned LA at episode's end, so who knows if they'll get to Gloria in time.  Obviously US viewers have seen the season to the end, so this might be more benefit to those who haven't.   What about the way the writers kept Gloria's cello playing under their hats - until the last second, so no inferences could be drawn , 'til we actually saw her playing the same Bach solo.   An interesting approach.  Still Haskell's forte are couples so...

The episode where Gil asked Nick about what cows drink, was Evaluation Day, it was kind of misleading anyway, he asked him to repeat after him, "Silk, Silk, Silk."  Which Nick did, then Gil asked, "What do cows drink"  to which Nick replied milk, kind of rhymed with silk!  Gil corrects him by saying "cows drink water, they give milk," a little pedantic, but baby cows (calves) drink milk.   Just thought I'd mention that as they had  Nick going on about holy cow, and cows being sacred in India.  So who was thinking as far back to season 1.

Also Raymond J Barry was in the CSI episode The Accused is Entitled, where he was Gil's mentor.

Sara (Jorga Fox) and Hodges both missing in this episode again, people will talk, ha.

CSI:NY 9.14 "White Gold" Review

A girl paints graffiti on the wall as she's an animal rights activist when she and her boyfriend see a van and a car.  One drives into the other and then hear gunshots.  They describe the incident and their stories check.  Jo (Sela Ward) comments on the weather and wishes she was back in Alabama.  Mac (Gary Sinise) also says the same thing with her whining, trying to be funny.  Mac thinks it could be a carjacking.  Adam (AJ Buckley) and Lindsay (Anna Belknap) process the CS as Adam takes readings of the tyre tracks and Lindsay finds broken pieces of the light.  Knew she'd be first up on the scene as soon as the opening credits rolled!  Sid (Robert Joy) performs the autopsy and the Vic bled out from his gunshot wounds.  The Vic also has a white substance in his nostrils which he finds is flour.  The Vic is missing his gall bladder which is strange for someone his age which will make it easy for him to be Ided.

Adam asks how Lucy's taking the news of a new baby and then tells Lindsay about his own older brother who was pissed over him but they worked it out.  Danny (Carmine Giovinazzo) found the Vic was Paul Tortucci (Kanin Howell) and he bakes pizzas which Danny describes as good.  He and Mac pay a visit over there and find Paul was the owner Ray's (Daniel Roebuck) nephew and was a good boy.  He brought him up as his own after his parents died and promised he'd look after him.  He lived above the pizzeria.  They believe Paul was carjacked and his BMW was stolen but Paul drove a van.  They find they have their story wrong and theorize Paul was now the carjacker and got shot, but he doesn't have a record.

Lindsay finds the BMW belonged to Rowena (Chasty Ballasteros) and Flack (Eddie Cahill) pays her a call along with Lovato (Natalie Martinez) yet more waste of space!  Flack comments on her jacket and thinks it's fine, he paid her a compliment.  Lovato only wants him to be honest with her, that's all women want. Rowena says she was here for three days and hasn't seen her car since then, it was stolen.  Lovato thinks she's lying of course and wants to drag her down to the precinct!  Agh!  She shows them her leg in a cast.  Adam shows Jo the simulation of the accident which he did using the data he collected from the CS.  It shows the van tried to swerve the car but it was the car which caused the accident.  The two vehicles are found and Hawkes (Hill Harper) measures the impact on both vehicles.  It appears the van was weighed down when it hit the car so something is missing.  Danny finds a hidden compartment under the floor and thinks something could have been smuggled.  Paul did say he was going snowboarding in Canada.

Hawkes also finds some pellets on the floor of the car, as well as blood on the transmission wires and GSR on the driver's side of the door.  He also finds the seat is pushed right back.  Adam uses his simulation again to calculate the weight of the cargo which turns out to be 533 pounds.  Mac and Jo get a warrant for Paul's apartment and Jo finds money hidden behind the grate on the wall.  With Ray making the funny comment of how they don't know Paul from Adam! Ha.  He's back at the lab!

Hawkes finds the pellets were from a welding torch and so the man in the passenger seat was a welder. Hawkes also gets a hit on the blood he found which belongs to Reno Martell (Myk Watford) and he's 6' 4" and has a record.  They get his address from his parole officer and at the apartment Danny thinks he's hit paydirt, "boom."  However the blocks turn out to be cheese.  Mozzarella.  Hawkes finds a clean corner in the kitchen which has been wiped of blood.  Ray recalls the cheese incident when some men came over from Canada and said he could make money by smuggling it across the border into Canada.  It's called white gold.  But he didn't want any part of it.  Paul took over the running of the books and they started to make a profit so he thinks maybe Paul was involved.  Mac notices one of the men cut open the cheese and thinks it looks like drugs and someone could have mistaken it for drugs.

Outside Mac and Jo wonder who could have sat there and watched Paul.  Then notice an auto shop.  The owner, George (Leif Gantvoort) also has a record but says he has an alibi.  Jo collects pellets from the ground and Mac finds cigarette butts on the floor by the door where someone had a perfect view of Paul. George tells them it was Felipe (Sam Situmorang) and he hasn't been to work today.  He doesn't know much English.  Felipe is found in a dumpster and Hawkes finds he was stabbed twice.  He also has defensive wounds and Flack notices something stuck to his sleeve.  It's a matchbook from the Blue Moon.

Flack and Lovato wait for Reno to show up and when they do he tries to escape.   Lovato tries to take him down using her legs again, what is it with her legs?  Reno tells them it was all Felipe's idea.  He watched Paul and thought he was loading drugs late at night.  That he drove the car and shot Paul after dragging him out of the van.  Reno says he was having a bad day.  When Felipe saw it was cheese he lost it and so Reno had to stab him in self defence, twice.  Flack: "You're like a one man Ellis Island."  When Reno says Felipe was new around here. Flack tells Mac he'd believe him.

Jo tells him they're the ones he's going to tell the truth to and then he does but this time Mac tells him of the seat being pulled back to his height position, the blood on the wire when he hotwired the car was his and GSR was on the driver' side of the door.  He claims self defence again when Paul tried to grab the gun from him.  As for Felipe, the neighbours heard yelling and Felipe didn't know English.

Mac pays a visit to Ray for a slice and gives him the photo of him and Paul when he was little, that Danny found in the van.  Mac tells Ray he didn't let his brother down since he brought up Paul to be good when he could have gone either way.

A bit of a routine ep which I didn't find interesting at all.  hey even Flack and Danny's scene together at Reno's apartment was rather flat, compared to their scenes throughout past seasons.  It appears they really were scraping the bottom of the barrel, the cheese barrel, when they came up with this story, it was cheesy which is not a pun, not to mention most of this final season was hit and miss.  CSI:NY used to be good and one of my fave CSI shows! What happened?  At least Danny got more to do this ep than he has of late, even showing sympathy towards Ray after they break the news of Paul to him..
Danny: "If you had told me this morning we'd be investigating a cheese murder, you know what I would have said."
Hawkes: "Please don't."
Danny: "No whey!"

Danny finding the hidden compartment in the van like he did in a season 1 episode.  If Jo was cold would've thought she'd have worn something warmer than a short jacket!  She's been living in New York for three years now and before that was in Washington.  Whoever wrote that line, well, you shouldn't have!

LFCCW Winter 2013 Michael Shanks/Garrett Wang

Hoards descended on Kensington Olympia this past weekend, 5-6 October 2013 for the London Film and Comic Con and well, hoards is definitely the right word to use.  Why do certain people think it's fine to queue jump, smoke endlessly whilst in the queue and just have a God given right to stare for no reason!  Let me say Star Trek has a more classier fandom!  Cos Destination Star Trek London 2012 was so better organized and had amazing people there, fans and crew!  Trekkies are cool.  No one acted like they were still at school.  Anyhoo, rant over!

The Star Trek talk was enlightening and interesting mostly cos Garrett Wang was doing most if not all of the talking.  Letting us into snippets of info most of us wouldn't have known about.  Like how he missed out on kissing Jeri Ryan as Seven of Nine cos it wasn't in the script of a ST:Voyager ep!!  As an actor he said he was excited for it to happen but it didn't and even Jeri said he missed out on it.  Another fun anecdote was how not to upset Voyager writers when he did that one day, he found Harry Kim was killed off and no one noticed or said anything about it in the show.  Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) just kind of grunted!

Another thing he said was how JJ Abrams didn't want to cast anyone in his Trek movies who had been involved in the Star Trek TV shows: crews or actors, except for Leonard Nimoy.  How Garrett was annoyed that none of the actors from the shows were invited to the premiere of the movies either and when he met JJ one day whilst queueing for the 2009 movie at the cinema, he didn't really have much in the way of acknowledgement. Even when he told him he watched the movie like everyone else at the cinema about 13 times.  Garrett so kindly paid for tickets for the fans in front and behind him who had queued up to watch it.
Nicole de Boer interjected of how she auditioned for every show JJ was making.  She didn't say much, she had a cold.

Also how he thought Star Trek Into Darkness: STID stood for Star Trek into Die Hard, cos it was so action orientated.  Most of his shows are though, such as Alias and that was really fast paced.  Wasn't really into Lost myself, but Garrett mentioned how he thought the casting of Benedict Cumberbatch was wrong for the part of Khan.  As we know he was an Indian character and he would have loved Naveen Andrews to have been cast.  Also how the cast appeared like they wanted to get their lines out quickly and rush through them.  Which I have to agree with, especially Spock.  I said it in the first movie, Zachary Qunito spoke fast, whereas the original Spock spoke slowly and calmly.  Hence his overdoing: "Khaannn!"  Spock would never have made such an outburst.  Irrespective of being young in years. Ha.  The line most everyone hated in the movie.

Great talk Garrett, fun and exciting!

Gotta admit though one of the main reasons for my going was to have a chin wag with Michael Shanks.  Not much of a chin wag but it was great meeting him in the flesh and he looks even hotter than on TV! His talk was with his wife Lexa Doig, but I can't help feeling he would have done more talking if he was on his own, naturally, ha.  It didn't help that most of the fans questions were kind of a re-hash of something another fan had asked.  I mean how many times can you ask what they would have liked to have come in and who was their inspiration.  Michael is obsessed with Harrison Ford, ahh, he'd like to play Indiana Jones.

Lexa was trying to be sarcastic a lot of the times in terms of being funny, but she came across as a little like having Michael under her thumb!  Saying things like he'll get into trouble when he gets home...ha!

It was a shame there wasn't a full house for Michael's talk since it was a paid talk as variation in the audience would have been good.  I didn't get picked to ask my question, what is it something I said or didn't say, cos I had much to ask.  Let's see, would he play Daniel Jackson again; what was it like playing two different sorts of doctors, one on Stargate SG-1 and one on his new show, Saving Hope.  Would have been good to have him on Supernatural again as an angel even this time round, seeing as Amanda Tapping plays a recurring one on the show.  Heck anything would have been more interesting than the same old, same old.  Oh well maybe next time I'll get my chance...Dream on hey!! ha. At least I got me hug from Michael!!

Downton Abbey Series 4 Part 3 Review

This episode Downton Abbey is overrun by the guests for the houseparty and the house is in turmoil in more ways than one.  Mary (Michelle Dockery) meets Lord Anthony Gillingham (Tom Cullen) who she used to know from before and he tells her he's not married and doesn't have children.  He's forgotten about Matthew and doesn't recall what happened to him for which he has to apologize as Mary tells him she has a son.  She goes riding with him and talks about Robert (Hugh Bonneville) and how he wants to sell the land to pay the taxes.  He tells her how they handled the situation when his father passed, by renting the house and keeping the land.  He suggests she should see the tax people and then tell Robert how to proceed.  Mary's quite happy there are other people in her position.  Would you really say something like that to someone, happy that they're in the same predicament.

She also tells him how if she had been stronger before maybe she'd be much happier right now, since Matthew changed her.  "I loved him but he changed me."  Later she's upset when Rose (Lily James) brings out Matthew's gramophone and is distraught when she sees it.  Rose forgetting it was his and not asking permission like Anna (Joanne Froggatt) said she should.  Seems everyone's forgotten about him, except for Mary and Isobel (Penelope Wilton).  Isobel doesn't want to be happy cos then she feels she's forgotten him and ends up feeling guilty.  The Dowager (Maggie Smith) tries to get her to come and see Dame Nellie Melba (Kiri Te Kanawa) who has been invited to the party.  She reluctantly agrees and it seems Nellie is relegated to the confines of her quarters regardless of being honoured by the king.  Carson (Jim Carter) even suggests she be served dinner in her room on a tray, cos she's just a singer, as Cora (Elizabeth McGovern) points out she's not happy with that and invites her to dinner.  Seating her next to Robert, who is much more at ease after he finds Nellie is knowledgeable in wines.

The men decide on a poker game with the others and Michael (Charles Edwards) is also invited to join.  He tells Edith (Laura Carmichael) at least Robert can't ignore him now.  Below stairs, the staff are running around in a kerfuffle making ready the dinner and there's more than one crisis.  Daisy (Sophie McShera) can't open a jar and neither can Ivy (Cara Theobold) or Alfred (Matt Milne).  But Jimmy (Ed Speelers) has to show off and show how a real man can do it.  Then he throws the jar in the air and misses the catch, falling flat on his back.  Injuring his wrist and can no longer perform his footman duties at dinner, for which Thomas (Rob James-Collier) must take over under protest as he's the under butler and it's beneath him!

Carson comes up with a plan though after Molesley (Kevin Doyle) brings round the groceries as he's working for Bakewell now.  Carson thinks he can do them a favour and take over, to which he is also disappointed.  The Dowager is pleased to see him though.  Robert loses at cards against Samson as do the others cos obviously he is a card sharp. Which Michael recognizes as the next night he wants to play cards again as the others are listening to Nellie.  Carson asks if the kitchen staff should be able to attend the singing and Robert says they must as these are new times now.  As Carson was just lamenting to Mrs Hughes (Phyllis Logan) about how they haven't got much staff now after the War.  Progression really isn't his strong suit.

Branson (Allen Leech) feels out of place when having to spend time with the Duchess of Yeovil (Joanna David).  First the Dowager must put him right about not calling her 'your grace' unless they're in society and then the Duchess asks him where he's from and if he knows certain people.  Branson may be dressed in white bow tie but he he feels a fraud and lets Edna (Myanna Buring) know this.  Edna who is still after him and hopes he doesn't think of her as an a enemy, but a friend.  Sneaking into his room later that night.  More trouble abounds there.  No wonder she gave him more whiskey, getting him drunk and taking advantage of him.

Anna gets friendly with Anthony's valet, Green (Nigel Harman) who Bates (Brendan Coyle) doesn't like cos he "gets my goat" and she would have been wise to heed his words.  They all engage in a card game of their own, making lots of noise, whilst there's a tizzy in the kitchen and Mrs Patmore (Lesley Nichol) takes a turn for the worse, thinking she's having  a heart attack.  So the doctor (David Robb) is called for and Anna invites him to stay for the singing, when it's found that Mrs Patmore suffered a panic attack.  Can't think why, it's not the first time she's had to cook for so many, so why was she so out of sorts?  Alfred has to take over and prepare the bechamel sauce, which he tells Mrs Patore went down a treat and that this is what he wants to do.  Anna needs something for her headache and is attacked by Green who forces himself upon her when she turns down his advances.  He doesn't think Bates, "a cripple, can satisfy you."  She can't fight him off and cos of the music no one hears her screams for help.  Surprised Thomas wanted to listen to an opera singer, ha.

Michael wins at cards cos he's a dab hand at the game from his "misspent youth" and takes back everyone's IOUs otherwise he'll let Robert know Samson's (Patrick Kennedy) a card sharp and then no club will have him in.  Returning them back to everyone, he gets into Robert's good books and he surprises Cora by changing his mind about him and how he's quite the gentleman.  Andrew is glad he came since he's developing feelings for Mary, eve asking her to dinner and Robert is happy he came too.  Branson consoles Isobel at dinner when she sees Mary laughing and it's the first time he's heard her do that.  She doesn't want her to stay unhappy but Isobel is sad cos everyone's here except Matthew.

Mrs Hughes finds Anna cowering in a corner in her room, hiding from the others and she asks for clothes and her help, swearing her to secrecy cos if Bates finds out he'll kill the man who did this and he'll be hanged this time round since he's a felon.  She lies to Bates and tells him she fell and hit her head on the sink and her dress was ruined.  She walks out alone and cries.  Would have thought Mrs Hughes would have put two and two together and realize who did that to her since she saw Green come back and Anna wasn't back either.  Oh let's hope Anna doesn't get pregnant now, though that would be another plot for the show.

Downton trying to spice proceedings this week as we get poker playing (Mr Selfridge territory) and Anna being attacked, though the actual violence wasn't shown.  Seems everyone had their own dilemmas this episode, some more than others.  It is understandable why Anna is afraid to tell Bates what happened as he will take it upon himself to get justice for his wife.  We had all the court case business last series when he was accused of killing his first wife and how dark his character could go when he had to survive in prison.  But this isn't something she should just sweep under the carpet since it's not going to go away and we haven't seen the last of Green.  As once again it shows the inequality between the classes when it comes to getting justice.  As was also demonstrated with Carson going on about not being able to find help anymore and whether the kitchen staff should be allowed to watch the entertainment.  As they're the lowest of the low in this house.  Clearly snobbery existed between even the downstairs staff as firstly Thomas objects to having to do Jimmy's job and then Molesley does the same when he's asked to do so, summing it up with "beggars can't be choosers.

Then Green had the audacity to say goodnight to them thinking he's gotten away with it.  Which he believes he has but here's hoping he gets his comeuppance.  Anna must realize he can't get away with what he's done and obviously it's probably not the first time.  Perhaps he needs to be dealt with as in a game of Cluedo (though that that Rev Green, this one is far from reverend/honourable.)

Events should heat up next episode as there's a new jazz singer in town who catches Rose's eye, so expect plenty of problems there as he's black.  As well as things hotting up between Edith and Michael, who is still in awe that he's even learning German just for her!