Atlantis 1.12 "Touched by the Gods" Part 1 Review

                                                 
In this ep we finally get Jason's (Jack Donnelly) promise to Circe (Lucy Cohu) catching up with him as sees a dead Hercules (Mark Addy) in his dream and has to kill Pasiphae (Sarah Parish) as he promised in order to save Hercules and Pythagoras (Robert Emms) from dying.  He reminds the others and they devise a plan to sneak into the palace, which Hercules manages to orchestrate with a little tipple or two of wine with the help of the wine merchant.  As they are smuggled into the palace in wine barrels, thought the one with Hercules was recognizable since it had lots of room for him to hide in, but not so as he gets stuck.  Shouldn't Jason and Pythagoras have helped him out instead of watching the barrel roll.

Before reaching the palace of course Pythagoras finds a way of knocking out the guards, with the use of seaweed which releases a substance capable of rendering the inhaler unconscious, but the right amount or it may not work or the person may die.  Hercules choosing Pythagoras to test it out on, well who better, ha.

Lots of laughs in this episode to counteract from the serious nature of murder even if it is of the evil queen. That's right whenever royalty is involved the written or unwritten rule is that there must always be an evil queen in the mix.  Pasiphae, or Pacify as I call her, though it really isn't in her nature, ha) continues to poison Minos (Alexander Siddig) as he is now on his last legs and still no one notices, shouldn't he have a royal physician at his side.  No, let's just have him take another sip! She tells Heptarian (Oliver Walker) how Ariadne (Aiysha Hart) will become ruler and since he was not able to gain her hand in marriage, she must find a way to neutralize her.  Heptarian offers to take care if her, but he wouldn't be able to handle that if he couldn't get her to marry him.

Jason and the others reach the palace and eventually Hercules lowers, or rather drops Jason onto the correct floor.  As he stands over her with sword in hand, he's unable to kill her.  Anyway question I want to ask is why Circe could not kill her own sister and she had magic too.  Easy solution would have been to get Medusa to turn her into stone!  No one thought of that!  Problem solved, but then they'd have no plots for season 2!  Ha.  SO he stands over her and can't do the dreaded deed cos he's not really  a cold blooded killer.  Pasiphae wakens to find an intruder and screams.

Jason is wounded by an arrow as he escapes and ends up, as we all guessed, in Ariadne's room.  She's happy to receive him and shelter him as she helps bandage his wound.  Which was just another shameless moment for him to remove his shirt for the countless time.  Ariadne says she would kill her but wouldn't be able to and if she was in their place Pasiphae would not spare a thought about having them killed.  Jason shares her bed, but not in that way! Aridane was up all night counting the hairs on his chest, ha.  She lets him leave by a secret doorway known only to a chosen few and particularly the royal family.

Alas Ariadne doesn't have her head screwed on straight cos she didn't think of getting rid of the evidence, Jason's bloody rags!  No, 'I'll let the maid take care of those' and then she trusts that maid/servant!  She's really naive and hopeless too.  I have to say Ariadne comes across as rather wooden and boring!  Hercules could have got a new table out of her, ha!  Oh Hercules and Pythagoras made their getaway through the rubbish chute when the alarm was sounded, with Hercules landing on Pythagoras.  As well as Pythagoras being the one who was given the task of taking care of the bigger and taller guard.

Jason arrives and tells them he couldn't do it and Hercules it reminded it's his fault they're in that position to begin with.  Ep 1.6 The Song of the Sirens when Hercules wanted to win Medusa's heart and turned to Circe for help.  Jason renders them unconscious with the seaweed chloroform, or chlorophyll (ha, bad joke) and leaves to confront Circe.  She is expecting him, well looked that way and tells him he is truly blessed by the gods.  He fights her and she becomes three but doesn't notice the reflection she casts in the water.  Thus he stabs her and ends it all.  It was easy killing her but not so Pasiphae, was it cos she was scarred?  She throws a few bags onto the ground which are buried before she dies and they think it's all over.  But out pop some skeletons in a homage to the movie Jason and the Argonauts (1963) as they fight the bones.  Only to find the bones get back together and fight again.

Ariadne's servant betrays her to Pasiphae and she is arrested for treason, tried before Poseidon's court which has Pasiphae presiding over it.  She admits she helped the 'nameless' assassin and would do so again. Thus being sentenced to death.  Reminding me of Gwen in Merlin all over again.  Only she had more oomph when she was pleading against Uther for her life.  Jason returns home with food and wine and Hercules's pies to be given the news.  SO last ep will be about rescuing Ariadne.  Think it could be much better spent with a different plotline! Ha.

Blooper where Ariadne sits with Minos and holds his hand, she puts his arm by his side but in the next shot with Pasiphae she puts his arm over his chest and his right arm is already there.  When Ariadne leaves and Minos wakes, his right arm is by his side again.

Well Jason and Ariadne steal a kiss and he tells her this is the best night he's spent with her, (yawn.) Suppose one saving grace for many would have been Hercules's latrine jokes interspersed throughout, when he said Jason "should have got her on the latrine."  It's easier to kill someone on the loo!

The Vampire Diaries 5.8 "Dead Man on Campus" Review

                                                  
Now Bonnie's (Kat Graham) the anchor and all supernatural beings must pass through her to the other side it kind of interferes with her life, not to mention getting it on with Jeremy! (Steven R McQueen) SO imagine if someone walked in in the middle of it, like Jesse (Kendrick Sampson) almost did! As for her mentioning consequences suppose there's an even greater one for her, something along the lines of feeling all of their pain until probably it will get too much for her like Amara, which is why she wanted out.

Speaking of wanting out, seems Katherine resigns herself to that same fate too.  First she gets Matt (Zach Roerig) to give her drinks at the bar and then she offers to help him translate the Czech from Gregor that he taped.  Explaining he's been taken over by travellers.  She also drinks it up with Stefan (Paul Wesley) who was in no mood to attend Elena (Nina Dobrev) and Caroline's (Candace Accola) party as he's still suffering from nightmares about dying in the safe underwater (that sounds like an oxymoron).  To the point where he rips Damon's (Ian Somerhalder) favourite reading chair!  Yeah Damon and reading! Ha.  Elena and Caroline decide to throw a party for new roomie Bonnie and she makes a call to her mother saying she's back from Summer vacation.

Jesse escapes Dr Frankenstein, I mean Maxfield (hey didn't I mention Frankenstein as soon as he graced the scene in my reviews!)  Yeah get your own mad scientist!  Jesse calls Caroline for help and wants her to get here before his roomie does who happens to be Aaron (Shaun Sipos).  She arrives after he's already taken a bite out of him and stops him from killing and now he has to learn to be a vampire too, but not for very long. Elena brings blood supplies and Caroline wants Jesse to heal Aaron.

Katherine wants to help Stefan since she tells him he's destined to be with someone who looks like her and that could be anyone.  She calls Nadia (Olga Fonda) and Matt shows them the knife Gregor wanted kept hidden.  Katherine knows what to do with it  since they find out Gregor and the travellers need to kill Silas and then her, which she didn't know.  She stabs him with the knife as it's the only weapon capable of being used on the travellers and frees Matt from his spirit.  Nadia is angry she killed Gregor and Katherine tells her she deserves better.  Also revealing to Stefan that Nadia is her daughter.  Stefan making the biggest faux pas going when he asks which one of them is older, you don't ask a lady her age. What lady? Ha.

Katherine helps Stefan when he has a another nightmare moment and he chokes her, telling him to recall all the names of his kills beginning with the first one of Giuseppe Salvatore, then Thomas Veil and so on until he conquers the fear.  She tells him she could help and just did.  Nadia storms off apparently and Katherine leaves a suicide note for her which Stefan finds and saves her as she jumps from the clocktower.  She admits the cure had a side effect and she's ageing prematurely and he tells her, "you're Katherine Pierce, suck it up."

Damon intends on interrogating Maxfield (Rick Cosnett) and injects him with all sorts of diseases since the only thing that will save him is vampire blood, that was kind of an understatement.  He tells him about the experiments and that Jesse will feed on other vampires, that's what the experimenting was about, to stop them feeding on humans.  Jesse has the urge to feed on Caroline and then runs back to the lab where he encounters Damon, especially after he's cut his hand to heal Maxfield.  Damon would rather kill him but Elena calls him not to since he's Aaron's guardian and she tells Aaron about losing her parents too.

Damon and Jesse fight but Jesse's no match for him.  Elena turns up and stakes Jesse to the chagrin of Caroline, or more aptly dismay.  Caroline forever telling Elena that Damon's dangerous and that she shouldn't fear the outside world, but should fear the vampire she shares a bed with.  Damon finds a numbered blood bag and recalls his own number.  Damon was an Augustine vampire and he hasn't heard that name in a long time.  He turns his back and Maxfeild has the chance to escape and hits the atomized vervain panic button, knocking Damon out who ends up captive in the same cell again.  With his carved initials on the wall and 53.

Everyone's got their own angst this episode especially the Salvatore's, but just as Stefan seems to have conquered his fears for a while, Damon's nightmares are only just beginning.  Leaving us with questions of how he was an Augustine vampire, in which case he didn't really have the urge to feed on fellow vampires. Maybe he got out before then.  SO what's Katherine going to do make another play for Stefan.  Bonnie has to tell Jeremy what she really is, thinking that spending smoocho (my word) moments with him will make the pain go away.

Elena just relished being a vampire as she tells Jesse and with that she throws her humanity out the window, oh sorry am I not meant to refer to that word again?  As she so readily stakes Jesse as Caroline tells her the old old Elena would have helped him and given him a chance.  Oh dear is she implying that Damon's bad habits are rubbing off on her, since she just made a choice of killing instead of injuring.  It's true though, Elena just doesn't care anymore unless it's about Jeremy or Damon and though she may have had a caring moment with Aaron, it didn't really last long and that's probably cos he's in a similar predicament to her as far as having no one but Maxfield.  Though she wanted him spared, but not Jesse, her best friend's would be new guy.

Let's hope we get more of a Damon storyline without any interference from Elena, a long time since he's been the centre of the show!  But blast we won't get anymore eps until next year!  So Matt's storyline being forgotten for weeks is resolved so easily.

The Mentalist 6.8 "Red John" Review

                                               
Patrick (Simon Baker) was in the church and finally ends up in his attic again.  Lisbon (Robin Tunney) arrives for work to see the last of all the fixtures of the CBI being removed and Abbott (Rockmond Dunbar) asks where Patrick is, she doesn't know but he doesn't believe her.  The others hide out in the parking garage and Lisbon tells them the CBI is gone and they're on their own, she's no longer their boss.

Bertram (Michael Gaston) enters a store to call Patrick but is made by a policeman and Cordero (Joe Nieves) shoots him.  As he's on the phone, wonder if Patrick heard the gunshots.  Bertram is not RJ and Patrick new that from last ep, he just wanted Bertram out of the way, or get him on the run cos he knew he'd lead him to Red John eventually, so really Bertram was bait and boy was he bait!  Patrick buys someone's phone in the park and uses it to call Bertram, so how did he know the payphone number.

Patty and his "beady eyes" comment was a reference to RJ of course and that being McAllister (Xander Berkeley).  It was no coincidence that Patrick was sitting by the pigeons feeding them since that's what McAllister's phobia was, well at least he hated them.  So if you hadn't got the clue by now and figured out who Red John is then well I have no idea what you were watching, ha!

Bertram wants to talk to Patrick and sort things out telling him "the game is over...we could both use a little closure."  Which is exactly what they got.  Bertram is right when he says he could have killed him many times but since he's not RJ, he was probably ordered not to do that.  Question is why now, I mean why kill Patrick now, now that the game's afoot and the Association is no longer secret, RJ could have just got away and none, other than Patrick would be any the wiser as to his identity.  They will meet and Patrick suggests Alexandria cemetery.  He doesn't tell Lisbon where he's meeting him.  Patrick doesn't want the FBI to get him, "you knew this day is coming" and he doesn't want her involved in this anymore.  That's an understatement.  He needs her gun as a prop.  He was right about that cos he had planted one there already. "Theresa, trust me, please just trust me."  Sure, always, ha.  As he runs away.  Obviously the FBI turn up cos they bugged Lisbon's car.  Lots of running from Patty in this ep and doesn't he do it so well!

He's cornered whilst making his getaway and pleads with Abbott to let him go and he'll give himself up in one hour.  Think Patty could have rammed his way through the cars? Ha.  Lisbon shows up and promises to bring him in as do the others.  Apparently Patrick's pleading falls on deaf ears.  Cho (Tim Kang) being so bold tells Abbott to let Patrick go and they all pull guns one each other, with Abbott telling them they're no longer CBI.  Van Pelt (Amanda Righetti) asks how they know they're FBI and not part of the Blake Association, adds Rigsby (Owain Yeoman).  Abbott doesn't want anymore bloodshed so their guns are lowered and the CBI team are arrested.  Once again Lisbon tells hims he doesn't know where Patrick is headed but he doesn't care since he bugged her car.  Lisbon tells him it's their duty to Protect Patty cos they don't know he's not in danger.

Patrick heads to the cemetery and we're shown the graves of his wife and daughter but for the reason that they're finally going to get closure too, as well as Patrick and it was no coincidence that Patrick chose the cemetery to meet.  Patrick sees he's being followed and leaves the car outside a store to be stolen and runs. He stops a driver and hitches a lift.  Oh come on I know you don't give lifts to strangers but how could that woman resist picking up Patrick!!

Cordero searches Patrick and takes the gun from him. yep that was the prop angle.  Bertram talks and tells him he's not Red John.  He's higher up and he's just lower down in the Association.  Of course Patty knew that cos he looks around the church as if he's expecting someone else to be there, which of course he is.  The others sit in the SUV under arrest and the FBI agent tells Abbott that Patrick wasn't in the car as Lisbon and Van Pelt laugh.  Rigsby tells him, "Sir we really don't know," his whereabouts  As Cho berates him for calling him 'sir.'  Rigsby calls Cho 'Dillinger' and tells him they're under arrest so he should calm down.  Cho asks why, they'll get a better cell.

Cue Red John, it had to be McAllister so no drum rolls there!! As Patty says "I'm disappointed" well so am I!  For reasons below.  Bertram tells him that's the last lie he'll tell him, of course Patrick knew that, which is why he asks him to say it twice.   Bertram thinks Cordero will kill Patrick now but he turns his gun on Bertram which was obvious was coming.  Bertram's not happy but the Association doesn't like loose ends. Patrick pleading for his life was priceless cos once more he's in trouble and all alone!  Bertram's last words: "hey."

As always Patty's always on the ball.  As for the bombs, Patrick tells him they were two, one a concussion bomb to stun them in which case he removed Smith, Bertram and Patrick from the room and then exploded the second bomb, killing Haffner and Stiles.  He then got Partridge to plant his DNA on another DB and left it there to ensure they would think he died.  Not very clever RJ! Of course Partridge was a minion since he was such a weasel, it was apparent he was so contemptuous of Patrick for those reasons.  But I did mention that in my last review about Partridge or any other tech being able to manipulate evidence and DNA.  McAllister is the Blake Association and intended for Bertram and Patty to die together, with Bertram being taken for RJ.

Patrick is meant to die after all these years, McAllister disguises his voice again, and Patrick tells him it's not a game. he's an "evil sexually perverted sociopath with delusions of grandeur," he owns that as McAllister says, but not the delusions part.  He built a secret empire and controlled lives of thousands of people, that's grandeur.  Patrick: "The ravings of a squalid ego maniac."  His family is dead cos he's arrogant and disrespectful.  Patrick is nobody.  McAllister: "You can't imagine anyone smarter than you, which is why I've been ahead of you."  I want to know how he knew the names on the list.  Patrick doesn't know since it was a good trick.  SO was Patty's trick with the breadcrumbs and the pigeon and RJ actually loses his composure. How did Cordero not find that? Ha. Magic.

Patrick shoots him and somehow you'd think he'd get some satisfaction but it's not over yet.  As Red John pleads for his life, how can he be so small and insignificant since he is such a psychopathic killer.  Not so brave in the end for someone who was one step ahead.  Er, think he needed to rethink those words of his. A woman tries to distract Patrick so he can make his escape. Patrick: "It's theatre like the bomb...whatever the truth looked like, the opposite had to be true."  He's savouring the moment and not hesitating.  "You're Red John."  SO the chase ensues and ends by the lake.

Patrick gets hold of his neck as he straddles him and asks him if he regrets killing his family, mentioning them by name, he blinks twice for yes.  He's afraid to die.  Patrick squeezes the life out of him as we hear gurgling sounds from him and the evil life leaving his body and leaves the gun in his left hand.  Patrick kicking him over like the dog that he is.  He calls Lisbon leaving a message to say he's done it, it's over  - "I want you to know I'm okay, I'm gonna miss you" as he runs.  Yeah slow motion running, such a great scene! Ha.  I know so shallow after what happened in the ep I talk about Patty's running! Ha.  I will play that scene several times over!

Funny moments Van Pelt and Rigsby fighting, she can break the window with her head and they can all jump out.  Rigsby knowing that there's no use getting angry or fighting.  Abbott using a paper map to find where Patrick would have met Bertram and it's something Patrick would do.

So reasons to be disappointed like Patty: McAllister was far from charming or charismatic and yet he heads this entire organization and kept everyone under his thumb with fear and obedience.  Then McAllister with women, as Patrick calls him "sexually perverted" exactly, I mean Lorelei and him were together.  Rosalind Harker, the blind woman also fell for him and all that piano playing for him, his drinking tea in a cup like Patrick all went through the window with the final reveal!  McAllister was only in the second episode of season 1 Red Hair and Silver Tape, where they played paper, rock, scissors in their first meeting, so he was the sociopath.  Naturally I got he was RJ after the pigeon incident but yeah majorly disappointed.  It was anticlimactic.  Now Red John is gone people have been asking how long the show can continue without that big evil hanging on.  But I didn't watch the show for Red John that was just something which was a premise of the show.

Red John wasn't decided by Bruno Heller, creator, until a few years ago, so everything about him which featured in the show, was kind of playing up to and was written without a definite suspect in mind.  In Which case he should have just made it Kristina Frye and have done with it.  I have to say Bret Stiles and Haffner had more going for them than McAllister.  Who at the end of the day was a boring RJ! Or even Patrick himself as the dastardly killer would have contained more 'humph' to a dull story.  Or perhaps even ending it when Patrick killed the so-called RJ at the end of season 3.  Even Simon Baker said, "I was eventually satisfied with the way I killed Him" and nothing more about RJ's identity.

But Simon played choking RJ to the hilt and this was more important, that after ten years he finally had his revenge, using a much more hands on approach than a gun, which would have been too easy as he was afraid to die and he did what he set out to do with no one around and exactly what he told Lisbon.  That he would kill him.  But she can't arrest him cos she's under arrest herself, even though she did say that RJ eventually deserves everything he gets and deserves to die.  So that was one dilemma solved.

Patty running at the end was to gather his thoughts, to be free of this non-entity that haunted him for so long. It wasn't to escape the FBI, he said he'd turn himself in and he is a man of his word but eh didn't owe Abbott anything since he wasn't the one who let him leave.   He was running after not having to think about being hounded by Red John anymore, his wait was over and vengeance was his.

As for Red Tape and Silver Hair, I suppose playing rock, paper scissors looking back on it was effective since Patrick won him each time and he got frustrated.   If RJ's identity had been decided back then it would have made for an appropriate episode and title.  As well as McAllister acting suspiciously and being a suspect in the investigation. Not to mention the suspects actually being serial killer couple.  Well serial killer would have been appropriate under the circumstances.  Wonder if McAllister would have planned to meet with Patrick and had a part in those murders taking place here and that couple being his acolytes.

Some foreshadowing here as Patrick used Van pelt as bait in this episode he used Bertram as bait to lure red John out cos he just couldn't resist showing his hand.  I also draw your attention to the conversation between Patty, Lisbon and McAllister,
McAllister: "Who is this guy?"
Lisbon: "He's a consultant.  You want CBI assistance he comes as part of the package."  Patty's a package, ha.
McAllister: "Consultant, what are you clairvoyant or some gizmo?  You got psychic powers?"
Patrick: "No, no powers, I mean I had them once, I mean I pretended I had them obviously."
Again this was leading up to season 6, if only RJ was really RJ here and them thinking RJ was psychic and that's how he found out the list of suspects, but I have no idea why this question wasn't answered here and Patrick told him he doesn't care how he knew, er did the writers know.
Patrick later says, "no such thing as psychic powers."

Patrick also tells Frankie, he caused his daughter's death, "Out of arrogance... stupidity. I made an evil man very angry and he killed them to teach me a lesson. To make me sorry for what I've done... and I am sorry. Being sorry is far worse punishment than being dead, everybody dies... very few people ever feel truly sorry for the bad things they've done."
This speech was so relevant here when he finally gets RJ and kills him. He gets RJ to admit he regrets killing his family and yes everybody dies.  I wonder if this episode was alluded to when 6.8 Red John was written? There are so many relevant quotes in it.  Subtle little nuances which really kind of make you understand why McAllister was chosen as Red John.

Oh and a word about Patty's suit, he wore something similar in the second ep of season 1 when he met  McAllister and maybe I'm wrong but it looked like he wore similar clothes here, white shirt 'n'all.

So we have to wait to next year for the aftermath and what happens next, though it's been easy finding out beforehand, but I really wish Channel Five had shown this in sync with the US episodes so we would have got 10 at least or the usual 9 but this year we only got 8. Huh! Big sulk.

Atlantis 1.11 "Hunger Pangs" Review

                                           
This episode was seen as more of a break from some of the more serious episodes during the past weeks, when Hercules (Mark Addy) was about to give his life in sacrifice to save his beloved Medusa (Jemima Roper) and for the two part season finale to come. I wasn't actually going to write a review for this but have been persuaded, okay a little arm twisting on the part of friends!  But funny it should be this episode!  I'm saying nothing more!

Seems that hunger has caught up with Jason (Jack Donnelly) once again as he tries to buy some bread but the seller's owed money by Hercules who hasn't paid him for three weeks, so what's new? Ha.  There's some leftover bread to feed the pigs so Jason steals it and is chased by the seller, so who's minding the stall now?  Anyone could have stolen the rest of his loaves.  The bread ends up in the fountain and falls to pieces as Jason discovers a prime cut of meat in a hut which looked suspiciously like a temple/shrine.

Meanwhile Hercules is drowning his sorrows in the tavern as he drinks himself silly to forget not having Medusa, so how does he pay for that then?  Pythagoras (Robert Emms) tells him they'll find a cure for her, not likely.  Jason returns home and finds his friends aren't there but he can't resist the meat so he cooks it and devours it entirely; having to hide the evidence when Pythagoras returns without Hercules cos he refuses to take him home.  He can smell cooked meat but Jason throws the plate out when Hercules arrives home. Hey at least it hit someone down in the street below.

Jason leaves the house at night and wakes up with the chickens, which is where the laughs come in and Jason of course in the buff! Using only a chicken for coverage, as he hopes you "don't peck me there."  Funny the wolf he turned into didn't eat all the chickens.  Poor woman who set eyes upon him in the market, but coincidentally, or not, she had to be old! Ha.  Jason arrives home in the buff still and (and by next ep he'll get his clothes back, which he stole to begin with when he arrives in Atlantis)  is stared at by Hercules who covers Pythagoras's eyes but he manages to look too!  Really.

He doesn't know what happened to him and Pythagoras gets it out of him though when he tells him he ate the meat.  Pythagoras's search of the place leads him to deduce it's the shrine dedicated to Hecate, the Goddess of witchcraft.  He also searches for a cure for him as he escapes again that night and attacks a goat.  This is reported to Heptarian (Oliver Walker) at the palace but they find it hard to believe that such a creature could be on the loose.  Also at the place just to show us King Minos (Alexander Siddig) is getting worse and is still being poisoned by Pasiphae (Sarah Parish).

Pythagoras is at the library and looks through the scrolls and finally finds a cure.  As Hercules shoves Jason into the secret hole without any clothes of course!  They need silver but don't have any, except for Ariadne (Aiysha Hart) who does. Hercules gives her a note and she gathers silver for them.  But they can't meet her at the temple cos the man who hired them to clear his stockroom of rats takes them prisoner until they complete the task.  Allowing Hercules to eat all the food there.  They miss their meeting with Ariadne and it's hard to believe she passes them on the street without seeing them.  Not very alert or aware for someone who's sneaked out alone.  Heading to their home she finds Jason in the buff, cos you know you really open the door without clothes on!  He doesn't let her in since it's nearly dusk and begins to change.  Yes it's the scene from Carry on Screaming -almost!  Funny it's the hairs that grow first on his hands.

Hercules and Pythagoras arrive back and hustle Jason in the other room where he makes noises, he's afraid of the dark, Hercules tells her, yeah like he hasn't been out in the dark before to see her.  Jason escapes and Pythagoras melts the silver which he must drink, surprised that silver didn't solidify back when they left it there overnight.  Chasing after Jason who is also pursued by Heptarian as they find he attacked some guards. Probably his search would have doubly intensified had he known who he was in search for.  They manage to lock him in a room and take him home the next day where he's given the cure.  He hopes he didn't say anything to Ariadne and the others make growling noises mimicking him.

Next episode Jason has to recall his promise to kill Pasiphae, as I said, they forgot that storyline.  Also hasn't anyone missed Jason back home?  A fun episode like I said to lead into the darker events of the last two eps.  Don't know about you but Ariadne seems like a loose end and half the time really doesn't have a clue what she's doing and comes across a bit dense.  Can she really trust her new servant?
Pythagoras gets to think of inventing a device to tell the time and comes up with a pendulum, spending the entire night thinking whilst keeping an eye on Jason.  But he didn't attack his friends when he turned the first night he was back and left the place to hunt when he had food right there.  Seems he only hunted animals!

Heptarian's scenes were rather uneventful as he didn't even get to catch the beast in all his false modesty. Oh and before anyone asks Jack wasn't entirely naked as he said he had a double sided tape and a piece of material to conceal his modesty!

The Vampire Diaries 5.7 "Death and the Maiden" Review

                                               
As if things couldn't get any worse, or much worse, Silas decides he wants to take back the scenic route to Mystic Falls which involves telling his thousands year old sob story to a couple at the bus stop who think he's seriously loopy, well he is.  He kills the man cos he's a witch and likes to make people suffer.  Bonnie (Kat Graham) doesn't think there's any hope for her and so tells Jeremy (Steven R McQueen) this but he has three things he wants to tell her.  The usual about thanking her for bringing him back, how he loves her but she doesn't want to know everything so she can have something to look forward to.

Damon (Ian Somerhalder) and Stefan (Paul Wesley) watch Amara who they consider to be crazy as she looks to be talking to herself, but also wants to embrace death and no longer be the anchor.  Elena (Nina Dobrev) is still ruing over not being there for Stefan and he's having dreams about Silas meeting him, "hello my shadow self" repeatedly, enough to drive anyone crazy.  So Damon gets the idea that if Amara wants to off herself and Silas wants her dead too, then she should bring back Bonnie by doing so.  He tells Tessa (Janina Gavankar) about this, who was expecting Chinese and she's willing if she can get her revenge on Silas.  He asks what   she needs and since there aren't any comets or full moons floating around Damon tells her he's got plenty of doppelgangers she can use if she needs blood.

Nadia (Olga Fonda) comes to see Katherine cos she wants them to be together and do some mother/daughter bonding they missed out on over the past centuries or so but she doesn't want any part of it. Especially after she finds out from Maxfield (Rick Cosnett) that she's ageing and there's not much she can do about it.  Caroline (Candace Accola) drags her away to give blood.  Bonnie's Grimoire is used to spill their blood over and the spell appears to be working, look it's the Charmed symbol appearing on the page, ha. Until Silas shows up and scuppers the spell.  The lights go off and Stefan makes off with Amara so he can kill Silas and get his revenge, something he needs to do.  It's also a lure to get Silas away from the house.  But Silas has his own plans and after a bout of throwing things he stabs Tessa with the poker.

Amara wants to die cos she can't look at him and he takes out his knife and grazes her neck.  But Stefan stabs him when they fight as he goes for Silas's knife and Amara stabs herself.  Agh, vicious stabbing circles going on here.  Damon tries to save Amara as Tessa tries to complete the spell and she dies.  Bonnie wants to say goodbye to Jeremy but he touches her and the spell worked.  Yawn.  Er, Katherine wants Tessa to keep her promise of helping her stop ageing and she tells her to use cream.  Tessa's killed herself by cutting her wrists so she can be together with Silas, so much for not wanting him.

Stefan buries Silas and Elena wants him to be happy now since she had it all, a magical Summer of love and she got Bonnie back too, but she couldn't get him back.  All the while he was suffering in his safe and Stefan tells her he wanted Elena to rescue him, Elena and Damon.  Stefan later has a spot of pain.  Oh great Silas! Before Tessa leaves and passes through Bonnie to the other side she tells how she's the anchor now and every dead supernatural creature will go through her to the other side and she'll feel pain and lots of it.  Cue Bonnie feeling pain!  No wonder Amara waned to die rather than go through all that.

Perhaps the highlight of the ep was Stefan getting his memories back and how the ones he loved couldn't bring him back, nah, they weren't even looking for him.  Reminding me of season 8 episodes of Supernatural when Dean (Jensen Ackles) finds out Sammy (Jared Padalecki) was off living his own life and having 'fun' (Dean's definition) with some random vet he met and he wasn't even trying to get him out of Purgatory, or even helping people and continuing on with the family business.  Shock to the system when your own blood doesn't feel they need to help!

Hope the doppelganger/Silas/Amara/Tessa story is over now, but something tells me we haven't seen the last of them!

The Mentalist 6.7 "The Great Red Dragon" Review

                                           
Lisbon (Robin Tunney) enters the house and comes across someone's severed foot.  She then finds Reede Smith (Drew Powell) and thinks he's Red John as she sees the three dot tattoo on his shoulder and pulls her gun on him.  Bertram (Michael Gaston) runs out since he's making his getaway.  Reede fires at Lisbon and she shoots him back.  She then finds Patrick (Simon Baker) passed out.  In the hospital, Lisbon waits for Patrick to wake and Cho (Tim Kang) also arrives.  Bertram hears them talking about Smith being RJ, since DNA was found belonging to Haffner, Stiles and McAllister.  Bertram finds a scalpel and tries to get Lisbon out of the room so he can kill Patrick, but he wakes up.  He tells her that Bertram also has a tattoo.  Patrick wants his clothes and leaves.

Rigsby (Owain Yeoman) talks about the bomb and gives the other agents a lead to look into as he and Van Pelt (Amanda Righetti) head for a doctor's office as he was once associated with Smith in an investigation, a doctor Alex Lavrov (Arthur Darbainyan).  A policeman, Wiehagen (Peter Douglas) already arrives at the office and hears Smith screaming inside as the bullet is removed from him.  Cordero (Joe Nieves) also arrives and tells him to tale care of Smith round the back, after exchanging their "Tyger, tyger" code.  Rigsby and Van Pelt arrive and he tells Van Pelt that Cordero was the officer who looked into the Kirkland killing.  He doesn't want them helping but Patrick calls Rigsby and tells him not to trust any officer.  They head round back and find the policeman about to shoot Smith, he took his time.  There's a shoot out and Smith and Cordero escape.

Cho interviews Wieghagen) but he's not talking.  Patrick takes over since he's got a lousy poker face and asks him questions about the conspiracy and if Smith or Bertram is Red John.  He gives away a lot but he doesn't know about RJ.  Patrick tells Lisbon he needs to see them both face to face to work out which one is Red John.

Van Pelt can't get a lead on Smith's GPS and hates they can't trust anyone.  Smith calls them and asks for help, surrendering to them.  Bertram enters his safety storage facility and takes money and three passports. Cordero tells him about Smith being found by their association and Bertram orders him to take care of it this time, giving him a CBI badge.  Smith takes his time getting into the boot of the car and Cho arrives taking Smith in.

He tells them about police, judges, all being involved in the conspiracy, anyone who's got a secret to hide is part of it.  They covered up his drug addiction. He wants immunity but Lisbon only offers him a Federal prison cell.  Patrick asks him if he killed his wife and daughter but he tells him he didn't.  Also adding Kirkland knew of the conspiracy that's why he shot him.

Patrick gives a brief press conference identifying Bertram as Red John after ten years of hunting him down.  A bartender (Terry James) tells Bertram he's on the news and Bertram murders him with a bottle.  Should have kept quiet about it.  This again was to throw us off the scent as we get to see the extent of the conspiracy and how far Bertram will go to cover it up and escape, as well as his ruthlessness.  So he's in the wind. Until Rigsby finds there's an aunt's house near the bar where he killed the bartender and SWAT arrives.  Patrick realizes he called them all to get away in the confusion, in a scene straight out of Supernatural season 2.12 episode Nightshifter, where they escaped dressed as SAWT officers.  Can't believe Patty missed him leave and the car drive away, shouldn't he have bee standing in the street where he could see the traffic.  Bertram's hungry.

At the CBI FBI special agent Dennis Abbott (Rockmond Dunbar) arrives with a writ and taking over the investigation.  All agents are relieved of their duty and Patrick's couch is also removed.  The FBI want to interview Patrick later and tells him the search for Red John is now theirs as a man drops his teacup on the floor.  That was Patrick's fave cup and he leaves.  Does that signify new beginnings for him and finally catching up with RJ.  He tells Lisbon to go home and he's not pursuing it anymore, he's "leaving it behind." She doesn't believe him cos he's not really doing that.  After 10 years and coming so close, he won't give it up.  Suppose Patty's attic is gone too, for now!

They can't leave it like that obviously but as said it's not Bertram as he's in far deeper corruption than that and he was the one who mentioned Tyer, tyger as well.  Also it's a little amazing Lisbon didn't know why Smith called it the 'Blake' organization since she knows where the words come from.  Which means one of the other three suspects isn't dead.  But since RJ is part of the conspiracy and we get flashbacks to Rebecca who killed three agents including Bosco and RJ got Smith to poison her, all through a phonecall, which means RJ is part of the conspiracy.  This means it must be McAllister (unless partridge faked his own death) and Patty was on the right track with his list of suspects.  Haffener didn't have a tat and Stiles didn't pull his sleeve all the way up but it's unlikely to be him.

Patrick is probably aware of this which is why he wants to go after him alone saying he is moving on.  He needs to kill RJ once and for all and lay his ghosts to rest!  Not to mention Van Pelt tells them Patrick could decipher the code they found on a flashdrive disguised as a  lighter.  Which will probably reveal the names of everyone on the list.  As for Partridge and Patrick wondering if he had the tattoo or not since he said, "tyger, tyger," they deduce he was asking for help from Lisbon since he didn't know if she was part of their organization or not.  Cho photographs Partridge's arm and finds the tattoo has been burned off.  Thus showing anyone and everyone is involved, including forensic techs etc, as lower level people in the organization.

As well as Lisbon and Cho's conversation at the hospital, Cho:" They found the remains of three people. Positive IDs for Bret Stiles, Ray Haffner and Thomas McAllister."
Lisbon: "Are you sure?  I would think Bret Stiles would survive a nuclear attack" and for all we know he could have done just that.  OR it was a bit of foreshadowing to ensure we know one of them isn't really dead, cementing that doubt in our minds.

The Paradise Series 2 Episode 8 Review

                                              
Clemence (Branka Katic) returns to the Paradise as Sam (Stephen Wight) is selling some material to a customer.  She talks about the colour and how scarlet is the rage in Paris, as she sports a dress of her own in the bright colour.  She bets the lady a game of dice, Hazard, if she wins the number Sam calls out then she must take the red material, if she loses, then she will take her own choice of blue.  Sam picks the number 7 and Clemence loses but the lady takes both colours and the dice, which are not yet on sale here, but the Paradise is the only place where they will be available.  She talks to Moray (Emun Elliott) about stocking them.

A man comes into the store and has a fainting fit, he is helped by Sam and adds this "is Paradise, the Paradise."  Clemence brings a special gift for the ladies department which she shows only to them, rouge, which is extremely decadent of course and painted faces aren't seen on respectable women, even if it is the talk of Paris.  She wants Denise (Joanna Vanderham) to sell it.  Denise comes up with an idea of a boudoir, where on the dressing table, a string of  ladies necklace has been discarded carelessly along with a man's cufflinks, a dance card, a fan and a touch of blush on the cheeks can be applied.  Susy (Katie Moore) needs to get a glass of cold water and Clara (Sonya Cassidy) adds she needs a cold shower more like it.

At breakfast Weston (Ben Daniels) talks of a visitor who came to their house in error and he sent him in the right direction.  He is in a good mood as Flora (Edie Whitehead) tells him perhaps for this reason and the fact he knows he's still tormenting Katherine (Elaine Cassidy).  Later by the river, Katherine stares into the river and appears to want to throw herself in.  Jonas (David Hayman) appears and warns her to be careful, infact stopping her from jumping in.  He has passed that river several times he tells her when he was in a turbulent and troubled way.  He also says he has failed and has messed things up when he was trying to help. Referring of course to Moray and the Paradise.  Katherine tells him he's her salvation and he saved her so they have that in common.  Jonas probably harbours guilty feelings and knows the extent to which Weston is inflicting his torment on her, for which he was also responsible.

Sam realizes the man has died and they find he has several tattoos, he is a sailor and has a large sum of money in his pocket but no identification.  Dudley (Matthew McNulty) doesn't feel it right he should go to a pauper's grave when he has money and Moray wants him buried properly.  Weston arrives as Dudley tells him what is happening and Clemence may be able to help with his identity.  However she claims she doesn't know him, obviously she was lying and Weston knows this.  As he too has a secret up his sleeve.  It was obvious he knew who the man was and why he was here since he came to see him at the house, which is hwy he is so jovial and why he turned up to Moray's office.  He also wants them to find somewhere to put it since Moray cannot work with a dead man in "his office."  Wonder why he used the word, 'his' since it was frequented by all and sundry throughout the series and didn't really belong to him as he was not the owner.

Referring to the sailor's tattoo, a nice joke from Moray later to link this to him as Weston suggests he should advertize his success, Moray adds he was thinking of a tattoo.

Clemence plans a lady's night out with the four of them including Myrtle (Lisa Millett) who has a new bustier she can wear.  Sam: "God help us all."  Denise tries to sell the rouge to a customer, placing it gently onto her cheeks but she fears her husband wouldn't approve.  She sits in front of the mirror and talks to herself, of how it's not "rash" but "sweet and gentle..." how soft the feathers are to apply it.  Moray listens to her.   They must find a place to put him and Dudley thinks of Denise's uncle's shop, so Moray must ask her.  Which he does, Dudley forever trying to get the two back together.  She agrees and gets the key for him but he doesn't come into her room.  That which was Miss Audrey's room, he tells her it's too painful to be close to her and have to walk away.

Katherine feels faint and Flora tells her she has the grown up sickness which she had a few weeks ago, she realizes she is pregnant.  So she had to look up the dates in her diary did she, ha.  On their evening out, Weston has a word with Clemence and tells her he knows who the man was, he came to his house and he bought Clemence's debts from him.   Thus in order for her to stay out of prison she must become his mistress.  So she has to miss their night out.  There goes Myrtle's new bustier which Clemence notices she was wearing anyway.  As Myrtle tells Sam how only a woman would notice such things in another woman.

Denise puts some rouge onto Myrtle's hand and she smells the Otto of roses.  She can suss the ingredients in anything as she knows how to make creams.  Denise asks her if she knows how and they set about making their own cream by trial and error and Denise adds the rouge to give it a slight tint of pink.  Weston tells Katherine he will be dining out and has found someone else to offer him comfort, as she did with Moray.  

Clemence gets drunk and is taken back to the Paradise by Denise and Clara, as Jonas watches them in the pub.  Denise has to talk with Weston and make him see what he is doing is wrong.  Jonas wants to come with her but she must go alone and he tells her about the Indian mutiny and how Weston has sword cuts on his back, he was a coward and was the only survivor.  He urges her to take a gun but she refuses.  Yeah imagine Denise with a gun, after last ep's slap, now a gun, don't think so, she's not really the violent type. Weston ignores Denise and her words of how he will  be hurting her and it's not right to do this.  She brings up his wounds and he is angry she knows after he has another turn in front of Denise this time.  Is nothing sacred.  So he wanted Clemence to be his mistress, so how would he explain his scars to her.  Denisse runs away as he won't budge, Jonas comes out of the shadows and Weston realizes he told Denise and is not his friend.  Jonas again repeating he "works for the Paradise."  Weston casts him aside with his stick and continues with his blackmail of Clemence.

Denise and Clara wake her up and give her a ticket to America and some of their own money, which she refuses to accept.  Moray finds them and is told of what is happening.  Weston refuses to give him time to buy Clemence's debt since Moray realizes Clemence isn't a "possession or your property" but her own person.  Finally the penny drops as to what Denise was saying to him.  He bets Weston in a game of dice that if he wins he will get her debt and if he loses he will leave the store and the country forever, which is what Weston wants him to do all along.  Highest number wins and Weston throws a ten, Moray throws eleven and wins, knew he was going to do that.  Weston isn't content with that but wants Moray gone and he bets him the Paradise, department by department.  Moray wins again for a second time.

Katherine wakes up Flora and she had a dream that Katherine would leave her.  She takes her to the store since Flora makes her brave and Denise hears the carriage and takes her to Weston.  By this time, he's won half the store and Katherine tells him she no longer has the dream of wanting Moray anymore.  She no longer feels for him and she wants them to start again.  As they once did, when she would send the servants away and comfort him.  He replies, "that dream is dead" also.  But she wants them to have a new dream, one with Flora and the child that is to come.   Denise shows Flora the shop at night and Flora says she would walk around it at night if she lived here, which is what Denise tells her she did.  They leave together.  actually Flora has been at the store at night when they had that music hall entertainment, though she wasn't alone.

Moray wants Denise to have the store, he gives it to her but he won't be a part of her life like she wants.  He realizes she's not his possession, but "my equal" and only when she is like him and has what he had will she be happy, otherwise he can't bear to see the light fading from her eyes if she stays here.  It was what Dudley told him when he said Moray had nothing when he got here and that's exactly what he's got now.  Denise has the idea to sell the cream and she sends Arthur (Finn Burridge) with a letter and he must return with a rely.

Denise walks through the entire store looking for Moray as she passes everyone in the store and finds him outside the front door.  She tells him Ballantyne has agreed to be her backer in selling the cream which she will sell in her uncle's store as a Beauty Emporium and she will be right here.  Then she will come to him and ask him to marry her and will he accept her.  He says yes and at this point people would say, "get a room," as the kiss outside.

So the Paradise ends on a high after the excitement in this the last episode.   Clemence bringing back the usual mystery and decadence to the store, just as she did in the opening episode of series 2.  Bringing out the villain in Weston once again.  He didn't get her last time, nor did he get Clara either last episode, but she feels sorry for him for what he's been through, as she warns Denise, but yet again he thinks he can gain a mistress even if only for a night, but he wants her again.  Clara knowing what it's like to be lonely and doing anything for a moment of comfort.

Denise can now become her own business woman, she must thank Clemence for the encouragement but of course Clemence was in debt so this should serve as a warning for Denise.   Funny no one wanted to buy her uncle's shop it was just sitting there for the taking by Denise.  Moray was acting quite the put upon 'woman' in this episode, everytime he rested his head against the wall, in earnest and in pain! Ha. As only a woman knows how.

Moray finally got his ambition and his winning streak back and it was no mean feat winning back half the store since he wanted it all and as Dudley told him, he had nothing when he came here and wanted to build it up.  No news yet at the time of writing as to whether there will be a third series, but it would be good to see how Denise fares and whether Moray will be a man of his word and be able to live with Denise's success, especially since she will be competing with him for profits.  Also want to see how Katherine deals with Weston since she was the one who reigned him back in and eventually stood by him when he lost half the store (though technically it was her store were it not for society's rules giving her wealth to her husband.) Wonder if she's really over Moray or if she only said that for the sake of Flora and the baby, though she was convincing.  Will Weston really be so accommodating and stick by Katherine faithfully since he still harbours ill feelings towards Moray and suffering humiliation at his hands, only being made worse by Moray winning him and also by Jonas's betrayal. Weston really doesn't have any friends at all.

 What of Clara and will she become head of ladies wear this time round as she proved herself to be a loyal friend to Denise even if she was in competition with her for the position.  Denise telling her to "take charge" when she went to Moray, was that some foreshadowing.  Will Clemence still be around or will she make her way to America, after all she did have a ticket.  Oh and we do want to see Dudley's wife too!

The Vampire Diaries 5.6 "Handle With Care" Review

                                               
Katherine awakens and goes on a food binge! But her hair's turning white, everyone keeps complimenting her on her hair do.  Damon (Ian Somerhalder) knows they'll be interrupted any moment and counts down until Silas appears and now he's a witch, he agrees to help them with Bonnie (Kat Graham) if Damon offers to find the anchor with him.  Not so much as offers, as he's got no choice in the matter.

Now we've seen it all, the so-called anchor everyone's looking for is actually a who, not a what.  It's Amara, huh, now we get another version of Elena/Katherine, as if the doppelganger wasn't enough, we get a triple-ganger, or whatever they're called! Ha.   Seems this show is going all out for the sell on Angel/Buffy storylines and other objects, such as  the key in Buffy was Dawn.  SO at the end of the day what exactly is going on here as we get more twisty turns than Damon can find witchy words to describe, er witches!

Katherine walks into the Whitmore party, right first a ball, now a party, so when exactly do they get to study and work.  She claims to have forgotten her invite and is allowed in with everyone thinking she's Elena.  Then she makes a beeline straight for the buffet and doesn't recognize Aaron (Shaun Sipos) cos she didn't meet him.  After scoffing herself and stuffing her bag too (look free food!) her tooth drops out.  Eeww, that'd be a turn off, to think she could have sued!  She doesn't know what's happening and thinks she could be dying. Well she isn't the cure anymore after Silas's feeding fest and talks Maxfield (Rick Cosnett) well more like blackmails him into helping her with her tooth decay problem.

But before all that, Caroline (Candace Accola) holds Maxfield hostage and they remove the vervain from his blood from a drip as she questions him after compelling him on his plans and the Secret Society which is called Augustine.  She asks about forging her roommate's death certificate (wonder if Aaron knows what his guardian is up to, probably not) and is shocked to lean there's an Augustine vampire.  Oh man what is this Frankenstein's monster, I know I've said it before!

Silas turns up now mortal and wants to find the anchor so he can destroy the other side, thought he didn't want to do that.  Lost the plot anyone?  Just joking.  Stefan's funny line of needing to be drunk to understand the story, sums up the plot of this episode and season really.  Ha.  He's willing to do this so Bonnie can be brought back, but she's still against it even if Jeremy (Steven R McQueen) still wants her here.  SO Jeremy and Damon head to New jersey with him as he cracks a silly knock knock joke about who is the mayor, no one cos he killed him, lame or what? Stefan also reminding Damon how the universe keeps creating doppelgangers of Stefan (Paul Wesley) and Elena (Nina Dobrev) cos Silas and Amara were meant to be together.

Elena thus traipses off to find Stefan who happens to be holed up, help up at Quetsiyah/Tessa's (Janina Gavankar) cabin.  The three become trapped there courtesy of Silas's meddling magic and Tessa finds time to explore culinary pursuits, such as pineapple being added to pizza, does she even know what pizza is/was. Stefan offers to cook for her cos secretly he wants to find a way to save Elena since she's going to be supper by sunset and even if he can't remember he still has to save her.  Again even if they didn't come to his rescue. So he stabs her and they make a run for it.  Heading to chez Salvatore, Stefan finds Tessa already there. She doesn't want to be healed but wants him to recall everything he did in his lifetime.  Killing their father, turning Damon into a vampire, his bloodlust.  Elena turning up cos Tessa tells her she and Stefan are sleeping together, which Tessa tells Damon shows her jealousy.  It is obvious she still has feelings for Stefan, she must, prophecy aside.

Tessa wanting Damon to kill Silas before he can destroy the other side.  The question then arises of whose life is more important, Elena's or Bonnie's and naturally Jeremy opts for Elena, she's his sister and Bonnie is already dead which she keeps telling him.

Meanwhile at the warehouse, Damon encounters some Travellers who try and get the better of him, but this is Damon and he's dealt with witches before, but these Travellers are no match for him as he pulls the heart of one and stabs another.  Silas brings Amara back to life and she feeds off him, then stumbles around, bumping into Damon.  He takes her back to Chez Salvatore also and Elena is surprised at seeing another version of herself.  Yawn.

Katherine and Caroline teaming up was new and at least they got something done, unlike Elena.  So no more Stefan doppelganger and somehow killing Silas seemed too easy after the big bad he was last season.  SO is he on the other side now where Bonnie can get to him?  Had to ask.  Yet throughout all this Matt disappears and no one is bothered with what was happening to him and what happened to Nadia as well?
Damon referring to Jeremy as Pocahontas with his crossbow!