Doctor Who 8.2 "Into the Dalek" Review

                                                  
As a spaceship hurtles through asteroids, chased by a larger ship, which is finally blown up.  The pilot says sorry to her brother next to her.  Then finds herself face to face with the Doctor (Peter Capaldi).  He rescued her and he wants to be thanked by her, but she's not happy since he couldn't do the same for her brother and he replies well, she's alive. She asks him to take her back to her ship, Aristotle.  Meanwhile, Clara (Jenna Coleman) has a productive day of her own at school.  She meets new teacher, Danny Pink (Samuel Anderson) who was a soldier.  He's asked questions by one boy in class, if he's shot anyone.  He replies, he's one soldier who's shot other soldiers.  The boy then asks if he's killed anyone who wasn't a soldier and he sheds a tear.  Clara meets him and practically invites him out for a drink.

The Doctor carries coffee around and turns up to get Clara.  He left her and they were meant to have coffee in Glasgow three weeks ago.  He needs her help, cos apparently he's a Doctor, mistaken for a medical one and he must help the Dalek that they found in space.  They're to be miniaturized and put inside of the Dalek so he can find the source of the problem and help it.  The Doctor saying being made smaller was better as a movie.  Referring of course to Fantastic Voyage (1967) which was about a crew of doctors/scientists placed inside the body of the man they're trying to cure.  (Anyone any flashbacks to the ep of Doctor Who with the Eleventh Doctor (Matt Smith) and that miniaturized humanoids, Teselecta, Let's Kill Hitler. Cos I had one here.  Think the show makes these subtle references to past stories when it's not supposed to, but kind of keeps coming back to them.)

Anyway they think that the Dalek is good since it says that Daleks are bad.  Travelling to its nerve centre, cortex, there's a lot of talk about morality and whether a Dalek can become good, this one at least. They need to reach the bottom of the Dalek to see what's wrong with it and one of the token extras, ha, Ross, shoots a cable grip for them to do this.  But the Doctor warns not to do that cos now they're going to be attacked, by antibodies.  Ah yes, typical scene from the movie.  The Doctor throws him a battery and says he can swallow this, thinking he'll be okay, but instead he's just dead.  "Trust me," says the Doctor.  Remember he lies, though it's not apparent he actually recalls that now or not.   He was dead anyway, in a bid to justify his actions, but the Doctor wanted to see where he would end up.  Coming to a chute of some sort which he tells them they must go down, otherwise be attacked by antibodies.

They end up in the Dalek's stomach, when he says that they sometimes save their food, which turns out to be humans.  Another flashback moment when Doctor Eleven and Amy ended up in the bowels of the ship in The Beast Below.  This Dalek has seen beauty is says, the birth of a star. Finding the source of the leak, a radiation leak, the Doctor puts it right by sealing it with his screwdriver.  Again that leak looked more like that dreaded Crack they were chasing, or rather was after the Eleventh Doctor since the moment he became the Eleventh.  Well it did.  More deja vu.

Of course you knew that once this was done, then the Dalek would immediately change back into the menacing force that they are.  This Dalek now sends word to the ship outside and goes on a rampage. There was no good Dalek and as the Doctor corrects Journey Blue (Zawe Ashton) he didn't say they were good Daleks.  So after plenty of exterminating and the like, the Doctor thinks if he could reach out to the Dalek and talk with him, he can make him remember his memories and the beauty of the star it saw.  Was carried away writing there calling the Dalek a 'he.'  Carried away by its morality, or lack of.  So if he can change this Dalek' perception of morality and convert it back to being good, then maybe he can do the same to the others.

But before that, came the slap from Clara, when the Doctor says it can, "die all you like, not my problem." Showing he's not really bothered with what's happening.  Clara needs to get back to the top and asks how she can do that, well Gretchen (Laura Dos Santos) obliges and sacrifices herself in the same way, by shooting the cable grips and asks to be remembered for doing something good.  Cue her ending up with Missy (Michelle Gomez) in heaven.  That place does not even feel like it's heaven.

Clara managing to get back up using the cables, thinks the lights/bulbs are its memories which have gone off. Thus she tries to get them back on, so it recalls its repressed memories.  In time for the Doctor to get through and make it recall seeing the birth of the star.  At the same time, Rusty, as the Doctor named him (so why didn't I just use this all the while I was writing 'it', ha) also sees into the Doctor's soul, "I see beauty, I see divinity, I see hatred."  Saying Daleks are bad and need to be killed.  Then ends up killing its own who are on Aristotle and attacking the soldiers.

The Doctor also recalls he called himself "the Doctor, but it was just a name.  Then I want to Skaro and then I met you lot and understood who I was."  The Dalek calls the Doctor a Dalek too and has called off the ship's attack, giving orders for it to retreat.  He must go and kill them.  Journey wants to go with the Doctor but he doesn't take her.  Clara returns to her closet in school and has changed her clothes for the leaving party and Danny notices she has changed her clothes.

This episode appears to be stepping back into darker territory as the Doctor acts far beyond is name and isn't really bothered with saving anyone and it's left to Clara to make sure he does this, by resorting to the use of a slap.   Doctor: "what's that look for?"
Clara: "It's the look you get when I'm about to slap you."

She's the one who's done a lot of growing up and maturing over the past year and must keep him in check. Thus her response to his question at the end, "you asked me if you are a good man.  And the answer is, I don't know, but I think you try to be."  Reinforced by the Doctor wanting Rusty to see the good in him, which it doesn't do, but would pick up on his hatred and specifically hatred for the Daleks.  With the Doctor and Rusty acting off each other, picking up on what he wants the Dalek to see in him, but he sees only the hatred, since it too has the same hatred.  Only this converts into the Dalek wanting to use that hatred to kill of its own kind.  Which might necessarily not turn out to be a good thing in the long run.

Getting the Dalek to recall may just be parallel to Clara also helping him to recall, just what it is he does and who he is. Doctor Twelve plays it close to the chest, not letting any emotions get in the way and is clearly a more darker Doctor in many ways.  The moments of darkness that were hinted at in Eleven, which have come to the fore in Twelve.  Thus needing Clara to make sure she's the voice of reason and in some ways, humanity.

As for Danny, of course the story will take time to develop with him, but Clara makes an immediate observation that she's met someone else who also has a colour for a last name and not putting it together yet, that he's also a soldier too.  The Doctor not wanting Journey with him as she's a soldier.  With Danny saying something similar about being an ex-soldier and how this hasn't deterred her.

Clips from the eps Dalek, The Stolen Earth, Journey's End are shown when he tries to access Rusty's memories.
Into the Dalek marked a change from the usual eps with the Daleks and focused instead on looking at what the Dalek is like from the inside and not just inside its body but also its brain, morality, memories.

Then again, in yet another flash, remember (Clara) Oswin Oswald was also inside a Dalek looking out wasn't she in series 7 Asylum of the Daleks.  Seems she's forgotten that along with the writers. Who seem to be trying to get away from this series for some reason.  Or am I wrong?  Since she doesn't mention that at all. Perhaps she's not meant to know this just yet or delve into it.

CSI 14.13 "Boston Brakes" Review

                                                 
As journalist John Merchiston (James Callis) waits at a coffee stand to meet someone named Suvari.  He asks for change of a $50 for coffee, cos that's all he's got.  All the while he's being watched and listened to. A woman approaches and says that Suvari sent her and covertly hands him over a flashdrive.  As they leave, a car races out of the garage and speeds down the road and is chased by a police car.  Moments later, the car explodes.  Finn (Elisabeth Shue) arrives on the scene with Sean Yeager (Matt Davis) so she's stuck with him for now.  The car hit a lamp post and exploded on impact.  Inside a photo is found of John and this leaves Finn in shock.  As the DB is also burned.  Sean comes up with the line about there being a story to this.

DB (Ted Danson) arrives and she tells him how John was working on a story about the government spying domestically on its citizens and using drones to do this.  DB gets the impression she and John were close and there's more she's not letting on about their 'relationship.'  But he's told her what he was working on.  For this reason, Finn doesn't believe it was an accident. His rental car had a black box in it which Greg (Eric Szmanda) finds, showing the internal systems of the car, but there's no bomb evidence there as Finn was hoping to find.  Sean and Morgan (Elisabeth Harnois) look at the video footage from the cameras and follow the car back to the garage and also see John talking with the woman.  Doc (Robert David Hall) finds that he was over the limit and there was evidence of drug use, which Finn knows isn't right cos she just finished telling DB that he didn't drink or do drugs.  So he's ruling it an accident cos he shouldn't have been driving at all. Doc was rather callous in his reasons to her, yes if that had been the case he shouldn't have been driving, but it wasn't.  He was IDed as John from dental records.

DB meets with John's attorney, Jill McDermott (Kate Danson) who says he was unhappy that his story was leading nowhere.  The person he was looking at was an airforce General Robert Lansdale (John De Lancie) out of Nellis and that's why John was in Vegas a lot.  She doesn't recognize the woman in the photo.  As DB leaves, he's approached by John in the shadows telling him that his death was faked.  The person in the car was Brian, his assistant and he gave him his coat and car to drive.  The dental records were faked by John, just as the government hackers faked the toxicology report.

DB takes him to Finn's place where he thinks he'll be safe, but really wouldn't he just be putting her in danger too.  He tells them of the flashdrive which DB takes and gives to Greg to analyze when he breaks the encryption code.  John also telling them about Project Jericho, the domestic spying programme.  He only met the woman on that night cos Suvari would communicate using dead drops.

Nick (George Eads) and Sean take the call on the mystery woman who's DB is found, cue Vegas rain, but her DB's shielded by a tarpaulin.  She's IDed as Emily Rey (Monica Dean) and an object with a fingerprint is found by Sean, used to bludgeon her.  He takes a picture of the bloody print on it and it comes out with that of John.  But she was killed 6 hours ago and John was meant to have been killed 36 hours earlier.  Nick concludes he's still alive and tells DB this.  As the FBI enter the Vegas lab and proceed to take over all the evidence and remove it. DB tries to call Finn, but she's in the shower and then has a conversation with John about something that happened to her recently, but she's not ready to talk about it, thus missing DB's call. Agents raid her place along with Brass (Paul Guilfoyle) and take them into custody.  DB tells Nick about what's happening, saying that John took a forensics course with Scotland Yard and so wouldn't be clumsy enough to leave behind his fingerprint and leaves him in charge.  He has to get him and Finn off the hook.

DB is  questioned by Lansdale himself and tells DB how he knows about his parents in the '60's and what they did, but he went the other way and became a cop despite that.  Also telling him he has a family and disguising his questions as threats against them.  Agent Sturgis (Greg Ellis) interrogates Finn and accuses her of workign with Suvari and also helping John with his story.  Brass interrupts by telling him to screw himself, cos that' what Finn wants to say, when he gets too personal.  This is his home and his people and he's going too far.
Brass: "This is my house, these are my people. And if you don't start acting nice, I'm gonna kick your FBI ass right out of here."

Nick, Greg and Morgan talk about the case and Nick took a photo of the print form the phone.  He asks what's wrong with the picture and Morgan notices the prints don't have pores, thus they were planted.  Greg tells her about Millander and how he planted Grissom's print with latex and this wouldn't leave any pores. Thus they know John is being set up.  Also Hodges (Wallace Langham) walks in timely, or untimely as the case might be and he's the only one who can come and go without being suspected.  Greg gives him the flashdrive to unencrypt.  He does this and tells Greg about Project Jericho, including technology that could override a car's CPU.  Including black boxes, like the one in Johns Camero.

Nick gets delivery of a phone he didn't order and a message wanting to meet him at the same coffee stand. Yeah, people are being watched using drones etc and what does Suvari do, send a message to meet at the same obvious place.  Jill turns up and obviously the coffee stand man is Suvari.  She says her client can help them.  She drives with Nick and suddenly loses all control of the car.  They miss driving into an oncoming vehicle but head for the stationary truck in the road.  Thanks Channel 5 for that ad break in that place! Suddenly the car shifts gears and grinds to a halt.  Coffeeman gets out and leaves a coffee cup behind, along with a control box.  Inside, Nick finds another flashdrive.

Jill's car is taken apart by Greg and Hodges and they find a black box attached, thus clearing DB and Finn. The FBI saying they're all on the same side.  Nick says Suvari left behind a cyber footprint when he saved them and they can trace this back to his location.  So why didn't he think of that? When they arrive, they find him dead apparently of a rug overdose and a note claiming responsibility for the murders, how convenient. Sturgis also tells him about a DOD employee, Cheryl Perez who had the same "Boston brakes" used on her too.  She was Lansdale's mistress and had a son with him, but was 'killed' in a car accident.  Suvari's real name is Joseph Powers and he was a contractor on Project Jericho.

DB confronts Lansdale about this but he can't prove anything.  DB is certain he'll get him someday, or someone else may develop a conscience.  But in the meantime, DB could be leaving his family to be targets of Lansdale, though it's unlikely a car accident will work in the same way for him.  John leaves but tells Finn he's a a good listener if she wants to talk about what happened to her.

John was previously seen in the conclusion to the two part story Skin in the Game begun in season 13 finale and the season 14 opener, The Devil and DB Russell.  Obviously he and Finn were going to get close cos all the signs were there.  Of course she cant resist a man, as I've written several times over, ha. DB is weary of him when he turns up as he doesn't really know anything about him, but we get a flashback to the season 14 opener when he asked DB about what will happen when the work's all over.  He doesn't trust anyone except DB and the CSIs.

Greg references Paul Millander again, from Pilot, Anonymous and Identity Crisis, who was the thorn in Grissom's side as he spent many an hour trying to catch him.  It's good when CSI alludes to some of its best eps and stories and to mention Grissom now and then, especially being an integral part of his team.  Ted's daughter, Kate makes another appearance as she was last seen in Sheltered.  Of course as Lansdale 'gets away' with it for now, it's likely he will return at a later date.  Brass had a small role this ep and he exerts his presence and closeness to Finn when he tells Sturgis to back off, showing once again that he's concerned about a CSI and after what she went through in Girls Gone Wild.

Sara was absent once again, as was Henry!  Really people will talk!  Probably one reason why Sean was brought in again, not that he and Morgan mentioned anything, but they just did their work.  It was good to see nick being put in charge and being recognized as a superior CSI, cos he gets the job done, as we knew he would! Ha.  Boston Brakes referred to the CIA and it involvement in causing car accidents and there are many articles relating to this online.  This one is particularly interesting:
http://www.veteranstoday.com/2010/07/25/gordon-duff-boston-brakes-no-skidmarks-in-the-sky/

NB the link is for info purposes only!

Ghost Adventures Rocky Point Manor

Hey guys for us newcomers, newcomers to the show that is, not to believing!  Can you debunk this, or should I ask can you debug this instead?  From the ep Rocky Point Manor

Doesn't seem to look like dust cos there wasn't anything visibly flying throughout the whole time in the battleground, also not remnants of Zak firing the gun either, cos they dropped straight down.  Could they be bugs?  But then again nothing was flying round throughout the entirety of the filming.

First 3 seem to "fly" from the ground when Nick walks back from the camera.

The last one comes in from left to right (video below) and when Aaron talks about the graves and asks if all the guys hang out like a family?  Before the gunshots are heard. 'The light' goes behind Zak but doesn't come out anywhere.

Well I would have tweeted, but no vids can upload and then I'm not on other social media sites.

Doctor Who 8.1 "Deep Breath" Review

                                                
As Vastra (Neve McIntosh) Jenny (Catrin Stewart) and Strax (Dan Starkey) look at the commotion at the River Thames, they see a dinosaur in the river.  Which then spits something out, turns out to be the TARDIS. Cue the new Doctor Twelve (Peter Capaldi) followed by Clara (Jenna Coleman).  Dinosaur in Victorian London, wait, where have we seen dinosaurs before, er, in space perhaps.  (Dinosaurs On A Spaceship). Though he doesn't seem to recall who he is, or anything of the sort, this Doctor doesn't recall much of anything and has a lot of help and needs it as he too adjusts to his new face.  Seen when he has a turn and faints and is brought back to Vastra's house.  Where he wonders why there's a room with just a bed in it and where you go when you're awake.  As well as the comments about seeing the face in the mirror.

This scene is later revisited in the alley when the Doctor goes missing after the Dinosaur is set on fire.  He jumps into the River.  Before pondering some questions.  What is the question they all ask, and who is the strange man wondering the bridge when everyone else is gawking at the burning dinosaur.  As said, alley scene where he's rummaging around in the rubbish and finds another mirror to look at his face again.  But we don't get any comments about where he came from or what he looked like before, whether he has a nose. Sorry I added that in, ha.

Vastra also talking to Clara with her veil on, which slowly vanishes.  It's not as if she hasn't seen Clara before, but she's trying to get her to see that he really is the Doctor even if he's got a different face.  Clara saying he's, "renewed" himself, but he's old.  Though she's adamant she didn't flirt with him, he flirted with her.  Vastra reinforcing it doesn't matter what he looks like, underneath it's still him.  (Though millions will argue that point.  Ha.)  Clara also facing some home truths and who she really is.  The Impossible Girl, but is she still this?

She finds an ad in the paper where The Impossible Girl is invited to lunch, but she doesn't know where.  "On the other side."  It's a puzzle, and she reverses the paper to find out where she must go, Mancini's family restaurant.  He arrives wearing a smelly coat which he got from the tramp in the alley, but says he paid for it, without money, meaning he took it from him, but says he gave him his pocketwatch, which Clara loved.  So there goes the pocket watch now.  But he's certain he didn't place the ad.  he wouldn't recall her as the Impossible Girl, since as said, he doesn't recall anything.

He takes a strand of her hair and tells Clara there's no air, meaning the people aren't breathing and they're not eating either.  They're robots, as he finds out when he removes the waiter's face. Of course, worked that out ages ago.  Again another reference to face.  His face, being different.  Transported to the basement and using the Sonic to get out of their bonds, actually call it a screwdriver, not a sonic.  The Doctor feels he's been here before.  Finding the man/robot who took the eye of the man in the street, they find he's turning himself into a man.  As he wakes up, they manage to leave, but Clara must return for the Doctor, only for her to get stuck with the man.  As the Doctor runs out on her, it's better for her to be caught than both of them. That came as a shock to her, cos the Doctor (Eleven)wouldn't leave her behind.

She tries to escape, holding her breath and trying to act like a robot too, which works until she can't hold up the pretence any longer and is caught again.  He wants the Doctor, but she won't talk, going back to her teaching days where the unruly pupil tells her to, "do it then."   Which Clara tells the man (Peter Ferdinando) to do as well, if he's going to kill her he should do it, cos she won't talk.  However she gets him to talk, giving up he wanted something from the dinosaur's optical nerve.  She knows that the Doctor won't give up on her and will be right behind her, as she holds out her hand, wishful thinking perhaps, but he does turn up.

The Doctor ends up in the balloon made of skin with the ship being there for millions of years, cue aspects of The Lodger here.  With the ship and the house.  Also reference to the lodger here too as he mentions the woman who leaves messages in the shop, thus she must have placed the ad in the paper for her.  Although it's more an allusion to the woman in the shop in The Bells of St John episode.  The first one with Clara. Not forgetting to mention he says he wishes Amy was here, re her legs. The Impossible Astronaut.  Why did Clara ask who that is?

So he has a conversation with the man/robot about how he's looking for the Promised Land, cos he's looking for it too, but he won't find it cos he's old now as well.  Convincing him that it doesn't exist and he ends up on the spire.  Causing the other robots to cease functioning too.  After being engaged in a fight with Vastra, Jenny and Strax.  Did the man/robot fall or was he pushed?  As he ends up in the Promised Land with Missy (Michelle Gomez) a bit boring wasn't it, a long way off from Victorian England.  What's Missy's game then? Or as Vastra would say and did in this ep, "the game's afoot. [Sherlock]," I thought to myself, ha.

The title telling us to take a deep breath as we go into the new series with a new Doctor.   Was Strax's examination of Clara for a reason?  Lots of Scottish/English references too, with him turning up in Glasgow he thinks at the end when Clara wanted to go home.

A new interior TARDIS and he finds a new outfit to wear as well.  It takes a phonecall from Doctor Eleven (Matt Smith) to convince her to stay with him and to help him, cos he needs her help.  This may have been talked about on the Net and elsewhere, but luckily I didn't see or hear any references to it, just as I like it, so it came as a nice surprise, shock, but took us back to the final moments with Matt in the Christmas special when he left, so it brought it all back again, just when we had laid to rest those feelings of not seeing him as the Doctor anymore and moving on!  Thanks Moffat! Taking us right back to the sad moments of remembrance all over again! All that hurt too!

He calls from Trenzalore telling her he's changing, but it's still him, also making reference that he's older now, he wasn't expecting that, even if he is really old in reality. "Help him, and don't be afraid."

                                      
One for old time's sake!

not forget having to clarify to Clara that he's not her boyfriend, which she knows.  But spelling it out for her, even if he had a young face, it wasn't about the romantic aspects, but somehow, you know it was, cos as Eleven, he didn't really set her straight, even if River was his wife.  Those little flirty moments were a nice touch with Eleven cos we knew they wouldn't really go anywhere and anyone would have been in awe with Eleven!  Clara saying twice she doesn't have a boyfriend.  Thus they go for coffee.  It was a little sad? that he needed to be Eleven and she had to hear it from him before accepting the Doctor (or at least his face) is not what she'll see anymore, or reaffirming there'll be nothing between them.

But that little hint of romanticism was fine by me and many others with Eleven or even Ten.  But rightly so, different face, 'older' Doctor means it doesn't feel right.  Oh and yes I did/do still miss Matt, always will and no, I'm not a teen fangirl!  Cos he really did take the Doctor to a new level and took on the mantle brilliantly from Doctor Ten in David Tennant.  But then my Doctors will definitely always be Ten and Eleven.

There's some hints of Ten and Eleven though, when he traipses out over the rooftops to get to the Dinosaur and constantly saying, "Shut up."  Then there's his own lines, with saying his eyebrows "are attack eyebrows" well maybe they are, pretty scary too, cos there's no fun in this Doctor, he's more serious with maybe a dark sense of humour.  "Beware the eyebrows!"

"Hold your breath", "Don't blink."  Oh and one last final "Geronimo!" As well as Clara getting to say Ten's line from The Day of the Doctor, " you've redecorated, I don't like it;" when she enters the TARDIS.  I said that too.  It's got too many round thingys! Making it feel kind of claustrophobic and compact, instead of looking bigger on the inside.  Some other differences from The Eleventh Hour was that this Doctor already has a companion, but she can't accept him with that face.  Doctor Eleven had to come to terms with his regeneration alone and had to find his own companion in the form of Amelia Pond.  Or rather she found him, in a way. Doctor: "Planet of the pudding brains"  Anyone for fish fingers and custard? Ha.

Other hints here and references were to the sister ship of Madame Pompadour which was the SS Marie Antoinette and references to The Girl In the Fireplace, as he recounts he's come across robots harvesting human organs but can't quite put his finger on where.  The opening titles were inspired by Billy Hanshaw, a fan and motion graphics specialist, which he put on Youtube and Moffat loved them.  Though they were very steampunk in nature, extending back and referencing to the age of the Doctor, which went well with the Victorian London aspects of it. Not sure about fitting in with the entire series though, given also the reference that he gave his pocketwatch away, the clocks seemed to fit.

Then he mentions having a scarf but it looked stupid, well don't let the Fourth Doctor (Tom Baker) hear you say that.  He's positive he's seen his face before, an allusion to The Fires of Pompeii, where he played Caecilius.

CSI 14.12 "Keep Calm and Carry On" Review

                                              
A woman on a plane is harassed by a man who wants to have a good time with her.  The stewardess takes her bag and places it in a compartment as she reluctantly lets go of it.  The man wants a drink but the stewardess refuses.  Hey she needs training you don't call passengers, "sweetie!"  Also the mouthy woman sitting behind, was meant to have her seat in an upright position when the plane was landing.  Upon landing in Vegas, the man realizes his watch is missing, after he helps the woman with her own bag.  There's a scuffle and she's desperate to get off the plane.

Later Nick (George Eads) and Sara (Jorga Fox) are called to a CS where the same woman has been found. Nick would like to go to Morocco and Sara laughs that he'd like to open a bar in Casablanca and Nick says she can call him Rick, at least that was his name was, of course it was.  They see the Vic was either pushed from a car or was fell out.  Sara and Nick measuring the distance from where she was found to where she could have been thrown out.  Sara equating the distance, with Nick estimating a 1.  He comments on her being a Physics Major and being able to work these things out.  They estimate the car was speeding around 45mph.  Nick finds skid marks and reckons she was thrown out from there.  Sara notices a laser on Nick and tells him to get down, thinking it's a shooter.  They see two boys and give chase.

Brass (Paul Guilfoyle) and Finn )Elisabeth Shue) question the passengers and ask if anyone's seen the woman but they complain about their personal items being missing.  They recall the man who tried to pick up the woman and he now sports a black eye.  Brass asks him how he got the shiner and he says it was from the old man on the plane.  The woman is identified as Janet Riggins (Ellen Hollman).

They have Janet's bag but not her personal belongings.  Sara goes through them and DB (Ted Danson) checks out her licence which is a fake since Sara's licence has the outline of the State of Nevada around her picture, but Janet's one doesn't. Hey why does Sara carry her licence around with her in the lab? Surveillance from the airport shows shows Janet in a hurry to leave the airport and without her luggage. Then the same man follows behind her. Kenny Greene (Jaleel White) the man from the plane follows her and he doesn't have a black eye there.  Kenny thinks they've found his watch, but Brass questions him about the black eye.  He says he was trying to speak with her and she punched him.  He didn't see that coming.  For someone who had been the Vic of assault, she was violent herself, though it's a reflective action, gotta wonder why she didn't do the same when her husband would beat her.  Anyway Kenny took her phone to bargain with so that she'd give him back his watch.

Doc (Robert David Hall) carries out the autopsy on Janet and finds she was bruised over the years and beaten up.  Some of her injuries are older as he tells Greg (Eric Szmanda) and she got a blow to the head when she fell from the car.  Doc took his time getting to her DB, since it's morning when Nick and Sara go see the man on the phone.  This is after Hodges (Wallace Langham) finds a number on her phone after Janet called him.  The call was made to,Jefferson Nally (Ethan Embry) who has a cleaning business.  He used to know Janett as Helen and she was coming out here, but he didn't know when.  Also they had contact over the past six months online, but when he found out she was married he ended things.  He knew her from high school. Yeah a likely story, he was my suspect!  Sara is angry he didn't help her, but gives them his card and says if they're looking for anyone to do clean up for them.  Nick replies sarcastically he's got other things to do.

DB, Brass and Finn see which passenger was able to keep an eye on the overhead compartments and Brass says a thief would sit round the back area and be able to see all of them.  Thus they think it was the old man. I actually loved the reconstruction they did in the season 1 plane episode Unfriendly Skies.  That was a great ep and one of my all time faves!  It also had to have been someone who boarded early, meaning Hank Kasserman (Joel Grey).  He's brought in and was found with all of the stolen property in his hotel room, as well as using Janet's money, $30,00 at a casino.  He waited until people were sleeping and ensured Kenny had been drinking, then stole the things.

Janet's luggage is finally located, they must've got lucky, ha, no one took it, or it didn't go missing.  Morgan (Elisabeth Harnois) checks it out and finds things like her small bronze shoes, lots of other pairs of shoes, her teddy bear and Nick comments they're things you take when you're not returning home.  She was going to leave her husband, Allen (Todd Cahoon).  Who turns up at the morgue and threatens Doc cos he won't let him see her.  Who let him down there unaccompanied.  He pushes Doc back just as Nick arrives and tells him he's investigating her murder.  Allen found out she was having an affair and then she took his money.  He got on a flight so he could meet her here, but his flight was late due to mechanical problems, which alibis him. Worse luck!  he was a smarmy piece of work, secretly wishing Nick could've given him a taste of his own medicine, all in the line of work of course, well he did assault Doc.

Sara questions Jefferson who says he set her up with a man named 'Wolf' who would give her a fake ID and make all the arrangements for her location.  Sara's still disgusted he didn't help her, but he says he did this for her.  The Wolf wanted money in return but she didn't have it.  He has his phone number, all so very convenient for him.  Hodges further analysis into her fake licence reveals a security strip at the back, which is actually used for security badges like theirs and was printed on a high quality printer. He finds out which place has one of those and the woman tells them, they could print a fake licence, but it's illegal.  She recalls the security guard or the cleaning crew were here after hours.  This being Jefferson of course.

Nick brings in the boy, (Matt Shively) who along with being placed in the room with rough looking men, finally recalls he saw a farmer with a pitchfork, identifying Jefferson's truck, a man with a broom.  Jefferson admits he was the Wolf, but she didn't have her money.  He was helping her, which wasn't very noble at all, cos at the end of the day it was just his greed.  He gave her a lift and she wanted out when she found out it was him.  They fought and she attacked him, he pushed her out of the truck.  Couldn't she have waited until later, gosh she had a temper too.  He claimed he loved her, but Sara replies if he did, he would've gone back, instead of driving off.

Some great scenes between Sara and Nick in the opening and later on, as well as betwen Brass and Hank.  He calls Brass a young man and so he should be on the ball looking for her killer, knowing she was beaten since she hid her bruise with make-up, when Brass refers to him as an old man, he emphasizes he has a limited social security cheque.  Thus he steals.  Also good was the scene at the end, when Nick waits for Allen after returning his money to him.  He sends the cab away and has Officer Mitchell (Larry Mitchell) arrest him for assaulting Doc.  Whether the judge actually accepts his argument of him assaulting Doc or not is anybody's guess, but Nick's happy just having him in lockdown, since it's late on a Friday and there's no court until Monday.  Though he should've gotten much more than this for the type of lowlife he really was.  At least Nick gets a chance to ensure he gets some time behind bars.

Seems Jefferson was no better, though he professed to love her, he didn't really show much love when all he could were are dollar signs.  Same as Allen, he was more physical and obvious in his abuse of her, but Jefferson was more subtle, until he struck her in the truck; neither of them being any good for her, though she didn't realize until it was too late.

CSI 14.11 "The Lost Reindeer" Review

                                             
The episode opens with a woman reading about the Lost Reindeer, sounded like Finn (Elisabeth Shue) to me.  Then a Santa's DB is shown in the snow as DB (Ted Danson) and Brass (Paul Guilfoyle) talk about what happened. Brad Scott Zeller) from the realtor company played the Santa and DB comments on the snow and Brass tells him it's real.  Apparently the sleigh on show cut through his legs.  David (David Berman) however finds that he was stabbed five times in the back. The owner of the house, Ryan Bonham (David Alpay) where the party took place tells DB he left round 9, to put his son, Blake (Jadon Wells) to bed.  His wife, Eva (Rachelle Wells) was killed on Christmas Eve in a bank.  Greg (Eric Szmanda) takes a sample of blood from the reindeer in case the blood could be from the killer and Jayson (David Ury) is possessive and obsessive about Dancer.

Morgan (Elisabeth Harnois) tells Greg she's never worked a CS with snow before and he says the blood spatters are difficult to tell.  Later Hodges (Wallace Langham) points out Blake in the window and Morgan thinks he may have seen something.  They speak with him and he watches his mother read the story of the reindeer, but stops before she gets to the end.  Morgan asks him if he saw anything and he says he saw a reindeer by the stairs and hid in his room.  Hodges replies he was probably dreaming, using big words about science.   Morgan and Greg collect samples of the snow and the blood around it.  Blakee asks if Santa is real and Morgan quickly replies he is.

Greg watches the ice samples melt and notices a chunk of meat in there which was probably frozen in the snow.  Finn thinks it could've come from the DB's intestine.  Nick (George Eads) speaks with Doc(Robert David Hall) about the autopsy and offers to open his Secret Santa present, herbal tea, Nick guessing it's from DB, who else.  Hodges also finds that the DB was punched before he was stabbed, with a reindeer suit glove.  "If the glove fits you must not acquit."  Hated that saying, even the paraphrases of it!  Since a fibre was found in the wounds, which matched the reindeer outfit.  Nick finds footage from the party showing that there were actually two Santa's.  One was drinking wine and the other had milk and cookies in his stomach contents as Doc told him he was teetotal.  He also shows DB the stain on the Santa Suit sleeve showing there were two wearing the same suit and their watches were different.  Thus it was a case of mistaken identity and the wrong Santa was killed.

Brass interviews Rachel (Alexis Krause) who was in the reindeer suit as Morgan found she works as a stripper, after finding her contact lens on the step, which is what she was looking for when Blake saw her. She was filming with the Santa but he wanted to go further than that, that's when she punched him.  She left with Fred (Joshua Kwak) the video guy, but swears he was alive and footage from a diner shows they had breakfast there.  Greg sees Morgan open her present which is red nail polish for her "mistle-toes," that could only have been Greg who'd know she'd love that gift.

Greg finds the piece of meat was actually Pacific bonito fish, used in sushi and there wasn't any served at the party, but traces of cocaine are also found on it.  This leads him to check out the Winter Wonderland Company, which shows Jayson makes trips to Mexico and smuggles drugs inside the fish.  Finding out Jayson was wearing the Santa suit earlier on, they realize he was the intended target.  Meanwhile DB notices the expensive bracelet Finn is wearing and she thinks it's from DB, but he says it's not him.  Meaning he'll miss out on the expensive gift she had in store for him.

Greg realizes Jayson was in contact with his brother, Gary (Patrick Kilpatrick) at the prison and has his texts and from the court transcript he finds that he's in the hospital now as he needs a kidney.  Jayson turned State's evidence against Gary and they think Gary wanted revenge on him for this.  Visiting Gary in hospital, Nick finds he made a deal with Jayson and they agreed he'd donate a kidney to him, thus he would want to keep Jayson alive.  He was also going to testify that he made up his testimony.  Nick posits that the killer stabbed him from the back, so he was ensuring that his kidneys would be damaged.  Also that Ryan's wife was collateral damage in the bank as Gary used it to launder his drug money, thus Ryan was the killer. Well took them long enough! Ha.

Ryan wanted to make sure that Gary wouldn't be saved and thus he killed Brad, assuming it was Jayson. When Brass arrives at his house, he finds Ryan gone and Blake hiding out in the closet.  Ryan is kidnapped by Jayson.  Blake only wants to speak with the "funny science man."  Morgan suggests a bar of chocolate to break the ice (no pun!) and he's allergic.  Hodges adds he is too, already thought that.  Blake likes him using big words and said someone was talking about the compressor not working.

The truck is spotted heading out on the highway and Brass arrives just in time to save Ryan.  He wants Jayson to drop the gun but he doesn't do it, with Ryan wanting him to shoot him.  Brass tells him he'll drop one in his kidneys if he doesn't comply.  Then arrests Ryan.  So now his son has lost both parents, so was it really worth in the end.  Hodges explains that Blake will be taken to his grandparents.  Well at least he had family.  Small comfort.

At the office party everyone finds out their secret Santa's, Doc and DB share a herbal tea.  Nick was Finn's Santa, Greg was Morgan's and she was Hodges, she gives him a Las Vegas snowglobe. A happy ending for them but Sara was missing again this ep, as was Henry, spending Christmas together, ha.  No, not like that! A bit of a seasonal ep, who would've guessed, especially with all those Christmas jokes and one liners coming in thick and fast, like the non existent snow in Vegas.  Liked David's corker as some may say, about grandma getting run over by a reindeer, but "Santa got sleighed!"  (Or slayed.)

Ryan (AKA Silas from The Vampire Diaries) though revenge would set his mind at ease for the murder of his wife, but in the long run, it was always going to be Blake who would suffer.  This was like a CSI:NY ep where Mac (Gary Sinese) or one of the team would always ask the question of whether it was worth it in the end.  It's always the children who miss out.

Secondly, Brass tells DB that Jayson got lost it the system and is probably in Buffalo by now, so he won't make the surgery tomorrow.  Knowing that this will impact on Ryan and in the end, revenge is sweet, but only if it doesn't involve killing.  Recalling how Brass understands what happened to his wife.  He's been through it too, DB not knowing what to say to him.  Hey, didn't Brass get a Secret Santa, that wasn't fair. Hodges explanation of REM sleep to Blake was sweet, especially in comparison to how his science father ruined his Christmas for him.  Thus it's touching when Morgan gives him the snowglobe as a gift and calling him her hero too on the card she gives him.  Most definitely a Hodges' ep.  Hodges gets to hear the end of the story as Blake reads to him.

Snow episodes in CSI:NY such as Tanglewood in season 1 and Sanguine Love in season 6, shows how evidence is collected in the snow.

Hodges: "I wish. Instead of regaling me with stories of Santa, my scientist father lectured me on the implausibility of the whole thing."
Morgan: "What, he didn't think a fat man in a sled could make it around the world in one night?"
Hodges: "He also had a problem with the climate damage caused by toy factories in the North Pole."
Morgan: "God, I hope I don't have you as my Secret Santa."

Jensen Ackles On Supernatural and more

We don't much get the Supernatural cast in photoshoots, only usually of TV magazines or guides, something to do with publicity for the show, so when one does come along, it happens to be in a Chinese version of a magazine, widely available worldwide.  Well perish the thought we'd ever get one here featuring Jensen Ackles, we don't even get Supernatural here anymore!  That's how much UK TV channels think of the show and its fans, absolutely nothing!  First ITV2 stopped showing it, then it was bought by Sky Living on subscription and then they decided they would discard it too!

The September 2014 issue of Harpers Bazaar features Jensen as many will not have seen him before.  Only rarely do we get a good interview to match the photos and this is one of those times.

A great interview in terms of Jensen being so very honest and sincere, not that he ever isn't this. It's a breath of fresh air to see he's got his priorities right of always putting his family first.  As he says, "I am gentle and accomodating in real life" and is as far removed from Dean as he could be, not liking 'adventure.'

A gifted actor, as well as a kind, generous and down to earth man.  He is a credit to his parents and this is also apparent by him wanting to be like his father to his own daughter Justice Jay Ackles.  The world needs more people like Jensen!  He's someone I will never tire of writing about or being a fan!

Right where are all my Chinese friends, I need this mag!!

The Mentalist Season 7

                                                 
This is about the time of year when I'd write my Mentalist article, as I've done so for the past four years at least. But this year seems a little different. Firstly, there only appear to be 13 episodes in season 7, secondly, it appears the show will be more of a mid-season replacement.  Meaning by the time people get to watch it or it's aired, there won't be that much demand for it, other than from loyal and dedicated fans! No wonder that Channel 5 announcer said the show would return next year at the end of season 6, besides the customary announcement of later in the year.  However other reports state that the show has begun production for an early airdate.

Think most people stopped watching after the disappointing big reveal that was Red John, cos that could've been done so much better than the actual RJ turning out to be none other than Sheriff McAllister (Xander Berkeley)  As for season 7, looks like many have been calling it as the final season of the series, but as long as we get a proper send off, I can live with that, I think.  Though I'm not sure I'd want to wave goodbye to Simon Baker just yet and see him surfing off into the sunset! Ha.

So season 7 looks like it will have Ericka Flynn (Morena Baccarin) last seen in season 4 after she escaped from prison, returning for an episode, but will she really be there to put a spanner in the works between Lisbon (Robin Tunney) and Patrick (Simon Baker).  That can't be the case can it, especially since Patty took so long in actually opening up and declaring his feelings for Lisbon.  He won't really do anything to jeopardize his relationship with Lisbon.  Apparently Ericka will want to help Lisbon and Patrick when the CIA sends them to search for an arms dealer in Beirut (what couldn't find a different country, or different locale, succumbing to typecasting.)  In return she wants a pardon for the murder charges against her and a chance to return home.

Do we want to see a Mentalist wedding, what another one?  After Van Pelt (Amanda Righetti) and Rigsby (Owain Yeoman).  Are Lisbon and Patrick even at that point in their relationship where either one of them would even consider tying the knot, again.  Patty cos it took so long for him to get over his wife, still wearing his wedding ring, but also cos Lisbon was all ready to marry Pike (Pedro Pascal).  Which may have seemed a little premature and appeared to be like she agreed as a last resort, an afterthought, a last refuge from being alone and not really ever having the chance of getting the man she really wanted.  Was gonna say the man of her dreams.

Whatever happens in the show, we all agree it was a great ride over the seven years, if it turns out that way and at least we'll have this time to prepare to part company with all our well loved characters.

CSI 14.10 "Girls Gone Wild" Review

                                                
Morgan (Elisabeth Harnois) comes rushing in to the lab to tell DB (Ted Danson) that Sara's (Jorga Fox) been shot and Finn (Elisabeth Shue) is missing, as they head over to the town where it happened.  Nick (George Eads) and DB fly over in a helicopter with Brass (Paul Guilfoyle) and find Sara is fine, the bullet grazed her head but it was a near miss.  The deputy however is dead.  She relays what happened to Brass, as Nick and DB search for Finn. We then see Finn trying to hitch a ride and is run over.  Oh come on, she didn't realize what that truck was going to do when it turned around and drove back at her at speed?  So naive for a CSI!

48 Hours Earlier

Sara is glad the day's over, or rather night and she just wants to go home and have some wine.  Finn's got paperwork, but Morgan has tickets to a spa, so she convinces them to come along and share her suite.  Cue using Finn's car, and girls going wild in the ride over, did Morgan really lift her shirt up and take a pic?!!  So car breaks down and a sleazy mechanic, Darryl (Kristoffer Polaha) is called.  He can't fix the car but he recommends the hotel and the bar at Larkston, plus it's Karaoke night.  This being up Morgan's street (not shirt! ha) as she loves to sing and surprises them with her rendition of 'Take A Little Piece of My Heart.'  Sara is impressed, but Finn is too busy making goo goo eyes at Darryl, who Morgan thinks is ugly, well she got that right.  Trust Finn to go after anyone she meets in a pair of jeans!  I mean over the series we've seen her with her ex, Det Moreno, she'd even go out with that fire investigator guy if she had her way.  Anyway, she calls it a night but wants to spend it with sleazy Darryl, so they make out, until she finds his wedding ring in his pocket, er, living in such a hot town (as in weather, ha!) why didn't he have a tan line on his ring finger, er, cos he doesn't wear that ring very often!

She doesn't want to be with a married man but he doesn't take no for an answer and tries to rape her, pulling out a knife.  Finn fights back and stabs him, before running back to tell the others, who see her with blood on her and she's been cut on her arm, which will need stitches.  They all return to the CS, only to find Darryl gone.  There are his bootprints leading away and also blood drops, showing he was helped.  Morgan takes photos of the tyre treads and the boots etc, until Sheriff Gardner (Patrick St Esprit) arrives.  He doesn't believe Finn's story and thinks they're just messing up his CS.  He places Finn under house arrest.

As Finn is patched up by the local coroner, Dr Kinney (Garrett M Brown) another sleazy looking man, who tells the sheriff her bruises look like she's telling the truth.  The sheriff isn't convinced.  Morgan still has the photos on her phone which Sara tells Brass about and she has Greg (Eric Szmanda) check the tyre treads. They match to a truck owned by Darryl's wife, Valerie (Erin Anderson).  She's found in Vegas and she was working the entire time, then drove here.  Greg also tells her about the trace of marijuana found in the truck, which Darryl used to borrow. Hodges (Wallace Langham) takes the plan of the area and sees how much electricity was being used, since a hydroponics lab would need a lot of power and the trails leads to a shed. Sara investigates with the sheriff and deputy Willis (Nico Swindell-Evers).

This is where Darryl used to store cars and Sara thinks they could be it them as a chopshop.  Inside one of the cars, she finds a DB of a woman, which is beginning to decompose.  Morgan takes a sample of something green on her shoe.  Sara wants Finn to help them cos she didn't have anything to do with this CS. Back at the lab,  Doc (Robert David Hall) finds she has ligature marks, was beaten with a hammer and also a pubic hair inside her mouth (yuck) which Greg can analyze as it has a follicle attached.  The girl's fingerprint leads to Brenda Whittaker, a missing woman who vanished , along with another two women who were also reported missing, whose cars were also found by Sara.

Darryl's abandoned car is found and she think Darryl could've got a bus out.  Sara is called by Henry, who wasn't in this ep, and is told about the DNA from the hair, since she pulls a gun on the deputy, as well as getting DNA from Darryl.  Appears he was in on the rape too and Finn wouldn't have been the first Vic.  He refuses to give up and fires at Sara, the bullet grazing her. Brass clears her and IA will do the same.  She thanks him for being here and he wants her to let him know when they find Finn.  The green trace on Brenda's shoe is algae and Finn is told this.  She goes out to find a body of fresh water where this is found.

Nick and DB check out her room and find what she was searching, after Nick asks DB for Finn's password. He first thinks of Bloodgirl and then comes up with Agnes, a favourite aunt of hers.  They head to the bar and the bartender, Gary (Gregory Cruz) tells them Finn asked for some off the map areas where freshwater is found.  He recalled Stone lake.  Nick and DB head here, to find Darryl's DB and a pool of blood beside him.  He was shot and the bullets suggest Finn's service pistol.  DB also finding a 'rape kit' as he calls it complete with duct tape, shackles.  DB posits Finn acted in self defence and Nick finds a bullet hole in the wall.  She shot him through the heart.  Nick processes the scene as DB heads back.  He sees broken light glass in the road and stops to find Finn.

Sara and Morgan process Finn and find a logo impression on the leg of her jeans when she was run over, 'MMC'.  Greg finds this belongs to an exclusive club, 'Million Mile Cub' and there's one registered owner in Larkston.  No surprises there for finding who that is.  See sleazy coroner Kinney, who was trying to be so helpful.  Nick talks with him  and he doesn't seem to understand that rape is rape and there's no ifs or buts about it. His used condoms were discarded in the campground where they found Darryl, showing he was also involved.  He puts this down to having sex with the girls, he didn't hurt them though, that was all Darryl and Willis.  Liked Nick's line where he said he's a CSI and a pretty good one at that!  So true. Also he was talking to a brick wall really since he didn't understand that what he did at the end of the day still amounted to rape.  He also tried to kill Finn so he wouldn't be implicated, which he calls an accident.

That was one town to stay clear off!  Sara and Morgan bring Finn a spa to the hospital with a basket of goodies and Finn has to go for the heavy bottle to pick up.  Remember the ep where the CSI guys went away for Henry's birthday in 10.9 Appendicitement (so strange Henry wasn't in this ep) and they ended up getting involved in a case, where this was pretty much the same but with the girls of CSI this time round.  Seems wherever they go, they always find themselves in some kind of trouble. For a minute there, it looked like this episode was going to follow suite and be a rehash of sorts of the ep where Catherine was actually attacked back in season 7 Built to Kill Parts 1 & 2, where she could have been raped, but wasn't.  But they had Finn fight off Darryl.  Though if he didn't have that knife, wonder if she still could've managed that.

Also remember the ep where Sara spent that night with a man she met in the restaurant and was framed for his murder, after first being accused of killing him, well this story wasn't that far behind, in terms of storyline. See 13.15 Forget me Not.   Finn, not one of my fave characters, so I didn't find it easy to sympathize with her predicament, she's always looking for a good time, irrespective of the consequences, not that I'm condoning what happened to her, but seems she's just that sort of a character.  Sexual assault being such a difficult subject to deal with in reality.

So anyway, Morgan fronted a band in California, Sara seems not to have heard of Beyonce, but clearly was trying to get out of singing on stage.