Castle - 1.7: "Home Is Where the Heart Stops" Review

Castle and Beckett investigate a number of home invasions and gets Beckett to go undercover at a fundraiser to find the suspects. Beckett identifies with the daughter of one of the Vics.

A DB lies stuffed into her safe, whilst Castle (Nathan Fillion) and Alexis (Molly Quinn) fence to Martha (Susan Sullivan) playing piano in their penthouse.   Castle asks how Alexis feels about  a certain boy she likes and vice versa.   Ryan (Seamus Dever) wonders how many of the Vic's bones they had to break to fit her into the safe.   Lanie (Tamala Jones) hasn't done an autopsy yet to find out.   He sneezes cos of the feathers.   Castle and Beckett both bless him and jinx each other.   Joanne, the Vic's daughter (Caterina Scorsone) says her mother didn't pick up the phone.  Castle broke the jinx by speaking so he'll buy her a soda.   Lanie finds a revolver and bolt cutters were used to break off her finger for her wedding ring.  Castle comments in such an area, "think she'd be safe, no pun intended."

Castle doesn't believe the thefts were random as they probably know what's in the 'safe, safes, saves' and he was right.   There has to be a pattern to the home invasions.   Esposito (Jon Heurtas) calls him a writer, sarcastically when he mentions the safes part.  Joanne doesn't know any of the other Vics.   Here comes Beckett's sob story angle and Joanne's guilt at being too busy to see her mother.  Castle picks up on the Beckett empathy vibes, especially when Beckett tells her what happened wasn't her fault.  Beckett: "...not speech...  platitudes...promise to make sure they pay for what they did."  Well that's actually cos of Castle cos she would have gotten nowhere with this case, as she did with her own mother's case.

Beckett claims she didn't 'handle' her as Castle puts it, but told her the truth and Esposito and Ryan wouldn't have managed that amount of empathy.   Well she only managed since it reminded her of her own mother, she hasn't been sympathetic with any of the Vics in the past.   Castle wonders what Alexis would do without him, since he's the responsible one.   Clearly Beckett still doesn't get that her mother doesn't look after Alexis as a mother should, even after meeting her last episode and Castle's woes about her.   He's surprised Beckett reads the New York Review of Books and he bribed the reviewer to praise his book.   Beckett asks how he'll peel away the many layers to the 'Beckett onion'.   Oh that's how she sees herself then!  Don't worry, he has his ways.  Ryan managed to be sympathetic when questioning the Vic's friend's in the previous episode.

Captain Montgomery (Reuben Santiago-Hudson) says forensics found brass shavings at the CS, so a bump key was used.   Which leads Esposito to think of Evan Mitchell (Nick Chinlund).   He's a legacy.   Castle refers to him as a Perp and Esposito and Ryan have many other names for them, the Captain prefers 'dirtbag' which Castle likes as a classic; but Beckett prefers suspect.  Mitchell has an alibi and knows Castle isn't a cop with his hairstyle.   He's her assistant which Mitchell finds amusing showing Beckett "can't hack it out there alone." No she can't, which is what gets her riled up as it's true.  The Captain says they can only hold him on the gun and doesn't think it's Mitchell anyway.

Beckett practices her shooting, her way of relieving stress.   Castle prefers stress balls and Internet porn, why does that not surprise.  She asks if he wants to show her how it's done, yeah he will and she really falls for him not being able to shoot.   She suggests they could always just cuddle.   He'll get the stolen property photos if he can get 3 shots into the 10.   Martha admires the stolen pieces.   He's thinking of more security and maybe even a panic room.  Martha: "What for - panic attacks?"  She mentions Powell (Patrick Bauchau) as knowing a fence and he threatened to slit Castle's throat for stealing his life when he thanked him in the acknowledgments.   Powell punches Castle, was waiting a long time for that.   That's twice Castle was hit and only got a black eye the second time.   Powell was going to retire anyway.  He describes the jewellery as being worn for special occasions.   The suspect may live among the Vics.   He needs to see the CS.  

Powell cites the new generation as being vulgar and the Vic's death was unnecessary, likening the new generation to vampires with a taste for blood.   In his day they'd vanish like ghosts, which he does when he hears the door.   Had to be Beckett, but notice Castle doesn't run and hide either.   She threatens to show him how her Taser works.   Castle: "promise."  She wants to shoot him, break his legs and now use her Taser on him.   What next?  Castle wants to talk with Mitchell and he admits he's read his books.   Mitchell wouldn't work with such men and one came to recruit him for the jobs, but he gave him a bump key to get rid of him.   He gives Castle a description of him.

They would only wear such jewellery to fundraisers and one place sticks out to Castle on the board; MADT.   Anne Green (Angela Oh) works there.   Castle: "She can invade my home anytime."  She heard about Ricky from her friend, ignoring Beckett.   They're not together with Castle saying: "not yet" they're not and Beckett replying, "never."  Anne demands a court order for her donor list.   Ryan is still reading Castle's book, at least he's still carrying one around with him.   Castle has tickets for a fundraiser and Beckett doesn't get why, (hear me scream right about now.)  The donors will be there and so she doesn't need the list and also anyone connected with the invasions.   Even Esposito gets they can work the party and he and Ryan can work the door.

Lanie helps Beckett pick an outfit and Beckett has no taste in clothes, hence the slutty comment a few episodes back.   Castle sends her over a dress which still didn't look good on her.   With the message "bippity, boppity, boo" and Beckett gets it's Cinderella.  Martha gives her a necklace to wear.   Alexis says he's on a date but Castle's undercover.   Beckett also spills where they'll be going.  Ryan comments on her dress.   Esposito: "What there is of it."  Castle introduces her to Mayor Bob (Joseph C Miller) and then Beckett says he and Castle talk about her.   She's the subject of his new book and they play cards.  He thanks Rachel (Katie Lowes) for getting him the tickets and she introduces him to Paul Reynolds; could only be him.   He's a fan of Castle's and he donated his first edition.   Ruth (Elizabeth Bennet) talks with Beckett and calls Castle the "white whale."  Every woman's out to snare him.   Which Beckett relays to Castle, and he wonders why he's not called "Moby" (Dick.)

He takes Beckett to the dancefloor to talk and tells her Rachel knows things about potential donors, then spots Powell.   He thinks Powell's behind it after all, but he brought Martha here for payback.   Martha auctions off his book and makes a point of adding he's still single and includes an evening with Castle into the auction.   Which has the women and a man chomping at the bit.  Castle notices Reynolds taking photos of the crowd, which Beckett doesn't get when he tells her, she'd take photos too, duh!  Esposito says "Yahtzee."   (Catchphrase of Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean (Jensen Ackles) Winchester in Supernatural and finds Reynolds has a record.   Castle asks Beckett where her badge was.   Reynolds was forced to infiltrate the charity by a man, Karl Nadir (Michael Papajohn) who kept him safe in prison but threatened him and Rachel if he didn't help.  He gives them his address.

Beckett wants Castle to remain in the car cos his Hardy Boy act would get one of them hurt.   Castle didn't pack his 'Writer vest'.   Even he wasn't safe in the car since he tackles Nadir, Beckett couldn't catch him in her heels.   He lands on the car and Castle switches on the wipers.   Then gets hit in the face, which Beckett witnessed, but probably did nothing purposely, wouldn't put it past her.   She returns Joanne a locket and says you don't get over it, "don't mind carrying it around with you." She's the only Vic she gives her card to.   Then returns Martha's necklace and stays for breakfast, calling Castle's black eye 'butch'.

Beckett really does need help.   Only episode 7 and her her constant questioning is beginning to irritate when she does and should know better.  Er, who's meat to be the cop in the outfit!  Castle can't get enough of his blue shirts, even the gingham one was blue.   If Castle can fence, of course he'll be able to shoot a gun, he doesn't play laser tag with Alexis for nothing, ha.  As for Beckett's dress, didn't suit her at all, the term ...in drag...  comes to mind.   Another episode where we're meant to feel sympathy for Beckett cos the case was close to home for her because of her mother's murder and she can relate to the Vic's daughter.   This time round Castle didn't get any help  for clues, aside from Martha mentioning Powell.   Also he got it slightly wrong when he thought Powell was behind the home invasions after all.   Well he hasn't been as wrong before.

The episode title is a spin on home is where the heart is, not heart stops, as in being killed there.   Martha quotes Anais-Nin, an author who penned memoirs as a journal about her life, as well as written erotica.   That would explain why Castle's heard of her then.

Nick Chinlund played Patrick Jane's (Simon Baker) dad in the Mentalist.   In episode 2.9 A Price Above Rubies of the Mentalist, a jewellery store robbery goes awry and the team needs to find whether it was an inside job, whilst also attending a black tie charity event to raise money for the police department.   Patrick gets Lisbon (Robin Tunney) to try on a tiara.

The Vampire Diaries - 3.6: "Smells Like Teen Spirit" Review

Ghosts and witches galore in this episode with Vicki appearing before Matt. Rebekah joins the school and Alaric teaches Elena how to fight vampires in an attempt for Elena to kick Stefan's ass.

Elena (Nina Dobrev) examines the marks on her neck.   Alaric (Matt Davis) teaches her how to fight: vampires stake vampires.  She's not strong enough yet, yeah, she's no Buffy.   He throws a vervain grenade as it's the only element of surprise as far as  a vampire is concerned.  Elena tells Alaric he can call Stefan (Paul Wesley) by name.   He hurt her so she can do anything, even be with Damon (Ian Somerhalder) which is what I added for emphasis.

It's senior year at school and all Elena can do is wallow in the fact it's their anniversary. She and Stefan met here on the first day of school last year, but she needs to put it behind her.   Speaking of, Stefan is having a veritable vampire orgy at the house.  Damon sarcastically asks if that's what Klaus had in mind when he compelled him to protect Elena and he asks who that is.  Damon doesn't know Rebekah (Claire Holt).   Klaus left her behind.   So much for brotherly love.   Jeremy (Steven R McQueen) had to see Anna (Malese Jow) for info on Anna for Damon.   Bonnie (Katerina Graham) tells Jeremy he just keeps letting the ghosts in.  He has the power to make up his mind if he wants to see ghosts, giving him an ultimatum.   Vicki (Kayla Ewell) appears.   Matt (Zach Roerig) is alone and is thinking of last year, having plenty to cope with.   Matt can help Vicki come back.

Katherine tries to wake Mikael (Sebastian Roche).   He won't eat.   Damon needs Mikael to kill Klaus so he can "de-rippify Stefan."  He's also worried about his house, referring to Rebekah as "Barbie Klaus." Klaus couldn't wait to run when Damon mentioned Mikael and left Rebekah behind.

Tyler (Michael Trevino) has blood on his shirt.  Rebekah needs to watch out for Tyler since he's Klaus's first hybrid.   Yeah, as well as making a move on him in the process, much to Caroline's (Candice Accola) chagrin.   Rebekah: "Don't you think that's awesome," Tyler being the first.   Which makes him an original too, original hybrid.   Stefan's returning to school and needs to keep an eye on Elena.   Stefan warns Alaric to stay away from him and sees them in history class.   Elena says he's not Stefan and she has to do something about him.   Rebekah turns up to class too, look the gang's all here, almost.

Vicki can only come back if Matt is thinking of her and needs help from the other side.   Now interrupted by Jeremy, who tells Anna about Vicki being able to perform magic on her side, so she can push through to their side.   Gosh what's she doing, having a baby?   Anna harks on about the darkness and paying some sort of price for using the witch's energy again.   Vicki convinces Matt he won't be alone anymore.   Rebekah is a cheerleader, at least she wants to be and is interested in Tyler.   Tyler compels Coach (TJ Hassan) to end practice early.   Caroline tells him he's got to "be more subtle."  Tyler subtle, never in a blue moon, ha.   He insists Klaus has given him a gift and he's going to use it to the fullest.   Caroline seems to get the 'loser' boyfriends, those who can't handle her being a vampire, like Matt in season 2 and now Tyler, who's so into being a hybrid, he's oblivious as to her feelings and how he should behave.  As we see, power's gone to Tyler's head.   Rebekah shows off as a cheerleader and Tyler is clearly easily impressed by 'Barbie'.

Stefan won't leave Elena alone, which is what she wanted really.   Mikael wakes but doesn't want blood.   Katherine recalls him from 1920's Chicago (episode 3.3)  Elena's only just noticed he's a different person (sorry Damon, I got in first about the Buffy comment!) and he also calls her Warrior Princess, after Xena.   Damon must have a lot of time on his hands to watch TV and be up on pop culture.   Elena wants to lock up Stefan.   Damon tells her Stefan no longer has his humanity, must be thinking that was himself once upon a time.   Elena wants Damon to 'do it' for her, lock him up that is!  Damon takes a hold of her and shows her that "below the ribcage - the spine is the way to a vampire's heart."  He'll do whatever she wants him to and promises no one will hurt her - especially not Stefan.   But it'll be okay if Damon hurts her! We hope.   Oh Elena felt so good about Damon touching her.

Elena will lure Stefan and Alaric will shoot him.   Damon reminds her she's forgetting Rebekah so it's up to him to keep her occupied and who wouldn't want to be distracted by Damon, seems like Rebekah didn't.   Foolish vampire.   Alaric won't stop being mad at Stefan.   Tyler posits it's not in Klaus's best interest to have Stefan removed.   Tyler is indebted to Klaus.   Damon stabs Tyler saying he's "been sired;" he wants acceptance from Klaus.   Even with Klaus away everyone can't stop mentioning him and bowing to his will.

Caroline: "How do we fix him?"  Damon: "Get a new boyfriend."  That'd also be his advice to Elena then about Stefan.   Rebekah's into Tyler as I keep saying, oops.   Matt performs a ritual to being Vicki back.   Jeremy and Bonnie fight over Anna.   Vicki tells Matt about the deal and he must "help restore the balance." Klaus's hybrid can't be left to live.   Vicki is after Elena.   Elena drinks at the bonfire night.   Rebekah asks Damon: "No friends your own age?" Why isn't Damon at school, ha.   Damon distracts Rebekah and Elena watches him too, jealous much.   Which is exactly what Stefan says to Elena.   This she denies, lying of course.   Damon tells Rebekah he can be mean if she likes and she stakes him.   Oh boring.   Rebekah tells him their fights are never fair.   Tyler insists Klaus doesn't control him.   Caroline tells him he's acting like his 'old' self.   He doesn't want to be like that.   His personality is "heightened" as a vampire so Tyler must be careful.

Elena isn't really drunk as Stefan accompanies her to the bleachers, she falls and he catches her, as Elena knew he would and Alaric knocks him out.   Bonnie needs to know what Matt did to bring Vicki back so she can send her back.   Vicki sets fire to Alaric's car with Stefan and Elena inside.  Bonnie uses a spell.   Elena has to turn to Stefan to rescue her, so he awakes long enough to knock the back door out for her and then falls unconscious again.   Damon says Elena was too drunk to notice what he was doing with Rebekah, he was faking, just like she was faking being drunk.

Rebekah brings Tyler a girl to feast on and he can't resist, especially when Rebekah mentions Klaus.   Mikael is abstaining from human blood.   Katherine thinks he can kill Klaus. He can and will and she releases him.   He bites Katherine, clearly he's not abstaining from vampire blood.   Alaric doesn't want to be friends with Damon and Elena knows he misses him.   Stefan tells Elena she needs him and he will always protect her.   Elena has hopes for Stefan finding his humanity.   She won't give up.   Stefan: "Elena, do you have any idea how pathetic that makes you?"  She believes it makes her strong and she stakes him!  He didn't see that coming.  

Anna isn't here and Jeremy's thinking of her when he calls Bonnie.   He can feel Anna's presence and they touch hands.   Damon feels a ghostly presence in his house as he's still worried about having his  furniture wrecked and Damon is knocked out.   For vampires they're so easily, staked, injected, knocked out aren't' they?   Must be becoming weak in their old age, ha, or careless.   Mostly plenty of ghostly happenings in this episode with Vicki coming back, along with Anna and then Damon's haunting experience too, drawing us away from the vampire action but only for a while.   Whilst Klaus is away Rebekah is having plenty of fun leading Tyler on and away from Caroline, who is concerned about him.   Yet she can't really see what's happening to him when she's not around.   It is just Caroline's lot to worry about almost everyone in this show.

Damon calling Elena 'Buffy', nah, we liked Buffy, she had guts, determination and she never really moved on from Angel, no matter how much she believed she did.   Can't tell with Elena, she's too easily tempted - first Stefan and now she can't have him, she's going to make a play for Damon, just so what he wants.   Will that pit brother against brother, or does Stefan really not care anymore?   They keep mentioning Stefan's humanity but surely he must have some remnant left in him.   Or does he just take pleasure in taunting Elena, maybe he believes if he treats her badly she will move on from him.  

Damon calling Rebekah 'Barbie Klaus.'  At least they didn't have him call her Klaus Barbie, no that'd just be wrong.  Their plans just seem to falter this season, perhaps they just shouldn't devise any.   Stefan didn't get locked up after all - thought it wouldn't happen.   Stefan is just like Damon now their roles are reversed - preferred the bad guy in Damon - okay I'm a Damon girl at heart, ha, and miss him evil.   Damon telling Elena that Stefan is busy "journaling, reading and shaping his hair."

Elsewhere, Tyler is fast becoming a spoilt, bratty hybrid and relishing every moment.   Elena wanting Stefan to find himself, over and over and hoping he does is becoming repetitive.   She does care no matter how hard she tries to convince otherwise and her conflicting feelings for Damon rise to the surface.   Elena using Damon's feelings to goad him into helping her, when he clearly told her not to do that last season, could become tedious.

Hee, hee, Uncle Mason (Taylor Kinney) is back, with a vengeance, funnily enough just when Tyler is a hybrid and is being greatly influenced by being 'sired' by Klaus.   For newcomers, Damon killed mason and so he'll have plenty to be angry about, just as long as we can veer away from the Elena/Damon mushy stuff.   Yeah that'll never happen.   Well, Damon will probably get Bonnie on the case, as always -  though she's got troubles of her own with Jeremy, keeping Anna a secret and then spending time with her behind Bonnie's back.

Damon: "We're forgetting a key player here - Rebekah, wherever Stefan goes, the blond ponytail tends to follow...we're out of daggers."  Elena suggests he use his charm.  Alaric: "might have better luck finding the dagger." I'm liking Alaric not forgiving Damon for killing him and eh really expects him to forget so easily and move on, er, that's Damon's catchphrase, as he keeps telling Elena to do the same, when things go wrong and as far as holding onto the past with Stefan is concerned.

CSI: NY - 8.01: "Indelible" Review

Mac recalls his late wife, Claire on the tenth anniversary of 9/11 and the rest of the team also have their own memories of what they were doing on that fateful day.

In a scene from September 11 2001, Mac (Gary Sinise) cuts himself shaving and Claire (Jaime Ray Newman) calls 911 for help, as a joke (she doesn't really call - they're just fooling around like a married couple).   Mac's taking John to the opera: that's John from the robbery squad.   She then sees two tickets to the opera behind her.   Claire: "What would you do without me?" What he's always done before they met and after he lost her, muddle through somehow, with his mind on the job and getting no sleep whatsoever.

The radio reports on September 11 2011, the tenth anniversary of the attacks. "We will never forget."  At the lab, Adam (AJ Buckley) calls Jo (Sela Ward) 'boss.'  She corrects him, she's "interim boss" until Sinclair finds a replacement for Mac.   In the meantime, she puts Mac's nameplate back on his desk.   Adam reminds us he's been gone four months.   Danny (Carmine Giovinazzo) calls Jo to inform her about a shooting at a bar, that of a bouncer, Sean.   He asks her, "Remind me why I wanted this promotion." Which Jo just did, as she called him sergeant and then he also mentions the promotion.   Flack (Eddie Cahill) is already at the scene.

The bartender didn't see what happened at the door. Sean was probably outside and they didn't have to kill him.   There was a small amount of cash as Devon (Cassidy Freeman) left with he tips.   Mac on the bus, displaying his ID for all to see, don't know why people do that.  He notices a woman with earplugs and has a flashback to Claire on the bus, making him listen to music.   They say goodbye and she sticks her tongue out at him as he watches the bus drive away.   Hawkes (Hill Harper) and Lindsay (Anna Belknap) process the CS and take photos.   She notices the blood spatter on the wall, but she doesn't analyze it later.

Devon left five minutes before the robbery, conveniently, and saw two men standing outside.   One white and the other black.  Danny asks why someone would let them in.   Sean smoked and Flack posits they should have been long gone and why shoot Sean outside after the fact?   That being the crux of the investigation and the clue, since they really were gone.   Mac is working at a lab as a DNA analyst for 9/11 victims and a woman questions him about losing Claire.   Mac: "Victims are not just DNA profiles, they have names."  He's helping develop new techniques for the 1,121 victims who remain unidentified, as a way of providing some sort of closure for their families and "I know how that feels."  She says they have only identified one Victim in the one and a half year she's been here.   Mac replies if she saw what it means to their families she wouldn't question why she does it.

Mac sits in the room with a suspect and writes down the date: September 11 2001 when he heads to see what the commotion is about, as they watch the news of the attacks.   Claire calls Mac.  She's okay and got out, but she doesn't leave.   Mac knows she'll want to help.   Another plane is heard hitting the South Tower.   The attacks were not portrayed graphically or visually. All we hear are the sounds and the expressions of horror and shock on the peoples' faces.

Adam imitates Jo in a horrible, high pitched version of her accent and Lindsay has to hear him.   There were some moments of comic relief added into the episode.   She says the medium velocity blood spatter was scanned and Hawkes says Sid (Robert Joy) found something from the Vic's forehead.   Adam gets a hit on the phones stolen from the bar (some phones can be remotely turned on by the carrier and gets a hit on the address of the robbers).   Danny and Flack arrest two perps, with a little fighting (as in season 7, though they didn't get beaten up this time round.)  Flack notices blood on a grey hoodie.    Danny: "technology."  Flack: "Gotta love it."

Flack tells Jo about the suspects, Mike Black (Bug Hall) who is the white guy, but his street name is White Mike and then there's the black guy, Mike White (Brandon Fobbs), whose street name is Black Mike, they have to keep the names straight.  which is the hard part.   Another funny scene.   Flack tells black Mike, "Can't imagine what that withdrawal thing feels like."  Black Mike replies, "kind of like a cop who can't do without his donut"  which Flack finds amusing.   He can't tell him a fake murder story and fool him into confessing to a murder and Flack and Jo both show them photos of the murder.   Flack tells him he's been watching too much TV.   Mr White tells Jo they didn't shoot anyone.   Hawkes finds the test fire didn't match the bullet.   They either threw the gun away or another person was involved.   They go with the gun theory since no one saw anyone else.

Mac calls Joe, (Robert Forster) a fireman who lost his policeman son, Jimmy , a first responder.   He tells Mac he already got his event pass.   He tries to recall Jimmy's voice, but his memory fades.   Mac answers that's why they did this project, "to keep those memories alive."  Mac calls Joe a friend for life.   He wouldn't do this without him.   Mac describes himself as "charismatic, charming cop who came together to help build something that will last forever."  Mac picks up the passes for the CSIs and sees Joe's pass is still there.

Mac has another flashback when he sees the firemen, he arrives at the scene ten years ago and helps a woman when the Tower falls.   Again this was done with the use of sound effects and dust clouds.   Jo has her flashback when she sees a truck outside polluting the air with smoke.   She sees the Pentagon in flames from her office window and hears about a plane hitting the South Tower and a flight striking the Pentagon.   She calls her mother to take the children home.   Mac meets her to give them passes and they would love to see him.   Jo thought the case was over.   Mac imagines how cluttered her desk would be.   He's not coming back.   He tells her to "measure twice and cut once."  Look again at the evidence.

Jo analyzes the blood spatter which Lindsay noticed but didn't bother analyzing closely.   Hawkes notices contact was made with   the blood about 5-7 minutes later.   Jo says it was ten minutes later when someone brushed up against the wall.   Another photo shows the blood was smeared after it was deposited on the wall.   There was no skeletonization.   Someone left the bar soon after Sean was shot.  This is what she tells Flack and s explains the skeletonization.  Flack asks why they don't just call it a ring as it would be more "interesting if you guys uses smaller words."  Flack has his flashback when he sees Danny's badge, when he helped an injured woman and Danny comes running to go help...   Flack: "They're all gone."  So Danny and Flack met on 9/11 and they've known each other for ten years.   Again that scene was filmed with just the sirens in the background and the dust and debris lying around them.

Mac convinces Joe to change his mind, at least he tries to convince him.   Mac knows he belongs there.   Joe did this for the families.   Mac believes Joe needs to find a better way to let go of his pain and they were both there, "digging, searching and hoping." When they met he was moved at seeing the same faces at the sight.   Mac tells Joe he did it for the families and he's one too.

Devon doesn't know the two men.   Flack tells her she told them when she'd be leaving and about the money in the safe.   Jo adds something went wrong.   Devon confesses they arrived at the door too late and Sean knew.   She smeared blood on herself when she left and was meant to be a witness.   Why bother having a witness?   White Mike gave her the gun.   She saw Sean and shot him and no one saw her.   She was using and owed money.   Jo:  "fitting that on a day like today, the image of an innocent man dying for no good reason will be etched in your mind for the rest of your life."  She asks what day it is.

Sid has his flashback whilst in the lab, tying name tags onto the Vic and helped the firemen along with Hawkes.   When Mac reads a prayer for a dead fireman.   Jo says she and Flack have known each other for a year and he's "one hell of a detective." Flack jokes, "The jury's still out on you, interim boss."  As Jo fixes his tie.   Well it's been a long time since Flack wore a tie, so he was rusty with tying it!  Adam needs help tying one and Lindsay comments it'll be the twenty year anniversary before he gets it done.   That wasn't  a nice line to say.   Adam confesses he slept through 9/11 and was too embarrassed.   Lindsay having to ask, "through what?"  has she not been listening.   She felt useless and had to come down to New York and help.

Mac dedicates the Brooklyn Wall of Remembrance  to the fallen heroes of 9/11 with the real families of the first responders.   Joe finally turns up.   Mac says another farewell to Claire at the beach and lets the opera tickets drift away in the ocean.   He recalls her on the bus - the last time he would ever see her.

The episode opens with Mac having a flashback to Claire.   Then the CSIs have a routine case, investigating a robbery at a bar and the murder of bouncer, Sean.   Well it was Danny's case as he's called in and Flack is already there.   We finally get to see Danny in uniform, but not much of a view, more of a glimpse.   Also the flashback with Flack back to 2001, had some good continuity  to 7.22 Exit Strategy.   Where Mac had his crucifix, Danny his photo of Lucy and Flack had his badge, for luck.   It's always about the job with him and back then was no exception either.   We also got to see Flack in his uniform back then, all dirty, showing he was there a long time before Danny made it down.   Danny was too late and Flack must tell him the awful news of no one being left alive.  

Danny also told Flack he was "on the job" an episode title which goes all the way back to season 1.21 On the Job, when Danny had that whole shooting fiasco to tend with.   It took Flack to look at Danny's badge when he saw him in the car and not at the beginning of the episode, for him to remember.   We got to see what Danny was doing through Flack's flashback, as we did with Hawkes, whom we saw though Sid's flashback.   Jo being in Washington with the FBI of course and it was very reassuring to see her thoughts were with her children and their safety, her maternal instincts showing.

Though many were expecting to see Mac's pain and loss he suffered, along with so many others, his first thought was also about his loved one, Claire and wanting to keep her safe, but Claire stayed.   It was hinted that Claire died in the actual Towers that day, but we get to see she got out and was there when the first Tower came down and she was a casualty of the collapse.

The episode did have some light-hearted moments with Adam impersonating Jo.   Jo keeps Mac's nameplate cos she knows he's going to come back.   Think Lindsay arriving on a firetruck from Montana to be part of the 'bucket brigade' was just written in to tie her to New York and actually being here at the time.   Maybe that was the reason that prompted her to to return here for good.   Although she appeared a bit dim when Adam chose her to be the one to open up to when he tells her where he was and she has to ask about what.   His guilt of having to lie about where he was when asked, when he really slept through it all.   He was probably not the only one that happened to.   Yet we can all remember where we were and what we were doing on that fateful day.  Can't say much for Lindsey's outfit either.

Good to see them all formally dressed and Danny in a suit, as well as Flack wearing his suit too, if only for a while.   Then again the episode belonged to Mac and his grief, the time he would never get with Claire.   The little things that reminded him.   Sharing his feelings with Joe, getting to change his mind about coming to the ceremony at the Brooklyn Wall of Remembrance.

Mac saying a prayer again shows his religiousness and that's how we met him in season 1's Blink episode, in church.   That was an idea put forward by Gary to Anthony Zuiker.   This episode also had Mac looking across to the empty skyline.   Now he goes to the beach to remember and to say another farewell with the opera tickets which he had kept for ten years.   Mac still suffers with the pain of losing Claire, also the monologue in season 1 where he spoke about the beachball containing Clarie's breath.  Maybe another reason why he went to the beach, but this wasn't alluded to. Neither was the beach ball.  

Also in 1.22 The Closer, he thinks it's time to move on, he tells Stella, "When the Towers fell and Claire died, it was the clearest definition of what is unjust and unfair in this world, and I was powerless to do anything about it.   All those innocent lives - but here I just need to do this."  (He helped a convicted wrongly by re-examining his case.) He also added he liked the possibility of being able to change things.   But his moving on should happen now, as he's able to see some closure.  

Mac went to the opera with Peyton (Claire Forlani) in season 3.7 Murder Sings the Blues.  So from that episode we saw that he still used to go, perhaps he just needed someone to go with.   But things didn't work out with Peyton.   Here was a bit of continuity again with Mac having tickets for the opera for Claire.

Hawkes was attending the wounded and injured along with Sid.   When we met him in Blink, Hawkes didn't venture out of the morgue until much later, a direct consequence of 9/11.   As for this week's case, that was practically open and shut.   Devon was the most apparent suspect, heck she was the only suspect, as it was an inside job.   She was so immaculate in recalling the details of what the robbers were wearing, not to mention being away at the time of the robbery.   The way she shot Sean, so callous, did she believe he would turn her in?  They could have spoken about it but she was too high.   Also the way she didn't recall what day it was, showing she was so caught up in her own insignificant problems.   A little like Lindsay when Adam speaks to her and she asks him, "What about?"

Jo and Flack sharing a moment when she tells him he's a great detective, isn't he just!!  Hints of a possible romance there, then again maybe not.   But remember where you heard it first, ha.   An excellent, poignant episode with the amount of time available to the writers/producers and the reconstruction of the aftermath in the street scenes was so hauntingly realistic.  Gary's scene was filmed at Coney Island.   Gary's thoughts on the anniversary of 9/11, "The more I gave, the more I healed."  He was instrumental in getting the Wall built. "The efforts to support the building of the two 9/11 memorials.   The pentagon and the Brooklyn Wall of Remembrance were a special privilege."

He wrote in the Daily Beast last year, "I 'd been pitching an idea to the writers about doing an episode that would focus on the 9/11 anniversary and feature the Brooklyn Wall of Remembrance...when we left each other we said; 'If we come back, our season premiere has to be this episode since it's the tenth anniversary of the September 11 attacks'.   It's time to do this episode."  He continued, "It's a very personal episode and it's our way of paying tribute and honouring the men and women who sacrificed that day in service of the city of New York."

Castle - 1.6: "Always Buy Retail" Review

Castle and Beckett investigate two ritual killings which are apparently connected but it's not apparent. Castle's first ex-wife arrives in town intending to stay which riles everyone.

A voodoo ritual is invoked.   Castle (Nathan Fillion) engages in a romp with his first ex-wife Meredith (Darby Stanchfield) and to think just last week, he told Beckett (Stana Katic) he couldn't find the right girl to marry, from this we see why.  He's not really into the whole love and marriage scene!  She throws a spanner in the 'no-strings attached sex with the ex', by saying she's moving back to New York, much to Castle's chagrin, since women are only there for one thing for him.   Okay I'm being harsh I know, never mind.  

The DB from the earlier voodoo ritual is found by a homeless man states Esposito (Jon Heurtas) and Castle has to publicly announce he's had sex with his first ex-wife, which is a "special brand of hell..." and something akin to a guilty pleasure of having a deep fried Twinkie.  He tells them to look for a pouch in his mouth, identifying a ritual killing.   Beckett just says it's a ritual killing and then asks Castle how he knows  it's voodoo.   Is there no end to her questioning the obvious.  No really I know I say this every episode, but she isn't really a good detective when it comes down to it.

 Ryan (Seamus Dever) mentions voodoo being native to Africa, he reads too; as Castle mentions the bowl of blood ceremony and the pouch are an offering.   He wrote about it in his sixth novel, Unholy Storm.   He doesn't recognize the symbol on the charm, which was in the pouch from the DB's mouth.   If they find out why it was there then they'll find the killer.

Castle has done research on voodoo and reads from his book, which does include some factual stuff.   Not coincidence but the extract he reads is about  a naked woman!  He has another source.  Claiming Meredith is a million times more annoying than he is, that's true, so is Beckett a million times more annoying, ha.   She took Alexis (Molly Quinn) to lunch when she was 9 in Paris.   But the sex with crazy people is unbelievable.  Beckett: "How shallow are you?" Castle: "Very."  Hey with his reply, my comment wasn't so harsh after all.  

His research is Michelle, (Nicky Micheaux) who describes the symbols as opening the crossroads into the spiritual world.   The charms are an offering to a voodoo saint called upon to find something missing.   She spent time in Nigeria and practices.   Beckett is very closed minded and again judgemental when she frowns upon her doing this occult practice.   Michelle: "Occult is in the eye of the beholder." Beckett turns her nose up at the cow's foot stew also.   Castle; "technically cow is beef."  Voodoo is a peaceful ritual.   The man was killed because he had something the killer wants.

Ryan calls about another DB, Darcy Cho, a lawyer.  There's that surname 'Cho' again, re The Mentalist and was also used again in a season 2 episode. She has the same stab wounds and Castle comments she was staged the same way.  Also another charm and chicken blood in the bowl, says Esposito.   Funnily enough Lanie (Tamala Jones) was missing this episode and not a mention of her as far as the DBs were concerned.   Castle explains there was a charm in her mouth so the killer didn't find what he was looking for.  Ryan mentions that was written in chapter 10, that's how he knows.  Beckett needs to find how the Vics were connected.   Meredith takes Alexis out of school for shopping, she can tell her teacher her mother's a liar of she wants to get out of it.

Ryan questions Jill Button (Laura Simms) Darcy's best friend, she doesn't know the first Vic.   Darcy's firm also did Immigration work.   Captain Montgomery: (Reuben Santiago-Hudson)  "First victim gets killed in a religious ritual, then history repeats itself with his lawyer the very same day."  Castle and his witty comment about, "there's a lawyer joke there somewhere, I just can't think of it."  Esposito identifies the DB as Jamal from the INS database, his visa's expired.   he kept in touch with  a boy and he has his phone number, which will give them a  billing address.  Castle and Beckett find it difficult to climb 6 stories, need some exercise and not the sort Castle had in the opening either!  Castle comments slum housing isn't  a better start for them and Beckett thinks it's an improvement on what some of them had.  Inside, Castle notices red flannel and candles inside a bag (again not very observant Beckett, as I previously observed.)

Azi ( Aldis Hodge) denies the killings since the things aren't his, but were Charles Oni's (Dohn Norwood) he owns their housing, they work for him.   Jamal had a stall in Canal Street.   Oni thinks they took something of his and made Azi show him how to conduct the ritual.   Oni goes under the alias of Robert Burnett and Castle says Azi hasn't heard of Darcy so they still don't know what the Vics had in common, until Meredith arrives on the scene, I should say the Deep-fried Twinkie, and gives them a clue.  (Again it's always someone connected with Castle who comes up with the clues, loosely connected to Castle, in her case.)

When she points out the SJP (Sarah Jessica Parker) handbag.   Calling Beckett the "new muse."  Meredith was Castle's inspiration once, "Right, Kitten." Embarrassing him in front of everyone.   Didn't think he'd be that thin skinned.   Castle: "I had a dream once - only I was naked and less embarrassed."  Now we know it's the little things that get him embarrassed, not something like being naked.   Well we could've guessed that.  The bag is a fake and knock-offs are sold on Canal Street.   Beckett figures Oni's stall connects the two Vics.

Everyone's throwing around 'Kitten' and 'Deep-Fried Twinkie'!  especially Beckett.   Castle points out to Martha (Susan Sullivan) that he nearly had to repeat the Fifth Grade when she was looking out for him.   She was working and trying to be a mother.   Meredith being here is having an effect on all of them.   He uses a piece of string for his papers and she suggests he should get a cork board.  Castle thinks he could get Meredith arrested in New York, he knows people now.   She asks why he married her, cos maybe Meredith reminded him of Martha.

Esposito and Ryan talk handbags and Castle asks if "you ladies picking out something pretty for yourselves."  Inside the store the bags gave been cut up and there's another symbol on the floor, again one Castle has seen before, the symbol for death and Oni has been 'marked for death.'  He then spots cameras across the road, well the TV in the window and Beckett thinks he's being stupid.   She has failed to observe once more.  He's having a breakthrough and modestly retorts, "I really am ruggedly handsome aren't I?" (!)  He's interested in hearing what people get up to in the window of the store, especially as it involves yet another naked woman.  

Beckett asks the owner, Oscar ( Michael Benyaer) if he could describe the man who bought the camera in the window to a sketch artist.   Duh what does she think is in the store!  Then she asks why he took the camera and the recordings.   Thank you Castle for answering he was looking for someone just like they were looking for him!  Hey he doesn't put his hand up anymore to ask questions or make a point.

Oni is stopped at JFK under the name of Robert Burnett, he wants protection in return for his info, think he meant the spiritual kind of protection.   Baylor (Robert Okumu) killed them.   Oni is a counterfeiter and he kept the appears in the bag, needed for Baylor's brother.   They weren't papers, it was a passport.   Castle gets his own flak jacket/vest made up for himself with the words 'Writer' on the front and back, so he doesn't get shot.   But Beckett stops him from going in with them.   Like he'll listen.   His phone rings inside the building.   It's Meredith pretending to be Alexis.   She's found a perfect place for herself and she wants him to co-sign the loan.   They're divorced and he's not going to pay.   Baylor drives past him in an SUV, which Castle can't describe or recall the number plate.   It's hard being a witness, though he's observant, what happened now, he was distracted.   Ryan asks him the colour of his shirt, well that's easy, it's almost always some shade of blue.

Inside the building they find red flannel and yoga leaflets.   Castle: "...just because he's a cold blooded killer, doesn't mean you don't take care of yourself."   They always give him a line about being a cold blooded killer, or a killer.   Beckett finds the camera and Castle notices a woman with a yoga mat buying a handbag.   Beckett now says that's why  Baylor bought the camera, er thought that was already said!  Her coffee mug gives the location to a yoga class held near Canal Street and directs them towards Diana (Debbie Campbell).  Castle is into yoga or just women who are into yoga as he mentions a yoga position, or was that more hands-on research!   Beckett calls him 'Kitten' again for the fourth time, wearing a bit thin now.

Beckett finds a passport in the bag, see no papers and Baylor arrives for a shoot out, she's not a very good shooter either, Castle has to come to her aid with popping the cork bottle so it sounds like a bullet enabling her to take a shot at him.   He's written this scene a hundred times.   As well as taking a photo with his phone to show her Baylor's location.   Beckett: "What is it with you and phones."  They come in handy.   Also allowing him to drink from the bottle and then a glass.  This was his first gun battle and Beckett calls it his last.   He probably saved her life, so she owes him whatever he wants "and you know exactly what I want don't you - don't you ever call me Kitten." No it wasn't what she was thinking and she did seem a little perturbed that's what he came up with!  She was thinking more of a proposition and not of the marriage variety either.

Alexis loves her mother but doesn't like having her around.   Castle got Meredith a role in an Indy movie, obvious from the start he was going to find a way to get rid of her, but no part for Martha.   It was an investment opportunity.   Alexis is relieved since raising one parent is enough for her.

Aside from yet more insights into Castle's character where women are concerned, especially his ex, just to show us the sort of women he goes for, flaky much; and the one liners, not much happening in this episode.   The storyline could have been taken in a different direction, with some scary moments, but not the case, appears it's cos everyone reads a lot and know all about voodoo to a certain extent; whereas Beckett just doesn't believe it's a plausible religion.

In season 1 episode Red Rum of The Mentalist, a football star is found in a ritualistic pose attributed to black magic and also a sacrifice.   Lisbon (Robin Tunney) doesn't believe black magic exists.   Patrick (Simon Baker) however enjoys the occult experience, but not everyone does, like Cho (Tim Kang) who is clearly uneasy.   In Castle, everyone took the voodoo in their stride, as though they're common occurrences - aside from Beckett, naturally, who took Michelle's beliefs with a pinch of salt, so a little like Lisbon in that respect, but that's as far as the similarities go between the two.  

The title is a take on the old adage, "always buy wholesale."

Let's see lawyer jokes: lawyers don't need voodoo cos they specialize in their own patented brand of black magic.   The only ritual lawyers know is making money.

CSI: Miami - 8.2: "Hostile Takeover" Review

It's Jesse's first day back at the Miami Dade lab and he's greeted by an all out explosive takeover. It's as if nothing has changed since he's been away and in those few seconds, he's taken hostage along with some other

Calleigh (Emily Procter) hasn't taken a personal day to be with Delko (Adam Rodriguez) as the department lawyer doesn't want them to see each other, whilst they investigate the case from last season.   Delko had to be mentioned here as he's not in this episode and was meant to leave, but stuck around.   Calleigh sounds so callous when she tells Natalia (Eva LaRue) that she did shoot at Delko and she's meant to have feelings for the guy.   She was so non-chalant.  Probably a line added in from last episode when she said, in the flashback, that she doesn't socialize with her co-workers.   That line she crossed, but here makes it appear as if she doesn't mix her work and personal lives.   She states, coldly, that Delko was a suspect at an active crime scene.

Jesse (Eddie Cibrian) returns in the nick of time to get into the thick of it all.   Conveniently he also had to have his gun put away.  A helmeted man takes Jesse, Danielle (Monique Gabriele Curnen) and some other techs hostage.   Rick Stetler (David Lee Smith) takes the call, he's taking charge, but the hostage taker (HT) asks for Horatio (David Caruso) in person (and who wouldn't.)  They've got 10 minutes to get him here before he starts killing a hostage.   True to form Horatio arrives with 10 seconds to spare!  Cue credits.   No more one-liners from Horatio anymore, that was disappointing!

Even though Horatio is in charge, Rick still gives orders, he's SOC and wants the AC cut.   Horatio doesn't want to antagonize the HT, it's still his lab, thus his responsibility.   The altercations between Horatio and Rick are compulsive viewing, with their bitter rivalries stemming back years, also highlighting both of their feelings for Horatio's sister-in-law, Yelina (Sofia Milos).   Which in many ways contributed to their dislike of each other, after Horatio found out Rick was abusing her.

Calleigh tells Rick the firearms lab is bullet proof, so SWAT wouldn't be able to take a shot.   As if Rick wouldn't already know that.   It pays to be prepared and in a hostage situation, all angles have to be covered!  HT lays down another rule, he must answer the phone within one minute.   He should call him 'Ted' (Sharif Atkins).  Horatio attempts to calm him down, people find themselves in bad situations all the time, that's why he's there (I added that on!)  He has to see "justice is done."

Ted's rule 3: if he sees a cop, he'll shoot.   He did see a cop, Jesse was right there and he did shoot, but not at him.   Calleigh analyzes the camera footage and spots a man, but can't see his face.   He drove to the lab and his van is parked outside.   Ryan (Jonathan Togo) checks it out.   Calleigh sees Jesse who isn't meant to be here for another week.   Ted wants boxes in front of the window, so Jesse can also hide his ID.   Which was close, since he next tells them to empty their pockets; and for some reason, it's Jesse's licence he picks from there.   Jesse tells Ted "he'll leave here in a box, I guarantee it."  Well that didn't happen either, but he was being suspicious by telling Ted that.   Ryan finds blueprints of the lab and the van is clean.   Tripp (Rex Linn) comments Ted knows the lab better than they do.  He has to doesn't he, for the best escape route.   Ryan also finds a bottle of diazepam.

Horatio knows he's not Ted and he mentions Tanya, which prompts Horatio to check out that name.  Danielle freezes when he wants the fan turned on but he shoots her, accidentally.   Horatio wants in so he goes, telling Rick this isn't about him, but the life of the hostages.   In a scene appealing to many female viewers, we get Jesse taking his shirt off! to help Danielle.   Oh no, it's only his first day back and the one and only time he's shirtless!  Ted hears Danielle ask Jesse if he really wants to work here, letting the cat out of the bag that he's a cop.

Horatio walks in and Ted comments "you look just like you do on TV."  Wonder if there was a pun there somewhere, not to mention an in-joke, cos he does look like he does on TV.   That was the entire reason Ted was here, as he's seen Horatio on TV and needs his help, not wanting to go through the normal channels.   If he knew Horatio would help him, why didn't he do exactly that, as Horatio says, he should have come to him.   Unlike other cops, Horatio would've listened.   After all, he's said that to his team often enough.   They know they can talk to him, but somehow don't.   He demands money but it has to be specifically from the place he says, a cheque cashing place.   Ryan tells the owner they'll have to give him an IOU.   Well that was obvious, Ted sending them there meant something wasn't quite right about him.

When they came out of the building, it was apparent that was Jesse, as he had his trademark boots on and also thankfully Horatio noticed, he's no fool.   Anyone else wouldn't have.   In a scene reminiscent of the CSI:NY season 3 episode, Snow Day, where the Irish terrorists also used the same ploy to escape.   Sloane left the bag of money behind for Horatio as a clue.   Horatio examined it there and then with the UV.   The security strip was meant to be yellow, not blue, thus the money was counterfeit.  Ripley (Rick Hoffman) has tell tale burn marks on his hands from where he's stripped the ink from the money.  He names Ted as Sloane and that he put in all his life savings and lost them.

Sloane's ex wife, Tanya (Latarsha Rose) has a restraining order out on him and is now married to Lloyd Arrington (Robert Gant).  He claims Sloane kicked in their front door and ran.   That's really strange.   From what we've seen of him, he'd do more than just kick in the door, at least that was the implication.   He wouldn't just run away.   Take that story with a pinch of salt.  Their son, Jason (Scotty Noyd Jr) doesn't have a phone so can't call his father.   You can be sure where a child is involved Horatio's more determined to get to the bottom of this in his usual manner.   He cares about people and victims, but he cares about children just that little bit more.

Horatio tells Jesse he's "picked up where he left off" and that he doesn't need to ask to stay with the case.   Well Jesse needed to investigate, to put right Calleigh's assumption Sloane abused his son.   Horatio wants Sloane to turn himself in, but he's still got to get the person who ruined his life.   There appeared to be more action and less analysis in this episode.   They need to open Jason's Family Court file.   Calleigh asks why Sloane would kick in the door and leave.   She examines the door and finds a hair.   Natalia analyzes the hair to identify the white substance as sodium and sea salt.   The hair matches Arrington, who must have kicked in the door and left his hair behind, which gathered salt from the sea air.

Horatio questions Arrington who "used the system to kick a man who was already down." Jason accused his father of abuse in his affidavit .   Horatio stipulates there's only one way to find out what really happened, "follow the evidence."  Haven't heard that since the early days of the CSI shows.  

Calleigh is convinced Sloane abused Jason, which Jesse riles her out over and he was right to do that.   She hasn't analyzed anything yet, or followed the evidence as Horatio said and yet she jumps the gun and makes accusations.   She never used to do that before.  Remember that's not their job, to decide whether someone is innocent or guilty.   Jesse is on the side of the underdog, Sloane, which gave him an interesting slant, since I thought that was because there was something going on with him, or something he's been through personally, which made him say that.   Jason broke his arm two weeks ago, so it couldn't have been Sloane.  

Horatio had to be the one to talk to Jason, he'll put things right.   When questioning his mother, he's not forgiving of her actions and who would be.   Horatio: "There is no excuse for what you did, ever!"  Sloane upon seeing the TV news, surrenders to Horatio and tells Jason, Horatio will look after him.

At the bar, the CSIs have drinks and Natalia is clearly  making a play for Jesse.   Horatio gives him his new Miami-Dade PD shield.   New guy buys and Horatio orders a club soda, cos he has to drive them.

So Jesse left after helping to solve a case last episode and returns to find himself in yet another.   It's as if he never left.   Wouldn't think they'd have Miami-Dade PD reception right where the labs are.   CSI:NY hasn't got a reception, not that we've seen and the CSI one is near the doors, but they're on the ground floor.     It was great to see the writers plunge Jesse straight in at the deep end, but at the same time, we knew it wasn't going to be for long ( as we get the show a year later in the UK) so again there wasn't much time for his character to be developed and he had the makings of an interesting and fun character.   Someone who was different as he clearly doesn't jump to conclusions and during the season, we'll see how he helps them out a lot with their investigations, clues etc.

Lie To Me - 1.3: "A Perfect Score" Review

Cal and Ria look into the murder of a judge's daughter, whilst Gillian and Eli investigate the crash of a NASA pilot. Cal has issues of trust with his daughter.

Cal (Tim Roth) is on the phone to his daughter, Emily (Hayley McFarland) and he realizes she's lying, when she tells him she's going to a sleep-over.   Gillian (Kelli Williams) tells him she's at that age and she needs to have secrets.   FBI agent Dardis (Anthony Ruivivar) contacts the firm to look into the murder of a judge's daughter.  Judge Stark (Isabella Hofman) is a presidential appointee, so the case needs to be handled carefully.   Yeah that's Dr Cal Lightman, really diplomatic and tactful!

 Ria (Monica Raymund) and Cal meet with the judge, using their obligatory video recording of their meetings.   Cal asks for her happiest memory of her daughter, Danielle (Grace Bannon).   The judge doesn't know what he means and thinks him insensitive.   He then questions her about Danielle's death and how she felt, it being the worst day of her life.   Knew the question was coming when she asks Cal if he has children. To top it off, he also has a daughter, so he knows exactly how she feels, though he won't admit it.

Looking over the video tape, he asks how much importance Danielle placed on her friends.   He also shows Gillian and Dardis footage of a woman who murdered her children, noting the judge's facial reaction and comparing them to the woman.   Both their facial expressions are similar: they have no facial reaction at all.   Emily is brought in by the police and looks worse for wear.   She threw a party at her mother's house and invited over 100 people.   Both Emily's action and Danielle's position shows how important friends and socializing are to teens.   The lesson in Danielle's case being that friends can also harm.   Something which Emily doesn't seem to grasp, and appears naive.   Emily's punishment is to tidy one of Cal's store rooms after school.

At Danielle's funeral, Cal asks Ria for a piece of gum, which he chews and sticks on the bulb of the lamp, waiting for it to explode, garnering a reaction  from the judge.   Her forehead is devoid of any reaction leading Cal to conclude she has been using botox to mask her age, but her eyes showed emotion.

Gillian, who I think gets the menial, secondary storyline/cases, and Eli (Brendan Hines) look into the plane crash of a NASA pilot.   NASA Director Schaumberg ( Matt Malloy) believes David (Sasha Roiz)  is lying since his father is a Russian .   He tells Gillian he didn't crash the plane on purpose and loves his country.   At the funeral, Danielle's friends talk about her and one of them, Riley (Sarah Ramos) can't control her emotions.  She looked like she was overdoing the tears, crocodile in her case.   Ria calls her popular and Cal equates this with lying.  The more popular the person, the better the liar.   He later asks Emily when she became interested in being popular too.

Riley's face was asymmetrical which Ria believes shows her emotions aren't heartfelt.   What if the person has an asymmetrical face anyway.   Ria: "When a person's facial expression is not symmetrical across their face, it is likely that they were pretending to feel the emotion.   Article in the Journal of behavioural Science 2001." Cal replies, "Sucking up's not your strong point."  Riley wasn't shocked by Danielle's death.   Cal asks if she's just plucked her eyebrows, signs are easier to detect.   He then tells Ria he made that up.
 Ria: "You never told me about the eyebrow plucking thing, where did you read about that?"
Cal: "Nowhere, because it's complete crap." Ria's taken to quoting Cal from his journal article and includes the date.   Think he finds that a tad unnerving, but recovers soon enough.   Especially coming hot on the heels of last episode's comment about her not having any 'scientific experience'.   Danielle was apparently into drugs, as Riley tells them.

A visit to the exclusive prep school and  a meeting with the headmistress, Jonas (April Parker-Jones) reveals the school has a zero tolerance policy on violations of the code.   Cal wants her to announce a locker search, he doesn't actually want to search them; only to see the reaction of the pupils.   Gillian tells the Director David isn't lying and he could have suffered a hysterical blackout: something associated with suicide.   Watching videos of his other flights,  she finds he was suffering from depression.   Emily finds a photo of Cal on one of his research trips, where he appears to be stoned, or in her words, "baked."  Eli tells her he cares for her and is worried.

At the school, Cal asks questions, whilst gaging the pupil's reactions, picking out one boy whom the others don't maintain any eye contact with.   He tells Cal he's aware of his rights as his father's a lawyer and from his reaction, his elbow on the chair, Cal works out his father is a tax lawyer.   He admits he sold Danielle ADD drugs to help her concentrate on her work.   When Jonas asks them to leave, as she enters with Riley's father, Keith (Steve Flynn) Cal notices her rub her hand as a sign of keeping a secret.   Ria later speaks with her and she tells Ria of the rewards system where the best students are given entry to the best schools/unis.

David's wife, Hillary (Christian Corp) says he was under pressure and he controlled it, but she's lying.   Gillian says she means she controlled it and believes David was on medication.   Eli asks NASA to perform a tox screen on David.   Emily says sorry to Cal for lying - not for having the party.   The judge's alibi is confirmed and from Danielle's academic record, Ria finds Danielle's SAT score improved, after she died.   Her teacher admits she took the test for her, but they had an argument when she confronted Danielle about it.   Cal doesn't think she's lying since a guilty person wouldn't admit to arguing.   He needs to see the video footage from the cameras in the hall.

David tests positive for anti-anxiety medication which he knows nothing about.   Hillary admits she was secretly dosing him and he admits he feels much better about her and the children.   On the video, Danielle's reflection, seen in the trophy, is one of surprise about the test.   The judge paid her teacher to take the test for Danielle so that she would get into a good school.   Riley was also cheating and Danielle found about this.   Riley's father admits he killed Danielle, but when he's shown photos of a clown and then Danielle's DB, he genuinely acts shocked.   He doesn't want her to go to prison.

 Riley was obvious as the suspect, being popular, she was the one they fully concentrated on from the outset.   The same with Hillary.   Both featured bouts of drug-taking, for different reasons.   Yet there was something missing, a lack of cohesion, as the stories jumped from one to the other.   Think it would have been better to concentrate on one story, than another ancillary one, which frankly wasn't that interesting.

Cal's reaction when Gillian tells him NASA thinks David is lying, "That's not surprising, since the whole space programme is based on lies."

Isabella Hofman likes playing judges, she also played one in NCIS season 7 episode, where she actually killed.   Danielle Stark was a character name many years ago in Aussie soap Neighbours.

The Vampire Diaries - 3.5: "The Reckoning" Review

Klaus finally catches up with Elena, as she finally sees just how much Stefan has changed for the worse. Klaus successfully turns Tyler into a hybrid with the use of Elena's blood.

Noises come from the empty school.   Matt (Zach Roerig) exercises and a shadow is seen behind him.   He enters the classroom and steps on the mousetrap, forgetting about Senior Prank night.   Elena (Nina Dobrev) says they're creating memories and walks straight into Klaus (Joseph Morgan) who claims she's meant to be dead.

Damon (Ian Somerhalder) and Katherine drive around getting away from Mystic Falls since she's convinced him she knows of a way to kill Klaus and not "dagger dead, but dead, dead."  He kisses her, then throws her back, "Truth is you don't do it for me anymore."  No, cos he's into her doppelganger.   Rebekah (Claire Holt) finds that's what Stefan's (Paul Wesley) been hiding, that the doppelganger is still alive.   Stefan loves Elena and Rebekah is jealous.   Klaus is angry that he broke the curse to make more hybrids and he can't do that cos Elena's alive.   He sends everyone in the gym home.   Then calls Dana (Anna Enger) back.   he compels her to keep one leg in the air and Chad (Mark Buckland) is to beat her if she stops.

Damon throws the car keys away cos he wants to talk first.   Klaus needs Elena's necklace and Katherine has it for leverage after stealing it from Bonnie.   Katherine wants to do whatever it takes to stop Klaus, which included bringing Jeremy (Steven R McQueen) along in the boot (trunk) of the car.   Caroline's (Candice Accola) thinks about Matt and wants him to be happy.  Rebekah was so trying to be Buffy!  "I'm the new girl."  Matt wants to see Vicki (Kayla Ewell).   Small town where everyone not only seems to be related to everyone else but knows what's going on, as you do in such places, well almost everyone does.

Matt wonders how life got so messy and he's not into Prank night.   Funny, in Australia pranks are played when you leave school, for good.   Vicki talks to Matt but he can't hear.   Klaus blames Bonnie (Katrina Graham) for Elena being alive.   When he turns a werewolf into a vampire hybrid, they die during the transformation as we saw in episode 3.2.   He needs her to find a way to save them and quickly, as he kills Tyler.   (Michael Trevino).   Stefan removes the rod from himself.   Tyler's not dead as his blood will turn him into a vampire, as Elena explains for newcomers to the show, or those who just plain forgot, ha.

Rebekah says the original doppelganger was much prettier.   Bonnie explains the curse put on Klaus by the original witch dates back a thousand years and her Grimoire doesn't go that far back.   Bonnie can't contact the dead, only Jeremy can and he's with Katherine.   Katherine is searching for a way to kill Klaus and Pearl told her a vampire who killed Klaus, but wouldn't tell her how.  She only told Anna and they're all dead.

Stefan wants forgiveness and to "pledge my loyalty" to Klaus.   Elena doesn't mean anything to him.   He wants Damon dead.   Klaus knows Stefan is lying, still he hasn't learned that Rebekah and Klaus can see through him.   Come on through all those years of being a vampire, Stefan hasn't perfected lying.   Klaus only wanted his loyalty and compels Stefan to obey, which he does.   Klaus: "Come on. Your humanity is killing you.   All the guilt must be exhausting."

Damon: "Stop with the teeny bopper drama."  Anna won't help them.   Mikael (Sebastian Roche) is looking for him, the vampire who hunts all vampires and will kill them all.   Now wouldn't it have been better to have kept a spare set of car keys or to not have thrown them away at all.

Klaus: "The species have become such a broody lot."  That's a reference to Angel.   Elena blabs about Katherine having her necklace  There's 20 minutes to find a cure or feed on Elena.   Matt's keys are in the pool, really all about keys this episode.   Vicki throws his shoe in the pool.    Bonnie will bring Matt back from the dead, all she needs is CPR.   He chains himself to the weights and jumps in the pool.   Damon gets a text from Bonnie about Klaus.   He's heading back and Katherine posits the Damon she knew wouldn't be that stupid.   Damon: "I wouldn't have done it for you."  But there was a time back then when he did everything for Katherine.

Matt can see Vicki now.   Bonnie gets a message about Elena not surviving, hybrids can't transition but Elena's still alive.   Elena says Caroline's dad can't resist compulsion.   Stefan can't stop since he's a ripper, he only hears Elena's heart pumping blood.  She tries to convince him to fight cos he loves her and he owes her that much.   He craves blood and Tyler awakes.   Klaus will choose the hybrid.   Stefan stakes himself.   Elena runs and Klaus finds her.   Klaus compelled him and tests Tyler on Elena, he knows her blood is the cure.   Tyler needs to feed anyway.

Elena wakes in hospital to find her blood is being collected for Klaus.   Klaus knew he needed to do the opposite of what the original witch said.   The doppelganger had to die  - die to become the hybrid, but if she was dead then her blood couldn't be used for Klaus to sire the new species.   Klaus doesn't want to be alone, made a pledge to Stefan he wouldn't kill Damon, but Stefan doesn't care about that now.   Damon lets on Mikael is here causing Klaus to vanish.   Tyler insists he's better and Damon carries Elena out.   Tyler: "This is going to be an amazing year."  For the show, ha.   Matt is the only normal one out of them and shouldn't be a part of this.

Damon tells Elena he can make her forget the memories she doesn't want to keep, but she must remember it all.   He gives her back the necklace.   Damon berates himself for not being here, well as much as he could berate himself, he's Damon after all.  Elena wanted him to be here after all, so much for her not wanting him.    He promises never to leave her again.   Stefan returns home to protect Elena.  Jeremy is in Charlotte where Katherine finds Mikael.

Lots of repeat action this episode - with characters from the past appearing and disappearing, such as Vicki.   As I mentioned in the season 2 finale, Damon's and Stefan's roles have now been reversed too, with Stefan taking over Damon's obligatory bad vampire- with-attitude role.   Elena determined to get Stefan to fight Klaus and his hold on him - like Stefan wanting her to fight last season - fight becoming a sacrifice for Klaus.   Tyler now a hybrid is meant to be dangerous, but Caroline doesn't seem to notice or care, just as long as she has him back.   Mother doesn't know about Tyler being a hybrid.

Stefan is now a fully confessed, brooding Angelus.   Liked the way Katherine jumped in head first, or is that heart first, cos she doesn't use her head,  to find Mikael and bring him back to take care of Klaus as he's a vampire killer and what is she and the others? Vampires   Also how she didn't want Damon to return to face Klaus and yet here she is with Mikael.

Stargate Atlantis - 5.10: "First Contact" Review

Daniel returns to Atlantis in order to help Rodney find Janus's lost, secret lab. Rodney and 'help' do not go together. Todd is also back to undergo the treatment Jennifer has developed.

Rodney (David Hewlett) needs help with the database research and Daniel Jackson (Michael Shanks) returns with info on Janus which may lead them to his secret lab on Atlantis where he conducted research.  It's on "an isle of solitude within the city walls."  He thinks it's probably in one of the hallways.

Woolsey (Richard Picardo) has to meet Todd (Christopher Heyerdahl) and his Hive for a negotiation and Sheppard (Joe Flanigan) wants to attend too, but Sheppard is his second in command and must remain here.  Woolsey: "Try not to blow her up while I'm gone."  Sheppard: "No promises."  Hey I was a bit slow on the uptake but this is what happened whilst Woolsey is away!

Jennifer (Jewel Staite) must also go and for this reason Ronon (Jason Momoa) tags along as he doesn't trust the Wraith.

Daniel ponders the possibility of a remote location for the lab and notices the missing sconces from the wall which fell when Atlantis was flooded.  The sconces made a different tone when touched.  Daniel believes it's a puzzle and they must be activated in order.  Rodney has a go at pushing the wall and Daniel falls though.  The sconces were akin to a controlled harmonic magnetic resonance but better.  The lab is discovered and a red light activates, sending a signal to another device on a distant planet.

Woolsey has a speech all prepared as the day deserves some recognition, cos the Wraith are big on speeches, as long as they can devour the host afterwards. Ha.

Sheppard is impressed with the wall and wonders what would happen if you're in the middle of the wall and the sound goes off.  Rodney can't wait to answer that the wall would break your body.  He found that amusing too.  Sheppard thinks he and Daniel make a good team but neither one agrees.  Rodney comments Sheppard could have been in MENSA and they both laugh.  Yeah it's great making fun of the guy who'll save your butts!

The Daedalus meets Todd who ignores the speech.  He doubts the plan will be effective and wants to drop the pleasantries to work.  Daniel posits everything is a competition with Rodney who didn't believe Daniel would find anything.  Daniel was ridiculed for his theories which turned out to be true, as was Rodney.  Yet none of them signed on to be famous.  Daniel jokes he did it for the money, which prompts Rodney to ask how much he earns, knew that was coming.

A hyperspace window opens and a ship approaches Atlantis, penetrating the shield.  Amelia (Sharon Taylor) comments Ancient ships have the ability to do just that.  Three aliens in spacesuits fly and enter the city, stealing the device with the red light, as as well as abducting Daniel and Rodney. One alien is shot and is left behind.

Zelenka (David Nykl) analyzes the suited DB under the medical scanner as it reacted to Rodney's ATA gene.  Sheppard and Rodney, wherever he is now, explain what happened in different ways which was funny since Rodney's would be more scientifically biased.  Rodney needs to think of something. He always does, but not when it comes to an escape plan.  Zelenka finds an EM field is disrupting the scanner.  Sheppard believes they've made first contact and he should cut the suit open. A light activates on the suit and explodes.

Jennifer talks of the data showing the treatment will work and asks if Todd wants it too.  It's for all their benefit as the Wraith rely on humans to feed.  Jennifer thinks, rather naively, the human/Wraith war is over.  Todd asks what they would then become.  The suited aliens want the device to work and Rodney thinks they're probably in another secret Janus lab.  Rodney takes over once again, as is in his nature, ha.

Zelenka is having problems dumbing down the math to explain to Sheppard what's happening. Rodney thinsk it's an endgame machine spelling the end of the Wraith once and for all.  Each race has different hyperdrives and if the device works safely then the Wraith hyperdrives and ships will be ripped apart.  Daniel knows there must be a catch as it can't be that simple.  Rodney refers to it as unforeseen side-effects.  Last time they were in such a position they destroyed the solar system.  Daniel suggests they reason with them.  They are given one hour or Daniel will be killed. Daniel wonders why they wear suits and does it protect them. That's the key to figuring out who they are. Well since Daniel came up with that theory you can bet it's someone/something he's encountered before.  A bit of a clue really.  Trust Daniel to think of that.

There's no gate on the planet to get near the Daedalus with a jumper.  Daniel tells Rodney not to do this as they have a choice.  The device works and has side-effects.  Todd receives a message from his Hive.  They are under attack by a rival Hive and the ship exploded when it went into hyperspace.  Todd realizes the Attero device has been found.  Ronon sees Wraith on board. Rodney locates the log entry for the side-effects affecting the Galaxy and Atlantis.  Would the aliens really say, "step away from the device?"

Zelenka recods a power spike from the event horizon and the gate can't be closed, which could result in an explosion if the power builds up.  The shield is collapsed around the gate and the blast mustn't be looked at.  Zelenka can block off the radiation and the gate explodes with Sheppard and Zelenka still there.

Great to see a well-loved character in Daniel back on our screens and in the show just to give him and Rodney a chance to play off each other.  Okay, well that's one reason and to provide some eye candy for the rest of us shallow lot as Sheppard isn't enough!  Daniel was missed (as was Michael) and here there's planty covered to sink your teeth into.  Not least of which is Rodney's ever-present rivalry and Daniel was right when he said everything's a competition to him.

Ronon with Jennifer and he still hasn't won her over yet but we know she's more interested in Rodney.  As for the first contact with aliens, who turned out to be  - oh wait; it's not revealed in this part, I pre-empted myself. What I wanted to say was that with Daniel here we should have an inkling towards who was really under the suit.  But alas I was just enjoying the journey with Daniel around and got carried away.  At least he was brought back seeing as this was the final season.  A shame since Stargate: Atlantis could have gone for at least ten seasons like its sister show.

The Daniel/Rodney plot was more interesting than the Wraith plot about being given the new treatment to stop them feeding on humans.  Clearly the two were tied in together, with Todd thinking he's been double crossed when the ships explode.  Yet this isn't the only far-reaching consequences of the device.

Luckily Sheppard was on hand at Atlantis to help out and Ronon was on the Daedalus.  The cliff-hanger wasn't much since Sheppard is a lead character so nothing could happen to him or to Zelenka, since he was needed around to help too as Rodney wasn't.  It made for some thrilling action once again as Sheppard takes charge and bears the brunt of the exploding gate.  This being a clue as to what was happening all over the Pegasus Galaxy with the use of the device, unbeknown to Rodney and Daniel.

Chuck (Chuck Campbell) reads 'The Martian General's Daughter' by Theodore Judson and Dusty (Janina Gavankar) was also reading this in 5.7 Whispers.  The city was flooded by the hurricane in season 1 episodes The Storm and The Eye.

Michael Shanks in an interview with The Ledger spoke of "the most cryptic and enigmatic pitch of the story I've ever heard...'You go to Atlantis and something happens and Daniel has to help everybody to get rid of the bad guys that are coming'...Stargate is like old home.  It's always nice to be able to revisit that universe and those individuals and to play that character again."

CSI: NY - 8.2: "Keep It Real" Review

Mac returns to the crime lab as the CSIs investigate the murder of a man apparently for no reason, as his girlfriend is cleared. Jo finds out about Tyler's roommate and breaks the Mom code.

Two men watch a woman perform on stage, she is the girlfriend of one of them.   The man is later found shot.   Lindsay (Anna Belknap) is on the scene after Danny (Carmine Giovinazzo) has already arrived. Lots of lines follow about being busy and now she's looking for her husband, a police sergeant; scenes which always seem forced and oh so not romantic.   Miranda, (Aly Michalka) the girlfriend found Michael (Sean Davis) shot to death and didn't know what to do as she tells Flack.  (Eddie Cahill) Her dress is covered with his blood.  Mac (Gary Sinise) returns and Danny says he knew he'd be back, then Lindsay has to get the final word in saying it was her who told him Mac would return.

Mac suspects Michael was shot through the back and there's $20 notes lying around him.   Miranda thinks Michael was doing fine for money since he bought her an expensive guitar,  a Gibson from the shop where she works.   Her boss looked suspicious in the flashback and he was immediately my suspect.   His roommate, Josh (Sean Marquette) is nowhere to be found.   Hawkes (Hill Harper) wins the bet with Adam.  (AJ Buckley)  Hawkes bet he would return before November 30.   Adam tells Jo (Sela Ward) he bet Mac would never return.  He'd have been a sure fire winner if the show hadn't returned.   CSI:NY seems to be getting off on a slow start after last episode.   This one seemed to have been done before in places.

Jo has a meeting with with her son Tyler (Cody Longo) who tells her he's getting another roommate.   So naturally she's weary of this since the present case involves a murdered roommate and the missing one, Josh is a suspect.   Actually come to think of it, Jo never had much to do this episode or on this case.   Adam analyzes Miranda's dress  and wears a shirt with which he climbs through a broken glass window in the lab - something Mac missed when he was away.  The fabric caught on the broken glass at Michael's apartment.   Jo talks to Miranda and believes she's hiding something and suffered some sort of trauma.   Eventually Miranda opens up to her and tells her how her father's loss has affected her.   She loved Michael as he was different and her father would have approved of him.

Miranda explains Michael lost his keys and she climbed through the window after she broke it.   Josh had $12,000 in his account and was throwing money around at the club where he brought everyone drinks.   Hawkes shows Mac a photo of a tub found at the apartment used as aftercare lotion for tattoos.   Sid (Robert Joy) found no evidence of Michael having a tattoo so it must have been Josh's.   Sid tells Mac how he was the first one to get out, he was free and now he's back in the "institution" once more.   Sid discovered the entry wound on Michael's armpit so the  wound in his back was the exit wound.   Thus Mac infers there's still a missing bullet - so much for Lindsay's thorough investigative forensic gathering.   She missed a bullet.   She was too busy going one better over Danny.

Flack interviews Chad (Preston Jones) who gave Josh the tattoo. He wanted  a dolphin across his back and thinks he had some sort of animosity towards Miranda.   Hawkes finds the smudge Sid found on Michael's cheek consisted of glass cleaner, mineral oil, ink, auto degreaser, something we were lead to believe could have been from the tattoo parlour.   Lindsay analyzes the money and finds it's fake.   She takes a $5 from Mac and he obliges since she's his pet and converts it into a $20.   Josh gave Michael the money for the guitar and Mac concludes he ended up as collateral damage.  The snake skin found on Michael's clothes was from a boa constrictor and Hawkes found. It was discoloured by certain pigments which contain methlacylates and phenyl ketones.   The mixture also crystallizes under UV light.   Jo states acrylic paint and UV compounds are found in gel nail polish and recalls Randy's (Jake Busey) painted black nails when she and Flack questioned him earlier.   He claimed to be home, alone and asleep.

Josh has been tracked down by Danny as he was spending more fake money, this time he bought a gun.   Jo gets Alex's sealed record and Hawkes notices the remarkable artwork and admits he used to do graffiti when he was younger.   Adam tells Jo he had 12 roommates.   Josh is found holding a gun on Randy and Mac talks him out of shooting.   Randy owed money to his bookie and was beaten by him cos the money he got for the guitar was fake.   Michael called Josh when he was being attacked and told him to run.   Even at the moment of death, Michael was thinking of his best friend's safety and not his own.   Randy calls it an accident and Flack tells him he should remove his nail polish before he gets to prison.   Flack telling him Jo is from down south, Alabama.  

Jo meets Alex and finds she's a woman and she wasn't too shocked at that, a very attractive woman she calls her.   That was obvious she already knew from her file cos normally there would have been a photo in the file, even if the record was sealed.   Tyler calls her his roommate.   Mac's back and he's looking forward to the future and solving many more cases (as are we.)  Jo telling Mac she never believed he was gone for good, so she doesn't need to welcome him back, as last episode she called herself interim boss.   Hawkes' admission he was into graffiti surprising Jo since he's a doctor now, showing that sometimes not all people who get into trouble when younger evolve into hardened criminals or any sort of criminals. (Though we're not told if Hawkes did get into any sort of trouble.)

Miranda sings Blitzkrieg Bop by the Ramones, whom she mentioned in the store in the flashback.   Aly Michalka and her sister, AJ sing in 78 Violet.   Flack still continues with his understanding streak - good to see as he doesn't immediately think of her as a suspect but as someone who's suffered loss and he can relate.   Anyway, we know Danny will return to the lab eventually as he too is "institutionalized" in the same way Mac is.   Keep It Real  - the love Miranda felt for Michael was natural and not forced; she didn't want him to buy her expensive gifts.   Should have kept the money real and Mac ends by telling Josh he should keep innocent people away from his schemes.   Yet he doesn't berate him anymore than that.   He'll have the guilt of losing his friend cos of his greed and stupidity as punishment.

Notice the Post-its on Jo's computer which read: "Call soon need goat gel"  and "Find out why my goat walks funny."  Also "Rupe Rocks," "Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee."  Call "Supreme Re NJT;"  "Pick up body suit for Penny."  What's with the goats then or did she use to keep some? Ha!

Sean Marquette was in CSI episode Internal Combustion and Jake Busey was in CSI:Miami episode Internal Affairs.   This episode of CSI:NY was another one involving fake money as in the season 1 finale, What You See Is What You See.   Also CSI:NY episode 1.20 Supply and Demand involved a missing roommate who was engaging in drug dealing; whilst his roommate was killed.

Sid: "...back inside.   Means you're institutionalized.   You realize that don't you? These walls are funny you know? First you hate them, then you get used to them, pretty soon you start to depend on them." Quoted from movie The Shawshank Redemption; explaining when an old inmate preferred to stay in prison.   Not that the lab is a prison (well with Lindsay around it could be, ha).  But the allusion is the same -- it's all that Mac knows and even leaving for a while: one episode - which was really four months, he's back again.   A newer and changed Mac, maybe with some closure.   He displays a plaque on his side shelf, with the image of two firemen, a thank you for his work on the Brooklyn Wall of Remembrance.

Doctor Who - 6.14: "The Doctor, the Widow, and the Wardrobe" Review

A Christmas special where the Doctor, as Caretaker, takes a widow and her two children on a spectacular adventure for the season, until all goes awry.

The episode begins with the Doctor (Matt Smith) on a spaceship (nothing new) which is exploding around him.   'Intruder alert' sounds and the Doctor in yet more mayhem, as he reaches for the spacesuit and can't get hold of it.   He drops from the ship and freefalls behind the suit, finally catching up to it and putting it on before he reaches Earth.   This episode was anything but chaos, aside from the opening; it was more serene, appropriate for the time of year.

The Doctor is found in the field by a woman, he thinks he's blind, but he's got his helmet on the wrong way round.   The woman returns home and gives a message to her son, Cyril (Maurice Cole) for their father.   She thinks she's found an angel in the field and she's taking the car.   She drops the Doctor off at a Policebox.   The impact suit is repairing him and she picks the lock with her hairpin cos he can't get to his key.   It's not his Box, should have known since it was easily picked.   She takes him to find his own Box (TARDIS) and Madge (Claire Skinner) tells him, "no one should be alone at Christmas."  If she needs him then she should make a wish.

Three Years later:  her husband (Alexander Armstrong) is a pilot in the war and his Lancaster is lost over the English Channel, "We're going home for Christmas," he tells the crewman.   Well he was shown for a reason as we'll later see.   Madge receives a telegram to inform her of his death.   She doesn't tell the children yet.   They're going to uncle Digby's house for Christmas.   Lily (Holly Earl) and Cyril make a wish and so does Madge - for the Doctor.

Christmas Eve: It's not the Caretaker but the Doctor who has made the house ready for them.  He asks if he can take their cases but then tells them to carry them for themselves.   He's "usually called the Doctor, or the Caretaker or 'get off this planet'" though that's not a name.   He shows them around the house, commenting the sitting room is pointless if there's no TV and makes the armchairs spin.   There's also a tap for lemonade he's installed in the kitchen and  he thinks the staircase should be an escalator and everything's so "sciencey wiencey."   He couldn't get onto the hammock either, "this hammock has developed a fault."  Just like everything else.

Madge can't tell them about their father yet since Christmas will be responsible for taking their father away.   Doctor: "Everytime you see them happy, you remember how sad they're going to be and it breaks your heart."  Still some poignant moments in this episode continuing on from the season 6 finale as this line refers to the Doctor and his death and how Amy (Karen Gillan) and Rory (Arthur Darvill)  still believe he's dead, or so he thinks.   As do many others.  He's left a large present under the tree.   Lily and Cyril like the Doctor, calling him the Caretaker, cos he's really taking care of them isn't he.   Cyril can hear voices from the box and he goes through it into a snow covered wonderland.   Picking  a bauble from the tree which grows and falls to the ground, cracking into two.   Lily asks the Doctor about the Policebox, which he calls his wardrobe commenting on the clothes he wears.

They find Cyril isn't asleep and then go through the box too.   He says "time moves differently through dimensional planes" and asks who opens their presents early.   Cyril follows the footprints to a building like a huge tower, or lighthouse even.   Lily exclaims the tree is alive and he says yes, it's a tree, "naturally occurring Christmas trees...do you know the difference between the wind and the trees talking to each other - no wind."  Something's not right.   Well no, that' why the Doctor is here.   He sees a wooden face in the bauble.   Madge comes looking for her children and three people appear carrying guns.   They're Harvest rangers.  Madge sobs.   The Doctor claims people can't resist a door and wonders why the forest needs people.  

One of the men, Venn-Garr (Paul Bazely) has mother issues and also cries.   The woman, Billis (Arabella Weir) puts down her gun and they have to as well, allowing Madge to pull out her own gun.   Droxil (Bill Bailey) tells her it is 5345 and they're from Androzani Major.   The woman inside the tower moves with the crown in her hand.   The Doctor realizes again that the Sonic doesn't work on wood, as we've witnessed on several occasions.   The Forest of Cheem fancied him once.   Lily notices stars rising from the trees which he calls pure life force.   Cyril has the crown placed on his head, stirring the wooden man from downstairs.   Billis detects for life forms and Droxil tells Madge the forest is being harvested as a fuel source, to be melted with acid rain.

The doors open by themselves and the Doctor calls the wooden woman the queen bee.   The life force leaves the forest and the "aliens are made of "again making the Sonic useless on them.   Cyril can hear the trees scream.   The three are beamed from the harvester leaving Madge behind.   She can hear the voices of the Doctor and the children.   The Doctor wants to wear the crown, "I look great in a hat."  A not so subtle reference to his fave the Fez and his other hat, his Stetson.   He's weak like Cyril but Lily is strong though young.   The acid rain falls and Madge arrives in the harvester since Cyril refuses to leave without her.   Madge is crowned as she is strong and the life forces gather at the tower and enter Madge.   The Doctor explains it's a translation from the "base code of nature."  She's female and a mother, life travels in the "mothership."  He tells everyone to "hold tight and pretend it's a plan."  Like he does.

The orb from the top of the tower flies though the time vortex and she must think to get them home.   The Doctor doesn't have a home, he's older than he looks and he can't feel anymore.   So Madge has to fly it, she has to think "until it hurts."  Until she feels the pain.   She and her husband were  bound to meet, that's why he was shown in the beginning.   The glowing light will guide them home.   They arrive back and Madge tells the Doctor no one "would prefer to be alone," when he suggests she needs to tell the children about their father, alone.   She begins to tell them but he stops her, cos he's here.   There were stars to light the way, those in her head and there was Madge, his star.   Doctor: "Happy Crying.   Humaney wumaney."

Madge recalls him now, "my Spaceman angel."  He was about to show her how the box worked but he's got to leave now.   He doesn't have a family but people who love him, friends.  Everyone thinks he's dead.   Madge tells him not to let them think this and if he wants her to return, she should make a wish.

Amy opens the door to carol singers, she thinks, with water pistol in hand.   It's been two years and River (Alex Kingston) told them about his being alive.   She's not hugging first and neither is he and they both do, eventually.   Amy always sets him a place for dinner.   Notice the TARDIS disappears from behind the Doctor after Rory invites him in.  Then it's back when the Doctor is shown from the back standing in the doorway.   He cries and then he smiles.

At least Amy and Rory did make an appearance albeit at the end.   The Doctor should have known River would've told them he's alive, so his turning up wasn't a surprise to Amy but it was to the Doctor.

Trust Cyril to open the present before Christmas, as most do and this leads to no end of trouble; but on the plus side, Madge gets to guide their father home, who otherwise would have remained lost and as dead as the telegram stated.   This was Christmas and we couldn't have that sort of a bleak ending.   It had to be "schmaltzy waltzy."  Not even a bleak ending for the Doctor as he goes home to his friends and the friends he chose were Amy and Rory of course.   Not to mention the tear he sheds - he's the Doctor - he feels  emotion, but he never cries.   So there were lots of references to crying from him too, such as "Happy crying."  Also when he tells Madge of their heartbreak once they learn of their father's death.   The heartbreak Amy and Rory must have felt or would have felt if River hadn't told them beforehand.   But the Doctor didn't know, so he felt their sorrow - their sadness for them.

Androzani Major is the sister planet to Androzani Minor  from the story with the Fifth Doctor, Peter Davison, The Caves of Androzani.   Alexander Armstrong who played their father was also in the Doctor Who episodes Journey's End and The Stolen Earth, as well as being the voice of the computer Mr Smith in the Sarah Jane Adventures.   Amy can't get enough of guns and here she sports a water pistol. In the episode with David Tennant, The Fires of Pompeii, he also had a water pistol and Karen Gillan played a soothsayer in that episode.

Mixed reviews for this episode but it wasn't that bad. At least there weren't any flying fish this time round and well, A Christmas Carol and ghosts have been done to smithereens really.   This was an episode without all the violence or saving the Earth and was more about rescuing the trees and bringing a family home for Christmas, or should I say two families home, including that of reuniting the Doctor with the Ponds.

The Forest of Cheem was in the episode The End of the World with the ninth Doctor, Christopher Eccleston.   The one who fancied him was called Jabe Ceth Ceth Jafe and she gave her life to save him.