Charlies Angels - 1.5: "Angels in Paradise" Review

The angels rescue old friends of Charlie's after they are kidnapped. They take on a case where they have to protect a mother and son from being kidnapped too. Abby meets her father.

Charlie's (Victor Garber) old friend's yacht is hijacked by Mercer (Pedro Pascal) who is wanted for kidnapping.  He demands a $5 million ransom.  "My angels were the answers to his prayers."  Hey Bosley said similar in 1.4 Angels in Chains, "They do answer my prayers," he tells Samantha.   Abby (Rachael Taylor) comments on this being another day in paradise when they go ahead with the rescue.   Eve (Minka Kelly) and Bosley (Ramon Rodriguez) dive underwater and they reach the yacht that way.   Abby demands proof of life and Mercer shows him the boy.   They fight the kidnappers and Abby does her 'Xenia Onatopp' (Famke Janssen) impression  from the 007 Goldeneye movie.   (But not as suggestive.)  Mercer escapes overboard and the explosion is so fake CGI.

Theo, the boy, draws a pic of the angels but leaves out Bosley.   He got footage from the card on the camcorder of a mother and son.   Charlie calls Bosley, 'John' now.   They need to take down Mercer.   Jennifer Wright's (Dina Meyer) son, Wyatt (Albert Frezzer) is a polo player.   Abby knows her but not by name.   Her real name is Lisa Hanson and she was the wife of disgraced NY banker, Michael (Mark Kiely) who was laundering money.   She turned in her husband.   It was easy for Bosley to find her old ID, know he's a great hacker and all that but if he could do it, I'm sure others could do it.  So much for just changing her name.

Jennifer says she wants a new start for Wyatt.   Michael died by jumping from a building and he didn't leave them anything.   They need to stay at a safe house.  Abby tries to convince Wyatt to go along with them and Lily is his girlfriend. She hasn't seen him play yet.   She tells him about her disgraced father, Victor Sampson (John Terry) , so they have a lot in common.   Now she's mentioned daddy dearest he has to make an appearance.   Abby tells him she'll find a way to let him play.   Why weren't Abby and Kate (Annie Ilonzeh) not in disguise since Mercer has seen them both, but he hasn't seen Eve?   Bosley is wearing shirt number 1 and Charlie got him on the team.   Bosley: "I live to surprise you ladies."  And he does too, since there's plenty they don't know about him, just like Charlie.   Abby: "Bosley; the riddle, wrapped in an enigma and covered in Ralph Lauren."  (He has a scent called Ralph Lauren Polo.)

Mercer is in communication with a man  and he recognizes them.   Kate sees a man carrying a camera and sporting a beard but they lose him.   What are they, amateurs?  Obviously that man is after Wyatt cos it's obvious that man is his father.   Wyatt is taken after Bosley is knocked out.   Eve is on the case and rides a horse to the trailer, where she shoots at it, getting Wyatt back.   Abby thinks revenge is a great place to start.   Jennifer doesn't recognize the man and Bosley doesn't have any luck either.   Cue Charlie and his suggestion of a friend at the Attorney Generals in DC who found a connection.   Every week Michael had a power lunch with Abby's father, Victor - Michael's mentor.   Bosley thinks her father can ID him.   Kate reminds her he's been reaching out to Abby, as we saw those letters from him she discarded in the Pilot episode.

Charlie' thinks Victor's their best chance of finding the man but she hasn't seen him in five years and Kate adds he's her father. Does she need reminding?  Abby recalls the father/daughter dance he missed when she was 14.   She stole the Rhodan from his study one day and gave it to him on his birthday.   That got her noticed.   Wyatt makes it to the polo world cup team.   Bosley says they can't contact anyone, so first chance he gets he'll get out somehow.

Abby's mother and brothers don't talk to her - they're both thieves.   Ken was his fave and he's in rehab.   She didn't read his letters but she needs his help and asks him about Michael.   If he helps her she'll need to visit him every week.   He was his mentor so Victor would know he's alive, he tells her about chess.   There's only one reason why Michael would want him: his son.   His strategy is that pawns have info on  the king.   She needs to look hard to find the answer, even though it was staring them in the face.  Oh no joke here about plastic surgery, I assure you.   IF they had nothing and couldn't pay a ransom who else would want Wyatt, but his father.

Bosley looked at the profiles of all of Michael's' employees and his personal staff, one stood out, Francisco Gonzalez, his personal bodyguard.   He now runs a restaurant.   Bosley and Kate pretend to be health inspectors and distract him so Abby can take his key.   She's a master thief but she needs his key to break into his easily accessible apartment.  What a joke.   She finds  a photo of Wyatt, a beard, fake and medication and still the penny doesn't drop.   Her aunt used such medication for plastic surgery.  Bosley catches the bearded man outside who admits Wyatt is his son.   He faked his suicide and wants Wyatt back.

Wyatt sneaks out to see Lily and uses the old shower ploy.   Why bother with the shower anyway?   Lily tells Eve he was taken by a man.   Jennifer slaps Michael.   Mercer calls to arrange a meet and it's surprising he didn't hear Jennifer breathing on the other end.   He demands more money.   They foil the meet and get Wyatt back with Michael attempting to get away, so much for wanting his son.   He meets Bosley in the lift.

Charlie is sorry she had to see her father but she said he helped them with the case.   Charlie is adamant the angels cracked the case, yeah cos it was that difficult.   But earlier on Charlie said Victor could help them.   Kate reminds not all families are screwed up, the angels aren't and they're family.   Victor made a chess set in prison for her.   He knew Michael was alive as already said and he knew Abby would work it out.   Abby wonders if they ever stopped playing and he wants to know where she met Charlie but she's never seen him in person.   He worries about her and was angry when she was arrested.   Charlie gave her a second chance.   Victor: "Charles Townsend has an agenda."  When he reveals it, she'll "know if he's truly on the side of angels."  Another breadcrumb that was meant to keep us watching.   Charlie with an ulterior motive? Never heard of that in the original angels.  Was he building his own angel army, ha?

In the original Charlie's Angels episode Angels on Horseback, there's an angel's chase scene entirely on horseback.   Here Eve got a few seconds and even managed to shoot out the trailer to rescue Wyatt.   Nips and Tucks saw a wealthy criminal given a new face, here Michael already had one.   In Target: Angels, Charlie's mansion was on show where the angels stayed at 674 Vinewood Lane.   No such mention of Charlie's mansion here but being in Miami of course he's got to have one or two.   But Jennifer and Wyatt are taken to a safehouse.   In that episode the real target of the assassin was Charlie.   As for the shower being left on by Wyatt, remember the old shower curtain poly Sabrina (Kate Jackson) used in the episode Angels on a String.   In the season 4 episode Love Boat Angels, Kris(Cheryl Ladd) is seen in scuba attire like Eve here.   Also in season 5's Angels of the Deep, Julie (Tanya Roberts) dons scuba gear.

Victor talks of Charlie having an ulterior motive and thus he would have amassed plenty of enemies even if we know nothing about Charlie yet, like how he made his fortune, his daughter Elizabeth, etc.     Does Victor know Charlie from his business dealings?  Perhaps someone's been singing about him in prison.    Dina Meyer in yet another bit part, this time playing a mother.  She really needs some more screen time in the shows she guests in.

Smallville - 10.14: "Masquerade" Review

Clark contemplates a disguise to hide his persona of the Blur, with Lois' help and in much the same way Chloe ponders her own identity and who or what Oliver means to her.

Lois (Erica Durance) plans the wedding and tells Clark (Tom Welling) that her guests are in danger of recognizing his 'super' friends.   Then sees Clark as the Blur outside of Big Ben in London.   (Hey England no longer uses those sirens here and especially not for police cars.)  Upon his return to Metropolis, Lois calls him 'Smallville' so Clark immediately knows he's in trouble again; oh and those Brit accents on the TV were awful! with a capital AW!  She warns Clark is in danger of being recognized as the Blur.   But Clark feels he's okay, he didn't get into any sort of trouble.   He then says he spellchecked his story after Lois shows him the paper (Clark and his spellchecker comments, he used those for Lois last time.)  Lois has to spell out, 'heroes' and circles Clark's photo next to it.   He needs a new disguise, which is really what this episode was all about: disguises: Chloe's (Allison Mack), Oliver's (Justin Hartley) and Clark's need for them.

Chloe and Oliver meet at a swanky restaurant for dinner and he's disguised in his hat and shades, carrying on Chloe's hat and shades disguise form last episode.   She's meeting Oliver Queen, it's hard to live normally.   Couldn't help thinking their entire disguise scene was a send-up of the whole Clarkie mask thing.   Chloe can call Oliver her boyfriend.  If he had been seen as Oliver he says he could have gotten a table without any hassles.

The Joneses are paged and they're Oliver and Chloe.   A take on the Brangelina Mr and Mrs Smith movie on play here.   Really (Smith) and Jones need newer aliases!  Chloe refers to herself as the "girl with no identity" and Oliver as "the guy with a secret,"  but he's no longer got a secret.

Lois has sewn a hood onto Clark's Blur jacket and gives him shades (store must have made a fortune selling those.)  She calls his vision "x-ray vision."  Clark doesn't want to don a mask.   Lois reminds him Oliver didn't want to wear a mask either and Clark says that was his choice to make.   She tells him Oliver "two identities, which went to one to none."  She asks what if someone recognizes his suit and tie as the Blur.

Mr Jones has a call and Mrs Jones dies on the other end - amongst other DBs.   Obviously the killer is Desaad ( Steve Byers) Chloe doesn't know where to start looking for Jones.   Men with guns wait in Oliver's limo.   Oh so no one recognized Oliver's limo and these men, apparently FBI agents don't recognize Oliver or that he's Green Arrow.   Where have they been?

Burt the forensics guy recognizes Clark from the other CS.   He comments that a clip of the Blur looked like Clark, so he may "as well put an 'S' on your chest."  More allusions to the Superman Clark will become.   Clark pulls Burt up from falling into a hole and puts it down to adrenalin and the centre of gravity.  Burt sees Clark as a hero.   Desaad plays coroner Blane and Clark uses his vision and notices marks on the Vic.   Which Desaad puts down to a leaky pen on his part.   He thinks the deaths were caused by someone "who's given in to his/her darkest urges."  An obvious clue.   Come on Clarkie, everyone's been talking about the darkness for weeks now and as soon as Desaad mentions darkest urges nothing clicks, as Lois would say.   So he missed the subtle hint there.

Chloe and Oliver argue in the limo boot/trunk, this is more romantic a kidnapping for Oliver out of his most recent kidnappings.   Chloe hasn't forgotten their one year anniversary, it's been a year since 'they've been doing whatever they've been doing'.   Oliver tells her she doesn't know what to call him.   Chloe calls him competitive, well that's one name for him.   Oliver and Chloe fight the men, in another scene reminiscent of Mr and Mrs Smith and realize they're FBI agents.   She finds a file on Mr and Mrs Jones and x-ray scans of the Omega symbol of the Darkness.   Leading to Desaad's club, where Oliver climbs in and leaves her outside where she's approached by Mr Jones, who later expires courtesy of Desaad.   Whoever visited his club all had Omega symbols on their heads.   Chloe is kidnapped, now it's her turn again.

Burt sends forensic photos to Lois and she's lucky to be engaged to such a "super guy." Jeff bumps into Clark.   Clark sees the stamps on the photos and the penny drops, ha, realizing the coroner lied.   Clark calls his vision 'microvision', it's his power so he can call it what he likes.   Appears this microvision is something that he's just gotten.   Oliver shows Clark the file and he recognizes Desaad as being an agent of the Darkness, killing those he can't convert.   They find the business is registered to an address where Clark goes but Oliver doesn't stay behind since he's not going to leave Chloe there.

Desaad attempts to convert Chloe to the dark side, first as Clark, who wants to kiss her and thinks maybe they missed their chance to be together.   Then Oliver tries to take her away from everything, they don't need to be heroes.   Followed by Lois trying to convince Chloe she wants what Lois and Clark have.   Desaad finally shows up as himself and attempts to get Chloe to kill him but she refuses to give in.   Throwing the knife from him.   Chloe then turns up as herself, white suited again and tells the tied up Chloe, she was too proud to ask for help which is why she vanished.   Chloe realizes she's being tempted by the seven deadly sins, Clark was lust, Oliver was sloth, Lois envy, Desaad was temptation and Chloe was pride.  

The sins worked when he was trying to convert others.   But being used here was a bit overdone, couldn't they have used something different.   Chloe proved she was stronger than Oliver, who gives in when Desaad tells him Chloe's dead.   Desaad tells Clark he's loyal to a greater power, to Darkseid: finally a name.  Clark has more love in his heart and he's stronger than when he faced Godfrey and Granny.   Clark can't be corrupted.   So he unleashes some major black power onto Clark.   Clark fights Desaad's power but Oliver beats him up, until Clark tells him he rescued Chloe; but it's too late.  

Clark removes his name from  the story, he's been drawing too much attention to himself lately.   He hasn't needed a mask until now.   His face is that of a man his parents raised, the man Lois loves. "Who I am should define what I'm called."  Clark Kent is a word.   The Blur is who he really is, who he always was.   Clark will be the mask and not the Blur.   He puts on glasses.   People need to believe he's just ordinary.   Lois says and not "Super."  He'll be ready and uses his middle finger to push his glasses.   Then bumps into Jeff.   Lois points out who it really is as Jeff doesn't recognize Clark with glasses and Clark tells him it's his fault he bumped into him.

Chloe realizes she was many things over the years, defined by a group or person.   She hasn't felt like herself since the days of The Torch.   She's afraid she'll lose the part of her that's left.   Oliver knows who she is.   Oliver can call her his girlfriend.   Oliver will be in the spotlight all his life, he is who he is and stopped hiding from it.   Just like Clark, he too realizes he needs to be who he is, but Clark must maintain the disguise.   Oliver switches off the lights and the Omega symbol is visible inside his head.

Thus he's converted without even knowing it.   A big clue missed by Clark and by Oliver that clearly Oliver's very passionate about doing the right thing and he's also very vocal in using his anger and rage.   Like he stopped himself from fighting Lionel, he couldn't do that here when he realizes Chloe is dead, thus falling for his darkside.   Though appears he was easily corrupted.

As for Clark now becoming the bungling reporter Clark Kent of the Daily Planet, seems a bit tacked on considering he was a jock/hunk all through his teen years etc, will people really believe now he's wearing glasses he's inept.   That's a stereotype if ever there was one.  Not everyone who wears glasses is stupid, clumsy or geeky.

The Closer - 6.9: "Last Woman Standing" Review

Brenda investigates the death of an actress after she went on a date with a man from an Internet dating service. Brenda has to prepare for her Chief of Police interview with the Mayor.

Brenda (Kyra Sedgwick) and the squad are called in to investigate the murder of an actress, Judy Lynn (Rhea Seehorn). TOD is placed at 36 hours.   There is evidence of sexual activity but not of sexual assault.   Judy was suffocated with a cushion, and she has a trace of thread on her mouth from where she bit onto the cushion.   There's blood in the hall and spatter on the picture on the wall.   Flynn (Tony Dension) and Sanchez (Raymond Cruz) demonstrate what most likely happened to Judy.   Taylor (Robert Gossett) reminds Brenda of the final interview she has with the Mayor and she ignores him, wanting to proceed with the case.  Tao (Michael Paul Chan) asks someone to disconnect the cable on the other side of the closet.   Remember this for later.

Stewart (JD Cullum) found her and called for help.  He directed her in one of his shows and he also introduced her to to an online dating service, which he regrets doing.   Judy also kept a Blog.   The dating service is LAGuysandDolls and Judy had a date with dreamweaver.   There are no photos or records of him.   Judy's apartment had a security camera which Gifford (Tom Clark) tells them about and from the footage, Buzz (Phillip P Keene) identifies a Camero, which Gifford says is not owned by any of the tenants.   He knows them all.   A man is seen outside wearing a sport jacket and he stands outside his car for a long time.   His face can't be seen but he's identified as dreamweaver.  

Pope (JK Simmons) mentions Brenda's final interview and she admits she doesn't want the job after all.   Brenda is told she can't just give up as it won't look good for the LAPD.   Taylor comments Pope would lose his job and Major Crimes could be disbanded.  Capt Raydor (Mary McDonnell) wants to prep Brenda for her interview.   Gabriel (Corey Reynolds) - he always interrupts - found dreamweaver, Mark Torres (Nicholas Gonzalez) and he has another date.   As they have Mark's address they can now get a search warrant for his apartment.   Mark, though smarmy, didn't look like the killer, he was too arrogant.   Brenda lets Taylor handle the case and they set up surveillance at the cafe.

Raydor gives Brenda fashion advice, something she's not keen on and says she has a wardrobe of clothes at home but likes to dress conservatively for work.   Also she needs another bag cos hers is okay for suspects but not for the Mayor, who wants to meet with Brenda to see if they'll gel together.   Though we know how Brenda gets on with certain people.   Tao gets the opportunity to closely examine Mark's Camero and takes prints from the car, plants a tracking device and notices his car has been keyed, which is what he must have been staring at when he stood outside his car for so long.   Sanchez takes Mark's straw for DNA after he leaves.   Provenza (GW Bailey) comments on Mark's chat up line and if it works he'll use it himself.   He's also used a dating service before.

They follow Mark to his apartment and know he's with another woman.  Taylor orders them to arrest him, to save the woman who turns out to be his fiance.   Flynn remarks he's trouble.   Brenda tries to take the blame for ordering the arrest, then asks for 10 minutes to prove he's the killer.   For this she needs Fritz (Jon Tenney) and gives him a list of questions to ask Mark, including if Mark was at Judy's apartment, if they had sex.  Mark replies in the negative.   Brenda repeats the same questions, showing him a photo of Judy and also of him outside her apartment, pointing out he's wearing the same sport jacket.   Mark trying to be clever says he has many relatives in the police and asks for a lawyer.   He says it's not illegal to lie to the police, but Brenda replies it is illegal to lie to the FBI.

Tao has found Judy's last Blog, made before her death but wasn't posted.   She hates Internet dating and Mark's jacket is seen on the bed.   Afterward he asked if he could use her shower.   Brenda notices the absence of something on Judy's bed in the footage.  Brenda arrives for work next day, dressed to impress and Raydor certainly is.   They take Mark to Judy's apartment and ask Gifford to see if everything is in its place.   Gabriel asks him to connect the cable to the socket in the closet.   The cushion used to suffocate Judy, is found in the closet along with a stool where Gifford used to watch Judy from.   Brenda says they found his DNA there.   He admits he was looking out for her and keyed Mark's car when Brenda shows him the paint residue on his keys.

Gifford pushed her back when she found him and she hit her head.   When she woke she wouldn't stop screaming and he had to shut her up.   Mark asks why he was there with them and Brenda tells him she had to key his car since the paint on the keys wouldn't have lasted that long.   She agrees to get the FBI charges dropped if he pays for the paintwork.   Raydor asks Brenda of she really doesn't want to be Chief and how she'll disappoint thousands of women who see her as a role model.   Then tells her she knows Brenda slept with the boss to get the position and Raydor worked for hers.   She admits she admires Brenda.   Then thinks she's going to take her big black bag with her, but surprise, surprise, she pulls out a smaller one.

Brenda's big day arrives and everyone lets her know, but we don't get to see her meeting with the Mayor, after all the hype.   I didn't like the dress she wore, she's worn better than that in the past.   Apparently this dress was bought by Brenda in the season 1 episode About Face.   Another episode to show the pitfalls and dangers of Internet dating, only this time the killer was someone actually in her home and closer to home, than being an Internet predator.   Brenda admits she doesn't want the job but she's kind of coerced into going forward for the good of the LAPD and women in general.   A bit of blackmail involved too, with threats about Pope losing his job and there no longer being a Major Case squad.

Brenda without her trademark bag looked a little out of place.   Her black bag appears to be a confidence booster for her, let's face it, she practically carries everything in it.

Merlin - 3.9: "Love in the Time of Dragons" Review

Uther believes someone is practising magic in the town and sends Gaius to investigate. It turns out to an old friend of his,Alice, who is being manipulated into killing Uther.

A catchy title for this episode as it demonstrates how long ago Gaius (Richard Wilson) knew Alice (Pauline Collins) and that their love transcends time and dragons.   There'd be plenty of dragons around when they met each other as magic was practiced freely.

Alice summons a creature known as a Manticore and it encourages her to do its bidding.   Like the way her eyes turned black, an oft used ploy in many shows to depict evil and magic.   Uther (Anthony Head) suspects someone, a "physician" has been using the black arts; magic, to cure 'incurable' conditions in the town.  There have been many miracles and sends Gaius to investigate and report back.

Finally Merlin (Colin Morgan) gets to say what we've all been saying when he talks of the hypocrisy of Uther; it was fine to use magic to save Morgana (Katie McGrath) as it suited his purpose and being his daughter she had to be saved at all costs.   Yet he punishes and puts to death anyone else who is caught doing the same thing, whether it be for good or for evil.   As he did with Gwen's (Angel Coulby) father and he was innocent of all charges.

As soon as the innkeeper tells Gaius of his cure, Gaius immediately knows who is behind it but doesn't admit this to Uther, knowing the consequences to this healer if he does.   It is good to see Gaius protect someone close to him too, just as Uther demanded the same protection and cure for Morgana and also that he will keep secrets from Uther to do exactly that.   It is not a question of him betraying his loyalty to the king, but rather Uther doesn't need to know everything if there is nothing evil amongst them.  Also showing that Gaius could defy Uther, even after the great purge, when so many were put to death for using magic.   That he chooses not to, shows great strength of character and forgiveness within Gaius, to a certain extent; since if he wanted revenge for this, he could have it at any time.  In contrast to Morgana and her treachery against Uther, someone he really cares for; whereas Gaius is nothing more than his physician.   Conversely it also shows the trust Uther has in Gaius as he takes him at his word.

Gaius tells Uther no magic was used, but Merlin knows better as he says the potion administered to the innkeeper was enchanted.   He also recognized the totem the innkeeper had; displaying signs of old magic.  A bit dangerous leaving that lying around, especially since someone else who practiced magic would know exactly what it was.

Now it's Gaius's turn to slip away at night and for Merlin to follow.  He spies Gaius hug his old flame, Alice; who turns out to be his former fiancee.   They both have a few fleeting moments of remembering the old days and of their past love from 20 years ago.   He warns of Uther's suspicions and wants her to leave Camelot.   Alice having an ulterior motive, tells him she only wanted to see him once more.   The creature, the Manticore tells her of Gaius's usefulness in getting close to Uther and his throne and orders her to obey.

Merlin tells Gaius he followed him and Gaius tells how he met Alice after he became Uther's physician.   She has "the gift." She was famous in Camelot for her healing, until the great purge.   Uther had a list of those who practiced magic and hunted them all down.   Gaius removed her name from the list.   Here was a missed opportunity on the part of the writers to delve more into the Great Purge and how Gaius felt about losing those 'names' on the list.   People he would have known and was forced to see them hunted down and 'purged'!  Yet he bears no ill will towards Uther.   Gaius gives Alice a joint of meat and watch out for this joint turning up everywhere!  Was that some sort of an in-joke, or joke for our benefit.

Arthur (Bradley James) practices his weaponry skills on Merlin who feigns tiredness.   Merlin sees the Manticore for himself when Alice extracts venom from its tail to poison Uther with and she helps Gaius prepare Uther's remedy for an old wound.   Strange Gaius is reluctant to believe Merlin when he says he is being blinded by his feelings for her, he is meant to be his guardian and he has never lied to him.   It's hard to believe Merlin wouldn't like Alice because Gaius is spending all his time with her, yet Gaius is still willing to trust someone he hasn't seen in so long.

Merlin reads a book (!) and finds the Manticore is a creature of myth.   The box that contains it, is a portal through which it appears.  He helps Arthur with training again and tells him how he had a fight with Gaius.  Arthur reassures him it means nothing as he argues with Uther all the time.   This scene shows that Arthur, at least tries, to treat Merlin as a friend, at times, rather than just a servant.   To the point of cheering him up by punching him.   That will help since Arthur does that to the knights all the time.  Merlin: "They're thick."
Arthur: "I'm a knight."
Merlin: "There you go again."  Well some credit to Arthur at least he tried in his own way to cheer him up.   He clearly hasn't get any friends outside of the circle of knights, suppose that's the price you pay for being a prince.

Alice manages to poison the remedy and Uther drinks it too.   Again showing his trust for Gaius since Uther's food and drink are tasted for poison but not his remedy.   Merlin is conspicuously absent from dinner as the alarm bells sound.   Uther opens his eyes to show the blackness within, and immediately Merlin realizes Alice was behind it.  Gaius doesn't listen and Merlin is left with no choice but to tell Arthur who arrests her for treason.   Her defence is being influenced by the Manticore.   Yeah, who's going to believe that in the dark ages?!

Their only hope in saving Uther and Alice is to kill the Manticore and destroy its portal.   Gaius hopes his magic will be strong enough to do so.  Gaius's eyes turn yellow as he uses magic, and the Manticore is finally destroyed.   Merlin: "Not too bad for a has been."  They made all that noise and no one heard them! Again Gaius shows great restraint when Uther orders Alice's execution.   That's the first thing Uther turns to everytime, and it can be asked has executing people really helped in any way as he's faced with the same problems of magic being used, even after he's had it outlawed.   Yet Uther continues to be closed off to this.

Alice escapes, with a little help from Gaius.   So how many escaped prisoners does that make; or should that read, have been let out!

We finally get to see Gaius use some magic.   Also in an episode where Morgana would have relished the sight of Uther being killed, she's curiously absent here.  Along with her smirking.   Shame on you writers, here they preferred to concentrate on Gaius and his love.  Merlin showing his real feelings for Gaius when he turns Alice in, he had no other choice, and how he still needs Gaius around for help and guidance and vice versa.   Although, strictly speaking it was a form of betrayal on Merlin's part, couldn't he have found another way to open Gaius to Alice's doings.   That was a surprise in his character, since you wouldn't expect him to do something like that and especially not to Gaius.  He is also forgiving of Merlin for putting Alice in jeopardy.

Oh and where was Gwen too?  Not very often you get main characters missing from shows.  Arthur only had a small part too.

Gaius once again chooses to stay at Camelot, to watch over Merlin, instead of choosing Alice.   Whilst Merlin wants nothing more than a slice of that same joint of meat, which has been passed back to Gaius.

Doctor Who - 6.6: "The Almost People" Review

The Doctor continues in his attempt to get the workers off the island, as well as interacting with his own ganger and revealing the real reason why he was on the island.

 The Doctor's (Matt Smith) ganger screams in agony, prompting the real Doctor to tell him the Flesh has to cope with their past regenerations.   Ganger Doctor asks if he wants a Jelly Baby.   The Doctor wants more proof that he's really him and they talk with each other.   Rory (Arthur Darvill) and Amy (Karen Gillan) may not trust them, but the two Doctors are on the same wavelength, "great minds" and all that.   His plan is to save them all and ganger Doctor was thinking that too.   "It's just so inspiring to hear me say it."  Amy notices the different shoes one of them's wearing but can't tell them apart.   Both the Doctors have "established a protocol." They both tell Amy to "breathe."  Obviously for when she's having the baby.   Doctor: "I'm starting to get a sense of just how impressive it is to hang out with me...Yowza." He finds an escape route from the chapel.

Jennifer (Sarah Smart) wants it all to stop, is she  the real Jennifer?  Rory follows her.   Cleaves (Raquel Cassidy) says if they can get power then they can scan for Rory.   Amy comments the Doctor asked her breathe a while back, but she can't.   That's cos the acid's interacting with the stone to give off gas.   Thus they need to head for the Evac tower.   Cleaves gets headaches.   Amy's pulled a muscle from breathing too hard, but we know differently.   As Amy could see the Eye-Patch (Frances Barber) woman, as she wasn't really with them.   Read on.

Ganger Jennifer says the eyes are the last to melt and they always ask 'why?'  Why should they suffer for humans?  Ganger Cleaves just wants to live in peace.   Ganger Jennifer wants to destroy the humans and gets Ganger Jimmy (Mark Bonner) and ganger Dicken (Leon Vickers) on side.   Amy wants the Doctors to stop finishing each other's sentences.   They talk about the TARDIS again calling her " a tough, old, sexy thing."  She's "tough, old, dependable, sexy." They both have 900 years of experiences and memories and wear bow ties.  "Bow ties are cool."  The Doctor tells Amy he had a little accident and needed new shoes, which was a clue, as I said before.   Amy doesn't like being called Pond and she has more affection for the real Doctor than his ganger.   She refers to ganger Doctor as "almost impressive." Which he doesn't like.  They can't scan Rory and Cleaves manages to send a rescue message to the mainland, she also wants the gangers killed.

Ganger Jennifer can't override the thermostat as she's not human.   The Doctor makes a phonecall on delay because he's an optimist.   Amy watches ganger Doctor and sees the Eye-Patch woman again.   Finally telling the Doctor about her.   He refers to it as a "time memory, like a mirage."  (See Amy's been having the other Amy's memories and visions.)  Here's where we realize that the Doctor knows everything and that it's been happening for a while.   Ganger Doctor: "It's in my head." Oh he has his dark moments doesn't he.   Great.   Amy apologizes to ganger Doctor for calling him "almost the Doctor." and asks if he can die.   Amy: "You can be killed and I have seen that happen...because you invited us to see it - your death."  He asks "Why?" It's the shoes I say, always watch out for the shoes!

Ganger Doctor: "It's all the eyes say, why?"  Hey this could have been a subtle allusion to Eye-Patch woman.  They shouldn't throw their gangers away and they can feel death and only say why.   He briefly sensed it, but not as strong as ganger Doctor.   (Did he mean he sensed the Flesh in Amy.)  The Flesh wants revenge.   Amy says he can never be the Doctor.   Well he played them with the old switcheroo ploy to the end - very clever; and says the Sonic needs to tell the difference between humans and gangers.   Amy is certain he's the Doctor and she can tell.

The 'real' Jennifer shows Rory her burn mark and she fights with her ganger.   The ganger gets burnt in the acid and melts.  The Doctor asks, "Sure you're not prejudiced."  Rory wants them all to live like the Doctor.   The others finally see Rory and Jennifer heading for the thermostatic room.   The Doctor lets his ganger go with Buzzer (Marshall Lancaster) to rescue them, the Doctor wants them to go and "I'm rather adamant."  He tells Amy she has to trust him.   Jennifer gets Rory to scan his hand over the panel so she can access the controls.   The computer speaks; "Human source recognized."  Oh Rory it didn't click he was the human, not her.  She overrides the thermostat.   The island will blow.   The Doctor scanned Cleaves.   She has a blood clot, inoperable on earth.   The radio is dead so they can't radio the rescue helicopter, but ganger Cleaves knows the password to the shuttle: "Bad Boy."  Ganger Cleaves exhibits a change of heart when she remarks, "we're the same person."  She called them persons and didn't differentiate between "us and them" like ganger Jennifer.

Rory chances upon the discarded Flesh, led there by Jennifer.   Obviously she's not human especially when she asks "Who are the real monsters?"  Which Rory missed again.   Ganger Doctor finds the real Jennifer, dead and Buzzer hits him from behind.   The others led by the Doctor, find eyes on the wall, "the eyes have it."  They were rather large.   Rory tells them about a secret tunnel under the crypt.   Jennifer locks them up and Rory realizes Jennifer is a ganger.   There was no other Jennifer, just always her ganger.   The Doctor calls Rory "Roranicus Pondicus" (perhaps an allusion to the next episode.)  Rory doesn't want them left  there to die.   The Doctor waits for his delayed call, from Adam, Jimmy's son, on his birthday.   This call convinces ganger Jimmy to let the others out, as the real Jimmy is splashed with acid and asks his ganger to look after Adam (Edmond Moulton) and be a dad.

As they try to escape from Jennifer, who has now transformed into a four legged monster, Dicken attempts to lock the other door shut and is killed.   Cue old Sexy TARDIS.   Ganger Cleaves tells them all to leave.   The Doctor says he can stop Jennifer, as he's been with him more.   The Doctor swapped his shoes back from his ganger, so ganger Doctor was the real Doctor all along.   See the shoes.   It was imperative that the two Doctors learn they were the same and "we could never do that through your eyes."  He tells Amy.   Amy hugs ganger Doctor, "you're twice the man I thought you were."  He tells her to "push but only when she tells you to." The Doctor tells ganger Doctor his molecular memory could survive this.   Ganger Doctor replies he'll know if he turns up and nicks all his biscuits.   (What the Jammie Dodgers.) The sonic will dissolve Jennifer and them too.   He yells "Geronimo!"

Amy was so convincing, had us fooled at any rate.   The Doctor says the energy from the TARDIS will stabilize the gangers - as people now.   He gives Cleaves a cure which tastes of onions.   She has to make them stop what they're doing to the Flesh.   Dicken says he's human now.   So two gangers and one human returned from the island.

Inside the TARDIS the Doctor tells Amy, "I said breathe Pond, remember - breathe."  She's having contractions.   The Doctor needed to see the Flesh in its early days, "that's why I scanned it.   That's why I was there in the first place."  But things happened, "shenanigans, beautiful word."  He needed information to block the signal to the Flesh - the signal being sent to Amy.   He melts her, he'll be humane but he has to do this.   He promises they'll find Amy who hasn't been here for "a long, long time."  Eye-Patch opens the hatch.   She's ready for the baby and tells her to "push."

So no evil Doctor, kind of a shame, could've been fun and no deadly bugs either, no they all became 'proper little humans' aside from Jennifer, at least the ones not killed off, Dicken and Jimmy.   Humanity portrayed at its ugliest with blatant disregard for the gangers after they served their purpose and humanity at its best, spurred on by the Doctor, who else; when he tells Cleaves to make it right.   She being the only one of the humans who survived.   Good to see her change too: both her human form and her ganger, when she saves them at the end and stays behind with Doctor ganger, aka John Smith; leaving Cleaves the human, to expose the company at the press conference.

That was a huge clue when the Doctor said Amy wasn't watching out for the shoes.  She told him about his future death and they were invited.   Everyone said Amy would blab (even if it wasn't really Amy.)  So that's why it looked so obvious from the last episode that the Doctor intended to be on this island from the outset.  Amy never being here at all and not being with them long enough to carry a baby to term, at least not ganger Amy.   Apparently she must have been missing since the season opener.   Perhaps the Doctor found out when the TARDIS couldn't scan her either way.   Maybe he knew before that.   Thought there must have been something going on when the Silence had her tied up in the chair earlier in Day of the Moon.

About the Doctor's death, did he already know about this which is why he invited them, or does he know about it only when Amy told him now.   She thought she was talking to his ganger, but she told the real Doctor.   He always sensed she was keeping something from him.   Yet he had to have known about his dying, if he sent the invites.   What if ganger Doctor survived as he mentioned the molecular structure and it was him who was killed in the future...highly unlikely he would've melted when they burned him, but with this episode, it's another case of if you think too much about it, there's no logic to it, but only confusion.

Also when he asks Amy if she's sure she's not prejudiced as she likes the human Doctor more, when she can tell he's the real Doctor, she was actually talking to his ganger and not the real one, therefore also being flesh, Amy was prejudiced towards the ganger Doctor, whom she thought was the real Doctor.   Poor Rory, being without his beloved Amy again.   Love that look Matt Smith gives when he stares into space, that lost look into emptiness, either portraying sadness or darkness.  

Ganger Doctor whilst trying to adjust to the Flesh, talks in the voice of the fourth Doctor (Tom Baker) and the tenth Doctor (David Tennant) who had a penchant for Jelly Babies.  The phrase, "reverse the polarity of the neutron flow" was uttered by the thrid Doctor (Jon Pertwee.)

Anyway, it's all happening next episode, with the baby, the Cybermen, Silurians, Sontaran, our River (Alex Kingston) and lots more...

Smallville - 10.13: "Beacon" Review

The campaign to repeal the VRA reaches its climax and Lionel Luthor begins to reclaim his empire, persuading people he faked his death. Alexander rears his ugly head and attempts to shoot Martha in the hopes of killing the Blur.

Lois (Erica Durance) confronts Tess (Cassidy Freeman) over the censored articles in the Daily Planet and Tess denies approving any of them.   Walking into her office, she finds it's been taken over by Lionel Luthor (Julian Glover.)  Wielding a paraphrased  Mark Twain quote this time, instead of a Shakespearean quote, "the reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated."  Tess wants nothing to do with him but he claims he's still her father.   Now he acknowledges her.   He successfully faked his own death is the spiel he's been giving everyone and the gullible old world believes it.   She turned her back on him in his world and now he believes is the time to put things ight.   He's here to provide for her and her brother, Alexander (Lucas Grabeel).   She tells him Clark (Tom Welling) isn't his in this world.   He knows about Clark saving Lex and calls her Lutessa.   Lex needs his father.

Oliver (Justin Hartley) and Chloe (Allison Mack) are together  and they watch the news story about the VRA and the vote to overturn it, a pro-hero rally.   Martha (Annette O'Toole) is campaigning to overturn it.  Chloe knows Oliver's been helping people still.   He wore a hoodie. Clark's still saving people even if they don't want to be be saved by him.   Lois tells Clark he's still focused on "flying under the radar" and he's lost touch with reality.   They watch Martha's speech on the TV where she says they can't do it on their own.   They must join together so their "strength shines through the night like a beacon."  No one is born to hate.   A message clearly intended for Alexander and Lionel.   Lois believes there's still hope.   Martha is shot at.  Begging the question Clark could just as easily have watched the rally in person, then that'd make him an easier target.

Clark arrives at the hospital to find she wore a bullet proof vest  and Lois on the phone to her.   Martha has to protect Clark and his friends and needs to encourage them to stand up for what they believe in.   They need to believe in Clark.  She and Jonathan made a pact to protect Clark.   He doesn't want to lose Martha too.   Chloe turns up and they talk about Clark when he's not there, saying she has to share Clark with the world and he worries about Martha.   Chloe understands why she became the Red Queen and Martha realizes why Chloe took over from Amanda Waller, but she asks why she left Clark.   They both had to leave for him to step up on his own.  Chloe's part of their family.   Martha is Chloe's mother figure and Chloe's watching over Clark as one of his oldest friends.

Clark investigates the CS and stumbles across Oliver in his hoodie.   Martha's also standing up for him, he couldn't just sit around.   Clark finds Kryptonite meaning the bullets disappeared on impact which is why there's no trace of them.   The shooting was personal, not political in the hopes of luring the Blur.   Lois bakes muffins, she's getting better.   Lois believes the shooter could be Ray Sacks (Dylan Neal) or Bruno Mannheim.   Martha tells her she's been impressed with her for ages and gives her the necklace that Jonathan's mother gave her on their wedding day.   Lois is "a perfect fit for Clark." Lois inspires him.   She wishes she could do that now as he's losing hope.   Clark's been losing hope for a long time now.   Martha inspires Lois too and gives her an idea when she tells her how Perry White began his fight by printing pamphlets from a storage unit.   Lois: "So low rent and so rebel."

Lionel finds Alexander, who was glad to watch him fall 40 storeys.  He takes the gun from him and realizes he's the shooter.   He betrayed Lex for Clark in another life but they have a chance to work together now.   His own son, "you will rule our family destiny no matter what it costs."  Including Lionel's own life.  Lois goes through Perry's old stuff and Chloe arrives disguised in her black shades and hat.   Lois needs her help to hack into all the news sites.   She can't let all these "power puff pieces piling up against the Blur" continue.   Clark finds the shooter's crow's nest and an 'S' symbol scratched on the ledge.   He's seen it in Alexander's cell.   Oliver says they'll find him and he does.

Lionel's been reading the other Lionel's journal and the board members took him back at Luthorcorp.  Oliver tells him how he murdered his parents in this life and he almost hits Lionel, who relishes the thought of Oliver being thrown out by security.   He accuses Oliver of wanting celebrity and making the mistake of trusting people, who he describes as 'vulgar, uneducated' and don't realize they're fighting for them.   When Oliver's name is cleared he'll be coming after them.   Lionel promises the people will turn on them tomorrow, cos it'll happen to Lionel with his family.

Tess informs Clark that Lionel is back and he can't send them back as he destroyed the mirror box.   He thinks Jor El might be able to help and wants nothing done until he returns.   Tess comments there must be another way to deal with them.  Is Tess running from her destiny, of what she may become as she's determined to want to get rid of Lionel and Alexander, for whom she cared a while ago.   Lionel takes Alexander to the mansion and Martha tells him it's not Lionel's home.   She says Alexander's not well and needs help.   Lionel comments on Clark's journey through the looking glass.   Oliver already made an Alice in Wonderland 'down the rabbit hole' reference last episode.   Lionel finds Martha attractive and recalls Lionel gave her an engraved wristwatch and asks if she told her husband about it.   Alexander hears everything, he used Clark to kill Lex in his world.   He knocks out Martha as she's about to leave.   Lionel picked his son in two worlds and it wasn't Alexander.   Lionel says he was wrong and pleads for his life.   Alexander sets fire to the mansion.

At the farm Tess looks for the Phantom Zone crystal and Clark returns when he realizes what she meant by other means of handling them.   She asks how Clark can be so good and Alexander replies cos "no one  taught him to hate" like Lionel did.  He uses Kryptonite on Clark, who tries to convince him he's not a killer yet.   Tess tells Alexander he blames everyone but himself and she understands how he feels, he can't step into the light if he's ashamed.   Clark changed things for her and can do the same for him.  She takes the gun from him just like Lionel did.   Alexander has Tess.   Clark rushes back to save Martha and reluctantly Lionel, throwing him to the ground when he gets him out.

Clark thinks they'll lose the vote, but people speak out in favour of the Blur and how he's changed their lives.   Clark: "a beacon of hope shining light on the truth."  Chloe tells him how they all stepped forward for him.   Lois tells him, "You're an American hero Clark." Clark wants to be the man Martha made the suit for.   Clark is inspired by them.   To be a beacon hr believes they need to see his face.   In the future he wore glasses and had a "bad haircut."  He can't treat Clark Kent as a disguise cos of his parents.   Martha tell shim he's who he is cos of his strength and bravery, these are all real.   He'll always be her son.   He's "the light."  (Lots of light references in this episode and some darkness ones too.)  Jonathan would be proud of him.

Alexander tells Tess he's beginning to lose his memory, what if he begins to forget her.   Tess promises to make everything okay and injects him with cyanide but the needle bends.   Does this mean Alexander won't really die.   Look a boy of steel.   Plenty of inspiration lines with Clark being bombarded with inspiration from all sides, but he needs others to inspire him, instead of finding it within himself and it's always those around him who have to fill him with hope and convince him to continue what he does and fulfill his destiny as he should.  Glad the VRA's done and dusted.   Funnily enough, this is the first time we hear of Martha's tireless campaign against the VRA, from Lois and when Martha is actually in Metropolis.   Alexander conveniently beginning to forget who he is, so he won't recall Clark is the Blur.   Then he'll forget Tess and what she's done for him too and become another ruthless Lex.   Which Tess probably knows so was attempting to kill him now.

The videos used in the show were made by actual fans and the better ones were used in the segment.   As for the Kryptonite bullet wouldn't Martha's clothes still have remains of the dust.

Lie To Me - 2.1: "The Core of It" Review

Cal investigates one of his most complex cases yet, when a woman approaches him at his book signing to tell him of a murder she had visions of. Ria gets to go it alone.

A man cleans himself in a dingy motel room.   The killer's face can be seen but then we're shown the face of a woman in a broken mirror.  She's seen the murder though a vision.   Cal (Tim Roth) is at a book signing with Emily (Hayley McFarland) and the customers all avoid looking at him and maintaining eye contact.   The woman who 'witnessed' the murder is also there, Trish (Erika Christensen) who tells him the police won't listen. Does Cal believe her?  Gillian (Kelli Williams) turns up dressed in a new outfit.  Cal has a meeting to vet judge Trent (Richmond Arquette) as he's nominated for the Supreme Court by the President.   Cal wants to find the science behind her vision and wants Gillian to meet Trish.   Cal puts Ria (Monica Raymund) in charge of vetting the judge, which he doesn't like and neither does Ben (Mekhi Phifer).   He tells Cal the President asked for Cal especially but Cal knows when he's lying.   Zoe (Jennifer Beals) also arrives informing Cal she's left the DOJ for a job in Chicago where she'll have her own firm.   It's with someone from college who Cal distinctly hates.   They need to tell Emily.   Cal can see her on holidays.  

Cal checks out the motel room, swiping the key when the manager's occupied. He sees blood, but there's no DB so the police can't do anything since the blood could belong to anyone.   Ria questions the judge, asking about his wife, whether he's cheated on her, making him clam up and angry.   The judge reckons anyone so young doesn't really know anything (referring to himself as will be revealed later.)

At the hotel Cal observes a woman come in, looking for something.   He thinks it's Trish as she has the same tattoo, but she calls herself Jessie.   She's a hooker and he pays her to accompany him to the Lightman Group.   She sufferers from multiple personality disorder.   Ben is absent when Ria continues her questioning of the judge and brings up his past cases and her interest peaks when she mentions a particular case, that of Margaret Lane.   Ria can tell he's lying when he claims nothing happened.

Gillian questions Jessie under hypnosis and needs Trish back.   She mentions another personality, RJ who's the protector.   When she's released from hypnosis another personality emerges, that of Sophie, she's the main personality.   She has  a brother, Gavin (Michael Raymond-James).   Ria tells Ben why he shouldn't be nominated as she looks at a video saying the judge was aroused by her and comments on her "gooey voice."  Ben believes Ria hates the judge and it's personal for her.   Cal talks to Gavin who informs him their grandfather abused Sophie.   Cal walks round the room where Sophie used to stay and he watches Gavin hold his breath.   Cal finally steps on a loose floorboard and Gavin exhales, Cal realizes he's hit the mark.   A wallet belonging to Kyle Arnold (Anthony Starke) is found.   Cal visits his house under the pretext of admiring his car.   Kyle admits two prostitutes robbed him and Cal suggests his wife should have herself checked out for every STD going as he likes unprotected sex with hookers.

Eli (Brendan Hines) doesn't surface much this episode but he is still around.   They need RJ to surface.   Cal is about to talk to Emily when Ben interrupts, they've found a DB belonging to Amber.   Cal locks the room and orders Sophie to strip, in the hopes of making RJ emerge.   Eli brings the master key and RJ punches Cal (not another beating he already suffered one in season 1.) Trish is arrested and Cal says RJ can't speak but she needs to ask him what happened and who killed Amber.   She returns saying she knows who the killer is.   The judge admits to kissing the woman but wants to withdraw his nomination.   Ria doesn't want him to do this since he was young and made mistakes.   Cal tells Ria she was right about this case.

Ria tells him how her boyfriend robbed a store and she was sitting in the car when she was younger.   Cal tells her she has the ability to aim even higher than baggage checker.   Sophie dresses as Jessie to trap the killer, the hotel manager, who finally confesses he killed Amber.   Cal gives Zoe a cheque for her share of the Lightman Group. He's buying her out and she can open up her own firm right here.   Cal sees Gillian dressed in pink and she's happy she can wear this colour and no longer needs to wear her blacks, greys etc.   Gillian knows Cal took the money from the Group and he reassures her he can win it back in Vegas.

So what's Cal been up to in Vegas since Gillian says not Vegas again?  Multiple personality disorder done umpteen times and this had to follow suit.   A bit of  a no-brainer as to what was happening with Trish.   What was more interesting was Ria, not so her case itself, but her attitude towards the judge, or should that be her prejudices towards him.   Then she was the one to tell him to not withdraw his nomination.   Gillian's transformation after her divorce was interesting and that Alex was stifling her in their sham of a marriage.   No mention of why she divorced him again (even if it is obvious ) - like to know when she discovered his philandering ways.  Hey her divorce came through quickly.   Hopefully we'll see more of Ria going it alone.   Plus Cal pulling out all the stops to ensure Emily stays.   People may see him as a lot of things - but he loves his daughter.

Eli: "Where are you going?  None of my business.   Power of non-verbal communication.   Awesome.   Love it."

Gillian: "I'm divorced and I'm free and I'm happy and if you do something to screw that up..." Like admitting his feelings for her?

Cal: "What will you be when you grow up?...You're on your way to becoming one of the lead experts in deception.   But up here [in Ria's head] you're still a baggage screener at the airport.   Until you change that you will always think you're not ready." Only last season Cal used to insist Ria wasn't ready to go it alone and here he's let her do just that and she could handle it too, proving she has grown up, but still has to change her mindset.

Thought that scene in the bookshop was going to turn into a scene from Castle. Luckily it didn't.   When did Cal find the time to write a book and do the others know about it?

Charlies Angels - 1.4: "Angels in Chains" Review

The angels end up in a Cuban prison to rescue a missing girl and end up in a pickle when they are used as 'entertainment' for men. Bosley meets an old flame CIA agent.

 Charlie (Victor Garber) sends the angels to rescue Tess (Krista Kalmus) who was  kidnapped 3 weeks ago.   She's the sixth American kidnapped in this area.   Bosley (Ramon Rodriguez) is already in Cuba making contact with an inside man.   They are to go in undercover as American tourists.   Abby (Rachael Taylor) comments, "Loud and obnoxious."  Charlie's yacht will be international waters in 24 hours.

Havana, Cuba: The hotel man registers them and tells them to leave their bags so can plant stuff in it and have a drink.   He makes a phonecall.   Bosley waits for them at the bar suited out  in glasses, he's a lawyer.   Abby says, a Communist lawyer, "that is so cute."  Santos(Romero Fumazoni) is their man on the inside.   Their bags contain drugs and Bosley tries to help, introducing himself as Jose Juan Bosley but bails out on helping them as soon as drugs are mentioned, so they are arrested.

Prison De Val Verde, Cuba:  The warden (Elizabeth Pena) slaps Eve (Minka Kelly)  when she protests at being kept here.   She replies Americans have no rights here.   Santos gives them earwigs and Abby her tools.   Tess is in the hole after attacking the warden, well she was as headstrong as Eve.   Eve and Kate (Annie Ilonzeh) get themselves thrown in the hole too after fighting the inmates where they get hosed down for talking.

Eve tells Tess she's been in prison before.   Bosley tells Santos he's not changing their plan now and the angels are "good at what they do."  Bosley is held up by Samantha Masters (Erica Durance) he was her ex hacker playboy and they had a good time until he found out she was CIA.   She was demoted when she failed to catch him.   Bosley is in a rush to leave so tells her to shoot him as he has to go.   She's been watching him.   He isn't a criminal anymore and was given a second chance by a "powerful mentor." Samantha refers to him as a "nameless angel of mercy."  He runs a detective agency.

Abby must overpower the fat prison guard and the others can't hear her cos of water in their earwig,s which turned out to be damp squibs.   Bosley has no plans on returning to rescue them and he was right there wasn't going to be a chase.   Santos is found out, shot and the angels are stuck inside prison.   Samantha doesn't have any reinforcements to call, there's only her as she was exiled.  

The women are taken in the van and Samantha recognizes Jonathan Cartwright (James Morrison) a businessman she told the CIA he was here.  The warden tells them to pick a dress for their customers, she only does this to Americans and no one else.   Eve rejects having to play dress ups.   Tess is threatened with a gun.   Ugh those outfits, especially Kate's one again. Someone has weird dress sense.   They need to contact Bosley.   Charlie knows Cartwright.   It will take a while to track him and his yacht will be arriving in six hours.  They ranged from calling it a yacht to a ship to a boat.  

Abby gets a man drunk and she uses his phone to call Bosley to track their location, getting sprung by the warden who tells her to find another man.   Bosley enters dressed a security and leaves a gun for Kate.   They shooting the air and Eve exchanges herself as a hostage in place of Tess and the others.   As in the Pilot, Eve will be subjected to more beating.   Bosley promises to get Eve back.   Cartwright shows the warden footage of Samantha from outside the prison and hits the warden, calling her a peasant.  She has to earn her share of the new Cuba.

Cartwright guesses Eve is freelance and she refuses to talk.   Bosley isn't leaving Eve behind as Samantha calls her an acceptable loss.   Bosley: "No loss is acceptable."  Speaking from personal experience.   She asks if he's worried about Eve cos of Elizabeth.   He talks in his sleep, that's dangerous.  Bosley: "Don't mention her name again."  The angels were standing there but didn't seem to be too curious about who this mysterious woman was that Bosley didn't want mentioned again.   Bosley forces the hotel man to call Cartwright who he tells them he knows of the angels as he has money and contacts cos Eve didn't talk just like she said she wouldn't.     They decide to exchange Eve for Samantha.   Abby: "not a woman to negotiate - my kinda girl."  Bosley says Samantha lost her career cos of him but she won't lose her life.   So another one who lost her career just like Kate, though with Kate it was her own fault.  

Samantha is adamant when the CIA find she was murdered by Cartwright, he'll be thrown in Guantanamo.   Bosley likens Samantha to Elizabeth, "smart, stubborn, I did everything I could to save her."  He doesn't want to lose her too.   Samantha is a public servant, it's in her job description, there's an anonymous wall of stars for her back at Langley.   At the exchange Samantha takes Cartwright hostage.   The warden arrives.   She wasn't going to let him get away with treating her like that.   Bosley made a deal with her, he'll do anything to protect them all, no matter what the cost, but he won't let the warden get away either.   He recorded what she said against the government on microcam.   Old school entrapment.   Bosley adds he learned from the best.  Bosley: "They do answer my prayers." Samantha is staying behind to get Intel on Cartwright's deals.   This isn't the Casablanca ending??  The warden will end up an inmate in her own prison.  

Bosley speaks with Charlie about bringing up old ghosts like Elizabeth.   Charlie doesn't blame him for what happened to Elizabeth.  It wasn't his fault.   Elizabeth loved Bosley, never forget that.   Elizabeth was his daughter.   Is that why Charlie started his own agency, to help women cos he couldn't help Elizabeth.   Now that she's mentioned we should get  more on her, she can't turn up cos she's dead, or is she?

Erica Durance turns up hot off Smallville, kind of, and she didn't do a bad job with the material she had to work with.   Actually I found myself getting into the show and just as I did, it was cancelled.   Spoiled sports.    The original episode of Charlie's Angels Angels in Chains was also 1.4, where the angels were hired by Christine to find her missing sister, Elizabeth, who disappeared after she was parolled and refused to become a prostitute for the prison.   Charlie's daughter was called Elizabeth.  Charlie appears to have settled down in this new series.   Also no head shots from the back for Charlie, he clearly remains just a voice and he doesn't have a female 'companion' every episode either.   That would have been too sexist for the twenty first century.   I liked the way they kept Elizabeth for Charlie's daughter, as an homage to the original episode and then had her being dead too.

The 1976 episode of Charlie's Angels got a mauling in the press.   TIME magazine 22nd November 1976 issue recounted the story as : "...the matron, dressed SS style ordered the girls to 'strip down to your birthday suits'." It even went on to call this episode "family style porn and raunchy."  Feminists were in uproar too, describing the series as "exploitative and misogynist."  In this episode  Kim Basinger played an inmate and was hired by the Townsend Agency as a receptionist but wasn't shown again.  The two episodes even had similar prison outfits in blue jeans and shirts.   It was suggested by some that Cartwright did more than just beat up on Eve as he removed his jacket.  Rather it was more to keep it clean from blood.   Eve is not the type to keep something like being physically assaulted to herself.

As for those descriptions of the original Angels In Chains, not so for this new version.   Bosley's past turned out to be more interesting and intriguing than the angels!  Turns out he was a bad boy and yet seems he suffered the greatest loss and heartbreak with losing Elizabeth whom he loved.   Showing why he's so protective of the angels and would not leave Eve behind.  Perhaps cos of this Charlie offered him a way out and maybe a means of helping his daughter.   Or did they meet when Bosley had turned a different corner.   He was/is quite the ladies man but Elizabeth came before he met Samantha.   Who certainly wasn't going to let Bolsey escape her clutches without a passionate kiss.   There must have been some feelings still there or was she merely a one night stand.

Eve bonded with Tess cos of her own experiences in prison.

CSI: NY - 1.9: "Officer Blue" Review

A sniper attack in central Park leaves an NYPD mounted police officer dead and his horse fighting for his life. The horse has the crucial bullet and Stella wants it removed for evidence.

In the first story, a man is assaulted in Central Park, leading to a mounted police officer intervening and is shot.   The horse escapes but is run over by a taxi and is still alive.   Flack (Eddie Cahill) says he heard the shot from 6th Ave and it shook the windows of his car.   Mac (Gary Sinise) explains it was the echo from the weapon, as if Flack wouldn't know that already.   The policeman was shot through the back and through his vest by a sniper.   Danny (Carmine Giovinazzo) and Aiden (Vanessa Ferlito) process the scene in search of the elusive bullet.   Mac finds a mobile/cell phone, but no bullet and Danny takes the tapes from the cameras.

Hawkes (Hill Harper) deduces the COD was a single GSW to the back, which left through the front, from a high powered rifle.   His vest is examined to see where the bullet entered and it exited into the saddle and the horse.   The vet, Dr Huff (Jim Metzler) does a CAT SCAN to check the neck area of the horse and finds the bullet which will be needed for evidence.   Mac says the bullet changed directions and he needs it.   However removing it could prove fatal for the horse.   Danny says the centre of the CS is the distance where the officer fell and the taxi and the horse, at the naval, where the shooting occurred.   They scan Central Park in various directions.

In the second story, Aiden is sent to investigate the possible homicide of a DOA.    Det Thacker (Paul Carafotes) tells her about the 19 year old Lenny, ( Kanin Howell) who has burns to his face.   Aiden: "Don't check out my ass on the street when a kid is dead, have some respect."    She tells Thacker.   This is what was so great about Aiden, sassy and not afraid to speak her mind, unlike dire, boring Lindsay.

Danny uses the security tapes to determine the geography and begins the reconstruction at the taxi and Vic perspectives on the computer.   Mac gives various orders on the direction Danny should focus on and they end up with the location of the Patterson building.   Here they find GSR on the window ledge.   The sniper was here.   Mac notices a print on the window.   Flack relays the results of his canvas of witnesses and comes up with the usual, it was aliens or he shot himself.   "This city's full of nuts."  Yep and he comes across most of them.   Mac: "That's why we're scientists." Yes but he's a cop first, they all are.    The print is a match to a Richard Smockton (Barry Del Sherman) who has a record for staging animal protests.   Obviously it's not him.   Mac notices his hands shake, he has hyperthyroidism, known as Graves Disease, so he couldn't have been the shooter.

Hawkes autopsies the Vic from the second story and finds he had trauma to the cranium, secondary burns, severe blistering.  Destruction of his epidermis shows he suffered a contact burn, like from an iron.   The burn hadn't healed yet so it was recent.  Voids on his face reveal the burns were obstructed and tissue is sent for micro analysis.

Danny uses facial recognition, courtesy of Identi-feature software used at the Tampa Superbowl 35.   This measures the distance between the eyes, nose width, jawline, chin.  It matches facial recognition to the NYPD, where  a mugshot is revealed on the database, belonging to Willie Chancey ( Allen Payne).  Mac found his phone.   Danny: "They don't call me the eagle eye for nothing."  Chancey admits he was in the Park and got into a fight, losing his phone.  A tourist was harassing him demanding his money back.   Mac is visited by DA Tom Mitford (Terry Kinney).   There's photos of Mac from his time in Beirut on his office wall.   The horse was donated by the widow, Mandi Como (Erin O'Connor) of policeman Don Como, in his memory.   A delay of 6 hours is requested before operating on the horse to see if a weapon is found.   Flack hits on a signal from the phone at La Guardia airport.   Brown (Gabriel Casseus) is arrested on the plane and he doesn't own a car.  

Results of the analysis shows Lenny had beaker's yeast on his face and corn meal, which is narrowed to a pizza place.   Aiden checks the oven for  blood or burn stain inside.   The cook says she burnt two fingers of her hand and it's a fresh wound.   Aiden uses ALS (Alternate Light Source) and Nick, (Jude Ciccolella) the owner, tells her to leave.

Mac is all for saving the horse and constructs a 3D replica of the bullet.   Jane (Sonya Walger) calls him a "scientist with a heart." Jane had her eye on Mac didn't she, but alas he wasn't to be a conquest.    The bullet matches a military surplus round, which Stella (Melina Kanakaredes) says is no good since they can't get any real stria from it.   Mac wants to construct a profile of the bullet to understand the shooter.   Stella however wants the horse dead and in autopsy already.   I didn't like Stella from the outset, as you may know, but her reaction here was justification enough for my feelings.   Already inconsistent character-wise, she reinforces that by wanting to get on with the case, without giving a thought to anyone, including Mac, whom she just wants to override on everything he wants to do.   She's not friendly towards suspects or Vic's alike at the best of times, but at the worst, she's just someone who has no emotions whatsoever, unless it's about her.

As Mac tells her, "no one's delaying the case - we're not forensically there yet...the bullet's only half the puzzle."  Stella says the bullet should have been removed first.   I rest my case!  Mac replies they need both the bullet and the weapon for an arrest, but she wants to jump the gun (bad pun fully intended!)  At least Mac overrules her, it's his call.   Stella searches Brown's house and finds pieces of the weapon and then tests it herself.   Stella: "In Stella talk: it's time to get the bullet out of the horse Mac.   End of conversation."  She 's so patronizing, thinking she can always throw her weight around, reinforced by her using Mac's phrase of "end of conversation."

Aiden assures Mac she'll call for back up as soon as she finds something.   He advises, "you're processing evidence that could put someone behind bars for life.   You take nothing or no one for granted."  Clearly this shows Aiden's inexperience and that she's new to all this.   As we know, this line of Mac's will come back to haunt Aiden, after Vanessa decided to leave the show at the end of the season.   The pizza place is a sport's book, which isn't unusual in NY.   Mac: "It's your first threat, it won't be your last so you take back up.   You go back to the scene, follow the evidence and if for some reason, you need a little help with this Nick Vincenzo, don't forget the rule." Which will be seen in action later in the episode.   Mac was giving her pointers just like he did to Danny previously, now it's her turn to follow the evidence.

The surgery on the horse was a success and Mac tests the gun.   The bullet isn't a match and there's no GSR on any of the suspects.   Chancey's DB is discovered at the airport garage in the back of his own car.   He was shot in the trunk.   Danny examines the car, with Stella and finds a secret compartment, which has the stashed AR15 rifle.

Aiden returns to the pizza place with back up.   The cook's fingers match the voids on the Vic's face.   Two sets of prints were found from the oven and Nick says it's his place.   Lenny's head was slammed with the door.   He left and was stabbed to death.    At least this is what Aiden tells him.   Nick admits he hit him, but didn't kill him since he owed him money.   Here's that rule, Aiden: "you know what one of the greatest rules is of an investigator: we can lie to suspects legally."  Which will be demonstrated a few times over the seasons.   Lenny wasn't stabbed but died of an epidural haematoma behind his ear.   Lenny died after Nick had left him in the street, as he experienced "delayed deterioration."  Here's another suspect trying to be clever and failing miserably.

The prints on the gun bullets match Brown, who was a sergeant in the army, a marksman who was dishonourably discharged.  Mac being a Marine knows that the "chain of command is sacrosanct."  Someone should tell Stella that, cos she always wants to be in command.   Chancey was his accomplice so he had to kill him.   Chancey was the bait in the Park.   Brown shot him since he hated policemen as his father was falsely arrested for drugs and was killed in jail.   Brown claims to have picked any cop.   Mac: "you shot an NY City police officer.   He wasn't just a cop, he was somebody's son...  when you shot him in the back, you shot those people through the heart, from where I stand, you're the one who should be put to death...an eye for an eye."

You can see this was an emotional case for Mac and not just cos of the horse but of the shooting.  Stella apologizes , they haven't had a fight in a while and he reminds her of the old Mac Taylor, "the one that lets his heart out of his chest once in a while." Which is more than can be said for Stella.   Mac wouldn't do this job without her.   Yet in season 7 that's what he exactly does when she leaves.   I liked them arguing, it was different, showing their characters aren't infallible.

The widows of police officers actually donate the horses as was mentioned here.   CBS wanted the producers to inject more science into the show and that explains the technical scene between Danny and Aiden in the Park.   Mac makes his feelings known about the death penalty, which makes you wonder how easy it was for him to take a life as a Marine, since that comes under the heading of serving your country.   Some of Mac's emotion will be lost in future episodes.   In real life, the NYPD are legally allowed to lie to suspects.

Flack's allusion to the eye witnesses and aliens will be done again in 3.8 Consequences.   Though he gets his line in about the city being full of nuts.   Oh wrong choice of word, especially since in the plane scene, Flack was meant to have the line, "I'll carry your nuts for you." Which had to be removed for obvious reasons.   Why were Mac and Stella test firing weapons without their lab coats on!!

CSI:Miami had a sniper episode in season 1's Kill Zone.   CSI:NY also had a sniper episode in season 7 Hide Sight.   CSI season 2 episode Alter Boys, here Sara (Jorga Fox) also found that the flour was used in making pizza.   The actor who played Brown, was considered for the role of Warrick in CSI.

Castle - 2.8: "Kill the Messenger" Review

Castle and Beckett investigate when a bike courier is run over, leading to one of Captain Montgomery's old cases when he put away an innocent man. Alexis sets up a social networking page for Martha.

Castle (Nathan Fillion) and Beckett (Stana Katic) investigate the death of a courier who was run over by a car.  Alexis (Molly Quinn) sets up a Myface page for Martha (Susan Sullivan) who has two words for Castle, "hairline and receding," which prompts Castle to jump to the mirror for an impromptu check of his hairline!  The phone rings and he comments, "It's either a dead body or you just wanna hear my sultry voice."  Castle arrives on the scene before Beckett, which surprises her.  It was in his neighbourhood.

The courier Shamansky was left to die and Castle comes up with a Kevin Bacon movie reference, Quicksilver (1986).  Ryan (Seamus Dever) says the car had a stolen licence plate and the witnesses described seeing a masked man.  Captain Montgomery (Ruben Santiago-Hudson) complains about budget cuts and how they must meet their mandated minimum review.

Esposito (Jon Huertas) claims the courier service was delivering the parcel for S Nadal Mattar who is on the Terror Watch list, addressed to the 64th precinct. The team breaks into Sally Neidermeyer's (Hatty Winston) apartment.  It was sent by her nephew, Brady who was in prison and she doesn't know what was in it.  He called her to send the package to the man who arrested him, Det Montgomery.  The Captain explains Brady confessed to killing a woman and Esposito finds he was killed in prison this very morning.

Beckett has to break the sad news to the courier's sister and the Captain thinks Beckett is good at this and Castle wonders how she does it.  The phone log from prison, has Brady asking for the package to be delivered and one call was logged to Brady's wife, Val (Sonya Leslie).  Her son has a respiratory condition.  Ryan still has a copy of Castle's new book.

Martha has received a Friend request from Chet, whom she knew from high school.  He was her first which is too much info for Castle and asks if she should accept.

Brady was paid $7,000 a month for his son's treatment.  Castle knows his calls would have been monitored and the Captain wants a list of the prison staff.  Castle believes they should begin at the start in order to solve this case, just like a mystery story.  All mystery stories are the same.  In this case a murder was committed to cover one up from ten years ago.  He came up with that all by himself, without any help.

Olivia was killed in her apartment and it looked like a robbery.  Beckett finds Olivia was at a high society club party where the waitress saw her arguing with a man in a blue blazer and orange striped tie.  Ryan tells them Perlmutter (Ayre Gross) doesn't t find Olivia was killed by a baseball bat.  Castle tells him it's unhygienic to eat in the morgue.  They want to exhume Olivia's DB.  Jeff Dillahunt (Ron Melendez) took Olivia as his date and asks why a man and woman can't be friends.  That's taboo to Castle.  Also he wonders if the two of them are together.  Castle: "Not yet."  Beckett: "Absolutely not." Jeff has an alibi.  One of the Wellesley's, Blake is running for the senator's seat.  Jeff agrees to take Castle to the party next time he's invited.

Ryan can't get the duty roster from the warden.  The waitress recalls one of the men spilled wine and  Beckett spots one in the photo.  The Wellesley matriarch, Leanne (Jill Andre) mentions her stolen ring, a clue.  Trent (Josh Daugherty) had an argument with Olivia since he wanted her to leave.  She was taking advantage of his uncle Winston (Gregg Henry).  Winston claims to have been home alone and from his mannerisms it's obvious he's lying, cos he's gay.  The Captain gets hold of the roster. He has his ways and asks why the money was no longer paid to Brady.  Blake (Mark Moses) wants them to question other family member at his office and the Captain refuses to comply.

Castle sweet talks Martha, describing her as being pretty in the past and she's pretty spectacular now too.  Castle accepts Chet as her Friend on her behalf.  Chet's also posted a younger photo of himself.

Olivia's coffin is found to be empty which was obviously going to be the case. Castle notices the coffin is expensive and from his research for Storm Warning he recalls they usually have a secret drawer, where a photo of Olivia's mother is found, who wears a pin for Senator Casper Wellesley. Beckett asks Castle if he's viewing porn. No, he uses Ryan's computer for that.  Patterson, a guard at the prison was paid off.  Winston admits he was Olivia's father.  Esposito and Ryan discover Winston's alibi, he was with a man and he was protecting the family.

Blake didn't know she was his daughter and Winston hid it cos of the campaign, which Blake lost anyway.  Their mother mentions her ring again.  She saw Olivia at her apartment and had  it "taken care of." Frank (Jeff Harlen) leaves to get her meds and is arrested by the Captain since the guard confessed.  It could only have been him since he's still doing things for their mother.  He was the 'family fixer.'  Blake took over power of attorney from their mother and so the money wasn't available.  Frank stole her ring to make part payment.  Beckett says they've closed three cases so have met their quota.  Also there's closure for Olivia's aunt and Shamansky's sister.  Castle wonders if "having answers makes it any easier?"  Beckett: "It does in time."

Castle tells Alexis he's already ruined their family reputation.  Blake has given $420 million to a children's charity which will help Brady's son.  Martha goes on a date with Chet since she just wants some fun.  Alexis wonders if insanity is hereditary.

Plenty of family skeletons lurking around in this episode for the Wellesley's; so it was only fitting Alexis signed Martha to social networking; where she also had a few clanking about in her closet. Re her young photo and Chet deciding to post the same.  Makes you wonder just how many actually look like their photos when they upload to such sites.

Wow wonders will never cease,the Captain got to work a case this episode; even if it turned out he put  someone away for a crime he didn't commit.  At least he admitted he made a mistake and did something about it.  Castle being in awe of the Captain not backing down when dealing with Blake, calling him, "awesome."

Ryan's still reading Castle's book. For a few episodes he didn't have one but clearly he's reading the new one.  Castle also gets to mention Derrik Storm once again and Storm Force, the driving force behind his success after all or he'd never have met Beckett.

Another moment where it become painfully obvious Beckett would like her mother's case solved but can't bring herself to do it.  Doesn't look like Castle's going to volunteer anytime soon.

Okay here we have Castle returning to those porn comments again - even if it was Beckett who brought it up.  Hadn't heard the 'P' word in a while.  Castle, cats and tea!  This episode was directed by Jonathan Frakes, Number 2 from Star Trek: The Next Generation.  So he did an excellent job and kept the action going, the laughs coming and some sombre moments too.

Mother was behind the killing and it was apparent from her 'missing ring,'  also how Frank was her 'go to man' for taking care of such things for her.

Hey no one gave any clues to anyone this episode when it came to solving the case; which also made a change.  Oh and for once, okay, maybe twice, Mark Moses didn't play a killer.  Martha's Myface account was an obvious reference to MySpace and Facebook.  Gregg Henry starred alongside Nathan in Firefly  episode The Train Job and in the movie Slither (2006).  Beckett said a magnifying glass isn't standard issue for detectives since Sherlock Holmes. Well, he wasn't a police detective!

The Closer - 6.10: "Executive Order" Review

The big day arrives for the announcement of Chief of Police. As expected it wouldn't go easy for Brenda, as Major Crimes investigates the killing of two paramedics and Brenda must work with her rival, Tommy Delk.

Paramedics arrive at the scene of a call-out, where they find a man alone, distressed and apparently unwell.   They get him onto a gurney and take him to hospital.   Anthony, (Emerson Brooks) one of the paramedics, blares the siren, which appears to distress him further.   He wakes up uncontrollable and Anna Vargas (Jaclyn De Santis) asks for help.   He then holds a gun on them both and shoots them dead.   Wiping his prints clean form the ambulance; he misses the fact he got hold of Vargas's glove when they lifted him onto the gurney in the beginning.

Brenda (Kyra Sedgwick) arrives at the scene and Tao (Michael Paul Chan) demos what a GS lift is - giving her an idea as to what to look for on the DBs.   But Taylor (Robert Gossett) tells her the LAFD took them away.   Just as the LAPD does for its officers, she wants the DBs brought to the morgue, but in a certain way.   Vargas has paper bags on her gloves to protect any evidence on them, viz, fingerprints belonging to the killer.   Morales (Jonathan Del Arco) knows Vargas, they were friends and Brenda tells him he doesn't have to perform the autopsy yet.   There wasn't one shown to be done either as it wasn't relevant.

Tao reveals a fingerprint on her glove belonging to Kevin Mason (Matthew Glave).   Sanchez (Raymond Cruz) informs Brenda about the use of a phone and this is connected to another case.   They think Kevin had an accomplice who made the 911 call for help.   Listening to the call, Brenda believes it's the killer's voice.   She  wonders how Kevin could have faked his symptoms.  Obviously some sort of medication would be required.

Pope (JK Simmons) tells Brenda she has to deal with Chief Tommy Delk (Courtney B Vance) - part of counter-terrorism, who investigated the earlier case.   He's also in the running for Chief of Police.   Brenda clearly bereft of this asks why a grown man would call himself 'Tommy.'  She doesn't want him taking over the case or bringing in the FBI until she as more to go on and as usual, no one listens to Brenda's requests anymore.   But Tommy has already called them, giving them three hours before the FBI shows up to take their evidence.   Like the way they always put deadlines in the show, cos it's gotta be solved in less than 40 minutes.  Pope wants them to work together.

Going through the evidence from the previous case, Brenda thinks the real targets were the firemen and not the IRS, where the bomb was left outside of their building.   Fritz (Jon Tenney) and some agents arrive for their evidence and Tommy lets them take everything.   Then suggests to Brenda they investigate the lead on Kevin, as they wouldn't want to lead  the FBI on a "wild goose chase."    Tommy came across as cunning.

Kevin puts the gun away along with dozens of empty medicine bottles into a drawer and puts on his name tag, 'Bob.'  He works in a nursing home and wheels around an old man as he's going to fix his electric wheelchair for him.   Kevin has other needs for it.  Taylor informs the paramedic's memorial will be moved forward so the announcement for Chief of Police has been moved to Tuesday.   Just to cause more tension in the air, did ~I say tension, I meant so Brenda can solve the case.

Brenda and Tommy question Dr Wexler (David Barry Gray) who analyzed Kevin when he applied for a position as a fireman.   He was rejected twice as he was described as controlling and sure of himself.   Dr Wexler advises to take what they think Kevin might do and think much bigger than that.   The patient asks about his wheelchair and threatens to report Kevin, when Kevin kills him, then makes a DVD recording before changing into an LAPD uniform.   The casings from the gun match Owens', (Kenneth White, the old man) and lead them straight to the nursing home.   Sanchez, Flynn, (Tony Dension) Provenza (GW Bailey) and Gabriel (Corey Reynolds) arrive too late.   Tao finds bottles of oxybutynin, which is used for bladder control.   Gabriel tells them Kevin was identified as one of the attendants there and Sanchez asks how long the DB will be released in since the staff want a quick burial - giving Brenda a clue as to what "the bigger" plan is that Kevin had in mind: to bomb the paramedic's memorial.

Kevin sits in the wheelchair carrying two oxygen canisters behind him.   Brenda wants the memorial cancelled and Pope does it for her - she could lose the position if she does this herself.   Flynn finds his abandoned van and the DVD inside an envelope addressed to the media.   The DVD contains his manifesto.   Brenda races to the van and Tao calls to tell her the bomb contains sarin.   Oxybutynin is used for the effects of this.   A policeman tells Kevin about the memorial being cancelled and he returns to the van, where Brenda comes face to face with him.   Wonder who got the bigger shock?

She tries to talk him down by telling him she's watched the DVD and agrees with he part about the system being corrupt.  Sanchez flees to get a better shot at Kevin from behind and he calls him a scared Hispanic - but he's not "racist."  Yeah that's why racists have to justify themselves by always using that line.   Gabriel goes for Kevin and they fight.  In the struggle, Brenda manages to get a shot off in Kevin's head and Tao arrives to in time to stop the canister from rolling into the pillar.   September 24 was when an executive order for affirmative action was given.

Flynn says she should have let him take the shot, she's got no hope of becoming Chief now.   Taylor arrives pointing out the Mayor wants to see the Chief, not Brenda but Tommy.   Taylor couldn't help but gloat, "an example of how things in life aren't fair."  That was obviously an allusion to Tommy being black.   Brenda hands out  treats to everyone after she breaks the DVD in half and throws it away.   Saving the people wasn't as important as being made Chief.  

Brenda was disappointed even if last episode she said she didn't want the job, especially how everyone talked her into it.   Pope says he's going to type his resume.   Also can't help but think Tommy played Brenda knowing she'd take all the risks to bring Kevin down.   Just as well Brenda threw Kevin's manifesto away.   Of course Major Case won't be disbanded - not just yet anyway.   What's with the 'warning' Taylor gave Brenda earlier on, like he knew who would be the next Chief; or more likely wanting  to keep both Brenda and Tommy happy too, so he'd get on with either Chief.  "In addition to your two vics, there are several still living people counting on you."  Yes, to save the day, solve the case and miss out on being Chief.