Supernatural - 1.15: "The Benders" Review

Sam and Dean's search for missing men leads them to a family of twisted backwoods monsters, but of the human variety, this time, shaking Dean's faith in human nature.

Hibbing, Minnesota:  A boy watches a man being dragged away from under a car.   Cue Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean (Jensen Ackles) as State police.   The boy, Evan (Ryan Drescher) describes what happened and says it sounded like Godzilla, from Godzilla v Mothra, one of Dean's fave movies.   Better than the remake.   The original is always better than the remake/reboot.  Here's a scary thought, can you imagine years down the line Supernatural being remade!  He heard a scary whining sound.   Sam finds there were signs of a struggle.   Dad (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) marked the area in his journal as a possible hunting ground of the phantom attacker.   Dean asks why?

Sam relays the local folklore of a dark figure at night, taking people and vanishing.   Statistics also reveal there are more missing people in this part of the State than any other.   Dean says phantom attackers take people from their beds and Sam recalls some attacked anywhere, anytime.   Sam says they'll make an early start and leaves the bar.   Sam's on his own when he hears a noise near a car and sees a cat, as is always the case when somethings about to happen.   Dean can't find Sam and he also sees the cat on the car.   Then sees the CCTV camera.

Dean has to do something they never do, contact law enforcement.   He claims he's Officer Washington, looking for his missing cousin from the bar.   He comments that Sam, has "two beers and he's doing Karaoke."  He names him Sam Winchester, as in the rifle.  His name comes up on the police database and also states his brother, Dean Winchester is deceased.   Deputy Kathleen (Jessica Steen) asks if he knows Dean was killed in St Louis.   Of course he'd know that if they are "cousins."  Dean: "Dean's kind of the black sheep of the family.   Handsome devil though."

As usual Dean must extenuate and exaggerate his description of himself, ha.   Kathleen gives him the missing person's report to fill out, but Dean insists on tagging along, he's family.   He asks if any missing person's come back and then tells her, "Sam's my responsibility and he's coming back.   I'm bringing him back."  That responsibility is something Dean will mention over and over and that same responsibility, devotion, love, whatever you want to call it, will drive them to hell and back.

Sam finds himself locked in a cage, with another man across from him.   The CCTV gives an image after every 3 seconds, part of the Amber Alert Programme.   After Sam left the bar, a black truck was seen.   New plates on an old rust bucket, so it had to be involved.   Dean spots the same truck.   The man with Sam is Albert Jenkins (Jon Cuthbert) the man Sam was in search of and Sam asks him what they are.   They're human.   Sam is given food and attempts to escape.   The truck pulls off somewhere and these backwood's properties have their own roads.   Kathleen gets an alert on the computer screen in her car, she ran his badge number.   The badge is stolen from a  black man.  

Dean wants her to find Sam and  Dean's not lying.   He pulled him from a fire and feels responsible.  "My job is to keep him safe."  She looks at a photo of her brother.    Jenkins calls him 'Sammy.'  Sam: "Don't call me Sammy."  Cos only Dean can do that.   The bracket is pulled back and the cage opens.   He tells Jenkins to get back as it was too easy.   Jenkins is chased by his captors and is caught and killed.   Well he was the token extra.   Sam hears his screams.

Dean asks why she's helping him and tells him of her own brother, Riley who disappeared 3 years ago.   He was never found.   She handcuffs Dean to the car and he tells her she'll need his help and they always do.   Dean doesn't have a paperclip this time as in the Pilot episode to escape his cuffs, but he's no stranger to handcuffs! A girl answers the door at the house and Kathleen shows her a photo of Sam.   Her father knocks her out with a shovel.   Dean reaches for the car aerial and hears the engine running.   He manages to get out of the handcuffs and hide, as they take the Kathleen's car.   She tells Sam about Dean being cuffed to the car.

Dean finds them, he knows a trick or two.   Sam: "Dude they're just people."
Dean: "And they jump you - you're getting rusty." Dean thinks people are just crazy.   He saw a Black Mustang out the back which belonged to her brother.   Dean goes in search of the key and sees photos inside the house, as well as souvenirs of their kills.   Dean: "I'll say it again, demons I get - people are crazy."  The same girl, Missy (Alexia Fast) sneaks up behind Dean and pins him to the wall before shouting for help.   Dean is knocked out by a shovel.  What was he just saying to Sam about being taken by people.   That shovel gets around.

Dean put up a fight so he'll be fun to hunt.   The father, Pa bender (John Dennis Johnston) hunted all his life and the best hunt is humans.   Dean tells him he's sloppy.   He questions Dean on whether he's with Kathleen.   Dean: "If I tell you, promise you're not gonna turn me into an ashtray...how about it's not nice to marry your sister."  Dean: "Oh eat me! - No...wait...you actually might." Dean has to pick the next one hunted, Sam Kathleen.   Sam is going to be shot in the cage along with Kathleen.   Dean will kill him if he hurts his brother.   Sam fights and the gun jams.   Sam hides in the loft and Kathleen is almost shot.   She shoots Pa Bender, he killed her brother, after he tells her it was fun.   Sam rescues Dean who was locked in the closet, it was Dean's turn to be locked in a closet now.   Kathleen tells them she shot him trying to escape, nah, it was revenge and tells them to leave.

Dean: "don't ever do that again - go missing like that."  Sam asks if Dean was worried, but Dean won't look for him if he does go missing.   Sam: "So you got sidelined by a 13 year old girl."  Yeah Dean, at least Sam was taken by a crazy man.   An episode where we see again how much Dean looks out for Sam and since the night of the fire, when Dad asked him to carry Sam out, he's been Dean's responsibility ever since and he doesn't take it lightly.

Dean can't believe that humans can be worse than the monsters they hunt, but he prefers hunting them since you know exactly what you're getting with demons.   Demons, humans, they're all underhanded, lying, two-faced.   here it's more a case of humans can be evil monsters too, of the worst kind.

Dean asks Kathleen for a ride since he didn't come in his Impala and this time both he and Sam have to walk, instead of their customary driving off.   Pa bender claims to only take one or two Vics a year, but they took Sam after Jenkins and that was within the space of a week.   Guess you could say someone just couldn't resist Sammy!  The database has them both listed as being 6' 4", but that's Sam/Jared's height only.   Dean's death in St Louis, alludes to the season 1.6 episode Skin, where Shapeshifter Dean was killed.  Dean's ashtray line was a reference to serial killer Ed Gein, who used human body parts as decor, including skulls as ashtrays.

The only Supernatural episode where they didn't hunt demons/monsters.

CSI: NY - 7.2: "Unfriendly Chat" Review

Adam witnesses an online murder whilst at work and calls on the team to investigate. Leading them onto a company being investigated by the FBI. An episode showing the full extent of Adam's emotions and his actions as a result of what he's seen.

Adam (AJ Buckley) accesses the online chat site 'looking at yo and is attracted to the girl on the site.   He likes her moves and music.   He notices Mac (Gary Sinise) approach and thinks he's going to enter the lab.   Adam liked the way she said his name with her French accent.  When he goes back in he finds the girl being strangled by a hooded killer.   Don't know why Adam switched from the site so many times when he saw Mac, since if Mac was going to enter the lab he'd have seen him and his computer was facing inwards, so he still would have had time to switch to something else.   He was hiding what he was doing from Mac, yet it's Mac who he has to run to, informing him of what he's witnessed.

What's this silent thing Flack (Eddie Cahill) and Jo (Sela Ward) have got going?  There's some sort of attraction there.  At least from the looks they give each other, especially Flack, there's something there, or must be my over-active imagination!   Jo: "What is it with you boys?"
Flack: "...snails and puppy dog tails."

Adam explains about how the site 'looking at you.com' has a live feed between two computers.   The killer choked her, but he wasn't able to video capture it.   The video transmission only lasts until someone gets 'next-ed'.   Flack doesn't even know if the murder occurred within their jurisdiction.   Hey but that would mean they'd have no case...  Adam believes what he saw was real, he's never seen anyone murdered before.   Kind of questioning his integrity there by asking him this since even if he just worked in the lab, he should know what he's seen, he's not flaky or prone to making up such stories.

Hawkes (Hill Harper) has set up the computers to different databases so he can research everything Adam recalls, but he can't remember anything.   Jo explains memory loss is not uncommon in trauma as the "brain locks out information" and uses her valuable FBI training to illicit the necessary clues from Adam, by asking him questions such as when he had his first kiss.  (Something which Adam doesn't object to as being personal, since last episode, he didn't like the way Jo knew everything about him in his file.)  She then asks him to describe the girl he saw getting killed.

Jo continues, sometimes when "the memory experiences a traumatic collapse, sometimes you have to dig from the other side using memory triggers...emotions from the past, to trigger the present."  They narrow down the countries from what Adam remembers.   Such as the news being on the TV with a 58 in the corner.   Jo mentions local TV news usually put the temperature in the corner.   Narrowing this down, to surprise, surprise, Manhattan.   It could only be...Adam recalls the stone face of a woman, this leads them straight to her building.

I have to say it, only 2 episodes in and Sela has grown on me.   Her FBI skills make a refreshing change from their normal investigative tactics and she's a welcome and refreshing change from Stella (Melina Kanakaredes).   She doesn't try to be one of the guys and  is a great actress too.   Sorry to all Stella fans, but I never was a fan of hers.   Jo fits right in.

The expression on Adam's face when he sees the DB says it all, that he's clearly a lab guy, but also because he was talking to her seconds before and to actually see the horror that he did, it's not easy for him to face.   Danny (Carmine Giovinazzo) and Lindsay (Anna Belknap) analyze the CS.   Sass's iPad screen has fingerprints on there, larger than hers.   Also a piece of wood with a number in the corner is found.   The DB was still lying there and hasn't been moved, like it usually is, before they carry out their investigation.   Seemed cold and cruel, leaving her there like that and Danny and Lindsay, working around her, as if she doesn't exist.   Is in sharp contrast to Adam, who had to leave and couldn't bear to be in the same room.   It does show how the two of them are CSIs and this is what they always come across, so take it in their stride, but it's not so for Adam, he's never seen a DB so close, if at all.

Flack identifies her as Sass DuMonde (Amra Silajdzic)  from Paris.   Didn't know what to make with the next scene when Jo tells Adam to "man up."  It was both funny and poignant at the same time, since what he believes she's telling her to do is insensitive, he realizes she was only trying to get him to talk.   He can't keep things locked in, or "contents may explode under pressure."  You can just picture Jo saying that to her children, which we get to hear about and may get to see in the future too.   (Which we did.) As Adam's chat was terminated, someone else may have seen the actual murder take place and thus the murderer.

How did Lindsay ascertain she was strangled with the headphones at the CS, since they are missing, but also since she hasn't been through autopsy yet.   Anyway, having said that, I also deduced the headphones were used to strangle her.   I don't like Danny and Lindsay working together at a CS.   It's enough that they are together.   Danny has an excuse to mention Lucy, not once, but twice in this episode, saying she could have picked Sass's lock, it was so old.   Danny comments, how it doesn't feel like just a murder and oh no, now Lindsay's almost finishing off his sentences.   Oh, seems Adam and Danny buy their plimsoles from the same store.  Ha.

Hawkes finds the IP address changes and locates it to Draga Financial, a Wall Street firm.   Sass wasn't an employee, but it's like "finding a needle in a stack of needles."  Adam can come up with another way, as he explains, "every computer accesses the Internet through a series of virtual ports."  He could find Draga's 'financial network and locate a computer with a matching port, cease it with a virus and remotely control everything on Sass's computer'.  Mac doesn't want him hacking into their network, "just because you were witness to a crime, doesn't mean you need to start committing them."  He was very abrupt towards him again.

Sass's professor Aldicott (Gerald Downey) used to own the headphones.   Danny found a fragment of rare wood used to make them .   Danny: "I failed calculus, but my teacher didn't kill me."  He was threatened by her boyfriend and he stole the headphones from him.  Jo analyzes the iPads for prints and Mac can't resist going on the 'looking at you' website, where he helps a boy with some of his homework, before telling him he's to young to be on there.

 Lindsay finds a father who installed a network logger on his daughter's computer and he caught the suspect's image on camera.   Mac: "we're looking into the eyes of our killer."  Hawkes suggests running it through the visual enhancer.   The prints from the iPads match Torry (Escher Holloway), he's in the system for theft.   Flack is impressed with Jo's interrogation techniques, just as he was last episode.   Torry denies killing Sass.   He admits he gave her the stolen laptops, but she later dumped him and so interjects Flack, "he was dead to you."  Jo hones in on Tory's swallowing.   He swallows an awful lot and that's due to an OCD disorder as a result of stress.   If he admits the truth, he'll get better.   She provides us with more exposition on the body and the nervous system.   Which wasn't at all boring.   causing him to describe the car he stole the iPads from and Flack comments that he's thirsty now.   Again, like last episode, he asks Jo if she thinks he killed her.   Hey, he never used to do that before, he used to decide for himself.

Hawkes enhancement of the photo reveals a cross between Torry and Aldicott, to give a third suspect.   Jo accesses the 'looking at you' site now and connects to a marine in Afghanistan, to whom she shows NY City through her laptop.   Adam attempts to hack into Draga's computer, well at least, accesses it and Jo warns him off, after she receives a call from an FBI friend who informed her someone from the NYPD was snooping around.   They provided her with info on their investigation of Draga.   Adam could get charged with intent.   Adam tells her he knows about her reputation at the FBI and how she whistleblowed.   Now she's going to do the same to him.   Her reasons for leaving were due to "conviction and evidence" and getting her job done.  

Adam again admits his feelings of sadness since Sass shared her final moments with him and then he saw her die.   he may even have fallen for her, a bit.   It was over 3 minutes later, and you know what, it was exactly over in 3 minutes.   I didn't exactly time it, but it was.   Jo convinces him that what he's attempting to do will only harm him and it won't bring her back.   (Like Cat (Marg Helgenberger) in CSI) Jo too tells Adam to go home.   See, she hardly knows him and yet she has his back.

Flack's got an iPad too!  A theft report was filed from Draga by a Christopher Garcia (Ricardo Molina) .   They check out his office, but he's not there.   He's out chasing Adam.   But stupidly he leaves behind Adam's photo on his computer.   He took a long time going after him.   Wouldn't it have been better for him to find out who Adam was before he had a chance to spill about the murder.   Mac calls Flack, Don now.   Normally, he calls him Flack.   Didn't Garcia realize if Adam saw him then someone else may have too, so it was a little futile going after Adam to cover his tracks now.

Good to see Adam get in  a punch or three.   At least he can fight when it counts and isn't just a cute geek!  Then it took Garcia ages to pull the trigger, why don't you have a good look at him first instead!  He was on the take, when his laptop was stolen, he panicked.   When he found Sass he killed her.   Therein lies the danger of using stolen goods!  The message being crime doesn't pay and her boyfriend got her killed by giving her the stolen computer.

Lindsay downloads her music and plays it in the lab.   Danny comments she had talent and Carmine should know, since he's a talented musician himself! Ha.   Mac bawls out Adam in his office and suspends him for 3 days.   Even if it was in the office, people could still hear him.   Usually he likes to dress down his team in front of others, like he's done with Hawkes in the past, in front of the entire lab.   As he did a few seasons ago.   This time it was poor Adam's turn to suffer his wrath.   Which Flack and Danny have also suffered at some point.   Some of them, more than once.   He wouldn't have treated Lindsay in that way!  Anyway, speaking of Flack, he wasn't around much in this episode, hope that changes in the future.   Also his hair was much more tamer this episode.

Hawkes and Danny engage in  a little light sabre teasing of Adam.   Jo and Mac connect to each other online.   She thinks he was tough on Adam and he probably wished he too had a next-ed button in his office.   Mac stands by his actions, he disobeyed him and Mac's orders are law.   They then vie over who can next-ed each other first.  

 What can I say, Danny's well and truly domesticated by Lindsay now, she has him under her thumb.   The change in his character is noticeable too, whereas before he was a care-free spirit, he's now rather restrained.   See the contrast when she's not around, he can be one of the guys and be himself, the funny Danny we knew and loved.  Not that we still don't!  Such as the teasing of Adam with Hawkes here, with his "Obi Wanna-bee Kenobi" remark.   Telling Adam he disobeyed one of Mac's direct orders.   Danny's done that too in  the past, as in season 1 twice, when Mac wanted him to stop investigating the misdemeanour, but he carried on anyway.  

Also appears to be Adam's second run-in with Jo, last episode she told him about his file and this week she caught him accessing the computer, but at least she did understand why he was doing that.   I call this an 'Adam episode.'

Desperate Housewives - 7.7: "A Humiliating Business" Review

Susan needing a job becomes nanny for Lynette. Bree admits she's undergoing menopause after meeting Keith's parents. Gaby wonders if Carlos could become gay after spending time with Bob.

Mary Alice (Brenda Strong) narrates on the "fear of humiliation..."  Bree (Marcia Cross) falls flat on her roller skates, not out of the fear of being humiliated, but she's having hot flashes.   She's undergoing menopause.   "Humiliation is something we should all try to avoid, especially women who date younger men."  As well as those who "attend to their husband's needs."  Paul's (Mark Moses) former cellmate Yeager (Evan Parker) has been hired by him to fix his old house.  Again leading to Beth (Emily Bergl) getting suspicious as to why he's really here.  Of course, if she was really interested in her husband to begin with, she wouldn't be asking all these questions.  What possible interest could she have in renovations?

Renee (Vanessa Williams) plans to begin an interior design business with Lynette (Felicity Huffmann) working from home.  For this Lynette needs a nanny and Renee suggests some "poor schlep desperate for money" --  turns out to be Susan (Teri Hatcher).  Who, as regular as clockwork, makes a scene in the supermarket about being poor!  Would've thought you'd want to keep that down to a dull roar, dear!  Seeing as how she didn't tell Mike (James Denton) what she was doing in her lingerie but she tells a bunch of nobodies that she can't feed her son the cereal he deserves.

Gaby (Eva Longoria Parker) demonstrates the art of burning the meatloaf again, she's invited Bob (Tuc Watkins) for dinner to thank him for finding their biological daughter.  So why didn't she cook Mexican?  Neither Carlos (Richardo Antonio Chavira) or Gaby can recall the date of their wedding anniversary; well, it's not exactly a Versace dress is it, or as important, so why bother remembering.  The plots are getting so contrived now seven years on, seems the writers are getting desperate themselves; maybe they need a new formula.  That's just my opinion.

Carlos, so bored with meatloaf jut sits there picking at the remains on his plate.  Gaby's bought tickets to Cats for Bob, but he admits he prefers college basketball and beer.  It was Lee (Kevin Rahm) who was into the theatrics.  Bob wanted to "gay-bash" Lee for watching Annie six times.  As Carlos and Bob "male bond," Gaby gets jealous; as always, she sees herself being the center of attraction, slipping away from her, she's upset since Bob isn't into the entire "gay stereotype" thing.

The others talk of Bree's menopause and Gaby and Renee say she can't tell Keith (Brian Austin Green) and should just lie, something Bree has never done.  (No, sure she has lied before!)  Bree has a new doctor, Dr. Wagner (Nancy Travis) and asks her what she could take to mask the symptoms of menopause.  She has a younger boyfriend.

Lee is worried Bob's been seeing someone, "a hunky Latino" and when he discovers it's Carlos he informs her of how Bob "flips" straight men.  His nickname in college was "Flipper."  Gaby knows Carlos can't be flipped.

Beth comes up with the idea Yeager tried to attack so he'll spill on what Paul's up to.  Carlos has planned a golfing weekend with Bob, they're sharing the same room, whilst he helps himself to Gaby's moisturizer.  Gaby tells him Bob's intention of seducing him and Carlos has no intention of becoming gay.  She's got him into male grooming for starters but suggests he should stop with the moisturizer.  Which is what I said, 'cause he's never used it before in the show.

Bree meets the parents, Richard (John Schneider) good to see him after Smallville, you see we in the UK don't get to see certain actors in anything after they leave a show.   Surprised, or not, Mary turns out to be Keith's mother and Bree's doc!  So what follows is endless chatter on how Mary talks about her work, patients who suffer from menopause, and how it must be hot for Bree. Pretty hard when your boyfriend's mom is also your doctor, since doctor/patient confidentiality becomes null and void!

Mary expects grandchildren from Bree, who admits she's in menopause before wanting to cool off in the freezer.  Mary's attitude changed she was all sweetness and light in the office when Bree told her about lying to her boyfriend, but as soon she finds out it's Keith she's not having any of it!  Keith and Bree discuss children; he wants to adopt, but Bree doesn't want any, as she's been through that.  Again it's about Bree too, so didn't she think of that when she began seeing a younger man.

Barbara (Erika Eleniak), Renee, and Lynette's client wants a sneaky peak at their designs, when Susan opens her mouth and says they should try a favourite character for her daughter's bedroom walls.  Barbara's on board with that and Renee insults her as just being the hired help.  Lynette didn't even bother sticking up for Susan and yet she's meant to be her best friend, we know what they say about friends and not needing enemies!

See it's all about Gaby, she thought Bob was a "fun, gay guy" she had lots in common with, now he's interested in Carlos, but Bob's just lonely.  He should try flipping Tom (Doug Savant) instead.  She brings Bob and Lee back together.  See she can do something right if she puts her mind to it, but Gaby being Gaby was thinking only of herself again.

Susan vents she thought she was being offered a job with them, not as a nanny and now she's poor none of her friends treat her in the same way.  Even after Lynette assures her this isn't the case, don't see her giving Susan an invite to join their  business, clearly showing she doesn't think much of her friendship or design capabilities.  Me thinks Susan should start her own business to rival theirs!

Beth feigns to understand Paul's vengeance against his neighbours before running off to prison and mommy dearest to reveal his plans to her.  Mommy being Felicia (Harriet Sansom Harris).

Mary Alice: "Humiliation is not always something we can avoid: wives insult masculinity - take jobs we feel are beneath us - we may have boyfriends who make us feel old...to get your dignity back is to get what you've been waiting for."

CSI: Miami - 9.2: "Sudden Death" Review

The team investigate the murder of a bottle girl killed by a college football star, but there's more to it than that. Calleigh and Delko are just friends now and Horatio takes an interest in helping one of the other bottle girls.

The judgements and recriminations were out in full force this week in Miami, with Delko (Adam Rodriguez) and Ryan (Jonathan Togo) deeming the suspected quarterback to be guilty  even before the evidence was in.   Yes you've guessed the one time Jesse (Eddie Cibrian) was needed around to be objective.   With Delko coming up with the old, "guilty people run" line.   So what was that he did back at the end of season 7 in the episode Seeing Red, when he came charging out in the car with his father and was shot at by Calleigh (Emily Procter).   How wrong was he here and not so much as an apology  or remorse for wrecking someone's life.

The scene opens with Ryan and Delko chasing the suspect and Ryan attempting to to follow suit when he jumps the railing and barely hangs on.  Ryan almost made it.   With flashes of the suspect, Brady Jensen (Zane Holtz) with the bottle girl, Kristen (Nicole Taylor) getting it on.   Brady can get to pick the team he plays for.    An agent, Chip Ford ( Glenn Fitzgerald) tries to sign him up.   Naturally Horatio (David Caruso) would be waiting for him at the other end, gun in tow, "You can't outrun this." Flashback to Brady being chased and finally the DB of Kristen in the pool, showing what he was running from.

Brady desperately tries to get Tripp (Rex Linn) and Delko to stop the car and not drive into the media frenzy that awaits him and denies killing Kristen.   Delko with his line: "guilty people run."  Tripp doesn't want to hear him out.   Kristen said she wanted to talk but kissed him instead.   Delko adds he did this.   Since when do CSIs start making false judgements and accusations, they've barely begun to collect the evidence and when does the evidence not speak for itself.   ME Dr Victoria Mercier (Meta Golding)  takes the place of ME Tom (Christian Clemenson) this episode as he's teaching a seminar.   Walter (Omar Miller) apparently also knows the lowdown on bottle girls to add to his repertoire of knowledge as far as women go; continued on from last season.   Mercier says the DB was on her back and was flipped onto her front.   Walter finds a phone in the pool filter, whilst taking CS photos.

Natalia (Eva La Rue) dries it in the Women's under the dryer and Walter's uneasy about being there.   He had to go in there with his sisters when younger and didn't know where to look.   The last call was made to Sarah Walker (Nadine Valezquez) who tells Horatio that Kristen asked her to cover her tables.   Sarah has scratches on her arm.   Horatio is eager to help her, especially when he hears she's a mother with a son.   She denies going to the cabana.  Mercier doesn't find any chlorine present in the water in her lungs, but there is alcohol.    The crown of her pre-molar was chipped with force.   The bottle was forced into her mouth.   Ryan and Natalia look for alcohol run-off on Brady's clothes.   He didn't buy any and nothing is found on him.   Ryan forcefully replies he's hiding something so he's going to sit in the cage and rot.

Calleigh was hiding behind the computer the entire episode until the end and offers to run a SIM search on the card from Kristen's phone for Natalia.   Kristen sent a text to Amanda telling her she's 'not doing this anymore, it isn't right.'  Amanda (Peta Wilson) was Kristen's boss and claims to run the hottest club and wants it back.   Travers (Christopher Redman) examines Kristen's stomach contents and says they can use radioactive carbon isotopes to determine the vintage of champagne.   Grapes catch small amounts of radioactive carbon isotopes in the atmosphere and radioactive explosions increased the amount of C14 and the use of fossil fuels diluted the amount.   The vintage is put at 1957 which is a rare champagne.  

Bottles are electronically tagged at the club and the buyer is traced as Richard Ellison (James Frain).   Well that was an easy find.  He's not wearing his jacket which is at the cleaners and Sarah is working there too.   Her job is 24/7.   So who looks after her son since she says she's doing this for him.   She can't point the finger at anyone since they're all powerful.   Delko and Natalia don't find any champagne run-off at the cabana or the missing crown.   Delko poses the question: when she was forced the champagne not where and they still think it's Brady.   Even Natalia's joined in now agreeing he's guilty.   When he worked scuba he came across a phenomena called delayed drowning, when Vics appeared fine but later died.

Tripp calls the cleaners but gets no luck with the jacket, cos it's not there, that's why and they can't get a warrant as there's no cause, which Walter finds unbelievable.  Erica Sykes (Amy Laughlin) sees Ryan for the exclusive on the case and attempts to trick Ryan into giving her the details when she shows him a photo the DB.   Brady didn't take the photo and Ford denies it too.   They think he was going to blackmail Brady into becoming his client.   Brady did lie as he found her on the bed and Ford was going to take care of it if he signed with him.   Brady wanted to call for help.   Horatio: "no killing, no photos, no bail."  Mercier calls Delko, why him?  She found metallic PVC confetti in Kristen's lungs of a golden colour and this blows their case wide open.   Answering Delko's question of 'where' she was killed from earlier on.

Amanda says the confetti is released at midnight, giving them the timeline for Kristen dying when the confetti was released.   Ellison got the champagne at 11.17.   Ryan and Dave (Wes Ramsey) check out the camera angles to determine the height the photo was taken from.   Which turns out to be 5' 3" thus a woman took the photo.  Sarah puts the blame on Amanda making her do it.   Amanda was making money on photographing celebs at their worst when they're inside the club and Brady said he was saving himself for marriage.   Horatio follows the confetti back to Ellison's table and the CSIs go over their evidence.

Ellison forced Kristen to drink the champagne and then kept his clothes on his yacht.   Look he's even wearing the same shoes too, so much for having money to burn, seems men with money don't need to change.   As in 8.3 when the suspect's shoes also gave him away as the killer.    Tripp gets his warrant to search the yacht.   Finding the jacket and Delko analyzes it to find the missing crown strategically landed in his top pocket.   Walter also finds he's got champagne over his shoes.  Kristen didn't want to be his bottle girl anymore.   Horatio tells him she humiliated him and so he returned the favour.   It was involuntary manslaughter, his actions killed her.   He warns him to stay away from Sarah.

Erica gets her comeuppance when live on TV Brady says they should think of Kristen and her family and calls Erica a jackal.   Which Delko finds amusing.  Ryan finds this is the first time she's ever been speechless.   Calleigh is going to dinner with a friend and he's also her friend.   Delko is also her family  and she loves him like family.   Horatio buys bus tickets for Sarah and her son.   Horatio always has a particular soft spot for a damsel in distress.

Running doesn't always necessarily signify or prove guilt, which Delko should know and the rest of them too.   How long has he been doing this job now.   This suspect, Ellison, actually feels some surprise at learning Kristen died as a result of his actions, but doesn't mean he should get away with such behaviour.   As for Sarah, well she wasn't in any sort of life-threatening situation and neither was her son, so there really wasn't any cause for Horatio to take such a personal interest in her.   She'll just go away  and find another dead-end job like this when she returns.   If she couldn't/didn't want to do it, she could've gotten out, since no one was really holding her to ransom.   Suppose it appeared she was in some peril from the 'clients' cos of what happened to Kristen.

An episode also about demonizing  press/TV reporters, getting what they deserve in the hunt to feed the frenzied public every morsel of celebrity outrageous and immoral behaviour they demand.   Erica was only there for the lowdown anyway which is why she showed Ryan the photo, hoping for a scoop, well she got that all right!  Hope ME Tom returns to the show as his character portrayal was a breath of fresh air.  Especially since this season appears to be rather subdued, there's no bonding anymore, or jokey comments coming from Walter and it's not as fresh or as interesting as last season.

The scenes with Calleigh and Delko were awkward, first they appeared to be flirting when she was stuck behind the computer, but she came up with the 'just friends' bit at the end, which moved on rather quickly after he rushed in to save her last episode.   No she couldn't wait to rush off to dinner with a friend; when she said that, thought she'd follow it with Delko being the 'friend.' But it didn't happen.

Meta Golding who plays ME Mercier was Tina in CSI, Warrick's (Gary Dourdan) wife.

The Closer 7.3 "To Serve With Love" Review

Flynn (Tony Denison) and Provenza (GW Bailey) think it's easy money when they're hired to serve papers by a lawyer.  They can find the man by using a phone number and Buzz (Phillip P Keene) knows how to track him down.  Provenza offers Buzz a third, $200, but they're getting more.  Steven Hirschbaum sounds familiar to Provenza.  Of course they're keeping the actual money amount from Buzz.  Buzz's car has a broken taillight which I noticed when they went into the hotel.  Hirschbaum is served but doesn't want them to leave, claiming he's afraid.  Gunshots are heard when they are outside and his DB lands on Buzz's car.  Provenza says they should call Gabriel (Corey Reynolds) and the others.

Provenza lies about them being here to take Buzz to dinner.  Tao (Michael Paul Chan) finds three casings and Sanchez (Raymond Cruz) finds the photo with Provenza posing with Hirschbaum (Adam Arkin).  Fritz (Jon Tenney) arrives.  Brenda (Kyra Sedgwick) isn't happy about them moonlighting and doesn't want to talk to Provenza who asks for her signature to make their off-duty working legal.  Doyle (Andy Milder) the lawyer called them. Brenda's angry cos of Raydor's transparency audit.  Fritz tells them only the FBI knew he was at the hotel.
Dr Morales (Jonathan Del Arco) finds Hirschbaum wasn't circumsized and is found to be Scott Esposito, an actor.  Gabriel likens Hirschbaum to Ken Lay who he believes is in Figi and Fritz tells Brenda it's the FBI's job to locate Hirschbaum.  Provenza and Flynn worry about not being paid and with just cause since it's apparent they won't be paid either, which is how an episode that's about them always ends up, with nothing but trouble.

Hirschbaum switched with the actor after he checked into the hotel.  Doyle claims to have been working at his office and that Hirschbaum's daughter, Andrea (Katie Lowes) gave him his private number.  Taylor (Robert Gosset) is about to brief the press on the murder and Brenda and Fritz don't tell him Hirschbaum's still alive.  Pope (JK Simmons) thinks his widow is hot.  Brenda thinks calling her a widow is premature and Pope agrees to the LAPD rep lying to the press since it's only Taylor.

His wife, Shannon (Amy Gumenick) repeats three times that she had an argument with him and he left;  uh oh a case of a dumb blonde.  Whereas Andrea wants a copy of the death certificate already.

Tao finds Esposito's phone is still in use and Brenda suspends Flynn and Provenza for 72 hours and gives them the number to track down the number.  Buzz refuses to help.  Provenza convinces him Doyle will pay for the car and an extra $200 will be his.  Provenza flashes his badge off duty to send the limo driver away and Provenza gets hit by Hirschbaum's phone.  Buzz drives up for a quick getaway when the FBI arrives.  Thought they couldn't find him.

Hirschbaum says he didn't steal the pension funds and Provenza calls Sanchez who tells him about the FBI thinking he's been kidnapped.  Brenda speaks to Provenza pretending it's Taylor in front of Fritz, so you knew that he'd walk in.  Shannon was the only one who knew he was at the hotel, she was too ditzy to have wanted him dead.  She also knew of his girlfriend, Lisa, their personal trainer.  Small world.  Brenda notices Buzz's taillight.

Hirschbaum offers the three money to look the other way which Provenza is tempted to accept.  Buzz is shocked they're thinking of accepting it.  Fritz shows Brenda sketches of Flynn and Provenza.  Buzz discovers his light was broken outside the lawyer's office, obviously it was him and Doyle follows them back to the motel after Provenza gets another subpoena from him.  Doyle is arrested as he tries to break into the motel and Fritz arrests Hirschbaum who entered his offshore account numbers into the phone.  Pope tells Taylor he took one for the team and he should be able to put a positive spin on arresting a murderer or he's in the wrong job.

The Vic's blood and bullets were matched to Doyle and his car.  Doyle claims he only killed an actor, was that meant to be funny?  He's broke and doesn't have any money so they won't be getting paid.  Knew that was coming.  Buzz gets the reward since he's a civillian and he bought the phone Hirschbaum used.  He gives them a third, $200 each like they were giving him.

Flynn knew things would go wrong from the outset, "anything that starts with you whispering, ends up with other people shouting."  Well if that's the case then the same can be said for last episode when Provenza whispered to Brenda about Raydor wanting to question everyone.  Oh and the wife sitting behind the daughter in English class was a funny line.  Kenneth Lee Lay whom Gabriel mentions was CEO of Enron.  He suffered a heart attack before sentencing in 2006 and conspirators claimed he was living in luxury somewhere as the funeral was held in private and he was cremated.

Supernatural - 1.14: "Nightmare" Review

Sam's visions increase and become more painful. One vision leads them on the trail of a boy who turns out to have had a similar experience as Sam when younger.

A man drives home and gets locked in a car, the engine starts and he dies inside.   Sam (Jared Padalecki) has a vision and they need to go.   Dean (Jensen Ackles) thinks it's probably just a nightmare.   Sam hasn't seen the man before, his name is Jim Miller (Cameron McDonald).  Sam pretends to be Sgt McGready over the phone using the number plates from the car to get an address.

Saginaw, Michigan.   Jim is already dead when they arrive and a woman thinks it was suicide.   He seemed normal an hour or two ago.   Sam wonders why he  has premonitions if he can't prevent them from happening.   Dean thinks it could be nothing supernatural.  Sam believes he was murdered by something, he watched it happen, something trapped him and he doesn't know what's happening.   Dean tells him he's worried and he looks like crap.   They check out the house.   Dean knows people talk to priests and so they dress up as priests.   Sam: "This has got to be a whole new low for us."

They're called Fathers Frehley and Simmons.   Dean pigs out on cocktail sausages.   Sam: "Tone it down Father."  Dean asks Alice Miller (Beth Broderick) if her husband had a history of depression.  He was found by Max (Brendan Fletcher), they moved here five years ago.   Dean then comes out with his usual questions about having electrical problems, hearing odd noises at night.   He was a normal father.   Max woke up and heard the engine.   Sam: "it's tough losing a parent especially when you don't have all the answers."

Dean uses the EMF upstairs and doesn't find any cold spots, or a sulphur scent, he used an infra red scanner.   Sam thinks it could be be something else and not the house, he's right.   Sam now has a vision of Jim's brother, Roger, (Avery Raskin) getting decapitated near the window in his apartment.  Dean asks Sam if he's going to be sick cos he doesn't want the car getting dirty, especially the upholstery.  His visions are more intense and painful, he's also getting them when he's awake.   He wonders why it's happening to him and why they're connected to Sam.  Dean: "It doesn't freak me out."

They try to stop Roger but he doesn't listen to them and goes into his apartment.   They try the fire escape but it's too late.   Dean wipes their prints off the railings.   Inside there aren't any signs of anything.   Sam saw a dark shape in his vision, perhaps being connected to the family itself, like a vengeful spirit.   Dean mentions some have attached themselves to families, such as Banshees, like a curse.   Sam thinks it could be revenge as the men in the family are dying.   In that case it could also point to a woman killing them off.

Sam believes Max may be in danger.   Sam: "I know one thing I have in common with these people - both our families are cursed."
Dean: "Our family's not cursed, we just have our dark spots."
Sam: "Our dark spots are pretty dark."
Dean: "You're dark."

They dress as priests again.   Sam finds that Jim and Roger were close, they used to be neighbours.   Max used to live in the other house.   Dean asks if he had good memories or if anything unusual occurred involving Jim and Roger, he's just asking.   Max calls them normal.   Dean replies no one's family is normal.   He should know speaking from personal experience.   They speak with neighbours and one of them recalls the family.   Max used to be beaten and yelled at.   His father was a drunk and Roger was like him too.   Max's stepmother, Alice did nothing to protect him.   He called the police and Max's real mother died in a  car accident.  

Sam has another painful vision and sees Max terrifying Alice, she did nothing to stop the beatings.   He levitates the knife towards her eye and stabs her.   Sam knows it's Max now and he's using telekinesis.   Dean: "he's a spoon bender."  Sam was connecting with Max.   They both have psychic abilities.   Dean calls him a monster, what happened to him doesn't justify Max murdering an entire family.   Sam is adamant they're not going to kill him, he's a person and they can talk to him.   Dean takes his gun anyway.   They burst through the door.   Max sees Dean's gun in the mirror's reflection when he opens the door.   Max uses telekinesis to shut the door and windows and also takes Dean's gun.   Sam says he's not lying, he saw Max kill them all.  He's having visions about Max.   Sam was drawn here to help him.   Dean doesn't want to leave Sam alone with him.

Dean takes Alice upstairs.   Sam can't understand what he must have gone through and he has to let her go.   Max was beaten last week.   Max calls his ability a gift when he found out he could move things, he was no longer helpless.   He knew he had to kill his father,  it's about not being afraid.   Max was blamed for everything including his mother's death.   She died in the nursery when he was asleep in his crib.   She burnt whilst pinned to the ceiling.   Sam knows it true cos it happened to him too.   Something killed them.   That's why he's having visions in the day.   He got his ability about 6 or 7 months ago.   Sam thinks they are chosen.   Sam and Dean are hunting for the killer.

Max insists in not letting her go, but Sam tells him his nightmares won't end, he's not alone.   Max locks Sam in the closet.   Dean tries to stop Max and he shoots him dead with a levitating gun.   Luckily and as we already knew, it was only Sam's vision.   Sam uses his anger to move the dresser from in front of the door, telekinetically.   Sam tells Max this isn't right and it won't solve anything.   Max turns the gun on himself.   Alice informs the police that Max threatened her with the gun and attacked her.   Sam and Dean are family friends and tried to stop him.

Sam still believes he could have gotten through to him.   Dean doesn't want him to torture himself.   Sam is glad they had Dad (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) they were lucky.   Dean never thought he'd hear Sam say that.   If he had drunk more tequila and less demon hunting, then they'd have had no childhood at all.   Well Sam had a childhood, Dean not so much.   They turned out fine cos of Dad.   Sam ponders why the demon killed their mothers.   Dean doesn't believe it's about Sam (he was wrong) but the demon.   Sam lets Dean in on his telekinesis and Dean gives him a spoon to bend.   It's not something he can control but Dean doesn't think it will happen again.   Sam asks Dean if he's worried Sam may turn into Max (well not until next season.)  Dean isn't cos he's got him.   Dean suggests they should go to Vegas cos of Sam's premonitions and win big.

But maybe deep down, Dean may be a little concerned, but this won't come to fruition until the end of the season.   Lots going on here with the revelation Max's mother was also killed in the same way as theirs.   With us fans being given just enough on there being others like Sam out there, just to keep us drawn in.   Yet they didn't wonder why Sam had those powers as no one else in their family does.   Dean again making light of Sam's abilities when Sam is serious, Dean doesn't want to think about anything that deep.

The episode where they dress as priests causing lots of palpitations and plenty of Hail Mary's to be said, ha.   No really, who'd have believed they could be such hot priests!  Sam played the more convincing priest cos of his own spirituality, as we'll see later, Sam prays.   Also priests wouldn't gorge on food like Dean!  Their names Fathers Simmons and Frehley were members of the band KISS.

Sam played Det McGready on the phone at the start, this was a character from the film, Home Room.   Was it better for Max to turn his anger on himself when he was found out, if that's the case why didn't he just end it years ago, not that I'm saying it was the right thing for him to do, but he just seemed to give up when they arrived.   Also we see Sam's caring side here, he'll try and talk an Eskimo out of an igloo before he has to resort to violence and killing.   Dean is ready anyway: think later, act first being the hunter that he is.   Then again, it was almost always Dean who had to do the killing in the early seasons, or Dad and Sam was kind of shielded from all that.

Sam's ability of telekinesis only appeared when he knew Dean was in danger.   (See season 1 finale.)

CSI: NY - 7.1: "The 34th Floor" Review

Lyndsay shoots Shane Casey, rescuing Danny and Lucy. Whilst newest recruit, Jo Danville, stumbles across a body in their deserted crime lab. Surprised no one is there to greet her.

This new season 7 episode opens where it left off last season, with Shane Casey (Edward Furlong) holding Danny (Carmine Giovinazzo) and their baby at gun point in their home.   This was Lindsay's (Anna Belknap) attempt to play 'macho woman', now that Stella (Melina Kanakaredes) has gone.   No, really, Lindsay has even taken to wearing high-heeled stilettos (one of Stella's traits in the show.)  Anyhoo, moving on - this cliff-hanger from last season, wasn't so much a hanging-off-cliff moment, waiting for Lindsay to fire the bullet and put us out of our misery in not having to watch her macho posturing and inflating nostrils, for too long, and kill Casey.   This was CSI:NY's attempt to give this bland character some backbone and make her interesting, failing miserably.   It'll never work, Lindsay's not your average Cat (Marg Helgenberger) or Sara (Jorga Fox) from CSI who can portray bucket loads of gumption and emotion in one blink of an eye.

As my friends and family will attest to, as soon as season 6 was over and even before the end credits rolled, I opened my big mouth and told everyone it was Lindsay who fired the gun, and that's all that happened.   Okay, I hate being right, but what can you do!  It was the only logical explanation, since in TV world, none of the regulars get shot, fatally, only wounded, but never killed off, unless they're leaving or it's a radical move on the part of the writers.

Careless Lindsay then drops the gun to the floor, it could have gone off, or misfired, that was mind bogglingly clumsy with a baby in the house, and she calls herself an officer.   Of course Lindsay would shoot Casey with his taunts.   Mac (Gary Sinise) arrives on the scene to provide comfort for her, as she and Stella were his obvious favourites.

5 months later and bland Lindsay is being awarded the Combat Cross (officers do more in the line of duty, than she did here!  Hey Flack (Eddie Cahill) never even received so much as a thank you, when he was injured by the bomb in season 2, when he tried to get that man out of the building before the bomb exploded, making him the last one out, bearing the full brunt of the explosion!! And his life hung in the balance.   Okay, I'm biased.

Whilst receiving her medal, she has more flashes to the night in question and the shooting.   Mac, unofficially shutting down the lab, since the workers wanted to come down for her.   Most of them wouldn't even have met her, let alone know who she is.

New recruit, Jo Danville (Sela Ward) arrives arrives to find the lab deserted and a DB (dead body) to boot.   Danny hopes this doesn't become a regular occurrence, i.e.  finding bodies in the lab before they've read the paper.   Jo comments she thought the crime lab was "BYOB: bring your own body."  (Yes we guessed that before it was spelled out for us.)  Since there's no Stella, someone had to carry on the comedic proceedings (even if they are distasteful a lot of the time).   Mac has time to play pleasantries with Jo, but orders the workers abruptly to their duties: "Hey, what the hell are you doing - incase you missed it, we have a murder victim in the lab!"  Er, that's what they were looking at.   Wouldn't find Horatio (David Caruso) or Gil (William Petersen) treating his staff like that, or even shouting to them either! To quote Abby (Pauley Perrette) from NCIS "Bite your tongue!" Mac.

It's ascertained that the murder victim, Sarah Nelson, (Katie Boggs) doesn't work in the lab, but in the same building, since she pressed the button in the lift (elevator), which was to their floor, she knew where to come.   Mac tells Jo they usually greet the new recruit with a practical joke, not a real murder.   Since when, didn't see any pranks being played on Lindsay when she arrived in season 2.

Rigour suggests the DB's been there for 8 hours.  She was choked before she died and there's strange peticule hemorrhaging in her eye.   Mac's impressed with Jo's initial findings and questions how she got to their floor, er, in the lift.  CS (crime scene) analysis, with flashbacks, shows how Sarah could have arrived on their floor.   She doesn't have a bag or jacket, so she must've worked in the same building and since she pressed that button in the lift, she knew this was a crime lab.   (Thought the crime lab would be a crime lab, i.e.  have an exclusive building, just like they did in season 1 not share with others.)

Flack introduces himself, no one introduced Jo, they had to do it for themselves, or she introduced herself, that was rude.   Flack: "they don't usually murder people in the lab - this is new to them." (Eddie's let his hair grow, thus the action had to move on 5 months too, since everyone's got a new or different style.  Preferred Eddie with his shorter style myself.)

Lindsay attempting to play tough guy, as in not needing to be analyzed by the Department shrink, routine in all officer-involved shootings.   (Lisbon (Robin Tunney) in The Mentalist did a much better job in season 2 of protesting and not wanting to open up!) Lindsay was just downright rude, especially when she tells her she doesn't need to know her personal life history, Well I don't either!

Adam (AJ Buckley) fingerprints Jo and she accuses him of coming onto him, for fun, she's read his 'thick' FBI file - which Adam being Adam, makes him nervous.

Jo finds a tissue with lipstick in the office where Sarah worked and deduces she was ready to go out, or to meet a man.   Danny finds she was pushed against the window but not stabbed there.   Hawkes (Hill Harper) finds gravitational blood drops indicating where she was stabbed.   Flack tells them the security cameras were tampered with.   Sarah was killed whilst Mac was still at work.

Sid (Robert Joy) analyzes her eye to find thread-like strands in her eye was not peticule hemorrhaging.   She was also pregnant, which provides them with a motive, though they haven't worked this out yet.   The murder weapon was something with double blades and Sid suggests it could be scissors. Jo analyzes Sarah's expensive clothes and surmises she was seeing a rich, married man.   Adam accesses her phone and discovers she had 'Enemy X' programme on there, which indicates the location of people she wanted to avoid.

Lindsay receives a gift from Stella to congratulate her on her bravery award, she's the boss in New Orleans now.   Probably throwing her weight around at the NO crime lab now!  She sends her a frame with a bravery quote.  Oh how thrilling (not.)  Since Stella was a main character, it was left for an ancillary character, like Lindsay to tell us where she's gone and that took a while coming.   Mac consoles Lindsay by telling her she's a warrior and "can't be broken."    He wouldn't do that to any of the guys on his team, he'd be ordering them back to work ASAP.   Danny returns the medal she threw away.

Flack's got his jackets back, so when do the suits and ties return.   That's what I'm holding out for, ha, (amongst other things) that and the appearance of David James Elliott!!

Sarah's phone leads to their first suspect Rudy Aronika, (Lawrence Monoson) who couldn't have been the father of her baby since he had a vasectomy, so she was seeing someone else.   Flack comments on Jo's interview methods with the box of tissues on the table as an added touch.   Mac bet her a steak dinner the tissues wouldn't work, well they did, but no mention of the dinner later.   Odd they had Flack ask Mac what he thinks about the suspect, since usually he'd give his own opinion.

There's a hit on the blood from Sarah's blouse, indicating the victim of a mugging, Teddy Westwick.  (Brett Tucker) he has a pet tarantula and is married.   Big clue when he tells them his wife and daughter are everything to him.   His arm was cut when he was slashed in the mugging and he claimed not to know Sarah.   Flack tells him scissors are a strange form of weapon to be used in a mugging.   (See later when Jo also says this.)  Flack wonders what the mugger could have wanted from his office, if he came to see him here and then attacked him on the street.   So, if Teddy was walking home when he was attacked, then why was there blood only on his shirt and not on his jacket etc.

Lindsay gets a hit on the mystery prints belonging to burglar, Alex Brodevesky (Sean MaGuire).The scissors were used on both victims.

Cue chase time: one of my favourite bits are the Flack/Danny chase scenes!  That's what we live for!  Danny jumps down from the balcony after Alex and lands on the sofa, Flack telling him it's his turn to jump.   Flack takes a flying leap onto Alex and gets punched in the face for his troubles.   Ouch.  Why was Danny jumping from a height when he's just recovered from his shooting.   Also the Flack/Danny interrogation scenes make this show.  Alex saw Teddy kill Sarah, that's why he attacked him in he street, Alex was stabbed in the back and used the scissors on Teddy in self defence.

Jo concludes the burglary was premeditated and the scissors were grabbed in the heat of the moment.   She conducts an experiment in the lab on how the blood was found on Teddy's shirt cuff.   She knows they can't decide whether a suspect is innocent or guilty, but she's going to see if the "science proves my theory."   She's attempting to create new rules - this gives her the quirk to her character.

Adam finds Alex pushed against the wall in the struggle and Hawkes explains the arterial spray from Teddy's wound was on the newsstand, nowhere near where Teddy was stabbed, so Alex was stabbed first.   Jo: "know every answer - leave no questions." Another one of her mottos.   She's not sure how the blood got inside the cuffs of Teddy's shirt, it could only get inside from a 'stabbing motion'.   So Teddy stabbed Sarah.  The strands in her eye are identified as tarantula hair.

Teddy realizes he's been busted, but how did he know this, what he heard the sirens several floors down!  As he's already on the ledge of the building, unless we didn't get to see him run when Mac turns up.   Sarah was going to ruin his family's life with the baby. NB note Flack's hair is combed down by the time he reached the outside of the building.   Also Mac fires his gun even before Teddy got his gun fully out.   Trigger happy there.   How did he know Teddy would actually fire?

Mac tells Jo all of his cases are like this and welcomes her to the New York crime lab.   Jo: "She's still a beautiful city."  Nice to have a parting comment about the city since the show is set in New York.

CSI:NY is guilty of hiring Aussie soap rejects as guests, first it was Holly Valance from Neighbours, Sharni Vanson from Home and Away (whom AJ Buckley dated for a time) and then Brett Tucker from Neighbours.   British viewers will recall Sean Maguire from Grange Hill  and London's Burning.

Desperate Housewives - 7.6: "Excited and Scared" Review

 Hallowe'en on Wisteria Lane sees Susan fired from her job, Mike leave for Alaska and Bree finds out about Keith's probation for assault. Juanita is jealous of Grace and asks Gaby what's so great about her.

Mary Alice (Brenda Strong) narrates how Renee (Vanessa Williams) is afraid she won't be the centre of attention anymore and so she's decided to keep the tradition she had of throwing a Hallowe'en party in New York.  It's not for children since you can't swear in front of them.  Tom's (Doug Savant) mother, Allison (Lois Smith) asks Lynette (Felicity Huffman) to buy her some handcream.  She asks Allison to wake Paige up at 3.  Paul (Mark Moses) takes his wife, Beth (Emily Bergl) to a counsellor, who tells him he should "date" his wife.  She confesses she's still a virgin.

Susan (Teri Hatcher) admits to Mike (James Denton) what she was doing on the web in her lingerie and he's frustrated he can't provide for his family.  He should have taken the job in Alaska.  She tells him Paul is blackmailing her into selling their house and he wants to hit him with a hammer.  Susan stops him, she'll take care of Paul herself.

Juanita (Madison La Garza) brags how she amassed two pillowcases of candy last Hallowe'en.  She finds Gaby's (Eva Longoria Parker) necklace in Grace's (Cecilia Balagot) room and takes it.  Gaby tells her she didn't steal it, but she gave it to Grace as she's "poor." Next time they're at Aunt Rosie's, Juanita can "recover" the gold earrings she's missing, since Juanita's good at "recovering" things.

Lynette returns home to find Paige is still asleep and Allison accuses Lynette of shouting at her.  It's so obvious there's something wrong with her, but Tom refuses to believe it, until she goes missing after going to the market to buy more candy.

Susan visits Paul with a basket of muffins and after finding a thumb-tack hole in the wall from the calendar, she advises him he's in breach of his lease agreement and has 60 days to vacate her house.  She takes a muffin and pounds on it with the hammer, warning him that's what will happen to him.  (NB watch out for the muffin disappearing from the counter top in the next shot.)  She doesn't know if there are raisins in the muffins as she has rats.

Keith (Brian Austin Green) takes Bree (Marcia Cross) to see his apartment.  She's surprised as she was expecting a bachelor pad, not potpourri.  He has a female roomate.  Paul informs one of the mother's from Susan's school about her "extra curricular activities" and gets her fired.

Lynette finds several bottles of handcream in Allison's case and Tom insists she's fine because she recalls everything that happened when he was at Camp Kickapoo.  He won't take her to the doctor, just as he refused to see one when he was depressed.  Bree is reassured by Keith's roommate that there's nothing more between them.  Bree finds a letter from State Corrections addressed to Keith.  Apparently, Renee knows he's on probation for assault.  He defended his girlfriend at the bar.  Renee asked the bartender before she went out with him.  Renee suggests Bree have an argument with him and if he hits her, then she'll know he's violent.

Gaby makes a princess outfit for Grace and when Juanita sees her in it, she wants one too.  Gaby makes her go as a dog because she knows the dog will get more candy than some "little Mexican girl!"  (But Grace is Mexican too!)  Beth pays Paul a weird compliment after their date and he tells her he needs someone he can trust by his side, before he misread the signals and kisses her.  She slaps him and he wants her to leave.

Renee dresses as Marilyn Monroe at her party and Keith doesn't recognize who she is, even after she sings "Happy Birthday, Mr President."  He calls her Michelle Obama.   (Well he knows who she is!)  Lee (Kevin Rahm) also turns up dressed as Marilyn.  Bree receives unwelcomed advances from a man at the party, she's dressed as a cheerleader and asks Keith to deal with him.   He loses his temper and tells Bree that's who he really is.  Bree says everyone comes with baggage and tells him she's the Fairview lush.

Juanita cuts Grace's hair when she gets the crown stuck in it, after she sees Gaby hug Grace when she gives her a candy.  Carlos (Richard Antonio Chavira) calls Lynette to pick up Allison and Tom turns up to witness her slap Lynette.  Gaby smashes up her house with MJ's club and is stopped by Beth with a gun, telling Susan to leave her husband alone.  Beth and Paul consummate their marriage.

Juanita asks Gaby what is special about Grace and Carlos tells Gaby she has to stop seeing Grace for a while, they have to protect their daughter.  Gaby replies they're both their daughters.  Mike leaves for Alaska or he'll end up killing Paul if he stays. Tom takes Allison to an assisted living facility.

Mary Alice ends by saying that people are in fear, some are worrying, some are learning the truth, others are being sent away.  "The world is a scary place -- it's even more terrifying when we have to face it alone."

CSI: Miami - 9.01: "Fallen" Review

The show returns with a bang or should that be gaseous explosion, as the CSIs battle to find evidence to bring psychopath Starling to justice for Jesse's murder. With the CSIs finally bidding farewell to one of their own again.

The episode begins with Horatio (David Caruso) rushing back to the lab, with Starling (Roger Bart) repeating a quote from Hamlet: "Revenge delayed  invites madness."  Don't know if that was a jibe at himself or the CSIs wanting to bring him to book for the murders of his faculty members.   Why didn't Delko (Adam Rodriguez) think about shooting out the window for air, instead of opting to carry out Calleigh (Emily Procter) and failing miserably in the attempt and dropping on top of her at one point.   No, it was left to Horatio to save the day and them and for Natalia (Eva La Rue) to find Jesse (Eddie Cibrian).   Also when last we saw them none of the CSIs had their lab coats on.   And what happened to the lab extra in the green jumper who was propped about all over the place in the season 8 finale.

They made a miraculous recovery after inhaling the halon gas which Delko describes as poisonous, no after or side effects for either one of them, so all the CSIs managed to crawl out into the hallway except for Jesse.   Natalia was the most distraught when she found Jesse, especially when she couldn't revive him and Horatio telling her "he's gone."  What a cop-out Jesse going like that, as are all the episodes where one of the CSIs gets killed off, viz Speed (Rory Cochrane), who was shot in Lost Son.  Here Jesse just hit his head when he fell and casually, or coincidentally  fell over the vent, inhaling the brunt of the gas.

ME Tom (Christian Clemenson) removes Jesse's clothes and comments his autopsy would have been even fuller if Horatio hadn't shot out the window.   He believes Jesse died from cerebral hypoxia.   Horatio explains oxygen deprivation, to clarify for those who don't know what that is.   There was no trace of any toxic gases.   He also suffered subdural hemorrhaging, hitting his head when he fell.   Horatio takes Jesse's badge, he'll deal with his things.   All the evidence they had amassed against Starling has been destroyed or compromised.   Ryan (Jonathan Togo) looking rather trim, says they have his gun, but Calleigh shoots that down (no pun) by adding the gun isn't linked to him.   Tripp (Rex Linn) says he doesn't know how Starling got the gas when he was behind bars but they'll find out.   Obvious answer being he had an accomplice and no surprises for guessing who, as Melissa (Kristen Hager) immediately comes to mind.   He was her mentor after all and so they were closely associated.

Horatio deals with Starling in no uncertain terms and tells him his name, Jesse Cardoza.   Starling has no regrets or remorse and only replies Horatio can't stop what's about to come.   Horatio tells the CSIs they need to get Starling for Jesse's murder and with all his past killings he left clues.   They start with the note Horatio was given and with Melissa.   Natalia has the dubious honour of trying to question Melissa who just wants to conveniently drive away and is deliberately evasive.   She wanted to be so helpful for her thesis when she was trying to get one over them, but now she doesn't have a word to say, not even after she's been told Starling killed a police officer.   That'll change.

Nikki (Alexandra Adi) tells Calleigh the note was printed on an inkjet printer, which uses wet ink so they could match it to Starling's printer.   Well he wasn't so clever using his own printer for starters.   Ryan is in the ventilation duct and finds traces of halon, which Horatio says is a fire repressant.   Delko adds it's been banned.   They open up the AC unit to find tanks of the gas.   Someone got into the AC system and again we're shown Jesse falling near the vent.   Not very good security for a crime lab if that can happen so easily.   In custody, Starling manages to remove one of his cuffs.   The lettering under the rust on the tank shows it belongs to Dade University.   Horatio being rough with Starling and the rest of the suspect's in this episode, don't get to see him heavy-handed very often, but still can't match the hands-on approach they had with Horatio when he used to help out int he lab, which is missed, cos these days he doesn't do much, except stand around, which is where the producers make their mistake.

Walter (Omar Miller) asks why no one's cleaned Jesse's face; he's still being processed.   They had a basketball game today which Walter would've won.   As we get flashbacks to them paying ball from the season 8.10 episode, Count Me Out.  His mother wants him returned to California and Horatio will make that happen.   He begins to clean Jesse's face and finds a piece of glass.   The glass was from the room and so he tells Natalia he wants to now where it came from.    The glass is tempered and there are roller marks on it.  The glass matches Starling's camera as there's another flashback to Jesse falling down , talk about rubbing it in.   Dave (Wes Ramsey) tells Walter the server's down and Jesse gave him a memory card to check.   Deleted photos can still be obtained from the card.

Ryan says there was 6% concentration of halon in Jesse's blood, so they can add to the area of a same sized lab and work out when Starling set off the gas and where he was at the time.   It takes 5 seconds to get to 6%.   Ryan does the math, or at least most of it for Delko, and they work out it took 35 minutes, "before we all fell down." As Delko says, but he wasn't even here.  Ryan says Starling was teaching, so he had an accomplice, well that took long enough and the first thought they have is of Melissa.  Who is tied up in her house with a gun rigged to the door, she had to have rigged it herself.   Horatio got to the the second floor pretty easily.   If Starling was meant to be so clever than all of them put together it's a wonder he didn't realize they would find out what he's done, they solved all his clues too.   She says a man was waiting for her when she got home and the gun belongs to Keith Garwood (Channon Roe) a janitor at the university, who was the dupe, the patsy.  

Three canisters of gas are missing and Horatio, again losing his cool, tells him the murder of a policeman carries mandatory death sentence.   Garwood's not talking since he doesn't want to be his fourth Vic, that should have been fifth; if you count all of the Vics, including the professor who survived when Natalia saved him.   Calleigh feels the rifle round weight is wrong.   The gun powder has been replaced with sand, so the gun wouldn't fire, which Delko says is lucky for Melissa.   Starling repeats "tick tock" whilst in solitary.   Nikki says the note had shiny areas on the paper, which makes Horatio think of invisible ink, which fluoresces under UV light.   Symbols have been drawn between the words which Horatio calls a cipher.   Natalia says different cultures depicted such symbols and the Mayans depicted 'end of days' as Horatio says.     Natalia mentions bubonic plague, prompting Delko to recall what was written on the cologne bottle in 8.24 All fall Down.

The server's down so they have to look through the books, manually, whilst Horatio just stands by and doesn't help.    The symbols read: 'Man Marks Earth Ruin'.  Travers (Christopher Redman)  repeats the Byron poem it's from, but he doesn't know what it means.  Horatio finsihes: "but his control stops at the shore." There's a bomb at Pier 25, near the Byron Hotel.   The bomb threat turns out to be a hoax, with 'poof' written inside the box, cos it's a distraction by Starling who is about to escape en route to prison, again that was apparent.   Tripp gets knocked around in yet another escape attempt by car.   They just happen to take him to prison already, thought they would have waited till the case was over.   There's gunfire from the van and again that was firing automatically.   Since if Starling rigged the rifle to fire automatically in 8.24, then he'd have done that again now; as Calleigh confirms it was a remote-rigged rifle.   Delko ask the silly question of how this was done when Starling and the accomplice were in custody, since duh, they have the wrong accomplice.

Horatio recalls Melissa had dud bullets aimed at her cos she wasn't meant to die.  Walter  and Dave find deleted photos of Starling and Melissa together on the memory card.   Horatio tells her she gassed his lab for Starling and all the evidence points to her.   She's taking the fall for him, but suddenly she wants to deal, whereas before she had nothing to say to Natalia.  Starling is making his getaway on a yacht, thought he'd have left by now and yanks the wire from her.   She killed a cop fro him and Starling thought she was smarter than that and admits she wouldn't have been able to gas the lab unless he told her how.   She shows him the real wire on her belt.   Tripp arrests him for Jesse's murder.   Horatio: "Jesse Cardoza was our friend."

Calleigh gives Jesse a Saint Christopher to send him on his way, dressed in his uniform.  "Have a safe trip."  They find Walter playing basketball, they knew he'd be here.   Delko: "We're always here for each other."  Ryan's on Walter's team cos he and Calleigh bet money and he's going to throw the game.   Ryan still talking about gambling.   Horatio throws a basket for Jesse, "this is for Jesse."

Shame to see another CSI leave the show in such a manner, seems everyone has to be killed off.   But Eddie Cibrian was a particularly great addition to the show.   Now who's going to find their clues and point them in the right direction.   His character of Jesse was particularly compelling and passionate, in that he was a CSI who cared about the Vics and solving crimes.   It was a pity he had to be killed off since his part could have been left open.   Also Adam Rodriguez returning to the show.   I don't have any qualms about making my feelings known and Delko was one character I never was into since CSI:Miami began and it was sad that one actor had to leave to be replaced by a cast member who never really left the show back in season 8.  Jesse was a little like Speed and his character was more interesting and had potential, just as Jesse did.   Speed questioned the job and their reasons for doing it, when at the end of the day, some criminals got away.   Delko more or less accepted the job.  Adam's photo in the opening credits, replaces Eddie's at the end.

Anyway Walter had a touching farewell with Jesse when he cleans his face.   Both happy and bitter sweet moments too.   Only fitting that a newer cast member Omar, like Eddie, was to share this scene with him, since they both got on so well.   Any fun scene was spared until the end as Jesse's mother wanted him back home.   No mention of a mother before now as is always the case.   First Jesse lost his wife and then we lost Jesse.   Next episode he'll be all but forgotten.

As for the storyline, well Starling was going to be caught by hook or by crook, it's the nature of the show and had to be done for justice for Jesse.    Starling's so-called intelligence was no match for the forensics and the CSIs and at the end of the day, that of an accomplice.   Emily being hidden behind set pieces and not being shown full view in front of the camera to mask her pregnancy.

CSI 12.15 "Stealing Home" Review

This was one of those CSI episodes where you don't know whether to laugh or to cry at how dismal it really was, especially considering the family feuding, done to death in CSI episodes and then this one took the prize as having the house as the killer.  Or should I say killer house comments.

Sara ((Jorga Fox) asks Nick (George Eads) if he's dating the nurse from last episode, see I said that didn't I in my last review.  The mega flirting that was going on there!  Then she asks about Doc Robbin' niece from 12.4 Maid Man and Nick's 'keeping his options open.'  Yay Nicky, we always knew he was a ladies man!  The scene doesn't show a murder or some other crime taking place as is usually the case but this time the crime's already been committed.  Dwayne (Jason Sklar)reports his wife missing and also his house has been stolen.  Nick asks if someone's "after the house or the wife?"

Finn (Elisabeth Shue) has to undergo her routine lie detector test and when asked if she's had sex with animals she replies her first husband was a dog and her second one was a pig.  DB (Ted Russell) knew she'd get that in.    At least she says the photo ID is much better than the Seattle one.  Just in case you can't recall she's from Seattle.  Morgan (Elisabeth Harnois) takes her on a tour of the lab, including unofficial tour.  Brass (Paul Guilfoyle) did I mention he was absent from the last episode, well I have now; finds the car belongs to Dwayne's wife, Debbie and Jimmy (Randy Sklar) arrives.  He being Dwayne's twin brother.  Marla (Kira Sternbach) is their sister and she's treated like dirt.  Ugh what a family.  No wonder Sara's glad she's an only child.  Nick posits if they figure out what happened to the house, they can figure out what happened to the wife.

Sara doesn't find any prints but Nick finds four sets of shoeprints.  He tells her how easily a house can be moved overnight, making him an expert on house removals too, ha.   Jimmy tells DB Debbie (Ashley Williams) loved to gamble and Dwayne says as a result they had to move in with his mother, who didn't leave a will.  Their father left ten years ago with their money.  Fred (Larry Anderson) moved in but he wouldn't steal the house, Marla says.  Dwayne threw Fred out and it was Debbie's idea.  Marla doesn't want the house and who can blame her with all the bad luck it carries.  It's definitely cursed.

Greg (Eric Szmanda) and DB are called to a CS where the Vic has been run over.  David (David Berman) doesn't find any ID on him but he has tread marks on his DB.  He lost an arm and a leg and was run over by a big rig, like the type needed to move a house but no one made that connection here!  DB notices there's not much blood and David adds his blood wasn't circulating.   Causing Greg to comment he was already dead.  Hodges (Wallace Langham) reads out the house number, '528' on the surveillance video.  Nick: "As opposed to the other houses stolen last night!"  Finn arrives and tells Hodges she heard about his tentacle fetish (revealed in 12.1 73 Seconds  And asks how he answered the sex with animals question on his lie detector test. Well, maybe he didn't have a fetish back then relating to octopus.

They map the route of the rig from the surveillance until it leads off into the desert.  Nick: "follow the destination, find the house."  He's been getting lots of those lines this episode.  He calls Brass for a helicopter to locate the house,  which was heading East.  Nick: "wrap it up, take it back to the house."  Which DB finds amusing! There's a DB under the house.  Finn says he's wearing "ruby red shoes."  Hey I was going to make the Wizard of Oz connection!  DB: "I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore."  The Wicked Witch of the East was killed when Dorothy's house landed on her after the tornado.

David finds the DB's chest concaved so he was crushed by the house when he was attempting to fix the jack holding it up when the house was being lowered.  Idiot!    Nick notices his shoe impression matches those he took from the house's original site.  He also recognizes him as Dennis from the surveillance photo.  Inside the house Finn notices the high velocity blood spatter and an air bubble on the wall inside the blood spatter indicating the blood was expirated.  The cast off pattern shows a short arc from beating and sharp force trauma.  The DB was stabbed four times.

Dwayne refuses to give a DNA sample and Debbie turns up alive.  She was out gambling, well lucky for her, even if she was a loser at gambling.  Now she can put up with more family feuding and join in too.  Doc Robbins (Robert David Hall) finds a piece of the murder weapon inside the Vic, the tip of the knife.  Greg says he was stabbed which makes it Finn's DB.  He's Fred as his DNA matched the blood from the house.  DB posits he fell out of the truck when it turned a corner.  Marla knew Dennis and asked him to steal the house as a favour, since he wanted to go out with her.  Sara: "that's one killer house."

Morgan and Nick search for knife in the house and Nick finds a skeleton in the closet.  The house has killed four people.  Morgan: "makes it a serial killer."  Possible blunt force trauma on the skeleton and Nick finds a dead blowfly showing the DB decomposed in the wall.  That was out of Edgar Allan Poe again.  Only he wasn't buried alive.  It's been dead ten years.  Again the clue being that's how long Walter's been gone when he left them.  So really that's a giveaway to the suspect.  Henry (Jon Wellner) comments their "mummy is a daddy."  The DB in the wall is the biological father of Marla.  Epithelials under Fred's nails match Dwayne which is why he was reluctant to give a DNA sample.  He claims they fought when he threw Fred out.

DB sends Morgan out "with boyfriend Greg" only she doesn't react to that; to look for the knife handle/blade.  They find some fragments on the road and a partial print is found after they join the pieces together.  Morgan was good at jigsaws.  It's a match for Walter (Jeff Kober) found on AFIS.  Nick sent the papers he found with the mummy to QD, which doesn't explain why he's the one who worked on them.  The DB was Tony, a handyman and he was Marla's father.  He wrote her mother letters and was her soulmate.  Tony was reported missing.  Her mother wanted to leave Walter.

Brass ran a search on Walter using his full name and found a hit.  He used his credit card in Vegas two days ago, not very clever when he could have gotten away with murder if he hadn't turned up.  Or would he?  I mean why bury the DB in the wall to begin with instead of disposing of it elsewhere.  He killed Tony and Fred caught him in the house when he was retrieving the skeleton.  He killed Fred and had to leave him behind cos the house was moving.

Finn threatens to divide the house for the siblings with a chainsaw and Marla donates it to charity since no one was willing to pay the bill for the damage the house caused.  Sara suggested Marla give it to charity to get out of paying.  Finn comments the lab is like family so why'd he want her here?  DB: "best of the best can only get better."  She doesn't want a repeat of Seattle, was that when he fired her as Greg mentions earlier on.

Even after catching the killer, not said if they found the rest of the house stealer's, surely they need to be found too and was Dennis really a dumb criminal, was he crushed by accident or killed, well it's a question no one thought of.

The Vampire Diaries - 2.20: "The Last Day" Review

Events heat up as they try to find a way to prevent Elena from being sacrificed. She and Stefan spend a day together as if it could be their last. Damon takes matters into his own hands, as only Damon would.

Elijah (Daniel Gillies) says tonight is the full moon and they should prepare to prevent Klaus from breaking the curse.   If Klaus (Joseph Morgan) manages to break it then he'll be a true hybrid.  Damon (Ian Somerhalder) wonders why he's letting them break it since they have Bonnie (Kat Graham).   Damon says he'll write her an eulogy.   Elijah explains the moonstone will channel the power of the full moon to release the spell in the stone.   Klaus's sacrifice must include one vampire and one werewolf.   He will then need to drink the blood of the doppelganger, "at the point of your death."

Elijah has an elixir with mystical properties for resuscitation which he got for Katherine.   Damon sarcastically comments that's his plan.   Oh and Damon doesn't wear a shirt either!  "A magical witch potion with no expiration date."  Elijah tells him the ring only works on humans but a "doppelganger's a supernatural occurrence" and the ring won't work for Elena (Nina Dobrev).   Elijah knows Klaus will have a werewolf by tonight, i.e.  it's meant to be Tyler (Michael Trevino).   Lockwood (Susan Walters) calls Tyler asking him to return, with a little persuasion from Maddox (Gino Anthony Pesi) and then throws her down the stairs.   Stefan (Paul Wesley) says they need to put their faith in Elena and bet on her instincts.   Damon says maybe he shouldn't be sure about her instincts.   Elijah warns the elixir may not work.

Jenna (Sara Canning) holds a crossbow on Alaric (Matt Davis) who has a message from Klaus after he let him go, the sacrifice will be tonight.   Tyler arrives back as he would do.   Matt (Zach Roerig) can't pretend anymore.   The sheriff (Marguerite MacIntyre) explains about vampires, her family was raised with this, it's all an act, he doesn't have a soul or humanity.   Thought Damon was the sheriff's ally but she thinks of him as a killer.   Matt wonders why the sheriff hasn't done anything since Caroline (Candice Accola) is her daughter.   Matt believes Damon is the problem, not Caroline.   Well he would say that.

Alaric doesn't recall anything of what happened to him.   Elena wants to make Damon understand why she's doing this.   Damon replies they want it to work but he's sure it won't.   He can't lose Elena and he turns into a vampire and makes her taste his blood.  This way he knows Elena will return if she dies.   Stefan wonders "How could you of all people take that choice away from her?"  They fight as usual and Damon comments Stefan only wishes he could have done it himself and stakes Stefan.   Elijah tells her that giving her vampire blood means the elixir won't work.   Damon doesn't know anything and Elena will never forgive him.   Elijah: "Never for a vampire is a very long time."

Alaric tried to protect Jenna from all this but she can handle it.   She's glad he's okay.   Jules (Michaela McManus) has been helping Tyler, oh look another werewolf, giving Klaus plenty of choices now.   Tyler left for a reason.   Madddox goes after Tyler and Caroline is attacked.   Damon messed up and meets Klaus at the bar.   "Klaus I presume." Damon and Stefan "Fancy my doppelganger."  That's old news cos they fancied Katherine too.   Damon asks for a month but Klaus has everything he needs for the ritual and if Damon wants to live then he should stay away.   Without a werewolf he can't perform the ritual.   Alaric says Damon will be dead anyway.   He'll help Damon.   Maybe Elena will forgive him then.   After all that, Alaric still helps Damon, but little does Alaric know his world is about to collapse around him.

Stefan takes Elena to the waterfall.  She knows how she feels and it's fine to tell Stefan.   As her last day as a human Stefan wants her to climb to the top of the mountain.   Alaric invites Damon in to see Katherine and he demands to know where the werewolf is.  Caroline is the vampire Klaus is sacrificing and he has Tyler too.   Damon tells her Elena has vampire blood in her system and he can compete with Stefan for Elena's love forever.   In the tomb the witches gave her vervain.

Caroline tells Tyler he shouldn't have come here.   Elena wonders what the best part of being a vampire is and Stefan replies, be anyone, do anything, "live more intensely, love more powerfully."  Emotions are too overwhelming so they turn them off.   Klaus asks what Katherine's been doing, compels her to take her bracelet off and stand in the sun, as a means of testing her.   She burns until he stops her.   Maddox asks which one Damon wants to save.   Matt shoots Maddox.   Damon's here to rescue Caroline and he knocks Matt out.   Jules helps Tyler deal with what he is.   Caroline deserved someone better than Tyler but she doesn't hate him.   He needs to get to his family's cellar and lock himself in.   Damon doesn't want Tyler to make him regret this.   Damon tells her Matt knows Caroline's a vampire.

Stefan knows Elena's thought about drinking vampire blood to survive.   He'd want to be with her forever, but it was selfish to ask her.  Damon did it cos he loves Elena but she loves Stefan.   Elena doesn't want to be a vampire and he doesn't want her to go with Klaus.   He tells Damon that Elena's already gone and Tyler turns into a werewolf, fighting Damon.   Elena's with Greta (Lisa Tucker).   Damon asks Klaus to postpone the ritual and he can kill him for it - it was all him,  "impulsive vampire in love with his brother's girl."  If that was the case then he and Elijah had feelings for Katherine yet they each were dismissive of them.   Klaus was aware one of the brothers would stop him.   Werewolves travel in packs so he's got Jules.   Didn't think of that did they.   Jules was the convenient little scapegoat.  Always have a back-up.

Luka's sister is in league with Klaus.   Katherine had to go along with Klaus or he'd know she was on vervain.   Jenna is Klaus's back-up vampire.   She's in transition.    Klaus couldn't use Damon cos he was bitten by a werewolf and was as good as dead.

So that's it then, Damon forces Elena to 'drink' his blood so she will turn into a vampire, perhaps if the sacrifice goes ahead and she  will come back as such.   How did he know this would actually work?  She's the doppelganger and not exactly the same as everyone else, i.e.  other humans since her blood is what Klaus craves, thus there are no guarantees she will actually turn.   This way as Damon comments - he'll know she will stay alive, once more he's so certain his 'plan' will work.   This he does even if Elena never forgives him. He'd prefer her around, to losing her forever.   That wasn't his choice to make - as Stefan and Elena later talk about her choice and if she'd ever want to become a vampire.   She decides against it.   She wants to grow old.

Well fine for Elena, she has/had a choice though it appears to have been temporarily removed from her for the present, but others like Jenna are put through the wringer with no such luck.   Stefan was too late to stop Damon from possibly 'converting' Elena and look there's another brother battle.  We couldn't see that coming.   Yeah I'm being sarcastic.   Elena is the 'meat' in the sandwich or the blood shake ha, even if technically she's Stefan's girl.   Damon just won't let her go.  He doesn't get the message and he doesn't want to either.   That's his choice.

So instead of being together, all romantic-like on their last day, potentially, as the title suggests, Stefan takes Elena to the waterfalls.   She must have seen those already; as if that'll be her final memory.   Matt comes to the rescue this episode. It's about time he took some action instead of wallowing and shoots Maddox.   He finally takes a stand against the sheriff, showing he does care about Caroline and will help her; but it's too little too late, cos she's kind of moved on to Tyler.

Greta clearly had not time for her family who were in search of her, since she wasn't "lost," she tells Elena.   She was too busy siding with Klaus to notice or care..

Jenna becomes part of Klaus's back-up plan, or rather he probably thought of her as this when he was 'possessing' Alaric.  Damon gets bitten by Tyler, knew that was on the horizon, but rest assured, no lead actor/character will be killed.   Though Damon is clearly doomed.   It's just a way to get some sympathy from Elena, well it won't hurt, when she eventually finds out.   Damon when he wanted Elena to come back as a vampire was so true to his character and it would be something only he would think of and actually go through with.