The Vampire Diaries 4.20 "The Originals" Review

This was the ep most people have been waiting for, the Pilot to The Originals, which the CW has picked up for a series.  Not sure if the UK will get it, will probably end up on some sat/cable channel.  Anyway the ep begins with some witches and one of them, Jane Anne (Malaya Rivera Drew) casting a spell when spells are outlawed in New Orleans.  Hayley (Phoebe Tonkin) finds herself surrounded in the woods and faints.  later Jane Anne turns up dead cos she disobeyed Marcel's (Charles Michael Davis) rules.  Marcel being sired by Klaus (Joseph Morgan) and Klaus being his mentor.  Klaus arrives in New Orleans and  heads straight for Marcel who's doing a stint on the stage.

It's an emotional time for Klaus as we get some backstory on how the Originals built New Orleans, especially Klaus who seems to have put in the most blood, sweat and tears and yet was chased off by their father.  Leaving Marcel in charge of the city and now being the king of the city.  Rebuking Klaus's phrase of prince.  Yet there doesn't seem to be any love lost between them.  Klaus wants to know what the witches want with him and he ends up at a bar where he pays the blonde bartender (Leah Pipes) a $100 note.  Marcel sends two of his men to spy on him which he doesn't like since he can't get Sophie (Daniella Pineda) to talk about why he's here.   You see, Marcel kills Jane Anne since she disobeyed his rules and practised magic.  Klaus is peeved as he wanted to question her, but Marcel will find out what she knew.

Think Marcel was covering himself in wanting to find out exactly why Klaus is here incase his territory and his crown is in jeopardy.  Yet Klaus shows him who's really boss since he's an original hybrid and attacks one of his men.  He's the only one who can save him.  Sophie is about to be attacked by Marcel's henchmen but big brother, Elijah (Daniel Gilles) turns up to save her.  He just has to cover Klaus's back since they don't have much family left and family is what this show will focus on.

Elijah confronts Klaus with Sophie and Hayley telling him to listen to what she has to say.  You see Klaus is becoming a father!  Not many would have guessed that but he doesn't want the baby.  He doesn't even believe it's his.  Sophie threatens to kill Hayley, which shocks her, unless he takes down Marcel.  Elijah will protect Hayley and tries to convince Klaus that becoming a father is a good thing.  He will have an heir and leave behind a legacy.  Funny that, since Rebekah was the one who wanted to become human and have a family, seems Klaus doesn't need to do either.  Well a legacy if the inevitable happens, even if Klaus is immortal.
Klaus: "What an entirely unwelcome surprise.
Elijah: "What an entirely unsurprising welcome."

He walks off by himself and meets the bartender, Camille, or Cami as she prefers to be known.  The brave bartender as he calls her since she was confronted by Marcel and she kept her cool.  They watch a painter and she knows what he's feeling.  Lost, alone, were those tears Klaus was about to shed as she asks him if he's a painter and he's disappeared.  He later goes back and gives his blood to cure Marcel's henchman asking if he can stay a while in this city.  Elijah wants to stay too.

Elijah goes back for Rebekah (Claire Holt) but she doesn't want to leave Mystic Falls.  He also says goodbye to Katherine.  Seems family is more stronger than the love he's carried for her over centuries.  So much for Elena (Nina Dobrev) and Katherine being different and yet Katherine still pronounces 'Elijah' just like Elena does.  They could have had her saying that differently.

The Elena borefest continues, well it is, and hey had to make mention of it here as Damon (Ian Somerhalder) feeds her blood with vervain but she's still in defiant mood.  He mentions caring for her, feelings which she doesn't have and she tries to leave the dungeon, with Stefan (Paul Wesley) standing outside.  She tells them to bring it on as Stefan steps into the dungeon and closes the door behind him.  They're going to torture her back into the old Elena.

Elijah wants their family back and a baby could be the beginnings of this.  He's all for Klaus keeping the baby and he's the calm voice of reason throughout as he always was.  Klaus calls Caroline and leaves a message saying he'd love for her to see this city.  It's very atmospheric.  I can agree with him there, New Orleans really is a beautiful and underrated city.   There's an old feel to it like life has passed it by, yet its splendour still remains and a large part of the show was filmed in the French Quarter.  One of my fave scenes was when Marcel showed Klaus the skyline of those buildings, okay most were hotels, but that's one thing I made sure I got plenty of snaps of, the NO skyline, especially at night.

So I was glad this intro ep at least was actually filmed there.  Klaus and Elijah's scene was shot in Pirate's Alley and the painter has his own gallery on Royal Street.  The vampire party was filmed at Hotel Royal during St Patrick's Day weekend, much to the chagrin of some of the dwellers there.  Daniel was almost punched.  Jane Anne mentions werewolves in New Orleans are known as rougarou's, something which the Winchesters from Supernatural are well aware of!

666 Park Avenue 1.11 "Sins of the Fathers" Review

                                          

Sasha (Tessa Thompson) discusses the possibility of Henry (Dave Annabel) using the pulpit to put forward his views but Gavin (Terry O'Quinn) disagrees as he may across as preaching.  Henry thinks it may be a good idea but he hasn't been a Catholic for along time.  She arranges a meeting with the Monsignor (Brian Williams) of St Thomas as Gavin is in good with him. St Thomas of course since he went there on a previous visit and was no coincidence this was chosen.  Sasha arranges a meeting with Father Douglas (Remy Auberjonois) and tells him he sees things in people which no one else can see and it haunts him.  She shows him a Grimoire from the sixteenth century where it says the Dragon can be struck down with the dagger soaked in the blood of a king.

At their meeting at the church Gavin visits the cemetery to tell Sasha how he buried his daughter and that he was awake when the call came.  She's sorry she did that to them but through all this facade you can tell how both of them were playing a cat and mouse game, or more like devil and devil's daughter game.  It's like Gavin saw through everything Sasha was planning and was one step ahead of her.   Father Douglas tells Henry he sees good in him and he needs to confess and will be granted absolution before Gavin takes Henry away.  Father nods to Sasha and agrees to got through with the plan. She accompanies Olivia (Vanessa Williams) to an auction where she bids on a painting for Gavin and Father Douglas bids on the dagger used to kill Julius Caesar that's why it was covered in a king's blood.  But it wasn't enough to do the dirty deed since Gavin can't be dealt with so easily.

Henry also lies to Jane (Rachael Taylor) and tells her he didn't leak news of Sullivan's affair to the press and Gavin  had nothing to do with it either.  She wants him to stay as he is, doubt that'll happen but yeah sure enough Henry will stay the boring, old wimp he always was.  Jane talks with Nona (Samantha Logan) and tells her what she found, the line she found about the "shining light in a city of shadows" which is written all over Kramer's journal.  Gavin introduces Jane to Phillip Corey (Richard Short) who was Harlan Moore from last ep and tells her he's moving into 2D (Maris's apartment) so she can discuss the renovations with him.  Corey decides he'll do his own renovating.  Jane later finds a photo of Corey and realizes it's really Harlan. Breaking into his place, he wakes from under a sheet and she wants to know why there's a padlock on the door.  He doesn't tell her way why but tells her that line is a decipher and is all over his journal.  Later we find he's sacrificed the woman he was with and uses her blood to create his own dragon mosaic in the room.  Saying if you want something done you have to do it yourself.

Henry admits to Jane he lied and she's angry since Gavin tells him to come clean.  She doesn't want him getting into dirty politics, but that's how things are done here.  He didn't tell Sullivan to have an affair with his intern.  Nona also says she should forgive him cos all he did was tell a lie.  She turns up to the sermon, sorry Henry's speech and all's well with them.  Henry preaches about forgiveness.  He proposes to her.  A bit eager when he didn't want to a few weeks back, what's he doing, staking his claim.  

Elsewhere Brian (Robert Buckley) and Louise (Mercedes Masohn) are having problems yet again and he thinks her turning up drunk was cos she couldn't be happy for him and his show.  She admits to taking one aspirin.  At a fashion shoot, Alexis (Helena Mattsson) wants to know why she cant be happy for Brian and she's read his play and thinks it's good.  His play is about Brian and Alexis, no surprises there.  Alexis once again loses it with Louise saying it's all about her.  Then she turns up at the theatre during rehearsals and says she's going to take up dance again cos he inspired her.  She kisses him and Louise shows up as we knew she would.  Louise flushes the pills from the cabinet but more turn up. All I can say is hope Alexis gets what's coming to her after all she's the one who made the deal and needs to suffer for it.  Louise shows up at Corey's when he invites her for a drink earlier on.

Gavin waits for Father Douglas in the graveyard and tells him to get on with it but he stops him using the dagger by holding it in his hand.  Sasha takes Olivia down to the basement to do away with her and hopes Gavin will be taken care of by now. Olivia loves him and doesn't think anything will happen to him, cos if anyone tries to hut him they'll have her to deal with, which is exactly what she does here.  She tries to kill Olivia but Gavin stops her.  She's sorry but he opens up the dragon mosaic again using his key from his pocketwatch and Sasha is told she'll end up somewhere better.  She can't stay here and walks down the spiral staircase.  Well Jane ended up in the hospital but doubt the same 'courtesy' will be shown to Sasha.  She's probably sacrificed or doomed to roam the Drake or Times Square without really getting anywhere.  then again maybe not.  Wonder what would have happened if Sasha had refused to go quietly?  

As there are only two episodes left, this did seem a little rushed and a bit no-sensical in places.  Sasha was in hiding all these years and shows up to kill her parents but gets dealt with herself, so much for Olivia wanting her daughter back when really all she loves is Gavin.  Seems Sasha's only motivation for wanting them dead is that they gave her things they took from innocent people.  Gavin telling her they weren't innocent, yeah he can judge.  

Coincidentally this review turns out to be my blog post number 666!

CSI 13.10 "Risky Business Class" Review

                                                 
All the CSIs work in the lab and Sara (Jorga Fox) leaves a message for Grissom.  They are then each texted by DB (Ted Danson) as we see a plane fly over the Vegas buildings.  News comes in of the plane crashing near the Strip and everyone is needed.  Funny Finn (Elisabeth Shue) didn't get a text.  They need to investigate and DB tells them NTSB investigator, Doug Wilson (Josh Randall) is at the scene.  Sara knows him from working with him in San Francisco, as we know that's where Grisson bought Sara in from in the second part of the Pilot episode.  DB thus assigns Sara to work with him as they'll be comfortable around each other and know how each other works.  Finn giving them both a funny look, cos it's obvious there was some chemistry there and looks like there still is.  It was a bit strange that this ep should bring in someone from Sara's past when we all know she and Grissom have been having some problems, marital or otherwise.  How long can a long distance relationship last, though there are many who make it work.

Strange last ep they were working the Strip and this week a plane crashes there.  We don't get the usual CS collection being shown but everything is brought back to the lab as it's already been collected.  Just as Morgan (Elisabeth Harnois) is about to leave Donna Hoppe (Pamela Reed) arrives to do a family tree for her.  She wants it give it to Ecklie for Christmas and as before she still calls Greg (Eric Szmanda) Hojam Sanders, also commenting Morgan and Greg make a cute couple which leaves them speechless.  Well some of us said that last season.  Especially since Hodges (Wallace Langham) has a love of his own now and it ain't Morgan, as we'll see later.

Doc (Robert David Hall) has the DBs in autopsy and one of them has a piece of shrapnel in his shoulder which David (David Berman) found.   Nick (George Eads) and Finn talk to the co-pilot, Dalton Burke (Kenneth Mitchell)  at the airport and he doesn't know that the pilot was taking up any passengers.  He usually makes the bookings but this time he made them himself.  He gets the entire plane but is really cut up over losing the pilot since they were involved together.  Morgan finds a box used to send DNA to the lab for analysis and asks Donna about it.  She thinks one of he Vic's could be involved in a paternity suit, which involves big bucks.  Also asking how Morgan spells her name, sometimes without the 'c'.

Morgan also finds a gun which they find was registered to ??who worked at a law firm dealing with criminal clients.  Brass (Paul Guilfoyle) interviews Jeffrey Forsythe (Mark Moses) who tells them he may have had enemies cos of this line of work.  Hey it's Paul Young, so obviously he had to be involved.  No, seriously he was my first suspect.

Sara has Doug analyze the black box and find the pilot turned the plane back after encountering some difficulties.  She thinks she can pinpoint the location of the missing piece of the plane using physics, that's what she's good at and  wants him to set up a reconstruction of the plane for her and they try out various theories with Doug getting close to her in a scene reminiscent of Grissom and Sara where he took hold of her hands and forced her back in a similar reconstruction of what could have happened.

On the door green paint is found by Hodges and he quizzes her about how close she and Doug were, she's reluctant to answer and Doug shows up, prompting Hodges to leave and walk into the metal trolley.  Nick and Finn talk to the mechanic of the plane, Hal (Anthony Brophy) who says he was out of town so anyone could have had access to his tools.  Nick needs them for evidence now.  Sara matches one of the tools to the paint and to the markings on the door showing the door was tampered with before the plane took off, so it want an accident.  Their various theories rule out a gunshot being fired, and there's a hole in the glass window.  Thus the pilot was pulled out of the plane as it de-pressurized.  Sara is more forthcoming with Finn as she tells her it's hard having a long distance relationship and that she and Doug were together once.  Grissom calls and Sara doesn't answer the phone.  Also we get to hear about Finn and her two marriages, though it was nice seeing husband number 2 back in Seattle.

Nick tells DB the pilot has been found in someone's pool.  Morgan finds the DNA came back to Jordan a passenger in the plane and they use Donna help to find out who she may have been related to.  Jordan was born in 1968 so the father's name wouldn't be listed on the birth certificate thus she may have been given the father's surname as her first name as was the practice then.  Jordan had a half sister and her name is found on Ancestry.com.  She's a resident of a care home.  Which Greg and Morgan visit.  The doctor Paula O'Keefe (Gina Ravera) tells them Jordan did come and see her thinking she was her sister and they find the trail leads even further.  The woman who is at the home's DNA doesn't match Jordan and there's an argument between Greg and his use of science and Donna and her genealogy use.  DB thinks they could both be right.

Sara watches the camera feed from the airport and finds a fuelling truck was by the plane but the driver only got out for a few minutes.  He was wearing one of the mechanic's overalls so his DNA is on there.  Henry (Jon Wellner) matches the DNA to the woman and to the lawyer, Forsythe.  She was being kept there after she suffered an accident and he was scamming money from the trust of Jordan's sister.  The doctor disappears and is later found, giving up Forsythe who says they have nothing on him, no, only his DNA from his sister and from the overall he wore.

Doug asks Sara out for dinner with Grissom but he's out of town and she doesn't go with him alone.  He just felt familiar being back here with her and they hug.  Sara reluctantly puts her arms around him but it probably felt good to hold someone with Grissom not being physically around.  At least Sara didn't oblige as Finn would probably have done since we know she has more integrity and would never cheat on Grissom.  She's that sort of a person but she's also seen what it can lead to in her line of work.  Great to see the writers managed to squeeze in the entire cast for this ep.

Last plane ep I enjoyed on CSI was season 1's Unfriendly Skies kind of have a thing for planes! ha

Revenge 2.17 "Victory" Review

Emily: "In the art of war, if you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the approaching battles.  But if you know only yourself and not your enemy, for every victory there will also be defeat."

Emily (Emily VanCamp) tries to figure out who the Falcon is as Conrad (Henry Czerny) tells Victoria (Madeleine Stowe) they need to do something about Daniel (Josh Bowman) and his getting close to Emily as she's too influential on him.  Victoria and Conrad hold a meeting with Ashley (Ashley Madekwe) who tells him he's not doing well in the run for governor, except his ratings did peak when he held that press conference with Jack (Nick Wechsler) showing his support for Amanda, giving Conrad the idea to get Jack to help him with the common vote.  Well you know, the little man, the poor.  Eli (Collins Pennie) turns up to the meeting as does Emily which Victoria said was going to be a family affair.  Eli invited her with an idea of how to use the foundation money since Victoria made him co-chair.  He comes up with the idea of donating to the home where Amanda was brought up.  Meredith Hayward (Dendrie Taylor) the woman who ran the home is having problems keeping the house open.  He wants to tell Hayward the news in person and Emily wants to go too. Conrad thinking it might be opportune after all, "out of the ashes, a beacon of hope."  More like his downfall.

Daniel calls Emily for lunch referring to her as Mr Taylor just incase there are anymore hidden surveillance devices around, even getting Grace to make a reservation  that was out of the way under the guise of not being hounded by the Paparazzi.  Padma (Dilshad Vadsaria) comes to Nolan (Gabriel Mann) with news that her father is still alive and shows him a video message of him telling her what to do.  That was all rather convenient, first his finger and now out of nowhere she gets the new message.  Nolan agrees to give her Carrion but he needs to add something to it first.  Don't suppose Padma is intelligent enough to be the Falcon, nah.  Nolan needs help and Emily says she'll be back in time from her lunch with Daniel to help him.  In the meantime Aiden (Barry Sloane) has the details of their plan.  He'll be there with his gun and will shoot them.  Nolan adding he can't shoot people.  Aiden: " they're not people, they're terrorists."  Nolan still insists on calling them people.

At the home, Hayward is impressed that she will get the money and Eli wants to meet other children there.  He then tells her she'll be cutting him in for 60% which will make up for the time he spent here.  Emily tries to search for the letters that Eli showed her, one that her father wrote.  Hayward kept them all, showing that he loved her after all.  Conrad and Ashley turn up at the Stowaway where they will hold the press conference at Charlotte's (Christa B Allen) suggestion, which Declan (Connor Paolo) agrees to.  Declan also spots Trey (Michael Nardelli) on campus and takes his phone.  As Jack is looking for Kenny (JR Bourne) in search for answers as to why he saved him that night.

Emily says sorry to Jack but doesn't know of his plans.  He tells Declan about Amanda and how she was getting back Conrad and used her leverage to get back the Stowaway for them.  Jack needs to find out what happened.  Declan texts Kenny from Trey's phone and sets up a meeting with him.  Jack confronts him and he denies owning the boat.  He didn't know what Nate was up to, but he has recordings Nate made of his meetings with Conrad, just incase he went back on his deal.  He didn't give them to the police.  Jack realizes Conrad was behind this and he agrees to help Conrad in his bid to get votes.

Aiden calls Emily telling him the meet has been moved forward and she can't make it back in time, she's too far away.  Thus it's just him and Nolan.  Nolan put a tracking device in the dinosaur's flashdrive head.  That was silly since the head comes off.  He doesn't let Aiden shoot when Trask (Burn Gorman) arrives for the meeting.  He doesn't want to be involved in an assassination by association.  Calling Aiden Lee Harvey Oswald.    Someone's shown the flashdrive in the backseat and Padma is taken.

When Aiden and Nolan arrive at the location of the flashdrive, they find the dinosaur's head in a box, obviously.  See Padma knew about that too.  She's taken to her father but has to make a video too.  I just don't believe she's not further involved in this.  Nolan is disheartened since he not only had to say goodbye to Padma when she got her father back, but now the Initiative have Carrion.  Emily vows to help Nolan.

At the press conference, Eli turns the tables on Hayward revealing how ruthless and cruel she really is.  She tries to say he's deranged and adds he made Amanda take the blame for setting the fire.  Victoria removes him as co-chair and he says she can spin this to her advantage.  Emily asks why he did it and he says the fire she lit went out and so he relit it.  He's sorry but they were meant to be together.  She wants him to leave and forgives him.  She thinks her life would have turned out different if that didn't happen.  Eli gets a written confession from Hayward about what happened to her father's letters.  After he locks her up in the same hole she shut them in.  But he doesn't tell Emily this.

Emily meets with Treadwell (Roger Bart) telling him he wants to know what was in the letters and she still holds the key to his getting out of prison and also material for another book.  Daniel is sent a photo of him with Emily at the restaurant along with two bullets.  Later it's revealed Victoria sent it to him.  Well it would be her wouldn't it, considering she has a fascination with bullets from an early age, when her mother got her to kill her boyfriend.

Not sure where this ep was headed as the show once again sets up many scenarios and new plots without giving us anymore conclusions.  Also how cunning Victoria can be when she strives to interfere in Daniel's life yet again, keeping him away from Emily and Mason Treadwell's big reveal, Victoria has another older son.  Well that figures and didn't really come as big news, I mean she kept the news Charlotte was David's daughter from everyone.  I did like how Jack and Emily have inadvertently the same goal of revenge in mind against the Grayson's, him thinking it's for Amanda, when Amanda is still alive.  Oh there was Emily in another red Special K dress this ep at her lunch with Daniel.

Once Upon A Time 2.4 "The Crocodile" Review

                                            
Belle (Emilie de Ravin) sees Gold (Robert Carlyle) spinning, er, gold and then next day she asks him what he was doing.  He lies and she runs away.  Prompting Gold to think about his own wife, Milah (!) (Rachel Shelley) who he found at the tavern with a pirate.  He wants her home as she has responsibilities but she hates it there, and only goes since Bae (Sebastian Wilkinson) is here.  Rumples wants her to stay and try to be happy but she hates it and thus runs off with said pirate.

Belle ends up at Granny's and meets Ruby (Meghan Ory) who thinks Granny may have a room for her.  Belle's in need of a job and likes books, so she sends her to the library, where she's abducted by William Smee (Chris Gauthier) the same man who offered the Dark One the magic bean in exchange for eternal life.  He abducts her for her father, Moe French (Eric Keenlyside).  He wants her to stay with him and to promise not to go near Gold, but she wants her own life.  He gets Smee to take her away.

Charming (Josh Dallas) helps out in the mines but not for long as he's acting sheriff now and Gold comes to him in search of Belle since none of the townsfolk will help.  Not surprising since he turned the butcher into a pig and all sorts of other magic.  He asks why he can't use magic like the tracking spell he gave him for Jefferson, that only works if they have something of the person's.  Gold asks Charming about him and Snow and how they work.  Is he asking dating advice?  He replies honesty, from the heart.

Rumples sees the pirate back in town whilst in the tavern and he confronts him.  He refers to Rumples as a crocodile.  He has a showdown with him and wants a duel the next day so he can recall his life now.  He, Killian Jones (Colin O'Donoghue) tells him Milah's dead.   Yeah that's the type of yarn gold would spin, no pun.  They fight and Rumples would like to kill him with his own sword, said Captain having no name yet. Milah turns up to save him from having his "heart ripped from his chest."  She loves him and she has the magic bean in exchange for their lives, as she shows him the red hat/beenie worn by Smee.

Ruby denies seeing Belle, Charming pleads with her, he's got him covered, she should trust him.  She has wolf scent now and can track her from her cape and leads them to her father's shop.  He won't let Rumples destroy Belle like he does others.  Gold realizes he's sending her across the town line so she can forget about him, even if she forgets her own father.  Charming sees dust on his hands, she's going through the tunnels which lead out of town.  They've got patrols so people don't cross by mistake.

Rumples says to Milah how she has the family she couldn't have with him and she throws Killian the bean.  Rumples doesn't forgive her, instead he rips her heart out and turns it to dust, just like Regina does.  She left Bae and he had to tell him she was dead.  She was miserable since she never loved him.  The pirate refuses to give the bean and so Rumples takes his hand, he can now use a hook, hence his name, Captain Hook.    Obviously there's no bean there.  He's left alive to suffer.  Notice when Gold opened the hand it was a real hand, but then turned into a fake one when he overturns the table.

                                     

Smee places Belle in the cart and Gold manages to use his power to pull her back.  He's too cowardly to speak to her and she doesn't want to see either one of them again.  Ruby gives her a box left for her, the key to the library.  Gold: "we may sit in our library and yet be in all quarters of the earth."  He made enquiries about her interests.  He's here cos she's right about him, he's a coward and has been his whole life.  Collected power and it became important so he couldn't let go, even when it meant losing Bae.  Wanted to find him down many paths and found a curse to take him to the land where he could find him.  He had to wait for the curse to be broken to find him, he's got magic here cos he's still a coward, "magic has become a crutch."  He can't walk without it.  He can't leave here cos he'll forget him and won't know him.  "Magic comes with a price,"  he has to break this new curse, that's when she saw him in the basement.  He doesn't want to lose her again without telling her everything.  Belle asks him for a hamburger sometime.  Could you picture Gold eating a burger, hey reference to the crocodile wanting more meat, ha.

Killian takes the the bean and heads off to Neverland.  He meets up with Cora (Barnara Hershey) who shows him her bottle of ash, he refers to as "sparkly dust," it's the  portal to the other world.  Where she is and so is he.  Gold asks Smee about Hook/Killian and wants to know where he is.  Well obviously if he's not in Storybrooke, he'd be in the Enchanted Forest.  Sure they didn't want to call William Smee, Will Turner.  Okay I know he's from Peter Pan, as was the Crocodile.  "Tick tock" reminds me of the town clock and how it stood still until Emma came in season 1.  Though obviously it's an allusion to the Disney movie where the "Tick Tock Crocodile" ate Hook's hand

Apparently Hook has made a huge impact with fans as they like he didn't have a fake wig, together with pirate swagger, but plenty of eye make-up and a bit of a looker to boot.  At least this version has known the tragedy of lost love and is after the crocodile in revenge for Milah.  Thus he would team up with Cora since they both have a common purpose: to get to Storybrooke.  SO why can't Snow hitch a ride and why hasn't Mulan come across Hook?

Gold, like Regina in some ways, is trying to be good in Storybrooke as we interchange and delve into his evil past and deeds before the curse.  Also we get an explanation as to why he wanted the curse and why he gave it to Regina to use.  He was motivated only by fatherly love.  Let's see if Belle does have a lasting effect on him and whether he will fully change, but don't hold any purple breath though.  Speaking of Belle she really tries to be independent and stick up for herself instead of letting the two men she loves dictate her life to her and what she should do.

Gold making breakfast so we could get a glimpse of the kettle, re Mrs Potts in Beauty and the Beast, since we get mention of the library already.  Of course her father's shop is called 'Game of Thorns'.  Ruby with her trusty basket of food, re Little Red Riding Hood when she gives Henry (Jared S Gilmore) the muffin.  Gold's quote to Belle in the library was from the book The Pleasures of Life, written by British banker from the nineteenth century, John Lubbock.

Doctor Who 7.11 "Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS" Review

The Doctor (Matt Smith) gets Clara (Jenna-Louise Coleman) used to the TARDIS, hoping she will accept her but a salvage vessel spots the TARDIS and uses their gravitational tractor beam to take hold of it.  A grenade type object lands inside and Clara picks it up before there's an explosion.  The TARDIS is inside the vessel and the three brothers, Bram (Mark Oliver) Tricky (Jahvel Hall) and Gregor (Ashley Walters) notice the Doctor lying outside.  He sneaks up behind them and tells them they need to rescue Clara and will give them the greatest salvage they've ever seen.  The TARDIS is leaking toxic gases and they need to wear breathing masks, prompting the Doctor to ask why androids would need such gear.  Once inside he sets the TARDIS to self-destruct mode giving them an hour to find her, then reduces that to 40 minutes.

Clara finds herself exploring all sorts of corridors and rooms of the TARDIS and has a burn on her hand.  She comes across an alien figure with glowing red eyes which chases her.  Clara manages to reach the TARDIS library and a book telling the History of the Time War and surprise, surprise she learns his real name.  The first of many teasers.  Gregor wants to steal from the console and sends Bram back to strip it clean.  Whilst he comes across the room where there are replicating pods, which can replicate any form of material, well it's the TARDIS architectural reconfiguration system.  The TARDIS reacts against the pods being stolen and removes the door.  The TARDIS sets about turning  herself into a labyrinth of corridors and deathtraps, where they find themselves coming back to the same corridor.  A scene that was reminiscent of The God Complex from season 6 when the camera stayed in one place and they showed them running around the corridors of the hotel.

We also got glimpses of the swimming pool, the fuel core and finally the heart of the TARDIS too.  With the Doctor blaming himself for what Clara is going through, he brought her here to be safe.  He realizes the TARDIS has set up other areas of the console so that they are safe from the creatures and manages to pull her through to where he is.  They reach the heart of the TARDIS where there has been a frozen explosion and as they reach what appears to be the outside the Doctor realizes all they need to do is to jump.  But before that there's hugs aplenty again which she likes and most people won't cos again they're getting too close to stepping into that love fest for the Doctor territory, especially since Clara's mentioned all those snogging lines in the opener with her.

As for the brothers, well when the TARDIS metal tubes begin to fall in and trap Tricky, Gregor has to reveal he's not really an android but it was a game they made up.  Thus they bicker and the Doctor tells him to cut the metal and not his arm.  Also telling them Gregor showed a shred of decency when he couldn't cut his arm.  Alas it was all for nothing as the brothers throw the two Clara's off the edge but weren't meant to touch one another, which they do and thus they too become like the creatures.

The creatures chasing them are revealed to be past and future versions of Clara, she burned and died again.  She asks why again and he reminds her and us of how she saved him from the Daleks and then died, she was a nanny in Victorian London and again she died cos of him.  Clara also tells him she knows his real name but he stops her from saying it, as she repeats what he said about needing to keep some secrets. He asks who she is and she says she's just Clara, she doesn't know who they were.  Don't think the mystery has been solved though, they can't leave it like that, it's still so up in the air.

The Doctor solves the problem by finding the rift in time and throwing the grenade type thingy through it, thus the Doctor gets hold of it now with the message "Big Friendly Button" written on it.  Well he'd never have worked that out if he hadn't gotten hold of Clara's hand, see more hand holding!  That's what was burned onto her hand.  Thus Clara will also forget his name.  The brothers are back in their salvage vessel cos none of this happened with time being reset and Gregor repeats what the Doctor said about having some decency in him.  Those creatures were more menacing when we didn't know they were meant to be Clara, cos they didn't frighten after that.

There are various voices heard throughout as they clamour through the corridors, some of them including Rose when the Doctor (Christopher Ecceleston) was inside of her, about the hoards of Genghis Khan not being able to get through the doors, Tom Baker from The Robots of Death, "that's transdimensional engineering a key Time Lord discovery."  More from the episodes An Unearthly Child, with Ian Chesterton saying, "a thing that looks like a Policebox standing in a junkyard, it can move anywhere in time and space." Colony in Space, The Robots of Death, Rose, The Beast Below, and Smith and Jones.  Clara also comes across the cot from A Good Man Goes to War and the TARDIS toy that Amy and Mel had in Let's Kill Hitler.  Thought that time rift looked awfully like the crack from season 5 and the Doctor went though it in the exact same way he did in Cold Blood.

The explosion of the TARDIS engine has also created a crack in time and the Eye of Harmony is also seen which was in the movie with Paul McGann. Also noticed the key the Doctor uses has "Smiths" on it, now what was all that about.  Several references to the Doctor's Wife here and the Doctor expressing frustration, "I look at you every single day and I don't understand a thing about you."  What's significant about him saying "there's no way I can save her now."  Any possible future ramifications here, with reference to Clara, also has she really forgotten everything, especially his name.

The Mentalist 5.19 "Red Letter Day" Review

                                         
Knew something was up when Patrick (Simon Baker) leaves the toothpick on the door to his attic to ascertain when someone's entered.  It was timely leaving it there but not a coincidence as Cho (Tim Kang) collects him for the CS.  Patrick recognizes it's Cho from his footsteps, as Cho asks him.  Since Lisbon's (Robin Tunney) busy, yes Lisbon is busy having coffee with Kirkland (Kevin Corrigan) who's on a fact-finding mission, i.e finding out what facts Patty knows about Red John even picking Lisbon's brains about what he might know, as if she'd tell him.  Hopefully she won't fall into that trap.  He's enjoyed having coffee with her, more like thinking he's lulled her into a false sense of security that he's on the level about Homeland Security drawing a blank with any further RJ developments.  Liked the way Patrick was beavering away at his desk and didn't even let Cho enter, who didn't seem too perturbed about it.  Not sure if this is their first meeting for coffee since Kirkland first spelled it out after he introduced himself to her but he was getting awfully cosy with her, calling her Teresa. She even talks about herself in contrast to Kirkland who doesn't really say anything, except "I like to think I grew up in America" what kind of an answer was that, talk about being cagey so as not to give anything away about himself.

Later she tells Patrick about this meting and how there was "something odd" about Kirkland, she realized this since he didn't talk of himself or was rather interested in Patrick's findings.  In contrast to last episode Behind The Red Curtain where she was more defensive of Kirkland being allowed to do his job and that Patrick should follow more rules. When she returns to the office she notices it's cold in there (and not just a reaction to her coffee with Kirkland, ha).  Rigsby (Owain Yeoman) tells her the AC's off, conveniently.  Thus giving Kirkland's men a chance to break into Patty's attic and photograph everything and not notice anything was amiss with the toothpick, and you call yourselves Homeland Security!

Cho and Patrick are sent to a Wild West show where the owner, Hollis Percy (Stephen Macht) has been killed, hit over the head with the butt of a pistol.  Patrick even points to where it was stored.  He refuses to shake the coroner's hand since it has blood on it, or brain matter as she adds.  Then leads onto the usual motives for murder, love, jealousy,  money power and she concludes revenge.  Ahh that word would appeal to Patty since that's his entire reason for going after RJ.  Who has plenty of blood on his hands, blood of his family, of countless other people.

Patrick and Lisbon then question Percy's widow, Joanna (Wendy Phillips) and son, Ian (Eyal Podell) asking each of them to write down the name of the person that's just popped into their heads, that'll be Francisco Navarro (Harry Groener) who runs the show.  Patrick takes his time to trick a so-called magician (Kevin Cahoon) at the show teasing him about the nugget under the three cups trick and stealing the nugget from him, then his wallet and finally leaving the nugget in the boy's pocket.  They then head for sarsaparilla at the bar where trusty bar wench, Lily (Tamara Mello) who tells them she's from a nearby town.  Okay jumping forward a little it was no surprise when Van Pelt (Amanda Righetti) interviews Joanna and finds out he was a player, having several affairs since it was apparent Lily was his daughter!  That I ascertained without it being pointed out that she and his son both touch their ears.  Also she asks Van Pelt if she's married which she says she isn't yet and again a timely plot point since Rigsby has given her an orchid, which everyone knows was from him. Van Pelt adding "it sounds like fun."  She's changed since her failed engagement to Craig.

Patrick and Lisbon question the sheriff, Emmett Cook (Antonio Jaramillo) who wasn't at the CS since he was looking into fires in three cabins.  Patrick makes a snide comment about him not being there.  Fires he says were started by meth labs.  Cho later is sent with Rigsby to look into the cabin and Rigsby finds it strange the fire was located in the centre and didn't spread.  Then notices fire retardant gel near the window so the forest didn't catch on fire.  Lisbon sends them both back to investigate the arson and they feign getting their equipment ready into one SUV to investigate.  At the cabin they find the sheriff setting another fire by dousing gasoline.

He admits he set the fires to buy the properties on the cheap and then sell them off when the mall is developed but he didn't kill Percy.  Infact Percy was oblivious to what was going on since he was drinking again.  Patrick returns to the town, where the magician is now setting up a card trick and talks to Lily.  She likes what he does, that he can read people and she wants him to try it on her.  Asking her what she'll have for breakfast tomorrow and to write it down and seal it in an envelope.  Obviously it was another clever plot to catch the killer.  Cho later turns up since he wants to question Francisco and probably predicts there'll be trouble, even if he tells Cho he just wants to talk.  By now we know it's Patty's forte to start a fight and run off.  Which he does when he asks Percy was drinking again.

Patrick calls Lisbon to meet them at the show but first he must get rid of this unruly, two bit magician by stealing his cards and denying it.  Francisco replaces him in the Medicine Man show since he has the card numbers 2 and 3 in his pocket, proving his skills.  Just to get everyone warmed up, he picks a couple and guesses where they're from and where they're going.  There must be some knack in working this out by watching them write it down just as he did with Van Pelt in previous when she wrote down Rigsby's name.  Since he gets Lily to act as his assistant and she reads out Albuquerque and they're heading to Seattle, Washington.  Again no coincidence she turns up as he recalls his breakfast mind 'trick' with her and tells her to open the envelope.  However it contains the name of the killer, Ian, wow now was that not a big shock.  Only Ian doesn't want anyone to open the envelope which contains his motive for the killing.  SO he confesses instead, saving her face and name.

As it's revealed they were brother and sister (guessed already) and Percy revealed this to Ian after he had already fallen for her.  He accepted no responsibility for his actions in not telling him and blamed Ian for his falling for her.  Ian loses it in a moment of frenzy and hit him several times, saying he felt good for a few seconds.  Since Percy finally understood in his dying moments what he'd done.  Patrick tells Ian he must tell Lily one day.  As she opens the envelope and finds it's a blank piece of paper.

Great to see Rigsby demonstrating his arson investigating skills again, which were mentioned as far back as season 1.9 Flame Red.  Though he and Van Pelt and their awkward moment outside the lift, remember stuff happens out there all the time with Patrick, important stuff, as it did with these two.  Just as he's about to come clean about his feelings, in walks her new beau, Duncan (Brian Ames) she met at he training place.  Ugh Rigsby, too late.  I'm not one for 'shipping' and all that, but with these two, they deserve each other and make a great couple.  Was that a Freudian slip by Van Pelt when she says she "met Wayne" in California?  Even Duncan picks up on it whilst Rigsby makes a dash back to the office.  SO it's timely (again) that next ep they both go undercover as a couple!  Ahh lots can happen here!

Liked that grin Patrick had on his face when he finally returned to his precious attic and picked up the toothpick, knowing he had foiled his nemesis.  Also thought the evidence he had on his board was fake and he had  put it up for just this purpose.  After all what better way to throw Kirkland or even RJ off the scent  by planing useless evidence.  At least I'm kind of hoping he did that.  Either that or he has some other cunning plan up his sleeve.  Never can tell with Patrick and his brain working on overtime.  Kirkland naturally takes over the deciphering of the evidence from his men and finally by ep's end puts together Patrick's wall of RJ evidence.  Evil look on his face!  Quick you'd be mistaken for thinking they should have given him a twirling moustache scene here!  Oh and Kirkland drinking a Blood Mary, Jane's drink in when he was remembering his family! in Red Rover, Red Rover, also Kirkland  being stuck in his own private office with big window, like Patrick, this is all very familiar or leading up to a big twist in that Kirkland is a red herring after all and one of the good guys!!??  But the way those blinds made that imposing shadow of bars on the floor was sinister.

Only qualm bro/sister love thang already done in Red John's Friends with Undine and Jared.  Loved Cho's line about "you're still in love with her, but instead of telling her you bought her a plant."  But it wasn't any old pant, it was an orchid.  Also making him decide his feelings by use of the bagel imagery was good.  Since Rigsby picks one and then puts it back, we don't now what he picked in the end.  Van Pelt also had an orchid on her desk in My Bloody Valentine when she put Craig O'Loughlin's necklace onto it.  Oh what happened to that necklace anyway, always thought it had a bug inside?  As for orchids, mentioned in Devil's Cherry, as well as Patrick meeting Lorelei on Orchid Lane a few eps back and Patrick's comment of "well chosen Rigsby" when he's lounging on his sofa.

Patty being called an agent this ep and he doesn't correct it!

CSI 13.9 "Strip Maul" Review

                                          
Nick (George Eads) and Sara (Jorga Fox) accompany two other officers from the Mobile Patrol Unit as they patrol the Strip.  Crawford (Alimi Ballard) tells Nick he'll be becoming a detective soon which he thinks its great. Ah Nick never has a bad word to say about anyone, unless it's a crim.  A prostitute named Chastity (Inbar Lavi) is arrested as they look for other trouble makers.  They then come across a drug deal going down and one of the men drops the baggie to the ground.  Crawford knows Adrian Dinan (Anthony Azizi) and this will be his third strike.  The other man, Bobby Reed (Mat Vairo) seems to be a buyer and they need his statement in exchange for his freedom.  They come across a man in a bloodied shirt who is holding a decapitated head, there's chaos and he hits another man with the head.  Sergeant Weiss (Lilly Walton) says the head isn't real and a girl in the crowd wearing a hoodie runs away holding a video camera. They chase the man and arrest him next to a car in which the driver is slumped inside.

At the station the people are processed and Weiss talks with a transgender named Joslyn (Andrew Elvis Miller) who seems to be agitated and in distress, claiming she's having a baby and it's coming out.  They try to subdue her by putting her in a chair with restraints but Weiss later lets her out.  She grabs a scissors from a paramedic there to help her and stabs himself repeatedly.  Doc (Robert David Hall) finds he wasn't high and David (David Berman) brings in X-rays showing she was a drug mule.  Doc cuts open her intestine and finds a burst condom which caused her to behave in this way.  Joslyn is known as Josh.

Greg (Eric Szmanda) talks with Marko (David Magidoff) and tries to get info from him.  Finn (Elisabeth Shue) processes the man who was attacked with the head and finds he's had some sort of a reaction on his hands.  Greg needs to know what the blood was as Finn's test shows it's non-human.  It's pig's blood and it may be contaminated so they need to know where the girl is.  Greg needs a map of everywhere they went to see who they came into contact with.  Finn finds the blood is clean so there's no immediate threat.  Sara notices the map and says they were at their CS.  They need the video to see what evidence may be on the camera.

Marko can't get Lydia to answer her phone and when she finally does Sara wants to meet her for the camera.  She suggests an ally where she should drop it near to the Strip.  Wasn't that a bit premature and amateurish if they need it for evidence how do they know the killer wouldn't be after it too.  Sara and Morgan (Elisabeth Harnois) arrive to pick the camera up and Morgan notices blood which leads them to Lydia's DB.

Brass (Paul Guilfoyle) interviews Chastity after Morgan tells him there's something he should see and he interrupts his conversion with Ecklie (Marc Vann) who's thinking about resigning.  Sheriff Liston  wants him to take over her job.  The ring has an inscription on it and it's from Brass's ex-wife, given to his daughter, Ellie.  Chastity, real name Heather says she bought it for $200 from Jersey, another pro.  Brass is upset over this since it means Ellie's in trouble but couldn't come to him, especially when he finds out she was in Vegas.  Chastity is linked to the DB found in the car and she was in their hotelroom and stole the credit card.  She denies seeing him later on.

The drugs found in Joslyn match the sample found from Adrian, but he says he was sampling and Bobby was the seller.  Adrian works for Mad 10 gang leader Roland Zahl  who didn't want his turf taken over so they suggested they might want to work the Strip together.  Bobby is the son of  lawyer, Dennis Reed (Patrick Cassidy) but is released by Crawford.  Morgan finds the stolen card was used to rent the car in which the DB was found, who is identified as Keith.  They find a video of Keith with Chastity in the car and Bobby in the backseat and think it could have been a case of mistaken identity since they both look similar.  Chastity admits she was told by Zahl to go after Bobby and Keith, he's her pimp, but claims she wasn't there.  Obviously the video shows she was but says she left.  She texted Zahl with info on where Bobby would be.  Brass wants to use her to help them and he will buy her a bus ticket home where she can start over.

Hodges (Wallace Langham) talks In the Line of Fire and comes up with the theory that the killer used a gun which only fired once, like John Malkovich in the movie.  Which DB (Ted Danson) also mentions.  Hodges thinks it was a gun made from plastic or some sort of polymer and proves his theory right when he finds a 3D printer.  The gun was printed out and used once but could have been reprinted out over.  The printers are expensive and Hodges traces one to an autoshop.  However no printer is found there.  Finn recognizes the components of the polymer as those found on the man, Anthony Pak's (Ming Lo) hands, so he was the shooter.  He must have been heading straight for Lydia to take the camera when he was hit with the head.

They use Chastity as bait to get Pak as Greg monitors his moves on CCTV.  Pak knows where the cameras are located and goes out of camera shot.  He eventually catches up with Chastity but it's Weiss in disguise, could tell she had a wig on.  He's arrested for the murders but they have nothing to link to Zahl.  Brass finds Chastity's gone and she left him the ring and a note saying she hates bus rides.  Morgan has lunch with Ecklie and she seems to think she isn't worth his time but he sets that straight.  He's been thinking about leaving for a while.  They seem to be bonding as Brass is even more distant with Ellie.  DB tries to understand and be there for him but he has a perfect family and may find it a little hard to understand what's happening with Brass.

All this trouble started with Bobby just cos he's fed up with his father and being rich, well not wanting to study and become something normal and it doesn't seem fair that he gets away unscathed, aside from prison when everyone else is killed when they had nothing to do with it.   Apparently Joslyn was Bobby's cousin but it's not clear how his dressing as a woman contributed to the story or whether he really was a transgender, transvestite or anything more.  It appears he was just there to move the story along and connect it to the drugs.

An episode where the arrest of the suspects came together to be related into one big story and at least this episode was different, introducing a new character in Crawford, who will be back again.  Nick was complimentary in telling Hodges he proved his theory about the 3D gun.