Sherlock 2.1 "A Scandal in Belgravia"

                                          
Well it's been said Sherlock Holmes met his match in this one in the form of Irene Adler (Lara Pulver) but I think not!  Though she does set her plan in motion to meet him by arranging that phonecall to Moriarty (Andrew Scott) so that we don't get much of a showdown at the swimming pool.  What all that suspense and waiting around for the second series for nothing!  Well when it was aired the first time round.  Seems Irene had more plans afoot and thought she could engage Sherlock (Benedict Cumberbatch) in a more 'great-er game.'

Lots of good bits in this one and by that I don't mean certain body parts either!  No, Sherlock and Irene were getting one up on each other and in the end Sherlock had to get the better of her, well he did.  It was only fair.  Okay not fair, but right.  All those people looking to him for help and being turned away, had to have been there for a reason and not just cos they read Watson's (Martin Freeman) blog, which was more intriguing than Sherlock blogging about the 473 of different types of tobacco ash, hmm, wonder if he tried them out?

Then the one 'case' that catches his eye is the one about the motorist who sees a man in a field and the car backfires and he drops dead!  Not really intriguing at all, save for getting both Sherlock and Irene to solve it.  Since "brainy's the new sexy."  Or as Sherlock puts it, "thinking is the new sexy."  Millions would agree, 'ey Sherlock!  Said man having been killed by a boomerang.

So whilst he's driven to Buckingham Palace and Watson gets a helicopter ride, we get allusions to what Sherlock and Irene are doing, i.e both looking at photos of each other, he in bedsheet, not his customary form of dress and her in her many Dominatrix attire, well, okay, one in particular.    Mycroft (Mark Gatiss) telling him to dress but he didn't and thus his sheet almost falls down as he steps onto it, sure many would have enjoyed that sight!  Funny though, we get Irene being introduced in her best armour and Sherlock also naked here, barring sheet and going out in public like that. Watson not knowing where to look, but he's a doctor!  He's seen it all before.  That scene between the two was like it was almost ad libbed on the spot, when they couldn't stop laughing and Watson wasn't the one to steal an ashtray, Sherlock did.

This time Sherlock was after compromising photos concerning a certain female royal and yet there was much more going on than that, there always is.  So there's banter between the two and obviously she was naked so he couldn't read her, but even that wasn't necessary in the end.  Especially when he did read he measurements.  With Watson finding himself facing the barrel of a gun this time round, pheww that was barely after the bomb at the pool.  A bit of a slo mo fight scene, great to watch and Sherlock gets his hands on the phone but doesn't manage to hang onto it.  Oh Sherlock turning your back on her!  The photos would be on a phone, that's how far tech has advanced but so is practically everything in a Sherlock ep.  There was the pink phone in A Study In Pink, and so on.

So with Sherlock out of it she takes the phone and his coat and beats him up too.  Cue his provocative ring tones and we get to Christmas.  Once again Sherlock being nasty to Molly (Loo Brearly) when he thinks the present she's wrapped in red is for someone else and she has to compensate for it.  Said present being for her and he also gets Irene's phone back.  There's only one way she'd part with that cos her life 'depended on it.'  So he IDs her DB but it's apparent she's not dead and I knew that first time round too, cos even if her face was bashed in, he knew her measurements!  Hey that was her copying his ploy of getting beaten up and pretending to be a man of the cloth when he came to see her.  Their line about disguises from earlier on.  Irene: "Do you know the big problem with a disguise, Mr Holmes, however hard you try, it's always a self-portrait."  Alas it would have been better if it was acknowledged by Sherlock she'd have known what he looks like anyway and I don't mean after his pic in the paper with the deerstalker hat either.

So he smokes a cigarette to feign being a tiny bit upset and then proceeds to compose a sad ditty for the violin.  Mycroft's woman, ha turns up and takes Watson on a drive where he meets none other than Irene and thinks she should tell him she's alive.  But he already knows!  She's been texting him, 57 times was Watson's last count and she reads some out, with ones asking him to dinner after every other text.  She was flirting with him.  Yes plus also she was after info from him considering she's in league with the 'Criminal Consultant.'  And off goes Sherlock's text message tone again, so why was he there anyway, looking out for Watson or did he just have to see her again.  Watson wanting everyone to know he's not gay!  Irene is.

Finally she turns up at Sherlock's place and in his bed and after some more guesses on what the locked code on her phone could be, she shows him the e-mail she has that everyone's after and yes he deciphers the code in under a minute or even less.  As he also recalls Mycroft mentioning "Bond" on the phone and the flight is 007.  Irene of course texts the message to Moriarty who else.  These scenes and script must have taken Benedict a long time to put to memory, wonder how many takes they needed.  Later he takes her hand and takes her pulse, you'd have thought she'd have known that, ugh.  It was Patrick Jane's ploy after all from The Mentalist, to take someone's hand and their pulse.  Giving away their true feelings.

Sherlock is driven to the airport this time and mentions Coventry and how the government knew it was going to be bombed in World War II but let it happen anyway so as to not let on they knew the German code.  A dilemma for Mycroft too, or it looked like it as Moriarty texts him, showing the game's afoot.  At the airport where we have "Flyaway Airlines" Mycroft tells him the plane's not taking off since the terrorists know they know and he was only going to use DBs anyway, thus explaining all those people who came to him looking for help.

Irene has her demands which Mycroft must meet or he won't get the info on the phone, but our Sherlock foils her plans.  He works out the code cos of her racing pulse and her dilated pupils, showing she has feelings for him even if she denies it.  The password being "Sher" as in "I am Sher-locked."  It was staring us straight in the face first time round!

Mycroft turns up to tell Watson she's dead, for real, no, Irene was never killed off in the book and he should tell Sherlock she's on some witness protection programme in the US.  Again he was one step ahead of them since he saved her and is one for keeping secrets!  He'll keep her phone though.

She's a woman, "the woman;" who came close to his 'intelligence' level but not quite. And the one who had his heart.  The "ice man and the virgin" could be another ep title, ha.  Did you think Sherlock found his match in Irene, my opinion, no.  She made common, silly mistakes throughout trying to prove she was just as good or even better, but wasn't.  No one can come close to matching the world's greatest consultant detective.  
As for the 'CIA' man falling from the window and turning up alive and well, with hindsight, this is kind of a foreshadow towards the last ep of season 2, when Sherlock falls from the building.  Cos we know he's not dead!

Mycroft's line to Sherlock: "All lives end.  All hearts are broken.  Caring is not an advantage..." reminded me of Doctor Who for some reason, maybe it was the way it was delivered, all very cold and straight faced.

Cote de Pablo Says Farewell to NCIS

                                             
SO we all know the news by now of Cote de Pablo's departure from NCIS where she played everyone's beloved Agent Ziva David (or Diva Zavid as some of us affectionately called her!)  I can't say the news was unexpected since she was the only cast member who didn't have a contract.  Cote's contract ended after season 10 and she had yet to sign a new one.  But I think it was just a matter of time before she did break this news of her decision to leave since if she had wanted to stay on she would have signed already.

CBS announced: "We respect Cote's decision, thank her for being an important part of the NCIS team and for eight terrific years playing Ziva David...we look forward...to an appropriate closure in this chapter of Ziva's  story."  Cote: "I've had eight great years with NCIS and as Ziva David" and showered tremendous respect on the other actors.

I will miss her along with many others since she formed an integral part of the show and settled in very quickly into the show and our hearts.  Ziva became one of my fave characters and admittedly I liked her more than Kate (Sasha Alexander).  She showed  immense on screen presence, was funny, alluring at times and very funny, making the character of Ziva her own.  Through good times, heartbreaks, a few love interests, being left out in the cold, all the fights and arguments and all those sensuous scenes with Tony (Michael Weatherly) Ziva had her share of every emotion going - practically.

Cote joined the cast in season 3 and was only meant to appear in the show for a few episodes, she ended up staying for 8 seasons, a testament not only to Cote's incredible ability as an actor but also her ability to fit in anywhere as a newcomer.  Though fans have lamented about there not being a Tiva relationship after all the teasing, I was one of many who didn't want or expect them to get together, since past romances have shown how the dynamic is greatly altered and sometimes can do more harm than good to a show.

Of course this is not the end for Core as we are bound to see her in much more to come in the future and here's wishing her the best for whatever she may decide to do and appear in!

Oh with hindsight, had I known she was leaving I'd have included an extra section on Cote in my book!
http://www.amazon.com/My-NCIS-Unofficial-Unauthorized-Guide/dp/1291032177

Scandal 2.2 "The Other Woman" Review

                                               
Fitz (Tony Goldwyn) engages in his usual call to Olivia (Kerry Washington) and tells her he'll call her tomorrow.  She then gets a call informing her that Pastor Drake, an activist in the civil rights and gay movement is missing.  Quinn (Katie Lowes) staying with Olivia wants to know how she saved her, but Olivia won't answer that just yet.  Olivia and the others find the Pastor dead and lying on top of a woman.  They believe Anna (Elise Neal) is a call girl and Olivia sends Harrison (Columbus Short) to pay her off and get a non-disclosure agreement signed.  She tells him to keep his money.  Well that was a turnaround for the books since all she was doing was holding out for a larger settlement!

Olivia wants Huck (Guillermo Diaz) to take care of it and he reels off  a list he'll need.  However she tells him she wants him "moved" not "disposed of."  Obviously his past is troubling him and especially what he's had to do in that past. They move him to his house and place him in bed.  All his wife has to do is to call and say she found him like that.  Olivia also tells her of his affair.  Of course these events are close to Olivia's own personal life as she she too is a mistress and can never have the man she loves.  Anna is a lawyer and Olivia visits her to talk her round.  She was with him 15 years.  Mellie (Bellamy Young) interrupts Fitz and he thinks she's here to just pick a fight but tells him she wanted to inform him of the Pastor's death.

Fitz is shown   photo of genocide in Sudan which his advisers believe was taken a few days ago and has to seriously think about sending in the military, quoting what happened in Black Hawk Down.  Huck finds Quinn isn't home and has taken a flight to Oakland, to see her father, Ray (John Diehl).  Who is a bit upset she 's turned up.  He also thinks she was responsible for killing those seven people in an explosion.

Anna wants $6 million and introduces Olivia to her son with the Pastor.  Thus she has proof of his 'indiscretion,'  She relays this to Nancy (Lorraine Touissant) the Pastor's wife and that his legacy will mean nothing if news of the affair is leaked.  Harrison and Abby (Darby Stanchfield) tell Olivia that the coroner wants to conduct an autopsy on the Pastor as ordered by the US Attorney.  She gets Fitz to "handle" it and tells him about the Pastor's affair to which he can only laugh, especially when she tells him how he died.

Fitz finds the photo is a fake and was instigated by the CIA director and Fitz makes him resign for it.  Mellie pays her respects to Nancy who has taken a sedative and admits he had an affair.  Mellie speaks to her privately but Olivia listens outside and she tells Nancy how she was his real partner, his wife and she was the one married to him.  No one can take that from her.  Again hitting Olivia close to home.  The autopsy is called off and David (Joshua Molina) is furious but he wants to know how Olivia managed it.  Later at home he pieces together news clippings and photos of how Olivia may have gotten to the Supreme Court Justice in Quinn's trial.  Huck brings Quinn home cos there were eight people who died in the explosion and they brought her there and did things to her.

Huck turns up at AA in a desperate cry for help.  Olivia doesn't give Anna anymore money but she wants to be at the funeral, where Fitz gives his eulogy.  Nancy has to walk beside Anna.  Mellie asks Fitz for forgiveness cos they loved each other once and she wants him to recall the girl that she was.  Fitz calls again and Olivia doesn't pick up.  Cyrus (Jeff Perry) says he can't have a baby cos he's already got one: Fitz.  He must look after him so maybe he can do great things.

Olivia talks with Justice Verna Thornton (Debra Mooney) who helped Quinn and she knows the entire government can be brought down.  Don't know about you, a line I know I often use, but this second season isn't really that appealing, maybe it's cos it's just a little slow to get off the ground and it's only episode 2.  But there seems to be quite a bit of repetition in terms of Olivia and Fitz and Mellie and Fitz and I don't find Quinn's past so intriguing either.

CSI 13.20 "Fearless" Review

                                              
Alan Quinn (Matthew Del Negro) conducts a 'Force of Mind' seminar and Elisabetta (Catrinel Menghia Marlon) is attending.  She later takes a dip in the mud bath after calling Hodges (Wallace Langham) to tell him what she's doing and meets up with a man, Santo (Daniel DiTomasso) already waiting for her there.  Making us believe she's having a romantic interlude with him.  They find a DB in the bath.  When I saw pics of this ep I said it looked more like a scene from CSI:Miami since that's what the setting was more accustomed for.

Greg (Eric Szmanda) and Morgan (Elisabeth Harnois) arrive with DB (Ted Danson) and David (David Berman) and Greg tells DB about the two bathers, one of them being Elisabetta.  Hodges also arrives at the CS incase they need some help.  He finds she and Santo are sharing the same room together.  She tells him Santo is her brother and that she was married once for a week, but she still kept his last name.   David tells them about the presence of bruising on his chest and that he didn't drown accidentally.  Quinn tells Brass (Paul Guilfoyle) that all of his guests are accounted for and the DB may be a hitchiker since they can't afford to pay, he lets them stay as long as they don't harm anything.

Greg and Morgan must empty the mud bath and find coins, a bottle, a feather, used condoms.  As well as a wooden bracelet which hasn't been in the mud.  Doc (Robert David Hall) tells Sara (Jorga Fox) of the presence of wooden splinters found in the Vic's forehead as well as a dental implant.  Sara contacts the Vic, Justin's wife, Mary (Emma Fitzpatrick) who tells her her husband worked at a pharmaceutical company and she told him to go on the retreat since she had already been before.  DB, Nick (George Eads) and Finn (Elisabeth Shue) examine at the articles found from the bath and Nick says Henry didn't find any DNA on the condoms.  DB thinks the bracelet and the feather link together to form a smudge feather, used by Native Americans to burn incense.  His parents used the same.  Finn saw the same in the list Quinn had given them.

Finn speaks with Heather (Ashlee Nicole) also an employee of Bixton and Nick questions Jessica (Dichen Lachman) who were both in the mud bath with Justin.  They had the team meeting in the mudbath.  Justin didn't go through with the firewalk and he was upset.  But he could only talk about his wife.  Hodges finds the bruise marks were actually burn marks and the splinters were from the firewalk.  He demonstrates how the firewalk can be done and believes Justin panicked and fell on the firewalk, inhaling the smoke.  Doc tells Greg that Justin's lung tissue shows the internal burns were a result of anaphlyactic shock and he was allergic.  Hodges conducts tests and finds out he was allergic to latex.

Quinn explains he thought Justin wasn't ready for the firewalk and he went back to his room.  Quinn left for his home in Santa Barbara.  Sara thinks Mary would have known about his allergy and had been to the spa before.  Hodges thinks there must have been latex on the firewalk.  Mary thought he and Jessica were in a relationship and drove there but refuelled her car and drove back cos she trusted him.  Greg found pellets on the firewalk which Nick says have the Bixton name on them and are made of latex.

Greg finds the partial print on the pellets belongs to Jessica and she was stealing company secrets, also she can't be found anywhere.  Finn thinks Heather would also know this and could be in danger.  When Finn questions Heather, she acts nervous and hyper, drinking water.  She has an attack and dies.  Finn couldn't see she was agitated and something was wrong with her, asking her if she's okay.  Doc finds magnesium sulphate under her nails and her body is covered with goat hair.  Morgan says magnesium sulphate is used to make Meth.  Hodges also found goat's milk in her stomach.  Jessica admits she's working with the FBI and is part of Corporate Security at Bixton.  Justin and Heather were stealing company secrets and stealing drugs

Zahl was their drug connection.  The Meth lab is discovered and Nick comes across a goat.   Inside the equipment has been destroyed and Sara finds the presence of goat's milk.  Sara: "Got milk."
 Nick: "Got goat's milk."  They also find Mary hiding.  She suffers from a rare disease and the company cancelled drug trials as not many people have it.  Justin was making the drug for her but she didn't know about the Meth.   Nick finds blood drops at the lab which match Quinn, obviously!

Quinn loved Mary, she was his other half and he could fly with her, but she didn't feel the same way about him.  He killed Justin cos he was giving her all those rubbish drugs.  Sara gives Mary Justin's wedding ring and she tells her how she's cured in her dreams and she's flying.  Which has nothing to do with Quinn and his flying remark.  Of course the case would be close to Sara's own personal situation, having broken up with Grissom.

Elisabetta talks to Morgan and asks about Hodges.  She doesn't think he wants to marry her.  Hodges however tells her he's afraid of starting a family and his father wasn't around but he wants to marry her.
Another episode which wasn't that interesting, well I didn't think it was, seems they left a few of the boring eps until the end.  Sara and Nick's remark was funny as I will forever be reminded of that scene between Nick and Grisson when he asked Nick what cows drink and he replied milk.  When the answer was water.  Hey calves drink milk!!

Julia Roberts Team Splash Swimming Gala (QVCUK)

7th July 2013 finally arrived and today was Julia Roberts big day to swim 100 lengths of the pool to raise money for Leukaemia & Lymphoma Research beating Blood Cancers and British Polio.

Julia was left to swim in her own lane but with plenty of support and cheers along the way.

All the audience and spectators who had turned out to support Julia were treated to a half day of fun with swimming races.

Others taking part from QVC included Debbie Flint, Chloe Everton and QVC model Tanya.

Didn't know Chloe could swim so fast!! 

A memorable and enjoyable day.

Congratulations Julia on your great achievement!  After which such is our trooper Julia, she had a swimming race with Paralympic Gold and Silver Medallist James Crisp.  Julia won by the way.

You can donate here  uk.virginmoneygiving.com/juliarobertsqvc 

And medals were presented to all participants!

CSI 13.19 "Backfire" Review

                                         
A girl makes herself breakfast with blood spatter everywhere and walks through blood on the floor as well as past some DBs to get her book from the shelve.  The police arrive and she sits with Doc (Robert David Hall) telling him her name is Molly Goodwin (Kylie Rogers).  She lived with her mother, Grace, uncle Steve.  There are two DBs which appear to be Steve's friends.  Her mother is missing.  Molly woke up and called 911.  Most of the electrical appliances are missing and it looks to be a home invasion.  Finn (Elisabeth Shue) working on the blood spatter tells DB (Ted Danson) the scene in the kitchen is much different to the front room.  DB looks at Grace's bag and finds her ID inside, but her keys are missing.

Molly's great grandmother, Agnes (Dey Young) arrives and tells Mitch (Larry Mitchell) this is her house.  She was letting them rent it out and wants to get in.  Knew she was suspicious the way she spoke to Mitch with her telling him not to touch her!  She was overdoing the dramatics and didn't really ask what happened to her grandchildren and wasn't that interested in Molly either.  Finn tells Nick (George Eads) that the three men were on their knees and were brutally beaten.  Nick is certain the MO of these beatings resembles a case that dayshift is working on relating to similar home invasions.  An abduction is involved whereby they rape the woman and then release her.  But no one is killed.

All the home invasions were witnessed but this one wasn't, however Finn shows him the blood drops.  They are gravitational and directional showing where Grace ran towards Molly's room.  Signalling Molly to stay inside though she said she was asleep.  There's more going on than Molly told them.  DB talks with Molly and she shows him the book, her mother's favourite story and asks him to read to her.  DB is sent a message that Grace's car has been found.

The car however doesn't belong to Grace but to a Burt, it's the same make and model, that was coincidental.   Greg (Eric Szmanda) opens the boot and inside is the charred corpse and a burnt out gas can.  Morgan (Elisabeth Harnois) notices the hole in the head and thinks he was shot.  David (David Berman) tells Greg that Burt was hit over the head and not shot.  From his trachea it's apparent Burt inhaled fire.

Brass (Paul Guilfoyle) talks with Bruce (James McCauley) Grace and Steve's father with Agnes present and he tells him he didn't know Steve's friends, nor that Steve was involved with drugs.  Agnes corrects him by saying he had trouble a while ago but was working through it.  Henry (Jon Wellner) finds that two of the DBs were infact the actual home invaders, Givens and Keysey.  Nick thinking it could be payback.  He's called by Brass as Grace's DB has been found dumped.  Nick reassuring Mitch they'll hunt these animals down.  Finn finds that one of the Vics from the home invasion Allison Lis was not raped by Steve so he wasn't one of the home invaders.  Doc tells Nick that Grace wasn't sexually assaulted and Nick is upset over what he's seen, no matter how long he's been doing this he just won't get used to it.  Doc tells him he should worry when he doesn't feel concerned anymore.

Nick processes the tarp Grace's DB was found in and finds some prints, matching a Connor Durman (Vincent Ventresca).  Nick also sees DB doesn't pick up Barbara's call.  His granddaughters Katie is suffering from nightmares again and he 's worried.  Durman works at the Spearmint Rhino and Alison is Tony Lash's (Wings Hauser) niece, Lash owns the club.  Brass arrests Durman telling him he's his "new dance partner."  Durman confesses he was hired by someone to carry out the killings and he also raped Allison.  Brass tells Lash this and he has Lash's phone tapped to see who he'd call.  Well really there wasn't anyone else left to be the suspect aside from Agnes.

Molly gives DB the book cos her mother told her to give it to someone good and inside is a CD.  Nick and DB listen to this and it's Bruce's confession on how he molested Grace and Steve. Nick questions Bruce and finds that he didn't know anything about the murders.  Finn tells DB Lash and Agnes were high school sweethearts and were having an affair.  They have Agnes's confession that she wanted Lash to kill her grandchildren over the recording Grace made.  Agnes would do anything to protect Bruce but didn't see Grace or Steve as her flesh and blood cos she didn't give birth to them!

Molly is sent to live with cousins in Virginia and DB ensures she still has his card with his number on it.  Looked like that card was going to fall out of her pocket at the end.  An episode which in some respects has been done before on CSI.  The ep with Gil when the entire family was slaughtered except the two girls all amounted to abuse as a motive for the killings in season 1's Blood Drops.  Then it's always a girl who ends up being the witness or being involved.  There was Gumdrops, when Nick was sure the missing girl was still alive.  4.3 Home Bodies which involved the rape of a teenage girl and the parents couldn't helped cos they were locked up.

In Greg's and Morgan's case, Morgan finds a burnt out ID in the car which Greg says belongs to a Palermo employee.  She also notices crystals inside the car and the smell of garlic.  Morgan IDs the owner as Sandy Larkin (Amy Acker).  A name which rings a bell with Hodges (Wallace Langham) as he investigated the strange death of her boyfriend, from Man Up when he was crushed between two buses whilst on a motorbike.  Hodges wants in.  She questions Sandy who can't place Hodges until Morgan mentions his name. He can't help interfering.  Sandy worked with Burt and they went out together but she broke up with him.  Hodge's tells Morgan the crystals were phosphine but don't know how they could have got there.

Cue Greg with his theory this time round, referring to Caddyshack.  Burt poisoned himself with mole poison. When the crystals come into contact with oxygen they form phosphine gas.  The stomach contents reacted with the zinc in his body which made him belch.   He went to refuel his car and belched onto the gas can which caught fire.  He fell into the boot and hit his head, when he belched again the entire car exploded.  He was on his way to the hospital to get his stomach pumped cos he received a text from her about a dinner date.  She says it was meant for Tad.    Sandy's not as sad she she claims to be.  Hodges swears one day he will prove her a black widow.  Sara (Jorga Fox) was missing again.

James McCauley was in season 6's The Unusual Suspect.  Vincent Ventresca has also appeared in CSI:Miami ep Invasion and CSI:NY ep Who's There?  Wings Hauser has been in the Grand Prix ep of CSI:Miami.

Hey was watching the episode of TV show Booker (Richard Grieco) last night and it was the one entitled Molly and Eddie about the little girl he has to look after when her father goes missing.  Just made me think of that here cos both the girls were named Molly.

Quantum Leap: Has it Really Been Twenty Years

                                              
TV Shows come and TV shows go, some are fun, entertaining, others are forgettable.  Many impact our lives whilst others hang around like, well, bad TV shows.  But every now and then you get a show which has everything.  Great stories, plots, comedy, drama, heartbreak and a superb cast to boot!

Quantum Leap was one such show.  Involving the premise of time travel, it wasn't really a sci-fi show in the usual sense of the word or genre.  More drama with some moving stories and fun too.  It was the brainchild of Donald P Bellisario, as if you didn't already know, who came up with a lot of my fave shows, like Magnum PI, JAG, NCIS, to name a few.

It found Dr Sam Beckett (Scott Bakula) leaping into other peoples' lives as 'other people' and "putting right what once went wrong" for them.  Finding himself in all sorts of interesting situations and trouble, helped out by his best friend and observer, hologram Al Calavicci (Dean Stockwell).  Scott and Dean really made the show what it was and it's a real shame that it has been twenty years since it ended in 1993 in the US and not much has been done to bring it back.  Maybe not for want of trying but people and networks wanting different things and other people cast, instead of the original leads, is really a remake, reboot, killer!  Seems we can never get back what we lost.  Perhaps a little ironic in the sense that just as Sam was forever leaping and never returned home, we won't get any type of closure either.

It really is so sad that there are conventions and so many forums on the web and the cast still talk fondly about the show and that so many letters, petitions from fans didn't really amount to anything.  Though the five series are available on DVD, to keep the memories alive, they don't really contain any extra features aside from the season 1 DVD.

I guess since so much time has passed we may not see anything resurface anytime soon which is disappointing for all concerned; that a a show of this calibre couldn't be brought back again even as a TV movie with the original leads of course.  Makes my heart break...

Leaping to Infinity: Unofficial and Unauthorized Essays On Quantum Leap available here:

http://www.amazon.com/Leaping-infinity-Unofficial-unauthorized-articles/dp/1291438289

http://www.lulu.com/shop/mila-hasan/leaping-to-infinity-unofficial-and-unauthorized-articles-and-essays-on-quantum-leap/paperback/product-21064899.html

Once Upon A Time 2.13 "Tiny" Review

As Emma (Jennifer Morrison) and Gold (Robert Carlyle) prepare to leave to find Bae, she surprises him by telling him that Henry (Jared S Gilmore) is going too, well of course, he has to meet his father.  She doesn't want to leave him here with Cora.  Had a moment there when she would have said Regina (Lana Parrilla) and it would have been good if she was weary of Regina especially since she's still meant to be in hiding and also since Cora's around, they may form an alliance.  They're heading for Logan International Airport and Gold is a little apprehensive at crossing the line but all's well as he jokes.  Thought Emma would have questioned him some more over why he wants her along.  Considering he has a little trick or two up his sleeve and it's not just about finding his son!

At the airport he has to take off his shawl/robe to go through the X-ray machines and finds himself dizzy.  Rushing to the loo, one little toilet in the entire airport, ha, and he finds his magic doesn't work here, as he vents at the toilet roll dispenser!  He was also a bit afraid of flying, think he was more afraid of being powerless as said in past episodes, power and magic are everything to him and he'll find himself vulnerable without them.

Elsewhere Charming (Josh Dallas) and Snow (Ginnifer Goodwin) wonder what Cora could be up to and know of someone who could help them out here, i.e. Hook (Colin O'Donoghue) who else.  He claims ignorance, proving he's just a pretty face then ha.  Of course he's willing to let Snow interrogate him, suing torture techniques! And leads them to his ship where they find the giant, now normal size.  Cora brought him here for her own purposes.  One look at Charming and he loses the plot obviously he's mistaken him for brother James.  Tiny/Abraham (Jorge Garcia) goes on a rampage of the town as we get flashes to his story now and how James was tasked by George (Alan Dale) to find gold and rather magic beans to keep the kingdom afloat and free from war.  James getting caught in the act with a floozy! ha.  Well didn't like Cassidy Freeman as Tess in Smallville and didn't like her here as Jack the Giant Killer either, well seems her reputation preceded her and she didn't really live up to her name.  No, she was the DB lying there when Hook and Emma went up the beanstalk and he pointed her out, though not that she was a woman.

They both befriend Tiny and make him return to the beanstalk and his land for gold to help James.  Here they bring their armies and kill off his family. Jack being poisoned by her own sword, poetic justice!  James runs off with the gold leaving her behind!  Showing Charming is much more the man and the prince than James could ever be.  Tiny is given a cutting of the beanstalk by Arlo (Abraham Benrubi) and he can plant it in another land.

Tiny still on a rampage finds Charming and he's willing to turn himself in for the good of the town, but Tiny jumps a little too hard and ends up in a hole and shrinks in size.  Charming rescues him cos as Snow says "it's what we do."  He decides to plant the cutting here and becomes one of the dwarfs with his own pick axe.  Snow wasn't happy when she heard Tiny mention growing beans so they could get back home and she wants to stay here with her family, with Emma.  Though the adventure she had here was something she missed, but doesn't want to think about Fairytale land, this is now their home.  Let's hope she doesn't sabotage the beans,

Belle (Emilie de Ravin) doesn't like being called that, so just who does she think she is and it's still dangerous leaving that outsider, Mendel (Ethan Embry) to run about free like that.  He tells Belle he saw the magic fireball too and so the two will form an alliance now and be more trouble than they're worth.  Charming telling Gold to look after his family when it appears he won't be able to look after himself.

Hook searches for Cora leaving a Queen of Hearts card on the ground but Regina shows up instead. Wondered if that was really Regina or Cora since she can turn into anyone she chooses.  Seems Hook is only good for innuendos, "you didn't even ask me about my recovery."
Snow: "How are you doing Hook?"
Hook: "Come closer and feel for yourself."

Hook getting beaten up on his own ship again!  he tells Grumpy (Lee Arenberg) that his ship needs a portal to get to other worlds.  Jack mentioning the magic mushroom she got from slaying a Jabberwock, obviously from Wonderland and where Cora was queen, so a way to tie up the two lands.  Tiny not getting a clue as to what she really is capable of when she said that!  Also explaining why Regina gave him one too, but was she really Regina, getting into mother's stash?

Of course Gold was flying Ajira Airlines, the airline from Lost... so Gold had plenty to be nervous about!  Some serious fan worshipping going on with James in his leather pants!!

CSI 13.18 "Sheltered" Review

A man is being chased and is later found dead.  Nick (George Eads) Morgan (Elisabeth Harnois) and David (David Berman) arrive on the scene and Nick thinks the bite on his leg could have been made by a wolf or a dog.  The DB also has his hand missing and the other one has been removed too so the DB can't be identified.  David making his first joke about them "being stumped."  This will make their case difficult and Nick adds "it always is."  There isn't any wallet either, erm couldn't they ID him by his teeth, surely he must have been to the dentist.  They don't have a database for teeth.

Sara (Jorga Fox) goes through the surveillance feed with DB (Ted Danson) and they see someone in camouflage gear dumping the DB. Greg (Eric Szmanda) and Finn (Elisabeth Shue) find the DB is wearing knee pads and Finn finds a paper crane.  Took her a while to work out it was an origami crane too.  Doc (Robert David Hall) finds his hand was cut peri mortem, meaning he was still alive.  The left hand was cut post mortem, after he was dead.  Doc thinks the animal bite on his leg is from a bear trap.  As well as finding a small piece of synthetic trace in the wound tract.  Hodges (Wallace Langham) tells Finn about the type of paper used to make Origami which is washi paper and this one isn't proper paper so could be a clue.

Nick arrives with Sam as he picked him up from the vet and he brought him here to see some friends to cheer him up.  Morgan thinks he's down cos he's a cop and wants to work.  He perks up to "travaille."  The knee brace was ordered by a Dylan Trigg (Cameron Dean Stewarte)so they assume he was the Vic. At his house Morgan and Crawford (Alimi Ballard) find his father, Ed (Paul Johansson) who tells them Dylan's upstairs.  Dylan is alive but it was his friend, Carl (Dalton Day).  He wanted to go camping at the Ridge but he backed out as he doesn't like it there.

Nick and Morgan arrive at the mine to conduct a search bringing Sam along and he leads them to an underground bunker with blood everywhere.  Morgan calls for back up but has to go out, which is what I said, couldn't she have called them before.  Inside they find camouflage fatigues and night vision goggles.  Nick goes in alone and is held at gunpoint!!  Again, Nick!  Knew that was coming.  The man refuses to cooperate and they think he murdered Carl.  Sara and Finn search the bunker and Sara finds weapons whilst Finn finds a girl's room with different, old clothes in the closet.  There are signs of sexual activity in the bed but Sara doesn't find any blood.  Greg finds blood on the astro turf and thinks the green trace Doc found was this.  The blood matches Carl so his left hand must have been severed here.  What, they couldn't do that outside.

Sara also finds more origami cranes on the shelf and they hear a noise, someone's trying to get away and they find a girl.  Finn takes her to the hospital to process her.  Nick and DB interrogate the man and tell him they found the girl he was holding captive, as well as the other woman, a Rebecca Barnes who he killed in Carson City.  He admits Rebecca was his wife and was murdered and the girl is his daughter.  Tommy Barnes (Neal McDonough) was the primary suspect in her murder.  Well you know spouses are suspected first.  He was cleared for the murder but this doesn't mean he didn't kill Carl.  Okay I got who killed Carl a while back, it was obvious!

Rebecca was abducted and this was witnessed by Miranda (Rebecca Forsythe) so he wanted to take her away.  DB tells him that's okay when she was 7 but she's 17 now.  DB tells him about the semen from her bed, one belonging to Carl and the other isn't a match yet.  But wouldn't they have also found traces of her too.  Again it was obvious that there were two men there together and it had to have been Carl and Dylan.  DB suspects Tommy murdered Carl cos of Miranda.  He refuses to speak any further.  Crawford brings in his lawyer, Jill (Kate Danson) who tells them none of the evidence can be used since the mineral rights still belong to the estate and thus so does anything under it.

Finn thinks there's another way of finding out who Miranda was with using the paper from the crane.  Er, didn't Hodges mention that ages ago!!  Thought someone would have analyzed the paper by now.  It is part of the Koval Ridge store and Nick and Morgan check it out.  Here they find military fatigues and Morgan finds a paper crane.  The man who works there runs but his dirt bike doesn't start.  The one that belongs to Dylan.  Luke (Blair Redford) is suspected of being the jealous boyfriend in the love triangle but he tells them it was Carl and Dylan who were in the bed together.  Carl already had his hand missing when he turned up and  died.  Luke disposed of the DB and cut off the other hand so he couldn't be identified.

Greg and Sara search the campsite and find a bear trap.  Sara finds his right hand with gunshots through it and some trace under his fingernails.  Nick and Finn question Dylan who says he hadn't come out yet but Carl told everyone.  Ed drives up and he asks for a lawyer now.  Dylan confesses his father killed Carl.  His father wanted him to be a man and Carl threw back in his face that he loved Dylan and was his. DB tells him that's exactly who he is, a man, since he confessed.

Miranda says sorry since everything that happened was her fault.  Tommy says DB was right and he takes her to live in Oregon where her mother was from.  This episode didn't really seem that exciting actually.  Even the forensics was quite boring.  Opening scenes, running in the desert, being chased, all done before in season 1.  As was Nick's gun scene, a few times over but still like watching him get into those situations.

Rebecca Barnes was a character name from Dallas, ha.  The lawyer, Jill is Ted's real daughter, Kate.

Once Upon A Time 2.12 "In The Name of the Brother" Review

                                          
Continuing from the events of last episode, Emma (Jennifer Morrison) and Charming (Josh Dallas) arrive at the scene as Gold (Robert Carlyle) uses magic to heal Belle (Emilie de Ravin).  Then sets his wrath upon Hook (Colin O'Donoghue) but is stopped by Emma and Charming, asking what he thinks Belle would want him to do.  Also Emma saying "murder is not a good first impression."  An ambulance arrives as they take the outsider, Greg Mendell (Ethan Embury) to hospital, along with Belle and Hook.  Here Dr Whale (David Anders) is being paged but he too busy drinking and wallowing.  They need him to operate on the outsider but he refuses.

Emma has his phone and personal effects, his phone rings with 'HER' on the screen.  But they don't pick it up, instead the debate whether he should be saved or not and Whale says letting him die from his injuries isn't murder, but Snow (Ginnifer Goodwin) and Charming don't see it that way, though Grumpy (Lee Areberg) is in agreement.

Whale looks back to his own family and his father (Gregory Itzin) and brother, Gerhardt (Chad Michael Collins) the fave of his father as he gives him a pocketwatch which his mother wanted him to have.  As for Whale/Victor, well he gets a commission to join the army.  But Victor wants to continue his experiments which are funded by daddy dearest, who refuses to do this.  Victor is approached by Rumpel Von Stiltskin, dressed in red,to contrast the black and white scenes with Victor.  It's always thundery and raining there.  Suppose Rumple's red is similar to Regina's red apples.  He gives him a pile of gold coins, well a never ending bag the way he poured them out, to tell him the secrets of his experiments.  He doesn't want to know how to bring back the dead as the "deceased should be left where they are."

Victor continues his experiments and goes in search of a body in the graveyard, having to dig the grave himself too, wouldn't it have been better to get Igor (Yurij Kis) to do it.  Anyway Gerhardt comes to stop him and is shot as they are discovered.  Victor tries to save him but he's dead, even cutting into his heart which Igor describes as "black as coal."  Can't help thinking if Rumples was behind all of this considering he wants secrets not to mention it would be a way to get back at Regina too.  Since on his next visit he tells Victor how he needs hearts and he can put him in touch with the Hatter where he will find an endless supply of hearts.  The Doctor episode.

Victor gets his heart and raises Gerhardt but of course he won't be the same.  Instead his father disowns him even further and Gerhardt kills their father out of loyalty of Victor really, who was a bit slow off the mark getting him to stop beating up on their father.  He locks Gerhardt up and tries to shoot him even if that's what he wants but can't go through with it.  Instead finding a way to help him.

Back in Storybrooke he looks at the broken watch of the outsider and runs away to end it all.  Ruby (Meghan Ory) is on the scent though and finds him about to jump into the sea.   She stops him from jumping and tells him she's got her problems too and she "ate my boyfriend."  Making them both monsters, bringing him back he operates and saves the outsiders life.  So Emma questions him to see if he saw magic being used.  He replies he was texting and so didn't see anyone in the road until it was too late.  But really what was he doing there since no one comes to Storybrooke, she didn't ask him that, but just believes him.  It can't be an accident him turning up and don't their computers work for them to check his licence plate?

Hook is still alive and handcuffed to his bed though he asks for his Hook back, yeah so he can use it to undo the cuffs but still has time for innuendos referring to having other parts that work.  Emma warning him that Gold is still out for blood.  Belle doesn't recall Gold but is scared of him and when he brings her the chipped cup enchanted so she may remember if she focuses, she throws it away, smashing it to pieces.

Cora (Barbara Hershey) shows up at Gold's telling him he needs to find his son as she needs to find Regina and gives him a globe which will locate Bae.  They declare a truce and she wants it sealed in their usual manner, with a kiss. She calls him "master" and he taught her everything but she doesn't know any spell for Belle.

Cora snoops around Regina's (Lana Parrilla) house and finds Henry's (Jared S Gilmore) hand print mould for Regina.  She goes to the crypt, calling her "mom."  Anyway she lets him in but it's really Cora.  Trying to win Regina back admitting she killed Archie.  Little does Regina know that everyone knows she didn't do it.  Infact she gets Regina onside under the pretence of coming clean but then accidentally on purpose finds the handprint.  That as long as Emma and her parents are around she'll never get Henry back.  So no one saw Regina's car being driven around either. Also Henry's been to the crypt and he didn't think of looking for her there.  So much for finding Regina last episode, seems they gave up on that idea.  Regina hiding her most precious possessions down there, included that apple tree, ooh covet that! Ha.  She has no mirror to talk to now.  Where is Sidney?

Gold pricks his finger and the blood runs into the globe giving him Bae's location.  Henry finds out who Whale is but no one notices when he says that he's not in the book so the curse must have spread to other lands.  No cos Emma's too busy still going on about bolt through necks!  And Snow being intimate with Whale, which is old news by now.  Sure Charming was also intimate with his 'wife.'  Gold arrives wanting that favour from Emma, to accompany him to find Bae.  Why didn't she ask why he chose her to go either, really she's not on the ball is she?  He threatens to kill them if any harm comes to Belle whilst he's gone.

This episode was nicely done with how it tied into Victor turning up in the Enchanted Forest needing hearts and one in particular, though Jefferson gets a mention as the Hatter, still ruing him not being around anymore!  Also Victor and his black and white life signifies life and death really, that it's all that 'simple' to him.  No shades of grey or blurred morals in what he does.  It's science and not magic even if he is trying to do good.  Rumples telling him that there is magic in this world too but it's evil witchcraft, whereas they have 'harnessed magic in his world.'  SO how come Rumples arrived here without needing a portal such as Jefferson's hat, aside from using magic but Victor needs the hat to travel through lands, as they also needed it in an attempt to bring back Emma and Snow in earlier episodes.  Lots of unanswered questions too.

Liked it when Gold said Hook stole Milah from him first.  Yes take that you thieving pirate!  Why specifically did Emma mention the Pennsylvania plates if they weren't going to pursue that?  Aside from needing to know where he's from.  Cora trying to play mother now and understanding why Regina needed to send her to Wonderland all just seems false on her part as she tries to win her over.  A lifetime of being alone or a lifetime with a wicked, lying mother?  What a choice?  At least Regina probably sees it that way.

Hook's ship is yellow and red mostly in colour and so was the dock where Ruby found Whale.