CSI 13.21 "Ghosts of the Past" Review

The episode begins with three so called ghost hunters, Owen (Billy Aaron Brown) Doug (Yani Gellman) and Carrie (Erica Dasher) filming and looking for ghosts inside a slaughterhouse the site of several murders committed by serial killer Walter Sims.  After much talk, Doug is killed by being hoisted up on a meat hook and stabbed when checking out the 'hanging room.'  After Doug took out a knife used by Sims to stab his Vics so that he can summon his spirit with it.  Brass (Jim Guillfoyle) tells Finn (Elisabeth Shue) how he investigated the murders twenty years ago after a security guard, Sims, kidnapped seven boys and slaughtered them here.  Sims dies in the same way and now Doug is killed too.  A man, Thomas Pope (Ian Bohen) turns up who is selling the place and tells Brass he knew this would happen, he had a strange feeling when he went inside there, now if that wasn't a big clue then I don't know what else would be!

Finn and Sara (Jorga Fox) examine the slaughter room and Sara hates being here cos of the slaughtered animals,that's  why she stopped eating meat.  David (David Berman) tells of how when the killings happened  they used to talk about it at school, saying if you called out "Walter Sims" three times he'd appear.  A bit like the 'Bloody Mary' legend.  There's Doug's camera in the pool of blood in which Owen fell whilst getting his DB down but the memory card is missing.  Finn suggests they luminol the entire area for blood and Sara opts to luminol outside the room.  Here she finds a set of prints which are leading away from everyone else's and towards the wall, where she finds the knife, the murder weapon.

Morgan (Elisabeth Harnois) and Greg (Eric Szmanda) process Owen and Carrie for evidence and Owen can't stop raving about how his spirit appeared and everyone's gonna go wild.  Carrie however felt a presence in the room and shows him her protection amulet.  Owen admits to taking the memory card so he can put the footage on the Net.   Doc (Robert David Hall) calls DB (Ted Danson) to Autopsy and he's a bit reluctant to be there, until after Doc's finished the autopsy.  He tells him the original incision has also made in Doug's DB and this wasn't released to anyone.  The killer was carving an 'S' shape.

At the CS, Morgan and Greg find a shrine for the boys, some of the toys are new and others are much older. Greg looks like he can sense something and Morgan finds an earring, she says could be Carrie's since one of hers was missing.  Greg doesn't think it's hers.   Nick (George Eads) tells DB that Owen's camera stopped filming for about 98 seconds, which would have been enough for him to have killed Doug.  Sara finds Owen's prints all over the knife.  Owen admits to bringing the knife there as something belonging to the killer is required for their spirit to be enticed.  Carrie tells Greg she believes he has psychic ability and that he gets it from his grandmother, who has a funny name, Olaf.  She gives him her amulet and she says he'll need it. Now as soon as she took that off, you knew she was in trouble!!

Hodges (Wallace Langham) has to help Nick in locating Owen at the time of the killing and uses his EVP (electronic voice projector) to do this.  He need Henry's (Jon Wellner) help since it means returning to the CS as he's not going alone.  These two are great for laughs, as we'll see Hodges' fear and Henry's scientific motivation which leaves him fearless.  They manage to prove Owen wasn't in the same room as Doug and Henry notices the presence of infra sound on the computer.  These are invisible to the human ear.  He says they should find out what's causing it since it leads to a feeling of coldness, butterflies in the stomach and make people think there is some sort of a ghostly presence.

He finds a fan and turns it off, curing Hodges' butterflies.  They then hear  a scream and find Carrie bludgeoned with a baseball bat at the shrine.  DB introduces Finn to Scott Tunicliffe (Eric Lange) he wrote the book on Sims and Finn asks if he's writing a sequel.  He's brought his files and shows them photos of a woman who appeared at Sims' trial, a trial groupie.  Finn notices she's wearing the same earring Morgan found.  Greg and Morgan collect the toys to examine from the scene and Greg admits he was a bit of a psychic when he was little, since his grandmother had the gift.  Carrie came here to talk to the boys.  He also finds her EVP and plays it back, he can hear children's laughter in the background after Carrie is killed.

Finn tries to find the woman in the photo and Sara tells her to try locating her by seeing if her photo shows up on the Internet, matching a Monica Downs (Kiersten Warren).  Mitch (Larry Mitchell) brings her in and says she's crazy.  Monica admits she was at his trial and recalls Brass there too. She tells them about Sims and their boys, the family he created for her.  Henry finds male DNA on every single one of the toys but it's not in the system.  DB and Nick know the boys were in the back of Sim's car but his accomplice must have been at the front, someone who lured them.  They suspect Tunicliffe, but he has an alibi.

Greg tells Morgan he's returning to the CS and he takes Pope with him to let him in.  Pope asks what he's looking for but Greg doesn't know.  Pope shows the hammer he's hiding under his jacket and then that laughter is heard again!  It's his ringtone and in that instance Greg knows it's him.  Yes as said.  He was the eighth boy abducted by Sims and he was afraid the ghosthunters would speak to the ghosts of the boys who would reveal his old identity, Jonathan Harris.  Finn tells him he's not to blame for the killings since he was only 11, but he still hears their voices.

Morgan apologizes to Greg for not believing his psychic ability.  Their work is about science but there still could be the spiritual around them.  Greg is a little sceptical since not one of the ghosts gave him a sign that Pope was the killer.  Morgan believes something must have been looking out for him.  Greg takes the amulet and hangs it in his locker, he closes the door and it opens by itself.  Yes he didn't think of Carrie's amulet which she gave him for protection and it worked.  Sara needs some time to go to SF and ensure a serial rapists isn't paroled and DB tells her to take some time off too.

Not so much a scary episode but one that focuses more on Greg and his 'ability.'  Though there was that eerie presence to add some credibility to the presence of ghosts.  A must for Supernatural lovers and I mean the TV show as well.  Also in an episode of  CSI 6.19 Spellbound, where Greg revealed to Grissom that his grandmother was a psychic.  SO it's good that they mentioned this again here.  Also in that episode the woman was killed after she foretold her own murder and was a fake.  Greg mentions he's got some of his Grandma Olaf's skills, but Grissom just shoots him down, saying he hasn't.   Cos it's all about science, something similar to Morgan here.  Greg: "I have an  expertise in the occult."
Greg: "My Nana Olaf ...was a psychic.  She didn't have a store, just a sixth sense and the family thinks I might have inherited it."
Some good continuity too with Sara reminding us she's a vegetarian and Morgan being just that little bit sceptical especially as the season finale approaches and a storyline that puts her in danger.

Don't know whether you believe in the supernatural/paranormal, but a lot of people do and there are some strange spooky goings on in real life.  Had a few encounters myself as did my father.  I fell down the stairs two years ago and it felt like a hand pushed me from behind, but there was no one at home and no one would do that even if they were.

Watch this clip here which I thought was kinda cool, not scary though, especially the bit with Richard Grieco and his paranormal encounter!
    http://www.biography.com/tv/celebrity-ghost-stories/videos/ana-ortizs-boombox-plays-without-power-35741763532

Revenge Season 3

                                                     
SO it's been decided and Victoria's (Madeleine Stowe) son Patrick has been cast and will be played by none other than Justin Hartley.  No stranger to TV he played Oliver Queen/The Green Arrow in Smallville as well as Wade's (Wilson Bethel) brother Jesse in Hart of Dixie.

However we won't get to see mother and son bond since the action moves forward five months( but our Revenge cast will be looking as young as ever!) unless we get this in flashbacks, which seems most likely to be the case.  We all know Revenge is no stranger to the use of this concept/plot device.

This also means that Jack (Nick Wechsler) will have mourned Declan's passing, at least the shock news, or will he still be suffering the fall out and Carl will be five months older now.  Also Charlotte (Christa B Allen) will be on the way to having Declan's (Connor Paolo) baby - right?  Anyway hopefully we will see how Jack took on the news that Emily (Emily VanKamp) was really Amanda in flashbacks as said otherwise there will be a missed golden opportunity.

Once Upon A Time 2.14 "Manhattan" Review

                                                
Gold (Robert Carlyle) Emma (Jennifer Morrison) and Henry (Jared S Gilmore) arrive in Manhattan and straight to Bae's apartment but he's not around, or so they think until Emma hears him getting away via the fire escape, didn't need to make that much of a racket if you're running away.  So she gives chase and finds him.  Realizing who he is, she thinks she's been played by Gold and Neal (Michael Raymond-James) cos it's always about you Emma, isn't it.  They argue about him not knowing who she was and didn't find out until after they met and until August showed him the typewriter.  Of course he always kept his typewriter in that box, should have known that - duh!  Which is what my sister said last season.  On it he's typed: "I know you're Baelfire."

Neal: "I've spent a lifetime running from that man, I'm not gonna let him catch me" and what lock him up, cast a spell on him.

Emma: "You let me go to prison because Pinocchio told you to?!"

Cue Rumples' backstory and the ogre wars where he tells a delighted Milah (Rachel Shelley) how he's been called up to fight.  Think she didn't really love him after all, the way she was so excited to watch him go off to war like that, not even a little sadness, oh cruel woman!  At said wars and before he goes into battle, he is left to guard someone who will be of help to them. A seer (Shannon Lucio) who tells him his future: about Milah having a baby and how he will die tomorrow on the battlefield when the army rides on cows.  Which he finds strange.  However he's told that they will use these 'cows' since the Duke has sent supplies.  Saddles for them to ride to their deaths.  Since they call cows saddles.  He searches for the seer but she's gone and sees a hammer nearby which he uses to club his foot.

Milah expects him back and has already had the baby, fast job, ha since rumours from the war spread fast and she hates that he's just like his father, a coward and it would have been better for him to have died on the battlefield.  But Rumples wanted to be here for his son and not abandon him, and he didn't.  So when Bae says he left him, he was there for him for 14 years at least and didn't abandon him like his mother did, all for another man.

Neal doesn't want Emma to tell Gold about him but she has to since they have a deal.  But when she gets back she goes through with the lies.  Gold breaks into his apartment in the hope of a clue or two.  Notice red apple on the table and the sign near the door which reads: "Cleaners and Hatters"  surely a reference to Jefferson!  Yay ha!  Emma notices the dreamcatcher and Gold knows there's something she's not telling him. Henry is sent to the bathroom so they can talk, as if he's not old enough for their conversation.  Henry is far more intelligent than that.

Neal doesn't believe in coincidences since Gold taught him that there's only fate.  But he doesn't want to return to a land of magic.  Neal realizes Henry is his son, he's eleven and Henry is angry she didn't tell him, she said his father was a fireman, well she was half right in terms of names.  Then Henry runs to the FIRE escape! ha.  Gold wants to talk and he has 3 minutes, which were a very long 3 minutes indeed!

The seer comes to Rumples as the Dark One now and tells him he'll find his son but not yet, also there will be a curse which he will need and someone to break it too, but they won't be up to him. She gives him all her knowledge and  everything's jumbled up so he has to sort out the puzzles from what is and what can be. Though she does tell him he will be reunited with his son.  Also there is a boy who will be Rumple's downfall, Henry no doubt.

So anyway who set up the meeting between Neal and Emma all those years ago.  Emma calling Snow (Ginnifer Goodwin) for advice on whether she should tell Henry about his father and Charming (Josh Dallas) wondering if he can have more than one grandfather!!  Which makes Regina (Lana Parrilla) his step- great grandmother. This ep was about fathers and sons wasn't it, seems Henry was more upset over Emma keeping the truth from Henry than realizing Gold is his grandfather!  Which makes them all a family an  they can be reunited in their struggle against Regina and Cora (Barbara Hershey).  Of course Rumples recalls this about Henry and realizes the only way for this not to come true is if Henry is not around.

Also it seems Rumples fulfilled his own prophecy since he didn't fight on the battlefield but still lost his son in his own interpretation of the prophecy.

Oh and wasn't Emma holding the dreamcatcher in the ep, The Cricket Game, where Cora killed Archie and Gold saw her holding it.  Here he sees her holding the dreamcatcher again and surely he must have thought that wasn't a coincidence either.  That a dreamcatcher could be used to see Pongo's memories and Emma has to capture those memories using her powers.  Also she had those memories with Neal when she got hold of the dreamcatcher from the window.

Regina and Cora cook up their own plans of course and Cora wants Rumple's dagger so they can control the Dark One and Hook (Colin O'Donoghue) thinks he'll get his revenge when he does.  She goes to he hospital and Belle (Emilie de Ravin) tells her she doesn't know who Gold is, she knocks her out using magic, so much for abstaining, well she won't get her one year badge at this rate.  Then uses magic to remove the contents from her bag and finds an ISBN number.  Leading her to the library.  They search for a book and Cora finds a piece of paper so how come they didn't realize it was a map. Agh!  SO much for them having magic.  Hook has to intervene of course and tells them it's a map and even deciphers it for them.  Surely Gold wouldn't need a map for the dagger and even if Belle would, why keep it written down, she could just as easily remember a few numbers, considering the number of books she reads.

Hook gets double crossed again, ha, really again?  He should know not to come between a daughter and her mother and is knocked out; kissing the floor once again!  Did he really think they'd let him have something so precious just for meagre revenge.  Cora explains how they can control the Dark One who'll kill Emma, Charming and Snow and then she'll have Henry and he won't suspect Regina of anything.

Mendell (Ethan Embry) makes another call again and plays a video of Regina using her magic.  As once again no one's learned the moral of the story, allowing an outsider to wonder the hospital alone.

Henry is angry Emma lied just like Regina did and compares the two of them, even if Neal was a thief, a liar, it really didn't mean she should have lied, after everything he's been through he would have understood and he tells her that too.  Emma admits she lied to protect herself and it's what I said, it's always about Emma even when it shouldn't be.  Snow being ever the optimist thinking they will get on better now since they are all related.  With those family ties comes so much baggage.

To those of us who always knew Bae/Neal was Gold's son we were finally rewarded for our patience!

References to Tallahassee here and also The Cricket Game.

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!!