The Mentalist 7.13 "White Orchids" Review

                                                   
Patrick (Simon Baker) signs papers at the lake for the cabin and is happy the place is his. Tork (Joshua Biton) tells the other agents to look for two bodies inside the burnt out house, but you know they'll only find one.  As the camera pans out and shows Lazarus (Aubrey Deeker) running away.  Patrick works on the cabin and Lisbon (Robin Tunney) arrives with lunch.  He finds a perfect place where they can eat and she notices he's taken off wedding his ring.   He replies that's cos he's not married.  She notices the house also slants, he says the ground is a bit slanty but the house doesn't and it's like an optical illusion.  He takes out his wedding ring and says he's been wearing it a long time, not only does it represent his past but also his future.  He wouldn't have met her if it hadn't been for his ring and he wants it to be a part of their future.  He asks Lisbon to marry him and she agrees. See that's what I said, that ring of his is part of him and he'll only take it off, to put it back on again, this time when he marries Lisbon.  Patrick says he was nervous cos after all this time he still doesn't know her and wasn't sure what her answer would be.

Abbott (Rockmond Dunbar) wants to help out with the Lazarus case as he's still waiting to start hsi new job.  Patrick and Lisbon announce their wedding and Cho (Tim Kang) tells Abbott he was right. Patrick tells them they're going to elope!  Oh yeah and deprive us of a wedding! ha.

Lazarus/Joe picks up supplies from a store as Lisbon Skypes her brothers to tell them about her wedding.  They want to come down cos they're family and she's their only sister and Stan (Derek Phillips) says she doesn't want them to come so they should respect that.  Later Patrick pulls Lisbon's chair towards him and tells her it's okay she invited them, they're family.  But she's despondent cos then the wedding will be too big and maybe they should invite a few other people too since they're not doing any catering or asking for gifts.  Maybe 12 guests.  Also some people from work.  Patrick tells her he has to get her a ring and she says she already has one.  He replies one for herself cos that's their ring.  She doesn't want anything too gauche.

At the jewelle,r a couple want their grandmother's ring altered and Patrick notices that the jeweller just swiped their ring and replaced it with a fake one.  Telling them he pulled a French drop.  He pulls out his FBI badge and tells them what he's done.  He's got it in his right hand and why is he afraid of opening his hand.  Which Patrick tells him to do and there's their ring.  He tells the jeweller he's looking for a ring and with real diamonds, nothing gauche or he's going to turn him in.  There Patty still saving the day for everyone.

Lisbon invites Abbot to the wedding and he offers their house for it.  Wylie (Joe Adler) tells Cho he didn't know about the wedding but Cho says he knew.  Wylie wants to be transferred to a cybercrime unit and he's not good at this since he messed up with Lazarus.  Cho tells him it can happen to anyone and that Vega wouldn't walk away from a challenge.  Cho wants him to stay as he slaps him on the head.  Hey Cho using a Gibbs' slap from NCIS!!  Ha.  Cho needs Wylie to check with the autopsy report cos the Mayor needs to be certain they have the killer before they can give a press conference and the only way they can do that is if they have the coroner's report.   Wylie reports there weren't any intact body parts and most of them were of Joe Snr.

Lisbon invites Cho to the wedding and she asks him for a favour, she takes him along to pick out wedding dresses.  They make her look short, a snow cone, or like a 'slutty elf' oh Cho where'd you get that one from?  Ha.  She needs something off white and vintage. She asked him for his honest opinion but didn't know he knew so much about fashion.  His mother was a dab hand at sewing and without using a pattern.  Lisbon remarks her mother had a sewing machine but it was always in hock. Dan (John Marshall Jones) the anchor man is leaving the station when Lazarus kidnaps him.  He asks him for his wallet and keys and he thinks he'll let him go after Dan asks him for his licence.  But he stabs him instead and uses his phone to call the FBI and of course he had to get useless Tork.  Well he was useless with a big mouth.  He asks for Patrick and he tells him he'll be away for a few days and that he's actually getting married and then he drives off.  I mean the guy is a TV man you don't tell him stuff like that!

Patrick and Lisbon get the marriage licence and he adds Emily Hamilton's (Joyce Guy) name, she's the judge.  She asks to see the ring and thinks it's a fake but he tells Lisbon it's real.  She's shocked and can't accept it cos it's too much.  Patrick tells her she doesn't need to accept it, it's hers.  Lisbon invites Wylie to the wedding and he says a lot of people are talking about it.  He asks if there'a gift registry or trousseau but Lisbon doesn't know what that is.   Cho brings a laptop and it's Rigsby (Owain Yeoman) and Van Pelt (Amanda Righetti).  She's ecstatic to hear from them and invites them to the wedding too.  Lisbon then starts to count the number of people coming.

Lazarus heads to the county clerk's office and wants to fill out a licence.  He then looks into the tray and finds Patrick's licence when the clerk gets a call.  He then leaves after saying he's been stood up.   After hearing about the DNA belonging to Joe Snr.  Cho believes that Lazarus is till alive and asks Abbott for his advice.  He wonders if he should tell Patrick and Lisbon and Abbott doesn't think they should cos Lisbon will cancel the wedding and join the hunt.  They know he'll come after Patrick. Abbot also says they should have some agents at the house and Tork comes in, telling then that Dan's been reported as missing but he spoke to him at the same time and told him about Patrick's wedding cos his caller Id checked out, so Abbott tells him to prepare a helicopter as they may need it.  It was good to see Cho actually behind the desk and settling into his new role.  Also Abbott repeats what Cho said about how they're FBI and they can handle it.

Patrick asks what they were talking about, Abbot says nothing.  Then he sits down and asks him if he's coming back to work cos if he's not then they have some legal issues to deal with as Patrick recalls that napkin.  He's getting married, building a house and then he doesn't know what he's doing after that.  He loves Abbot for his honesty.  As he walks off Abbot stops and says he was lying and tells him about Lazarus.  Patrick hugs him.

At Abbott's house, Lisbon and Wylie talk about the guests and how they've increased cos she didn't send out printed invites.  Also Abbott is covering all the catering costs and costs of the wedding as his gift to her.  As he shows her a menu.  Lisbon's entire family arrives and Stan brings his fiance. Lisbon is overwhelmed with her family.  Patrick finds Lisbon at Abbot's house and she's in tears.  All she wanted was a small wedding and now everyone's here.  Her family wouldn't even notice cos they've discovered the mini bar.  Patrick says they should marry at the cabin and he can call the judge and tell her.  Lazaus hides in the judge's car boot.  Also telling Lisbon about Lazarus and she's angry he didn't tell her.
                                       
Wylie tells Cho about the court clerk calling about a burnt man who was checking out the forms.  He knows all the forms and they don't have the venue just the judge's name.  Patrick has his back to he Airstream as Lisbon walks out in her wedding dress.  He says they should promise to look on the bright side always.  They enter the cabin and Lazarus follows them with a gun.  Inside it's empty but then agents swoop on him.  Including Lisbon with her gun and Patrick sneaks out behind her and hands her the bouquet, taking the gun from her.  They are married and he lifts her veil and kisses her!! Swoon!  Ha.  All the guest are dancing as Patrick and Lisbon sit by the lake.  They're happy and she says she needs to tell him something as she has her hand on her stomach.  Patrick thinks she's joking and after all this time he should know her better.  He's happy at the news and they hug.

SO it ended.  Not what we would've expected seven years ago, but still it was a happy ending. Though I would like to know what happened with the list of names though and am guessing Patty stayed on with the FBI cos of the thrill of the chase, as he told Abbott and that the list didn't come into it.  Still would've been good to get some closure on it.  We needed another ep for that instead of wasting two on Lazarus.  Didn't like that at all.  I still think there could've been plenty of potential in the Red John story and finishing it off so abruptly made me feel cheated.  There clearly couldv'e been more made of this instead of fizzling out the way it did.  I can still dream there's a smiley face somewhere in that wedding scene! Ha.  Maybe in the sly the twinkle in Patrick's eye as he hugs Lisbon!  So I'm a cynic, but to me Patrick will be Red John and wish they had the sense and guts to carry that through!

The wedding was sweet and Cho had great taste in picking out her dress!!  So it started with Patty losing his wife and daughter and ended with him gaining a new wife and a child on the way! Also with a serial killer, though he wasn't in Red John's league.  Still something more on Red John would've been good.  Hey if Patrick was Red John, you can he could fulfill his psychopathic tendencies again and have a new wife and child to menace!!  But at least the ep got Cho to smile and to laugh and boy did he laugh!

Now all that remains is to see the cast elsewhere and especially Simon Baker!!

That title, White Orchids, all I could think of was that awful movie Wild Orchid (1989) and only worth watching for Bruce Greenwood! Ha.

The Mentalist 7.12 "Brown Shag Carpet" Review

                                            
A woman named Susan (Jennifer Christopher) tells her husband Bill (John D'Aquino) that there's someone sitting outside  the car and he keep watching her.  Bill remarks that serial killers don't lurk in cars.  He goes outside to check it out and finds a man in a car at the back, but calls him a drunk. When he gets back in the front door is open and Susan is gone.  Patrick (Simon Baker) takes Lisbon (Robin Tunney) to the woods and that cabin to surprise her.  He bought it and he wants to fix it up whilst she's at work.  He needs something to do and she asks him if he's decided he's leaving.  He doesn't know yet.  She tells him she has needs too, like knowing he won't leave again.  He replies he's committed and the house is a good place to start.  As we know this is Patty and he has other things in mind to show his commitment.  Lisbon also wants to know if he's taking off his wedding ring cos he's been wearing it a long time.  But he's used to wearing it.  Lisbon is called and Abbott (Rockmond Dunbar) tells her they've got another one.

At the CS they find Susan and she's had her fingernail taken too.  She was shot in the chest and Patrick tells them the killer isn't being careful but rather playful.  He also sees a mark one arm which looks like an IV line and the killer removed some of her blood but they don't know why.  Cho (Tim Kang) brings in Tork (Joshua Biton) from the Santa Fe office, he used to work at CBI and he's worked with Patrick before, so he knows what he's like as he says, you have to keep your hand on your wallet when Patrick's around.  Lisbon says the profilers aren't able to put anything concrete on age etc of the Vics and Patrick says it's more likely what he's killing for.

He thinks the killer needs the blood for something and all of the recent bodies had blood removed but Lisbon adds the older bodies were too decayed for them to find any marks.  Wylie (Joe Adler) mentions vampirism as a possible online theory.  Tork comes up with the plan to make Patrick appear to the media as a fake psychic and the serial killer might get taken in.  Patrick walks away as he hates that idea.  Cho reminding Tork of Patrick losing his wife and daughter.  He makes himself a cup of tea and Lisbon tells him about Gabriel's autopsy which shows he had small lesions on his brain, which made him hallucinate.  Patrick thinks that's why he believed himself to be a psychic. Lisbon adds there's no such thing.  As she also says sorry for mentioning his ring.

Wylie tells them Austin PD may have shot the serial killer but it turns out it was just a man collecting bottles from the trash with his wife, who didn't speak any English and was shot by the homeowner cos everyone's on edge with the serial killer on the loose.  Patrick wants to go along with Tork's plan but Lisbon is adamant.  He thinks it's the only way.  At the TV station, Patrick sits next to the TV anchor, Dan (John Marshall Jones) and tells him about the birth of his baby daughter named Alexa. No one told him that.  Seen this scene before haven't we a few times in the show.  A nice continuation to round things up and coming full circle too.  As we recall this is how it all stared for Patrick and the show.  He then does the same to some women hosts after telling one of them about her aunt.   Tork comes in to relieve Lisbon and she goes home.  Why Patrick's Airstream though and not her own house.

At the radio show a man named Lazarus (Aubrey Deeker) calls in ad he's the serial killer as he knows things and talks about pain and Tork calls to have the call traced.  Patrick says if he knows something about the case then he should tell them.  He talks about the other psychic and he was a fake.  Abbot saying no one else knew about the word being etched on Gabriel's arm.  Wylie traces the call to a landline and when they arrive there, they find the phone's been rigged.  He believes in spirits and wants to know who haunts Patrick.  Abbot tells them to come into the office and Patrick calls Lisbon. She gets to the Airstream and asks if he left the door open.  He tells her to get back but she insists on checking it out.  Yeah very clever Lisbon, how long has she been an agent for, it could've been rigged for all she knew.  Inside it's empty and she thinks he left the door open.  So how come all of a sudden Patrick's lost his memory and doesn't recall if he closed the door or not.

He gets into the car with Tork and suddenly the car is rammed.  Patrick is abducted and Tork is taken to hospital.  He is handcuffed to the table with a pillow over his head.  Abbott says everyone is going to be working on this and he apologizes to Lisbon for not listening.  But that Patrick is the best person to exploit the situation and he was right.  He talks to Lazarus who offers him some water.  He tells Lazarus it's his father's place cos of the furniture and could use some modernization.  Patrick tells him this doesn't work the way he saw it on TV but Patrick isn't a liar.  He pulls a gun on him.

Tork returns and Cho tells him it could've happened to any one of them.  Wylie has been looking into the blood aspects of the case and has found a bookshop called The Grimoire, which Cho tells Abbott is a magical textbook.  Wylie thinks they should check it out cos that's what Patrick would do.  As he says, usual things would give the usual results, dead.  Patrick tells Lazarus he was raised by his strict father after his mother died and he ate alone cos he hated the sounds people made when they ate. Lazarus wants to contact someone, but Patrick says there aren't any spirits around him.  His phone rings and he leaves for a job.  Patrick asking him for the bottle of water.  He takes the cap and gets a nail out of the table which he uses to undo his handcuffs.  He looks around the room gathering Intel. Such as a credit card bill and opens the door to find a skeleton, that of Lazarus's father with blood on it.

At the store, the woman, Kelis (Kiersten Warren) says she was arrested cos she told one of her friends about the Santeria ritual and they cut up one chicken.  Wylie mentions human blood and also that if she helps them with a name they'll help her with the Austin PD.  She agrees to help by giving them the IP address of something called Blackmoore and Wylie asks Cho if he did good.  Wylie finds there's plenty of discussion about blood rituals and some months ago there was a discussion about harvesting blood.  He found a college professor named Alan (Tony Pasqualini). The most common use of the ritual is binding the spirit to a DB.

Patrick finds a box with a photo and fingernails inside it.  The professor s brought in but he's lawyered up.  Lisbon tells Abbot to let her talk it him.  She says he doesn't care what kinky stuff he's into all she's interested in is getting her friend back.  Even if he wants to get her fired she doesn't care. She'll tell all his colleagues about his disgusting activities.  He finally gives her a list of eight names. Cho finds that the professor's credit card shows he was out of the country for two killings.  Patrick is back in his handcuffs and tells Lazarus that Big Joe, his father is here.  He hopes he feels better and isn't hurting him anymore.  Patrick tells him to stop doubting or the connection will be lost. Patrick mentions a lake called Rickasee, Lazarus corrects him, Pickaseee.  He then says he needs to rest for an hour before he can continue, asking for some gum.  He then gets free of his cuffs again and turns out the light in the boiler before sticking gum to the lightbulb.

Lazarus tells him there's a voice in him which he has to satisfy and he has to get blood.  Cho and Lisbon speak to Rita Martinez (Ivette Gonzalez) who is an apartment manager and asks about Joe Keller.  He emailed her about doing exterminator work for her.  Wylie finds Joe Snr was a serial killer, or suspected of being one by Austin PD.  His house was on Lake Pickasee.  Lisbon goes to check it out.  Lazarus returns and Patrick tells him his father wants to see him.  He opens the door and asks if he smells gas.  Patrick gets out of his cuffs and Lazarus switches on the light, finally the house blows, just as Lisbon arrives and that's what happened in  Fire and Brimstone, when Lisbon arrived at Patty's house when he had the five RJ suspects gathered there.   She finds Patrick inside and tells him to never do that again to her

Lisbon asking him if he's bought her another horse in the beginning.  It was a pony.  So Patrick gets out alive and what's the betting Lazarus survived.  Well it's not just the name you know, ha, he has to otherwise there wouldn't be much they could've down in the final ever episode.  Okay so I was wrong about Red John, as mentioned in the review of the previous ep, which is a shame cos there were enough clues and red herrings to have gone back to that connection, but that route wasn't taken. Still as I said before this does come round full circle in psychics and fake psychics were mostly the staple of the show.  But why the mention of Byzantium in the title, unless the red was a reference to blood.

Still can't see Patrick in that cabin even if he now wants to be in the great outdoors.  It's not just Lisbon either, though she's probably happy just being with him.  I've reviewed this in two episodes cos it's easier that way even if we did get it all in one episode.

Patrick on TV was done in  season 4 ep, Blinking Red Light.  One nitpick though is how Patrick was associated with Red John all those years, appeared on TV and on the radio, not to mention that big trial when he allegedly killed Red John and hey no one recognized him now.  Boy Austin must be a small place!! ha.  Also he was at the press conference Gabriel gave at the FBI building too.

John D'Aquino in a small part here, you may recall him as Frank Lamotta from Quantum Leap, Jimmy's brother.  I used a quote of his in my Quantum Leap book introduction.
http://www.amazon.com/Leaping-infinity-Unofficial-unauthorized-articles/dp/1291438289/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1430524791&sr=8-6&keywords=mila+hasan

The Vampire Diaries 6.14 "Stay" Review

                                                
Damon (Ian Somerhalder) and Elena (Nina Dobrev) compel Principal Weber (Dan Bright) to let Jeremy (Steven R McQueen) graduate so he can leave Mystic Falls and study Art.  Didn't they do that before and look what happened, don't know why they think Jeremy would leave and why he would study.  So Alaric (Matt Davis) and Matt (Zach Roerig) throw him a farewell party, where Alaric lets him have a drink and Enzo bugs Matt to carry on helping him with the Sarah (Tristin Mays) plan. She walks in the door as the manager wants new photos of the place and she'll be paid.  Elena and Damon tell him he's graduated and it took some help, as Damon places a graduation cap on Jeremy's head and leaves a little something inside it for him.  So that he can have it later, as long as Elena doesn't know.  Otherwise he'll kill him again.

The sheriff (Marguerite MacIntyre) goes over her cold cases, as we flash back to the hospital when Elena's parents were brought in along with her after the accident.  She thinks it could be something more and she calls Damon about it.  Her mother left her a voice message telling her she had something she wanted to say to her.  She also found the car had luggage and Damon notices there weren't any skid marks on the road and they took a different route.  Meaning something must've happened.  She seems a lousy sheriff cos Damon's the perp in most all her investigations, but they became friends as well.

Elena knows about the joint and agrees to let Jeremy smoke it as she shares it with him.  He wants her car cos she can just compel another one and they talk about how many cars he had and destroyed. Damon calls her and she leaves, leaving him alone and at the mercy of Enzo (Michael Malarkey) who shows up to use him as leverage and enabling Matt to take Sarah to a meeting place.  Matt having looked at her pics on the camera finds one of her, probably in the buff.  At the bridge, she tells him she doesn't have a boyfriend and Enzo calls again telling him he's there, he just needs to move over a little bit.  As he promptly proceeds to run him over!  Both of them being in shock and Sarah waits for the ambulance, Enzo shows up and says he can help, but she mustn't be afraid of what she's going to see, he vamps and feeds him his blood, before speeding off.  So that's the big plan then.  Not very impressed.

Caroline (Candace Accola) and Stefan (Paul Wesley) get her old house ready for her mother with her favourite things surrounding her and then she worries that maybe she won't be able to finish reading Jane Eyre, cos it's so long.  She was right about that.  Stefan tells her to let him worry about that and she knows her mother asked him to look after her.  Caroline finds her pink bike on which she learned to ride.  As she sees Stefan flexing his muscles up on a ladder.  He was sad that she told him how she hated him and Caroline says she didn't really hate him, as they kiss.

Elena doesn't recall what happened that day and she was texting in the car.  How the sheriff looked after them and even tried to cook for them, which surprises Damon.  Jeremy tells Elena about Enzo and she wants to take care of him, but he doesn't want his sister to handle a bully for him.  She asks him about the message and if he recalls that day and he knows their mother called the sheriff to threaten him about smoking pot.  That's what the phone message was for and Jenna was laughing behind the door.  That was their last conversation, an argument behind the door.  Damon tells the sheriff about the call and they were heading to a cabin, that's why the luggage.  It was the night of the storm and the powerline was down, so they had to take the alternative route.  The road was probably still slippery.  The sheriff is surprised that's all it was and she takes off her badge.  Damon takes her home as she feels faint.

He tucks her into bed and he has to tell Caroline she won't be able to surprise her today.  Asking for a drink, she passes out and Damon takes her to the hospital.  Caroline is angry she should've been with her and she didn't get to say goodbye.  Stefan says she still can and makes her relive her memories, when she learned to ride the bike and she let go of her.  Which is what she's doing here.  She flatlines. Strange this ep should feature the death of Elena's parents and the sheriff's own death too, in contrast to the way they died.  However she tells Damon it was just an accident and maybe if it had been supernatural, it would've been easier to deal with.  Just as hers is 'normal' too.  But unfair since she's done so much for her family and everyone else.

Elena tells Jeremy she'll send him her SUV and Alaric drives him to he airport, only he doesn't. Instead he drives him to the bus stop and gives him a map where he believes some unexplained attacks are taking place.  Jeremy's going hunting and he's got to produce some artwork.  He'll keep in touch and if Elena finds out then she'll kill Alaric.  See that's what I said, they tried that before and obviously Jeremy isn't and can't leave this life, it's what he does now, though he really wasn't much good with Enzo.  He also tells Alaric to call if Bonnie gets back and once again he's the only one who even thinks of her.  I mean even Caroline doesn't need one of her best friends now that she has Stefan.  Damon also reminding the sheriff about his mother and how he visited her with flowers. Guess she's going to turn up now.  As well as Enzo also threatening Matt's mother so he'll help him with his plan.  How crazy is that, instead of turning to his friends, he goes along with manipulating Sarah into this whole vampire business he hates.

Benedict Cumberbatch Talk Highlights from Sherlocked Event 2015

So Benedict comes on the stage, to the theme of Sherlock and suddenly there's a standing ovation and unless you were at the front you missed it!  A lot of head bopping and iPads and phones flashing in   the way.

First question was from the moderator asking if Bene remembers his first audition for Sherlock and he met Mark and Steven at Sue Vertue's house.  He was a bit nervous and thought that Beryl [Vertue] was playing Mrs Hudson cos she was offering him so many cups of tea and biscuits.  Steven felt funny he was reading their beautiful lines as he'd written them and Bene felt good.  It felt good.  He thought the writers/producers in Mark and Steven was a great staple for what could be a very tricky idea.  He knew Mark, Steven's work and his parents had known the Vertue's.  He had a moped back then and thought it would be amazing if it worked out and "...here we are!"

Moderator saying how Martin's [Freeman] Watson is fantastic, to applause from the audience.  Bene was a huge fan of Martin's in The Office and he'd seen him on stage.  As soon as Martin was there when filming, he made Bene up his work.  As soon as they started reading together, Bene thought this would be a fantastic fit, a great chemistry.

Bene really liked the Pilot and the finished result.  It was different, "I had more hair and it was more modern.  He [Watson] was rather lucid, adolescent, jeans, rather than a suit.  The show expanded, became richer and evolved. Groundbreaking it its effects, music editing."

"I don't have the abilities he does, I don't have the same black curly hair he does, I don't pay the violin and I have a family on the way."

The last ep of S1 was filmed first Bene found the transition from the first series to the second series difficult, the second to the third it felt comfortable.  It took a bit of getting used to by the time of The Hound of the Baskervilles.

Moderator talking about Bene's breathing techniques:  pages of exposition.
"Learning was difficult, getting the details right, good and bad days, would it work.  Doing it all in one breath  and he has to be incredibly articulate and diction has to be incredibly precise.  Bene watched the last ep of the last series last night and he could hear a bit of slurring and he was cross with himself, cos normally it has to be so, so crisp, it has to be.  It's great fun for the audience, you just sit there going "F***!" His first and only time of swearing.  For which he apologized.

He was shooting the Orangery scene of the best man speech for five days [The Sign of Three]. It became like doing a one man show.  Going from best man speech, to interacting with the characters such as Mycroft et al, [in his mind palace] was hard to do but good fun.

Moderator: Jeremy Brett said if he met Sherlock on the street he'd cross the road, Bene would do the same if he saw his Sherlock coming towards him.  "He [Sherlock] doesn't have  a lot of time for pleasantries or niceness and I quite like that.  People want to beautify him and in reality I understand why because he's brilliant, ferocious, he's a brutal human being, he has to be, to be an to be at the level of his game and have that mental acuity.   I know other people who are brilliant in my life, I'm married to one and they are very wonderful people.  They're very ...thanks for the applause..." when he mentioned being married to one.

"It'd be very hard to be cosy with him [Sherlock] have a pint and just kind of just take the edge of things with him, he's always at the very front of energy and he's ruthlessly duplicitous as well."

Moderator why didn't Molly tell him to sod off.  Wouldn't you tell him to sod off?  He asks the audience.
Bene: "girls... it's like Bond...the romance of these characters, that if I was the person looking after them, he'd be alright. There's a more mature understanding between them now to an extent.  Molly saved his life."

Moderator: "she was also having it off with Moriarty."
Bene: "I don't think Sherlock was jealous of that!"

Some questions from the audience:

How does Bene feel when he comes back to shoot Sherlock and the Special?
Bene: the short answer is he loves it, even if they don't have the budget of Star Trek, they can do a lot with the budget they do have.  "I don't see a disparity and difference in scale of quality.  As long as we keep it fresh and keep evolving it, then it's going to get better and better and better ."

Fave ep to shoot or to watch back:
Bene: he has fave bits: the rooftop scene on St Bart's [The Reichenbach Fall] the falling and the landing and the explanation.  That was great fun, chases in London. Scenes with Lars [Mikkelsen] an extraordinary  actor.. and Martin in every scene... there's stuff we've just done that I really can't talk about.  The Wedding ep, cos of the turn in it and thought it was stunningly crafted.  Playing the violin was his least fave thing of all time.  "It's a nightmare I'm so bad at it.  I can hardly hold the thing...it's like I'm such a fraud."

How feel having all these people wanting to see you here at the convention?  Going from being small to big.
Bene: "what do you mean by, "so small..feels pretty extraordinary.  This is normal this normalizes it cos I get to speak to you in my own voice."  He's not very self-conscious like he is walking through a shopping centre and "people noticing me...I'm still adjusting to it...comfortable being able to talk like this now..feels like I'm the same person before this began."

He nearly went to the University of East Anglia.

Any bits in Sherlock script he's scared of doing?
Bene: "it's a treat and may make a meal of it sometimes, that is great, we're the fist audience of these scripts, it's so enjoyable."

What does he think of the connection between Moriarty and Sherlock.
Bene: "they're two sides of the same coin, there's lot of reflection, he's the dark shadow of Holmes.
No one can humiliate better, confuse him better than Moriarty.  Andrew [Scott] is the most phenomenal actor.  He knew what he could bring that could make it so exciting.  Everyone needs an adversary that is going to excel them."


Charles Augustus Silverton, Bene corrects the moderator: Magnussen.

A fan asked about shipping and the relationships and Bene's thoughts on this.  I was really glad he gave the answer that he did when he said he as in shipping containers.  He doesn't ship, maybe to Bangkok or somewhere, they could ship the show to other countries.  Everyone knows Bene's opinion on 'shipping', fan fiction etc, so why ask this question.  It's all good and well that people ship and that's fine, but not everyone does and we don't need it rammed down our throats every second.  Some of us just watch the show for what it is, without having to go into the 'shipping' aspect of it.  Maybe we can ship those fans who do together somewhere.  Ha.
Sorry if that sounds harsh, but that's a opinion which everyone is entitled to.

Anyway Bene left once again to a standing ovation!

A bit of a shame no one bothered venturing to the back of the stage since all the 'privileged' lot down the front got their questions asked, or at least most of them did, as if no one else was there.  Could've made some effort in that respect to be fair to everyone, we did after all, all pay for the talk!

Sorry about the lack of photos, there were only so many could get from being sooo far back!!

Revenge 4.17 "Loss" Review

                                               
Emily (Emily VanCamp) has a flashback to the night the police arrested her father and dragged him away from her and wakes when Carl slams his bowl down.  She doesn't want the same thing for Carl since a parent shouldn't be separated from their child, as she tells David (James Tupper).  Who is looking after Carl, he brings him a yellow taxi toy to play with.  She says that whoever did this will pay and thinks Margaux (Karine Vanasse) must've done it since she's coming after her, but why would she go after Jack.  Let's not question Margaux's rationality, cos she has none.  David knows Jack (Nick Wechsler) would never drink and drive, especially not with Carl.  She has to help Jack and leaves for the bail hearing, with David telling Carl at least someone in the family listens to him.

Schaefer (Jeffrey David Anderson) brings him to the jail asking if he has to be cuffed and his blood test will prove that he wasn't drinking.  But conveniently the lab has mislaid his blood sample.  He thinks maybe Schaefer could be dirty.  Jack walks in to find Emily called his mother, Stevie (Gail O'Grady) who flew down to defend him.  She asks if he was drinking and he replies no.  She knows he's telling the truth cos she was an alcoholic herself and so would see it in his eyes.

Margaux is having an ultrasound and Victoria (Madeleine Stowe) shows up with a sketch of the wing she wants to name after Daniel.  There's a meeting of the hospital board and she's hoping they will back it up cos she knows they need the money to save lives.  She also says they can announce Margaux's pregnancy at the board meeting.  Which Margaux doesn't want to do.  They hear the baby's heartbeat and see the picture.  Nolan (Gabriel Mann) tells Louise (Elena Satine) that Jack is in trouble and Ben (Brian Hallisay) turns up as he's leaving.  He breaks the news about Lyman being found and she says he was drunk the night before and she hadn't seen him.  Nolan replies the only argument was between him and Louise cos he didn't want Lyman staying here.

Jack pleads not guilty but the DA thinks he's a flight risk.  Stevie tells Judge Knowles (Lucinda Jenney) about his ties to the community and is a decorated officer and should be released without bail.  The judge however orders Social Services to check him out.  Stevie knows the judge is seeking re-election.  Thought she was a bit of a useless judge and too ready to throw the book at Jack.  Emily sees Margaux there and tells her this is between them and she should leave Jack out of it.  She refuses and her lackey stops Emily from getting hold of Margaux.  She insists it was all Emily who started this and anything that happens to Jack is her fault.

Alexander (Tim Powell) tells Victoria the board denied her proposal, there was one person who voted against it.  The voting is anonymous but he's trying to find out who it is.  Victoria notices Emily's name on the list and assumes it was her.  Of course it wasn't, she wouldn't do anything like that to Daniel now, especially after he saved her life.  Stevie knows Margaux needs someone on the inside to go after Jack and Nolan looks for bank deposits, but finds nothing on Schaefer.  Jack thinks someone probably spiked his orange juice.  Nolan checks out the cameras at the bar and Emily notices it's the same man with Margaux at the courthouse.  He blocks the camera angle and moves his glass.  Emily finds where he lives and as she's at his apartment, he turns up.  They fight and she manages to pull a gun on him, demanding Jack's blood sample.  He gives it to her, but throws it in the air and runs away when she catches it.

Emily finds Ben and passes him the blood sample, the seal is still intact.  He tells him to find some way to get it back into the lab and that it's got to be found there.  Stevie can make sure it's found.  The social worker, Tony (Joshua Pence) asks where Carl is and he's with his grandfather, but has doubts when Jack replies they're probably at the beach.  Also asking if anyone in his family has problems with alcohol.  Stevie says she does, being a recovering alcoholic and Jack pleads for Carl not to lose his father too, after already losing his mother.  Tony then asks Nolan about Jack and he defends him saying Tony is trying to take children from their parents and asking where he was when his father kicked him out of the house, when he found him with another boy.  Nolan wishes his father loved him like Jack loves Carl.

Margaux's henchy says he needs anoher place to stay and that Emily found him so he had to give her the blood sample.  She tells him about Lyman and he thinks Emily killed him too.  Oh yeah, she just goes round killing everyone.  Margaux tells him she doesn't want his help anymore cos no one was supposed to get hurt, that's not who she is.  He argues she's a LaMarchel and he won't see that name dragged through the mud.  Emily is on the phone with Nolan as someone's tripped the security system, she walks inside and finds Victoria.  She walked in through the beach and confronts her about not approving the Daniel memorial at the hospital.  She says it wasn't her, she took the time out to vote for the proposal and she wouldn't jeopardize that after Daniel saved her life.  She tells her that Margaux to stop the vendetta against Jack.  She's still holding up the truce she has with Victoria.

Stevie asks Schaefer if the alcohol was on Jack's breath or could've been on his clothes from bartending.  He doesn't know.  He may have been anxious cos innocent people are when they're stopped by the police.  The lab found the blood sample and she requests it to be admitted in evidence, citing precedence, but the judge holds her in contempt.  No judge would do that so quickly, she did nothing wrong to be held in contempt.  Stupid judge as Homer Simpson would say!  David posts Stevie's bail and he felt he owed her after she tried to help him back then.  She is sorry she couldn't do more for him but was also going through her own issues.  She tells him he's got a chance to get to know Emily now and should take it, just as she has with Jack.  Also adding that Emily needs her father even now.

Stevie tells them she believes Knowles must be the inside man and Nolan finds a list of papers that have contributed to the Judge's fund.  All LaMarcel publications.  Victoria brings Margaux a baby crib and other toys and breaks the news to the proposal being voted against.   Margaux admits it was her who voted against it cos she didn't want to announce the pregnancy.  It would cast a shadow over the baby and she can't let that happen.  At the bar, Nolan brings over a bottle of wine to the judge saying she's got a secret admirer.  He asks if would like a glass. but she prefers to stick to her water. Later Ben pulls her up cos someone complained of her cutting a corner at the bar.  She tests positive when he gives her a breathalyser test, which shows .15, she was even more over the limit than Jack was.  The courthouse calls her and Emily tells her there was acetone in her water, which was found in model glue, as Jack's orange was also laced with this.  She wants her to drop the charges and let Jack's blood test be admitted, otherwise the LaMarchel bribes will be made public.

Stevie wants to take them to lunch to celebrate but Emily has something to do.  David tells her to move on from this and stop the fighting.  Emily doesn't think she can.  She didn't start this, but David says she should finish this.  She later speaks with Margaux outside the building and says she wants to put this behind them.  She gives Margaux her word and also her real birth certificate so Margaux can use it how she wants.  When she's standing hailing a cab, one comes out of nowhere and runs her over.  At the hospital Emily brings her bag and Victoria is already there.  Emily tells her she was calling a truce and the taxi came out of nowhere, it was an accident.  Victoria tells her to get out and Emily has her certificate in her hand.  Just as well she took it back.

Margaux says she lost the baby and Victoria will vow revenge on Emily again now as she tells her that Emily pushed her.  Oh yeah, where's all the camera's now?  See the revenge will never be over or the show would end, wonder if it will end after this season or not.  Thus their truce will now be over. Have a feeling Victoria only liked Margaux and was 'sucking' up to her cos she just wanted Daniel's baby for herself.

Nolan asks if Louise wants to go to his funeral.  She comes clean and tells him he doesn't have any secrets with her so she can't with him.  Telling him they fought after Lyman was in his black laptop and he went over the edge.  Also that it's too close to what happened to her father that's why she didn't tell Ben.  Nolan thinks it's better to keep quiet.  Tony meets Nolan at the bar and then notices his ring, he tells him it's a long story behind his marriage.  He was moved by Nolan's defence of Jack.  Emily is upset and tells David that s he tried to end it with Margaux.

Oh no I just thought, did David run Margaux over in the taxi, so Emily would be able to put it all behind her and in the past with Margaux gone.  It's my brain working overtime again, especially since I got these random notions of grandeur!  Ha.  But the foreshadowing was there.  David giving Carl the toy taxi.  But wouldn't you think that Margaux with her millions would have her own driver!?! Also Stevie did tell him that Emily still needs him, maybe he thought he couldn't kill Victoria, but he could help Emily with Margaux.   Anyway, just a thought, unless her henchman was behind it, cos that taxi had no intention of slowing down and he told her that she shouldn't stop the revenge with Emily for the sake of the family name.  This would be one way for it to continue, if Emily was blamed.

Wish Margaux had got it though, she's just so, uh annoying, to put it mildly.  Lying again now, it's no wonder she lost the baby, imagine the sort of mother she'd make, so much for wanting to clear Daniel's name.  This will achieve it?  Oh no Nolan, wrong time to have gotten married, meeting Tony now.  At least Jack got Carl back and he and Stevie can get to be a proper family now.

Sherlocked Event Convention 24-26th April 2015

The first Official Sherlocked Convention got underway at ExCeL, London and included a must of exhibits and props from Sherlock.  Here are some pics from the event.  With highlights of Benedict Cumberbatch's Talk to follow.

Having been to many conventions now, I have to say I didn't have as enjoyable time as I have had at the others, especially since this is one of the ones I was actually looking forward to.  That was a little bit disappointing.  Of course not everyone shares this view (it's only mine) but did speak to many other fans who felt the same way.  Ranging from disorganization, to not receiving items they had ordered for collection and generally not having much help when they needed it.

More from the interior set of Sherlock

The Costumes of Sherlock

The Woman: Irene Adler

The Wedding: The Sign of Three

The Christmas Special

Enjoy the pics, if you use them elsewhere, please acknowledge source!!

CSI 15.14 "Merchants of Menace" Review

                                                 
A serial killer's car is being auctioned off at a serial killer's convention, as we see macabre buyers attending the event.  The car is unveiled, belonging to serial killer, Lucas Reem, the 'Sin City Slasher' and there's a DB inside it.  It's Damon (Bobby Campo) who also runs the convention with the auctioneer/partner.  DB (Ted Danson) and Morgan (Elisabeth Harnois) attend the CS and mention how Lucas was executed for the killings recently.  Morgan recalls he was running around the city when she was 12, her parents were together and they were living in Vegas.  Her mother double checked all the doors and windows.  DB says it wasn't that different up North.  David (David Berman) finds he was killed around 10 hours ago and the COD are numerous stab wounds.  Damon's partner tells DB that he hasn't spoken to him since last night.

Greg (Eric Szmanda) arrives at the CS and stops two fans of Lucas's from taking selfies with Damon in the car.  He tells them there must be something better to do at Dead Owl Creek, as Mitch (Larry Mitchell) runs their licences for criminal records.  They come back clean and Greg says they should let them go if they promise not to come here anymore.  Well that was a little premature of him.  Don't know why they wrote this into Greg's storyline, cos thinking about the ending it was like he was partially to blame for what happened, but that was far from the case.  Oh and they had to mention Nate Haskill too and his face on a T-shirt!  Going back to S11 of the show and Ray's nemesis. Morgan found prints in the car belonging to Nora Waters (Mekenna Melvin)  who was the sister of one of Lucas's Vics.  As well as finding unusual blood spatter pattern on the car, as if something had brushed inside the blood.

Nora tells Sara(Jorga Fox) that her sister Rachel hid her in the closet and she watched her being killed by Lucas.  But that she was in love with Damon and didn't kill him.  She wrote him nasty e-mails about dealing in this kind of memorabilia and then met for coffee.  He explained he was studying such killers.  She sat in the car with him and it gave her a strange, emotional feeling.  DB questions Bruce Waters (Greg Evigan) her father. He asks if Db was here back then twenty years ago, but he wasn't and adds that Nora is not strong cos she makes such decision, such as dating Damon.

Doc (Robert David Hall) tells Nick (George Eads) Damon was stabbed eleven times with a large blade, similar to the one used by Lucas. As well as finding a bone fragment inside him.  Henry (Jon Wellner) runs DNA and finds it comes back to Lucas.  Morgan finds Damon was selling a knife made out of Lucas's bone, so he was killed by his memorabilia, as Nick points out.  They head back to the convention and find that someone had stolen the knife right off the table.  The coroner says that Lucas's DB was attached after the execution, so he must've had the bones removed after.  The mortician, Roy (Dominic Hoffman) was meant to cremate his DB and give closure to the Vic's families admits someone stole his DB from the table.  He didn't report it for this reason and also cos he offered his services for free and his business would've suffered.  He did however find a discarded bottle of bourbon there, which he kept cos he had every intention of reporting the theft.

The prints match a Todd Spanna (Rod Estes) and he wrote a book saying he brought down the serial killer, Lucas Reem.  He also deals in such memorabilia and has a website.  Nick tells Finn (Elisabeth Shue) he knows of him.  He called the police when he saw Lucas washing his bloody hands with a hose.  He says he didn't steal his DB and he didn't kill Damon.  There are followers of Lucas who hated him for turning him in and could've planted it.  Also he knows there's a 'blood market' out there of people who collect such memorabilia.  They sell the illegal items and he can give him user names. This comes back to Bruce.  Morgan also finds his prints on the table where the knife was taken. Bruce has gone missing and Sara speaks with Nora again.  She is adamant he didn't kill anyone and Damon was helping him get back the knives so that he could destroy them.  The deal was meant to happen tonight.

Nick and Sara arrive and find Bruce's DB.  Sara notices the Beretta doesn't have any bullets in it, so Nick surmizes he didn't have the $20,000 to pay for the knives and was killed.  Sara notice she has something in his mouth.  Back at the lab she finds it's apiece of suede from a jacket.  Morgan shows her the photos of the unusual pattern and thinks the jacket could've rubbed in the blood.  It has Lucas's DNA on it and resembles the same jacket he used to wear.  Nick asks Todd who bought his jacket, but he says that'd be worth plenty.  Todd tells him he knows where the blood market people hang out and gives them the address.  Nick goes undercover as a dealer and is let to Gunnar (Christopher Kerson).   He shows them what he has to offer and it's a miniature from the Miniature Killer case.  Well it had to be one of their past cases and this was a good one to go back to.  He's looking for the knives and Gunnar calls out Jacob (Rodney Eastman).  Nick also wants that jacket, but he refuses.  He says there's a vein in Nick's neck which is working overtime, so he thinks he's hiding something.  Nick tells him to move the knife away and then grabs it from him.  The police raid the place.

Jacob tells Finn Lucas's spirit has taken him over.  Hodges (Wallace Langham) texts Finn that the jacket is a cheap knock off.  Finn tells him he's going down for obstruction.  She couldn't say 'Waters' calling him 'Watters' everytime.  The knives were fake, except for one, which was made from the bones of serial Killer Gerald Palmer.  His DB was handled by Roy and he says he is innocent and has an alibi.  In exchange for his freedom he'll give them his client list.  Morgan finds nothing on the list, except Greg notices the address of Dead Owl Creek.  Putting the clues together leading back to Kyle (Richard Harmon) one of the boys from the beginning.

He's back at the convention, he wanted to keep all of Lucas's parts together and he's the one who thinks he's been taken over by Lucas.  He felt no remorse in taking their lives, to be just like him.  As he's lead away with Greg by his side and the rampant crowd snaps shots of him, he revels in the limelight.  DB tells Nora they caught the and he 'll be put away.  Nora says that's what her father used to say but it didn't help.  DB thinks he was trying to put everything behind him by doing this.

So another serial killer ep following go the heels of the Gig Harbour ep.  Funny they had Sara questioning Nora again, not a Vic per se, but the sister of one who's still suffering the nightmares from this.  Rather straightforward in terms of the suspect list being large as usual.  They seem to be doing that quite a bit this season.  It was sort of implied that if Greg hadn't let Kyle go, Bruce would've still been alive, then again they wouldn't have closed down that blood market.  Did get to mention Ed Gein, the territory of Criminal Minds.