Once Upon A Time 2.7 "Child of the Moon" Review

The dwarfs dig for diamonds and find them.  The Blue Fairy (Keegan Connor Tracy) tells Charming (Josh Dallas) to look after Jefferson's hat cos he'll need it when they get the fairy dust.   Billy (Jarod Joseph) asks Ruby (Meghan Ory) out but she's busy, Belle (Emilie de Ravin) says they're having a girl's night.  Billy was a mouse in Cinderella's castle.  Obviously since Billy was shown he was going to end up in some sort of trouble.  Granny (Beverley Elliott) empties the freezer and reinforces it so Ruby can be chained.  She lost her hood and doesn't know where it is.  She hasn't turned in 28 years cos of the curse, it's "wolfstime."  Charming says she won't hurt anyone.

Henry's (Jared S Gilmore) drinking coffee to say awake and Spencer (Alan Dale) confronts Charming.  But we don't know where he was hiding out all this time still.  Spencer and Charming can fight him here again.  He wants his family back.  He's just a shepherd pretending to be a prince and he's not fit to run the town.

Snow (Ginnifer Goodwin) and Red are on the run from the Queen's men in the woods and Snow rips her wanted poster from a tree.  Funny she got it screwed up so much in such a short time.  Red tore her hood and thinks it won't wok now.  Snow thinks it will.  She wants Snow to run.  They'll meet up at the stream.  Snow is being kind to her cos it's not who she really is.   They'll meet up at the stream.  Next day Ruby wakes and someone steals her hood.  Of course they would the way she just dropped it there.  His eyes glow, he's another wolf, Quinn (Ben Hollingsworth).  He tells her there's a way to control being a wolf and takes her to their secret hideout; the grand hall of the castle which has sunk to the ground.

Here she meets the rest of her pack and her mother, Anita (Annabeth Gish).  Granny lied to her.  Anita knows of how she can control being a wolf.  Ruby is found in the forest and thinks she killed someone as they find Billy dead, his legs in a dumpster.  Ruby wants to be locked up in jail so the town is protected from her.  Anita doesn't believe they're monsters.  She helps them embrace their true nature, she can only control the wolf by accepting it's part of her.  She doesn't need her hood.  She begins to run with the rest of the wolves.

Henry has another nightmare surrounded by fire (didn't he look like he was standing on a disco floor) there he sees another robed figure who has to be Aurora (Sarah Bolger).  He awakes to find Regina (Lana Parrilla) there.  Charming called her cos he's on an emergency.  She sees Henry has a real burn on his hand showing it wasn't just a dream.  She takes him to Gold (Robert Carlyle) for help and he gives him a potion contained in a talisman which she should wear around his neck when he sleeps.  Regina says her Vics weren't meant to wake up from the curse so she didn't care about them  A sleeping curse means their souls falls to Netherworld and it's real.  Even when the curse is broken the Vics find their way back to that world.  Just like Aurora.  Henry can control his actions in the world and his fear will stop.  Then he can come and go as he pleases.  Regina won't be able to afford a housecall but it's on him cos it's for Henry.  This means Aurora was also under a sleeping curse which is why she is having those dreams and finding herself in the Netherworld.

Spencer threatens Charming by getting the townsfolk to turn on him since he's protecting Ruby who he says is the real killer.  Charming takes her to the library where Belle will chain her up.  However Ruby wants to turn herself in cos she's to blame and should be punished for her actions.  Charming knows the only way to prove Ruby's innocence is to find out who really killed them.  Would have thought that was apparent, Spencer who else, surprised Charming didn't think of him.  Granny smells blood in the boot of  a car where they find Ruby's hood and an axe.  The car belongs to Spencer.  Ruby is cornered as a wolf and Charming tells them Spencer was responsible for the killings.  Charming talks Ruby down and makes her control her wolf side.  Spencer escapes and throws Jefferson's hat into the fire.  Like that will stop him from getting the others back.  Ruby stops Charming from shooting him.  She knows he'll find a way to bring them back and he'll have help.

Snow stumbles into their hideout by following wolf tracks like Red taught her.  The Queen's men follow and Anita wants her to kill Snow, they'll feast on her.  Red won't let her do that so she turns into a wolf and Anita is accidentally impaled.  Red saved Snow and she calls her family.  Snow was the only one who didn't make her choose between being a wolf and a human.  They go off in search of that cabin in the woods.

Henry sleeps again and ends up in the same place, he controls the fire and sees Aurora.  Emma (Jennifer Morrison) tells Snow Mulan knows where Cora might be.  Aurora tells them about seeing the boy whose name is Henry.  Gold coming to Henry's aid was a stroke of genius especially since it's a possible way of crossing between worlds now that Jefferson's hat is in the wind, er fire actually.  Since he's no longer in the show, he can't make anymore hats.  SO we don't know what happened to him or to Grace.  Hate things being left up in the air like that.

As for Spencer he was evil and cruel just for the sake of it since he doesn't really achieve much.  He couldn't get the townsfolk to turn against Charming and killed innocents, only to have his plan backfire on him.  Showing good did triumph after all.  Anyway what would Jefferson's hat have done as a portal is was already in tatters.

Red was a bit too hasty in going along with her mother and falling in with the wolfpack, so Snow had to help her there, as Charming helped Ruby in Storybrooke.  I didn't think her story was that memorable.  She knows she has good in her and she only killed Peter and no one else and was a bit too quick to fall on her sword.  Though the way her backstory was told it looked as though the wolves had come to Storybrooke too and did the killing.  But not clever enough since Spencer was an obvious guilty party from the outset.

"May you always run free beneath the moon's pale light."

The title is a Rollin' Stones song on the reverse side of Jumpin' Jack Flash from 1968.  Ruby's arrowhead earrings are a tribute to Quinn. who was killed by an arrow when they came for Snow in the hideout.  Also the blue star on the tow truck was an allusion to the Blue Fairy as she appeared as a star to Pinocchio.  In the Pilot episode Emma's birthday candle was in the form of a blue star too.

Also noticed the townsfolk out for Ruby's blood were just extras and none of he main cast proper.  Would've thought Regina and Rumples would have been on that lynchmob, once upon a time!  Ruby returning each time to being human with all her clothes intact.

Doctor Who 7.14 "The Name of the Doctor" Review

                                         
Madame Vastra (Neve McIntosh) finds the Doctor (Matt Smith) is in trouble after she visits a prisoner about to be hanged for murder.  He tells her about the Whispering men.  She arranges a conference call whilst they're asleep bringing Jenny (Catrin Stewart) Strax (Dan Starkey) who is fighting some Scot in a Glasgow pub and has to take a raincheck when he gets a message from a "girl."  He asks to be knocked out with a shovel, which will take some time.  Others present at the table are Clara (Jenna-Louise Coleman) who is given a message in a letter transcending time.  Even if she doesn't take the potion, the letter has been lined with it so she passes out too.  Last to arrive is River (Alex Kingston) who brings champagne and doesn't drink tea.  Clara is introduced by Vastra as the Doctor's new companion, assistant traveller.  Clara wants to know who River is.

Jenny senses someone else is there as she senses she has been murdered and is surrounded by those men in top hats, the Whispering men.  Vastra comes out of the sleep and River throws her drink onto Strax to pull him out too, but it's too late.  Clara wakes up to find the Doctor playing blind man's buff with the children who have sneaked off to the cinema anyway.  She tells him about the message and he is in tears.  Clara follows him to the TARDIS.  He mentions the place Trenzalore but everyone go it wrong.  It wasn't his name they weren't meant to discover but that place.  He takes the TARDIS there but she fights him and doesn't want to return there.  They get to the place and the TARDIS stops short of the planet.  Clara asks if they're going to jump.  No, but he'll disable the anti-gravity so it'll be a bumpy landing.

Arriving on Trenzalore the Doctor tells him his grave is here.  His future grave.  They all die eventually and he is buried in the TARDIS.  SO it's coming undone, it's now getting bigger on the outside.  There's also a tear in it in the fabric of time.  The place was mentioned by Dorium in The Wedding of River Song.  (Should have known that episode would be kind of relevant here since there were lots of recent views on my blog.) Here he also finds River's grave and she appears to Clara.  She can't tell him she's here but tells them to go to the grave as it contains a way for them to get in.  Which leads them to the catacombs.  Clara begins to remember  memories the Doctor said she would forget, like the girl who saved him from the Dalek's and being in the heart of the TARDIS.  She wants to know who she is and why she can remember.  This not being the time for answers.  Here they're followed by the Whispering men again and meet up with the others.  Vastra wants Strax to get Jenny back so he administers some cardio shock to her.  Also here is the Great Intelligence (GT) in the body of Dr Simeon (Richard E Grant) from The Snowmen episode.

Simeon/GT wants to get inside the Doctor's tomb but he can only open it if the Doctor says his name.  Which he refuses to do.  GT threatens his friends and one of the men puts his hand inside Strax to reach for his heart.  The Doctor pleads for him not to, but to no avail.  The entrance to the tomb opens since River said his name.  Inside they don't find the Doctor's DB but light.  The scar tissue of the Doctor's time travels which he calls his "time tunnel."

We see how Clara helped the First Doctor (William Hartnell) choose the correct TARDIS to steal.  That Clara has always been there throughout the Doctor's time and travels, throughout all of his regenerations.   As we get footage of all of the Doctor's (barring Paul McGann and David Tennent).  Clara was born to save the Doctor and how she was a leaf blowing in the wind and she's still blowing.  Always there to rewrite history and save the Doctor as we saw her first do in Asylum of the Daleks.   Clara also learns River is the Doctor's wife and earlier on she said she had heard the Doctor mention Professor Song, but thought she was a man.  River tells Clara how the Doctor saved her and put her into a library when she died.

GT wants to enter the Doctor's light and says he will not be the one who feels pain but the Doctor will and no one can stop him.  He can kill the Doctor anywhere in his timeline.  The Doctor falls to the ground in pain and Clara realizes she must save him now as she did all those other times too.  He doesn't want her to enter  and River tells her she knows what entering will mean.  Clara has no other choice.  Outside Vastra sees the stars and planets are disappearing, all those worlds the Doctor saved and Jenny also disappears as he saved her too.  Strax and Vastra become enemies once more as he tries to take out the reptile but Vastra kills him.  Clara enters and everyone returns.

River's an echo the Doctor tells her who should have faded a long time ago, but it would have hurt too much.  River says she would have taken it but he replies it would have been too hurtful for him.  He kisses her and she wants him to say goodbye only in a way she knows he'll return and she'll see him again.  He adds the others can't see her so their passionate clinch may have looked strange to them.
Doctor: "since no one else in this room can see you, God knows how that looked."
He says " see you later" and the usual.  With her "hello sweetie" to him.  But she reminds him that Clara must still be alive if River is still here and she's  connected to her.  So what does that mean?  "Spoilers."  Clara is who exactly?  Their daughter, granddaughter.  Yes it's all still intriguing even if we know she's the impossible girl who was created to save him over and over.

Clara sees the other Doctors running about the place inside his tomb.  The Whispering men were a little disappointing and no match for the Silence, as they came up with rhymes relating to what will happen to the Doctor.   The GT was a bit of a disappointment too since he entered the light but didn't really do much of anything else as Clara saved the day.  Yet there was still much more going on here.  The Doctor has to rescue Clara just this once as he speaks to her.  The leaf she lost blows to her and how she was born on that leaf, still blowing.  Then reaches out to her.  She tells them she saw all of his eleven faces but not that one.  As a man stands with their back to them.  The Doctor explains he took the name of the Doctor for himself but that other man is his future self?  The Doctor tells her "I said it was me I never said  it was the Doctor."

He turns around and is revealed as John Hurt.  He was the one who broke the promise and did he bring about the Time War.  So in the count of Doctors' who is the Twelfth Doctor, John Hurt or Matt Smith?  The GT also said he'll be come to be known as "the storm, the beast, the Valeyard."  The Valeyard was in Trial of A Time Lord.  He says "What I did, I did without choice."  So what was that?  We get many questions to be answered as we're told Doctor Who will return November 23rd.  Ugh six months away!  The 50th episode!

Also in The Crimson Horror dating back to 1873, Clarence knew where the Doctor's grave was, as did Dorium.  Also alluding back to the first episode of this season with Clara, The Bells of St John, we don't know why Clara was in that painting either.  So some questions were answered, but isn't there that little question left of who Clara really is still?  Re River's spoilers.  Liked Clara making souffle again where we came in, in Asylum of the Daleks and adding like her mother said, it's not the souffle itself but the recipe.  Which is the line she uses for saving the Doctor.  Uttering the line, "run you clever boy and remember me."  Which he did.  Also she recalled that line too.

One of the best Doctor Who episodes in a long time, especially as it solved a little mystery, but left more to be answered.  Had some excitement, funny moments with Strax and of course some weepy bits too, like River too and the Doctor saying goodbye to her, as well as saying he's always seen her as she's always been by his side!  Also how he hates endings that's why he wouldn't let her go.  Well we hate endings too and especially when they end on such a cliffhanger!

As always, we knew Steven Moffat wouldn't actually reveal the Doctor's name (but is it really Doctor?) and no can say it, Clara didn't remember what that was here as she read in the journal, but it was a build-up to this episode.  Perhaps the name no one should have known was Trenzalore since that's where the Doctor is buried.  It was just like a repeat of Let's Kill Hitler really title wise, cos you knew that wasn't going to happen either!

Vastra's line: "the stars are going out" said by Wilf in Turn Left with the Tenth Doctor (David Tennent).  Here were more lines included too.  In The Parting of the Ways, the Doctor is known as "the oncoming storm" as part of Dalek legends.  In The Trial of a Time Lord, the Valeyard was referred to by the Master as "...the darker side of the Doctor's nature...penultimate regeneration...between his Twelfth and Thirteenth regeneration.  The beast hasn't bee mentioned before, except with the Tenth Doctor in The Satan Pit.  Could this be a possible allusion?

SO why did the Doctor look especially as the piece of broken glass on the TARDIS window?
Doctor: "What did you expect, a body.  Bodies are boring I've had lots of them"  As he's shown as strings of light, almost like a mass of DNA sequence.

"On the fields of Trenzalore, at the fall of the Eleventh, when no living creature may speak falsely or fail to give answer, a question will be asked.  A question that must never, ever be answered."  Which was kind of answered here.  Then again we weren't actually shown the battle at Trenzalore itself.

The Mentalist 5.22 "Red John's Rules"

                                               
Lisbon (Robin Tunney) comes to see Patrick (Simon Baker) once again in his attic.  Here she finds Patrick outside burning the Red John evidence he's collected cos he's narrowed down his list of suspects and doesn't need it anymore.  She's curious to know what that is.   Patrick is exhausted and needs his sleep since he hasn't slept for a week.  She wakes him up and tells him they've got a case which may involve Red John.  At the motelroom Brett Partridge (Jack Plotncik) is already there and thinks this may not be a Red John killing.  Funny he should show up now seeing as he's also mentioned as one of the seven.  Patrick feels the Vic looks familiar and notices a number written on the wall which he dials.  He also knows it's RJ cos he can feel it's him.  It belongs to Child Protective Services at Carson Springs.  He's familiar with the area since he was there when younger.

Lisbon doesn't think it's a coincidence that as soon as he gets close to finding RJ he starts to kill again.  But he won't tell her who the seven are since she'll start to act strangely around them.    Rigsby (Owain Yeoman) and Cho (Tim Kang) talk to the motel manager (Homie Dooridian) who tells them about a big man who came there the night before.  Also that the maid, Sandra Guzman (Marisa Guterman) who found the DB has gone home as she was covered in blood.  Lisbon and Patrick are told by the woman at Protective Services, Miriam Gottlieb (Laura San Giacomo) that the woman is Eileen.  They are looking for Roddy Turner (Scott Anthony Leet) her husband.  Patrick doesn't need the address cos he knows where Stony Ridge is.  They used to stay here when the Carnie was in town.  Stony Ridge "is practically my hometown."

Pete (MC Gainey) and Samantha Turner (Tangie Ambrose) know Patrick but don't think Roddy would have killed Eileen and taken the baby. Roddy is Pete's nephew.  Patrick knows they're hiding something from him and have someone else in mind for the killing.  Lisbon finds Eileen is Suzan and Kevin Barlow's daughter.  Patrick knew them.  He tells Lisbon about having a happy childhood memory related to a song or smell and Lisbon recalls the cake in the rain song reminds her of her mother feeding pigeons.  Cho and Rigsby wait for Roddy to return to the motel since Pete will call him and whilst they wait for him, Rigsby mentions Van Pelt (Amanda Righetti).  Cho knows they're having sex again but Rigsby doesn't like the use of this word, they're in love.  Roddy is arrested.

He tells Van Pelt he doesn't know anything and wants to find his baby.  Patrick doesn't think Roddy killed Eileen, who was raised by her uncle Shawn (Michael Hogan).  He knew Patrick's father and they had a falling out over a business deal.  Lisbon and Patrick go to Venice Beach, Ca, to talk with him and Lisbon insists on going in with Patrick.  Patrick is concerned that Red John has reached into his head and taken away his "happy memory" from his childhood. Especially since Pete told him earlier that Shawn could be RJ, which is highly unlikely.

They get into a discussion about morals and how the Jane's would pretend to be psychic and con money from people.  Patrick telling him he doesn't do that anymore.  Also adding the Barlow's claim to have "real psychic powers."  But Shawn wants the baby.  He also asks Lisbon about her faith and believing in life after death.  That he can read her too, she was lying awake in bed and thinking of Patrick cos "she's a little in love with him."  To which there's no reaction from Patrick and Lisbon just makes one of her usual faces!  Coupled with the fact he then adds Patrick is "so secretive and controlling."  Which Patrick later admits he is, not the love bit though!  Anyway no further mention is made of this so probably it was just put there to get fans shipping some more and to carry on with next season at some point.

Shawn asks him why he's never thought of why RJ is always one step ahead of him.  Probably cos he's psychic and even better at it than Patrick.  Who has a plan and he goes to Miriam asking if she'll go along with the plan to out the killer by telling he suspects they've found Caitlin.  Then whoever is innocent will turn up for the baby.  She goes along with it.  A little strange that Patrick should do this cos he doesn't usually reveal any of his plans except to the CBI team.  SO that was also a bit of a giveaway if you didn't realize she was involved already.

Roddy arrives and then so does Shawn.  Van Pelt then calls Patrick as he wanted and plays along.  Patrick has a trick up his sleeve as usual as he borrows Miriam's phone to call Van Pelt back to ask for the hospital name as there are there.  Obviously  she was my suspect straightaway, who else would know all about Eileen and where she'd be.  Also Patrick saying Red John needs to offer people something in return.  She'd want a baby.  Patrick admits to Roddy and Shawn that he lied again about finding Caitlin but they will find her soon and will be in touch.  They drive to the address Van Pelt located from the phone and Patrick tells Lisbon about suspect names.  One of them being Bertram.  Now Lisbon won't know how to react in front of him, which is why Patty didn't tell her any of the names.  But that's all about to change.

Lisbon thinks she may call on the landline but people store numbers on their mobiles.  Funny she wouldn't have the number memorized considering she left the baby there.  It took them a while to drive there, but she got there quickly.  Patty hiding well away from where the action could take place, you know, gunfire, just incase.  Miriam has a message from Red John for Patrick if it came to this.  Nappies and milk were removed from the motelroom so it would be a woman, naturally.  RJ was a good friend to her but doesn't know why he killed Eileen.  It was important it should be her.

Once again they omit the fact every one of RJ's cohorts, acolytes etc always kill themselves or are killed, so why leave her in a policecar with her hands in front of her.  Also why wasn't she searched, come on your're not amateurs.  So we get a song now too in the ep, which we don't usually.  Seems it was appropriate though.

It was funny Lisbon mentioning LaRoche as a suspect when he wasn't even on his list but the first one she thought of.  Maybe she still has that Tupperware box on her mind from last ep.  Patrick: "no offence but you have no dishonesty in you."

Patrick once again looks through his window and lets Lisbon watch the CD, made by Lorelei (Emmanuelle Chiriqui) before Red John mercilessly ensured she didn't die a painful death, but she would die and why did she deem it necessary to tell RJ about the handshake, I mean it's not as if she was going to be spared.  Couldn't she take one secret to the grave with her.  RJ knew Patrick would narrow down the names to seven people.  Lorelei told him about shaking people's hands, as said.  he used his memory and research but he's not clever.  Clever is RJ killing "a  happy memory he never told anyone and lead you right to this video."  He should look at his suspects names: Brett Stiles, Gale Bertram, Raymond Haffner, Reed Smith, Bob Kirkland, Sheriff Thomas McAllister, Brett partridge.  red John now has new rules to the game, first Eileen and now he'll stat killing again "until you catch me or I catch you."  Patrick breaks the CD to pieces.

At the end of the day we didn't get anymore answers and many will feel cheated at this since the final scene opens up a whole other set of possibilities not as to the suspects, most of them were already on our list, but as to how Red John manages to stay one step ahead of him.  The fact he's also able to get inside Patty's head when no one else is able to is chilling.  How well does he really know Patrick and being a part of the CBI too.  It's too much to think about.  So all of this work Patrick did, all the research amounts to nothing when it boils down to RJ being ahead of him even in his list of suspects.  

Also in a way it kind of narrows down suspects, firstly Kirkland was the only one who was shown stealing the evidence from Patrick's attic, thus he either was a red herring to completely throw us off the tracks.  Since if he already knew the suspects and what info Patty had, he wouldn't need to steal it.  Then Brett Partridge conveniently being at the CS again after appearing in the Red Lacquer Nail Polish episode earlier on.  He does seem shifty enough, has the voice to be RJ but is he really clever enough to be one step ahead of Patrick.  Sticking my neck out, I'd eliminate him too.  He seems a little too young.  We haven't seen Sheriff McAllister since the second episode of season 1 Red Hair and Silver Tape.

The Vampire Diaries 4.22 "The Walking Dead" Review

Stefan (Paul Wesley) tries to diffuse Elena (Nina Dobrev) from killing Katherine by going through the whole exercise/taking your anger and channelling it phase, yeah that'll really stop her.  She then turns up at the Grill throwing darts and imaging it's Katherine, poor dartboard.  They don't like seeing her like this and Rebekah (Claire Holt) tries to stop her by telling her to have a drink as she's getting them worried.  With Elena coming up with the whole 'they may have been friends for a moment when she had her humanity switched off, but they're not anymore.'  Cue Caroline (Candace Accola) asking her if she really meant all those horrible things she said about her back then.  She really needs to look for Katherine.

Outside there's a storm, the lights go out.  Stefan and Damon (Ian Somerhalder) have been called to the hospital by the sheriff (Marguerite MacIntyre) who shows them a pateint who has been drained of blood by vampires, she thinks.  This leads Stefan to draw a triangle on the map and conclude they're within the expression triangle, with Mystic Falls being the centre of it.  Thus Damon adds Bonnie (Kat Graham) is working her magic and doesn't need to wait for the full moon to do this.  They need to locate her and Katherine.  Elena suggests Caroline and Stefan look inside whilst she and Damon look outside.  Really she wants to be alone with Damon not for the purposes of being alone but to grill him on Katherine's whereabouts, like he'd tell her.  She thinks he's still hung up on her after all those years, centuries actually.

Bonnie has Katherine in tow and links her with herself so she can't run away, so she follows her like a puppet, well she's not much of anything else really.  Down below in the caves where else, Katherine senses and hears someone down there and wants Bonnie to loosen the link so she can see who it is.  Bonnie lets her go as Elena has discovered the spell is being performed underground.  Elena tries to kill Katherine but with each blow she's also hurting Bonnie.  So Stefan stops her.  Elena is so full of herself, everything has to revolve around her, no matter what happens to others around her.

The spell works and the veil between the two worlds is lifted, as Damon explained this to the sheriff, the very thin veil that exists around their world and separates them from the supernatural world.  Though there didn't seem to be much harm going on around them and not many spirits or ghosts returned for the purposes of this episode.  First ghost we see is Kol (Nathanial Buzolic) as he turns up the Grill for sister dearest.  He's been watching them and wants his revenge on Elena.  Surprised he and Jeremy (Steven R McQueen) didn't meet up in the other world to fight it out between them! Matt (Zach Roerig) doesn't want Elena harmed as Rebekah tells him they don't know where she is.  Kol says Rebekah finally got her quarterback and then bottles him in his shoulder.

Rebekah wants to help him and asks why Matt won't let him help her.  Explaining everyone in this town becomes a vampire and just for once he wants to graduate as a human.  She goes for the first aid kit and sees Caroline cutting her wrists over and over.  Thus showing that Caroline is not with Bonnie but it's Silas (Scott Parks).  Which Bonnie realizes, so much for Damon telling Alaric (Matt Davis) to all Stefan and tell him this.  Bonnie thought he couldn't get into her head anymore but he can.  Damon having met Alaric in the school and he says it's him cos of the bottle of booze in locker 42.  Damon is happy to see his one and only best friend.  Bonnie sees Grams (Jasmine Guy) who tells her expressionism can be used by her in whatever ways she wants.

Kol meets up with Elena in the woods and gives her a hell of a beating which I for enjoyed, she deserved that!  Especially how she was laying into Katherine.  Until Jeremy shows up and skewers Kol with an arrow.  Just as he was in the middle of his "kill me once, shame on me, kill me twice..." speech, was enjoying that.  Stefan breaking his neck, all to save Elena.  Bonnie realizes Silas can change into anyone he wants and she and Damon find out Alaric isn't really him.  Silas stops her from calling Katsia/Quetsatiya (it's easier to spell the other way) and still has the cure.  She uses her magic to turn him to stone.  Damon and the real Alaric being left to dispose of the body in the sea just like they were going to do with Klaus, cos if he gets any blood he will return.  Alaric gives Damon the cure so he can "go get the girl!"  At least Damon got to see Alaric for a while.

They leave Elena and Jeremy to spend time together.  Stefan was hoping to see Lexi (Arielle Kebbel) and she finally turns up.  Thinking Stefan has feelings for Caroline and teases him about it and for getting slapped by Elena.  Liked the way Rebekah stopped Caroline from cutting her hands off by slapping her for which Matt thanks her, but Caroline just called her "bitch."  At they go out she sees her ex Alexander (Paul Telfer) show up and the lights come back on.  They turn around to see the two hunters, Connor (Todd Williams) and GalenVaughn (Charlie Bewley).  Bonne is determined to use her magic to get Jeremy back but Grams tells her it can't be done.  Bonnie realizes she's dead.

So having eight ghosts return was a letdown even if Alaric got to say "not every ghost has a reason to come back to Mystic Falls."  Well seeing as it is the centre of most supernatural activity they would have darn good reason to return.  What about the twelve who were killed at the farmhouse, the twelve witches and the twelve hybrids for starters.  The blood draining plot seems to be a new baddie in town and not really Silas who was too busy perfecting his character acting by jumping into various cast members.  To quote Damon, "ghostapalooza" we didn't get!

lexi and Kol both say they've been watching them but they just haven't been able to see them.  Does that apply to all the ghosts?  So is Bonnie really dead, is it just Silas pretending to be her or is Grams reallY Silas?  Some questions to ponder as we enter into the season 4 finale and graduation day...

CSI 13.12 "Double Fault" Review

A tennis match is underway as we're provided with commentary by Chris Everett and Lindsay Davenport.  The two shake hands as Claudia (Brittany Shaw) wins and the other player, Tara (Susie Abromeit) whispers something in her ear.  Later Claudia is found dead in the tennis ball machine by Justin (Justin Gimelstob) who tells her he was hit by a blood covered ball. Finn (Elisabeth Shue) notices the clay on the court was moved and so Claudia must have been killed there.  There is also blood on her shoes. Greg (Eric Szmanda) and Finn also find more blood on the gravel and some grass.  Greg follows the blood trail to the bin but the bags have been changed.  It's Greg and Nick's (George Eads) turn to dive into the trash as Earnest (Brandon Michael Rowan) leads them to the dumpsters and Nick finds a broken racket which turns out to be the murder weapon, it also has evidence of blood and Nick thinks they can get DNA from the tape on the handle.
Doc (Robert David Hall) finds evidence of blunt force trauma on the head and her throat was cut.  There is a contusion on her brain.  The tape leads to Tara, Claudia's rival who is a big hit at the lab as everyone takes photos and gets her autograph.  Brass (Paul Guilfoyle) breaks up the fan fest to question Tara.

Nick questions Ivan (Ivan Sergei) Claudia's husband and he tells her he was in a separate hotel room cos he snores and she needed her rest. Nick has to take evidence from him and question him to eliminate him as a suspect and she was on the court late night.  She was all her father Simon (Matt McCoy) had left.  

An immigration official turns up at DB's (Ted Danson) office mentioning him by his first name, just incase viewers missed it last time round asking about Hodges (Wallace Langham).  Whether he knows about his fiance and about Hodges' character in general.  Hodges met a babe, ha, in Italy called Elisabetta (Catrinel Menghia Marlon) which he kept secret from everyone, yes but Morgan (Elisabeth Harnois) kissed him after he got back from Italy but still he didn't say anything.  He later tells DB about her and asks if the official was suspicious.  Elisabetta turns up at CSI asking why he's kept her a secret, she's not exactly ugly and Henry (Jon Wellner) and Morgan hear the brunt of their argument.  She then kisses him and adds now everyone knows about them.  Morgan confronts Hodges, well it was a full-on confrontation as she thinks Elisabetta is just using him for a Green card.  She wants to know why he didn't tell her of all people.  Hodges saying cos people would say he couldn't get a woman like that cos of who he is and how he looks, which is what it boils down to really.

Besides was it really anyone's business but his own.  Considering Morgan kept her feelings hidden, at least we really didn't get to know what she  was feeling.  Not about Hodges or about Greg.  But she comes good in the end when she tells the immigration about Hodges' character and puts in a good word for him.  They're friends after all and that's what friends do, as long as he's happy.  Henry using his Italian translation App was fun.  Also Henry tells DB about Hodges and Wendy and how he was accused of stealing her from Hodges so they don't really share.  DB wanting to know who Wendy is.

Hodges also tells DB that US courts use crushed basalt and not clay.  Tara is shown a video of her breaking a racket in a temper tantrum, just like McEnroe used to.  Tara says she was eating with Chris Everett.  Who confirms she did meet with Tara who has some anger management problems, which was a giveaway as to who killed Claudia but also Claudia had problems with Ivan who was also her coach.  Claudia was dropping him as her coach cos she couldn't make both husband and coach work for her.

The DNA found on the court belonged to Ivan, leading Nick to question him once more.  There was also some tobacco on her shoe.  He spits it out and that's what he did that night.  Claudia was also having nightmares and used to call out "Brent" in her sleep.  DB and Greg go through her belongings and find a stuffed toy and also LSD.  Her Tox screen came back negative and DB knows from experience what LSD can do.  Greg thinking he used to take it but it was his parents.   Oh Greg thinking he could get a little piece of wrongdoing from DB's past.  The print on the bottle leads to a Darcy Shaw (who was counselling Claudia. (Ever Carradine)

Darcy gave the LSD for Claudia to recall her repressed memories.  She recalled being camping when 4 and her mother being attacked.  She has recorded the sessions. Simon tells them he isn't her biological father and he found her on the side of the road, hurt.  He later adopted her with his wife.  Finn feels this is too much of a coincidence that she spoke of the man who attacked her and then she's killed.  Photos from the hospital show she had her soft toy with her and Hodges analyzes it to find blood.  It also has traces of sulphur.  Greg narrows down the campsite to being near sulphur and they take out the ground penetrating radar.  They find two DBs buried in one grave.   Doc finds the skeletons were her parents.  Her father was a criminal and she also had an older brother, Brent.

Morgan finds Claudia was calling many Brent Abbots and narrows down one to Earnest.  He didn't change the name on his phone.  He tells them his father was abusive and his mother let him get away with it.  When they were camping he killed them with a shovel but didn't kill Claudia.  He tried to help her and at the campsite she came out of the tent and got hit by the shovel.  He also recalls Tara was on court when Claudia was killed.  Tara was having an affair with Ivan and thought he'd leave her.  Instead he told Claudia and they were going to start over.  She got angry for winning the game and for taking Ivan from her so she killed her.  Brass tells her "instead of serving aces, you'll be serving time."

Thought that backstory about Hodges was more interesting than the tennis player story.  Always boils down to jealousy on and off the court.  As Finn mentions the Monica Seles incident when she was stabbed.  Finn also shows her tennis prowess when she has a game with Chris, putting it down to playing when she was younger.
Just goes to show Tara ended up with nothing, was it really worth killing her.

As for that call from Gil we don't even get to know what that was about as Sara isn't even in this ep!

666 Park Avenue 1.13 "Lazarus" Review

                                            
Well have to say now this is over what a shambles of a show this turned out to be.  With some promise at the beginning, it just turned out to be a mish mash of hastily put together snippets from the series into some sort of a conclusion and a very unsatisfactory one at that.

Henry (Dave Annable) runs his campaign for election and Nona (Samantha Logan) turns up as intern.  He gives some flat speech to his helpers about being dedicated etc and then Gavin (Terry O'Quinn) tells him he needs to engage in dirty politics.  But he was the only one who didn't blacklist or make any snide comments against Councilman Frank Sullivan (Richard Joseph Paul) for his affair and his marriage ending.  He wants to play it straight.  Later a drunken Sullivan accosts Henry in the street telling him they have blood on their hands and they are responsible for it.  Henry dreams of Sullivan in their apartment with bloody hands as he places them on the mirror and has a gunshot wound to his head.  Nona shows him the news showing Sullivan killed himself.  Gavin tells him the same thing again about Henry not commenting about Sullivan in the press and thinks it was a calculated move but Henry assures him it wasn't.

Jane's (Rachael Taylor) dad, Nate (William Sadler) talks about her mother, Catherine in the bar and how he loved her but she died.  Just as Jane lies in the bathtub and is pulled under as the plug hole chain tightens around her leg.  She manages to come back up and sees a man in a striped tie standing over the bathtub.  No surprises for guessing who that was, cos you'd be right.  Jane meets Nate but he still doesn't tell her about her mother and that she died.  He wants Jane away from the Drake and she insists she should know why.  Also he can't be a father to her now.

As for Brian (Robert Buckley) and Louise (Mercedes Masohn) they decide to bury Alexis in the basement and hole her up in the wall, Edgar Allan Poe's The Black Cat anyone, where the killer trapped the act in the wall where they buried the body, a giveaway to the police.  Here Louise leaves her earring behind which Gavin tells her about when they're back in the lift.  Again it was Gavin who most probably took the earring.  As they return to retrieve it and open up the wall, they find Alexis gone.  Gavin arrives and tells them she's with him and he throws the earring at them.  They were both living on borrowed time and he's terminating their lease.  Brain wanted to be on top again and he will be.  His play become successful but he won't be around.  As for Louise well she pretty much sealed her fate when she knocked Alexis over.  Thus ends the tale of this couple.  At least they got  satisfactory comeuppance.  But why Gavin's role to play god and mete out punishment?

Jane and Nona look through more clippings after Olivia (Vanessa Williams) and Gavin tells Jane her mother was most likely killed and the police suspected her father.  They only realized Jane lived at the Drake on the night of the engagement party when her father turned up.  Saying she had a different last name.  Apparently she and Nona find clippings where her father was suspected of her murder after he found out she was having an affair.

Nate takes Jane gun at gunpoint since he wants her to leave the Drake and be safe.  She knows she's in
danger here but she wants answers.  The lift stops and begins to go up.  Cue Gavin again.  He sure was getting around in this final episode!

Nate still wants to leave with Jane but Jane doesn't go with him, instead she runs to Gavin.  Nate tells her the gun won't move out of his hand and he can't move his arm, still insisting he didn't kill her mother.  Gavin wanted to talk but instead the situation has changed.  Henry returns home and finds the water running in the bath and bloody handprints on the bathroom mirror.  Still dense Henry didn't put two and two together, that he was being manipulated by Gavin all along.  Seems this final ep Henry begins to dream just like Jane did.

He takes the lift up and walks in on the trio, the gun cocks with a little help from Gavin and Nate shoots Henry.  Nate runs and is taken to the basement by Kandinsky (Misha Kuznetsov).  Jane wants Henry saved and Gavin can do that.  She'll do anything.  Gavin admits he was having an affair with her mother but she betrayed him, so he drowned her in the bath, as he's revealed as the man in the tie.  Jane is his daughter. So Jane was okay with the killing.

One year later

Nona still collects clippings about the missing couple in the Drake, Brian and Louise.  She puts Jane's necklace around her neck.  Henry wins the election by a landslide and they celebrate with Olivia and Gavin. Who tells Jane the Drake is her legacy and her birthright.  Once day soon she'll have a baby who will go on to change the world, be a great leader and heal it.  This meant to be the '666' aspect here as we step into The Omen territory.  Jane calls him dad now.  She tells Henry she's pregnant as he places his hand over her stomach.

SO Gavin sacrificed Sasha for Jane cos he wanted her all along.  Wonder if Olivia knew about her?  Thought Jane had more backbone than that and she just accepted her fate, who she really is without much of  a battle, all to save wimp Henry.  Yet she was this great crusader when she started out doing what was right and good.  She fell into the same trap as everyone else and "there is always a price to pay" as Gavin kept saying all along.  To give birth to the Antichrist eventually, which explained her new made over Gothic look, complete with dark make up and bright lipstick, something she never sported in the show.  Or was this cos of the election and being the councilman's wife.

Who really killed Sullivan?  Could it have been wimpy Henry and then forgot about it.  Especially since Jane used to have dreams and would end up back in her bed after she had actually been to the basement.  So it seems plausible Henry did kill him.  Have to add after all his do-gooder act, he did look cold when he walked out of the lift with Jane at the end into the Doran's apartment.

Jane clinging onto Gavin for dear life when she wouldn't go near him and suspecting him of all kinds of things, all went out the window.  Though there could be a little hint of her being his daughter, why else would he have wanted her around here and how she was able to come back after descending the staircase.  How everything she did never landed her in trouble.  She's renovating the Drake full scale now as they talk of her completing the Starling room.  Suppose that's where the birds hide out just to put unruly tenants into line every now and then.  She just relished being Gavin's daughter and that was an unexpected change in her.  Looking back to last ep and Hayden, now we know why Gavin said he'd protect Jane.  That's exactly what he did.  How did Nona get hold of her necklace, did she steal it again and is she going to be the thorn in Jane and Henry's side?

Oh forgot to add we never got a reveal on what the heart of the Drake is in that box Gavin and Olivia were so desperate to get back from Shaw.

Could have been much better!

This was the final episode still to air in the US next month.

Revenge 2.19 "Identity" Review

                                              
Emily: "A person's true identify can often be difficult to discern even to themselves.  Causing one to question their character, their calling, their very existence.  For most, time provides clarity but for others these questions remain unanswered.  For an identity cannot be fully defined when it is a guarded secret."

Emily (Emily VanCamp) must get Nolan (Gabriel Mann) out of jail and she needs his help in taking down the Falcon.  For as we know, the Falcon is responsible for framing her father, Padma's death and is an integral part of taking down the Grayson's.  Emily talks Nolan round when he says he's not in the best to handle going up against the Falcon, but it's his best way of getting revenge for Padma.  Revenge being the operative word.  He goes up against the Falcon and gets into the firewall.  Coming up with a message for Victoria (Madeleine Stowe) reading 'Sloppy,' across the fake hospital records showing Victoria terminated her pregnancy.

This is what she shows Conrad (Henry Czerny) and he wants to use it in the interview he's giving to Nightlive, live on air which he believes will help him garner the governorship. She doesn't want this aired and despises Conrad for even suggesting she drag up this past part of her life.  Emily's plan works as Nolan gets to meet the Falcon at an arcade and challenge her to a game of Streetfighter.  If he wins she'll help him and erase all the files on him.  Naturally Nolan wins and gives her a flashdrive, with Emily snapping a photo of her.  Turns out the Falcon (Susan Parke) is nothing but a girl after all.

Conrad brings the press conference to the mansion and gets Victoria to sit in on the interview.  Daniel (Josh Bowman) is also interviewed about how he became CEO by removing his father.  He just puts it down to bad press.  Also putting the ball in Emily's court by asking Chung to ask her about their engagement.  To which Emily is very receptive much to Victoria's chagrin.  As the Falcon hacks into the computer, she uploads info about Victoria's pregnancy onto Juju Chang's tablet as it's revealed Victoria had her baby.  Toppling Conrad's chances of success.  Falcon calls Nolan who tells her she plugged the virus flashdrive into her computer, as the FBI approach to arrest her.  Real name Edith Lee, she was part of Grayson Global, an employee who was needed for framing David Clarke so they looked inhouse.

Emily finds her photo on the one at the retreat and finds she was the unknown girl.  She gives Nolan the privilege of crossing her off the list for Padma.  Daniel gives Emily their engagement ring and wants her to marry him, wanting to spend the rest of his life with her.  Aiden (Barry Sloane) pushing her to accept by placing the ring on her finger as she will use him to bring down the Grayson's.  Would have been great if they were setting it up for Aiden to be Victoria's son since he and Daniel being related would make for some great scenes, not least so between Emily as part of the triangle.  That will mean she'd be in love with both of Victoria's sons so which would she choose to bring down.  Or maybe go running off to Jack (Nick Wechsler) but he's disgusted with her, especially after seeing her with Daniel.  She tries to explain but he doesn't want anything to do with her and no longer wants her as Carl's godmother.

Daniel meets Takeda (Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa) and wants info on Aiden, his records when he used to work for him.  Aiden interrupts their meeting and is surprised to find him there.  They later meet for drinks and he wants Aiden to return to Japan as Daniel will find out about his past since he hasn't changed his name.  That was cos he was looking for Colleen.

Jack has his own agenda with Ashley (Ashley Madekwe) as he sees Conrad with another woman whom she says is Stoddard's wife, Allison (Jessica Tuck).  He doesn't think Conrad is having an affair with her but something is going on since he's meeting with her secretly.  Ashley can tell if Conrad is lying by his tell, it's in his eyes and if she could get back in with him she'd be able to find out what's happening.  Which is what she manages to do after the fiasco of the interview saying she can help him gain his lead after all the hard work she's put in.  Jack tells Declan (Connor Paolo) he's got his own agenda for Ashley.

Declan was meant to meet Charlotte (Christa B Allen) to help him write his essay but she veers off with Regina (Seychelle Gabriel) and goes off the rails again, really.  That's all she needs a distraction, what is the point of her anyway since that's all she gets up to.  They pose for a camera which later shows her kissing Regina which Declan sees.  I'm fed up with Charlotte she's just a waste of space when it comes down to it.

The entire story of the Falcon was a bit of a letdown, being underground for 20 years all of a sudden she surfaces and then gets brought down in an instant.  Not by Victoria of all people but by Nolan, which is understandable.  Thus leaving Victoria to recruit Nolan as her new hacker in finding her son, Patrick.  Conrad asking Victoria that if she's thinking of ending it off her balcony he can help.  "If you're thinking of jumping, allow me to assist you."  Hmm, Victoria said something similar to him when he was at the beach a few eps ago.

Suppose the best part was that Aiden finally saying Emily will realize revenge isn't really satisfying but he'll be there to make sure she's okay when she finds that out and pick up the pieces.  Though he neglected to tell Emily about Takeda being around, so much for trust and that he also wants out of the revenge game.

Nolan's middle name is Leslie.  Don't know what Ashley is up to, but clearly she's using people, like Jack to get back her own position with Conrad and seems to be playing both sides.

SO Victoria wore the Special K red dress for the interview, big mistake, ha.  Charlotte had no qualms about using the Grayson name to get into the club, just earlier on she reiterated her name is Clarke.

Once Upon A Time 2.6 "Tallahassee" Review

This episode focuses on background about Emma (Jennifer Morrison) and her life after she left the orphanage.  As Emma, Snow(Ginnifer Goodwin) Mulan (Jamie Chung) Aurora (Sarah Bolger) and Hook (Colin O'Donoghue) try to get the compass.  Hook wants them to decide who should accompany him and they should fight it out amongst themselves.  Well he was angling for a catfight.  However Emma decides it should be her, as always she gets the final say.  Snow doesn't want her to go cos she's new here.  Hook needs his, er, hook and needs Emma to wear a magic bracelet to help her climb.  Emma wants Mulan to cut the beanstalk if she's not back in 10 hours and Mulan gives her some poppy dust to make the giant sleep.  Whilst climbing they get to talk about love.  He can see she hasn't been in love cos he's been to Neverland and saw it in the Lost Boys, in their eyes.  They had the same look as her.

Emma has a flashback to stealing the VW, aka Lovebug which we don't know about yet.  When she gets in she meets a man in the back.  After being stopped by the police she realizes she's just stolen a stolen car.  They start stealing together, a Bonnie and Clyde life and get close to each other.  He shows her a wanted poster with his face and name, Neal Cassidy (Michael Raymond-James).  He stole some expensive watches and hid them in a locker.  That's their plan to head to Tallahassee foiled.  She thinks they can go anywhere if she gets the watches and they sell them off.  Neal decides to sell them and meet her later.  Whilst he leaves he's followed by someone who he thinks is the police.  Turns out to be August (Eoin Bailey).

August tells him how he was put in charge of looking after Emma, she has a destiny to fulfil and won't be able to do so if he stays with her.  Asking him if he believes in magic?  Then shows him something.  So what was that then, can't be his typewriter since Neal changes his mind so quickly and agrees to leave Emma alone but gives August money for her and the keys to the car.  He changed the VIN number.  Emma is arrested with the stolen watch Neal gave her and is jailed.  Someone sends her the car keys so she'll have a car and a baby when she gets out.  We have to ask if he was Bae.  Also he's the same man in the opening episode who was sent the postcard.  Which was sent by August as he said he would.

They manage to send the giant (Jorge Garcia) to sleep and search for the compass.  Emma saves Hook from a tripwire and Hook thinks she's making a move on him, saying she shouldn't stand on ceremony next time.
Emma: "Don't think I'm taking my eyes off you for a second."
Hook: "I would despair if you did."
The giant wakes and comes after them with Hook getting trapped under the ceiling that falls on him.  That's right Hook, stand around and watch it fall.  He grabs her and she wants to go cos she didn't kill his family.  Then makes a run for Jack the Giantkiller's sword.  Well he was a bit useless.  Emma threatens him with the sword after he falls under his tripwire trap, it's poisoned.  He says humans killed them all and Emma can believe that he may be telling the truth.

The giant gives her the compass cos she didn't kill him and lets her go.  She asks for another favour to keep Hook her for another 10 hours.  As she handcuffs him, so much for trusting him when she shook his hand.  Would he have doublecrossed them?  She also sees his 'Milah' tattoo on his arm (hah just for me!) and realizes Gold/Rumples was behind Hook losing his love and not just his hand. But why have Hook chase after the most mixed up, emotionally redundant woman out of all of the ones he could have.  Emma doesn't love, forgive, listen or do much of anything else easily, except act hastily, one reason why I haven't warmed to her character.

Snow gets Aurora to sleep by saying she'll watch over her just as Charming (Josh Dallas) used to light a candle whenever she'd have a bad dream.  Aurora has a dream about being in a red room with red curtains and surrounded by fire.  The same dream Henry (Jared S Gilmore) has in Storybrooke, as Charming lights a candle for him.  So is this dream about Cora or Red?

Emma asking if they should settle down in "Neverland?"  No coincidence that.  August referring to himself as Emma's "guardian angel."  As for the little snippets you have have missed, the Apollo chocolate bars were from Lost, as was the giant.  The dreamcatcher Emma finds in the motelroom was also the one Neal had in his apartment in the first ep Broken.  The envelope with the keys was sent from Phuket, that's where August said he'd been in The Stranger from season 1.

Were my eyes deceiving me or did Hook's eyeliner appear to have lessened since our first meeting with him?! Also Hook taking one of Rumple's phrases: "Tick tock!"

Doctor Who 7.13 "Nightmare In Silver" Review

The Doctor (Matt Smith) Clara (Jenna-Louise Coleman) and the children, Artie (Kassius Carey Johnson) and Angie (Eve de Leon Allen) arrive on a planet at the futuristic theme Park Hedgewick's World of Adventures.  Where they encounter Webley (Jason Watkins) and also a group of soldiers who have been sent here to implode the planet if the Cybermen wake up.  They are the punishment squad and are sent here for punishment.  The Doctor shows them his Psychic Paper.  Webley challenges them to a game of chess and Artie volunteers but the Doctor wanted to play.  The Time Lords invented chess.  Webley will give a penny to anyone who can tell him how it's done.  Angie guesses smoke and mirrors.  And Porridge (Warwick Davis) is revealed to be controlling the Cyberman.

There are also Cybermites which get into Angie's phone and turn Artie and Angie into standbys: "please standby to be upgraded."  The Doctor gets invaded by these Cybermites also as Angie is taken and he assures Clara he'll get her back.  Clara is in charge and they must get to a good position to hold down the fort, viz, a castle.  The Doctor becomes upgraded too, and he has a fight between himself and his Cyborg/Cyberman self.  As the Cyberman gets inside his head.  We see visions of past Doctors and he threatens to regenerate himself.  Then recalls that certain elements such as gold, cleaning fluid, can stop the upgrade.  So he sticks a piece of gold onto his face which works for the moment.

He bets against his Cyberman self if he wins a game of chess he'll let the others go and that's when the fun begins.  Okay not so much fun but at least this episode was a different story if a little in the Willly Wonka vein.  The Captain (Tamzin Outhwaite) is able to arm the bomb with her voice and not just a code and Clara is left in charge so she must follow her orders.

The Cyber-Doctor knows who Clara is and is hoping to convert the Doctor into a Cyberplanner.  The Doctor thinking he can't be upgraded or affected since their technology will only work on humans, however this was not the case.  As he begins to become converted.  The Cyberplanner knows about Clara who's called the 'Impossible Girl.'  But yet again any revelations about her are given a further backseat.  Until maybe the final episode, or maybe not.

This episode gave Matt Smith the chance to show his acting skills once again as he passes between the Doctor and the Cyberplanner, a bit ruthless and also how at one point Clara asks if he can prove who he is; going on about her beauty and how he has feelings for her...whilst writing a message down for her to hit me."  Of course that's what makes her realize it's not really him, he'd never say that.

The Cybermen have been ugraded and can move quickly and stealthily and nothing seems to phase them as they pick off the soldiers one by one, including the Captain so she can no longer activate the bomb.  But Porridge can, or rather since he's the Emperor which Angie worked out.  All he needs to do is say his name and the bomb is activated as his ship will now detect him and transport them up.

Cyberman have indeed upgraded themselves, with a little help of Neil Gaiman, they can now turn their heads 180, also remove their hand and stop a woman from screaming.  Wasn't that hand ploy seen in season 5's The Pandorica ep.  The Cybermites as the Doctor mentions are a spin-off of the Cybermats but the Cybermen are still a bit slow on the uptake as they stomp around to yet more music from Carry On Screaming.  Yes I have to mention that everytime we get a Cyberman episode!  It doesn't sound sinister at all, just laughable!  Also they seem unbeatable as they can adapt to their surroundings and any weapon going for that matter.  Just how many Cyberman were meant to be taken out with that gun.  Seems the Cybermen have evolved but technology to fight them hasn't.  As everyone was to be "incorporated into the Cyberiad."  I know everytime the line "you will be upgraded" came up I immediately thought of "you will be assimilated."  Reminiscent of the Borg from Star Trek.

Clara once again asking for the Doctor to prove it's him, "Do you think I'm pretty?"
Doctor: "No, you're too short and bossy and you're nose is all funny."  Well that's one in the eye for Clara after making comments about his big chin! ha.  Oh and about the Cyberplanner saying she wears short skirts which are too tight, I said that too, since she's been in the show, she's only worn skirts or dresses.

Wondered where the TARDIS was when the planet was blown up, but the Doctor asked for it to be brought aboard the ship just as I thought that.  Porridge asks Clara to marry him and become ruler of a thousand universes, something Angie would happily do, but Clara refuses.  It's not her.  So it seems he is left alone as he said he would be.

When they arrive back home, Clara will see him again on Wednesday and he says which Wednesday, gone, coming.  He will find out about this "Impossible girl."  Here's hoping.  Haven't done too much of a detailed review here as I usually do with the show since I think it's one where you just sit back and enjoy the ride instead of reading about it.  Me I'm off to watch it again!

Think they also missed out on the chance to get more from this episode by rushing it so quickly, a two-parter would have been better, let's see in place of the dismal The Rings of Akhaten, that was easily the least fave ep of mine this series.  W could have relished the chance to see Matt Smith so deliciously haunting in portraying the Cyberplanner as he honed in and out of himself with a few hits across his face.  There was so much more that could have been done.  At one point it seemed as if Matt was speaking like David Tennent especially when he mentions his "Allons-y" phrase.

Webley had one of those fiendish ventriloquist dummies on display in the wax museum from The God Complex.
Oh and I wish they'd come up with something other than "the impossible girl."  Reminds me of season 5's The Impossible Astronaut!  Like Clara's some off-shoot from that or even from River Song or something. New word anyone?

CBS Cancels CSI:NY

                                           
It was on the bubble season after season since season 7 so it came as no big surprise CBS would cancel CSI:NY after only 9 seasons!  Somehow it was always on the cards and it was obvious they wouldn't bother matching it with CSI:Miami which managed to get 10 seasons.  Everything comes down to money with these networks as we know and it's fine to renew shows that no one is really remotely interested in, but a show that fans have a vested interest in year after year is just thrown on the scrap heap without a second thought to fans!

It is unbelievable how networks never take into account the shows that matter, the feelings of their viewers.  Right now I'm really disgusted and disappointed that we never got to say a proper goodbye to the show.  It may not have ended on a cliffhanger, but at least one more season would have prepared us for the inevitable. (Aside from the fact Channel Five chose to hold back season 9 until later in the year, instead of showing it in January or February like they used it.)  It will be all the more poignant when it returns to UK screens for the airing of season 9 for the final time.

This was my favorite CSI show, hey I even wrote a book on season 1, I loved it that much!  New York Minutiae: An Unofficial and Unauthorized Guide to CSI:NY
http://www.amazon.co.uk/An-Unofficial-Unauthorized-Guide-CSI/dp/1907756922

AJ Buckley tweeted: "Really can't believe it.  So bummed."  Which sums up the sentiments of all fans.

Great show while it lasted and will miss it immensely!  Along with the cast: Gary Sinise, Sela Ward, Carmine Giovinazzo, Eddie Cahill, Hill Harper, AJ Buckley, Robert Joy.  You done us proud!!

The Mentalist 5.21 "Red and Itchy" Review

                                           
Lisbon (Robin Tunney) approaches Patrick (Simon Baker) in the attic once again as he stares out of the window this time round.  No mention of knowing it was her out there this time round, though she has been calling him.  She walks in saying it's a case and he's not working on one, also asking how his board is going.  Well it would be going if he could get some work done, like radio silence for a week.  She tells him LaRoche  (Pruitt Taylor Vince) has asked for him as his house was broken into.  He shot the burglar and one of them got away.  He didn't say anything was stolen.  Rigsby (Owain Yeoman) stands around with his dog and doesn't want to give it up.  Patrick steps over the DB and finds he had pills as Lisbon suggests he may be on drugs.  He was taking ibuprofen thus he probably had rheumatoid arthritis.  LaRoche refuses to go to the hospital until he speaks with Patrick.  To tell him his Tupperware box has been stolen.  Probably by someone he's investigating; a leak at the CBIt.  He promises o help him without revealing what was in there.

Lisbon overhears him it appears and actually Patrick doesn't know what's in there.  She knew about the box since Strawberries and Cream when Patrick told her.  He reminds her about getting the thief, Culpepper to break in and Lisbon reminds him she punched him and had to undergo anger management classes for six months, as she hits Patrick.  La Roche thinks he knows what's in the box but he doesn't.  Brenda (Rebecca Wisocky) speaks with Lisbon about giving a press conference to reassure that the CBI officers aren't in trouble, approved by Betram.
LaRoche mentions the cartel criminal, Miguel Leva being in hiding after no drugs were found at his warehouse and also shows Volker's photo again cos it's relevant here.  Just as I mentioned that LaRoche was shown in the Behind the Red Curtain episode since he'd have more to do in the show.  Volker had a secret phone and had been receiving calls from the CBI, but couldn't be located from where.

Van Pelt (Amanda Righetti) finds the criminal Scott Saynay (Mark Dippolito) 9 years ago raped and attacked LaRoche's mother.  Which is why LaRoche tells Patrick his mother will also be grateful.  She killed herself later thus Van Pelt thinks he may have kept her blood cos it was the only thing that was found on his clothes.  So incase Saynay got out he'd have that with him still to use.  Saynay has been freed but no one knows where cos the files have been sent out.

Lisbon questions the burglar's wife, Joanne Parsons (Meagan Fay) who tells them he was a locksmith and maybe someone forced him to open the safe.  Patrick later wants to talk with her too and looks at Parson's collection of safes.  So someone had to take over from him as he had arthritis and couldn't use his hands.  Patty noticing the kitty and picking it up, he places it in the safe with Joanne saying she doesn't know the combination.  But uses her skills to crack the safe. Thus she was her husband's accomplice.  She dropped the Tupperware box off into the park as arranged.

When Patrick and LaRoche arrive they find the box gone and Cho (Tim Kang) finds a newspaper which had a story about Parson's and safes.  The managing editor was Brenda Shettrick.  Cho cracking a joke about it being a 'safe bet' she was involved.  Patrick laughs at that but Cho can't see what's funny. Lisbon gives the interview but the reporter, Mason Braverman (Mike Doyle) asks about Leva prompting Brenda to stop the interview.  Later Patrick uses the same ploy to catch Brenda redhanded.  By telling her Lisbon has arranged for Mason to be present at a rapid response team raid Leva's house.  She keeps wanting to use her phone to warn him but is stopped.  Until she forgets her vest and returns to the van where she's filmed warning him.  Liked the way Patrick talked Lisbon into going along with his plan, that Brenda gave her away to Volker and "for once in you life Lisbon, don't be the voice of reason, be the voice of wrath."
Lisbon: "How do we get the bitch?"

Patrick reads her and she claims he knows nothing about her.  She came here wanting to write, had romantic notions of meeting someone but nobody loved her.  She couldn't write, liked coffee and horses and a managing director of a paper is higher up, well connected.  She fell in love with power and made it to the CBI to rub shoulders with the bigwigs.  She wants her lawyer.  Rigsby finds the box in her desk drawer, would've thought he'd look there first.  He's tempted to open it and Cho says he doesn't want to know what's inside.  Patrick stops him, it's not his to look inside.  That was nice Patrick reprimanding Rigsby like a little boy, ha.  Also Van Pelt was right it was animal inside the box and not vegetable as Rigsby thought.  Who'd carry round food for 9 years!

Patrick returns the box to LaRoche and he thanks him, their arrangement is over now.  Patrick hopes not. Still thinking Patrick knows what's inside, is a reminder of how low men can go.  LaRoche: " hold this box as a warning.  It reminds me of the depths a man can sink if he lets himself...it reminds me of my mother."  This should have an effect on Patrick cos he's willing to sink to such depths in his endless search for RJ.  Maybe he's warning him it'll always catch up to him in the end.

Earlier Patrick telling LaRoche he doesn't think he's a monster for keeping what's in the box.  Also they have a conversation about Patrick having to tell Lisbon what was in the box, cos she's his partner and LaRoche understands about loyalty and friendship.  Later Patrick tells Lisbon he needs to work uninterrupted.

Lisbon takes the address of Saynay and finds he can't talk.  Someone cut out his tongue as his mother (Meg Foster) tells her.  That's what's in the box.  There was the feeling that Saynay may not have been guilty of the crime he was accused of, what if his tongue was cut out for other reasons and what does that make LaRoche.  He tries to speak to Lisbon and that look on her face was as though she thought the same.  Then again maybe it was cos she knows what's in there now and Patrick still doesn't.  What would he have thought of LaRoche now if he did, would he still say he's not a monster?  At least we got that reveal about the contents of the box even though we won't get a Red John reveal anytime soon.  No mention of Van Pelt and Rigsby being together either.

Also in Strawberries and Cream, LaRoche tells Patrick "that is private," referring to what's in the box.  Here Patrick says much the same to Rigsby.  It's great the way Patty has this whole other side to him, one where he's helpful and understanding of people and doesn't overstep the mark, that he's not always condescending.  Also LaRoche saying to Patrick that they don't see each other as friends.  Especilally after he thanks him and goes back to calling him Mr Jane.
In the beginning LaRoche knows Patrick didn't take the box as his "puppet mastery of me ends if it becomes public knowledge."
Patrick: ""I never thought of you as a puppet."
LaRoche: "You ever thought of me as a friend?"

Some excellent lines here such as LaRoche telling Patrick that too many high profile suspects were getting out of being arrested.  He didn't notice.  LaRoche: "because you stop at nothing to close cases for your team."
Patrick: "Thank you."
LaRoche: "Other CBI agents have principles."
Patrick: "I leaned into that one."  Yes but not all of them, what about this CBI mole still around on RJ's side.

The clue was in the title as to what was in the box, did anyone get it, red and itchy tongue!  Also the fact that Saynay didn't speak whilst in prison and why his cellmate ran off when he found out they were investigating the case for the box's owner.  Wasn't Brenda already revealed as the leak back when they caught Volker so why was she still at CBI, not to mention why LaRoche didn't know about her.  Yet here Lisbon says they didn't have anything to put her away and they still don't.

Also a coroner scene for them this week as Patrick seems interested and Lisbon, coffee cup in hand doesn't want to look inside Parson's DB at his heart!  Showing yet again she's not into that gore.  Be relieved she didn't faint again, ha.

Patrick's comment when he wants to know why Lisbon is being interviewed: "Sacramento's most eligible singles or should I say sexy spinsters of Sacramanto."  His comments to Lisbon are getting so risque and she seems to like them too.  Brenda telling Lisbon she should be reading blogs!!  Yeah Lisbon! ha.

Did anyone chuckle at Saynay's name, i.e. say nothing, nay as in no say, no speak, no tongue to do so, well it was rather funny!  The writer subtly getting that one in.