“New Terrain” was something of an odd episode, and not just because the episode title referenced Allison’s new car. The episode seemed to take a while to get up to speed. The dream about the girls in the car, and then the accident at the school, weren’t connected at all to the bank case, and made for some strange pacing. Fortunately, while the structure felt a little odd, the episode ended up being excellent as Allison unraveled the twists behind the big heist. Read the rest of this entry »

The story of Angela and Hodgins is, to many fans, as integral to the overall plot as the story of Brennan and Booth. It started with a crush, was solidified with a Gravedigger, and almost ended in marriage. Despite the fact that the two have been broken up for quite some time, many fans, this one included, always suspected that the two would find a way back to each other. What if something stood in their way? Not a little bump in the road like Roxie, but something with more long term potential?

Read the rest of this entry »

Today’s Guest-clacker is JJ, who lives in Austin, TX and is a Systems Engineer. He claims he watches waaaayyyy too much TV and he’s always looking for the next “better” show. To date, he’s never found anything better than Showtime’s Brotherhood.

First off I think I should preface by saying I’m a pretty big fan of Criminal Minds. I started watching it religiously, probably back mid-season two, and have watched Aaron Hotchner (Thomas Gibson) grow as a leader then turn around and fall as a failure. This episode is the first episode where Hotchner is no longer the team lead and in the “changing of the guards” Derek Morgan (Shemar Moore) becomes the lead FBI agent.

This episode is pretty straight forward; it’s focused on the new leadership style of Morgan and didn’t have many — if any — twists in the episode, which is very unlike Criminal Minds. It had the typical start of the dark and depressing “killer beginning” attempting to set the mood of the episode, but honestly feels as if it fell short.

I did notice something that isn’t very typical for Criminal Minds which is we actually see a majority of the killer’s face in the first few scenes; the show usually attempts to hide the killer with overcasting shadows. This actually turned me off from the episode almost instantly because unlike the norm for the show, they concentrated on the character development instead of the crime.

Read the rest of this entry »

Stargate: Universe came out of nowhere for me. Despite being a big Sci-Fi geek, I was never a fan of the previous iterations, be it the movie, or the two other television shows. I’m not saying they weren’t good, because I know they all had a very passionate fan base. Regardless, I’m loving SG:U so far; despite how others feel like it’s been very hit or miss, I’m totally on board.

The one aspect of the show that I really don’t like (or, at least the one aspect not named Rush that I really don’t like) was the communication stones that were heavily featured this week. I liken this show to what Star Trek: Voyager should have been, much more so than Battlestar Galatica that, with which it shares quite a bit tonally, has less in common with than is given credit for. What SG:U doesn’t share with both of the shows, that it should, is the sense of isolation.

Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve talked often this season about how Callie Torres has really filled out as an amazing character (a lot of which had to do with the killer performances by Sara Ramirez). Much of it, however, is rooted in her relationship with Arizona Robbins. While they’ve not been together a full season yet, they’re quickly becoming my favorite couple on television. These are some of the reasons, just in this week’s episode, that you can see why:

1. Read the rest of this entry »

I adore TNT. For me, they seem to have come out of nowhere when Leverage boomed onto the scene (I know, I’m a late bloomer), but I’ve been keeping a good eye on them since then, and every decision they have made has been a winner.

Before Leverage, TNT was going strong with The Closer and Saving Grace, two unique series driven by strong women. Nothing bad about that angle! Since then they’ve realized their original programming is kind of kick-ass, so they’ve debuted Dark Blue and HawthoRNe. It’s like watching a good game of poker, as Kenny Rogers said: “You’ve got to know when to hold ‘em (Leverage), know when to fold ‘em (Trust Me), know when to walk away (Saving Grace being allowed to finish out), know when to run (*cough*Trust Me*cough*)….”

Read the rest of this entry »

“I’m worse than shallow — I’m a kiddie pool.” – Caroline

I’ve got to hand it to The Vampire Diaries. Just when I think they are going to deliver a boring episode, or go someplace entirely lame or sappy with the storyline, they fool me. In a good way, because they are not afraid to kill, maim or otherwise off a character that we all (well, those of us who didn’t read the books anyway) thought had some staying power for one reason or another.

Where I need to suspend my disbelief, or extend my total trust to the writers, is when it comes to everyone being so very stupid when it comes to Damon. OK, Caroline can’t really help it, but everyone else should be able to have a synapse or two from their brains firing at some point in the episode. It’s not going to be much fun if Damon gets away with everything, all the time.

Read the rest of this entry »