My schadenfreude was absolutely tingling during the season finale of Mad Men. There was some serious comeuppance for Don Draper to end this season, and I can’t say that I didn’t enjoy it. In fact, after an entire season (perhaps more?) of serious douche-baggery, I think Don Draper deserved every mouthful of crow that he was forced to eat in this episode. Yes, he sat down and ate his crow for Roger, Pete, Peggy, and even Betty, and I loved every second of it.

After this episode one thing is for certain: change is in the air, and I freaking love it!

Truly, I don’t think I can say enough good things about this episode. I think it was hands down the best episode of this show to date. There was not a sentence that wasn’t perfect. The acting was spot on. The story was great. Most importantly, this episode did the one thing that every season finale should do, and so few accomplish: I can not wait for season four to start.

I loved the juxtaposition of birth and death in this episode; the death of the Drapers’ relationship, and the birth of a new advertising agency. Both situations caused Don to eat some crow. In his home life, all his years of neglecting Betty and cheating on her finally caught up with him. For a while I thought that there was still hope for them, but when Don found out about Henry Francis (and subsequently nearly assaulted Betty and called her a whore, among other things), it was pretty clear that the relationship was completely and utterly over. It was interesting to see just how different divorce was in the 1960s, and a little heartbreaking watching the two parents explaining things to their young children. Kiernan Shipka has really impressed me this season as Sally.

The other huge development of the episode, the formation of the new advertising agency, had me nearly giddy with excitement. I love how everything fell into place. I love how it almost felt like a heist film. I love how season four was so perfectly set up. There was so much to love! I love that Don had to genuflect in front of Pete and Peggy, stepping off his high horse to convince them both to join the new firm. I love that Peggy stood up for herself, though I wonder where this new situation will leave Duck and his firm. It turned out that he was essentially a red herring this season, but I’m sure we haven’t heard the last of him. And of course, I love that Joan slipped effortlessly back into the role of mother hen, rightfully ruling the roost instead of selling dresses at the department store.

This season may have been a little slower than the previous ones, but it was always worth watching. I felt like a lot of the Don/Betty stuff felt a little stale, as we had seen it all before, but this episode was worth every second of it. With Don and Betty completely done and Sterling Cooper dissolved, season four promises to be a whole new ball game. I just wish the off-season weren’t so long.

Other tids and bits:

• I loved the moment from Paul Kinsey when he realized that Peggy had been brought to the new firm and he had been left behind. Classic.
• I love how easily manipulated Harry still is. Prompted with the huge decision of whether or not to jump ship, all he wanted to do was call his wife.
• Pete and Trudy have become such a cute couple, despite all their problems. I hope Pete stops acting like such a philandering jerk and realizes how great she is.
• I was a little surprised to find Sal completely absent from the finale. Is he destined to join the new firm as well? With Don’s dismissal of him, and the fact that they brought Lucky Strike along to the new firm, I’m thinking the answer is “no.”
• It will be very interesting to see how Don and Betty behave as a divorced couple. Very interesting indeed.

What did you think of the finale? Do you agree that it was the best episode of the show?

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This week I turn my attention to one of the most shocking and sad moments in the history of Lost. It was a huge turn of events, particularly for the character of Ben. It was nothing more than a simple “held at gunpoint” scenario that has been used many times before. However, this time it would be different. It was such a great moment because the writers and creators of Lost decided to buck all the conventions regarding the cliched scenario.

That’s right, I’m talking about the standoff between Keamy (from the freighter) and Ben that included Alex being held at gunpoint that was featured in the fourth season episode “The Shape of Things to Come.”

For me, this was truly one of the more shocking moments from the show, eliciting an actual gasp from me when Keamy pulled the trigger and killed Alex execution style. I certainly didn’t see that outcome coming. Ben didn’t either, as he was calling Keamy’s bluff (or so he thought). What made the event even more tragic was the fact that Ben was calling the bluff by announcing how little Alex meant to him, hoping that the lies would make Keamy let her go. Instead, Alex’s final moments were full of hearing the man she considered a father saying how much he didn’t love her. Ouch.

Even though the moment was especially cruel to both Ben (not normally a very sympathetic character) and Alex, you have to give credit to the writers. By exploiting a cliche from TV and the movies, they were able to create a very powerful episode.

Alex’s death was a real turning point for Ben’s character. It was the culmination of his battle with the freighter folk (as sent by Charles Widmore) and marked the end of his time of power on the island. Ever since Alex’s death Ben has been a broken man and has gone from evil mastermind to struggling weasel. Sure, he still is constantly trying to manipulate and outsmart people, but Ben is no longer in a position of power. Instead, he is constantly trying to claw his way back into the island’s good graces.

While Alex’s death may have been one of the sadder moments of the series, it has set up Ben’s character for a great final season. I can’t wait to see what the writers have in store for us.

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I hear so many people say that they gave up on Lost during the third season. I will admit that the short block of episodes that opened the season was probably the lowest point in Lost’s history. The entire Jack, Sawyer, and Kate in cages story line just didn’t work. However, once the season got going it turned out to be just as great as the rest of the show, culminating in an amazing season finale.

Yes, I talked about “Through the Looking Glass” in my column last week, but the episode did include more than one great moment. After talking about the flashforward twist last week, this week I want to turn my focus to Charlie’s death.

Through a lot of season three, there was a big will-they-won’t-they dynamic going on with Charlie’s fate. Desmond was having visions of the future, with the vast majority of them ending in Charlie’s death. Every time Desmond changed his foretold events to save Charlie, he would have another one predicting Charlie’s demise. After so much build up, we pretty much knew that Charlie was going to drown. Heck, even Charlie knew that he was going to drown in the Looking Glass station, even if everyone was hoping that he wouldn’t.

The knowledge that Charlie was most likely going to meet his death in the episode didn’t take away from the impact of the scene at all. Like Penny and Desmond’s phone call in season four, I think the production of this scene was just perfect. The quiet music that played as Charlie frantically wrote on his hand in slow motion, trying to get the message to Desmond set the mood perfectly. Each little touch really worked well.

It was hard to say goodbye to Charlie, but at the same time it was great to see such a satisfying story arc completed for the character. To think that Charlie started the series as a selfish washed up rock star junkie and ended up being, most likely, the purest hero of the series is pretty incredible. In a show filled with flawed characters, Charlie’s sacrifice for the rest of the 815ers underscored how good of a person Charlie really was.

If Juliet’s sacrifice at the end of last season actually worked, perhaps she and Charlie will both get different (and hopefully happy) endings.

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The long offseason continues to march on. With each passing day and week we get closer and closer to the final season of Lost. We still have months to go, however, which is a bit discouraging. To help us get through this Lost lull, I’ve been recapping some of my favorite moments of the show. Indeed, there have been many, but this week’s was perhaps the most shocking.

Yes, this week I want to talk about the finale of season 3.

To say that the twist ending of “Through the Looking Glass” was a game-changing moment on Lost would be a great understatement. Up until that episode, the show had a very well defined storytelling structure. Virtually every episode that came before it featured flashbacks that focused on the lives of the characters before they found themselves on the island. There was no reason, then, to suspect that the finale should be anything different.

However, while watching the episode I couldn’t help but wonder where this crazy, wildly bearded version of Jack came from. Where did this episode in his life fit in with the rest of the flashbacks that we had seen? I didn’t give it too much thought as the episode went along, as I was far too enthralled with what I was seeing on screen. I think this episode was one of the most intense viewing experiences I’ve ever had. I was just mesmerized by my television.

The payoff came at the end of the episode when Jack finally met with an old friend. The car door opened and the audience saw… Kate! How could this be? What did this mean? Well, by now we all know that what we had been seeing during the episode was a flashforward, and not a flashback. It was a genius, inspired move by the writers of the show, throwing the whole Lost universe on its head.

In one brief scene so much information was divulged: people had made it off the island. The island really was just an island somewhere on Earth. All the completely far out theories involving purgatory, or other planets, or any other really hard scifi ideas were pretty much tossed out the window. A world of infinite possibilities had just been whittled down considerably.

This plot twist really did change the face of Lost, with the familiar storytelling formula being tossed out the window. It may have also been the greatest instance of a show toying with their audience, and if you’re anything like me, you loved it.

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I would be remiss to talk about my favorite moments of Lost and not discuss Ben and Locke’s trip to Jacob’s cabin in “The Man Behind the Curtain.” For so long, we had wondered about Jacob, details trickling in slowly (very slowly) over time. Heck, we didn’t even know his name for a few seasons. Then finally the moment came late into season three, when Locke had had enough and insisted on seeing this mysterious “Jacob.” The results, having been built up for three years, were spectacular, making for one of the best moments in one of the best episodes of Lost.

The entire scene in Jacob’s cabin was a huge moment of Lost weirdness. I can remember pouring over every shot and every prop in the cabin, wondering if any of them held significance to the larger Lost story. There was no shortage of interesting things in and around the cabin: an old painting of a dog, jars of unknown liquid, a curious rocking chair, a circle of ash surrounding the small wooden building.

Of course the best moment came when, for a split second, someone appeared in Jacob’s chair. At the time it was assumed that it was Jacob, but that is up in the air after the season finale of season five. Most likely it was Jacob’s nemesis, who was trapped in the cabin with the circle of ash, but that’s really only a theory at this point. I remember when I first watched the episode. I was so enthralled that I did notice the figure in the chair, but it was so quick it didn’t settle in my brain, and by the end of the episode I had completely forgotten about it until I rewound to watch the scene again.

Aside from the contextual elements, it was a really expertly crafted scene, too. The mood surrounding it was downright creepy, the interior of the cabin just light enough to make everything look slightly scary. Everything is scary in the dark. The scene built up perfectly, with Ben talking to the empty chair. Was he just pulling one over on John? Did he really see someone? Why couldn’t Locke? Then it happened: Locke heard a voice say “Help me,” turned on his flashlight, and all hell broke loose.

There’s no doubt this was one of the finest moments of Lost.

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As I continue exploring some of my favorite moments from the past five seasons of Lost, this week I get to the moment that is probably my favorite of them all. Unfortunately, it’s also one of the more polarizing scenes in the show.

I’ve never considered myself a shipper at all, in regards to just about any program, but with Lost I seem to have found my one exception: Desmond and Penny. For me, they really are the heart and soul of the show. While Kate and Jack and Sawyer and Juliet (and Ana Lucia) have spent five years playing relationship musical chairs, Desmond and Penny’s emotions have never wavered. They were always meant for each other. Even when her father orchestrated Desmond’s exile onto the island for years, they were still committed to each other.

It shouldn’t come as a surprise to you then that one of my most favorite moments of Lost came at the end of “The Constant,” when Desmond was finally able to reach out to Penny and talk to his long lost love, fulfilling a promise made in his altered past.

In “The Constant” we saw Desmond jumping back and forth between the present and the past, a consequence of the island’s wacky mojo. In order to stop this, he needed to contact his “constant,” the one thing in his life that existed in all his time periods and that he cared deeply about. There was never any doubt that this would be Penny.

Throughout the episode we saw Desmond changing his past, trying desperately to get back to Penny whom he had broken things off with out of desperation and weakness. Finally he reached her and begged for her phone number, promising to call her on Christmas Eve in 2004. She was skeptical and pretty much brushed him off, giving him her number just to get rid of him.

Finally, however, the moment came when she picked up the phone and it was Desmond on the other end. For me, it was perfect, the acting, writing, the music, the whole production, it all came together to make an epic moment in Desmond’s story arc. I’ve embedded the scene below for your viewing pleasure.

It’s been my experience that people were either blown away with the scene, like I was, or they think it was a little overdone and bordered on cheesy. I suppose being so invested in the characters helped me, but I honestly don’t understand how people couldn’t have been moved by the phone call. Rewatching even now I still get goosebumps, and my heart is usually a shriveled little ball of ice, so that’s saying something.

In any case, as the series comes to a close, I am very curious to see what roles Penny and Desmond will be playing in the end game, if any. They pretty much got their happy ending last season and I would hate to see that messed with. At the same time, though, I would still like to see the characters on the show in some capacity. With Sonya Walger anchoring FlashForward, I’m not sure Penny will be appearing in the final season or not, but I can’t wait to find out.

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Last week I began talking about some of my favorite moments of Lost with a piece on the first big reveal of the show: Locke being in a wheelchair. This week, I turn my attention to the second season of the show, specifically the Eko-centric episode “The 23rd Psalm.”

Since the pilot episode, viewers knew that there was something living in the forest on the island. We had seen it knock down trees, eat the pilot, and try to drag Locke into a big hole, but we had never really seen the monster. In this episode, though, everything changed….

Yes, we did get a glimpse of the monster in the season one finale, but that was fleeting and ambiguous at best. In “The 23rd Psalm” we got to see the monster up close and personal as Eko stared it down in the middle of the forest. It was an outstanding moment and a great reveal for the smoke monster. It was a real step change in terms of what the audience knew of smokey. Not only did we get a great view of it, we got to see that it was showing Eko images from his past, seemingly judging him.

Even now questions remain about the nature of the monster, but we know that it does indeed judge people, as it judged Ben last season. Clearly, it was doing the same here with Eko. As we later found out, Eko was not shown the same mercy that Ben was shown, as the monster killed him early in season three.

There have been other great monster moments throughout Lost. When Ben summoned it to take out the invading freighter crew, the aforementioned judging of Ben in the temple, and when it was repelled by the sonic fence stand out as some memorable appearances. The first good look that we got at the sentient smokey cloud, however, still stands out as one of the best moments of the show for me. It was definitely a water cooler moment and I can remember heading into work the next day, eager to discuss it with some of my fellow Lost lovers. I’m not sure if we will ever know the exact nature of the monster, but hopefully we can get at least one more great smokey moment like this in the final season.

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With the final season of Lost approaching (ever so slowly), I’ve been getting a bit nostalgic. Add to that the fact that I have many weeks of columns to fill before we can start digging in to the final mysteries of the show, and I thought it was the perfect time to look back at some of the best moments of the show. Each week, when there isn’t any big news to discuss, I’ll be writing about some of my favorite moments on the show.

To start us off, I want to talk about one of the earliest jaw-dropping moments on the show, and there have been several over the years….

Of course, I’m talking about the final moments from the first season episode “Walkabout,” when it’s revealed that John Locke was in a wheelchair before landing on the mystical island with the rest of the castaways. “Walkabout” was only the fourth episode of the show, and for many, this was probably a Blow the Hatch moment, even though that whole phenomenon was named after the hatch blowing at the end of season one. If you ask me, I don’t think Lost had a Blow the Hatch moment at all, I think it was stellar and fascinating from the opening scenes.

The scene definitely added a whole level of intrigue and mystery to the show, however. Sure, the monster had already been introduced at this point in the show, and it was clear that there was some crazy, unexplainable stuff happening on the island, but when the camera panned out at the end of the episode, revealing an angry Locke, bound in his wheelchair, yelling at the tour guide who wouldn’t let him go on the walkabout, the game changed. It’s like the writers threw down the gauntlet and told all the viewers that they should hold onto their seats. Anything could happen on this show, and boy howdy, just about everything has happened on this show.

Locke has been a pivotal figure on the show throughout its run and this revelation set up so much about his character. It was a great twist ending, and informed the character moving ahead, as well as moving back in flashback episodes that would explore his relationship with his father. I think this was pretty much the quintessential Locke moment, and definitely one of my favorites in all of Lost.

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I love going back and watching old television shows (by old, I don’t mean older than me old, but just shows I love that are no longer on the air). Also, I’ve been in a bit of a nostalgic mood recently, and it would unfair to say that it hasn’t affected my TV viewing. Nothing feeds that feeling, however, more than a good sappy plot arc. One of my favorite showrunners/writers, Aaron Sorkin, could bring the sap better than no other.  One of my all time favorite instances, though, was on the third season episode of The West Wing, “Stirred,” and I was excited to see this episode pop up on the DVR this week.

There’s a lot of cool stuff going on in this episode, especially for a political junkie like I am (or, more truthfully, was, a couple of years ago). The discussion of booting the Vice President from the ticket in the upcoming election, Charlie’s tax fun and Bartlet’s opinion of James Bond’s drink selection, and the VP’s self sacrifice to save a good bill. The sap, though, came from the President and Josh looking out for one Donnatella Moss.

Donna spent most of the episode talking Josh into supporting a “Proclamation” for a retiring teacher that helped shape her formative years. I would hope that we have all had a teacher like that who has influenced our lives…. I certainly did, and mine, the brilliant Mrs. Scherer (Who developed my love for politics) had recently passed away when this episode aired. Because of that, the arc held then (and still does now) a particular reverence with me.

This was just one of many moments Sorkin has wrote over the years. Sports Night had some classics: “Ntozake Nelson has something to say about a world record,” Dan’s apology, and Casey & Dan’s Christmas shout-outs to the cast (real and on-screen) were all classics in the early episodes. The West Wing had set the pace very early on with “In Excelsis Deo” and just carried that tradition through all four seasons of Sorkin’s presence. (Studio 60 also had its fair share, but the collective internet dislike of Harriet Hayes, and well, storylines that insulted half the country, pretty much drown out any of the other good work there … though, the New Orleans musicians were impressive).

A good, sappy storyline is an important piece to a television season. Writers can definitely overuse the convention, and more importantly, can ham the whole thing up. Sorkin walked the line well, and in my opinion, rarely, if ever, crossed it. Knowing his tendency later to include autobiographical information into his writing, I wonder who Molly Morello was, and if she was in the same ballpark as Mrs. Scherer.

Did you have a teacher like that, or is there a popular sappy storyline you love (or hate)?

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When the last couple of minutes of last weeks Harper’s Island rolled past last Saturday, the first thing I wanted to do was write out about how horrible the ending was. Fortunately for our readers, Keith and Debbie had the responsibility for posting their thoughts first. I got to wait a couple of days and really think out what I thought about how things ended. Unfortunately for fans of the show — and I know CliqueClack has more than a few of them — I still thought it stunk.

CBS marketed this show as a murder mystery. One look at their “Characters” section on the website reveals the “whodunit” nature of what they were telling me the show was going to be. I watched the show because I like trying to figure things out, playing with the clues and red herrings along the way. What the producers gave us, in my eyes, was a ending with a couple of psychopaths and an illogical explanation as to the whole premise of the show.

Before the premier, I was on the fence on whether or not I would watch. I set the DVR to record the episodes just in case I wanted to go back and catch up. Two of my favorite CliqueClack readers, cjcubs and modwild, basically harassed me via Twitter until I relented (And yes, you both did. It’s OK, though. Despite the ending, I forgive you both).

The show started off rather slow, but not necessarily in the bad way. It was more of a slow burn, as members of the wedding party began to be picked off by an unknown force. Based on circumstances, it was several days (and even more episodes) before others began to miss their unfortunate friends, which on one hand was rather annoying, but on the other, let the story develop methodically.

The story of John Wakefield was introduced to us very early in the process, but in the beginning it was more to explain the backdrop to which our story would be told. A spooky island with a history of death and terror sets up a better tone for a mystery than, say, Hilton Head would. When the mug shots and newspapers allowed us to see who Wakefield “was,” Keith so correctly pointed out that you don’t cast a Cylon without planning on using him, and I silently quoted the old Sci-Fi trope, “I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”

Like I said, I was attracted to the mystery concept of the show, and looked forward to answering the websites’ question of Who the Murderer was. Once I saw Callum Keith Rennie in the pictures of Wakefield, most of that curiosity was gone. I mean, you don’t walk into a Halloween movie without knowing that Michael Myers is the guy that will be doing all of the killing. Well, I generally don’t walk into a Halloween movie regardless.

I’ve never been a big fan of the horror genre, for one simple reason: little change occurs, other than death, in most horror stories. Myers, Freddy, and Leatherface live to murder another day, and most of the characters that we have gotten to know are victims by the time the credits role. I’ve gone on record with my opinion that characters, and character development, are the best part of all good stories. In this genre, the most development you can hope for is that the young, nubile girl might be cheating on her boyfriend by sleeping with both guys in the car.

Like I said before, Harper’s Island started different. Most of the characters were given an intricate and often times interlacing back story. Several members of the wedding party had a history on the island. The bride’s family had some serious issues woven throughout. The groomsmen’s fight over the money had meaning because of how badly Malcolm needed it. And if you didn’t fall in love with Cal and Chloe, well, then you’ve just got no heart.

The ending of the story, however, crapped over all of that. The money? Explained in a throwaway line. The wedding: hell, Henry’s whole relationship with Trish just a means to an end, that of which was just getting Abby on the island, and everyone else off. The entire Wellington clan were just victims, and one big family full of red herrings. Yeah, Jimmy and Abby will probably live happily ever after (and, let’s face it, I am a sucker for a happy ending), but by way of Henry just magically turning out to be coo-coo for Cocoa Puffs, nothing else that happened makes any sense.

Logic and rationality are not too big of things to ask for. With the vast number of cop shows on television today, I — and I would assume most viewers — have been conditioned to look for a motive in all crime. Motive explains and justifies the unjustifiable actions of criminals. In this case, however, Henry was excused from having a logical motive because he was bat-shit crazy. Unfortunately, in my eyes, making him crazy was just a cop out for having to come up with a real answer to the question CBS presumably posed, “whodunit?” other than the one I came up with in the end: Who cares???

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I moved to new york exactly four years ago on July 1. I started out renting a room by the week from a nice Hispanic family in Harlem. I moved around several more times before ending up in Jersey City with a baby. My time in the JC was brief– maybe about 10 months. I still worked in NYC, so I never really considered myself a Jersey resident. However, I did take advantage of the few ways in which Jersey City totally wins over Manhattan: Target and a regular-sized grocery store. It was at that grocery store, the A&P to be exact, that I encountered a woman who just about made Sharon Osbourne poop her pants the other night on America’s Got Talent.

I didn’t know her name, but she was the serene grey-haired woman who would scan my groceries efficiently and gush over my newborn as I tried to dig my A&P card out of my cavernous and poorly-organized purse. I always liked getting in her line because she was fast and good at her job (plus, the baby-gushing didn’t hurt). What’s funny is I don’t remember a single other person who worked at that grocery store; nor would I be able to pick a single Target employee out of a line-up. Yet when I caught a glimpse of a woman dancing her heart out on television recently, I knew exactly who she was.

It turns out that I’m not the only one. A quick search turned up other A&P customers who recognized the cashier, Carol Lugo, as soon as they saw her. It’s the contrast between her exterior personality and what America now knows she had hiding beneath the surface that makes this woman so compelling. She seemed calm, quiet, perhaps even timid. She didn’t seem like the kind of woman who would gossip or get too involved in other peoples’ business. I bet people who knew her would describe her as someone who kept to herself. Yet underneath it all, this is what she had going on:

Was it a technically brilliant performance? No. But I defy you to watch that and not get a smile on your face, if not a tear in your eye. With the worldwide success of the most recent season of Britain’s Got Talent, of course the judges on AGT are looking for their next Susan Boyle. Do I think Carol Lugo fits the bill? I don’t know. I’m not sure how far she’ll make it in the competition, but I know that in four minutes, she has brought more people genuine entertainment than many celebrities way more famous than she ever have, so no matter what, following her dream was worth it.

This unassuming woman decided that, at 62, she was going to live her dream. She auditioned for this show and not only wowed the judges, but brought an entire auditorium to its feet. What fascinates me about this is that the audition that we just saw the other night likely took place months ago. So after this triumphant validation of her lifelong dream, Carol Lugo went right back to doing her job, not giving any indication to the customers who saw her every day that behind her register that she had her dancing shoes on. Here’s hoping she’ll Moonwalk right out the door.

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Do I really need to say this again? Alright, for the benefit of those who don’t know me or haven’t heard me say it the other 30 times in the past, I’m a big fan of the Buffyverse shows. So, when the idea of our Blowing the Hatch posts came about, I knew I’d want to bring Buffy into the mix.

Admittedly, I didn’t love Buffy the Vampire Slayer when I went to catch up with the series to see what all the fuss was about. Season one is one of, if not the worst seasons of the series. It’s because of this lackluster season that many people use it as an example of a show that started out weak but, because it was given a chance, blossomed in its sophomore season and continued to gather viewers.

So, what was it in season two that made me realize Buffy was really getting good, when it Blew the Hatch? When Angelus came to Sunnydale.

For many giggly teenage girls who were watching Buffy since the beginning, the intense moment when Angel and Buffy finally had sex was something they’d dreamed to have happen since Angel and Buffy first shared horny glances. Now that they finally got their wish, Joss rips the rug right from under Buffy — and us — by making Angel turn into one of the worst foes Buffy has ever had to face. It was Whedonesque brilliance.

From that point of the series on, things only got better … until season seven, that is, but I won’t go into that. If “Innocence” didn’t grab you into this show — if it wasn’t the moment that “Blew the Hatch” for you — then you could pick from a number of other episodes closely following within that second season.

Bringing Angelus to modern-day Sunnydale set the tone for the rest of the series when it came to Angel and all those who knew him. The trust he’d worked hard to earn from all the Scoobies was either completely gone or never fully regained. Ultimately it was this lack of trust by most of the gang that led to him leaving, which gave birth to Angel, the series. But that’s for another Blow the Hatch post.

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Food writer Jeff Love starts a journey with a tale that’s best to begin here, with its conclusion to come later on CliqueClack Food in his always awesome Redneck Cooking column.

I got an email the other day from Keith. He asked me to do him a favor. I asked what the favor was. He said, “I need you to drink a six-pack of beer.”

Now that is the kind of favor I like my friends to ask me for. I quickly agreed to do the favor. I asked, “what kind of beer do I have to drink?” He said a six-pack of the Land Shark Lager he reviewed recently in his brew review column. After reading the review, it didn’t sound too bad, so I still was willing to do Keith the favor. In the back of my mind I kept thinking, “Keith has never been this nice to me before, so what’s he got up his sleeve?” Has Keith finally became a saint?

After several emails back and forth I was feeling pretty good about this “favor” Keith wanted. In his last email, he showed that he was not a saint, but more a sadistic bastard. Keith did not want me to do a review of the beer; instead he wanted me to watch an episode of According to Jim after drinking a six-pack of beer to see if the show was funnier.

So I started looking around for an episode of According to Jim to use for this test. I decided on the show finale that just aired. Now, I have not watched this show for a long time. I gave up on it after the first couple of episodes because it was not funny then; I have no idea what it is like now. I decided that a control review needed to be done. I sat down on Saturday night and watched the show, and no, this Saturday night I didn’t have anything better to do. So with my bag of microwave popcorn and bottle of soda in hand, I sat down to review the show.

The series finale is titled “Heaven Opposed to Hell.” The basic plot is that Jim chokes on a shrimp puff and dies. When he gets to the gates of Heaven he is red flagged and has to go before God — played poorly by Lee Majors — to weigh the merits of his life to decide if he should get into Heaven or go to Hell. For the series finale, the best they could come up with was a bad rip-off of the Albert Brooks movie Defending Your Life? To defend Jim, they brought in the person that loved him the most in his life: predictably Andy, not Sheryl. It was also predictable that Dana was the one who despised Jim the most and was brought in to represent the Devil, played poorly by Eric Estrada.

The highlight of the show was the appearance by Dan Aykroyd. He was not particularly funny, but I always like to see him on TV.

All of the jokes were predictable and were of a third- or fourth-grade level. As most people grow older they mature and do grow wiser. Jim and Andy have been going backwards. I thought when I quit watching this show in the first season that I would like it if I were still a high school boy, but it was a bit below my level of comedy as a grown man. After watching this final episode I realized how far the show had degenerated. I was really expecting fart jokes, as I always liked those, too, when I was in elementary school.

When Dana, Ryan, and Andy arrived at the house to visit and announce their good news, Jim’s outburst to show how excited he was only showed what a jackass he was, and if I were to act that way in front of my wife, I would not even be allowed to sleep in the dog house; I would be banned to the wood plot out in back to sleep with the other animals.

The producers did try to go out with a bang by bringing in Aykroyd, Estrada, and Majors, but even these guest appearances could not drag this show out of the gutter. I do not know how this show has stayed on the air for as long as it has, but thankfully it is now over and will fade into the realm of syndication.

So there is my sober review of the show. Next weekend I will review the show again after drinking the six-pack of Land Shark Lager and see if it improves the show any.

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There was so much awesomeness in this episode, that I believe most fans forget that we saw Lily become Slap Bet Commissioner the same night we met Robin Sparkles. The group discovered that Robin had some deep dark mall-related secret when she was too scared to join them on a Barney-funded shopping spree. Ted pries, as Ted does. Marshall thinks it’s marriage, as Marshall does. Barney think its porn, because, you know, he’s Barney.

The bet, is the most legendary of bets: Slap Bet. Lily gets to mediate, but the winner gets to slap the ever-loving crap out of the loser. Because both of our contestants jump the gun, much slappage occurs. When it’s all said and done, Barney loses, and has to make a difficult choice: Ten slaps doled out immediately, or five, at a time and place of Marshall’s choosing. The latter prevails, and leads to great fun for Marshall, and for us.

The secret came out when one of Barney’s “contacts” tracks down some video of Robin’s past. When everyone gathered around the computer to watch, we get our first glimpse of Robin’s truly sordid past. The video of “Let’s Go to the Mall” is just a funny sandwich with a side of hilarious fries. From the robot, to the fact that the ’80s didn’t make to Canada until, like ‘93, Robin Sparkles is here to stay. Well, at least until the (obviously) career-ending follow up single.

Both the Slap Bet and Robin Sparkles have come back again and again. Not just in the big storyline way (like the “Sandcastles in the Sand” episode) but the little nods. Marshall jumping on-stage to slap Barney during his one man show, or singing “Let’s Go to the Mall” at the Canadian karaoke bar. When one episode can provide so much material down the line, you know they’ve hit one out of the park.

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I will be the first to admit that this past season of Saturday Night Live was uneven. There were, however, some really standout episodes and skits. Cate loved The Lawrence Welk Show sketches, as she wrote about. Those were a couple of great sketches and they showed that sometimes simplicity works. What can I say? There’s something undeniably funny about tiny doll hands bursting bubbles.

One of the skits that really stands out in my mind came during one of the better episodes of the season, the one hosted by Neil Patrick Harris. Now, I’m no fan of musicals, but I’m knowledgeable enough about a lot of the shows that I found the “Save Broadway” sketch to be really clever and funny.

It’s rare that every joke hits in a skit, even the good ones, but I thought that this sketch really hit every note. The costumes were great, which SNL always seems to excel at. Beyond that, however, there was a great appearance by Taylor Swift (the episode’s musical guest) as Annie, recalling her “hard knock life” and making sure that no one messes with her.

My other favorite jokes included the witch from Wicked getting upset and claiming racism when “Mark from Rent” suggested that she could get a role in Shrek if Wicked were canceled. There were a couple of great in-jokes, too, including the fact that Neil Patrick Harris was reprising (and making fun of) his role of Mark, which he played in a national touring production of Rent. The other great in-joke came when Darrell Hammond clanged two trash lids together as a member of Stomp. “Wow, still relevant,” said Sudeikis, and it was unclear whether he’s referring to Stomp or Hammond himself. It got the biggest laugh of the whole sketch.

When it comes right down to it, though, this sketch had me as soon as the puppet from Avenue Q started miming how she gives massages … with her mouth. Dirty puppets are comedy gold.

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After last season and Gizzy-Gate, I had all but given up on Grey’s Anatomy. This season, though, it pulled me back in. So despite my better judgment, I was totally sucked in and looking forward to this season’s finale. I’ve got to say: I wasn’t disappointed.

I’ve long hated the make-up break-up cycle between Meredith and Derek, so it was nice to see them committing themselves to each other. I enjoyed the new turns the Christina/Owen relationship took, and even Izzie’s brain tumor. It was nice to see George actually somewhat back in the story with his big decision. I liked just about everything about the finale, but I couldn’t help but thinking, as I watched it, that it seemed kind of … familiar.

It started off slowly, and I’m sure, entirely coincidentally. When everybody around her was arguing about her treatment, Izzie went to her happy place, where she was sitting on the beach with Denny. It’s a pretty common device, but didn’t we just see it on House? Remember when Mos Def guest-starred as the patient with Locked-In Syndrome, and he and House spent a lot of the episode frolicking on the beach?

Granted, neither one of them is in a bikini, and everyone likes the beach, but seeing two patients hallucinate/daydream about being on the beach instead of confined to a hospital bed so close together is a little weird. However, Izzie’s beach vacation didn’t come close to the Déjà vu I experienced when watching the big twist at the end of the episode.

Let me first preface this by saying I loved the way the Grey’s writers set this up. There was so much activity going on in the hospital that, as a viewer, I didn’t even notice that we hadn’t seen George since he told Bailey about his decision. Quite frankly, since T.R. Knight wasn’t exactly front-and-center throughout most of this season, it didn’t seem significant that he wasn’t around.

The one thing that did strike me as a little odd was how Alex referred to him as 007, since that’s not a nickname anyone has used regarding him for a while. I just brushed it off, though, thinking that it was a snide remark about George cracking under pressure if he were to go to Iraq. So when we finally find out that O’Malley was the John Doe who got dragged by a bus, I was shocked. Then I was confused, because hadn’t ER already done this?

While the beach thing was probably entirely coincidental, this couldn’t have been. My question is, was it an homage, or a rip-off? At first, I thought it was a blatant rip-off, but it had been a decade or so since I had seen that episode of ER, so upon re-watching it, I’m leaning more toward homage.

After all, the ER staff found out right away that their faceless John Doe was Dr. Gant, whereas it took the entire episode to find out it was George. Dr. Gant died, while George, well, at the very least, survived for a while. Dr. Gant committed suicide, while George saved a young woman’s life.

In all, while it was a powerful ending for Grey’s, I can’t help but think it would have been more powerful had another wildly popular hospital drama not done almost the exact same twist. What do you think? Does the fact that ER did this before diminish Grey’s ending, or does George’s storyline stand on its own?

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Pardon my language, but is there really any other word that I could use? No other show does a better job at completely screwing with my mind like Lost. I’m a little speechless about the ending, but there is a lot more to talk about before I touch on that….

This week in my Lost in Lost post I mentioned that I wanted to write a post speculating on the nature of Jacob. I was hoping that some light was going to shed on the mysterious figure in this episode, but I never expected this much. I had assumed that most of the answers about Jacob were going to be saved for the final season of the show, but I was pleasantly surprised to learn as much as we did in the finale. The question now, however, becomes: does any of it matter?

Honestly, I’m having trouble even knowing where to start with this episode. As Jacob seemed to be the focus of the episode, I think he’s a good place to start. As it would turn out, he’s just a dude. Well, probably not just a dude, but he was definitely a person (or at least looked like a person). I thought the opening scene with him and his buddy (Titus Welliver, yet another Deadwood vet to show up on Lost) on the beach was fascinating. It reminded me right away of the scene from last season when Ben went to visit Widmore in his home. It was indicated in that scene that Ben and Widmore could not kill each other. It would seem that this relationship started long ago with Jacob and Welliver’s character.

Is the battle between Jacob and this other guy the battle that we’ve been told about for so long now? Is Widmore somehow in league or associated with Welliver’s character? If so why was he a part of the Others, who seem to be the group working for Jacob? All answers for season six, I suppose. It’s a shame we’ll have to wait about nine months for that. Pardon me while I go get some tissues….

It was very interesting watching how Jacob appeared in all of our characters’ pasts, seemingly at the most important points of their lives. Well, most of them, anyway. Does it mean anything that we didn’t see Jacob with Juliet in her past? Also, was it just me, or did it seem like Jacob brought Locke back to life after his fall? What does it mean that he visited Sayid and Hurley after they returned from the island? So … many … questions….

There are so many things I would like to comment on, but I wonder just how pertinent any of it really is. With the episode ending the way it did, there are infinite directions for the show to go in. Did they succeed in changing the future? Who fricking knows? If they didn’t, are they all dead? Is Juliet going to be around next season? What about Sayid? It certainly was looking dire for him. I think speculation for season six is going to be near impossible. Oy.

There were some things I absolutely loved about this episode that I want to talk about. How great was it, after four seasons of watching Ben manipulate and mess with people’s heads, that the tables were turned on him? I, for one, enjoyed him playing right into the plans of fake-Locke. I think it’s going to have horrible consequences, but it was a great turn for his character. As for fake-Locke himself, it seems clear that he is Welliver’s character. How that all went down, I just don’t know. There were some implications of this that I really enjoyed, too, though. I have to assume, at this point, that the Christian we saw on the island really was not a mouthpiece of Jacob, as he claimed to be, but a mouthpiece for this Welliver character, moving pieces to get himself in position to off Jacob.

We finally got a good look at the four-toed statue in this episode, too. There had been some banter on the Internet about the identity of the statue, and it seems that some of it was correct. From my view, it certainly looked to be Taweret, an Egyptian fertility goddess. Though, after a little research, it seems some people believe it to be Sobek, the crocodile god. Both Wikipedia pages have been edited, claiming that the statue depicts each deity. Oh, well. I think a fertility goddess seems to fit better. Perhaps once it was destroyed the problem with pregnancies began on the island?

Finally, my last favorite part of this episode was watching Jack get beaten up, including a foot to the crotch. Sawyer’s beating was satisfying, but it was even better when he got bashed in the noggin by a flying toolbox. Good times.

There was a lot of character stuff going on in this episode, particularly with the Kate/Juliet/Sawyer triangle, but honestly, I just don’t know if any of it matters. I’m going to be really annoyed if that future was changed like Jack planned and none of these characters know each other come next season. I just don’t think that’s a realistic possibility though. With Jacob saying “they’re coming,” I have to believe he meant the folks who were displaced in time, and not Ilana’s group. Well, I guess time will tell.

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Once upon a time, I was a hardcore SNL fan. I’m talking back in the days of Will Ferrell, Ana Gasteyer, Chris Kattan and Molly Shannon. Towards the end of the 90s, I drifted away and only recently have started to watch again on any regular basis.

Still, the show on a whole just doesn’t make me laugh like it used to. Maybe that’s because I’m no longer 14, but I like to think I’m as immature as I ever was, at least where comedy is concerned. This is probably why the one and only skit out of this entire season to make me literally convulse with laughter, tears streaming down my face so hard I could barely see, was The Lawrence Welk Show from episode four, with Anne Hathaway hosting.

Almost the entire episode was good — for this I give credit to Anne Hathaway for really selling her characters — but in this particular skit featuring Amy Poehler, Anne Hathaway, Casey Wilson and Kristen Wiig as a group of singing sisters gone horribly wrong, it was Kristen Wiig in all her baby-handed, big-foreheaded glory that really did it.

Honestly, I can’t for the life of me explain why it’s so funny as to turn me into a teary, shaky, hysterical mess every time I watch it, but the fact that it does is good enough for me. I don’t question miracles, and The Lawrence Welk Show is nothing if not a heavenly gift bestowed upon us by a higher power. Don’t believe me? Watch for yourself. But don’t say I didn’t warn you — you’re going to need at least one tissue to wipe away all those tears of hilarity.

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For those of you who are mouthing “WTF?,” I’m talking about the appearance of Mayim Bialik on this week’s relationship-themed episode of Bones. And, for those of you who were still a gleam in your parents’ eyes back in 1990, I’m talking about the classic NBC sitcom Blossom, which aired from 1990 to 1995. Blossom was notorious for producing a number of “very special episodes” that would turn the normally funny show downright serious.

I was pretty sure Bialik was going to be the dead ringer for the murderer. Alas, it wasn’t to be.

Fact is, Mayim had all of two lines of dialogue in only one scene of the FOX drama. My initial thought was, despite her quick appearance at the beginning of the program, she would return later in the show and end up being the person who ran her friend over (twice) with an SUV. As the episode of Bones progressed, my hopes dwindled. Eventually, the perpetrator turned out to be the owner of the dating service that the murder victim used prior to her death.

What a lost opportunity on the part of the show’s creators! They could have done so much more with Bialik. I can see it now….

Tonight, on a very special episode of Bones, Mayim Bialik reprises her most famous role in a story of murder, mayhem, and the loss of funky hats as a style statement.

Bialik (Blossom): Now, why would I kill my best friend? I mean, sure, I have my demons, and I talk about my problems to images of ’80s and early ’90s television stars, and my heart was broken at an early age by a boy who wanted to marry me, and my Mom abandoned us for a career in Paris, but I’m not bitter.

Booth: Maybe it had something to do with your nose.

Blossom: You bastard!

Meanwhile, Bones and Booth interrogate Blossom’s friends and family.

Sweets: Six, tell me a little about your friend Blossom.

Six (Jenna von Oy):Well,she’sreallynice, butcanbeapain, andshetalkstofigmentsofherimagination, andherfamilyiskindawierd, andshereallypissedme offwhenshefoundoutIwasabusingalcohol, andshegotengagedwaytooearly.

Sweets: You know, talking so fast usually means you’re trying to hide something from deep within your subconscious.

Six: You bastard!

Come laugh, cry, and experience teenage angst all over again on this week’s Bones. Special guest star, Joey Lawrence as FBI agent Joey Russo…

Bones: This victim was murdered.

Joey: Whoa!

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Did you ever pull an all-nighter? I find that around the 36 hour mark, I start to get a little goofy. Things that seem to make a lot of sense at the time, really start to unravel when put under the harsh light of a good solid nap. That’s how I imagine “A Space Oddity” came to be. It’s just weird, and probably could have used a couple more naps somewhere in the process. But it’s still totally worth seeing. For one thing, it’s going to go down as one of the most memorable CSI episodes for the strangeness alone. If that’s not enough, it also offered the opportunity to get Liz Vassey in a bunch of great costumes. Liz Vassey just being on a show makes it better. Liz Vassey being on a show in the sexy alien lingerie makes it, by definition, must see TV.

In case you missed it… our story takes place at a sci-fi convention, which is like a syfy convention, only it doesn’t make you want to hurl. The featured attraction is the sneak peek at a pilot for a remake of the classic show, Astro Quest. And, given that this is CSI, you know what’s coming. The brains behind the new show, Jonathan Danson, isn’t long for this world. Yes, “He’s dead, Jim.”

And really, that gets right to one of my complaints with the episode. While they went to a lot of trouble to shoot examples of the classic Astro Quest, who are we kidding here? This is Star Trek. A point driven home as characters continue to make references (”He’s dead, Jim.” “I’m not a seamstress, I’m a coroner’s investigator, dammit.”) to the show. The show even spawned its own language, Vellikon. They meant Star Trek. We hear Star Trek. Someone should have kicked some suits in the crotch until they let them just say Star Trek.

The remake itself left Trek behind, instead calling to mind Battlestar Galactica. Danson’s new ‘reimagining’ of the show takes it in a very dark and gritty direction, much to the chagrin of the assembled fans. There’s a fun moment as we see the crowd reaction. Standing in the audience, without even a line, is Grace Park. And our view of her is soon blocked as Ronald D. Moore stands up to tell Danson, “You suck!”

There were a few other nice bits peppered throughout the episode. Back at the lab, an argument starts over what is sci-fi, and what is fantasy. And two of the suspects even hail from Pahrump, the on-again, off-again, home of the legendary Art Bell. It was strange, and fun, and just not what you expect from the trusty old CSI. I can’t remember the last time I actually recommended CSI to someone, but if you get the chance, this one is worth a look.

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