Life On Mars: Tuesday's Dead

Ever since I posted about Windy being an hallucination, she’s been strangely absent. That seems to follow the formula that they’ll bring her back perhaps once more, then again in the season finale for the big reveal that she’s not real. I’m going with that.

The what’s-happening-to-Sam theme of the week here was a mixture of coma, with a smidge of insanity. Things seem to lean so heavily toward Sam being in a coma that it seems to have red herring written all over it.

As far as the past vs. future references go, they are clever but they may need to ease off just a tad. The opening typewriter scene I liked, the dance moves, though, were maybe a little too much. But I have to admit, if I was in Sam’s shoes, I’d definitely be pulling off a moonwalk or break dance at some point.

I never really thought before about how much Sam would know regarding law enforcement and hostage negotiation techniques beyond what his ’70s counterparts know. Sam’s got 30 some-odd years on everyone in law enforcement advancement, so something’s gotta come into play in a major way at some point.

As for Sam’s predicament (I guess that’s what I’ll continue to call it), I’m wondering why he doesn’t try passing a note to the future with someone to his fiance. I’d like to see an episode where he at least contemplates that, though I can’t say how it would even work. But I did think Sam was going to do that in this episode in order to give them a “sign” he was hearing what they said.

Bilateral Cingulotomy. Is this maybe something that’s affecting Sam? I ask because, when he looked into Johnny’s eyes, the music set a tone that said “this is significant.” However, that could just have meant to look for his smile toward the end of the episode.

Speaking of crazy people, what was with Mr. Noodle playing a looney-bin doctor? God that was disturbing.

Songs in this episode:
The Propositions - “Sweet Lucy”

Grand Funk Railroad - “We’re an American Band”

Cat Stevens - “Tuesday’s Dead”

CSI: Say Uncle

A cheerful afternoon in Koreantown turns deadly when a hail of bullets comes out of nowhere. People run for cover, but one little boy stands still, spattered in blood.

Later in the day, the police and CSIs are at the scene. Two people are dead – a man and a woman. The man is Sung Bang, recently released from prison. The woman is unidentified. The crowd is unhelpful, but a pair of child’s sunglasses covered in blood tells them that there’s one witness out there who is not talking just yet.

Doc Robbins illuminates Grissom on a few points with the bodies. For one, two separate guns were used, and the trajectories of the bullets were very different. The girl also seems to be a drug addict and also a hooker, but she’s had plastic surgery. Generous pimp.

Brass hunts out the plastic surgeon that altered the victim’s eyelids, who says he was held at gunpoint by the K.D., a Korean mob, and forced to perform the surgery before being extorted.

Meanwhile, the CSIs find surveillance footage from a department store where the male victim was seen earlier that day. The footage comes from Dempsey’s forensic services. The footage also includes images of a young boy, perhaps the same kid that witnessed the crime.

They track down Child Protection Services and identify the child: Park Bang, Sung’s nephew. The woman is Park’s mother, Kora Sil, and she, like her son, is HIV positive. She’s done time for prostitution with H.I.V. They find her MySpace and track the IP to a residence in Koreatown, the Pan residence. Mr. Pan has no idea where Park is, but he was friends with Park’s family, which is why he let’s Kora use his computer..

Nick tries to track Park and Sung’s path from the department store to Koreatown, looking for anything they might have left behind. Hodges manages to find it all pretty much instantaneously in a garbage can. The CSIs burst into the household, looking for Park, and encounter a hostile old woman with a gun. They also find a little boy! It happens to be Park, who is taken to a hospital where he is examined. He’s not well at all, with skin lesions and a gastric feeding tube.Brass attempts to get Park to identify the shooters, but to no avail. Grissom tries to get the information he needs, and eventually Park allows him to collect samples. A man by the name of Dr. Eastling comes in and attempts to give Park some “medication,” but Park obviously doesn’t want it. Grissom is suspicious. With good reason, because Park’s blood panel comes back and he has many, many drugs in his system. It looks like he’s on some clinical trials.

Park’s fingernail scrapings include the DNA of Jin Ming, A.K.A. Mr. Pan. He’s an ex-con who may or may not be a part of the K.D. Of course, he seems to have left town, and all that’s left in his house is the furniture in his basement where Park and his mother lived. The basement is booby trapped with a bomb, but no one was seriously hurt.

Besides the bomb, Greg finds a business card for a lawyer, who tells him that Kora was suing Park’s doctor for more money from the drug trials. Grissom confronts Dr. Eastling about his medical malfeasance and Eastling goes away with little choice. Park is grateful enough to let Grissom ask him questions. It turns out that Sung found him in Jin’s basement and took Park away when he saw how he was being treated, fighting both Kora and Jin in the process. Jin and Kora found Park with Sung, and Jin shot Sung and Kora.

However, the evidence seems to be telling another story. Sung, after all, left jail with a gun. Perhaps Kora shot Sung and Sung shot Kora back from his position on the ground, causing the strange trajectory. Riley and Grissom decide to settle this debate by reenacting the crime with dummies. They discover that neither of their theories are correct. Due to the angle, it would have had to be Park who shot his mother after she shot Sung.

This episode seemed, more than anything, intent on sowing some seeds of doubt into Grissom’s mind about his job. Just like Sarah, he’s beginning to wish some cases wouldn’t be solved, simply because of how horrifying they are. Anything to give him a plausible excuse for leaving. It makes me sad to see him going the same way as Sarah though, especially when he’s been so steadfast throughout the rest of the series. Either way, I must make the most of Grissom while I have him. At least I’ll get another visit from the miniature killer!

Supernatural - I Know What You Did Last Summer

Anna can hear angels. She knows all about the impending apocalypse, Lillith and her wanting to break 66 seals to release Lucifer from Hell. Apparently she can also “see” demons when they possess humans and can move things with her mind. It is no wonder that everybody wants to get their hands on her.

Sam and Dean are trying to hustle a guy in a bar at a game of pool when Ruby shows up. She tells them about Anna and that the demons are on a mad chase to find her and keep her alive. She tells Sam and Dean that they may want to find her and see why she is so important. Dean is not happy and tells Sam that he is treating her like she is family now. Sam tells Dean that Ruby saved him and if he wants to trade stories, Dean can go first.

Sam flashes back to 6 months earlier when he summons the crossroads demon. Man, am I glad that they didn’t go there with that story line. He called Sam his “co-worker”, that is not a good sign. Of course, Sam wants him to free Dean, which is impossible for him to do. Sam tells him to trade for Dean. The demon tells Sam that they have everything exactly the way they want it.

They arrive at the hospital Anna escaped from and talked to her doctor. She is convinced that she is schizophrenic. Sam and Dean go to talk to her parents and find them dead. They see a picture of Anna at church and remember the window from one of her drawings. They believe she is there, hiding. They get to the church and find Anna hiding. When they tell her who they are, she has heard of them. She tells them that the angels talk about Dean and that they believe that he will save them all. And that they don’t like Sam. She tells them that she can hear angels and it just so happened that she started hearing them the day Dean was pulled out of Hell. The first thing she heard was “Dean Winchester is saved.” Ruby shows up and says there is a demon after them. They hide Anna and Sam tries to exorcise the demon, but cannot. The demon knows Dean; it was someone he knew in Hell. Ruby manages to get Anna out as Sam and Dean get their butts kicked. Sam stabs the demon with the knife, but it does nothing. They jump out the window to get away, but leave the knife behind.

Dean is really nervous why Sam trusts Ruby so much. Sam finally tells him what happened while Dean was gone. Sam was jumped by a demon and Ruby (different body) just happened to be the other one. She played along that she was going to kill Sam and killed a demon instead. Sam kicks Ruby out of the car after they talk and he tells her to let the body go. So, she jumps to a body of a girl who is about to die. She shows up and tells Sam she can give him Lillith. She teaches him how to use his powers. Then, she comes onto him. Now I know why Sam likes her so much.

Dean is a little freaked out that Sam did the deed with her. He goes on to tell Dean that Lillith showed up in town and Ruby begged him not to go after her. He did anyway. It ended up being a trap, but Ruby showed up to save him. Sam ends up saving her by killing the demon who had her pinned up against the wall. While they are talking, “Ruby” shows up in the form of a housekeeping lady to tell them to leave. She is at a cabin with Anna. They arrive and Dean apologizes to Ruby, in a round about way. Anna is still worries about her parents, and they tell her that her parents are dead. She is upset and stops to say, “they are coming.” But the they are the Castile and Uriel. They say that they are there for Anna and she has to die. And then the thing that I dread the most………. TO BE CONTINUED! NOOOOO!

My Name Is Earl - Earl & Joy's Anniversary

The plot of this particular episode revolved around Earl remembering the first anniversary of his marriage to Joy. That day was special because Earl's cousin Blake showed up and made Earl feel jealous and inferior as he bragged about sleeping with Joy. A swarm of killer bees trapped Earl, Randy, Joy, Blake and others inside the Crab Shack while Darnell, Catalina, Kenny and Patty the daytime hooker hid inside a phone booth. The day was also memorable because it was the day Earl and Joy finally decided their sham marriage was over and that they didn't really love each other. He may not have loved Joy as his wife, but Earl did care enough to protect her from a renegade killer bee, stabbing it with a corn dog stick just in the nick of time. You'd think an outlandish plot device like killer bees would inspire some killer jokes. Not really.

Jason Priestly was an odd choice for the role of Blake because he's not known as a comedic actor. Unfortunately, I still don't know if he can do comedy because he wasn't given anything to work with in a thankless role as a male model. Perhaps a sitcom veteran or sketch comedian could've done more with the part, but that seems like a stretch. Unlike Seth Green, Jenna Elfman, and David Arquette earlier this season, Priestley's stunt casting went to waste.

In the midst of forgettable jokes and a mediocre plot, there was one scene that worked really well – Randy had secretly taped Earl and Joy over the past year and took the footage to a wedding videographer to create an anniversary gift. The result was a funny montage of scenes showing Earl and Joy's complete disharmony, accompanied by cheesy video effects and the perfect soundtrack, "You're the Inspiration" by Chicago. Why couldn't the rest of the episode been equally as funny?

My Name is Earl has just become forgettable, which in terms of entertainment, is almost worse than being terrible. With a bland sitcom that was once great, there's not much to do except hope it gets better and long for the past.

Bones: The Con Man in the Meth Lab

Once again, there was not much to the actual case, but It didn’t bother me in the least because I delved into Booth’s past and met his little brother- Lt. Commander Jared Booth. Not only was I treated to a look into Booths family, I saw significant changes and growth in the relationship between Booth and Brennan.

THE CASE: The episode opened to a police training exercise in which a body flew from an exploding meth lab. Meanwhile, Booth and Brennan are in a session with Sweets and Booth is relishing in the near-completion of the Rico investigation, a case that will boost his career and raise his salary. They are called to the crime scene, but not before Booth gets a call from his brother and further piques Sweets interest in his past.

There are multiple cases of mistaken identity before they correctly identify his body as Anthony Pongetti, a gambling con man who stole the identity of a fellow gambler, Jim Stegman. The team worked to solve the case with the long suffering Clark Eddison, who returned because they ‘are the best’. It was fun to see everyone welcome him back with open arms and more than a little good-natured teasing, he fits in, and hopefully they have closed the door on Zack replacements.

The state police send Trooper Brian Walcox to ask that Booth refrain from mentioning that the body was found during police training. Booth has been working with the state police on the Rico case but refuses to cover up for that, instead suggesting they try telling the truth, a move that will come back to haunt him later in the episode. With a group of predictable suspects they solve the crime relatively quickly, but not without incident. Brennan is shot in the arm when they go to take down the corrupt sheriff.

THE SECONDARY STORYLINE: It is Seely’s birthday and The Brothers Booth took center stage and I finally met Booth's younger brother - Jared Booth, who is now working at the pentagon. When Brennan agrees to take Cams place as Jared’s date for a cocktail party, Jared gives her his take on Booths career. “I don’t mean he’s incapable…my brother's very, very capable. Its like Seely’s afraid of success, he stays in his comfort zone.”

The fact that Brennan took his words seriously and believed him, really disappointed me because I was under the impression that their relationship was stronger than that. Jared proceeds to show how he Is different from his coward brother by kissing her.

Booth is called away from the investigation when his brother is arrested for drunk driving and the arresting officer is the state trooper Booth had refused to help, earlier in the episode. To save his brother's career he agrees to give the state police full credit for the Rico case, exchanging his career boost to keep his brother out of Jail.

When Brennan realizes that he didn’t get credit and he appears to not care, she attributes it to what Jared said. Angela advises her against pursuing a relationship with Jared, and Cam, with the help of Sweets, tries to explain the dark childhood of the brothers, and Booth’s role as protector of his Jared. This storyline comes to a head when Brennan tells Booth what Jared told her and couldn’t say no when he asked if she thought he was the type of man who sabotaged himself, a loser. The tension between Brennan and Booth was overpowering and I honestly felt like yelling at the TV. Why did Brennan have to be so……so bones? She redeemed herself when she confronted Jared about being the reason behind Booth's sacrifice and in a classic move, after making her exit, returned to push him off his bar stool.

The episode ended with the entire team (including Clark!) celebrating Booth's birthday. Brennan gives a lovely speech that is one part apology and one part praise, she tells Booth he needs to let his brother learn from his own mistakes. He realizes that he isn’t doing his brother any favors and tells Jared he won't bail him out again and he needs to stop drinking. The younger Booth brushes him off and the show ends with Booth and Brennan sitting side by side and Booth confiding in her that his father was an abusive alcoholic.

The GOOD: The entire episode was first rate. I especially liked seeing Cam's long history with the Booth Brothers, Clark's interaction with Hodgins and Angela, Brendan Fehr as Jared Booth, I was uneasy when I heard of the casting choice, but he was perfect for the part, and last but not least, the further developments in the Booth/Brennan relationship. They are perfect together but the tension is this episode was sorely needed and the ending was the perfect touch.

The BAD: I feel that the cases in the past two episodes have been lacking due to the extensive focus on character developments, and while I love the Bones team, I also like the crime aspect of it and hopefully well rounded cases will return next week.

All in all this was one of the best episodes to date, I believe Brendan Fehr is in two episodes this season, so I am sure his charismatic, alcoholic character will pop up again.

Eli Stone: Should I Stay or Should I Go

And here I was, thinking I might hear The Clash during this episode… Anyways. If there is one thing I’ve always praised when it comes to this show, it is change. Changes are usually not a common thing on TV, you don’t often see any real change in the life of a show, but on Eli Stone changes are pretty much the rules. Everything is always changing and evolving, and not always the way you think it would.

Of course the major changes going on at the moment, are the separation of Jordan and his former partners, and the new firm he is now creating, with Eli as a full partner. Seems that Eli will be his successor after all. And as I expected, during the split every employee is being pursued by Posner, not only because theyare great lawyers, but also to hurt Jordan.

Some choices seemed pretty obvious, and as the episode was moving forward it looked like, indeed, Maggie would obviously stay, just like Matt could eventually decide to do the same after all. And he was actually convincing, both in that he actually cared for this case he was working with Eli, and that he really was affected and wanted to win it and help those people, and also in that it affected him to much and he didn’t want to do that anymore, didn’t want to live with loosing cases such as this one.

So far I used to think of him as mostly a jerk, and I never really understood what Taylor saw in him, but for the first time I think he actually looked like a nice human being. That’s the Eli effect I guess.

I was shocked to see Eli working on this case. Not because of the case or anything, but because it seemed to be the first time maybe ever since he got his aneurysm, and the related visions, that Eli was working a “regular” case. Usually he has visions, visions that lead him to the case, tell him which case to take or how to win it.

But this time, Eli’s visions seemed to be all about Maggie, and not the case. Eli cares about her for some reason, and he really didn’t want her to leave. Turned out his visions actually caused her to leave, and were at the same time - and in some quite twisted way - related to the case Eli was on. About Eli, Maggie, marriage. I did see a future with the two of them together last season, but this season also introduced the idea that all of Eli’s visions, unlike what I first saw and his dad’s, Eli’s visions might never come true.

The whole “Live Brave” could very well never happen now, because Eli changed something. Just like his visions made him do what he was trying to prevent - Maggie turning to the dark side. Now while I guess I can see why Eli cares for Maggie, even though it would have to be more superficial than anything, I mean she might have believed him first, but she was also a real incompetent PITA, really.

Which bring me to question why did Posser hire her ? I know, as she said, he wanted to hurt Jordan and Eli, and he knew grabbing Maggie would probably do just that. But it’s not like Maggie was Patty, it’s not like Eli really relied on her all that same. Plus, they offered her a lot, senior associate and a raise, and still working on cases she wants to, all that to hurt Eli & Jordan ?? Because, while this season she actually behaved, last season she was clearly awful, she didn’t know anything about anything, she didn’t know how to question a witness, nothing.

Really, it was hard to believe she was actually allowed to be in court, because anyone who graduated, just to get your diploma, you had to know more about law than she did. So it seemed to be a bit much for them to go that far, but what do I know.

Now it seems the the new company will have a lot less people around. Of course Eli, Jordan, Taylor and Patty are still there, but we know Matt and Maggie left. It wasn’t really clear, but I’m assuming Keith did stay with Jordan, and maybe will get something to do as a result of it? What’s for sure is that changes went down, this is a new start for Eli & co, and I’m really curious as to what will come next. What’s great is that because everything is always changing, you never really know what to expect from this show.

For a while now, Eli hasn’t been having his usual visions, linked to a case he got really involved in. There was Jordan being sued, loosing his company, the split and everyone leaving, but now that all of this is done, it will be interesting to see how things will actually evolve.

Fringe: In Which We Met Mr. Jones

“Hello Peter, this is me, your father. Walter Bishop.”

An agent named Mitchell collapses from what appears to be a heart attack, but when the doctors open him up there is a horrifying gray-slimy-thing-with-tentacles-that-look-like-teeth nestled around his heart. Good god. Walter has never seen it before, but research leads him to one David Robert Jones and a “scientific terrorist” cell called ZFT, apparently one of several. Jones specializes in genetic weapons.

Olivia plans to confront Mr. Jones so he will tell her how to save Mitchell. But he’s in a German prison. Off to Germany! Where she reconnects with tall-dark-and-sexy Lucas and is instantly awkward and all smiles. Meanwhile, back in the states, Charlie calls Broyles and informs him that there is a mole in the agency. Broyles is in Walter’s lab at the time, and when he says the name “Joseph Smith” Peter looks surprised, then guilty. Hmmmmm.

Mr. Jones will not help Olivia unless he can ask Smith a question, but unknowing agents shoot Smith in the head first. Of course this is no problem, don’t worry at all, because Walter can hook up his son to the dead man so they can chat. He mentions that Peter has a low tolerance to electrical stimulation, and Peter suddenly remembers Walter experimenting on him as a child. He is not happy.

Back in Germany, Lucas asks Olivia to stay the night. She protests weakly. At his flat, they talk about why their relationship didn’t work out. Then they make out and tear at each other’s clothes for a spell before she gets a phone call and excuses herself, leaving Lucas addled and sexually frustrated.

In the Harvard lab, Peter eventually gets the answer to Mr. Jones’ question, and Jones tells Olivia how to save Mitchell. And I become absolutely certain that Broyles is the mole, underlining his name several times on my little notepad, only to learn that Mitchell and his wife are in on the whole thing. Oh, and the answer to Mr. Jones’ question -- and apparently the reason the Mitchells orchestrated this whole crazy situation -- is “Little Hill.”

Some notes:

* I never cease to be amused by Walter calling Astrid everything but her name – Astro, Asteroid, etc. Hilarious!

* Although I emitted an audible squeak when Peter called Walter “daddy,” I am nevertheless irritated that Fringe provided my most-anticipated moment via a drug-induced hallucination. But I did enjoy Peter buying his dad gum (adorable), and Walter’s absolute delight at working with his son, as well as the line “You may have found your true calling…working with me.”

* Olivia is definitely getting better. They’re writing a much more sarcastic tone for her, and when she sassed Broyles it was awesome.

* Peter only gave Olivia the Pacey look once this ep, so no romance for now.

* Broyles’ face when Walter started talking about fruit cocktail was priceless. I imagine the gag reel from this show must be pretty great.