Prison Break: Fin Del Camino

Things you need to know

Lincoln tries to catch up with Michael

T-Bag is waiting for Michael to show up. Michael finds T-Bag and has flashback of everything T-Bag has done wrong in the past.

Mahone talks with his wife and tells her he is quitting his job as soon as he finishes his task.

Michael is suspicious of the T-Bag situation. He uses a young boy to find out which people are FBI and are watching T-Bag.

Michael runs into Bellick and Sucre. Michael is forced into helping Bellick get T-Bags money.

Sara Tancrdi is on trial. Tancredi is offered a plea deal of 12 years in prison. Tancredi relunctantly agrees.

Kellerman is sad and upset. He puts his military uniform on and puts his gun to his head and pulls the trigger.

Sucre wants to kill Bellick as soon as he gets Mericruz’s location. Michael says he won’t help him if he wants to kill Bellick.

Bellick sets off the fire alarm in order to get T-Bag out of the hotel. The FBI, Michael, Bellick, and Sucre follow T-Bag. Mahone follows Michael.

Lincoln knocks out Mahone. Lincoln and Mahone fight and Lincoln eventually pulls a gun on Mahone.

Bellick, Michael, and Sucre capture the FBI agents.

Michael, Bellick and Sucre follow T-Bag into a building and hold him hostage.

T-Bag tells them the money is in the closet and when they open the door they see a dead woman. T-Bag escapes in the confusion.

The police surround the building. Michael and Sucre escape in time but the police capture Bellick.

Michael and Sucre catch T-Bag again and drive him to the embassy. T-Bag offers information to Michael if he lets him go.

T-Bag stabs Sucre with a screwdriver in the car and Michael crashes the car. T-Bag escapes again.

Michael gets a citizen to call for help for Sucre while he chases after T-Bag.

Michael catches up to T-Bag and they get into a knife fight. Michael knocks T-Bag down and stabs him in the arm

T-Bag is stuck to the floor until the police arrive and arrest him.

Kellerman’s suicide attempt fails when his gun sticks.

Before Sara can take the plea deal, Kellerman agrees to testify on her behalf.

Michael gets a phone call from Mahone. Mahone gets the gun from Lincoln and has him hostage. Mahone wants T-Bag’s money and the boat in exchange for Lincoln.

MTTT - Martini's

A belated birthday celebration was held last night for me at Martini's during our monthly Thirsty Third Thursday. That's me in the middle with Kit & Cheryl.

This is the first time I have been to this place and I'm definitely going back. It has been a mainstay in the Vine neighborhood for over 10 years. More than 15 years ago, the original Martini's opened in Kalamazoo. Where I have been all these years??

Unlike many businesses that move and lose their clientele, Martini's has not only kept its clientele but grown its fan base. Within the past year Martini's renovated and expanded. Clearly there is something special lying within. As one walks in, they are immediately struck by the laid back, chill feel of the restaurant. The expressive use of light is used to continue this sentiment along with the fusion Jazz playing above. Walking through the corridor, the art deco feel becomes more and more apparent.

The recently added full restaurant has a little "industrial" feeling and they had those awful high heavy stools that are impossible for short petite women to push in, but overall I really liked the place. I had heard horror stories about the owner. That he was arrogant, etc. But I think I actually ran into him outside as I was parking. He was kind enough to tell me I was in a no parking zone and suggested I drive around. After I parked, he came walking around back and said, "Good job, kiddo." I like being called nicknames.

From calzones to salads to pasta to pizza, I had an extremely hard time deciding what I wanted. I went for the Eggplant Parmesan Sandwich. I was not disappointed. It was delicious. Liz had the Acorn Squash, which I tasted and it too was very good. Cheryl had the Italian Sausage Farcitta. Some of the guys had calzones and Kit ordered a pizza to take home. I could not tell what the rest of our table ordered but I did not hear a discouraging word from anyone.

If you are in Kalamazoo, be sure to check out Martini's on S. Westnedge. You'll be impressed.

Be sure to check out my photos of the evening's event at my Kodak Gallery. Click here!

The Dresden Files: What About Bob?

Starting with a "previously on ..." (always a good sign for continuity), then jumping straight into the meat of the episode with Dresden's new girlfriend (whatever happened to Susan?) stealing Bob's skull, What About Bob? is a lot darker and more sinister than recent episodes (particularly last week's Charmed-lite debacle), exploring both Bob's backstory and Harry's childhood, his father's death and his subsequent upbringing by his creepy uncle, Justin Morningway (Bob's original owner).

Sprinkled with flashbacks and tie-ins to earlier episodes (including Detective Murphy's brush with black magic in The Boone Identity), the story ups the ante for Harry as Murphy reopens the five-year-old investigation into the death of Justin Morningway, suspecting that Harry may not be as innocent as he always claimed. Tensions rise as their friendship is put to under severe pressure, and even Bob's loyalty is sorely tested as a surprising Big Bad (who, sadly, doesn't appear to be sticking around) offers him the chance to regain his corporeal form.

Magic is well used, the story holds together and everyone acts their socks off - making What About Bob? the best episode of the series to date.

Book Review: Julie and Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen by Julie Powell

The Great Readers of M's May book discussion was today. Our selection this month was chosen by Kit.

In "Julie and Julia : 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen," Julie Powell wrote about her quest to cook all of the recipes in Julia Child's french cookbook - Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Julie needed a "project" to motivate herself as she was not very happy working as a secretary for a government agency dealing with 9/11 victims. In addition to experimenting all the recipes, Julie decided to start her own blog, documenting her experience filled with lustily-written passages describing cooking. It was encouraging to her when she started having readers who encouraged her to keep going when she was very frustrated with her cooking as well as just life in general.

I found Julie hysterical, whiny, prone to fits, snarky, and I didn't expect any cooking advice, just some excellent interpersonal stories. Don't pick this up is you want to Master the Art of French Cooking. Don't pick it up if you want to glean expert recipe skills. In fact, if you are a foodie, you might not enjoy Powell and company's lack of appreciation for the more exotic delicacies. This is a book for anyone who enjoys a good memoir-this one just happens to be centered around the ultimate gourmet cookbook.

As a modern working woman, I appreciated Powell's shock at the time these recipes called for. Finding ingredients was hard enough (no supercenters for these people-they spent hours traipsing through neighborhoods for complete leg bones with marrow, or sugar cubes instead of granular sugar, or calves feet).

Once the ingredients were tracked down, recipes took hours, If things went awry, Julie could be behind on dinner by 10:30 AM. Mixtures often needed to sit for "at least 12 hours, preferably 24." Everything was made from scratch. No quick gelatin-it was created from calves' feet, which "makes your kitchen smell like a tannery...also, in my admittedly limited experience, it *tastes* like a tannery." Mayonnaise was made from scratch, and ladyfingers from scratch were attempted so as not to use commercial ones and "debase an otherwise remarkable dessert."

Powell's book takes place post-9/11, and she comments on her job as a secretary in a government office overlooking ground zero, on the families who visit their windowed conference room, and on her data entry job receiving surveys about the 9/11 memorial. She also lived in NY through the 2003 blackout, and there is a beautiful chapter about the candlelight dinner she made for her NY refugees on the night of the power outage.

Overall this is a terrific read IF you don't come looking to Master the Art of French Cooking. Plus I found a kindred-spirit in Julie as a huge fan of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Read Julie Powell's blog at: http://blogs.salon.com/0001399/

The Simpsons - Do The Evolution Intro (Homerazzi)

The Simpsons: Homerazzi

"Homerazzi" was a solid episode right up until its rather weak ending. But that weak ending did little to diminish the enjoyment had throughout the rest of the program. Everything got off to a fantastic start with a great, extended couch bit that followed Homer as he evolved from a single celled organism to his present state, with some perfectly placed cameos from some of our favorite characters along the way. See You Tube video above.

Another great thing that stood out in this episode was that there was no forced, uninteresting "B" storyline. Once Homer decided to become a paparazzo, that became the focus of the entire episode. This was very refreshing and allowed for some great guest appearances and plenty of screen time for one of our favorite Simpsons characters: Rainier Wolfcastle.

Act one's sole purpose was to set up the idea that Homer would now be making money as an aggressive celebrity photographer. Things started with Homer having a difficult time blowing out the E-Z Blo brand candles on his birthday cake ("Now easier to blow!"). As Lisa put it, "Dad, you're out of shape even for an American."

After the small fire that resulted, the family invested in a fireproof safe for their valuables. Having Bart's "Catch A Rising Star" talking Krusty doll turn on the lights to Lisa's hybrid Malibu Stacy convertible which caused Homer's "Scent of a Wookie" cologne to explode and destroy Marge's family photo album was great to watch unfold.

Marge was now determined to recreate all the photos in the album, giving us some great highlights. The recreation of their series finale party for Star Trek: Voyager was unexpected and funny, especially seeing Lenny dressed as Seven of Nine. The best picture recreation, however, was seeing the characters as they looked on The Tracey Ullman Show in front of a banner that read "Happy 1987." As always, they take a highly entertaining round about high to reach the main story arc.

After discovering that one of the pictures showed Duffman on a scandalous date with Booberella, Homer sold the picture and was encouraged to turn in more to become a moderately wealthy man ("I'm sort of rich! I can rent anything I want!"). With the paparazzi vs. celebrities topic not being as pertinent as it may have been in the late '90s, The Simpsons simply had fun with the concept instead of trying to make a point, and for that we are grateful. Plus the viewers were treated to three great guest voice appearances.

J.K. Simmons was a lot of fun as Homer's photo editor. Sure, he was basically doing his J. Jonah Jameson voice from the Spider-Man movies, but I loved his take on that character so I can't really complain. Jon Lovitz made yet another appearance on the show, this time as Enrico Irritazio, the paparazzo hired by the celebrities to take embarrassing photos of Homer. I love Lovitz on The Simpsons, but unfortunately, he wasn't given too much to work with this time out. Betty White simply stole the show. As Homer was in the middle of bitterly complaining about how snooty celebrities react to his photo snapping, Betty White arrived as the sweetest, kindest celebrity of all: "Thanks for taking my picture. If you want me to sign it, here's a stamped, self-addressed envelope."

Finally, Rainier Wolfcastle was a great choice to be the George Clooney fighting against Homer's incessant photography. His perfect, Terminator-like delivery of simple lines ("I'm not made of sushi.") is always good for a laugh and that was no different here.

Again, the ending was a bit unsatisfying -- Homer quits his paparazzi lifestyle, then picks it up again, then parties with celebrities on Rainier's offshore party platform -- but this remains one of the more memorable episodes of the season.

Lost: The Man From Tallahassee

I'm heading to Croatia tomorrow so I'll write more once I return after May 22.

Well, the mystery surrounding Locke's former disability was finally solved, and it was worth the wait. Leave it to super-evil Locke's dad to add extra creepiness to the show. It looks like a popular theory about the island was confirmed, but as usual the truth was only hinted at.

The Flashback

I finally learned how Locke got in the wheelchair, and I learned the fate of the man who put him there. Even before his near-fatal injury, Locke had been collecting disability checks. Perhaps there were complications with his kidney surgery--he certainly looked like hell. Locke was approached by Peter Talbot, the son of a wealthy woman. This woman was engaged to a man named Adam Seward, of whom Talbot was very suspicious.

Talbot certainly had reason to be suspicious, since Seward was none other than Anthony Cooper. I cannot figure out why Locke kept Cooper's secret, but it didn't win him any points with the old man. Locke's threats to expose Cooper only got Peter Talbot killed. Cooper did not stop there, either. The man is a fixer, so when Locke confronted him about Talbot's death, Cooper pushed Locke through an eighth-story window. I know! Locke miraculously survived, and would be paralyzed for the next four years. I still cannot get over that scene.

The Barracks

Sayid and Kate were finally ready to rescue Jack, but of course Danielle and Locke were up to their respective tricks. Danielle instantly disappeared and turned up only to spy on Alex through the bushes. Locke, on the other hand, suddenly became very involved in storming the Barracks. He was acting on his own selfish motives, unfortunately, as I had suspected. Locke's first stop was Ben's bedroom, where he held Alex hostage in exchange for the explosives in Sayid's pack.

Kate went straight to Jack, who was less than pleased to see her. Apparently, Jack and Juliet were set to leave the island on the submarine in a few hours, and Kate's rescue mission was not part of the deal. Kate's reaction was pretty heartbreaking, as was Jack's promise to come back for her (that would not have been possible, right?).

Sayid made good use of his time at the swing set, planting serious doubt in Alex's head. I love Sayid; he can do anything with a few minutes of screen time.

As much as I loved the Locke near-death scene, the scenes between Ben and Locke were my favorites. Locke's face looked incredibly evil as he challenged Ben's right to live on the island. Each man held his knowledge of the island over the other, but Ben easily had the upper hand. Alex hinted at Ben's ability to manipulate people, making them think something was their idea. Sounds like a few con men we know, doesn't it? Locke initially believed he was forcing Ben to help him blow up the sub, but Ben had his own motives for going along with Locke's plan.

Mikhail was obviously telling the truth about communications being cut off, and about the Others' inability to return to the island if they left. Leaving will no longer be a possibility, now that more of Locke's sabotage has been carried out. What will happen to Jack and Juliet, now that their only ride off the island is gone? Ben surely has a plan for them as well. He definitely has a plan for Locke.

Earlier in the episode, Ben had asked Richard (Dr. Alpert, of "Not in Portland" fame) to bring him the man from Tallahassee. The man in question turned out to be a bound, gagged, and bloody Anthony Cooper. I was floored by this revelation. What am I supposed to think about this?

Ben gave a fascinating speech about the island's ability to show people what they want to see. Did Locke's presence on the island bring Cooper to the island also? Is it really Cooper? Are all of the previous island visions real, or were they conjured up by each character's thoughts? I cannot wait to learn more about the "magic box." I do hope that the writers give it a better name, though.