Chuck 3×10 Chuck vs. the Tic Tac
The team has hit rock bottom now. It’s basically not even a team anymore. But as the saying goes, it’s always darkest before dawn and since this season was only supposed to have 13 episodes and got an additional set of six and going by what I’ve read I assume this arc will be resolved by the end of episode 13 and then a new one begins.
Chuck without either Sarah or Casey wouldn’t work, so I’m pretty sure they’ll find a way to bring them both back.

White Collar 1×14 Out of the Box
This was a pretty cool season finale. I didn’t expect that so much would be going on in there. As for the final scene, I didn’t really care whether Neal was going because if there’s a season two he would have come back anyway. But this ending was a bit too clichéd – no way in hell did Kate die on that plane.
I certainly like that show and I will be back for the second season.

LOST 6×07 Dr. Linus
The episode didn’t do much to bring the mythology forward but it was a helluva story. Both sides were really great. I loved it not knowing how Ben or Dr. Linus would decide and I loved it how he decided off-island and how the story turned on-island. Michael Emerson is a great actor one has to admit that.
Now I am wondering how this puzzle will look when completed since off-island Dr. Linus and his father have actually been to the island.

LOST 6×08 Recon
And another great episode. Miles and Sawyer as cop-buddies – I’d watch an entire show of that. What did strike me as odd though was the fact that now-we-know-he’s-a-cop Sawyer let Kate escape at LAX in LA X. And I have to wonder if everything has a deeper meaning or if the producers just throw in a bone from time to time (“LaFleur”).
And it’s nice to know that LAPD cops are allowed to sleep with suspects.

Gossip Girl 3×13 The Hurt Locket
Four months can be a long time. And it has been four months since the last Gossip Girl episode had been aired. And I have to admit, I had forgotten about what was going on in the show. Thus the first half of the episode I was figuring out the who-why-what questions.
And even at the end of the episode I felt very indifferently towards all of the characters, not even the Jenny drug scam could upset me.

Gossip Girl 3×14 The Lady Vanished
I’m still only slowly reconnecting to the show. All the dramatic events of this episode had little to no effect on me.
As I said before the big break I thought that Chuck has become a grown-up man. But now I also noticed it with Sabrina, Blair & Nathan. They’ve all seemed to have become older and more settled whereas the real adults haven’t changed at all and are as unsteady as ever.

How I Met Your Mother 5×17 Of Course
Going by this episode I bet Barney and Robin are back together by the end of the season. And I am not against it. Once again Barney has proven he’s a decent guy after all.
All in all it was a very funny episode.

The Big Bang Theory 3×17 The Precious Fragmentation
But this one was even better. I laughed so hard at all these nerd jokes (I recognized all of them of course ) and I loved it how they recognized how very nerdy they behaved (which happens very rarely).
“I pity the fool who’s illogical!”

House M.D. 6×14 Private Lives
I know that woman. But from where? Even though I have trouble recognizing faces I am not familiar with it happens from time to time that I see a face that I know I know and just can’t plcae it anywhere. Naturally I look it up, favourably in IMDb. And what do I see: I already looked her up recently; the link is marked as visited (I came from an episode of How I Met Your Mother). But I didn’t found what I was looking for since there are no other links visited. But now I take a closer look and what do I find? That ’70s Show. And now I suddenly see her clearly before me in that garage they used to hang out. Funny thing the mind is because I couldn’t tell you if I had ever seen two full episodes of that show. It was just something that flashed by when I zapped through the channels and yet I can clearly see that big dumb guy, a small Italian(?) guy, the blonde in question and a hot redhead? No wait the hot redhead was in the show with that toy rabbit in the basement…

Anyway… I loved the whole porn story and also Wilson’s retribution. They are becoming more and more The Odd Couple (if that wasn’t the template from the start ). And the whole Chase-”I am really good looking?”-affair was also very funny.

House M.D. 6×15 Black Hole
With this episode I have to wonder if that brain imaging machine is actually something real (or at least a theoretical concept in some young doctor’s dissertation) or if it’s just techno voodoo. Because I don’t really like it when shows drift from “real” to science-fiction. For example: Bones had that stuff from the beginning so it didn’t bother me. But House seemed to be a bit more grounded even when they stretch their diagnostic abilities to the breaking point.
This was once again an episode that showed how House has changed since his visit to the loony bin. His mind is still great but he doesn’t (necessarily) use it anymore to torture those around him (like when he said to Taub “Good for you.” and seemed to mean it).

With this episode I have watched 300 episodes in this TV Season 2009/2010 Diary now.

Human Target 1×08 Baptiste
This episode worked much better than last week’s. Lex Luthor’s ex-wife has more chemistry with Chance than the guerrilla woman from the episode before. I also liked the way they told the story with mixing the talk on the bench with scenes of what happened before. Not just a simple “8 hours earlier” and that’s it.
But they didn’t fool me, I didn’t believe she was dead. I can’t remember the last person who was in an episode of any show and then “died” off-screen that was actually dead in the end.

Life Unexpected 1×08 Bride Unbridled
Sometimes I have the feeling they add the drama for its own sake. I really can’t think of an actual reason why Lux would be mad at Baze for helping Jones to give her a happy day – a day where she had the chance to see her best friend again.
But I liked it that Ryan and Baze had a man-to-man and I hope that they will get along better from now on.

Life Unexpected 1×09 Formal Reformed
OK, that went not so well. Maybe Baze is still a bit of the guy he was 16 years ago. And sleeping with Kate’s sister might also not have been his best idea. But on the other hand, he is not in a relationship and Kate has pushed him away once more. So he’s not obligated to anyone. But I bet there will be drama when this comes out.
But in one regard mother and daughter have something in common: They both have more than one guy who cares for her.

Two and a Half Men 7×17 I Found Your Moustache
It was an OK episode, Chelsea’s father and his friend a certainly a funny addition to the show.

The Good Wife 1×15 Bang
Gary Cole was a really interesting character and I loved it how he “spoofed” Diane’s picture with Hillary Clinton with his own: Him & Sarah Palin.
I also like Eli, he’s so refreshingly outspoken.
But what I found most amusing was that this book actually exists. (Check out the Customer Reviews!)

The Good Wife 1×16 Fleas
I wouldn’t have liked it when they had taken that Drug Lord as a client. I know that law firms are by definition not only representing the good guys but sometimes I like to indulge myself in the illusion that at least my television law firms belong to the good guys.
And now really start to appreciate Eli.

The Good Wife 1×17 Heart
This episode was a bit too American for me. All these endless abortion arguments and the husband who has been unfaithful and now needs to make amends to the public…
Real life example: Why did Tiger Woods apologize to the public because he cheated on his wife?! She has to decided whether she accepts his apology; the public has no business in what happens in other people’s bedrooms if no felony is involved.

Spartacus: Blood and Sand 1×06 / 1×07 / 1×08 / 1×09 Delicate Things / Great and Unfortunate Things / Mark of the Brotherhood / Whore
I wouldn’t have it thought possible but they actually managed to show even more naked women per episode. In some scenes there’s not a single dressed woman anymore. It’s like softporn – with an actual story.
And now they not only show gallons of blood in the arena, but also in the mind of the protagonist.
What I also noticed is that they disposed of quite a number of characters in the first two episodes. And when Spartacus finds out that he had his wife killed Batiatus’s life won’t be worth a single coin…

At this point I’m wondering what the long-term plans for this show are, i.e. do they make it up as they go along or is there a master plan that at some the story point switches from the arena to his uprising?

FlashForward 1×11 / 1×12 Revelation Zero, Part 1 & 2
It was not perfect but I thought it was much better than the last episodes I saw of this show. But maybe it was because Mark wasn’t that much in it. I don’t know, we’ll see.
And the hobbit has lost parts of his finger; that brings back old memories.

The catalyst for this was me wanting a new layout (one with a larger font) and these don’t really work with the old Wordpress versions anymore.

I just hope that the performance of the scripts is OK…

This one I read because (surprise!) of the TV series of the same name with Richard Chamberlain in the main role.

The novel takes place at the dawn of the 17th Century in Japan. Captain-Pilot John Blackthorne has landed/stranded with his ship, the Erasmus, there and now has to find a place within the Japanese Samurai society. And the few Europeans don’t make it any easier for he is a Protestant Englishman and they are Catholic Spaniards and Portuguese…

What surprised me the most was the fact that the series stayed very close to the book – most of the time these two drift apart. Still the book was way more detailed and can provide a view that a movie/series can only to a certain extend: To give a view directly into the heads of the characters and thus a better understanding what their motivation and drive is.

The book is relatively large with its 1226 pages (in German) but since I managed to read 350 pages on Saturday before last I can assure you that it’s very readable – even though you might need a list of the different characters, otherwise you might find yourself in the position of asking yourself “Who was Kiributso-san again?”.

To get a deeper understanding of the characters is also the reason why I read novelizations from time to time. Most often they are just a summarization of what you’ve already seen on the screen.
But they also contain scenes which weren’t shot after all or which were cut in the editing room. And by being a book they can use a narrative style that wouldn’t work on the screen.

That’s the reason I bought these four books: Total cost: 1.81€ (plus 12€ shipping) – I love Amazon Marketplace when it comes to English books.

(0.68€) (1.11€) (0.01€) (0.01€)

I’ve already read Smallville: Arrival which is based on the pilot episode and is way more detailed in the time between Clark’s landing and the start of the now-timeline. As it happens to have only 147 pages you can read it nearly as fast as you can watch the pilot…

Then I’ve read Batman Begins which is unfortunately very script-based. Granted the time between him leaving Gotham and the destruction of the Monastery is more detailed and they managed to explain Ra’s al Ghul’s motivation better, but as soon as the book covers movie scenes it’s only a narration of what happened on the screen.

For the bathtub it’s still OK.

A really good novelization is Babylon 5: In the Beginning, written by Peter David – who also wrote many Star Trek novels (which is the reason I have hope for the Spider-Man novelization written by him). And that’s the book I’m currently reading:

Chuck 3×09 Chuck vs. the Beard
Finally Morgan knows. It was a really great episode and I loved the end. I just fear that they might put Captain Awesome and Ellie on a bus because of the growing uncomfortableness of Awesome. Although – thinking about it, I don’t really know if I would really miss them. Sure they are funny but they are not elemental to the show. We’ll see.

Castle 2×16 The Mistress Always Spanks Twice
Cougar Town 1×16 / 1×17 What Are You Doin’ in My Life? / Counting on You
Human Target 1×07 Salvage & Reclamation
Somehow nothing comes to mind when writing about these four episodes. They were all run-of-the-mill episode of their respective series with nothing particularly standing out.

CW 08-11

Chuck 3×08 Chuck vs the Fake Name
Chuck sad. The path of the hero is a lonely one.
I think Chuck made the right choice (even though it was cruel to her) but I’m also sad that Hannah is gone (at least I assume she won’t be there in the next episode).
What I personally would love to see would be an episode where Team Bartowski has to hunt random bad guy into a mall and Hannah is in one of the lanes. Casey is running behind bad guy, Chuck comes from the side, does one of his dorky moves and brings down bad guy. Casey cuffs him and when the Mall Cops arrive, Sarah IDs herself as CIA – with Hannah witnessing all this from afar and finally understanding (yes, I know the scenario is a lot like the one in Smallville’s Promise, but I loved that scene, too).
PS: Is it just me or does “Sam(antha) Lisa” not really roll off the tongue?

How I Met Your Mother 5×16 Hooked
Barney’s history of jobs for attractive women was very funny but the episode as a whole wasn’t as memorable (in fact, having it watched two days ago I’ve already forgotten most about it).

Smallville 9×14 Conspiracy
This is an episode I have some issues with. And all these issues are connected to Chloe, my once favourite character of the show. But since the Doomsday/Brainiac arc she has changed.
While it’s technically true that Clark has lost his moral compass at times, it’s always been when he was under influence of something (e.g. Red K) but I can’t remember him doing anything immoral when he was “normal”. He might not have done what was necessary (for example: before and during Zod’s first appearance) but that is a big diff from doing what’s morally right.
And why she is blaming him for the disaster that was Doomsday is beyond me; I’d say Clark is one of the least guilty in that whole affair.
I fear that when Zod finds the tracers in the ID that this will be the reason he convinces his people that Kal-El and the Earthlings are not to be trusted and he will use them against him.

The Big Bang Theory 3×16 The Excelsior Acquisition
Also an average episode. Granted the bit with the Restraining Order was funny but overall it was pretty predictable.
And let’s face it: DC also has it’s share of identical-initial-names: Lex Luthor, Lana Lang, Lois Lane, …

Two and a Half Men 7×15 Tinkle Like a Princess
This was a good sad episode that showed the door isn’t closed. And yet Charlie remained Charlie (with the church and afterwards). I like it that there’s hope after all (even though only he viewer can see it right now).
I also liked the opening theme spoof with the growing Jake – they either used it for the first time or I just didn’t notice it before.

Life Unexpected 1×06 Truth Unrevealed
For me, Kate is the least likable person. I can understand that Ryan’s pissed but he’s also honest enough to show it openly so that Baze knows where he stands. And even though Baze also keeps the secret he has no obligation to be truthful, it isn’t even his place. But Kate’s juggling with knives here…
I also believe that this was the first episode that didn’t end on a high note.

Life Unexpected 1×07 Crisis Unaverted
And crashing down it comes. And rightly so. With a show like this I assume it will be made right eventually but for now I am curious how this new dynamic is working out. And since I have been complaining about these instant-problem-solving plots I certainly like this new approach much better.

LOST 6×05 Lighthouse
Seems like every character is getting his/her own episode that tells the on- and off-island story. Someone guessed that the off-island stories are actually the epilogue of the show – the things that happen when this season is over and the island story is resolved. TBH I wouldn’t be against it.
But I would have liked to know what name was at 108 degrees…

LOST 6×06 Sundown
“He came back wrong.” – Also a common theme among fantasy shows. But I choose to believe that the pre-death Sayid would not have helped Smokey-Locke even if he promised him Nadia just like Claire wouldn’t be able to kill someone so mercilessly.
While it isn’t impossible that Smokey-Locke is actually the good guy and Jacob the bad, I honestly can’t see playing it out that way right now. I would think it more likely that it’s more like the Babylon 5 Vorlon/Shadow arc were both parties weren’t really the god guys.
I also could imagine that Jack and Sawyer become the new Jacob and Smokey, effectively inheriting their roles because it’s somehow important for the island/the world.

White Collar 1×12 Bottlenecked
The Anti-Caffrey. The Bizarro-Neal. It was an OK episode but nothing special.

White Collar 1×13 Front Man
This one I liked better because Neal and Mozzie could show their talents. I really liked the discussion about Neal’s future at the end and I am curious if he will manage to steal the box (if he tries it) and keep a straight face with Peter. Next week’s season finale will tell.

Burn Notice 3×15 Good Intentions
Too bad Jonathan LaPaglia’s role wasn’t bigger, I loved him as the slightly crazy chrononaut in Seven Days, a series where I occasionally watch an episode or two.
But 24’s Tony Almeida was also a very good guest character. His character here was a bit more convincing than Tony at the end of 24’s season seven.
And the end of the episode – I did not see this coming, even though it becomes a repeated theme in Burn Notice (anyone remembers Caprica Six or Daniel Jackson?).

Burn Notice 3×16 Devil You Know
Hey, Cromartie is a spy/killer – who could have known?
I loved it how Madeline stood by her son until the end and I hope she gets a big pay-off for this next season. She deserves it.

CW 09-10

February, 13th

Superman Returns

Director: Bryan Singer

Brandon Routh   …    Clark Kent / Superman
Kate Bosworth   …    Lois Lane
Kevin Spacey   …    Lex Luthor
James Marsden   …    Richard White
Parker Posey   …    Kitty Kowalski
Frank Langella   …    Perry White
Sam Huntington   …    Jimmy Olsen
Kal Penn    …    Stanford

Synopsis: Nobody has seen or heard from Superman in five years. In the meantime Lois Lane has become a mommy and she’s written the Pulitzer-winning article “Why the World Doesn’t Need Superman”. But now Clark is back from what is left of Krypton and he’s needed right now again: Lex Luthor has stolen Kryptionian crystals from the Fortress and wants to build a new continent – at the expense of that small island called North America.

My Opinion: It took me some time to really get used to that movie. Mainly because I was mad at Bryan Singer for abandoning the X-Men project which resulted in The Last Stand. But now with a few years distance, I like this movie.
Some elements are still very comic-like, like Lex’s behaviour at some points of the story but that is fully outweighed by the moments he’s truly evil.
I also like Brandon Routh’s portrayal of Clark/Superman. While Christopher Reeve’s Clark was a bit of a douchebag that I didn’t like very much, they chose to do it differently here. He’s just a nobody who lingers in the background and isn’t noticed by anybody but Jimmy. Lois couldn’t care less about him in any way – which makes it believable that she doesn’t see Superman in him. For me that works.
Speaking of realism (;) ): The one scene I didn’t buy was when Superman lifted that island out into space while he still had a piece of Kryptonite stuck in his side and was exposed to the other K in the island. If Lex can beat him up just because he’s around it, he should have never been able to lift that weight. So much for in-universe consistency…

February, 22th

Men in Black

Director: Barry Sonnenfeld

Tommy Lee Jones    …    Kay
Will Smith   …    N.Y.P.D Ofcr. James Darrel Edwards III / Jay
Linda Fiorentino   …    Laurel
Vincent D’Onofrio   …    Edgar
Rip Torn   …    Chief Zed
Tony Shalhoub   …    Jack Jeebs

Synopsis: Officer James Edwards is a normal NYPD cop until he meets a guy who has two pair of eyelids (one of them are gills) and when he learns that the guy who fences stolen watches also fences alien weapons. After he passed a test, James Edwards ceases to exist. He becomes J, a Man in Black, working for the most secret organization on the face of this planet. And his very first mission is to help give birth to a squid. Ah yes, and his second mission is to save the Earth.

My Opinion: Remember the times when 90 minutes for a movie were standard? Now it feels short. The advantage is that it has no lengths; there is not one point where this movie is boring. It is packed with jokes and gags regarding alien visitors and Tommy Lee and Will make a great team because they are so different.
I also loved Linda as the coroner. I only know her from two movies (this and Dogma) and I’d love to see her in more. In both movies she has this nice dry sense of humour.

Basically everything was abysmal: The script itself, the dialogues and sometimes even the special effects. What does it say about a movie when a TV production like Xena: Warrior Princess does a better job at portraying a giant speaking to a normal-sized person? Not once did they manage to get the line of sight right, the giants always spoke to the shoulder or someone (who wasn’t there) behind the actual person.

The dialogues! “I go into Hades!” – “Do you know where it is?” – “Uh, you are right, I totally did not think about that!”
“Your father built this house for you.” (non-dialogue: “Until an hour ago it was never planned for you to ever come here but the viewer certainly won’t notice that…”).
“The stench of your stepfather hid your own scent from the Gods.”
*shudder*

And don’t get me started about this entire training camp and the Capture-the-Flag game…

When they were in Vegas they ate some Lotus blossoms which had a narcotic affect on them – I believe that is the only thing that would get me through this movie a second time. That or loads of alcohol.

Even the end credits joke was predictable and incredibly lame.

The dubbing was equally bad but I honestly don’t think it made the movie worse than it already is.

LOST 6×04 The Substitute
This episode was much better. It didn’t give us many answers (if you consider the association of numbers and names an answer at all) but it’s a start and the off-island story was much more interesting (especially with seeing Katey Sagal again). It’s funny to see how they all still manage to run into each other even though they never met.
Locke and Smokey-Locke were both great and I long to find out what this is all about.

Life Unexpected 1×05 Turtle Undefeated
Ended well again. What a surprise. Since this season has only 13 episodes I’m probably going to watch it completely – one has to give a show a chance after all – but so far I still don’t think this is a show I’m going to watch for years.

Human Target 1×06 Lockdown
It was nice too see Alias’s Marshall Flinkman again – and again in a role as tech-savvy developer. I also liked it that Chance’s back story is slowly becoming a part of the show. I suspect it will be a background-arc that pops up once in a while just like Beckett’s mum’s murder in Castle. We’ll see.

Leverage 2×15 The Maltese Falcon Job
Too bad the season is already over again. I liked Jeri/Tara on the team very much but now Gina/Sophie is back and that’s good too. At least I hope she is since I have no clue how the ratings were this year and whether the show will return. I certainly hope so. But I also hope they don’t pull this trick at the end of every year – the team falling apart I mean.

Burn Notice 3×14 Partners in Crime
It was nice to see the gang reconcile after the events from last week. It was also interesting because I can’t remember the last time Michael actually “lost” a client.
While Fi played her role as kidnapped girlfriend very good it was nothing against Sam’s “CSI: Caruso” impersonation and one-liners.

Smallville 9×13 Persuasion
I bet there are already some fan discussions out there about Clark being a terrorist who brings the Twin Towers down. While it looked funky, the moment you bring your logic part of the brain into this, ou realize there was no way he could make sure no one was getting hurt. Yes, there was a time component involved but by no means had he to destroy the build that instant in that fashion to save the day.
Still the episode managed it quite well to mix the serious Kandor storyline with the more funnier Valentine’s storyline.

Spartacus: Blood and Sand 1×05 Shadow Games
Slowly but steady something like a story is creeping into the show. But it is still mostly a blood fest with some titties thrown in for good measure. One could argue that the latter is an actual portrayal of these times but we all know why they do it in this show…

After I read that LOST’s Sawyer played in the Angel pilot, I had to look. Found him:

And Christian Kane also has changed quite a bit since these days:

CW 08-09

Chuck 3×07 Chuck vs the Mask
This episode has cause quite an Internet Backdraft, for example: Chuck, “Chuck vs. the Mask”: Night at the museum, The Double-Edged Sword Of Devotion: ‘Chuck’ Vs. The Entitled Fan Base.
I agree on the part that Sarah/Clark KentShaw was indeed a bit rushed. But I disagree on the Chuck/Lana LangHannah part. And I think that both couples actually do have chemistry. Maybe that’s the reason people are so irritated about it.
I also agree on the assessment of one of the commentators on the first link that Chuck is trying to wear a mask to become a better spy and that he runs the risk of becoming the mask. My prognosis is that the mask is shattered when (and I’m totally guessing here, I have no actual spoiler infos) something happens to Hannah – she’s only a guest star after all.
So in sum, I liked this episode because I didn’t think it was unbelievable what I saw.

Heroes 4×19 Chapter Eighteen ‘Brave New World’
When a friend told me last week that this would be the season finale I was stumped. I couldn’t fathom how they could bring all these loose ends together in just one episode. They somehow did but it felt very rushed and in my opinion it fell a bit flat – but that seems to be a Heroes tradition since season one.
I liked it when they started slow, I got a bit bored when it didn’t speed up in the middle and then it end abruptly.
To be perfectly honest I wouldn’t care if there were never a fifth season – but if there is I’m probably going to watch it anyway in the slim hope that they manage to return to the quality of the first season (excluding the end).
Heroes seems to be the perfect example of a New Year rocket. It rises fast, burns brightly and is burned out even faster.

House M.D. 6×13 5 to 9
That was a great Cuddy episode, it worked really well. From this point of view it’s even more astonishing how Cuddy can bear House and his games and habits.
What bothered me about this (and also last(?)) episode is Lucas’s behaviour. House is a jerkass (with a heart of gold), he always has been and Cuddy knows that. But Lucas isn’t that much better. We saw him threaten House and Wilson over the condo issue and now he’s betting with House about his sex with Cuddy?! If he isn’t a good person, Cuddy might as well choose the original bad one instead of this copycat…

Human Target 1×05 Run
The show is very predictable; there are no hidden plots or meaning, no surprises: WYSIWYG. For example, it was totally obvious that the D.A. was his daughter. But somehow that is part of the fun. It’s like riding a rollercoaster. You know it’ll be fast, you’ll get two downhills, maybe a looping but in the end you’ll get safely back to the station.

Castle 2×15 Suicide Squeeze
Parts of the reveal were pretty predictable this time, with Castle’s background and all… Apart from that not much else happened either.

Burn Notice 3×13 Enemies Closer
One has to wonder why Michael actually does what he does. The series premise prevents that he actually becomes a spy again or the show would be over. But that is a narrative point of view. But even inside the question stands whether Michael actually wants to become a spy again one day. He has been burned for 2.5 years now and his life has changed. He isn’t the man who got beaten up in Africa anymore. So why does he bother himself with Gilroy and his secret agenda?

Cougar Town 1×15 When a Kid Goes Bad
A cool episode again. What’s great about this show is that it hasn’t two or three distinct plots per episode. Sometime it’s even hard to figure out what the plot actually is. Everyone is running into everyone else and taking part in their story. This episode started out with the issue of manscaping and ended up with Christmas decoration on Valentine’s Day…

How I Met Your Mother 2×15 Rabbit or Duck
“The Phone from Hell” was great and so was “The Naked Man”. It was funny to see this extremely fast-paced episode and it had a heart-warming ending.

Leverage 2×14 The Three Strikes Job
It was certainly a very interesting start but I’ll hold judgement until I’ve seen part 2.

Life Unexpected 1×04 Bong Intercepted
I’m afraid this is not my kind of show; it’s too happy-worldy-endy for my taste. Nothing against a happy end, but not in every episode after a major blow-out. I’ll keep watching for a few more episodes to give it a chance, but I don’t think it’ll work for me.

LOST 6×03 What Kate Does
This was a bit of a letdown after this superb season opener. Once again it didn’t happen much on the island (or off for that matter) and I have no idea where the off-island story is supposed to be going (and not in a Oh!-So-many-clues-and-riddles! way). I hope they know what they are doing and don’t deliver a Battlestar Galactica or Heroes ending.

Smallville 9×12 Warrior
This was another really cool episode. It was funny to see Chloe and “Warrior Angel” together and also Clark and Zatanna. I also really liked the ending because it would be another great pairing.
Too bad they didn’t show the scene where Lois and Clark went to the Costume Ball, I really would have liked to see this.
I also really liked it when Clark made the typical superhero move and ripped his shirt open.

Supernatural 5×14 My Bloody Valentine
It was a really good and dark episode where one can really feel that the Apocalypse is actually coming. I especially liked Jensen’s portrayal of the slowly breaking Dean who becomes ever more “mechanical” and less of a real person – and then having this end of the episode…

The Big Bang Theory 3×15 The Large Hadron Collision
When Penny showed the first signs of sickness I thought Sheldon had something to do with it – but I guess that would be against the mood of the show.
I liked the fact that Leonard openly stood against Sheldon and his ridiculous “roommate agreement” until the end. I think that’s good for both of them and the show itself.
Overall I had much fun with this episode.

The Good Wife 1×14 Hi
“Number 12. A judge….” I loved it how Kalinda managed to phrase her statement in a way that “convinced” the judge to stop this kind of questioning.
But I also liked the primary case and how it played out.

The Vampire Diaries 1×14 Fool Me Once
As I’ve said before I like it that they don’t stretch the arcs to all eternity but give the viewer an intermediate result once in a while. OK, so Catherine wasn’t in the tomb but at least they opened it now and can get on with it.

Two and a Half Men 7×15 Aye, Aye, Captain
These two episodes were very funny, the second one in particular (when Charlie was drunk) but the downer ending was still fitting. I just hope that this isn’t the end because Chelsea has become an important part of the show for me and seeing what’s going on in Charlie Sheen’s real life there is a chance that this could be the last season…

White Collar 1×11 Home Invasion
I have to admit, I did not recognize her by her face, but when she spoke I knew I knew that voice and suddenly it made *bling*: Smallville’s Alicia Baker (aka Sarah Carter).
I enjoyed the episode with Peter’s staying at Neal’s and the interference of Alex during the undervcover op and all. It’s a lot fun to watch.

Spartacus: Blood and Sand 1×03 / 1×04 Legends / The Thing in the Pit
It’s still a lot of blood and sex. But apart from that? Not much to be honest.

CW 07

Chuck 3×06 Chuck vs Nacho Sampler
Interesting choice of conspiracy partners. I don’t think both will found out but just one of them and he/she will help Chuck cover it up for the other one. On the one hand if it would be his sister, Awesome could finally relax before he breaks. If it would be Morgan it would certainly be fun because he would be a sure candidate for interfering in the wrong moments.
It was also an interesting use of flashbacks to show how much Chuck and Chuck has changed over the past few years. On some level I’m sad that the show has lost its more lighter tone on the other hand I do like it.

Heroes 4×18 Chapter Seventeen ‘The Wall’
So I was right, it will go out in a fight of Specials vs Specials vs. Normals. I liked this episode because this “compressed time” gave Sylar and Peter the chance to deal with their issues. But it’ll only work if the writers don’t come up with yet another Face Heel Turn for Sylar – it’s already hardly believable how often Sylar switched sides…
Now I am keen to see the fight between Samuel’s ma/en and Sylar/Peter. I don’t see him having the slightest chance against them, especially if Peter copies Sylars abilities.

How I Met Your Mother 5×14 Perfect Week
It was OK, but since I knew neither the moderator nor the Yankees baseballer I assume some of the    punchlines got lost on me.

House M.D. 6×12 Moving the Chains
House is doing nice things and still remains a scheming mastermind. I liked both side-stories about Foreman’s brother and the condo pranks. The case was also mildly interesting but pretty routine…

Life Unexpected 1×03 Rent Uncollected
Huh. They pretend to have problems, but they actually don’t. This time Baze had a big row with his parents but in the end his daughter who has known him for merely a week fixes things and the episode ends with a roof-top party.
I had hoped for a more realistic portrayal but this episode was too much 7th Heaven for my taste. If this continues, I’ll drop it again.

The Big Bang Theory 3×14 The Einstein Approximation
We’ve seen a “normal” Sheldon, a drunken Sheldon and now a sleep-deprived Sheldon. He just went up to eleven. I don’t dare to imagine a drunken, sleep-deprived Sheldon.
It was a really funny episode, especially with the gag reel at the end. Bazinga!  

Two and a Half Men 7×14 Crude and Uncalled For
I will hold judgement until I’ve seen the second part.

White Collar 1×10 Vital Signs
I love it when they use Neal’s abilities properly: To con a man into giving a confession. That’s why he’s here for after all.
The talk between Peter and his wife when she found the business card was also great, it was absolutely in the mood of the show.
BTW: Is it just me or does Tiffani Thiessen (Elizabeth Burke in White Collar) a lot like Sarah Lancaster (Ellie Bartowski-Woodcomb in Chuck)?

Human Target 1×03 / 1×04 Embassy Row / Sanctuary
It’s simply a cool action series where one can enjoy a badass hero, badass support and cool one liners without having too much to think about it (in fact, thinking about it may reduce the enjoyment ).

LOST 6×01 / 6×02 LA X
LOST is back and confusing as always. I love it. One has to wonder how many different groups there are on this island and how they managed not to run into each other for so long. I’m also keen to learn how these two different realities (if they are distinct!) will play out.
Once again I’m in full LOST addiction mode!!!
“You’re the monster!” – “Please don’t resort to name-calling.”

Bones 5×14 The Devil in the Details
That was a really cool case with interesting guest characters and a fascinating victim. What I also liked was how Bones fell for that loony’s play and how the chief psychiatrist confronted her because of her vilification of psychology. I also loved Bones’s & Booth’s talk about “reassurement” at the end.
I just wonder how many Angel jokes David Boreanaz got during the production of this episode.

Cougar Town 1×14 All the Wrong Reasons
This episode had again the right mixture of fun and seriousness in all three stories it told. And I liked all three stores, though I have to say that Jules’s/Ellie’s was the least interesting.
Funny thing, I feel a certain vibe between Laurie and Travis but I think that is a major no-no on the show (but I bet it would have fascinating consequences).

Leverage 2×13 The Future Job
It was surprising to see Parker so … human and sad to see her so sad. But the coolest part in the episode was not the final con but the initial con to get him hooked – though I didn’t understand how they pulled off that thing with the cop. But the rest: great.

The Good Wife 1×13 Bad
I loved it that they let it in the vague whether this guy killed his wife or not. In any case he was an interesting and shady type. I also liked the developments in Peter’s trial and how the attorney “deconstructed” both witnesses.
I like the balance between the case-of-the-week and the arc about her husband.

Burn Notice 3×12 Noble Causes
Michael does the Steven Seagal! A microwave actually seems to be a good weapon.
I love it how Michael can be pressured into doing anything Fi or his mother want him to do. It makes it so much more ironic when he’s playing/being the tough guy towards the bad guys.
“To save time, just press popcorn!”

Supernatural 5×13 The Song Remains the Same
I enjoyed this episode a lot, it was nice to see the young Winchesters again and for her mother to see her grown-up children even though the reset button was punched in the end.
But this episode had one major logic flaw on Dean’s part: He said being murdered is not the same as to have never been born. But the end result is pretty much the same. If he really thought that it would be necessary to sacrifice himself and his brother he might as well have Anna let kill his brother and stop the Apocalypse this way.

Smallville 9×11 Absolute Justice
I was a bit anxious after I saw the pictures of the Justice Society member costumes because they looked so comic-like. On screen they still looked a bit out of place but they fitted much better into the scenery.
I liked the whole story because the points made about “family” were true, Martian Manhunter got his powers back and Tess has a new (dubious) part to play in the events to come.
I think I’m going to watch it again soon.

The Vampire Diaries 1×13 Children of the Damned
Oh the irony. When Elena sleeps at Stefan’s house she sleeps with him but when they’re at her own house the bedroom door must remain open…
But I liked the flashbacks to the 1860s though I doubt that a white man would openly show his fondness towards an Asian-looking woman – in a Confederate State during the Civil War.
Be that as it may, I like how the show is progressing.

CW 05-06