'Significant Others' -- Castle 5x10

Warning: Spoiler Alert

The thing with the killer in this episode ... I thought that it was far too obvious to figure out who it was. As soon as Ryan put up the pictures on the television, I noticed the one of Victoria Pratt with dark hair and a slightly differently shaped chin. The photo may have not been on the screen for all that long, but it seemed like it was on for far longer than it should have been if they didn't want people to figure out who was really this episode's MOTW (so to speak), especially since they spent so much time having the boys ogle her when they went to speak with her second husband. That ogle session made it far too obvious that she was someone of importance, and that we should pay attention to her part in the over-all scheme of the case. They're usually better than that (when it comes to keeping the viewer at least somewhat guessing as to who might be behind everything), and I'll admit to being disappointed at how little I had to try to figure out who they were actually looking for (and the fact that it was so easy made me disappointed that the gang didn't realize sooner what was actually going on ... or that the boys didn't see that they were looking at Leann Piper when they saw the picture of Jane Garrison).

Speaking of the Piper gang in all of this ... every time they mentioned "Billy Piper," my brain went immediately to Rose on DW (since the actress that played Rose is called Billie Piper). I'll admit to getting distracted by that, but that really wasn't their fault; it was the fault of my own brain and it's tendency to always be playing a game of "six degrees".

As far as Meredith coming to the flat and inserting herself into the situation cuz she wanted to see what Beckett was like ... I really didn't like that. On a certain level, I did get it, if for no other reason than wanting to make sure that whoever was around Alexis was someone who would be good to her, but that really didn't seem to be what Meredith was concerned about. She seemed far more concerned with the fact that Castle was seeing someone new, and she wanted to stick her nose in the middle of it, as though she would have any say about whether Castle would continue with the relationship or not. It seemed far too much like she was over-stepping her bounds on this. She's Castle's ex, and whatever their relationship is now, she has no claim over him (other than Alexis), and he seems to be the one that is far more stable of the two. Yeah, I would have had a lot less of an issue of her butting in and looking like she was trying to become a wedge between Castle and Beckett, if what she was doing was making sure that Alexis was safe and loved (and not that she was trying to be a bitch and put doubts into Beckett's mind about the relationship, cuz that's what she seemed to be doing). Even with her little talk with Beckett at the end of the episode ... it seemed a little more like she was causing damage than she was helping. After all, all she did was create doubts in Beckett's mind that hadn't been there. And what is Beckett supposed to think when Meredith said that she didn't really know him, and that he could have written books about her ... especially when he's written books with Beckett as the main character?

Not the best episode around, over-all.

'Citizen Fang' -- SPN 8x09

Warning: Spoiler Alert

You know what I could really, really do without? The Vaseline on the camera lens flashbacks for Sam. I get that they're probably trying to do some kind of super visual thing with the falshbacks for Sam (with them being super sunny), the flashbacks for Dean (with them being pretty much devoid of color), and the present (with it being our standard horror genre SPN), but it's gotten really old, really fast. Fast as in it was old and annoying the first time that they used it, and I never, ever want them to use it again (and that would be entirely too soon. For real). The Vaseline-porn camera with the extra dose of vitamin D doesn't prove to me that everything was perfect-happy for Sam, or that he had finally found the life that he had always wanted for himself ever since he first ran away from his family when he was like 12. The boys will never be able to be "normal people" happy, no matter how much they try to talk it up to themselves that that's what they are, cuz the two of them are a very special kind of fucked ... the kind that there is no coming back from, and the kind in which only other people who are truly fucked like that can ever really understand.

Also really annoying me about Sam this season ... the fact that he is so very much willing to gank Benny, no matter how much he may "know" that Benny is the reason why Dean was able to not only survive Purgatory, but that he was able to escape it. And it pisses me off that he is so willing to kill Benny, a "monster" that is very really trying to deny his vampire nature, when he used to be the first one to be willing to give the "monsters" a chance, and he was also the one that was somehow naïve enough to believe all of the lies that Ruby was telling him. Perhaps what he took from the whole Ruby thing was that you should never, ever trust the "monsters," but I really don't think that's the right "lesson" that he should have taken from that (especially when, I happened across a rerun of a season four episode (can't remember the name of the particular episode), and Dean was saying that if he was anyone else, with Sam doing the Hand of Ipecac, he would have killed Sam for a "monster". Yeah, what was I saying about the last episode that it was weird that John didn't kill Fred for essentially being a "special kid"?). I can totally understand Dean having a change of heart, at least where Benny is concerned, since the guy did save his life after the two of them essentially went through a warzone together ... and I can even understand where that whole experience of Benny and Cas being the only ones who really had his back in that situation, and finding out that his brother left him for dead, might have given him a new outlook on what it was that hunters do (and how he goes about saving people and hunting things in general) ... but I cannot understand the 180° that Sam has been exhibiting. Nothing in the "I am the God of Pastels" flashbacks seems to add up to Sam becoming such a douche. Maybe the beginning of it actually happened in the finale of season seven, but you know what? I'm not buying Sam's line about "ZOMG!! WOE!! MY WHOLE FAMILY IS THE DEAD, AND THERE IS NO ONE HERE ANYMORE BUT ME!!" Why? Cuz even when the Winchesters are actually dead and in either Heaven or Hell ... they never stay dead (at least when it comes to Sam and Dean, since J2 are seemingly signed onto the series until the end of time). It seems much more like Sam is just using Dean's "death" as an excuse to be an ass, cuz he can't be bothered to figure out a real excuse for his dickishness. So, I say to Sam: boo, you whore.

Martin ... oh, crazy Martin ... you sad, evil little man ... you deserved exactly what you got from Benny, and I am not at all sad that he killed you. The thing with Martin is that I think he proved what I think should have been proved about hunters a long time ago: sometimes it's the hunter that's the real "monster". The good thing that Martin thought that he was doing by going after Benny the vampire was immediately turned into something so very, very wrong when he not only harmed someone who was innocent, he threatened to kill her for no reason (she wasn't trying to hurt him, she wasn't trying to hurt anyone, and he knew that she had no idea of what was actually going on). Benny had every reason to try to do whatever he could do to try and save her life, and the fact that Sam refused to even listen to Dean about the hows and whys of Martin's death make me think even more that Sam is where all douches come from (especially since, if he hadn't known that Benny was a vampire, he more than likely would have listened to what Dean had to say, and probably would have agreed that Martin was way out of bounds on this one). So, yeah, I have absolutely no pity for Martin, and I think that he got exactly what he deserved.

The fact that Dan switched out the numbers on Sam's phone ... I really think that it's going to give Sam just one more reason to be a five-year-old throwing a tantrum. I also don't think that any good is going to come of Amelia suddenly showing up outside of the Vaseline. I have a bad feeling that seeing her again, actually talking to her after he left (and she's back with Don) is going to make him a little more of a whiny brat. At this point, I'm already ready for the boys to break up completely (even though they're really the only ones that either of them really have at this point), and start over with someone new. I have a feeling that Dean would still keep hunting, and Sam would probably find a dog that he can set up house with. And if things keep going the way that they seem to be, I have a feeling that I'm going to get aggravated enough with Sam that I'm going to have to start writing fanfic where I kill him off in such a way that he never comes back.

Also, we still haven't seen any more of the mysterious figure that seemed to be following the boys from earlier in the season. I don't think that it was Benny ... and I don't think that it was Don. I would love, love, love it if it turned out to be Metatron. Love it to the point where I would want to find whichever writer revealed that to us and draw hearts all over that writer's face with a red Sharpie. Fact.

'Hunteri Heroici' -- SPN 8x08

Warning: Spoiler Alert

How did the people in charge of Show manage to get Hunnicut to be in such a small role, with so few lines in it? That's kind of impressive. I wouldn't have thought that we would see anyone involved with "M*A*S*H" making a guest appearance on Show, especially since I'm sure that their services probably wouldn't have come very cheap (regardless of how few lines any of them were given within the episode). Though ... if they were going to get anyone from "M*A*S*H", it probably would have been kind of funny if they had gotten David Ogden Stiers, since his character on that show was named "Winchester".

I'm almost surprised that John associated with Fred, what with the way that he had the tendency of thinking that anything that wasn't entirely "normal" human was something that needed to be gotten rid of. Sure, Sam turned out to be one of YED's special kids, and I bet that if he knew about that, he would have been able to turn a blind eye to it (since Sam was always the Golden Boy), but with someone else ... I have a feeling that he wouldn't have been able to just let it go; he was kind of OCD about being "black and white" about things that weren't necessarily black and white. And if John and (seemingly) the boys were ok with a human who had psychokinetic abilities, why wouldn't they be ok with someone who was able to shape shift? It appeared that Fred could do a lot more damage than any of the shape shifters that we've come across in Show up to this point, so I don't see how they could say that the one that is less dangerous is the monster. It seems much more like they are willing to overlook some things that would normally make them chase after someone with pitchforks, if the person is useful to them (and is willing to help them gather the villagers and torches, and make sure they all make it to the windmill in time). Yes, I realize that I'm still wanting there to be logic in this show, even though they've proven for such a long time that they want absolutely nothing to do with logic, but ... it would be nice if they at least made some sort of sense on this, damn it!! (and every time that I want to demand logic from it, I still hear Andreth telling me that I'm never going to get it from genre television. lol)

I did find the inside of Fred's mind pretty amusing (what with all of the "please stand by" type things all around, when Sam and Cas were trying to explain to him what was going on, and trying to get him to help them out with what was going on). It did remind me a bit of the episodes with Gabriel ... back when he was just still Loki (and not an angel yet ... at least to us anyway). Poor Loki Gabriel. I wish he was still around; I liked him.

I still really want to find out about Metatron, and still would love it if s/he suddenly showed up. I don't see why someone who is so high up on the food chain would be mentioned, and then, not make an appearance ... especially when that particular someone is the one that dictated the various tablets. And the fact that there was the mention of Chuck being a prophet (and them not knowing what happened to him) makes me even more want Chuck to turn out to be Metatron (since it makes more sense to me that way).

'After Hours' -- Castle 5x08

Warning: Spoiler Alert

I totally forgot that Esposito knew about Castle and Beckett, so when she made reference to the dinner with the parents at the beginning of the episode, I had a moment of "The hell?" But then, it came back to me that Ryan had told him all about what was going on. Dur on me.

And Ryan's reaction to the fact that a nun was going to be coming to the precinct ... lol!! Awwwes. Poor, Ryan. Of course he would have flashbacks to Catholic school and would start getting scared. Bad Esposito for making fun of him for being scared!! And I will admit to being completely amused by the fact that Ryan was amused by Esposito getting scared of the nun. ::points:: ::laughs::

But apart from that ... I can't say that I really dug this episode. Yeah, Martha and Beckett's dad are homies now, but the episode didn't really grab me like some of them do. The mystery around the murder wasn't all that interesting IMO, and I found myself kind of glad when it was finally over. Hopefully, there will be better episodes coming up in the near future.

'Season of the Hexenbiest' -- Grimm 2x12

Warning: Spoiler Alert

This episode was brought to you by "The Bremen Town Musicians".

It almost seems like things are coming to a head rather quickly. It hasn't been altogether that long that Juliette hasn't been able to remember anything about Nick, and it almost seems like they could have been able to let things go along a little bit longer. But then, I suppose that if they kept things going much longer, they could have thought that people might have started to lose interest in what was going on with Juliette and Nick's relationship ... and how much Juliette cannot stop herself from thinking about Renard.

In a way, I'm kind of glad that both Monroe and Juliette wanted to tell Nick what had happened in the spice shop. I don't think that I would have felt ok with whichever one of them tried to keep the information from him ... even more so with Monroe, when Monroe hasn't lost his memory and still knows that the two of them are friends and wants to remain friends with him. I'm also glad that Monroe had video of Renard and made up his mind to tell Nick that that was who he had seen in the spice shop with Juliette.

And speaking of Juliette after Nick found out about her and Renard ... when Nick went upstairs to get some of his clothes, and she told him that he wasn't sleeping up there ... I seriously got annoyed with her right not. It wasn't the idea of her not wanting him to sleep in the same bed as her, when she didn't remember him ... that's understandable; my problem was in her attitude with him ... as though he had done something wrong. I imagine that the two of them both have their names on the mortgage on the house, so he has just as much right to be in the house as she does, and he has been very patient with the whole thing of her not remembering him; and the tone that she had in her voice just irked me the wrong way ... as though he were putting her out by being upstairs. I kind of wanted to shake her, telling her that she was the one in the wrong there, not him.

Also speaking of Juliette ... I don't see how she wouldn't have gotten suspicious with all of the questions about Aunt Marie's trailer. Even if she thought that she was friends with Adalind, and she thought that there wasn't any reason for her to be suspicious of a couple of questions about some trailer that really didn't mean anything to her, wouldn't she start think that there was something suspicious about the questions when Adalind wouldn't let the topic of the trailer go, and the fact that Adalind kept wanting her to get more and more specific about where it was? And I'm not going to buy the idea that she shouldn't/wouldn’t have gotten the idea that there was something more than just idle curiosity to the nature of the questioning. I'm also not going to buy the fact that she didn't need to keep other people's information to herself; if it wasn't something for her to give, she shouldn't be giving it out to people. But then again, I've never been ok with just giving out other people's information, even if it seems like it might be harmless; I don't know what someone might want any given person to know, or to not know about anything, so better to err on the side of caution and not give away things that you aren't sure about.

And look, Juliette not being able to be quiet about Aunt Marie's trailer means that Renard now knows exactly where it is. Brilliant. [/sarcasm] I had a very bad feeling that Nick was going to need to move it (especially after it had already been found once, which I would have thought would have been his first clue to not keep it in the same place that he had kept it before), and now it's far too late for him to do it. There really doesn't seem to be much point in moving it now that Renard knows where it is, and is more than likely going to ransack the joint trying to find the key. It would be really nice if Renard would realize that the royals are a bunch of douches, and that they aren't going to treat him the way that he would like for them to treat him (and they are much more likely to keep yanking him around as long as it's still convenient for them to do so, and then, possibly killing him once they are tired of that).

So, I'm getting the feeling that we are going to see the destruction of a whole hell of a lot of Grimm heritage now that Renard knows where the trailer is, and that makes me sad.

'A Little Slice of Kevin' -- SPN 8x07

Warning: Spoiler Alert

I have a bit of an issue with the fact that Momma Tran rolled her eyes at Sam when he told her that the events of the episode were her fault ... cuz she was silly enough to trust a witch with anything. Up until that point, we had seen her be overly protective of Kevin, and to not own her responsibility for the bad things that had happened to him didn't seem in character for her. If she is really as protective and concerned with what happens to Kevin (especially where demons come to play), it would seem much more like she would own the fact that she had messed up so that she could make things better in the long run, and not do that sort of thing again.

Them questioning what happened to Chuck ... I would have hoped that they would have wondered about him before this point, but I guess at least they are they are starting to think about him somewhat now. I would kind of love to find out that he's actually Metatron; I still don't dig the idea that he was really God, even if it was only something that was inferred, and not something that anyone explicitly said. Also, with the addition of Metatron to canon ... I really hope that they don't make me hate the addition the way that I really didn't like the Leviathan. Metatron and Leviathan kind of make me geek out, and I would like it so much more if they didn't suck.

I'm wondering if the office that Cas suddenly found himself in was the office of the Metatron, but at this point there isn't enough evidence of who the office belongs to when talking about anyone; so, it actually could have been anyone's office. Whoever the "woman" was that met him there could have been the Important Person that belonged to that office, and not just an assistant or something, so we may have gotten our first view of who our newest power player is. Could it have been Metatron? Sure, and that would have been cool. But just cuz he got a shout out from the tablet doesn't mean that he's going to be making an appearance. Oh, wait, that's actually an angel named Naomi, so maybe the Metatron mention was just a one off, and that would make it much easier for me to talk myself into saying that Chuck was actually Metatron and not actually God (which is something that I like way better anyway).

So, Cas is back on Show. He's been kind of amusing on some of the episodes that he's been on, but to be honest, I could really do without him. Yeah, it's good for the boys to have people who are in their corner, and they could always use as much help as they can get with the things that they do, but sometimes it seems much more like Cas is more trouble than help. I'm happy for the Cas fangirls, but I just could never get myself all that excited about him. Hell, when you like the vampire that's only been in like three episodes more than the angel that's been in four (going on five) seasons, that's not really a good sign.

'Swan Song' -- Castle 5x07

Warning: Spoiler Alert

This episode got on my nerves. Bad. The way that the actors kept mugging to the camera wasn't amusing; it was irritating. But I have a feeling that the writers were trying to go for humor with this episode, and the way that the actors kept talking to the camera like they were regular idiots who weren't used to being in front of cameras. Every time they would do it, though, I would end up wanting to shake someone ... didn't matter if it was the person who was trying to impress whoever happened to be watching what they were doing, or the writer of the episode for seemingly thinking that this was amusing.

The thing that gets me about this was that even while I could kind of see Castle doing it somewhat (though, not as over-the-top as it was being done), I have a hard time seeing NYPD detectives being caught up in wanting to impress the cameras ... especially the captain. It seems to me that they would be much more interested in trying to ... oh, I don't know ... catch a killer than trying to impress whatever shmuck happened to be watching the documentary. And maybe it's just me, but catching someone who has murdered another human being is far more impressive than the things that they were trying to do when they were making out with the camera (which was beyond ridiculous at most points). Yes, I realize that this show has a lot of comedy in it (more than what you might expect for a show that's essentially a murder mystery), but a lot of the things that are funny in this show are things that are kind of organic to the characters (and not points where they are trying too hard ... which seemed to be most of this episode).

It still really bugs me about the way that the captain changed for this episode. She hates having Castle there, and is very vocal about it; she doesn't want the cameras there, and wants to review all of the footage before it gets cut into the documentary, and yet she pretends like she's way more supportive of the detectives than she actually is. Yes, she has their backs when she thinks that they are in the right, but she never coddles them the way that she did in this episode. It's one thing to tell someone that they did a good job, and you're proud of the way they handled things ... it's another to treat a grown-up like they are a kindergartener. I would have liked her a lot more (and gotten a bit more respect for her) if she acted the same with the cameras there as she did when they weren't there ... in that she continued to bust their balls and demand that they get things done. The drastic change that she had in this episode really made me miss Montgomery.