'Better Times Are Coming' -- Copper 1x08

Warning: Spoiler Alert

As much as Morehouse Jr gets on my nerves, and as shady as I think the man is, I do have to give him props for thinking ahead and making sure that the Greek Fire didn't actually make it into town ... and to do it so that it didn't look like he had anything to do with it. Now, he's seen the men that are involved with the plot, he's kept Rome New York from burning, and he's kept himself in with those who are trying to do nasty things. While I don't completely trust him not to do only what is in his own self-interest, him continuing to be undercover with these men might prove useful in an effort to continue to foil their plans to do some serious damage ... at least for a little while ... until they start getting suspicious of how things keep going wrong around him. But as much as he is only really out for himself, at least his interests include keeping New York from burning (at least at the moment). I'm not sure that he is necessarily thinking of all of the people that would be displaced, harmed, or killed in the process, but at least he is probably thinking about the fact that the city is his home (and if it burned, he would be out of his home and his wealth). So, I guess ... good on him?

And Morehouse Jr and Elizabeth ... wow, she is a manipulator, isn't she? She got him from going, "I'm am not touching this. You do your own dirty work with Kevin. I'm out," to getting him to "have a talk" with Kevin. I have no doubt that she is afraid of Kevin now that he's called her out for what she did to Annie, and for pulling a knife on her, so getting someone else to fight her battles for her (when she so royally fucked that whole thing up) was something that she seemed rather eager to do from the first place. I have no doubt that "Oh, let's be boyfriend/girlfriend" thing is for her, an arrangement of convenience. As soon as she feels like Kevin is safely out of her hair, where he won't be abel to hurt or threaten her anymore, I have the feeling that she will dumb Morehouse Jr like a load of bricks. I wouldn't be at all surprised to find out that she will (at some point) try to get Morehouse Jr to try to kill Kevin for her ... so that she can go back to being the Queen Bee, without having to worry about him coming around and threatening her anymore over the horrible things that she's done. And I wouldn't be at all surprised to find out that all of her charity work is just a cover, and that she is really part of the Southern plots to burn down New York ... but she has go-betweens so that her hands don't get dirty. Is it becoming more obvious that I don't trust her? But then, who can you trust on this show? Kevin and O'Brien ... and the n00b as well ... but they're pretty much it.

Speaking of not being able to trust anyone on this show ... it's looking more and more like Maguire killed Mary. I'm not really surprised to find this out, especially after his "she's dead to me" comment from last week. After he started talking, he seemed to suddenly realize that he had said something that might have made Kevin kind of suspicious about what was really going on (and was suddenly trying to amend it so as to not make Kevin start asking him uncomfortable questions about what he was talking about). The only reason that there seems to be about why he would have done it is the ledger (since that's the only thing that we really know about her, other than that she's a teacher, and that she got hit by one of the guys that she was blackmailing). But her death did seem to be a murder of passion, so maybe there is something more that we don't know about what was going on? Maybe Maguire confronted her (perhaps about the ledger), and things got a bit heated ... hence her being buried where she fell.

And now the biggie of the episode: Ellen is still alive ... and she's in a mental institution ... and Maguire knew where she was the whole time (cuz he was the one that seemingly checked her in there. So, I was wrong about her running off, and I'm glad that I was (since there being a twist that I didn't see coming from the beginning is always an awesome thing, no?). But why was she there? We do know that she saw the abortion doctor, and that Maggie was killed ... but now that we know that she is in a mental institution that puts a new spin on what may have happened to her and Maggie. The fact that Maguire kept the fact that Mary had the ledger to himself makes me wonder now if he was having an affair with Ellen while Kevin was away at war, and if it was actually his baby that was being aborted. If this is possible, could it also be possible that he did something to Maggie? And could seeing her daughter killed by someone that she trusted have made something inside of Ellen's mind snap? We know full well that Maguire is capable of murder, and we know full well that he has absolutely no problem with lying to Kevin ... sure, these two things don't necessarily mean that he was responsible for Maggie's death, or with Ellen's current state of mental health. But what makes me wonder (and very suspicious about his role in all of this) that he knew where Ellen was, he never even acted like he knew anything to Kevin (despite knowing just how much Kevin needed to know what had happened), and has always seemed to be trying to steer Kevin away from finding out the truth. Up until now, it could have been seen as him trying to be a good friend, and to stop his friend from obsessing over something that he may never get the answer to (knowing how Kevin obsesses over things). But now ... now that we know that he has always known far more than he has ever said about what really happened ... it creates an entirely new coloring on the events surrounding what he has said and done when it has come to Ellen and Maggie. And the fact that the preview for next week makes me wonder if it's cuz he feels guilty for Mary, or if he feels guilty about everything that has happened. Hopefully it's the second one.

'Over My Dead Body' -- Grimm 2x06

Warning: Spoiler Alert

This episode brought to you by "The Three Snake-leaves."

I thought that this week was supposed to be the episode where Juliette remembers Nick? Maybe the network just put the wrong preview up for this week? Well, hopefully it will happen next week (like the preview showed), since I was starting to get kind of nervous that the writers were going to use Juliette's amnesia as a way to write her off of the series. After all, if she can't remember Nick, and her character isn't really being explored at all, it would seem likely that the writers had decided that they wanted to go in a different direction when it comes to Nick having a SO. I don't think that's the way to go; even if their relationship isn't perfect (but what one is?), it's still better to have him have someone than to have him be alone. It seems like it helps to keep him grounded, with all of the crazy things that are happening in his life ... and he does seem to be happy with her ... at least, they seemed happy when she could remember who he was (even if she wasn't ready to say yes to his proposal, and even if he really is keeping things from her).

Speaking of the proposal, and him giving her the very real answer that she said no cuz she didn't like feeling like she was being kept in the dark ... the fact that Monroe called right then, and Nick only proved her point again that he really is keeping things from her ... kind of pushes that part of their relationship in your face, doesn't it? Ok, yeah, maybe he isn't willing to tell her about everything right now, when she doesn't know him anymore (and the truth would likely freak her out), but it's still bringing the issue to the forefront that he didn't tell her as soon as maybe he should have (about all of the crazy things that have been happening in his life since Aunt Marie came for that visit). Maybe he has been scared to tell her what has been going on, but still ... if their relationship was strong enough for it, he should have been able to tell her a long time ago about what has been going on (and I think that she would have been able to handle everything from the beginning). For all we know, Juliette knowing from the beginning of Nick being thrown into this world would have been a help for him in the things that he would have to do as a Grimm, and knowing would certainly have helped their relationship (since she wouldn't be feeling like he's trying to keep her out of parts of his life that are important).

The woman who wanted Monroe dead, I don't think that she is the person that actually wants to send the message to people that they need to not be friends with a Grimm. Whoever those people were in that picture that Renard found of her, I think that they may be the ones who are actually behind all of this. I am guessing that they are somewhere else, somewhere other than Portland cuz of the fact that she came in on a jet (and was going to try to sneak away on one as well), but I'm wondering if a Wesen in Portland being friends with the Grimm that's there is something that would throw shockwaves through their entire community. After all, it seemed to throw shockwaves out all over the place that Nick had killed Reapers. I'm wondering who this woman is, and what her relationship is to Renard (and to the Royals in general). I get the feeling that there is a whole lot that we don't know about her yet.

Exploring JRR Tolkien's The Hobbit.

I've just finished Exploring JRR Tolkien's The Hobbit, and I must say that I was glad that I got it. I suspected very much that I would enjoy this book after listening to lectures about The Hobbit on the Tolkien Prof's website (as well as having listened to the classes that he taught and uploaded to iTunes).

What you get with this book is a chapter-by-chapter examination of The Hobbit, with the addition of various information that Professor Olsen has that can be used to make educated guesses about some things where only a guess at a meaning can be made. There were times when something was mentioned, and I was able to get a clearer idea of something that was said (or realize that I had made the wrong assumption about something altogether).

All-in-all, I'd say that it's worth buying whether you are a fan, or only have a passing interest in Middle-earth.

'While You Were Sleeping' -- Elementary 1x02

Warning: Spoiler Alert

I thought that this episode wasn't nearly as awful as the first episode was, but it still wasn't as good as it could have (or should have) been. I have two issues with this episodes ... well, two that are larger than the others.

1. The implication that Watson needed to have sex to be in a good mood, and therefore have Sherlock be able to stand her for a little while longer. Sexism much? So far, Watson has gone out of her way to be a help to Sherlock in the cases that he has taken on with the police, and while he may think that she has gone a little too far into what he considers personal, the fact that he has gone out of his way to go into parts of her personal life (where he has no business being) and implying that she needs have a man in her life (to at least be able to have sex with). That isn't even considering the fact that Sherlock's unwanted "help" to get the ex back in the picture accomplishes nothing but making an already complicated relationship a little more strained than it needs to be. For all Sherlock knew, he was adding an expectation that Watson did not, or could not want to fulfill. And the reason that he seemed to do it seemed to have a lot to do with revenge for her doing her job. Yes, she noticed the violin, and she suggested that he pick it back up, but it had nothing to do with spite on her part. It wasn't as if the violin was hidden, and her suggestion that he start playing again had everything to do with trying to help him along with his recovery.

2. The writers went from a plot last week that was kind of convoluted, to one that was predictable. The pilot episode seemed to kind of go out of its way to make it so that the audience couldn't figure out what was going on to this one ... where really anyone could have figured out what was going on. The second that they pointed out the fact that you can always tell when someone is in a coma cuz of the "drop their hand on their face" test, it became obvious what was going on. Things shouldn't be so convoluted that there is no way that anyone could figure things out, but there shouldn't be so much emphasis on something that it gives away what is happening and who the killer is.

'We Need to Talk About Kevin' -- SPN 8x01

Warning: Spoiler Alert

First episode in a new season from Show, and we're already rehashing things that have happened on Show three or four times already at the least. You know what would be really nice? If the writers of Show would come up with something new. Novel, I know. But how many times are we going to go through having one of the boys end up dead, or in a cage with Lucifer, or in Purgatory only to have the one that went away come back by some miracle and have the reunion be full of "And now let's go through the twelve billiony things we need to do to prove that we aren't creepy crawlies, and we can have a proper hugging of it out, bitch"? You know when that sort of thing held some weight to it, and wasn't so old hat that it had become beyond boring? The end of season one and the beginning of season two. Ever since that point there has been absolutely no suspense that whoever has been killed or pulled into some sort of Hellscape isn't going to come back, and will be pretty functional after a surprisingly short amount of time. And let's not forget that we've now added that whichever one of them is still here, they will find love (or something akin to it) while the other is inside of their Hellscape. It is getting ever so boring. I don't know why I continue with Show anymore at this point (Hell, they killed off Bobby, and he had become pretty much the only thing that I was looking forward to on Show anymore) other than nostalgia for when I still thought that it was something good.

Also, I am finding it really hard to sympathize with Sam on any of the things that he was saying to Kevin. He has been emo for so long that it has become his default position, and the fact that he didn't even try to find Dean ... like Dean said, when has that ever been normal for the two of them (even when they both knew that at least one of them was completely boned)? Seems to me that Dean had every reason to feel betrayed over that; after all, what wouldn't Dean have done for Sam? The man went to Hell so that his brother could live, and when Dean just disappears now, Sam doesn't even try? And all of that about, "Well, I lost my entire family!! Woe!!" Yeah, but he had no reason to believe that Dean was dead. None. For all he knew, Dean could have just been teleported somewhere else on the globe and had no way of getting back to Sam. Crowley saying that Sam was now truly and completely alone ... I don't know why this would have been taken as fact (since this seems to be the only thing that Sam had to go on that he didn't have Dean to rely on anymore). Demons lie. DEMONS LIE!! And the fact that Dean would have done anything he had to in making sure that Sam was alright (like getting Death to bring back Sam's soul from the Cage), and that Sam wasn't willing to at least look for Dean to make sure he was alright screams "selfish" to me. I get that Sam didn't want the Hunter's life, but since when does not wanting the life that was pushed onto him mean that he abandons his family without at least trying to make sure that they are ok, or if he can do anything for them? How many times do the two of them need to cheat death before he realizes that even if Dean was dead, there was still a very good chance that he could be brought back? Yes, I keep getting more and more irritated with the big idiot as time goes by.

And while we're talking about irritation surrounding Sam ... what is it with the writers of Show coming from a place that is at the very least borderline homophobic? Since when does telling someone that "it gets better," mean that you have to add a joke about "Oh, you know I'm not gay, right?" Yes, there has been a campaign to tell kids in the LGBT community that it does get better (in hopes that it might make it through to them, and there will be less kids in this community who commit suicide cuz they feel helpless and hopeless), but that in no way means that this is the only community that can (or should) use those words in that order. There are plenty of kids that get bullied, and who are not part of the LGBT community that need to know that it gets better and that they should not give up hope. It would be really nice if the writers of Show would realize that and would stop taking cheap shots that make it seem like they are at least a little bit homophobic and that they need to make jokes at someone else's expense to make themselves feel better.

'Cloudy With a Chance of Murder' -- Castle 5x02

Warning: Spoiler Alert (which I think should be kind of obvious, but still ...)

What is it with Josh Randall turning up all over the place in my fandoms lately? This is the third one that he's been in within the past year (less than that, actually), and yet again he plays someone who is up to no good. As soon as he came on screen, I was entirely suspicious of him ... since he has played bad guys in the other two fandoms that he's made an appearance in. Sure, that doesn't mean that he'll be a bad guy in this one as well, but he's proving to not have the greatest of track records with my fandoms. He's now three for three when it comes to doing something horrible.

I don't see how Castle would have thought that going on a pretend date with someone else would be in any way ok with Beckett. Sometimes, it's almost as if he doesn't even know her at all. Sure, he somehow convinced himself that it would be a fantastic idea (since it would make the people that knew the two of them less suspicious, and less likely to figure out that the two of them are together now), but that doesn't mean that he shouldn't have stopped and thought about what it was that he was doing ... cuz he really, really should have.

As much as the two of them want to believe that they can keep this whole thing secret, and everything will be fine (that no one will figure it out, and their relationship will be super happy fun time without there being any kind bad joo-joo) ... I have a very bad feeling about them keeping it a secret for a long period of time. If they're constantly having to second-guess everything that they do (in an effort to make sure that no one figures out what is going on between the two of them, which I really don't think is likely), I'm betting that there's going to be all sorts of resentments built up between the two of them. Hell, it almost happened in this episode, and they've just barely started seeing each other. There is going to be a whole hell of a lot of truth and communication between the two of them for this to last even a little while, and with the way that the two of them seem to not be on the same page when it comes to love ... I see rocky waters a head. Yeah, the two of them are totally in synch when it comes to solving crimes, but that's cuz their brains both work the same way in that way. But when it comes to love and relationships, they seem to be completely in two different places, and that would make things kind of hard on them even if they weren't trying to keep this whole thing a secret from everyone.

I'm betting that everyone figures things out before the season is over. Hell, Lanie is already kind of circling around the fact that there is someone new in Beckett's life, and it's only the second episode of the season (and the first one that she's been in for a while). It's not going to take the others all that much longer to figure out that there is something going on ... though I have a feeling that the boys are going to figure it out through Castle, rather than Beckett.

'The Hudson River School' -- Copper 1x07

Sooooo, Morehouse Jr told Elizabeth that it's alright that she lied to Kevin about Annie cuz everyone lies to him? I have to call bullshit on that. Lying is not ok, not even if "everyone" is doing it to him. But Morehouse Jr was right about the fact that Elizabeth should have told Kevin right away that she was full of it, since he really would go after the answer until he was satisfied with what he was being told. That is the one thing that Morehouse Jr has said that I haven't wanted to call him out on it ... but mostly only cuz it was pretty much the one time that he's ever told the truth about anything ... ever. I also call BS on the fact that Elizabeth said that she didn't know why she told him a lie in the first place. I don't doubt that she knew exactly what she was doing when she told him that she sent Annie out to California; she knew that the man that she let take Annie was not her father as soon as Annie started begging her to not let the man take her (even if she didn't want to admit it to herself). And when Kevin started telling her about the douche that she had let take Annie, the look on her face only confirmed (at least to me anyway) that she knew exactly what she had done. As horrible as I would have normally thought it was that the hero of a show pulled a knife on someone, I really have no sympathy for Elizabeth in this case. What she did to Annie could have ruined the girl's life; Annie has already had enough bad things happen to her without people who don't really care about her throwing her to the lions.

And speaking of Annie being thrown to the lions ... good on her for being able to think on her feet and be able to save herself from a horrible situation that at the very least would have left her with more emotional scaring than she would have been able to survive from, and at worst would have killed her (whether it was from her "husband" doing the deed himself, or from her committing suicide later on cuz she thought that there was no hope). That being said, I have no doubt that she knew exactly what she was doing when she started talking about how lucky Maggie was to have Kevin, and when she asked him for a kiss good night, but I can't say that I blame her for it. Kevin seems to be the only one who genuinely cares about what happens to her, and it would seem logical that she would try to remind him of his daughter (while tying up his memories of Maggie with herself) so that she would be safe (at least for a little while longer). As much as I think that she had her feelings kind of mixed up about him in previous episodes (thinking that she might actually have a chance with him ... and even though she may still have a little bit of that going on now), I'd much rather have her stay with him than with anyone else that's in the series (even O'Brien and his wife), since she will be safe as Kevin's serrogate daughter.

Also, speaking about lying, I don't believe Maguire when he told Kevin that Mary left for England with some guy. Sure, Mary was yelling at him to leave her alone for a while in the last scene that we saw with her, but I have more of a feeling that Maguire just didn't want Kevin to know that Mary had the ledger now that he was sure that Mary was using him (and I don't doubt that that's why Maguire was going all crazy in one of Eva's rooms ... well, that and the fact that he still loves Molly and is sure that there was something wrong with the way that she died). At some point, I have a feeling that Maguire is going to figure it out that Eva killed Molly, and I have a feeling that Kevin will be around when he does and everything will come out about the ledger and the locket. I think that Kevin is going to have to find out about that in a round-about sort of way, cuz I have no doubt that Eva and Maguire are going to both keep up their lies to Kevin and not admit anything that they know or have done.

I also think that it won't be long before everything is going to come to a head between Kevin and Morehouse Jr. Not so much with what is happening with Elizabeth (even if he's hurt by all of the things that Elizabeth has done recently, I don't think that he will begrudge the two of them being together ... after the reality of it settles in a bit), but with Morehouse Jr playing around with spies from the South (and possibly starting up more riots in the Five Points). Yeah, so I have a feeling by the end of this, the only person that Kevin isn't going to have a throw-down with is O'Brien ... but it's not like I haven't had that feeling for a while.