Stewie Finds His Soulmate

Family Guy, S10E19

Lois got she and Peter separate beds after suffering another injury after he rolled over her in his sleep.  Peter, unable to sleep properly without someone to cuddle, asked Quagmire to be his substitute in that manner.  However, Peter started living with Quagmire completely, living his life with him in an intimate way that looked like they were a couple.  He finally went home after Lois agreed to sleep in the same bed with him and confessed that she missed cuddling with him too.  Stewie met his soul-mate with a wicked girl named Penelope.  Brian, after watching the news of the international terrors Stewie and Penelope had perpetrated together, told him that she was a bad influence on her and should stop seeing her.  When Stewie told Penelope about Brian's thoughts, she demanded that Stewie kill him.  Stewie couldn't do it, so Penelope came to do it herself.  After an intense battle, Stewie bid farewell to Penelope and admitted to Brian that he was right about her.

I had to agree with Lois' decision to not sleep with Peter in the same bed since he didn't seem to think her breaking numerous ribs was a problem, nor did the doctor want to admit that Peter had any fault in her injuries.  If that wasn't bad enough, he was really annoying with his plume pen writing at night where he would actually say "dip" each time he dipped his pen into the ink.  It might not have been a bad idea for her to get her own place entirely if he was going to be that obnoxious.

It was also smart of her to leave Peter be for a while after he decided to sleep with Quagmire.  It was kind of weird when they first laid together and Peter was taking off Quagmire's boxers with his foot.  At least let him take it off himself.  Eww.  But I think when Peter moved into Quagmire's and they had a montage about how their were interacting with each other every day, it was kind of sweet (if you imagined they were a couple).  It's funny that just snuggling in the same bed could make them that close. I could have stood to see more of how their relationship deepened (besides that "giggity band") before Lois came to get her man back.  I'm glad that Peter didn't make too much of a fuss about it since, as his wife, I would hope she would be his top choice for spooning.  I felt bad for Quagmire that he was stuck to Peter's back and crushed just like Lois had been at the beginning.  Not sure if I can call that karma or not.  Or ironic.  But it is a little funny.

Stewie's story was okay.  It was interesting to see him find another person like himself who was perhaps a bit more evil.  She, unlike Stewie, didn't have a dog best friend who could convince her to stop creating havoc for kicks.  I liked when Stewie had to make a 20s theme with his tidal wave destruction and he chose flappers dancing on surf boards on the waves.  That was cute.  I'm just surprised that Brian figured out what Stewie and Penelope were up to so quickly, seeing as they were doing everything by themselves.  It was even better when Stewie defended his actions by saying it was nothing new for him:

[Stewie] I’ve always been about world domination.  What the hell did you think I was talking about when I said, “Victory shall be mine”?

[Brian] You have not said that in a very long time.
[Stewie] Well, I’m back on it.

I laughed at that because I had forgotten that Stewie did use to say that.  This episode reminds me of when Stewie killed Lois (in a simulation) because Brian questioned whether he had gotten soft about being evil.  Truth be told, I don't miss that Stewie too much because he's funny enough without being a mastermind trying to take over the world.  With Brian usually by his side, there's hardly any time for him to be thinking about killing his mother and such.

It was cute when Stewie kept coming up behind Brian and trying to kill him different ways, but just couldn't kill him.  We've seen enough episodes to know that Stewie doesn't give a damn about anyone when push comes to shove unless it's Brian, so it would be a little out of his character for him to off Brian now, even when he met the love of his life.  It wasn't surprising that a girl  who surpassed Stewie in evil would go off to finish the job herself.  I liked that before she arrived, the mail carrier kept looking like he was listening in on Brian and Stewie's conversation and even waiting at the door to for them.  However, he had just been killed by Penelope and was standing there dead.  Nice.

What I noticed about the Stewie and Penelope fight was that she really came prepared.  I mean, she had all kinds of gadgets and weapons ready to slash and fry someone to death.   My favorite part of their fight was when Penelope shrunk a car and Stewie later threw it at her and enlarged it to full size while it was still in the air so it would fall on her.  Too much happened that I can remember it all, but I did like her blade in her shoe.  I just kept wondering when Stewie would reveal some weapon on himself because he was a little disadvantaged.  Finally, at the end he pulled out a knife from his ankle and told her to stay away from his dog.  Aww.  He does care.  Plus, Penelope kissed him and sent him flying so the cord around him would be tied around a light pole.  It's possible she might return one day.  But I kept wondering how Stewie would get down from there.  Then again, a baby like him that can fight on top of a moving truck is capable of anything.

It was stupid at the end they had Brian ask Meg about her day, but she just opened her mouth and no sound came out.  Come on now.  Stop shoving it our faces that you don't give a damn about Meg's character.  You might as well kill her off instead of treating her like a roach.  Seriously.  It's hardly funny anymore.  It's like that damn chicken Peter fought or those vaudeville guys.

Not the funniest episode, but not bad.  I wish I could have enjoyed the guest star, but I'm not too familiar with her work, so it wasn't anything special for me.  I did like to see that Stewie could fall in love for once, instead of watching Brian's many desperate one-night stands.  That's getting old.  I wish that there had been more jokes that I enjoyed, but I guess it the stories were interesting enough that it didn't matter too much.

Still The Best Simpson Vacation Yet

The Simpsons, S23E19

Bart, tired of the humdrum of the everyday, tried to raise money to go on a fancy cruise by selling everything in his room.  The others eventually helped him pay for it by selling some of their own things.  Their time on the cruise kept getting better and better, making everyone happier than they had ever been.  Bart started to think about how it would all end in a week when he heard a song about the limited time of their vacation happiness.  He used a scene from a movie to make everyone think that the world was infected by a virus so that the ship would have to stay at sea forever.  It took only 12 days to turn the paradise ship into an apocalyptic nightmare where food was scarce and fun and entertainment had been replaced with fear and mob rule.  Bart confessed to his ruse after Lisa and Marge discovered what he had done, and the people of the cruise rewarded him by abandoning the family in Antarctica.  That turned out to be a blessing for Bart, who came to understand he should enjoy the great moments in life instead of dwelling on the routine in the rest of it through his observations of the penguins.

After watching so many episodes where everything that could go wrong in a vacation does for this family, it was nice to see everyone having a great time on the boat.  Something, of course, had to upset their paradise or it would be boring, but seeing everything go right for once was a nice change.  Plus, the Simpsons are like my family so seeing their enjoying themselves made me smile.  I thought it was funny how that song at dinner was so depressing about how their happiness would end once they got off the boat, but only Bart was paying attention.  Everyone else was "enjoying it while it lasted," per the song's advice.  I couldn't be mad at Bart for wanting to make it last forever.  I often feel like that and in doing so, ruin my chance to enjoy the now (which is the point).  So I really identified with the overall message in this story.

I got a little sad watching Bart imagine his life after he left the boat and his only good memory was him on that vacation.  He died while holding the only picture of his happiness, and it made me a little misty-eyed.  That's pretty terrible for a boy his age to be writing off his own life before it had barely started.  I was even a little down by seeing the montage of his daily routine that ended on the couch.  His childhood should be some of the best times in his life, but instead he was disillusioned by age 10.

When they were cast off the boat to Antarctica, I couldn't help but wonder how the hell they were gonna get back home.  They never answered that, but I guess that's the magic of a cartoon where you can leave things open like that because it will have no impact upon the next episode.  I didn't like that they started to look at the penguins and use them as an example of how to live life better.  It was corny, but it was better than everyone being angry at Bart, and it distracted me of thoughts of how long it would take them to freeze (or starve) to death.  But I liked how Bart stopped trying to make every day fun and instead had a wider variety of moments he could cherish in his new vision of his old age.  He remarked in that vision, "What a great ride," and it reminded me of how I'll probably feel about this show ending one day.  Not every story was one I'll remember forever and find myself quoting in daily life, but I have enjoyed this show's ride so far.  The numbers of years they kept me laughing and thinking is more than enough to excuse any number of episodes that failed to meet my expectations.

Call me a softie, but I liked this episode a lot, despite it was more sentimental than it was funny.  Sometimes that is what I want to see--a nice, heartwarming story where it's not about how much you can shock or thrill the audience.  I'm happy to see that this show can still tug at my heart strings after all this time and not make me want to roll my eyes or gouge them out.

How Not To Get Rid Of A Man In A Wheelchair

The Cleveland Show, S03E19

Cleveland's suspicions that Donna was cheating on him turned out to be about half right.  She was trying to secretly let down her ex-boyfriend Maurice who had been in Iraq and thought he and Donna were still a couple.  After seeing that Maurice was in a wheelchair, Cleveland helped her lie until Maurice proposed to her.  Maurice stayed at their house, punishing them for their deceit by being a general nuisance.  They tried to appease him by giving him a parade in his honor, but it wasn't until Cleveland punched Maurice and treated him like a normal guy that Maurice forgave them and left.  Junior pretended to be Christian to win a girl's affection and had to compete with Hunter, another boy doing the same thing.  When they unintentionally sang about their deceit in front of Vanessa she was attracted to their "bad boy" ways and wanted to have sex with them both, to their horror.  Junior was saved from losing his virginity by a fire that Hunter started.

I think that Donna has had lots of opportunities to cheat on Cleveland, so the idea of her suddenly sending her husband off to have one now didn't make sense, so I couldn't agree with Cleveland's friends that her buttering him up with ham was to distract him from her cheating.  Cleveland, too, found it hard to believe that Donna was having an affair, but he had to go with what a typical man would think:

Then again, what kind of man would I be if I didn't automatically think the worst about a woman?

Because that line was funny, I couldn't get mad about Cleveland listening to his friends and accusing Donna.  He did a horrible job of tailing her, and later when he knew the truth and Maurice showed up, he did a horrible job of lying.  In fact, he had to make sure that he didn't forget the name he made up for himself, "Cleveson."  That terrible name did set up for some good jokes by his friends, however:

[Tim] Wow, I am so embarrassed.  I’ve been calling Cleveson, “Cleveland” for years.
[Lester] And I didn’t know he was married to his sister.  I approve.

I don't know which of their comments is stupider, but I liked that they were sucked into the lie better than Cleveland was himself (who forgot his own fake name).

I only felt bad for Maurice when he first found out about the lies and had a very pathetic and weepy exit out of the room, where he fell and had to eventually crawl.  However, I was glad that Cleveland got pissed at him and punched him.  Donna and Cleveland are bad people, but there was no reason they needed to be continually punished when they had already apologized.  I really liked Cleveland's statement about this:

We only lied to spare your feelings, and we apologized.  So either forgive us or don't. But stop being a dick.

True dat!  This story made a good point about people who walk on eggshells around people with disabilities.  We're all essentially people, so no one should be able to get a free card to be a jerk.  I'll admit it's hard not to be extra nice and forgiving to someone who can't function the same as yourself, but when someone is being an unnecessary dick, you need to be able to call them on it, regardless of what kind of person they are.

Junior's story wasn't that great.  I guess it's because it's not the first time that he has fallen for a beautiful girl that he ultimately won't get (I just assume).  I thought the song that the mission team choir had some clever lyrics, although the tune wasn't particularly pleasing.  I admired how they had a song that praised Jesus and God by using social media terms and technological trends like texting that teenagers would be interested in.  Because of that, I was less annoyed that I had endure another Seth MacFarlane world song (not to say that The Simpsons has come out with a good song in any recent years).  I also like Darren Criss' voice ever since I watched Glee (but have given up on since their last terrible Christmas special), so it couldn't be too angry about it.  Junior started singing too, to my dismay, but I liked that while he was having his moment, you could see Roger in the stained glass.  Nice touch.  When he stopped singing, I wondered to myself if he had done it out loud, and Junior immediately said the same thing to himself.  That was funnier than him being dumb enough to sing about a girl he liked right in front of her.

Junior and Hunter's duet about their plans to fight each other for Vanessa was cute (though I still didn't care for the lyrics) and funny just because it was stupid.  It was the stupidest when they continued to sing until Vanessa showed up and they had to be honest with her.  I didn't think that she would be so turned on by their deceit.  I was going to be happy for them that they got the girl they wanted after all, but the two were turned off by her sexual aggression.  I forgot that Junior wasn't ready for that yet (according to the episode with his teenage wife whom he couldn't sleep with) and Hunter seemed to be the same.  It was just funny to see two teenage boys crapping their pants because they girl they were after wanted to jump their bones--any other typical boy their age would have acted like they won the lottery.  I mean, Vanessa was a little intimidating, but for those two, that might have been the opportunity of a lifetime.  In the end, I'm glad that Junior got out of it and that he and Hunter went from being enemies to being friends.  I mean, they have a lot in common (both think it's a good idea to lie about their faith in order to date someone), so friendship seems like a more feasible conclusion than the two getting lucky with a girl.

This week we had a double-dose of this show, but I think the episode that preceded it was better than this one.  It lost points for having songs (even with Darren Criss' beautiful voice) and failing to utilize Rallo very much. After seeing that episode where Rallo was shining, it was hard to be satisfied when he only popped out for a random line or two.  I seriously think if they made it "The Rallo Show," it would be an even better show now that Cleveland isn't as half funny as he used to be on Family Guy.

Rallo And Junior--You Can't Go Wrong

The Cleveland Show, S03E18

Cleveland, wanting to regain some of his youth by reliving his college days agreed to take Roberta on a college tour of his alma mater.  He screwed around with his old fraternity, thinking that they were going to honor him, but were in fact making him the joke of the night.  Roberta initially used the trip as an excuse to go to a music festival, but she eventually was convinced to attend college after all.  Junior got upset that Donna washed Larry and couldn't sleep without his old smell.  Rallo showed him that he could sleep on his own, but Junior started to use Rallo as his replacement Larry.  To fix this problem, Rallo modified Larry a bit so that Junior thought it was different doll.

Even if the frat boys hadn't told us beforehand that they were just fooling Cleveland, it was likely that he would have still ended up taped to an ass, feeling like a bigger one than the real one.  The only thing that was notable about the story with Cleveland and Roberta visiting the college was that we found out that Roberta is a good fighter (and Federline is a weak punk) and Roberta is lot smarter than she lets on.  Even though she acts like an idiot and uses Rihanna and Kim Kardashian as models for life choices, Roberta scored welled on her PSATs and has good grades.  Apparently she's just a pain in the ass and a bit of a whore.  Since Roberta is my least favorite character, I'm glad that she's not as vapid as I had thought.  I remember the episode where she pretended she was Tyra, so it's not a stretch to think that she's been hiding her genius to remain part of the crowd she's already been accustomed to.  It makes me hate her a little less and hope that she might end up displaying a little more of that intelligence in the future.  At least we know that she'll go to college.  Perhaps if this show is on long enough, we might see her character evolve once she gets away from the high school hype she apparently has to keep up just to fit in.

Well, I guess you just can't go wrong with a story about Rallo and Junior.  Saved the episode for me.  When Rallo saw that Donna had cleaned Larry after Junior stormed off, he remarked, while in nothing but dingy underwear:

On the bright side, at least you finally did some laundry.

It's funny because it really seems like Donna does the bare minimum when it comes to cooking, cleaning, and just any general house work.  It's ridiculous.  However, I can believe it.  I mean, she already had two kids of her own and then she got Cleveland and another child (granted that Junior probably cleans up a lot after himself).  Still, to have your child going around in brown undies is gross.

Another funny moment was when Junior was trying to put back all the nasty smells into Larry and complained about his new smell:

[Junior] He smells like Snuggles, the gay fabric softener bear.

[Snuggles shows up in a huff]
[Snuggles] Just ’cause I’s clean don’t mean I don’t like it dirty.

[Snuggles leaves]
[Rallo] A’ight, Snuggle.

I didn't expect that Snuggles would show up, nor have so much attitude about Junior's comment.  Loved its random appearance.

 A little later, it was so cute when Rallo was rocking in a chair and knitting while he looked over Junior so he could sleep.   His humming was just like some little, old lady.  These kinds of things only work with him because he just acts so grown, but is the tiniest little thing.  It's also funny when he acts his age, like when he agreed that he, too, should brush his teeth, but all he did was wet his toothbrush and put it back.  That's totally something a little boy would do.

The last good bit of that story was when Rallo and Junior were arguing about him replacing Larry as his bedtime cuddle partner.  Junior said that Rallo had no power to stop him because he was about ten times his size.  When Rallo tried to counter that Donna would help him, she yelled up the stairs that she had her own problems.  Again, Donna with the bare minimum of both homemaker and mother.  However, I will give her points for not letting Rallo run off to Holiday Inn to solve his problems:

We don't run from our problems in this family.  We trick people.

That should be written on a plaque and hung on the wall in the Brown house.  Those were some of the best words that have ever come out of Donna's mouth.

Good thing that Rallo was able to trick Junior into taking Larry back.  But it was funny that he commented that whatever Junior chose to do was fine as long as it prolonged the eventual day that Junior would snap and kill them all.  He does have that vibe.  He may act like a child, but when he's passionate about something, he can get a little psycho.

Not a bad episode, but of course, that's because there was a Junior and Rallo story to pick up the slack.  I never expected gold when it was obvious that Roberta was going to be involved, but it was more decent than usual.  It's good to see that Roberta isn't an idiot and has the potential to succeed beyond getting pregnant by Federline (hope we never see that story!).  Maybe one day I can see an episode besides the Tyra one that could make me hate Roberta a little less.

Linda: Maybe Good Sister, Definitely Questionable Wife

Bob's Burgers, S02E06

Linda's sister Gayle came for a visit and volunteered to pick up Bob from the dentist.  He was high on the gas from the procedure and shared a kiss with his sister-in-law.  Instead of getting mad at Bob about it, Linda was excited and encouraged him to lead her on so that Gayle would have the confidence to find her own man.  This plan began to backfire when Bob took Dr. Yap's invitation to go skiing.  Bob hoped that Gayle would fall for the dentist, but instead she kept trying to get Bob until Gayle thought that Linda wanted Dr. Yap for herself.  Finally, after Bob had broken a tooth and gone through other abuse for Linda's plan, Gayle turned her attention to Yap.  Tina was also fighting for Yap's affections, but he hardly noticed her while he was after Gayle.  Louise and Gene competed in several different challenges to determine who would get a jawbreaker.

Ken Jeong as Dr. Yap was excellent.  His voice gave the character the suggestion that although the dentist seemed like an okay guy, he was definitely a little crazy underneath.  This was also indicated by how easily he was distracted when Bob wanted to keep him from stabbing him with the needle.  Also, what sane guy thinks that those persuasion techniques would actually work on women?  Either he's hit rock bottom with luck finding a decent woman or he's just crazy (I'd bet on the latter).  

Someone else acting crazy was Linda.  Who lets their sister think they are having an affair with their husband just to boost her self confidence?  Makes no damn sense.  I felt bad for Bob having to put up with all of Linda's craziness (must be love).  Gayle isn't sexy in the least, and he lost a tooth trying to avoid cheating on Linda with her.  Yet, Bob's reward for listening to his wife is a few slaps to the face and a gap in his mouth.  If Linda knew her sister as half well as she thought she did, she would know that Gayle just wants whatever Linda has.  Linda should have been pretending to want Dr. Yap all along.  Her stupidity that harms others really annoys me.

I basically ignored Gene and Louise's fights over who would have the jawbreaker.  It was just really gross (I don't care if they're siblings) that they were passing the candy back and forth after it had been in both their mouths.  If you think about it, they were actually sharing it without realizing it (the contests were utterly pointless).  What was slightly more interesting was Tina's advances toward Yap who was oblivious of her intentions.  Still, it was kinda funny to see her try to use the same dumb techniques to get with Yap that he was using on Gayle.  It might have been funnier for him to notice what she was doing and be grossed out by her or something.  Sometimes Tina (especially with her soft voice as if she is talking to herself) seems like a ghost because people don't pay enough attention to her.

I didn't care too much for this episode because I hate seeing Linda's moronic ideas punish Bob when he hasn't done anything wrong.  Unless you think that he deserved that horrible skiing trip because he accidentally kissed his sister-in-law.  I'm really starting to be annoyed by Linda, but since she is a main character, there's not much to do about her.  Just hope that they don't have too many episodes like this where she gets to make others miserable without having to pay her dues or apologize.

More Like A Grimm And Less Like A Cop

Grimm, S01E19

Nick started training with some of the Grimm weapons he had with Monroe's help.  Juliette invited Monroe to dinner, and Nick and he had to lie to her about their relationship.  One beaver Wesen named Arnold witnessed a murder by a troll Wesen named Sal.  Since he called 911 before he fled, Nick and Hank were able to find out his identity and address.  Nick noticed that he was friends with Bud, a beaver Wesen whom he had met a few times before.  Arnold went into hiding, but after Nick spoke to Bud and some of the other people in the beaver lodge, Arnold decided to identity Sal so they could make the arrest.  Before Nick arrested Sal, Sal hired some reapers to take care of Nick, but the reapers turned on Sal so that they could get information about Nick.  Nick was attacked by the reapers when he tried to take Arnold home and successfully killed both reapers.  With Monroe's help, Nick and he sent the heads of the reapers back to their headquarters (?) to send them a warning.

After fighting so many creatures that could have easily torn Nick to shreds (his luck to avoid injury from most fights is unbelievable--literally), Nick decided to train with some of those Grimm weapons he has had from almost the beginning.  What the hell??  What has taken him so damn long?  He is a police officer and a normal human being (to any non-Wesen), so I'll admit that if he started regularly carrying things like crossbows and axes, he would look a like a psycho.  Still, most of his battles were done somewhere private with enough time for him to grab a relevant weapon to use.  He needs to keep some of those weapons in the house (where Juliette would never look--definitely not in the sock drawer like his damn ring) and have them ready to go.  Of course, Nick has little trouble using any of the tools he practiced with in this episode.  That, despite his police background, I just find hard to swallow.  Nick looks like you could take him down by throwing a rock at him.  I wish that we could have seen him a little less "naturally skilled" at using the weapons.  He may be a Grimm, but so far he hasn't really exuded any kind of special skill, so it's strange he's that good on his basically first try.

What I did like about his training session was when Monroe attacked him and later Nick was on top of him.  After Nick scolding him for doing exactly what he needed (a sudden attack by a Wesen), Monroe asked him to get off because it was "awkward."  It actually seemed just about right to me.  I feel like there's more sexual chemistry between Monroe and Nick than there is with Juliette.

Speaking of Juliette, it's not so random that she invited Monroe to dinner.  I think it might be a little later than I would have thought if it were to thank him for saving her life.  That seems like it was ages ago.  I just think that  Nick, despite that he would have trouble explaining why he knows Monroe, shouldn't have been so resistive about the dinner.  I mean, damn.  Monroe has done a lot of free things for Nick--that selfish bastard can at least allow him one free dinner!  I won't even comment on how bad they were at keeping their lies straight, but I will say that Juliette better not be dumb enough to let their obvious secrecy slide.  What I really want to mention is that Juliette served them vegan salmon.  I'm not a vegan, so I may not just understand why that doesn't sound ridiculous, but it does to me.  I can't imagine eating artificial seafood.  Nor could I imagine serving it to guests.  What if Monroe wanted some damn meat??  I'm just saying, it's an odd choice for a first-time guest.

Onto the murder of Robert by Sal.  Sal was such a stereotypical construction guy.  He even had goons who looked like they just walked out of a bad mob movie.  Wow.  I'm still not too clear as to why Sal decided to go with reapers to get rid of Nick.  Getting rid of Nick was a good idea (if he had no idea of how weak Nick really is), but I don't see why he didn't just send one of the many trolls after him.  I was expecting that.  I wasn't expecting to see this headquarters (what is this place where these reapers are all gathered??) for the reapers who were taking requests from regular Wesen like Sal (I assume he's nothing too special).  What was even stranger was that the reapers beat the crap out of Sal from the beginning, wanting answers.  He had asked them to get rid of the Grimm, and they thought he was his friend?  Do these reapers have any kind of intel on Nick at all?  I'm wondering if the reason most reapers don't know much about Nick is because Renard is protecting him in some way.  More than the reapers' interrogation of Sal, I wanted to know why some Wesen have the means to contact reapers for hired kills (do you pay them?).  Probably a question that I will never have answered.

Nick attending the beaver lodge meeting was a little interesting.  It didn't do anything to convince the beaver community to stand with Nick.  However, they didn't want to anger him either, which was indicated by the elder (or whoever it was) requesting that Nick not cut off their heads for opposing him.  That made me laugh.  As if Nick could or would.  After that failure of a meeting, Nick told Bud that he was really courageous to approach him as he did.  Uh, I wouldn't have called Bud's actions brave or anything of the like.  He went to Nick basically groveling as if Nick would smite him if he didn't.  If Nick had punched him lightly in the arm, Bud would probably have crapped his pants.  Still, I think I like Bud and his Wesen kind.  Arnold eventually did the right thing and helped locked Sal away, and Nick was showered with gifts by all the beavers Wesen in Portland after everything was said and done.  I don't know why just putting away Sal was good enough to keep the rest of the trolls in line. Won't the others go ahead and take revenge on the beaver people?  Or did the news of Nick killing the reapers scare all the troll folk away?

I will admit that Nick's fight with the reapers was one of his best fights.  I expected Nick to get his ass kicked, but he was moving so nimbly that they didn't even seem like a problem for him.  Granted, his quick moves allowed one of them to chop off the head of the other (how convenient), but I thought for sure Nick would be in real trouble this time.  I mean, he had prepared to fight trolls!  Reapers were a wild card that should have tripped him up a little more than they did.  All complaints aside, I liked Nick escaping from near beheading and taking the heads of the reapers himself instead.  He called Monroe when the deed was done (of course--leave the dirty work to him) and told him to bring a shovel.  They both agreed that they needed to send a message to the reapers to let them know they meant business because surely more reapers would come after him.  I'm not sure that sending their heads back to the headquarters was such a great idea.  It does raise a lot of questions, though.  The most important to me is why does Monroe know where to send the box where the reapers gather?  Is this common knowledge among the Wesen?  If you know where they are, why not go to them and take them out?  However, I did see that the box looked like it was addressed to Germany (and it was airmailed, so definitely out of the USA), so I guess Nick can't just fly off somewhere and kill people as he pleases (not yet, I guess).  Also, the reapers that came for him were special "Grimm reapers."  Why are there specific reapers?  These questions hurt my head.  I feel like I need a guidebook when watching this show.

There were quite a few more questions that I didn't care to add to my list, but I still think this was a good episode because Nick started to act a little more like a Grimm.  I always thought, from the time I saw Aunt Marie fight a Wesen in the street, that Nick would be brandishing more odd, but interesting weapons to dispose of those creatures, but it's taken him to almost the end of the season to really take advantage of the supplies he had been bequeathed.  Besides Nick owning a little more of his Grimm persona, I like that the reapers are becoming more and more an important part of this whole Wesen creature world mystery.  More questions are irritating to me, but I'm intrigued enough by the reapers that I'll see if this show can enlighten me.  As always, though, I won't hold my breath.

Abed and Troy As Cops? Hell, Yeah!

Community, S03E17

This week, the gang was spoofing Law and Order.  I've never watched it before, but I could still appreciate the joke.  The gang's yam for biology was destroyed and Annie employed Shirley to find a culprit that she and Jeff could take to Professor Kane to get the grade they deserved.  Shirley, a fan of crime shows, immediately tasked Abed and Troy to interview suspects and do the leg work.  After talking to a lot of people, the two pointed the blame to Todd, one of their initials suspects.  They had a court-like session in the biology lab, with Professor Kane as the judge, and proved that Todd was the one who dropped their yam jar.  However, Jeff realized that Todd wasn't entirely to blame and requested that both of them be given C grades.  In Jeff's closing remarks, he revealed that the reason Todd dropped their jar was because another student was sabotaging everyone's projects to prevent his girlfriend from failing.

I liked that Troy and Abed were acting like cops, but were careful enough to know that they didn't have the actual power to hold anyone against their will or punish them for their crimes.  They really commit to any role that someone gives them, especially if it's reflective of a TV show or movie.  The best investigation work was when they had to catch Starburns in the library and Troy dressed up as a "typical nerd" to bait him.  Their plan was so ridiculous, yet it worked like a charm to get Starburns to steal Troy's bag.  Then they interrogated him with the "good cop/bad cop" method.  They were acting insane, but for the most part, everyone was cooperating with them.  In another scene, Abed was flying off the handle when it looked like Jeff and Annie wouldn't be able to pin the crime on Todd with his real lawyer present.  He was shoving off papers on their tables like he was really pissed off.  I loved it.

Another person who was pretty funny in this episode was Professor Kane.  I liked how he was annoyed by their court room antics, but allowed them to act like that anyway.  The part I liked best about him was when he was defending the honor of the pinky swear Abed and Troy made with Starburns.  Kane wasn't about to back down even when the Lieutenant Lawyer was demanding that the person who saw Todd in the room have his reasons for being in the biology lab explained.  He can be some a formidable presence when he wants to be.  But he is an incredibly fair man.  Maybe a little hard, but he is damn fair.  And I respect his character for that.

I was amazed that Jeff was the only one who picked up on the strangeness of Todd burning himself on their jar.  I thought that was really weird and wondered what that was about until Jeff brought it to attention at the end of the "trial."  I never expected it would be Neil behind it.  Actually, scratch that.  When he was talking to Abed and Troy when showing them the log, I had a good feeling he was involved in the crime.  After all, he commented that he had already heard about their yam being destroyed and that his yam had bloomed.  There was no need for him to say all that.  I didn't think he would have done it so he could have sex with his girlfriend.  What a weirdo.  Good thing Jeff showed how mushy all the yams were or Neil would have gotten away with it and all the blame would have gone to Todd.

The last thing that was funny (in a creepy way) was the extra where Shirley wondered why the boys were still bunking in the study room.  The dean came in with warm milk and sang them a bedtime song that proclaimed he would be there staring at them when they woke up the next morning.  What the hell??  Still, it was cute that Abed and Troy were comforted to sleep by this weird lullaby.  I have no idea why the dean is taking care of them, though.  That dean is such a mystery.

Sometimes I think that this show would be great if it was nothing but parodies.  I like seeing what roles each of them can play in a different situation besides being a student.  They can turn all kind of problems at school into a creative and more serious matters than they are.  Really love how they can do that.  But I guess if they do it all the time, it wouldn't be as special.  However, I'm willing to see them prove me wrong.  So far, I've enjoyed every one of their extraordinary adventures from the paintball fights to the Law and Order case.  This show better have many, many more opportunities to stretch their creativity in the future.

I Came For Donald Glover, And Stayed For Jon Hamm!

30 Rock, S06E19

I haven't commented on 30 Rock much because I haven't thought this season was too funny, and I have enough unfunny things to discuss.  However, since they were doing their live show again and I heard that Donald Glover was going to make an appearance, I decided that it would have some good material.  The main story was about Kenneth trying to convince the TGS staff (minus Jenna) that it should remain a live show.  He used several examples of past TV to convince everyone.  Only Jack and Liz resisted agreeing until Tracy shared his first live appearance on a telethon where he realized how hilarious he was.  Jack and Liz also realized that Tracy's first live experience also impacted their careers and got them all where they were today.  In a side story, Jenna wanted to have Paul propose to her on live TV, but he was against it.  When he came around and did as he thought she wanted, she actually wanted what he originally desired and requested that he propose again to her in private.

I really did watch this episode for the guest stars.  I liked that Amy Poehler played teenage Liz.  She's just such a cute dork.  I miss all the nutty characters she used to play during her SNL career.  Not to say that I don't like her work on Parks and Recreation (one of my favorite shows now), but it's nice to be reminded of her past every now and then.  Jimmy Fallon, who I usually don't care for, was pretty good as a younger Jack too.  But mostly when he was talking, I was checking out the wide-eyed expression of Fred Armisen staring at the camera behind him.  Seeing him, I really wish that Portlandia was still airing new episodes.  He's so hilarious.  When I finally saw Donald Glover as a young Tracy Jordan, he was indeed cute, but not as funny as I was hoping.  If I had only had his part to enjoy (which was rather short) I would have been pretty disappointed watching this episode.

Who was a surprise guest for me (since the SNL buddies are pretty much a given and I'm not too interested in Paul McCartney) and made the episode great was Jon Hamm.  It was actually his hostings of SNL that made me give Mad Men a try.  He was just so handsome and hilarious on live TV, I thought he had to be good in a drama.  Anyway, Hamm, made that "Alfie and Abner" skit incredibly funny.  Blackface is usually something you don't want to see anyone doing, but Hamm pulled it off because he just looked so ridiculous in his overalls, afro, and stereotypical speech.  Besides, they were only poking fun at the Amos 'n' Andy show from back in the day, so there's no reason to take offense by it.  Tracy Morgan's serious and proud character opposite of Hamm acting like a cartoon character was comedy gold.  You gotta love when he hit him over the head with a chair!  And It was just as good when they were just staring tensely at each other and Tracy choked him when he said "banjo."  I couldn't stop laughing.  It's one of the funniest things I've seen in a while and definitely the funniest thing I've seen on 30 Rock the entire season.  Before they even showed the "Alfie and Abner" bit, Kenneth had a really good line:

For Alfie and Abner NBC hired one African American and one Caucasian because they thought two black people on the same show would make the audience nervous. A rule NBC still uses today.

 Best line of the whole show.  It makes me think of this old sketch from MAD TV (so old it was when UPN and WB were still networks, instead of the CW).  They were parodying Chris Rock and talking about how there aren't many black people on the major networks.  I'm not so sure if it's gotten better or worse, really.  Usually, I don't notice diversity issues (as long as the show is really good) until something in the show brings my attention to it.  But anyway, I'll post that sketch because I was a big fan of MAD TV:

Jenna's story wasn't that interesting, except that when Paul interrupted TGS show with his proposal, he was singing the popular "Zou Bisou Bisou" song from Mad Men as he descended from the sky.  I enjoyed that, as a fan of that show.  And I just like Will Forte in general.

Apparently Kim Karshadian appeared too, but I don't remember her.  Since I was waiting for Donald Glover, I pretty much ignored most of the other guest stars who weren't people I was happy to see.  I'm wondering if she was in that sketch when Alec Baldwin was playing this guy named Joey who was talking into the camera and seemed confused about where he was.  Oh, well.  I don't care for her anyway.

Although, I do enjoy most prerecorded shows better than the live ones like SNL, I do appreciate those kinds of shows for all of the surprises that can happen during them.  Maybe live television isn't as popular now as it was in the past, but I wouldn't like to see it become a complete relic of the past.  After all, growing up, I was a huge fan of watching such comics as Chris Farley and Adam Sandler every week.  This week's episode of 30 Rock, which is its best of all this year, really proves to me that, like Kenneth suggested, live TV is a necessary and amazing way to broadcast a TV show.  Hope they do another one next year (if they have a next year)!

Strippers Before Secret-Sharing Speeches

The Big Bang Theory, S05E22

Howard had his bachelor party where the main entertainment wasn't strippers (due to Bernadette's wishes) but the random speeches by his friends.  In particular, Raj told everyone several of Howard's secrets concerning his sexual experiences.  Howard had no idea that Will Wheaton had filmed the whole thing and Bernadette had seen it before she picked him up that night.  Since she hadn't known about these things before watching the video, she wondered if she really knew the kind of man she was about to marry.  Howard later convinced her that he wasn't the same person who would do those things Raj talked about ever since he met her.

I assumed that their boys-night out at a vineyard or whatever silly thing they ended up doing instead of strippers was just going to be embarrassingly lame and nothing more.  That's why I think that Bernadette probably should have allowed Howard to have some strippers there anyway.  The odds of any of the men in attendance getting into trouble with them would have been slim (except possibly Wheaton since he's been on TV).  But I liked that Howard, who usually has the filthiest mind, didn't seem to mind at all listening to what Bernadette preferred.  That was refreshing not just for him, but in general as a man who could have been easily pressured by all the other men in attendance who wanted strippers.  Plus, it would have been funny to see strippers around Sheldon, a man who could barely take a sip of whiskey without a Robin-esq  swear.

Besides all of the horrible speeches, I liked that Kripke seemed to only be there in order to see strippers.  When it was his moment to give a few words about Howard, he remarked that it was basically false advertising to have a bachelor party and not have strippers of any kind.  I really like Kripke because you know if he's around that it's either to cause trouble or any other motive besides actually wanting to hang with Leonard and the gang.  I respect his honesty.

So the speeches, as I said, were terrible.  Leonard made it about himself, only wanting to boast about how he had sex with Penny on the beach (wow--who gives a damn).  Stuart's speech was so full of underlining jealousy, I was surprised he didn't stab Howard and try to assume his life as his own.  It was a little funny that he later stole a dollar from Raj that Kripke had given him.  Sheldon's speech was just annoying with his failure jokes and confidence that he was giving the best speech ever.  I was ready for him to sit down after his first "zinger."  What I did like about Sheldon was that he was miffed that Will Wheaton was in attendance because he thought Wheaton was exclusively his own friend, not Howard's or the others'.  Ha.  I wouldn't mind if they became enemies again.  Sheldon has the dumbest but amusing enemies.  Raj had the best speech because he did actually talk about Howard from the heart (maybe too much like a former girlfriend) and the fact that he revealed the secrets that no one needed to know.  Raj seemed pretty pleased that he had a threesome with Howard with an overweight girl dressed as Sailor Moon.  That image is hilarious.  Only Raj would be proud of that.  Then again, with Raj's record with women that probably is the best thing he could expect to brag about.

I think that Bernadette got too upset about the things she found out about Howard.  I mean, he is disgusting, but she knew that when she started dating him.  I think that she was just nervous about the wedding in general and was easily influenced by the tiniest thing that wasn't right.  Thankfully, Howard went to her and said the right words to fix things.  It's true that he has changed since meeting Bernadette--he's nowhere as near revolting as he was in the earlier seasons.  He's pretty pleasant.  I'm glad that it didn't take much for him to be forgiven because it wasn't that big of a deal (though I wouldn't want to have sex with him for a while after hearing about him and his cousin--eww).

Good episode.  Strippers would have been nice than the string of inappropriate speeches from Howard's friends, but they were effective in getting out the truth that Bernadette didn't know about her husband-to-be and that's important.  I'd hate for that to come out when they were walking down the aisle.  As their wedding fast approaches, I have to say that I'm a little more excited to see them hitched than I thought I would be. They're pretty perfect for each other, and I think they will be an amusing married couple as well.

Worst Episode Ever. April Fools!

Ugly Americans, S02E17

Mark prepared to propose a proposal to Callie on April Fools' Day, but the DOI was under lock down due to Mark's predecessor's escape from jail.  Barney had swore murderous revenge on all of them, so they were taking precautions by escaping to a cabin out of town.  Mark found it hard to believe that their emergency was real and resisted sharing their panic until he started to see his friends dead in the woods.  He also learned that Callie used to date Barney and was likely still in love with him.  When Mark, Grimes, and Callie were captured by the madman, they were forced to participate in a twisted dating game show, where Barney seemed to have won Callie's heart again.  Mark fell into a jealous rage and tried to kill the man, but his friends stopped him by letting him know it was an elaborate prank after all.  While all of this was going on Leonard and Randall tried to get back to town to cash a lottery ticket.  They managed to escape from some rapist, hillbilly pig people, but when they tried to redeem the ticket, the clerk refused to accept it because it was ripped in half.

I thought it was kind of half-assed of Mark to want to ask Callie to be engaged to be engaged.  For someone who always pretends to be so responsible, it just sounds like a shallow commitment to trick someone into thinking they were actually serious.  I did like that when he brought up doing it that Randall did seem a little worried that Mark would move out of the apartment one day.  But with them one stage below engaged, I doubt that Randall has to worry about that any time soon.  Even though I thought his proposal was pointless, I still thought Callie would appreciate the gesture, but she barely paid attention to him when he asked her in Randall's van.  I wonder if they weren't all trying to trick Mark would she have been a little more happy about it.

Once Mark made it known that he didn't care for pranks and suspected that the whole DOI emergency was a ruse, I knew that no matter what happened that he was going to be right.  I also assumed that Callie would propose to him in the end since she was a little too disinterested in Mark and his ring in the car.  I feel like she would be the tiniest bit more concerned that her boyfriend was making such a grand (or not) gesture of their love.  However, I enjoyed watching the horror movie-like setting unfold.  It was an interesting idea that Callie's ex was a much better match for her than Mark, and I liked how he was doubting that they belonged together at all (since he was the exact opposite of Barney).  It was also nice to see Mark get mad and stabby.  He rarely lets his temper get the best of him, and it's even rarer that he would resort to violence to solve a problem.  He must really love Callie to get that upset.

I know that they were pranking Mark, but did Eric really use to be a human?  I mean, obviously the guy they paid to play Barney hadn't really worked at the DOI in the past, but I could believe that ridiculous story that someone killed Eric and he was rebuilt as a robot.  He's not made out of anything organic, so someone had to put him together.  So for what purpose was he built?  I usually don't pay attention to his character at all, but that scene where they explained his origins made me curious about his actual story.  But who knows if they will ever address that.  It's only important to people as random as me, I guess.

I actually thought that Leonard's winning lottery ticket was an April Fools' joke too, but it was real after all.  I'm not surprised that Randall became a part of it and tried to swindle him out of the ticket.  What was an interesting turn of events was when those hillbilly pigs captured them.  Never saw that coming.  Glad we didn't have to see too much gross stuff in that department.  I could just laugh at their horrible predicament without having to witness the creepy, sexual things they were exposed to.  Sucked that after all that mess, the clerk refused to honor the ticket.  He made things worse by saying that if Leonard had taped the ticket together first, he might not have noticed it was torn and accepted it.  Oh, well.  Leonard would have surely been a bastard as a millionaire.  He's not the most grounded person to begin with.

For some reason, this episode made me feel like it was a season finale.  That could be possible since they just started the season where they left off before.  I don't think that there's anything really special about Mark and Callie's engagement to engagement, but maybe for them that's a huge step (since I get the feeling that Callie was pretty serious about the reason she was with Mark didn't amount to much more than getting used to him being around).  I didn't have a lot of laughs in this story, but I still liked that everyone worked together to fool Mark.  Despite it being a predictable development, I enjoyed the ride to the obvious conclusion.

Cartman Needs To Quit The Matchmaking Business

South Park, S16E07

A new girl named Nichole came to their school, and Cartman was determined to hook her up with Token, since they were both black.  He went through a lot of trouble to make that happen, including telling Nichole that Kyle (her initial crush) was his boyfriend and locking Token and Nichole in the boys' locker room together.  After wondering if they were just together because they were the only two black kids at school and worried about people looking at them as if it was a given they were together, they split up.  Kyle tried to date Nichole after that (despite all the rumors that he was dating Cartman in secret), but Cartman ruined their date with a big confession to Kyle over the megatron.  In the end, Nichole and Token decided to get back together simply because they liked each other and nothing else mattered.

I guess if you consider the kind of person that Cartman is, his actions in this story could be considered sweet.  If only he wasn't focusing matches on race, you might think that Cartman had a shred of decency in him.  Besides him forcing the hand of fate with people's love lives based on color of skin, he took away Kyle's chance to ever get together with Nichole.  He wouldn't even consider the idea that they might be a better couple because he was too concerned with skin color.  Felt bad for Kyle because he was getting excited about have some female attention, but all of that was due to Cartman lying about them being Kyle's boyfriend.

What I find really funny about Cartman spreading that lie is the ease in which he declared his love and ownership of Kyle.  He wasn't just convincing enough for Nichole who didn't know him any better than any other boy at school, but he convinced me.  Cartman is pretty obsessed with Kyle in general, even if it is always in a negative way.  Maybe the reason why he is always giving Kyle a hard time and trying to make him look like a fool is because he has a secret crush on Kyle.  I'm just saying--Cartman may be a psycho and a pathological liar, but he's not that good of an actor.  Also, the rest of his schoolmates must have thought Kyle and Cartman have some kind of chemistry because there seemed to be few who didn't believe it (Token even thought Kyle was trying to hit on him).

Regarding Cartman's imaginary friend, Cupid Cartman, it only shows that Cartman is never playing with a full deck of cards.  He wasn't just talking and playing with it, but he imagined it taking a dump in the toilet and thought he had its dead body in a shoe box in his closet.  I liked when he beat the crap out of it when he lost his faith in love after Token and Nichole broke up.  He really commits to his delusions, I'll give him that.  However, the best thing that Cupid Cartman did was suggest that the poster girl for halitosis was his perfect match.  I thought Kyle would be the one to give Cartman a little payback for all of his meddling, but once again, Cartman is his own worst enemy.  I thought it was an appropriate ending to a good episode.

I don't have any complaints really for this episode.  It was nice to see a story about how even dating within your own race could make people judge you on terms of race.  It was mostly a Cartman-centered episode, but that was a good thing because he needed to be alone in his insanity so that it could fester to a comedic point.  Even if he was doing things for his own twisted reasons, I'm fairly sure that he has some unresolved feelings for Kyle that he isn't being honest about.  Not sure that Kyle is on board for that, but it's still pretty funny to think about it.

No Debate About It--Leslie Is A Winner

Parks And Recreation, S04E20

Leslie finally had her debate for city council.  Bobby, despite having no idea of how to improve Pawnee, was a considerable opponent for her and her attacks upon his character only made her look like a bully at first.  Leslie did her best to present herself in the best light, but Bobby was the favorite of both the audience and the moderators.  Bobby looked like he had the debate in the bag when he claimed that Leslie's victory over him would cause the Sweetums factory to be sent to Mexico, killing the largest supplier of jobs in town.  However, Leslie won over the crowd (even Bobby) with a heartfelt closing statement that displayed her passion and drive to make Pawnee better and her determination to work toward that goal until the end.  Outside of the debate, Chris suggested to Ann that they try to date again, while Tom tried to convey to Ann that he deserved another chance too.  Andy also had to entertain Leslie's supporters while Ron had to steal cable for them to watch the debate on TV.

I felt bad for Leslie that she started to look like a monster when she told the harsh truth about Bobby.  However, Paul Rudd is just so adorable as Bobby, I can see how the audience was swayed by his positive, yet childish manner when he answered the questions.  It really spoke to the idea that a lot of voters are simple people who aren't smart enough to notice the difference between competent and charismatic.  Leslie has her own charm, but that was being stolen by the other female candidate, Brandi, who chose to copy Leslie in both fashion and policy.  I wanted to punch Joan when she made it seem like Brandi and Leslie were essentially the same.  Despite all of these roadblocks, Leslie pulled through with an amazing speech.  Even I was a little moved by her closing remarks.  I guess it's because she was being treated like some kind of heartless jerk and hadn't been given a fair chance to shine, so I was just happy to see her get the result that she deserved.

I kinda wish that Ann had thought about taking Chris back, but at least Chris didn't seem too bummed about her rejection.  I also felt bad for Tom who isn't the douche that he sometimes acts like.  He is sweet (although a bit creepy at times), so I was glad that he still has some hope to win Ann back one day.  But Ann was smart to break it off with him after him telling such intimate details over the radio.  What the hell, Tom??  He needs to kick that nervous and insecure habit fast.  He could be good for Ann, if only he toned down the "swag" as April put it.

I was disappointed Ron didn't have much of a chance to shine beyond being super handy in stealing cable.  He said he would pay for it later, and he went up the electric pole like it was something he did every day.  I thought he might get arrested before he finished that job, but luckily the siren we heard in the background wasn't meant for him.  Inside the house, Andy was pretty cute in the way he acted out his favorite movie scenes.  He has incredible energy.  I would have gotten tired of doing that after a few minutes.  He was so animated and lively about the movies he was talking about even Donna felt moved during his rendition of Babe.  Andy may be a dork and a moron, but he's too loveable for you to hold that against him.

I'm excited to see what impact Leslie's debate will have on her campaign.  She may have killed in the debate, but something easily could come up before the election day to damage her (especially with that high-priced campaign manager that Bobby has).  Hopefully, it won't be something that Leslie and her friends can't handle.  They are really becoming an unstoppable team!  I know it would never happen, but it would be the greatest show if you could take all the Parks and Recreation department and put them in the White House.  I'm just saying, a sequel to this show could be Leslie in the White House!  I'd gladly watch that!

The Only Good Couple Is Jess And Nick!

New Girl, S01E22

Nick somehow thought that in light of his friends all having good relationships in their lives, he would start to grow tomatoes.  After Nick scrapped that idea, he came to terms with losing Winston as the friend who could share the crappy life that they used to have.  Jess invited Oulie to dinner with she and Russell and noticed that they still had a passion between them that was lacking in her own relationship.  Russell no longer wanted such a relationship anymore, but Jess realized that she did and broke it off with him.  Jess then got into a ridiculously heated fight with Nick after she saw that he hooked up with his old flame again.  Cece tried to cut Schmidt loose, and her roommate Nadia took him out.  Schmidt ended up in the hospital with a broken penis, and Cece couldn't hold back her feelings anymore and told him that she liked him.

Nick and tomatoes...  All I could think about when he said he was growing them was the time when he had that cactus that he massacred.  He has no business even being in the same space with house plants or plants grown for food.  It was disgusting how he was watering them through his mouth.  I can't imagine how he thinks that farming was the way to go.  He was cute, though, when he threatened Winston with the pitchfork and later when he was throwing away his scarecrow and beating it with a bat.

Concerning Winston, he was insufferable with his constant talk of Shelby!  You can't blame Nick for getting a little irritated that every other word out of his friend's mouth was about how much he and Shelby were in love.  Geez!  Calm your ass down, Winston!  You guys haven't even been dating that long, and I can't possibly see it just being as perfect as it has been so far (I say that because in reality Winston should have never gotten a chance with her in the first place).  If only Nick had ran him through with the pitchfork.  Shut up, Winston!

I like that Jess is so talented in creating awkward situations.  In what planet is it a good idea to invite your boyfriend's ex to dinner with you?  There's no reason that Oulie and Jess need to be friends (despite their naked hug at the gym).  In fact, I thought that Oulie didn't even like Jess after the debacle with Sarah, but I guess that wasn't the case at all.  I thought that Jess would end up driving Russell crazy by agreeing to have Oulie around, but instead she started to see that the two still had something between them.  It was embarrassing to watch Jess try to get under Russell's skin like Oulie did just so she could feel some passion.  She just seemed like a child trying to make her father mad or something.  You couldn't pay me to watch that scene again.  But I was really happy to see Jess reasonably let Russel go.  It's true that passion is often overrated, but I also agree with Jess that it's worth it sometimes even if it's painful and harder than whatever it was that she and Russell had.  Yes!  Now maybe Jess could get with Nick!

I was disappointed that Nick, after listening to Winston's bliss of "sandwiches and sex," decided that he should get back with Caroline.  No!!  My God, he is on a roll with the stupid ideas!  Tomatoes and then his old girlfriend??  There is seriously something wrong with him.  I don't know if Nick should be allowed into society because he's missing a crucial part of his brain for decision-making.  The only good thing about that hookup was that Jess and Nick got into a huge fight about it.  And in doing so, you could see the passion between them that Jess was looking for.  Of course, neither she or Nick noticed it, but I'm pretty sure that most viewers saw it.  My favorite part of their fight was the end where they were shaking their butts at each other to the point that they were competing for who could move their ass their fastest.  That was crazy funny.  Oh, when will they see that they are perfect for each other in an insane kind of way?

Whether Cece and Schmidt are perfect for each other is still debatable.  I can see how Cece might like Schmidt's personality, but he still makes me queasy with his dirty talk.  I was a little glad that his date with Nadia didn't go so well, and he ended up in the hospital.  Nadia is crazy, though.  But she was funny when she was saying "Mick Mouse" and Schmidt was yelling at her that he had no idea who that was.  How could you not get that was Mickey Mouse?  I was surprised it took him so long to understand, but I wasn't surprised that Nadia's sex was too rough even for Schmidt.  Geez.  At least it gave Winston a way to torture him at the end.

I would say this episode was good because I got to see Nick acting crazy in a new farmer way and Jess finally ended it with Russell.  I'll miss the man-crush that Nick had on him and the possible influence to achieve he could have had on him.  Now that Winston has gotten so annoyingly happy with Shelby, I really hope that they have some kind of conflict soon.  Winston is the type that needs to be grounded.  Cece and Schmidt...  I just hope Cece admitting that she likes him doesn't become something she regrets.  And I really hope that Jess and Nick start to see they could be great for each other.  If Nick has really gotten back with his ex, I'm going to punch the TV.

Maybe Jules Would Be Better Without Therapy

Cougar Town, S03E09

Grayson and Jules discussed combining their finances and homes and made little progress with how they wanted to handle the changes and decisions they would have to make when they got married.  Jules consulted with her therapist to the point that she was overstepping the boundaries that a therapist and patient should have.  Laurie struggled to keep up with her cake business while doing her job at Jules'.  She hired some unpaid workers to help her, but the staff quickly quit.  Travis convinced her to quit her real estate job and go 100% into her cake business.  Ellie teased Andy that Bobby was too sensitive to handle one of his pranks, so Andy made Bobby go hiking with an empty water bottle that he believed would fill itself on its own.

As much as I would hope that therapy would help Jules, it only seems to be making her crazier.  It is funny, though, that she can threaten her friends and family with therapy sessions if they upset her.  This even works on Ellie, who was forced to go after stealing Jules' "thunder"" twice in the episode.  I started to feel bad for the therapist who was allowing Jules to come in any time she felt like, even when she was interrupting other patients' sessions (who seemed more than happy to let Jules take their time).  However, the therapist was an enabler herself--since Jules' bills were affording her boats, she was happy to throw empty advice to her (which Grayson and Jules gladly lapped up).  I think therapy is only letting Jules feel like she can control people even more and rationalize her actions that make no sense to others around her.

As for their discussion about which house they are going to keep, I'm pretty sure that it's going to be Jules'.  Or either they might get another house (which I doubt with their finances).  I liked that Ellie was in favor of the two staying at Jules' house because it was across from her own and she didn't have the energy for the 30 steps to Grayson's.  It's funny how Ellie can be as lazy as I sometimes.

I wasn't too interested in the Laurie story because I knew what was going to happen from the beginning.  Obviously, she couldn't balance having both jobs, and Jules had mentioned that she couldn't afford to pay Laurie anymore.  I just thought it was stupid that Travis didn't tell her sooner that it would have been best for her to just take a leap of faith and go for her cake business for real.  Then again, I could see how she would be afraid that Jules would refuse to let her quit (or just dramatically refuse to speak to her again if she did).  Thankfully, Jules wanted to fire her, so Laurie's quitting was good for both sides.

There also wasn't much to say about the Andy and Bobby story either.  There were two things, however, I liked concerning Ellie in that story.  One was that she challenged Andy to make Bobby believe he had a "magical" self-replenishing water bottle, but when Andy was worried that Bobby could really get into trouble on his hiking trip, Ellie told him she was amazed he could send his friend off to such place where he could die of dehydration.  What a delightfully bitchy thing to say!  Bobby was taken off in an ambulance when Andy and Ellie found him, but he wasn't angry at all his friend had included him in one of his jokes.  However, the second thing that I liked was a conversation a ranger (I guess) and Ellie had while Bobby and Andy hugged:

[Guy] You married to one of those guys?

[Ellie] No.  They're lovers.

Sometimes I wonder if she wouldn't be happy if Andy just ran off with Bobby.

At the end, Ellie tried to get back at Little Stan with a demon mask, but he just thought that she wasn't wearing makeup.  Andy tried to congratulate his burn, but Stan told him to go away.  Ellie also walked away defeated.  That kid is really made of the most evil parts of both his parents.  He's going to be a terror as teenager.

I think that Ellie saved this episode again.  It was a little funny that Jules was abusing her therapist's role in her life, but not so much that it was funnier each time she did it.  If her therapist is smart, she should realize that Jules' psychological problems have increased since she started having the sessions and cut her lose.  No number of boats can possibly compensate being at Jules' beck and call for any unimportant matter that comes along.

Heinz, Howard Johnson's, and LSD

Mad Men, S05E06

This episode was broken into three stories told from different perspectives.  First, Peggy had a blowout with Heinz during her last attempt to please the client with the ad they asked for.  After she had been successfully fired from the project, she learned a little about Max and gained a little perspective on things in life she had been neglecting for work.  Roger and Jane went to a party held by her friends where they all took LSD.  While high, Roger and Jane discussed the problems in their marriage and rationally agreed that they should get a separation.  However, the next day Roger was the only one who still seemed calmly resolute about the divorce, while Jane was surprised that they had made such a decision.  Don whisked off Megan to visit a Howard Johnson's instead of doing work, and Megan revealed her displease of how he was mixing their married lives with their work lives.  After they fought, Don left her at the diner and lost her when he returned and spent the night worried out of his mind about her.  He found her at home, but they continued to fight until Megan realized how scared Don had been.  The next day, Don and Megan seemed to have gotten past the horrible day, but Don realized that he couldn't afford to keep putting his wife before his job anymore.

I liked that Peggy spoke her mind at the Heinz meeting even though the client was so angry at her.  It was the sort of thing that Don would have done, except he would have managed to convince the client that he was right (usually) and he wouldn't have had the danger of getting fired.  That client was such a typical client asshole who doesn't appreciate the creative process.  It's the kind of person who hires someone to do work for them but expects them to pull ideas out of thin air that will exceed their unknown expectations.  Even Peggy, who sometimes can be irritating, didn't deserve to be treated like she wasn't doing her job just because the client was too lazy to tell her what he really wanted or too stupid to see that she was going him good stuff.  When Pete told her that she had been pulled off the Heinz account, I was so angry!  I was also a little angry at Don because he wouldn't have let that happen (under normal situations).  Cosgrove did his best to support Peggy, but Don would have made sure that Peggy didn't even explode at the client in the first place.  It was ballsy of her, but I respect her outrage.  I hope that they lose that Heinz account (even though, I'm sure they need it) because that client is too much of an ungrateful dick.

Another person who was irritating me was Max.  He kept making Peggy sound like she was being nosy when he was talking to his father on the phone and when he popped up at work.  Just because he didn't want to share (at first) that his relationship with  father was unusual, didn't give him the right to act so icily.  Geez.  Calm down!  I was still angry at him, even when he finally told Peggy that he was an alien (I was annoyed that he was speaking so seriously that he was) because he had been told that he was born in a concentration camp and had no idea who his real parents were.  If that turned out to be true, that would be an amazing story, but Max seems insane so I'm hesitant to take his word for it.  It would explain why he's not the most sociable guy at the office.  I swear he only likes Don, whom he doesn't even know yet.

Onto the Roger story.  It's been a little painful to watch him and his wife lately.  He just seems like he'd be happy if he threw her off a bridge, and I'm not so sure why or how it got like that.  Also, I felt bad when Roger tried to play hooky with his good pal Don, but Don took his plan and just decided to take his wife with him instead.  It's times like that when I feel so bad for Roger.  He just wanted to have a little fun, but Don was shutting him out.  I expected his bad mood to continue through the party, but things got interesting when they all took the drugs.  I never expected it to go in that direction, but I was glad it did.  He just seemed to connect with his wife and talk about things they never seemed to be able to when sober.  It was pretty amazing.  And it seemed sweet at first.  However, the next morning when Jane didn't even realize what they had talked about, I started to feel bad for him again.  Roger seemed lighter and happier now that he thought his wife had been waiting for one of them to bring up divorce, but she seemed like she was the  opposite.  Also, she mentioned that divorce would be "very expensive."  Well, I guess it's not going to be nice and easy and she's probably going to take a lot of his money.  With Roger not exactly being the go-to guy at SCDP, he may not be able to afford a fund-sucking divorce.  At the end, Roger was clicking his heels, but will he still be able to do that if he doesn't become the top dog at work again and Jane takes him for every penny he's got?

The saddest story, by far, although it didn't look like it would have been, was Don's.  It was just a disaster, to say the least.  I knew that Megan was upset that Don took her away from work, but I didn't know that their argument was going to be so bad.  I understand why he would be angry at her for taking a low blow and asking why he didn't call his mother, but that was no excuse to leave her at the Howard Johnson's.  I have no idea how long he left her there, but they had intended to stay there overnight (I guess since they had a room?), so I don't know why she didn't just go to her room there.  I started to think something bad had happened to her too when Don came back and couldn't find her no matter how long he waited.  I even was scared that she might have been the one who had had the accident in the pool (even though they said it involved kids).  It was a relief when she was at home, but it was pretty scary when she was running from Don afterwards.  I thought he was going to choke her or something!  The thing is, Don never apologized for leaving her there and making her take a 6 and half hour bus ride back home.  I hope that at some point he did, but we just didn't see it.  I think that Megan understood that Don was terrified for her life.  I didn't think that he would get so worried that he would be holding onto her for dear life as if they had just gotten past a life-threatening experience.

To make things worse, Cooper was waiting for him at work the next day to lay down some truth.  I've been thinking it, but I still felt bad when Cooper had to tell him that things were getting out of hand with his lovey-dovey mode.  Then again, I guess it had to be Cooper to tell him because which of his other co-workers was going to have the balls or the right to tell him?  It's true that Don hasn't been balancing his work well with his love life.  He definitely has been going overboard with his focus on Megan, but I loved it about him.  He was just happy about something, and I don't think he ever had been about work, even when he does his job well.  I don't know if that talk with Cooper is going to make him turn into a hard ass again or if he's going to find a way to put more balance in his life.  I don't really want to see him miserable at work again, unless it means that he's going to be yelling more at Peggy and Max.

What sad stories, but wonderfully told.  It was nice to see the same day unfold but from different characters' points of views.  Once again, the scale of happiness has tipped and Don may have to go back to being a bit unhappy now that Roger seems to be in better spirits.  Peggy is always a bit in the middle, so there's not much of a change for her (nor was it that shocking when she gave a stranger a hand job--oh, Peggy).  I just hope that if anything comes about from her story it's that she finds out more about Max.  He's irritating as hell, but perhaps his background story could explain why he's not as pleasant as he could be. 

I Knew I Liked Gold. And I Knew I Hated August

Once Upon A Time, S01E19

With Kathryn's return, Mary-Margaret was free, but she had no desire to get back with David.  Mr. Gold thought his long-lost son was August, but quickly realized he had been had.  August was revealed to be another person from the other world who was hoping that Emma's powers to change things might cure his illness.  Rumpelstiltskin's past with his son Baelfire was further explained, shedding light on certain things about Mr. Gold.  Emma thought that she would soon have evidence that the Mayor was behind Kathryn's disappearance, but Sidney confessed to it all.  Emma got tired of the Mayor playing around with others' lives for her own goals and told her that she was going to attack her by reclaiming Henry as her son.

I think one of the best things about MM being lifted of all her crimes is the party where she mentions that there were a lot of people celebrating her freedom, but just the other day it was like no one was her friend.  Man, true dat!  If it was me, the party would consist of me drinking and demanding that everyone apologize to me!  It was also good that she wouldn't even let David in.  I thought he might try to smooth things over, and I was worried that MM might try to take him back.  Thank God she is listening to the signs of the universe.  David's one of my least favorite people on the show.  I know that the Mayor is trying to keep them apart, but maybe with good reason this time.  David needs to do something so incredibly wonderful for MM that I can forget that he's failed her so many times.  Not sure what would be good enough.  Possibly if he made a time machine and went back and fixed his mistakes.  That might be a good place to start.

Emma didn't have a lot of screen time in this episode, but she had a great scene at the end with the Mayor.  I expected that Sidney wouldn't want to stop being Regina's bitch, but I still was pissed that he came into the station and played the role of the Mayor's scapegoat.  Good thing that Emma was just as pissed as me because she set Mayor Bitch straight and told her that things were no longer going to just go any way that she wanted from then on.  I loved when the Mayor tried to interject and Emma was like "uh-uh--I'm talking!"  Not quite sure how someone like Emma would get custody of Henry with her history and the Mayor's seemingly sparkling clean one.  Still, it would be nice if the Mayor started sweating a bit.

Speaking of making the Mayor sweat, Mr. Gold was on fire in this episode.  While the Mayor complained that he had broken their deal, he let her know that he had done everything that he had promised (which wasn't killing anyone).  She then wondered why he had brought her the curse in the first place if Gold was going to be her enemy.  Mr. Gold told her smart ass to figure it out for herself.  I hadn't thought about that issue either, so I started to wonder why he would want to go to Storybrooke in the first place.

We found out the answer after looking into Rump's past again.  I was worried that Baelfire would get killed for some reason, and that's why Rump is seen son-less later on.  But I guess that was a stupid concern because Rump turned a man into a snail and crushed him just for making Baelfire scrape his knee.  There's no way that he wouldn't have been able to use his magic to keep one measly son alive.  What happened was worse than him being killed--Rump basically abandoned him and lost faith in him.  He let his son fall into a mysterious, glowing hole in the ground by himself.  After he disappeared, Baelfire might as well have been dead at that point because who knows what would happen to him in the other world?  Especially as a boy with no parents and no knowledge of the workings of the new world?  Terrible.  At least, Rump realized his horrible mistake immediately after he had no son left to protect.  Too little, too late, though.

One of the interesting things about Baelfire's disappearance and Rump's obsession to get him back was when he spoke to the Blue Fairy.  She was the one that gave Baelfire the idea that he could get to the other world by using a curse since there were no more magic beans left to use.  The Blue Fairy told him that it would never work, but he tried to smack her (Ha!) and swore that he would get it to work.  Now it makes sense that he hates the nuns in the other world.  They're all fairies.  I hadn't thought about why he was such a nun-hating miser since that story about Grumpy, but I'm glad they explained that.  I'm surprised he hasn't evicted the nuns already (or worse).

Another interesting thing is that Rump has always been plotting for this.  He has never wanted to help the Queen, but just wanted to get to the other world so that he could be reunited with his son once again.  Obviously, it hasn't happened yet, but I bet that he needs Emma's power or something for his happy ending (assuming that Baelfire will forgive him) to come true.  As much of an unsavory character that Mr. Gold portrays himself to be, I felt for him when he was pouring his heart out to Archie and when he thought that he had found his son in August.  Who would have thought he would have a tearful hug with someone?  It was nice to see, but I was highly skeptical of August.

August didn't betray my mistrust of him.  What an asshole to pretend to be Gold's son!  Mr. Gold has never shown such a vulnerable side and this guy strolls into town and manages to get him to act like a human being.  I enjoyed Mr. Gold sharing a fake, but sweet moment, but no one could enjoy August toying with people's emotions like he did.  I don't care if he wanted to use Rump's powers to cure his illness--you don't do that to people!  Of course, Mr. Gold would have never agreed to help him in the first place no matter what he told him, but it still doesn't give him the right to use such a sneaky method.  I loved when Mr. Gold had the knife on him.  I really wish he had sliced his head off.  I'm so over August and his mysterious presence.  But Gold has something in mind for him before he kicks the bucket.  Not sure how he'll be useful to him, but we'll see in good time.  August may kick the bucket any soon, so we don't have to wait too long for him to die.  If Mr. Gold still did have his Rump powers, August would so have been a snail underneath his shoe.

So where is Baelfire?  Is he in town already but just doesn't realize Gold is his father?  No.  I doubt that.  The Storybrooke people are cursed and can't leave.  Baelfire could be anywhere in the world.  The world that Mr. Gold can't even get to if Emma doesn't break the curse.  I wonder if Emma is going to start believing in magic soon, so that she can actually make it happen.  Perhaps that's what Mr. Gold intends to use August for before he dies.  Maybe if the two work together, they may get Emma to become a believer.

Also, when is MM going to confront the Mayor about her grudge against her?  After the initial joy of being free wears off, she should definitely address that again.  She has to think that the Mayor is nuts and needs to be locked away.  Perhaps she'll just start helping Emma bring her down.  She doesn't have David to distract anymore (at least for a while, anyway).

Man, this show is so good!  I'm going to be super sad when the season ends!  There's just so much that I want to know and so little time to see all the stories before the summer.  It would be nice, though, to have Emma make some progress bringing down the Mayor.  If that and nothing else is achieved, I can be a little more content to wait until next fall.

The Resistance Moves To Portland

Grimm, S01E18

Nick investigated a shooting, which turned into a murder.  This was all due to a Verrat bounty hunter named Edgar looking for one of the leaders of the resistance group.  This leader, Ian, came to Rosalie for help and was furthered assisted by Monroe and Nick.  When Rosalie got held against will by Edgar, he demanded that Ian be turned over to him in exchange for her life.  Nick and team were able to take him down, and Ian shot him dead so that he wouldn't find a way to come after them again.  Nick looked like he was going to arrest Ian for that murder, but he ended up covering up the hunter's death and letting Ian escape.

I think that this whole impending war that's coming with the Wesen is a lot more interesting than the usual Portland-brand conflicts that have been happening so far.  Renard is definitely a part of that, but the depth of his involvement isn't too clear yet, so I'll just let that go.  I'm not too sure if Nick is entirely interested in it as much as he should be, now that it's been revealed that the Verrat, who are determined to preserve the Wesen natural order, have connections with Grimm in the past.  He did watch a video about the group, but he didn't bother to question Ian much, who would have had tons of valuable information.  Pretty sure just like everyone (including Renard) was hinting, someone will probably come looking for them now that Edgar has been killed in their town.  Hopefully when that happens we can learn more of this conflict and about those seven royal families.

Besides the intrigue of the battle between the big Wesen powers, I simply liked the hunter, Edgar himself.  No matter who he was dealing with, he had such a confident and superior aura about him.  And for this show where people have a lot of uninspired schemes and low intelligence, I thought his method of framing Ian to get Renard to "help" him was a good technique.  I just expected him to just sniff around for information until he found him, but he did one better and murdered a bartender just to make sure Ian would be cornered.  He probably would have achieved his goal if he had figured out Nick was friends with Rosalie.  I guess it's a good thing that Grimms don't typical befriend Wesen because it allowed Nick to get the upper hand and defeat him.  Wish Ian could have let him live, though.  Edgar was an interesting character.

Another interesting thing was just seeing Monroe get jealous when Ian appeared and he knew that Rosalie had once dated him.  He was kinda cute pouting off to the side when Rosalie was attending to Ian while he recovered from the bullet removed from him.  I bet Monroe might have taken a swing at Ian had he stayed in town long enough to keep fueling his envy.  However, maybe Rosalie will take notice that Monroe really likes her and make a move on him herself.  Monroe is dragging his feet with Rosalie--we may not get to see any development in their relationship before this season is through (or the show gets cancelled).

 This may be my second favorite episode, right below the one about the spiders.  Unlike a lot of the stories where I was just waiting for Nick to figure out what we already knew, I was paying attention closely to learn more about the Verrat and the resistance group.  Edgar was the majority of the appeal for me, and it's shame he had to be killed.  However, the appearance of Verrat in Portland gives this show some much needed steam.  I won't get my hopes up too high, (with this show's record) but I am anticipating the next episode a little more than usual.