Everyone Has A Story, But Not A Good One

Family Guy, S11E12

The show did a parody of the movie Valentine's Day, and showed different stories about each of the characters on this holiday.  Lois and Peter spent the day in bed, Quagmire got turned into a woman, Meg went out with a boy she met online, Stewie went back in time to the Summer of Love, Stewie gathered together all of Brian's ex girlfriends to find out what Brian's problem was, Herbert helped his grand-niece talk to Chris, and Mayor West found out Carol was seeing another mayor.

I enjoyed the beginning of this episode that was made to be like a trailer of the movie they were spoofing.  It's nothing new, but I still like this setup each time I see in a show (usually, anyway).  One of my favorite parts of that was when it said "Comes more evidence of Family Guy's decline."  I tend to like their ironic jokes like that.

There were a lot of stories packed into one episode, but none of them were particularly great.  The top ones for me were Stewie's story, Brian's story, and Meg's story.  If I had to pick the most interesting of those three, it would be Meg's simply because it was a good story for her when you consider how most of Meg's romantic endeavors go.

Meg's date seemed to be going well at the beginning, which could only mean that something bad had to happen.  However, Meg turned lemons into lemonade when she didn't want to end her date just because she was down a kidney and bleeding everywhere.  Talk about low standards/desperation.  I was happy, though, to see that Meg had a pretty great day with Toby.  They had lunch, went ice skating, got caricatures done (Meg was drawn as a pile of poo, but I could let that slide), she got her kidney back as a present, and she got a kiss.  Toby is a criminal, for sure, but at least he's sort of a gentleman (though he is kinda gross using a dead, shriveled conjoined twin as a bookmark--eww).  Sadly, Meg couldn't do much better than him, but at least he seemed genuinely into her.  I liked seeing Meg have a relatively happy end for once, instead of her looking like a pathetic psycho.

Stewie's story where he kissed his own mother as a baby wasn't surprising (as I figured it might be her), but it does speak to the idea that Stewie has a lot of mother issues.  He already has this desire to dispose of her (though not so much lately), and now he has to deal with the fact he's a little attracted to her.  It just makes me wonder how messed up Stewie is going to be when he finally gets to puberty.

I thought that Brian's story, while grabbing my attention more than others, was a waste of time.  I don't know why Stewie would think he needed to gather all of Brian's exes to know what the problem with Brian is.  It's basically everything with Brian is wrong.  Stewie's been there through all of his failures, most of them fizzling out because Brian's ego got in the way or his mountain of lies finally collapsed.  I couldn't imagine any of them saying something redeeming about Brian because he's always been the worst lover/boyfriend.  Hopefully Stewie was really just gathering them for his own amusement to make fun of Brian's many shortcomings.   Or perhaps he knew that the riot of exes he sent after Brian would help him end up in bed with a bunch of different girls.  I surely didn't expect that.  That was the biggest surprise out of all the stories.  More random to me than Quagmire turning into a woman.  Don't know why anyone in their right mind would sleep with an asshole like Brian.

This episode was only okay because I thought it was going to be good since I enjoy spoofs.  The stories weren't terrible, but they definitely could have been funnier.  I appreciate that they didn't do a single Valentine's story and tried to do several.  It just would have been a bonus if most of the stories were really memorable and a little less uneventful.

Raj, The Third Wheel

Big Bang Theory, S06E01

Amy and Sheldon went on their anniversary dinner, but were joined by Raj to Amy's dismay.  Leonard wanted to hang out with Penny to discuss their relationship, but were also joined by Raj to Leonard's dismay.  Howard couldn't decide whether to please his mother or his wife, so he lied to both of them about whether he was moving out of his mother's house.

The worst story, of course, was Leonard and Penny.  Leonard is so transparent about wanting to talk about things that it was sad.  I was really glad when a drunk Raj came along and killed their little date.  I especially liked how he told them how it was with their stupid back and forth relationship.  I hadn't noticed, though, that Penny had never admitted that she loved Leonard.  I actually did want her to look him in the eyes and tell him as such.  Even if I don't want them back together, I would like her to admit she's hung up on him as much as he is on her.  Seriously, will the two of them just stop?  Either they move on for real or they get back together already.

Raj's best intrusion, of course, was when he was at Sheldon's date that Sheldon had "outsourced" him for.  My God, Sheldon takes being a bad boyfriend to such new levels each time.  And as delusional as Amy is about Sheldon (who would latch her ovaries on him if he proposed to her during sex--ha), I feel bad that she cannot get any real emotions out of that robot.  I mean, we wouldn't expect Sheldon to really emote, and yet I still want him to because I am a girl and I feel like a girlfriend should at least sometimes feel special when she's around her supposed boyfriend.  But I can't blame her for accepting Sheldon's quote from Spiderman as a meaningful expression of his love.  You take what you can get from Sheldon.

Speaking of him, he was quite funny when he said that the only sea creature he would want to be eaten by is a Krakken.  I had to agree with his reason because the last thing you would hear would be "Release the Krakken!" which is pretty damn cool.  I used to have an inside joke about that with some of my co-workers, so it was a random, but welcome reference.

Howard's story was kind of funny too because you can't really go wrong with him being bugged by his mother in space.  I mean, her son is doing something that only a handful of qualified people get to do and she's on his case about silly things like moving out of the house and such.  There is no place on earth or outside of earth that Howard can go to escape his smothering mother.  But it was a dick move of him to lie to Bernadette when I can't imagine how difficult it is for her being a newlywed without her husband, but living with his crazy-ass mother.  For that, Howard should be doing every single thing he can do to make her happy.  But he'll pay for it later.  What I really liked, though, was how Dimitri was kind of putting his own two-cents about the situation.  In a place like that there can be no privacy, so you can't blame the guy for being in Howard's business.  And I welcome the intrusion because he's a funny guy.

Finally, there was that scene where Raj and Stewart where kind of having a little moment together while listening to Latin music and drinking coffee liquor.  What??  Then, despite that Raj felt like things were getting weird, he invited Stewart out to hang sometime.  I didn't expect that after Raj quickly decided he needed to leave in the first place.  Huh.  Although, I'm not sure if it's because he doesn't have Howard to fall back on (or his other friends) and just wants someone available to do things with.  And when you think about it, Raj and Howard's relationship has always been a little bordering on a romantic relationship.  However, when Stewart commented that he could do worse by "hanging" with Raj, I felt like if Raj were to be interested in Stewart as more than a friend, Raj could do better!  I definitely think that Raj would be much more successful if he ended up being a gay man.  But I wouldn't want to see him do that with Stewart.  Eww.

This was a pretty good episode, the best being the Sheldon and Amy date.  But I'd like to see Raj do more than be a third wheel for the rest of the season, even if it means that Stewart is going to be his new best friend.  I'd like less of the Penny and Leonard stories--how much longer can we watch them bounce back and forth?  And Howard really is going to have to stay in space because Bernadette is going to kill him.  He needs to come to his senses real quick and realize that he'd be a fool to ruin his marriage before it has barely even started.

"Why Does Everything Turn Out Crappy?"

Mad Men, S05E12

Lane's embezzlement was discovered, and Don asked for his resignation.  Don demanded to have a meeting with Ed, in order to stop settling for smaller clients and go for the bigger players.  Sally came to stay with Don, but when both he and Megan were gone from the house, she had Glen come to the city and they went out together.

We all knew it was just a matter of time until someone found out about Lane forging Don's name on a check, but I still didn't think that they would sack him.  After all, Lane is a partner with a name in the firm, so I thought he might be given a little slack.  But Don rightfully couldn't trust him anymore and asked him to quit, without asking him to reveal the crime he had done (or pressing charges against him).  I just felt bad for Lane because he risked a lot to quit his job in England and come with them to their new company.  He brought up the point that he had invested money into the firm that he had been trying to get back all this time, while Don was living the life where 7500 dollars was nothing to him.  And despite that he stole money, you don't think of Lane as some sneaky, debased human being who deserved whatever came to him.  It's just so sad that he was basically struggling all this time, while keeping nearly everyone in the dark all the while, but he never made it.  Perhaps if Lane wasn't so committed to solving his problems on his own (putting an unreasonable amount of burden on his shoulder), things might have turned out a different way.

With his whole world coming down on him (and Lane seeming like not the type as Don is to rebuild his life), it was no shock that the new car Lane's wife bought was almost his deathbed.  However, I was happy that the car wouldn't start and he couldn't suffocate himself.  I couldn't imagine how hard that would have been for his wife to find that later (or to hear about it from someone who found him in the garage later).  I was really praying that Lane would take it as a sign to not give up so easily, but of course, there was that horrible scene where Joan couldn't get into his office.  I knew it could happen, yet I still couldn't believe that Lane hung himself!  It just seemed like such a waste!  Unlike most flawed characters in the show, I wanted to see him come out on top one day--he deserved it.  But instead, he died where he worked (and had suffered the most) and had plenty of confused witnesses to his death.

Lane's death wasn't just a tragedy within itself, but a personal blow to Don who had been the one to ask him to resign.  Don, unlike any of the other partners would have been, hadn't taken Lane to the cleaners for what he had done, but I'm sure that Don felt regret when he heard of Lane's news.  I liked that Don wouldn't wait for the coroner to come and took down Lane's body so that it could be at rest in a more dignified position.  I also think that it was particularly hard for Don to see that happen to Lane because this situation is quite similar to what happened with Don and his brother.  He washed his hands of someone and next thing he knew, that person had killed himself.  It's no wonder that Don is often trying to rescue people all the time--people sometimes die when he doesn't!  Thus, I find myself sad for Don, too, as much as I am sadden by Lane's passing.

Another thing that wasn't too uplifting was Don and Roger's meeting with Ed.  I can see why Don would want to stop bending over backwards for companies like Jaguar when he could be getting better companies.  Of course, despite that letter he wrote against Lucky Strikes has branded him a traitor against most of the big dogs, I admire that Don hasn't rolled over and died just yet.  I just don't think, even with his passionate speech about working hard for them until he got them everything, is going to impress hard-headed guys like Ed to hire their firm.   I'd love for one of Don's hard pitches to get them something better than a car dealership that they had ensure by offering some sex, but I won't hold my breath.  People are stubborn, and their opinions aren't so easily swayed by strong words.  I just hope that maybe they will let Don's work speak for itself and not be dissuaded by his gusty stand against a former client.

It was good that Sally was in this episode because it provided a little comedy relief.  Her and Glen's sort of date was so funny to see.  Despite that Sally denied liking him in "that way" and Glen claimed she was more like his little sister, it still looks like they are moving away from being friends with each other.  It was so cute that they were just walking around at a museum together and that Sally got all dressed up (and made-up) just for Glen (not that he was that impressed).  It's a shame that their time was ruined when Sally suddenly got her period and ran back home!  I mean, that is so crazy!  Sally was awful to do that to someone she made sneak out of school and come see her three hours away.  Who does that??  I'm surprised that Glen wasn't more pissed about it than he was.

Also, I give some props to Megan for handling the situation with Glen so well.  She neither chewed out Glen for being there when he shouldn't have been, nor ratted out Sally to Betty when she found out she had gotten home safely.  Sally owes her big time.  She was just lucky that it was her period and not something else that Betty might not have been so sympathetic about.  However, I get the feeling that Betty felt like was a little better than Megan because Sally had run home to her about her period instead of talking to Megan about it.  I could understand why Sally would want her mother then, but I just wish that Betty didn't have to be so smug about it to Megan.  

After Don came home and had one of the worst days ever, I was worried that Glen was going to get an earful from him, but instead they had this moment of understanding that was surprising, but welcome to me.  As random as it was that he offered to take Glen home three hours away, it was nice that Glen sort of voiced the theme of this episode about how things you want turning into shit against your will.  I liked that Don wasn't about to agree with him or let him know that he has no idea how bad things can get, but instead tried to cheer the boy up by letting him drive his car.  That was so cute and weird!  And as weird at it was, it seemed like that was the best ending for this episode that I could ask for.  I just didn't know what Don might have done when he came home if there wasn't a distraction there.  Thank goodness Sally had invited him over.  Anything that can take Don's mind off the series of unpleasant events that keep happening around him sounds good to me.

Didn't think that after last week's episode of the women taking different methods to further their careers could this episode top that.  I will miss Lane on the show, and I hope that his memory won't be wiped away so easily as if he wasn't an important part of Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce (what will happen to their name?).  With another major player in the office gone, what will happen to the functions of their business?  Will Don be able to fix these holes that have formed in their business or will he be moving on as if they didn't exist?  Next time is the finale, so I'm worried about what bombshell they might drop to leave us with until the next season.  I hope that there won't be anything as drastic as another death (or another person leaving the firm), but so far Mad Men has been on point every time this season, so they have the ability to do just that.  If anything good can happen before this season ends, I would love to see Don make progress against that letter that has blacklisted him with many businesses.  With that, I could just manage to not see the world that Don lives in as so freaking bleak.