Killing Max Jets

American Dad, S08E11

Roger's rich character named Max Jets got out of jail, and his generous nature and fat pockets seemed to be the answer to the Smith family's problems.  Once Max took on a young girlfriend, he decided to cut off the family and spend his money on her.  Not wanting to live on a budget again, the Smith family conspired to get rid of the girlfriend and, if necessary, get rid of Max instead so they could inherit his fortune.

There was little doubt in my mind that when Roger brought up Max Jets that it wouldn't be Roger himself.  It's ridiculous that he's been pretending to be imprisoned for many years and had to sneak back into jail as if he'd always been there.  But for Roger that level of excessive commitment to his persona is expected by now.  The thing that's most strange to me is when Roger plays characters who are loaded.  This isn't the first time he's been someone with money to burn, yet he doesn't choose to live his life in luxury.  I guess maybe Roger is just too compelled to live as many different lives as possible and sticking with one, no matter how financially stable some of them may be, doesn't suit his lifestyle.

You would think that with all the life experience Roger has by playing some many different people with different pasts and personalities that he might have a good handle on people in general.  It doesn't seem to be the case when he was letting Gina take him for all he was worth.  Then again, perhaps Roger simply wanted to stay true to the character of Max, who might not be so keen to notice that a woman like Gina was only interested in his money.  I don't know why he would want to play someone who was so stupid, though. 

Putting aside that Max got killed by Gina (unlike Steve I wasn't too bothered by the fact he got killed because Roger has had many of his characters killed), Roger must must have thought her actions didn't matter much since he was also playing his own son, Jerry.  When Gina mentioned that she had agreed not to inherit any money from Max in the case that he died, I should have figured there was a good reason.  It did strike me as odd, but I couldn't piece it together.  I couldn't even think about Gina being sneaky when Roger was in on the plot to get his own inheritance under the noses of his murderous, yet not completely unloving family.  It just made the whole appearance of Max Jet a way for Roger to screw with them and do absolutely nothing to help with their money problem.

Therefore, the fact that all of the family wanted to try and kill Max in their own way seemed a little bit like justice.  They were being selfish since they wanted to keep all the money for themselves if they succeeded, but it's not that surprising since they were living on such meager means.  Living without much excess can make people desperate to have more.  Plus, Max had already given them a taste of the good life.  To rip that away in a quick second over someone who wasn't even family could easily turn a person toward murder.

I didn't really find anything funny, per se, with this story, but it was interesting just because you got to see the family working together to kill Roger.  In general, I like seeing them working together on a goal because they get insane and fuel each other's crazy ideas.  I didn't like that Roger was having fun making them all dance around for money that they were never going to get, but at least I wasn't aware of how involved he was in the deception.  And also Gina killed both of his characters and took all of his money in the end, so Roger was the one who got ultimately screwed.  Adding that all together, I think this was a pretty good episode.

Regina's Redemption Reversal

Once Upon A Time, S02E10

Regina was seeming to be turning over a new leaf until Archie ended up dead after being seen having an argument with Regina.  Emma was the only one who doubted her guilt until with Mr. Gold's help she was able to see the murder scene for herself with magic.  When confronted, Regina used magic again to attack Emma and went into hiding.  In the past, Charming tried to rid the kingdom of Regina's threat by having her executed, but Snow was against it.  After trying to give Regina a chance to start over, Regina's final attempt on Snow's life got her banished from the kingdom to live in solitude.

Regina pretty much deserves everything she's gotten, but I can't help but feel bad for her because she has for once learned from her mistakes and tried to change.  It's obvious that she does it all for Henry and would probably die if he wasn't in her life.  It was nice that despite all the horrible things she's done that Emma recognizes that Regina's desire to change is sincere.  No one else does, most of all her parents who seem like a duo of mistrust (with good reason).

Again, Cora is the one who seems to be there right when Regina is debating whether to go to the dark side or not (or Rump).  Regina was on the path to be someone that people didn't ask if her lasagna was poisoned (that was a good one, Grumpy), but her controlling bitch of a mother has to drag her name through the dirt when it wasn't squeaky-clean to begin with.  And since she's still moving around in the shadows right now, no one is going to believe or can even imagine that the Regina look-alike isn't Regina herself.  It sort of makes me mad.  Regina is no angel, but even a monster like her deserves another chance.

What also got me to sympathize with her was that in the other world, she was so blinded by her hatred for Snow that she wouldn't let herself be reformed.  It wasn't wrong of Charming or anyone else to want to see her dead (especially when she made her final words be regret that she didn't do more damage to all her victims), but I couldn't help but be relieved when Snow stopped the arrows from killing Regina at the last moment.  We all know that in the beginning Regina was just a young woman who wanted to live happily with the man she loved, but all her bad deeds sort of erased everyone's memory of that.  Everyone but Snow.  I was disappointed that Regina didn't take the free pass and tried to stab Snow in vain.  She wouldn't have made the curse if she had turned a new leaf in the past, but I still wished that she had seen the light then and there.

It's interesting in the past Snow was like Emma, the only one who believed in Regina's goodness until she failed the test.  It was funny to see Snow (and Charming--but he's always suspicious of people) fighting against Emma, who wouldn't back down.  With good reason because Emma has a natural gift for knowing when people lie.  I was hoping that even with that dream catcher showing her what had happened she would listen to her gut and refuse to think that Regina was guilty.  No such luck.

Speaking of Emma's parents, I really loved how Rump commented on how Emma was a combination of Snow and Charming:

[Rump] You have your mother's chin, Ms. Swan.

[Emma] We know that you killed him.

[Rump] And your father's tact.

That line was as golden as his name.  He made me realize that Emma is a lot like Charming in so many ways.  They both are sort of hardheaded, especially when they think they are right and rush into action sometimes without considering all of the evidence.  It's hard to change their minds once they made them up.  In a way, I sort of felt bad for Rump for having the whole Charming family assaulting him.  Haha.  They are a force of annoyingly persistent people.

I almost could shed a tear for Regina when Emma went to tell Henry that his mother was a murderer and a liar (for using magic again).  I mean, it wasn't as if Regina had done anything wrong this time, yet she was paying the ultimate price.  Emma doesn't want to let her be a part of her son's life anymore and the town hates her more than before (which is saying a lot with the whole curse thing in the first place).  As long as I know that Regina really does love Henry, it saddens me to see her unable to be with him.

I wonder what Cora plans to do with a broken Regina.  Team up with her to terrorize the townsfolk?  I thought she was coming to get revenge on Regina, but perhaps she's just collecting her so that she can use her powers for her own purposes.  I feel bad for Hook too who's just sitting around itching to end Rump's life with that hook of his (why is he sharpening it, though--it's not like it's getting dull from use).  I can't imagine why Archie would be value to their plans, either.  I'm pretty ambivalent about him still being alive (his character is all right, but definitely not one of the key people).

I liked this episode, but I was pretty sad about Regina being framed (though karma is a bitch).  It's nice that Emma is going to be more of a mother to Henry from now on, but I don't relish seeing Regina return to that dark place that convinced her to unleash a curse onto innocent people in the first place.  I'd like Cora's plan to start getting a little clearer from now on.  I thought once she made it to town, things would start getting less mysterious, but they haven't yet.  Also, I'm anxious to see Hook and Rump have another battle!  Can't wait to see how Rump handles an old enemy now that he's supposedly changing himself.

Just Call Roger "Daddy"

American Dad, S08E04

Stan kicked Roger out of the attic so that his newly widowed mother could live there and resisted at first when Roger and Betty were married right away.  Stan grew to love Roger as his new dad, but thought his mother was in danger when he saw someone had left a website open that offered advice on how to kill one's spouse.  Steve and his friends also found a lost script for a Fast and Furious sequel.

It took me nearly to the end of the episode to not be grossed out by Roger being involved with Betty.  He's just so nasty!  It's times like this that I'm reminded that he's an alien just playing dress-up and also has screwed more people than Stan's ever seen in his life.  It just made me skin crawl a little to see his hands all up on someone that closely related to Stan.  Stan seemed more angry about it than wanting to vomit, like I did, mostly because I guess he didn't like the idea of having a new dad.  I never expected Roger to try and fulfill that role to Stan nor did I think that he would be successful in establishing a loving (yet weird) father-son relationship with him.  I mean, Roger was a pretty good stepdad.  Knowing Roger, I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop because Roger always has some kind of ulterior motive when one of his personas is doing something good for someone else, but he remained good until he had to kill off his character (which was really convenient).  I was a little surprised that Betty was trying to off Roger, but she is Stan's mother, so that crazy had to come from somewhere.

I think the only gag I really liked was where Roger kept having pictures of himself and Stan that had just happened or were about to happen.  It was really weird.  It reminds me of when I look at pictures in movies and such and always wonder who was there at that exact perfect moment to capture the pictures.  Because they would be too in the moment pictures for someone to have just casually happened to get them on film.  This joke wasn't hilarious, but I appreciated it.

I didn't appreciate too much the story about Steve.  Did not need to see the characters from those horrible Fast and Furious movies making out with each other.  I think we could have been all right not having a side story at all.

This episode was okay.  I think what I liked most was that Roger was genuine for a change.  He's usually such a bastard while trying to pretend to be a saint that it sometimes makes me mad.  Also, Stan learned a little that his mother isn't so perfect, so maybe we won't have to see her again anytime soon.  I wouldn't mind seeing Roger acting nice again sometime. He's disgusting and weird, but he really makes the show entertaining (He just needs to not be so conniving all the time).

Don's Not A Murderer, But Peggy's A Little Racist

Mad Men, S05E04

Don came down with a fever and imagined having an affair and killing the woman involved.  Peggy bonded with the new secretary, Dawn, and let her stay the night despite she didn't trust her 100 percent.  Sally butted heads with Henry's mother and felt terrified when she learned more about some recent murders.  Joan welcomed her husband back from the war, only to send him packing when he proved that he cared more about the respect and status he got from the army than his own family.

I liked seeing Don a little sick.  I was hoping that we get to see Megan taking care of him, but most of that happened while we watched Don seemingly slip back into his old habits.  I was going to get so angry at Don if he had really slept with one of his old skanks.  Thank goodness it was fever-induced dream.  I was most worried when I saw him choke the bitch--how in the world would he cover that up??  Especially since he killed her and then hid her body under the bed.  And he didn't even hide it well--there was one leg still poking out.  I let out a breath when the morning came and Megan was talking to him per usual.  I could see Don possibly involved in a murder cover up, but hopefully not so sloppily.  I mean, I don't want Don to go to jail.  He's not that bad of a person.  Not yet, anyway.  I wonder if this dream signifies him "killing" that sleazy part of himself.  I really hope so.

I was pleased to see that Dawn wasn't going to just be a background character completely.  Her starting a friendship with Peggy was a good way to ensure that she could get some screen time, but what the hell was up with that moment with her purse??  I'll give Peggy points for not taking her purse out of the room, but she sure as hell wasn't smooth about those few seconds where she wondered if it was okay to leave it in the room with her.  She did just get a huge payday for saving Roger's ass--guess money like that she can't just have sitting around unguarded.  Still, I wish that of all things Peggy could have done that was offensive to Dawn it had been something ignorant out of her mouth and not some action like that.  I just think that Peggy is one of those people who should know better than to treat people like that. Especially when she thinks that she gets Dawn's feeling of being an outsider (no, bitch, you don't).  I'm counting on her making amends in the future.  If she is the decent person that I've come to think her character is.

Um, Henry's mother is all kinds of crazy.  I can understand why Sally was complaining about her to Don.  I'll skip over the part where she thinks that necessary discipline for a child involves striking them for no reason so they'll be prepared for the unexpected (her father sounds awful).  No, the real part that made me wonder how Henry could leave Sally alone with her was her lack of filter when describing the murder in the paper (I don't care if Sally read them on her own--you don't need to tell a frightened girl that much truth), her burglar alarm (a kitchen knife, really?), and the ease in which she dispensed a pill to calm Sally down for the night (man, she loves resorting to pills to solve problems).  Henry's mother makes me think again about denouncing the way Betty used to treat Sally.  Goodness.  I wonder how that's going to play out later on.  I'd hate to see Sally start taking pills regularly.  It'd add to the dramatic element, but I hate to see a young girl downing drugs.

As far as Joan tossing her husband out on her ass, I say way to go, Joan!!  He's such an asshole.  If he was going back to war to protect a cause he believed in, I would think he had a good reason to rush back in.  Instead, I only felt like he was using his army status to be the big-shot he wasn't back at home.  Wow.  That would be great if his absence wasn't a burden on the family he left behind.  True, he'd only be gone a year but why risk something happening to you just so could feel superior about yourself??  I couldn't be happier that Joan stayed strong and held her ground.  Screw that guy!

On a side note, Michael seems to be walking on a thin line already.  He obviously has talent and a way with words that might even rival Don's, but he is very into his own world.  When told that his stunt at the meeting with the clients almost got him fired, Michael was impassive as if he hadn't noticed how very pissed Don was.  I don't know why, but I love it when Don yells at the younger people at work.  There's something very funny about it.  So I can see that he might have to do that constantly with Michael if he doesn't get out of his deluded world.  Nice to see that he has the potential to be entertaining not just as Peggy's rival, but as a comical thorn in Don's side (sort of how Craine tries to buddy up with Don but Don just blows him off).

So much to look forward to next time, as usual.  What I most want to see (although it may not be addressed next time) is how Joan fares without her stupid husband holding her back.  Hopefully this means that she will soon be walking down their office as she should be.  What I'd least want to see is more of Betty whining about her weight while she stuffs her face.  Unless we reveal some kind of meaningful point through her domestic boredom (I suppose that's her problem), I'm not interested.  And of course, we better see Peggy set things right with Dawn.  Hate to see that swept under the rug like so many issues on this show.

You Make Me So Mad I Wanna Murder You!

Cougar Town, S01E02

Of course, this episode was the start of Jules' wedding planning.  I thought she might start with a lot of grand and crazy ideas of her vision, but she needed to accommodate some of her friends' needs first, like Ellie and Andy's need of a place to have sex during the event.  I liked that Grayson asked if he got a say about the wedding because it was his too, and the gang just laughs at him.  Only in a parallel universe would he be able to put his own two cents in.  I forgot that Jules is a people-pleaser and doesn't want anyone unhappy with her.  After all, she pretty much worn down Grayson from an disinterested neighbor to a fiance.

I admire Grayson for trying to fight back in the tiniest way, since his power is basically nonexistent with Jules around, by refusing to accept "Thanks, Babe" as an end to a conversation.  But I like how Ellie and Jules were confused at first why he was still there and hadn't listened  to Jules' command to go to go ask her dad for her hand.  Jules sweet talks him into going, so his little stand is pretty much pointless.

Grayson and Travis visiting Jules' dad was funnier than I expected because he soon asks Grayson to shoot one of his horses.  But in fact, he is just screwing with him and lets Travis in on the joke.  I wondered if it was just because he didn't like Grayson (which I could understand; he's not easily likeable), but it was because he wanted to test how far he'd go for the sake of his daughter.  Bobby had been a bad husband and he didn't want to see her with another unfit guy.  Compared to some other shows I've seen where the dad tested the new husband/boyfriend, I'd say Grayson got off easily.  Not that I wanted to see him shoot a horse, though.  But it was nice to see Travis and Jules' dad bonding together to play around with Grayson.  He got them back by almost shooting the horse.  Who wouldn't when Travis was questioning his manhood by asking how it was possible a grown man such as himself hadn't already killed a horse.  I loved when Travis said that in his monotone voice.

Also, Jules as an eavesdropping ninja, as Travis put it, was a nice joke.  I especially enjoyed her using his powers of stealth to pop up next to Bobby and Andy on the roof.  I would hate to have her as a friend because I feel like I'd want to talk about her, but would feel like I'd always have to check over my shoulder first.

Bobby was trying to express his approval of Jules and Grayson's engagement with the gift of zip-line, but that story was not that interesting to me.  I did think it was kinda cool when Jules finally used it and ended up landing on the hood of Laurie's car.  She took a pretty nice fall.

The best thing of the episode was Ellie and Andy's ritual of expressing murderous anger.  Whenever Ellie got so mad at Andy she wanted to kill him, she would just "do" it.  They would act out the killing moment, complete with blood and murder weapon, and Travis would photograph it.  Then they kept past "murder scenes" on their walls to remember them.  Man, I like that idea!  If only I could do that, but with my friends.  It's a pretty unusual, but entertaining way to channel out your fury.  And later you can laugh about it and realize how silly you were.  I mean, Andy just left the ice cream out too long; did he really need to be bludgeoned to death with a bat?

I won't really mention the whole co-maid of honor (Co-MOH) thing.  Of course, Jules would do that.  I do want to say that Ellie and Jules' relationship is so creepily close, it's funny.  Like how they both keep bags in their cars in preparation of running away together one day.  In a Thelma and Louise fashion?  They're a good match, though.  Someone very self-centered and someone who gets joy from making others happy.  You could easily imagine the two of them married, because they kinda are already (kinda like in Scrubs how Turk and JD were).

Wish there were more jokes that I liked, but that whole murder-pretending thing was good enough to satisfy me this time.  I wonder how ridiculous Jules is going to get soon about planning the wedding.  I hope it's something that even a whipped Grayson will have to fight against (though he won't win).

Spaghetti and Murder Ball

 Archer, S03E05

This week's Archer was a murder mystery.  There was little spy action this time, but it was still a good story.  Mallory has a dead Italian prime minister in her apartment and calls Archer and Lana to help.

Although the circumstances of the dead body in the room are bizarre and freaky (in a sexual way), I think it's interesting that Archer can't concentrate on anything but the sexual oddity of it all.  He can't seem to get the idea of the guy having a dildo up his ass out of his mind.  Frankly, if he didn't talk about it so much, they all might have forgotten about it (us too, since we couldn't see that).  Archer has some real psychological problem concerning his mother and sex.  Not that anyone really wants to think about their parents having sex, but they all have or obviously we wouldn't be here.  You'd think after all the endless trysts that Mallory has been involved in over the years that Archer would be a little numb to it.  At least he didn't throw up this time.

Things take an unexpected turn when Archer has the hankering for spaghetti and meatballs (his racism never ceases to amaze me).  They all go into the kitchen and start cooking up some, very casual about the dead man in the "zentai" (must be Japanese from "zen" meaning "entire" and "tai" for "the body").  Mallory also shows us that Archer's racism is probably genetic with her dislike of the Irish.  Last Christmas she refused to give the super a bonus and slammed the door in his face.  I liked this because it was such a Christmas Carol moment.  This was reinforced by the super's son hobbling next to him on crutches and saying,

[Son] Will I get the operation now, Da?
[Super] No, Son.  You're gonna die.

Damn.  She is cold-hearted.  She continues to express her prejudice against the Irish when Archer asks her if she has a potato and she remarks that it isn't Christmas (which is what she gave the Super).  The detective who shows up later of Irish-decent receives her instant repulsion.  What exactly did the Irish ever do to her??

Archer and Lana don't buy her story, but she asks them to cut up and dispose of the body.  They both refuse.  It's good that they have some kind of standards, despite that they do some crazy stuff sometime.  Instead, after Mallory sobs (who cares, but I guess they do), they get Krieger to come.  Not only does he seem to have a handle on the problem, he is actually excited about doing it (in a way that Archer suggests is slightly sexual in nature--eww).  The others at ISIS show up after Kreiger tricks them into thinking they will be attending a surprise party.  Uh...how dumb are these people? 

The best is when the cops show up, and everyone jumps into character as her dinner guests, enjoying spaghetti and dressed in Mallory's clothes.  I find it offensive that Lana has to be the maid, and it's the whore-iest maid outfit ever!  We have no idea why Mallory has that; there's no way that it looks as good on Lana as it does on her.  Eww...  Concerning the ISIS crew playing the part as dinner guests, they barely get by as not suspicious.  Carol, however, risks them being discovered with her horrible, over-the-top acting.  You'd think a bitch from a rich family would know how to imitate them a little more naturally.  Before this scene is over, Cyril complains about being dragged into yet another unsavory situation:

[Cyril] I hate you all so much.
[Ray] No one cares, Figgis.  You're only invited to round out the numbers.

I liked Ray with his accent and cigarette holder.  He should keep those while he remains in his wheelchair.  However, I'm about ready for him to be out of it.  Cyril is such a whiney, little bitch.  At least with Ray he's got attitude, but can actually perform like a decent spy.

Krieger successfully divides up the body and prepares it for all the others to transport out of the house before the detective can find out what happened.  However, Lana smartly realizes that it makes sense that Mallory intentionally had everyone come over and called the cops so that she would have a cover for the murder.  We're not entirely sure, but it looks like Mallory killed the prime minister to get revenge for someone who might have been Archer's father!  Huh.  I wonder if this will ever come up again.  The mystery of Archer's father is something I'm pretty interested in.  I wonder if he was an asshole like his son or if Archer is just a product of a fatherless life and a screwed-up mother.

If I could have asked for anything else in this episode, it might have been for that fake dinner party to have a little more screen time.  However, that is not much of a complaint to me.  It was good that in the end Mallory seemed to be a bigger mastermind than any of them gave her credit for.  She may be kind of a whore, but she's a smart whore.