Grey's Anatomy: Get Up, Stand Up (10x12)

I am sighing and rolling my eyes. Just... ugh. Really? No. I'm not... I don't know what... to... do... about this. Siiiiiigh. Let's dive in to the plot, shall we? This should be fun.

So, April's wedding has arrived. Let's go through these different plots and then I'll explain why I'm so eye-roll-y about it all.

First of all we've got Derek, who is working with Callie on the brain patient. However, he is being courted by the US government to come work on their brain mapping program. Derek declines these federal scientists, stating that he has too much on his plate as it is. In particular, Derek had promised Meredith to pull back at work so she could do her research. In the end, at April's wedding, Derek gets a call from the President of the United States.

So... that's stupid. Sorry, but what? Really? The President wants Derek specifically? I think this is a case of the show going too large in scale. I was completely brought out of the reality of this show when presidential phone calls started coming in.

The Vampire Diaries: Fifty Shades of Grayson (5x10)

Divin' right into the plot on this one.

Damon escapes from Wes' evil lair of evil, and he goes back to the Salvatore mansion, fetching Stefan to go back and save Elena. The boys go to find Aaron as leverage, calling Wes and telling him that they'll kill Aaron unless they get Elena back. However, Wes doesn't want to give up his new test subject. Instead, he releases Enzo, injecting him with poison to insure he comes back for the antidote, and sending off the deranged vampire to kill Damon.

Wes tells Stefan on the phone that he'll kill Elena if they hurt Aaron, but Stefan says the threat works both ways. Enzo shows up and tells his story to a surprised Stefan, who doesn't know how to react to this new piece of information about his brother. When Wes continues to not give up Elena, Aaron saves his own life by offering information about Augustine. While Stefan and Aaron go off to Aaron's dorm room, Enzo and Damon fight. Enzo reveals that he's going to die unless he kills Damon, and as he collapses Damon tries to save him with a bunch of tubes marked antidote. It does seem to revive him for a moment, but just long enough for Enzo to make it clear that he doesn't forgive Damon. Then, he dies.

Parenthood: All That's Left is the Hugging (5x10)

This is our last episode of Parenthood before the winter hiatus, and mostly I just… ugh… I just don’t know what to think. I really do want to enjoy this episode, since we’re finally past the whole Kristina-for-Mayor plot. Except for that’s the problem. We’re not past it. Let’s take a look at these plots.

Kristina says she’s fine in the aftermath of the lost election, but Heather and Adam both continually assure her it’s okay for her to be angry. Kristina doesn't listen at first, but then Adam convinces her to blow off some steam by throwing eggs at a billboard of Bob Little. I really disliked this part of the episode. It pisses me off that we’re dragging this plot out so much. I really liked the idea of her lost election being a moral victory and I actually wanted Kristina to be okay with it and move on. I don’t think Adam was doing the right thing by encouraging her to be angry and to randomly commit vandalism. The only think I’ll miss about the mayor plot is Heather, who I really enjoyed as a character.

Elementary: Internal Audit (2x11)

Since I've let these reviews pile up and it's now the holidays, the next few are probably going to be rather short. My apologies.

Plot plot plot. The case involves this guy who was about to kill himself but then he gets tied up and murdered. Sherlock and the gang try to follow different avenues of investigation based on the fact that this guy was embezzling lots of money and thus has a lot of people very angry with him. In the end, however, it seems that the culprit is a man in charge of giving settlements to holocaust survivors. He had been stealing money from his clients, and when the victim caught wind of it he was going to reveal everything. A reporter also gets killed in the process of all of this going on.

So, as far as cases of the week go, this one was serviceable. Nothing special happened, but it was fine. I thought the twist about the murderer was actually a bit out there, if I’m going to be picky. But in terms of telling a unique story I suppose it was alright. As always, I enjoy seeing Joan and Sherlock work as a team, instead of having Sherlock steamroll over Joan while she tries to learn. They have a really good professional balance along with their private friendship.

The meatier parts of the episode were very much character-based, as is most often true with this show, and indeed is often true with procedural cop shows in general. Sherlock is still thinking about Bell’s injuries, and although he has decided that logically speaking he is not to blame, he still feels bad about it. Sherlock confesses as much to Alfredo, his sober sponsor, who responds with a rather surprising idea – he wants Sherlock to take on a fellow addict and be a sponsor himself. Sherlock doesn't like the idea, as he says he doesn't have time to deal with such things while being dedicated to his work.

The Big Bang Theory: The Cooper Extraction (7x11)

The premise of this episode is that Sheldon leaves to go witness the birth of his nephew, and the rest of the group, a la It's a Wonderful Life, talks about what would have happened to them if Sheldon didn't exist. So, okay, that sounds like it's a decent setup for some funny jokes. However, I found it to be severely lacking in the funny department. Let's take a look.

The whole gang is over at the apartment decorating the tree. Even Stewart has come to join in on the fun. Throughout the episode, Sheldon video calls with everyone throughout the episode, reporting on the state of his sister and her birth. Amy speculates that if Sheldon hadn't been born, most of them would never have met each other. Here's how things would be, according to the friends' imaginations:

- Leonard never would have asked Penny out because he'd be too scared.

- Bernadette would never have gone out with Howard, because she would have seen the way he and Raj acted together and assumed they were dating.

Modern Family: The Old Man & the Tree (5x10)

Reviews: Lightening Round!! Go, go, go!

Gloria's mother Pilar is in town and she keeps criticizing Gloria. Claire shows up to spend time with her so that Gloria can have some time off, but to her horror Claire and Pilar get along great, and now Gloria feels jealous. In the end, Claire reveals that she's jealous because her mother only ever sends her slippers for Christmas and won't come to visit.

Good: All of it! Really funny. I think the jealousies and insecurities between Gloria and Claire are always really fascinating to look at. I also liked how Pilar spun some crazy theory about Claire's slippers being a nostalgic memento from the past... that was hilarious.

Phil has been trying to go on an elliptical machine the distance from their house to Canada in a year. If he fails to do so, the machine will be moved out of the bedroom and down to the garage. As the Christmas deadline approaches, Phil tries desperately to complete his goal. Luke encourages him especially, since he's been failing to take the recycling out all year long, and it's all hidden behind a tarp in the garage. He doesn't want to be discovered. But just in case Phil doesn't complete his task, Luke hires Dylan to come remove the recycling. Dylan accidentally takes fireworks instead. Phil gives up, but Luke sees how depressed he is and encourages him to get back on the elliptical and finish the task, which he does.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: The Bridge (1x10)

Meh. Not very eloquent, I know, but that's basically all I can say at this point. Meh. I really want to like this show! But I just can't get completely lost in it. I will say one thing, though... this episode is part one of a two-parter, meaning we have to wait until after the hiatus to see how things shake out. I like the cliffhanger they gave us, but there are a lot of reasons why I think this show hasn't fully come in to its own yet. Let me explain them to you after the plot summary!

It appears that Centipede is causing trouble again, when they spring some guy named Edison Po from prison. Their serum is getting better, and they are ready to move to the next step in their plans. Coulson calls in Mike Peterson (J. August Richards, from the pilot) to help them figure out what's going on. The team confronts one of Centipede's soldiers, but just before they manage to defeat him, Centipede activates a kill switch in the soldier's eye, much like what happened a few episodes back with Coulson's old friend Akela Amadour.

Edison Po talks with Raina (the girl in the flower dress) and says that Mike Peterson is going to be very useful to their plans. Mike calls his son Ace, but it turns out Raina is with Ace. Centipede offers to return Ace only if Mike gives himself up. He agrees to do so, but when they meet to make the exchange, Mike betrays Coulson, revealing apologetically that Centipede didn't want him - they wanted Coulson. Coulson graciously allows himself to be taken. Mike is reunited with his son, but passes Ace quickly off to Skye and tries to go back in to save Coulson. An explosion occurs, possibly killing Mike, and preventing the rest of Coulson's team from going to his rescue. Coulson and Raina are seen in a helicopter. Raina reveals that Centipede wants to know what happened to Coulson after he died.

Once Upon a Time: The New Neverland (3x10)

We're back in Storybrooke! Woo! I've got to say, a lot of things about this episode blew me out of the water. I was really impressed. I wouldn't be me if I didn't have complaints as well, but over all I think this was exactly the episode we needed. It broke the Neverland pattern, got us out of those woods and back among some familiar and comforting settings and characters. Let's talk about the plot.

The Jolly Roger arrives in Storybrooke and everyone happily reunites with the returned travelers. Rumple puts Pandora's Box under lock and key and everyone promises "Henry" that Pan can't hurt him anymore. Hook informs Neal that he's backing off of Emma for Henry's sake. Neal tries to ask Emma out, but she doesn't accept. David talks to Emma and tells her not to miss the good moments in life. Emma believes something is wrong with Henry, since he's been acting strangely, and he wanted to stay with Regina instead of her. Nobody else believes her. Pan, in Henry's body, releases the Shadow from where it was trapped on Hook's ship, and the Shadow kills the Blue Fairy. In order to protect Henry, Regina takes him down to her vault, where Pan-who-looks-like-Henry knocks Regina out using some magic potion thing and then absconds with something very important.

Emma, still convinced that something is very wrong with Henry, goes with everyone else to Rumple and asks him to release Pan from the Box. Whatever is happening, clearly Pan is controlling the Shadow. The group goes out to the edge of Storybrooke. Emma crosses the line back to the real world, and Rumple releases "Pan" outside of Storybrooke as well, so that he will be powerless to use magic. Emma is about to shoot him, but "Pan" convinces Emma and everyone else that he's really Henry. The group goes to Regina's vault, finds her unconscious, wakes her up, and they all discover to their horror that The Curse is missing. Yup, that's right, the original Big Bad Curse is gone, and it looks like Pan has it. Pan tells Felix that if he enacts the curse now, everyone in Storybrooke will lose their memories and Pan and Felix can be in charge, running a whole new Neverland.

The Mentalist: Green Thumb (6x10)

The scheduling of The Mentalist this season is sort of weird. I mean, we take care of Red John in episode eight, then have two episodes set two years later, and now we go on hiatus for winter. It's just sort of... well, at first I was thinking that the hiatus should have come directly after the Red John conclusion, but upon reflection I actually think things worked out okay. This way, we get two episodes post-Red John to establish the formula for the rebooted show. Last week, we got Jane back to the states. In this episode, he went from being imprisoned to working for the FBI. Let's take a look!

So, the FBI are working on a case involving a missing computer programmer. They believe someone is going to ask ransom for him, but that hasn't happened yet. They need to bring Jane in on the case, but Jane refuses to help unless Lisbon works with him as well. The FBI brings Lisbon in, but she makes it clear that it's just for this one case. She doesn't want to uproot her new life. At one point on the case, Jane escapes the FBI and runs off. Although he later comes back, Libson is angry at Jane for vanishing again.

Jane figures out that the case is actually more personal than anything else - it doesn't have much to do with the man's job as a comupter programmer. The missing man's wife, a Romani Gypsy, has a psychic friend whom the missing man believes is sleeping with his wife. He kills the psychic. Then, it turns out one of the neighbors is involved in a gang, and he's been keeping the man hostage. They manage to rescue him, but of course he is in trouble for murdering his wife's psychic.

The Vampire Diaries: The Cell (5x09)

Okay. Okay, I just don't know. I liked a lot of the individual elements of this episode. A lot, actually. But other things felt really heavy, really forced, very exposition-y again... and you know what it is? Overall, I just don't know what the focus of this season is supposed to be. There doesn't seem to be any clues to tell me where my attention should go most heavily. Also, I'm desperate for some Salvatore brother bromance moments, and Stefan and Damon didn't even interact in this one. I know, I know, that's my own hangup. Let's take a look at this plot.

Okay so Damon is still being held captive by Wes, who plans on using him for his experiments now that he doesn't have Jesse as a test subject. Elena goes to find Aaron, because she's worried about Damon. Aaron is grieving Jesse's death (he's been told it was a suicide), but when Elena mentions that Damon is missing, he agrees to help find him by going to find Wes. The two of them go to the Whitmore house, where Aaron invites Elena in, and then reveals that his own last name is Whitmore, and that he is the last remaining member of his family.

Wes finds them in the house and injects Elena with vervain. He then puts her in the cells with Damon. While down there, Damon tells Elena the story of the Augustine organization, and how he has been here before. Basically, back in the 1950's, one of Damon's relatives sold him out to Augustine. He was put in the cells and experimented on by Dr. Whitmore (Aaron's grandfather). While there, he met and befriended another captive vampire named Enzo. He and Enzo created a plan to escape. However, in the end Damon couldn't get Enzo out and he abandoned him to die, escaping by himself.

The Big Bang Theory: The Discovery Dissipation (7x10)

Wow, for once The Big Bang Theory actually told a story that took more than one episode. A few episodes back, Sheldon thought he had discovered a new element, but it turns out that the discovery was founded on a mistake. In this episode, we get to see more of the repercussions from that.

The main plot follows Sheldon, who is being forced by the university into interviews celebrating his great discovery. He doesn't want the fame, since it's founded on an error, and reacts negatively to the press. Amy brings in Wil Wheaton to explain to Sheldon that he knows what it feels like to be negatively perceived because of one accomplishment. He encourages Sheldon to get through it. Sheldon cheers up. However, Leonard disproves the existence of Sheldon's element. He thought this would make Sheldon happy, but it doesn't - he's angry that Leonard took away his accomplishment. Now, Leonard is getting the attention for his disproving. Sheldon tries to force his way onto a radio show interview with Leonard. The episode ends with Penny and Amy listening to the program, embarrassed at the antics of their boyfriends.

Grey's Anatomy: Man on the Moon (10x11)

Okay. Lots to talk about, as always with this show. Let's dive right in.

April's three sisters are in town for her bachelorette party and impending wedding. They are all condescending and call her "ducky," which April explains refers to "ugly duckling." After putting up with them for quite some time, she finally publicly explodes at them and tells them that she's not their awkward unfortunate sister anymore. She fires them from being bridesmaids and elects Christina, Meredith, and Arizona as her new bridesmaids. While this is all going on, Matthew and Jackson have their own drama. The two of them are witness to a man nearly being suffocated because his tie gets stuck in a taxi door as the car drives away. Matthew performs a tracheotomy on the sidewalk, and in the ER Jackson angrily yells at Matthew for doing it wrong. Later, however, Jackson lies to April and says that Matthew didn't mess up. Jackson and Matthew have a talk, and decide that for the sake of April, they need to get along. Matthew encourages Jackson to come to the wedding.

Alright. I've expressed a lot of annoyance about April's plot lines in the past, and I think, oddly, that's because they weren't getting enough attention. Now that the plot has a chance to breathe and develop a bit, I found myself enjoying it. The stuff with Matthew and Jackson was great. I don't like love triangles, but I do like the awkwardness developing between these two men. April's sister's were really obnoxious (intentionally, I believe), and it was enormously satisfying to see April take them down a few pegs. My one hang up is this: it's really silly to believe a woman as beautiful as April was ever an "ugly duckling." I mean, seriously? The girl is flawless.

Elementary: Tremors (2x10)

You know, ordinarily I hate episodes like this one, where it's all told in flashbacks and we're not given all of the information at the beginning simply for shock value. But... surprisingly... I loved this episode. Once again, Elementary has surprised me by doing something new and fresh with an idea I've seen several times.

The framing device of this episode is that Sherlock must testify at a hearing to determine whether or not he and Joan can continue working with the NYPD. Why should such a question come up? Well, when working on a case, Sherlock provoked a man who then attempted to shoot him. Bell jumped in front of the gun, and is severely injured.

In all honesty, that's pretty much all you need to know about the plot. The case isn't one of those super memorable ones, although it did have some interesting elements, such as a guy with schizophrenia who believes he is a knight who has been forced to kill his queen... later it turns out that the victim (ostensibly murdered by the "knight") was in fact dying anyway, and that she took money out against her own life insurance policy in order to try for an experimental cure. The guy who shot Bell was actually not involved in the murder - he was a viable suspect, but he turned out to be innocent. On the way to finding that out, however, Sherlock had managed to antagonize the guy and accidentally outed him as an ex-con who broke his parole. He was thus fired and sent back to jail. In his anger about this, he tried to kill Sherlock, and that's how Bell got injured.

Modern Family: The Big Game (5x09)

As I know I've said a thousand times before, episodes of shows like this one generally work really well when they have a unifying theme. This week, it was a big football game. Honestly, this episode was one of those ones that had me shrugging at the end of it. There were things I liked, things I didn't like, and most of it just chilled out somewhere in the middle. So, despite the fact that I like plots with unifying events, this one is sorta... "meh" to me.

Let us begin.

Cam is very excited for the upcoming football game because if he wins, he'll have won more games in his first year than any coach at the school. As the team gets ready to play, Cam asks Luke to be the announcer because the normal guy is out sick. Just before the game, Cam and the team learn that their opposition's coach has just died, and that they are playing in his honor. Despite this, Cam is still determined to win. It's a close game, and at the very end it's up to Manny to make a final kick to win the game. He makes it, sealing their victory, but later in a conversation with Cam, Manny reveals that he meant to miss the point. Cam tells Manny it's okay to feel competitive and be proud of winning sometimes.

Supernatural: Holy Terror (9x09)

I actually waited a few days before writing this review on purpose. Usually, I get them out late because I'm busy, but in the case of this one, I actually waited until I had cooled down, and felt I could talk about it rationally, rather than just flailing and yelling and crying and virtually punching things. Now that I'm in a better frame of mind, let's talk about Supernatural's mid-season finale.

First, the plot. A lot was going on here. Maybe too much, actually, but I'll get to that in a second.

So, the main plot centers around a civil war between the different factions of angels at war on earth. On one side, you've got Bartholomew, and on the other Malachi. Each of these angels are leading a group intent on taking over Heaven. Each side is slaughtering the other, and Sam and Dean pick up a lead. When they get there to investigate, they find Cas already on the case. Ezekiel, unhappy about being around so many angels, and especially Cas, forces Dean to send Cas away, which of course breaks everyone's hearts.

So, Cas is a bit lost and confused and alone, so he tries to pray. Unfamiliar with the process from the human side, at first it doesn't seem to work, but he then receives a visit from Muriel, an angel who is attempting to stay out of everybody's fighting. She's scared to see him, because obviously Castiel could attract a lot of unwanted attention. Turns out, Muriel was right to be afraid - Malachi and some angel named Theo show up and kidnap Cas and Muriel. They attempt to force Cas to give up information about Metatron's spell. Cas is tortured, and Muriel is killed while they are trying to make him talk. Cas of course continually says all he can say - he didn't know what Metatron's plans are, and he's just as clueless as the rest of them as to how to get back into Heaven. When Malachi leaves the room, Theo reveals that he wants to defect from Malachi's side and join Metatron. Cas plays along for a moment, pretending he has pull with Metatron, and thus tricks Theo into letting him go. Cas steals Theo's grace and escapes.

How I Met Your Mother: The Rehearsal Dinner (9x12)

Okay, How I Met Your Mother. I think we need to have a talk. Stop. Doing. Fake-out. Plots. Robin and Barney's relationship has already had a fake-out proposal, a fake-out bachelor party, and now a fake-out rehearsal dinner? Really? Tacking on a "surprise!" to the end of your episodes does not automatically make them good.

Argh. As you might be able to tell, the premise of this episode pissed me off. That being said, I thought the execution was actually rather good. In know, confusing, right? I'm having a hard time deciding what to rate this episode. As a self-contained plot, it had a lot of fun surprises, good jokes, and a few genuinely sweet moments. But having watched the rest of this show, I was just annoyed at the recycling of this plot line. Let's take a look...

The episode is told in flashback (a flashback within the larger flashback of the show, I suppose). Barney is handcuffed in a laser tag security office, with an angry Robin nearby lamenting that their rehearsal dinner was supposed to have started ten minutes ago. We then go back and see how the two of them got there. Barney narrates the story to an increasingly irate Robin and a disgruntled security guard.

Once Upon a Time: Save Henry (3x09)

This week's episode is called "Save Henry," but it might more accurately have been called "Regina is a bad ass who gets shit done." Maybe that's a rather wordy title, and "Save Henry" perhaps has a better ring to it. But seriously, Regina was kicking all sorts of ass in this episode, and I am very happy that we got a chance to shine a spotlight on her character. Before I even talk about the plot, though, I want to make one thing clear.

Regina. Is. A. Villain. Sure, she's a complicated villain. Yes, she has a tragic back story. Yes, I do believe she has the capacity to genuinely care for the people in her life, especially Henry. But guess what? Loving your son does not give you a free pass for all the other horrible things you have done! Including horrible things to Henry himself, of course! While Regina's actions are justifiable from a character standpoint, I in no way think she's one of the good guys. Hell, in this episode she actually explicitly states that she doesn't regret the curse or anything else that she's done! That's pretty messed up. I just wanted to start my review off this way because I'm going to be spending a considerable amount of time gushing about how awesome Regina is in this episode, and I wanted to make it clear that just because she was a bad ass here, that does not excuse her actions as a character in general.

Alright! Now that I've gotten that little rant out of the way, onto the plot! I'll start with the flashback stuff. First of all, we see Regina and Rumple talking just before the curse is enacted. Rumple warns that Regina will always feel a hole in heart, and that revenge will not be enough for her. Regina ignores his warning.

The Mentalist: My Blue Heaven (6x09)

I don't know what to think about this episode of The Mentalist. It was just so... not like The Mentalist! But I don't actually think that's a bad thing. I'm not sure if a procedural cop show has ever been so daring in changing up the game like this. There was no crime of the week at all, really. And since we've finished our really long Red John A-plot, this really is like hitting a reset button on the whole show. I'll take you through what happened, and then I'll talk a bit about it. Ultimately, I'll just say upfront, I think this episode worked really, really well. There were, as always, a few things I would have liked to see go differently, but this one gets a high rating from me.

Two years have passed since Jane killed Red John, and he has been hiding out on an island where he's safe from the hands of the law. He spends time with a woman, Kim Fischer, and loosens up a bit. Abbot shows up on the island and offers Jane a job with the FBI. If he accepts, all the charges against him will be dropped. Jane says yes, but only if Abbot agrees to certain terms. For example, he will be a free man - no parole. Also, he will work with Lisbon. Abbot pretends to agree, but once they get back on US soil, he gives his own terms - Jane will report directly to him, and there will be parole. It also turns out that Kim is an FBI agent, and she was playing Jane. Jane does not agree to Abbot's terms, and he's taken to a detention center.

The rest of the team have settled in to new lives - Cho now works with Abbot at the FBI; Rigsby and Van Pelt have started a private security company, and they have a kid! Yay! Lisbon is now a police chief in a small town, and while she seems to have moved on with her life, she still receives letters from Jane. In fact, the letters are how Abbot managed to track him down. There's also another little subplot on the island where Jane is staying. A drug lord is looking to make a deal, but Jane has Abbot take him in, thus saving the little island community from the evil influence of this man.

The Walking Dead: Too Far Gone (4x08)

Now we're talking. Wow. Stuff happened in this episode. Like woah. Let's go through the plot, and then I'll squeal about the awesomeness that was this episode. Of course, I wouldn't be me if I didn't have a few complaints as well, but to be honest, this episode kicked some major ass. Here we go!

So, the Governor has captured Michonne and Hershel. He talks to the rest of the people in his group, and discusses his plan to take the prison. Most everybody agrees, although Lilly is nervous about it. The Governor tells Lilly that he doesn't care about anyone in the prison, and that he'll do whatever it takes to survive and to get Lilly and Meghan somewhere safe. Lilly and Meghan stay behind while the Governor and the others go to enact their plans. Michonne and Hershel, as prisoners, are taken just outside of the prison. Hershel continually insists that there's another way, and that the two groups of people can find a way to work together. The Governor refuses to listen.

At the prison, we see our main group still recuperating after the recent illness. The Governor and the rest of his people show up outside of the gate and give Rick an ultimatum - get out of the prison by sundown, or Michonne and Hershel will be killed, and the rest of the prison will be subjected to the Governor's superior weaponry and manpower. Rick tries to talk some sense into the Governor (yeah, I don't know why he thought that would work), and then tries to appeal to the others, especially Tara. He says that if they put down their weapons, they can come join the prison and be a part of the group. While there is a bit of discomfort expressed by the Governor's group, ultimately they hold firm. While all of this discussion is happening, Daryl has been surreptitiously arming everyone (Maggie, Beth, Tyreese, Sasha, Carl, etc.) in case a shootout begins. And then...

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Repairs (1x09)

It seems like we're going through and doing a character episode for each of our six leads. A few weeks back we had Simmons, then Fitz, then Ward, and now this week we get to look a bit closer at May. I'm happy that they're doing this, as slowly but surely I'm feeling a stronger connection to these characters. While I don't love them as much as I love some of Whedon's others, I think we're getting somewhere here. Hopefully the momentum continues to pick up over the rest of this first season. Let's look at the plot.

A woman name Hannah Hutchins is believed to have telekinetic powers, after an explosion killed some technicians at her company. The team brings Hannah aboard, but when the plane makes an unscheduled and very frightening landing, the team learns that Hannah isn't the one responsible for all of these accidents. Instead, one of the workers from Hannah's company, named Tobias, is trapped between this world and what he believes to be Hell. It turns out that he caused the first big accident by purposefully messing up the equipment so he could spend time with Hannah. Now, he is targeting people who are trying to hurt Hannah, which includes Coulson and the rest of the team. With May's help, Hannah tells Tobias to stop hurting people, and he disappears.

So, the plot was pretty tight and well contained, which I've found can only be a good thing with this show. Some of their problems often come from overstretching their narrative and trying to do too much all at once. When they stick to smaller stories, it generally works okay. That's not to say that there weren't some stumbles along the way... in the summary above, I really just stuck to the bare bones of the plot, which doesn't include much in the way of our main characters' involvement. And that's part of the problem - this story didn't actually have very much to do with the team. There was a lot of character development for May, and even for Ward and Skye as well, but the development didn't mesh very well with the case itself. This disconnect made it difficult to care about Hannah and her story while at the same time continuing to care about Coulson and the team.

Supernatural: Rock and a Hard Place (9x08)

Oh god this is so late, sorry. I'm gonna be depressingly brief, especially given that this is an episode of Supernatural, and usually I like to ramble on about these. The plot is a basic one, straight out of an earlier season of this show.

Jody Mills calls up the Winchester boys to investigate a bunch of missing persons cases. Sam and Dean find out that these people all have something in common - they go to the same church. Not only that, but the girls have all taken a chastity vow. Sam and Dean think that maybe dragons are the culprit, given that it's taking virgins. They need to get closer to the situation, so the two boys take a purity pledge and go to one of the meetings. There, Dean meets a girl named Suzy. While Sam and Jody continue research, Dean goes home with Suzy and discovers that she's one of his favorite porn stars. The two of them have sex. Only now there's a problem - Sam and Jody have just figured out that they're hunting Vesta, Roman goddess of the hearth. She's taking virgins who have broken their oaths, which now means Dean and Suzy are in danger.

Dean and Suzy are taken by Vesta, and they are dumped underground with all of the other missing people. Sam and Jody find out where they are based on a phone call from Dean that kept cutting out, but luckily Sam managed to hear the sound of a whistle. While there, Vesta attacks Jody and Sam. She stabs Jody, and then goes for Sam. Jody manages to kill Vesta with a special stake, but not before Vesta reveals to Sam that he is seriously internally damaged. Jody is okay, despite the stabbing, and she says goodbye to the boys. Sam talks to Dean about what Vesta said, wondering if he's always going to be messed up. Dean doesn't want him to deal with that, so he starts to tell Sam about Ezekiel, but Zeke himself steps in and stops Dean from doing so.

How I Met Your Mother: Bedtime Stories (9x11)

Alright, it’s 25 hours until the wedding. I really enjoyed this particular installment, as it focused on Marshall in some ways, but also provided a lot of flashback material. I’ve talked before about how I ultimately really enjoy the idea of having the entire season take place over one weekend, but that at the same time, some variety is needed in some places. In this episode, we got it, in more ways than one.

The plot is as follows: Marshall and Marvin are on the bus on their way to Farhampton Inn. Marshall speaks in rhymes to Marvin to keep him quiet, since the rhymes make him tired. He discovers that Marvin’s Mother Goose book is missing, so he has to improvise rhymes in order to appease Marvin and the rest of the bus, all of whom don’t want to listen to Marvin’s crying. The framing device just constitutes Marshall telling Marvin three different short stories about his friends. Gus, a passenger on the bus, helps out with the occasional rhyme. Then, a blown tire on the bus forces the group to wait for aid. Marshall, upon learning that Farhampton is only five miles away, decides to try walking. Ted, in his narration, reveals that Marshall would live to regret that decision.

The three stories are as follows:

Castle: The Good, the Bad and the Baby (6x10)

Time for a super short review, because I’m tired and bored of writing and yeah. I’ll touch on the plot briefly and then discuss what I thought. I’ll start with this, though: this was an average episode. Average in terms of plot, characterization, jokes, all of it. Nothing about it really stands out as particularly special, or particularly bad. I pretty much instantly forgot what happened in this episode the minute I stopped watching. Let’s take a look.

So, Castle and Beckett are involved in a case that begins with a man stumbling into a church carrying a baby boy. The man dies, and the team can’t figure out who the baby belongs to. As the case continues, we learn that their victim is an ex-con, and that he’s involved in a lottery scam. Someone involved with the lottery is also involved – her husband and child had been kidnapped by the victim’s people. The victim, it turns out, had been forced into all of this, and tried to help the husband and the child, which is what got him killed. The team returns the baby to his mother, and her husband is safe as well. They get the bad guys, and all is well.

During the episode, Castle and Beckett have to care for the baby because it’s Thanksgiving weekend and there’s nowhere else for him to go. Although it’s very hard work, they manage to work together and succeed. They discuss having kids of their own someday. Beckett is tricked into participating in a fake Castle family tradition, as she dresses up as Pocahontas for Thanksgiving. Castle, Alexis, and Martha all laugh at her, but it turns out she has a costume for Castle to wear as well, so she gets her comeuppance.

The Mentalist: Red John (6x08)

This is the Red John episode we've been building up to for over five seasons. There's a part of me that wants to bitch and moan about how anticlimactic the whole thing was, but at the same time, I think it was sort of fitting for the show. Don't get me wrong, I'm still sort of annoyed, but I'm also satisfied. I have a feeling of completion and I feel like Jane has that too, and ultimately that was always the most important part of catching Red John. Let's talk about the plot before I get into some more analysis of the conclusion to such an important story arc.

The FBI is hunting for Bertram, whom everyone believes to be Red John. They are also keeping a close eye on Lisbon, Van Pelt, Rigsby, and Cho. Everyone says they don't know where Jane is, although it turns out Lisbon is lying. Bertram calls Jane from a payphone in a gas station, and when he is recognized, he and a bodyguard kill people in the gas station. Bertram calls Jane back later and after Jane finds a new phone to use, they make a plan to meet at the cemetery where Jane's wife and child are buried. Jane tries to get to the meeting spot, but the FBI catch up with him. Lisbon and the rest of the team show up and force the FBI to stand down by threatening them with a shootout. Jane manages to escape in Lisbon's car, which he later ditches, and then he hitchhikes to the meeting with Bertram. Meanwhile, the team is arrested and kept in a Fed car while the FBI tries to figure out how to track down Jane.

The Legend of Korra: Light in the Dark (2x14)

It's the finale! I separated this from the first half, because while technically you can sort of look at it all as one episode, so many things happened that I wanted to split it up to make sure I got a chance to look at it all. And there's a lot going on in this final episode. What works well about it is that it's all a very tight interconnected story. Everything connects to everything else. There aren't really any subplots or multiple parallel plots - it's all one big story in which most of the characters play an active role. That being said, this finale wasn't perfect. It had quite a few moments that I didn't enjoy, and we'll have to talk about those.

Tenzin, Bumi, and Kya find Korra, Bolin, and Mako, all of them badly injured. With the help of Spirit Water, Kya heals them. Korra tells everyone what happened with Unalaq and Vaatu, and reveals that her connection to Raava and to her past lives is gone. This means that Korra is the last Avatar! Korra needs to help save the world from Unalaq and Vaatu, but she isn't sure how, now that her connection is gone. Tenzin tells Korra that she needs to find her own personal Spirit, and that she'll be able to save the day that way. In order to get in tune with her Spirit, she goes to meditate under a special tree in the Spirit World, called the Tree of Time. She connects with her Spirit, which manifests itself as a large blue Spirit Giant, which then goes off to confront Vaatu/Unalaq.

Meanwhile, Vaatu/Unalaq has been terrorizing Republic City. We see President Raiko, General Iroh, and Lin Beifong trying to fight him off. During all of the chaos, Varrick escapes from prison. Blue Spirit Korra shows up, and she does battle with the giant Balrog - I mean, uh... Unalaq. The two of them have an epic fight, and just when it looks like Unalaq might have the upper hand, Jinora shows up. She guides Korra to the faint light of Raava inside of Vaatu, and Korra is able to retrieve the Spirit of Light. With her renewed power, she defeats Vaatu (for the time being) and Unalaq dies.

Parenthood: Election Day (5x09)

Alright, it's finally Election Day. And that means that finally one of the stupidest plots on Parenthood ever has come to an end. Kristina will not be Mayor, which I'm happy about. Let's take a look at all of the different plots. To be honest, I don't have a very firm opinion about this episode. Some things seemed to work really well, but when I step back and look at the plot as a whole, there was a lot of simply ugly, bad behavior in this episode. People did things that they really shouldn't have done, and it made it hard for me to sympathize and feel connections to some of these beloved characters.

Let's start with Amber and Ryan. So, Amber gets to record demo backup vocals for one of the band's songs, and they end up loving it so much that they're going to use it in their actual album. Amber is really excited, and they all go out for drinks. However, Ryan knew that Amber was getting off early from work, and thought that they had made plans to spend time together. When he calls Amber and she answers drunk, he comes to pick her up. Ashes of Rome's drummer (I think he's the drummer... eh) has been a bit flirty with Amber, and when Ryan witnesses this he goes ballistic, beating up on the guy. In the end, we see Amber at the police station as Zeek shows up to comfort her.

The Legend of Korra: Darkness Falls (2x13)

Again, this episode was just go, go, go. And I loved that. There were a few things that didn't quite make sense to me in here, but I'll get to that in a minute.

So, it's Korra vs. Vaatu, while Mako and Bolin try to keep Unalaq busy just outside of the Spirit World. However, Desna and Eska show up and trap Mako and Bolin, allowing Unalaq to escape. In the Spirit World, he fuses with Vaatu and becomes a Dark Avatar. Korra and Unalaq have an epic fight in their Avatar States. Meanwhile, Bolin uses his connection with Eska to trick the twins into freeing them. They go into the Spirit World to try and help Korra, but to no avail. Unalaq/Vaatu manages to draw Raava out of Korra and destroy her, thus cutting Korra's connections to past Avatars. Unalaq becomes more powerful than ever, and as Harmonic Convergence is hitting, we see the entire world affected by Unalaq's dark power.

Meanwhile, Tenzin, Bumi and Kya are trying to look for Jinora. They come across Iroh, who tells them that they should get out of the Spirit World, because it might not be safe. Of course they can't listen to his advice, because they need to find Jinora. The three of them are captured by a Spirit and taken to a dangerous Spirit Fog called the Fog of Lost Souls, that drives people mad with their insecurities. Bumi and Kya both soon succumb to it, but Tenzin gets a visit from Aang and manages to repel the Fog. Jinora is there, and although she is happy to see her father, she says she can't leave the Spirit World yet, since she sense that Korra needs her help.

The Walking Dead: Dead Weight (4x07)

Another Governor based episode, and therefore another episode that I didn't enjoy. I don't really think this is the show's fault, entirely... the episode was still well acted, the story was good for the most part... but we left our prison group in such a precarious place that I just want to know what's going on there, instead of focusing on a character that really only works as a villain, not as a focus.

Basically, in this one the Governor, Meghan, Lilly, and Tara are taken in by Martinez and his group. Everyone sort of settles in, as Lilly acts as a nurse for hurt people in the camp, and Tara finds herself a girlfriend, Alisha. The Governor, however, doesn't think the camp is safe, and doesn't want any reminders of his old life. He kills Martinez and then later Pete. The Governor takes control of the group. An incident with a Walker nearly costs Meghan her life, but the Governor manages to stop it in time. The Governor then takes a car and drives to the prison. He sees Carl and Rick gardening, and then sees Michonne and Hershel outside of the gates. Seeing Michonne reminds the Governor of some rather unpleasant stuff, and the episode ends as he aims his gun at her.

Parks and Recreation: The Cones of Dunshire (6x09)

Quickest review ever! Go go go!

Leslie wants to get construction under way on her park, but that involves coming to a compromise with Jamm, who wants to wait until Leslie is out of office and then use the funds for something else. Chris can't officially be on Leslie's side, but he comes with her to act as referee. Leslie and Chris end up spending the weekend with Jamm, doing crazy things like singing karaoke from Grease, eating scrambled eggs chopped into fine bits ("authentic" Japanese food, says Jamm), and more. In the end, Jamm says that the funds will be frozen for a year, and if the economy holds, the park can be made. Leslie isn't happy with this. She wanted to start right away, because she hoped that seeing the park built would convince Ann to stay. Chris reveals that he and Ann have already signed a lease on a new house away from Pawnee. 

Doctor Who: The Day of the Doctor (50th Anniversary Special)

I don't know how I'm going to do a proper review of this thing, because it's hard to talk about like it's a TV show. It's a movie, is what it is. A short movie. But, yeah. I guess I'm just going to start by saying that I really loved this. I was enjoying myself the whole way through, and I came out of it with almost entirely positive impressions. Once I got to thinking about it, I did have a few qualms, but in spirit and in tone, Doctor Who's 50th Anniversary did exactly what it needed to do. It respected the past, but it looked to the future. I was pleasantly surprised by how much this episode serves as a spring board into a new fresh version of the show. Even with Moffat still running things next year, I'm starting to be hopeful that he might genuinely have a new direction to take things.

Yeah. The Moffat thing. Let's talk about that for a moment, shall we? I don't like the man. Like, as a person. He's said some pretty awful things, and I hate the way he writes women, generally. However, as a storyteller and as a creator, he often knows what he's doing. I know I've probably rambled on about him in previous reviews, but just briefly I must say that I think he's strongest in self-contained episodes. When he does overarching plots, they aren't as good to me. That's one of the main reasons why I think Series Five, Six, and Seven feel less in the spirit of Doctor Who than the Russel T. Davis stuff. But luckily, this 50th Anniversary was a self-contained story. In many ways it stretched through all of the show, and even into the future, but in other ways it was a story that exists independently of what came before and what's to come after. Ultimately, I think that may have been one of its biggest strengths.

But let's take a look at this story, shall we? The Doctor and Clara are all set for an average adventure, when suddenly the TARDIS is picked up by a helicopter. They are being taken to Trafalgar Square by UNIT. There, they meet with Kate Stewart. This was an excellent opening. It showed off our current companion and current Doctor, gave them a chance to showcase their close relationship, and had a fun adventure with the Doctor hanging off of the TARDIS. It also brought back Kate, a character we've seen before, and returned us to the concept of UNIT, which hasn't been around in a while. In all, I thought it was a fun way to start things off. Simple, with the promise of bigger stakes right around the corner.

The Vampire Diaries: Dead Man on Campus (5x08)

A lot of stuff happened in this episode, continuing the trend for busy and crowded episodes from last week. I think what this one lacks that last week had is connection. A lot of things were going on, but the plot threads were very disjointed. I don't know who I'm supposed to be focusing on. New twists are introduced, but old ones linger and seem to take up too much time. Let's go through the plot, shall we?

Bonnie is back from the dead (sort of) and Caroline and Elena want to throw her a party. Jeremy is happy to have Bonnie back, too. However, Bonnie has to deal with being the anchor, meaning that whenever a supernatural being dies, she feels them go through her, and it causes excruciating pain. Regardless, Bonnie is happy to be alive again.

Jesse escapes from Wes and goes to Caroline for help. Caroline and Elena teach him about being a vampire. At Bonnie's party, Caroline and Jesse dance and have a good flirtatious time. Meanwhile, Elena talks to Aaron. Aaron reveals that he too lost his parents, and that Wes is his legal guardian, and also the closest thing he has to family. This revelation is slightly concerning to Elena, who knows that Damon is currently trying to force information out of Wes about why he turned Jesse into a vampire. Elena calls Damon to make sure that he won't kill Wes. Things go wrong when Jesse realizes that he's drawn to Caroline's blood. Wes reveals to Damon that Jesse had been genetically altered to crave vampire blood instead of human blood. When Jesse shows up to confront Wes, he is irresistably drawn to Damon's blood, and he attacks him. Apparently, Jesse has also been altered to be stronger than a new vampire would ordinarily be. Elena has to kill Jesse to save Damon. Damon later learns from Wes about the Augustine organization, and Damon remembers something about it from his past. It is revealed that at one point he was involved with the organization in some way. Wes manages to overpower Damon with Vervain. Damon is then seen in a cage, where his initials are carved into the wall.

The Big Bang Theory: The Thanksgiving Decoupling (7x09)

This Thanksgiving themed episode lacked a lot of the magic that usually comes from special holiday episodes of shows. It was basic, had some decent jokes, but it also had a lot of stupid moments and poorly developed threads. Let's take a look at the plot.

Howard invites everyone over to his house for Thanksgiving with his mother. While the group is initially hesitant, they all agree to go. The day is almost ruined, however, when Penny mentions how she and Zack got married at one of those "fake" chapels in Las Vegas at a previous Thanksgiving. The group then tells her that the marriage was real. Leonard is understandably a bit upset that his girlfriend is married, but he handles it poorly, making Penny feel terrible about her mistake.

At the Wolowitz house, the cooking falls to Raj. Bernadette and Amy are supposed to help, but they are much more caught up in the gossip about Penny and Zack. Howard is forced to spend time with his father-in-law, who ends up bonding with Sheldon over football and beer, and totally ignores Howard. Penny then invites Zack over to sign the annulment papers, and Leonard is mad that he's actually going to be there on Thanksgiving. However, they sign the papers after some hesitation from the dimwitted Zack. As everyone sits down to dinner, a drunk Mike (Bernadette's dad) tells Howard that he's not the worst son-in-law, and Howard is pleased. Penny and Leonard, who have been fighting throughout the episode, finally make up, as Penny apologizes for marrying Zack, and Leonard apologizes for the way he reacted to it.

Elementary: On the Line (2x09)

I'm falling behind on these things! This one's going to be a quick one, my apologies. This week on Elementary, we're pulling back from the crazy Mycroft-related shenanigans of the last two episodes and getting more of your typical case-of-the-week. However, as is often the case with this show, they found a way to keep it fresh and interesting.

The episode starts with our victim, Samantha Wabash, faking her own murder. She shoots herself with a gun tied to a weight that then fell into the water while she fell back from the railing of a bridge and onto the ground. Sherlock immediately figures out that it was an elaborate suicide, and they put together that she was trying to frame a man for her death. When Sherlock sees this man, however, he realizes that he should have allowed Samantha to frame him. Sherlock is fairly certain that this man is a serial killer. Lucas Bundsch was a suspect in Samantha's sister's murder years ago, but he was never linked to the crime.

Sherlock and Joan are now on a mission to catch a serial killer who has managed to keep himself out of trouble for years. It takes quite a while, but eventually they manage to find where he keeps his victims before he kills them. The murderer is aprehended. Along the way, Sherlock and Joan's process is impeded by the cop who worked Samantha's sister's case years back. Sherlock thinks he's an incompetent moron, and makes no secret of it. That of course makes it rather difficult to work with the man. Joan expresses her annoyance at Sherlock's behavior, telling him that he needs to try and be nicer, because it could ultimately help them with their cases. Sherlock tells Joan that he makes a special effort to be nice to her because he finds her to be exceptional, but he is not, as a rule, a nice person, and she shouldn't expect him to change.

Grey's Anatomy: Somebody That I Used to Know (10x10)

Let's dive right in, since we've got a bunch of different plot threads to get to.

Christina and Meredith are still fighting because of the printer. Christina and Shane's plans continue to get more complex, as they try to print a conduit for a dying child. This results in them needing to use the printer for longer, but Meredith is not having it. She tells Christina that it's over, and that she needs the printer back, but Shane then yells at Meredith, defending Christina. Christina, who had been looking for a "human sex toy," then kisses Shane. While all of this is going on, Meredith is planning thanksgiving dinner at her house. What started off small turns into a big event, which Emma, Owen's girlfriend, is going to cook for everyone. The issue of inviting Christina is brought up, but although Owen and Emma both say it's fine if she comes, it doesn't look like Meredith will be inviting her.

The good: I do like the tension between Christina and Meredith. It makes for interesting conflict. I had some problems with how they handled it earlier on, but in this episode I think they struck a good balance of showing how ruthless these two women can be when it comes to their careers. Now that their careers are directly at odds with their friendship, it's heartbreaking to see how they've chosen. I also liked the thanksgiving thing, as I think it's hilarious that Emma is suddenly stuck cooking for such a large group. If I had one complaint it's that I would have loved to actually see this thanksgiving dinner. It would have been quite entertaining.

Parks and Recreation: Fluoride (6x08)

What a fun episode. It gave Tom a chance to shine, which was greatly appreciated after the fact that he lost his business in the last episode. Let's take a look at the different plots.

The main plot involved, as the title would suggest, fluoride. Leslie wants to put fluoride in the town's water supply, and she decides to pass through a bill about it before she's officially kicked out of office. However, Jamm once again tries to block her efforts. His reason behind this is because he's a dentist, and cavities are good for business. Fluoride would be beneficial for the health of the town, but Jamm uses fear mongering to make the town refuse to let fluoride into the water supply. Leslie turns to Tom for help. He decides that the only way to get fluoride to be accepted is to make it extremely appealing. Tom re-brands, calling fluoride T'Dazz and getting the town excited about that. But, the plan backfires. Sweetums comes out with a new product called "Drink 'Ems," which is basically water filled with sugar. Leslie attacks "Drink 'Ems," and in retaliation, Ben gets fired from Sweetums.

Modern Family: ClosetCon '13 (5x08)

This episode gets a shrug from me. One of the plot lines was really funny, while the other two were just your basic sitcom fare. Let's take a look at each in turn.

Claire and Jay go to a closet convention, hence the title. Claire is new to the convention thing, and she's excited to attend all the panels and participate in the activities. Jay says that all the real work gets done at the bar. In addition, Jay meets up with an old friend Rita and he wants to pull a traditional prank on Claire. The plan is to put a skeleton in Claire's closet in the hotel to scare her. The two of them also have another secret - apparently years and years ago Jay tried to get rid of Phil by having Rita offer him a job out of state. Claire, however, mishears and believes that Jay and Rita had had an affair. Later in the night, Claire tries to confront her father about the affair, and Jay lets slip the truth about Phil. However, Jay then brings up the fact that Claire apparently called immigration on Gloria when she had first started dating Jay. Jay admits that he and Rita made out once, several years ago. With all the air cleared between them, they go to sleep. Claire brings the skeleton home and tries to scare Phil, but he is not fooled.

The Legend of Korra: Harmonic Convergence (2x12)

Lots of action in this one, and I’m thrilled. Seriously, after last week’s great display of Earth Bending from Bolin, I was worried they’d pull back again. Instead, they’re rushing full steam ahead into the finale, and I couldn’t be more pleased. Let’s take a look at the plot.

Korra and the gang all travel to the South, and they learn from Korra’s mother that Tonraq has been captured, and that Southern resistance to Unalaq is completely squashed. Tenzin brings the dying Jinora to Katara, who tries to help her. Jinora’s spirit has been out of her body for too long, and she won’t last much longer. Since Harmonic Convergence is swiftly approaching, Korra and the rest of them plan a daring attack in order to get to the spirit portal.

This attack is two pronged: Bolin, Mako, and Asami take a plane from Varrick’s ship, while Korra, Kya, Bumi, and Tenzin all ride a flying bison. However, things don’t go so well. At first, Asami flies the plane while Mako and Bolin do some awesome Bending and take out a lot of the Northern guards. Then, however, Desna and Eska take the plane down. The others fare similarly, and all of them are captured. All of them, that is, except for Bumi. He was thrown off of the bison earlier, and remains out of Northern hands.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: The Well (1x08)

This was supposed to a tie-in to Thor: The Dark World. It wasn't. Really, this episode had nothing to do with the movie. Nothing at all. There was a brief mention of cleanup at the beginning, and Thor was brought up numerous times. Asgard ended up playing an important role, actually. But in terms of his actual relationship to Thor: The Dark World? Yeah, not so much. I suppose I'm harping on this because they really built it up like it was going to be a companion to the movie. However, even setting that stuff aside, I think there was a lot about this episode that made it weaker than the previous few. Two weeks ago, the episode focused on Simmons. Last week, we got to take a closer look at Fitz. This week, it's Ward's turn. Here's the plot!

While cleaning up after the events of the Thor movie, the team comes across a problem involving an Asgardian Berserker Staff, which infects anyone who touches it with extreme anger and extreme strength. The staff, according to Norse myth, has been split into three pieces and hidden around the world by a particular Berserker warrior who wanted to stay on earth. One part of the staff has been found by some sort of weird Norse radical group, and they are going around proclaiming themselves gods. The team goes to Spain to speak to Professor Elliot Randolf, and there they find the second piece of the staff. When Ward touches it, he gains the strength and anger that it bestows upon the holder. This really messes him up, and he continually gets flashbacks of a traumatizing incident from his childhood. This incident involves a well, hence the title, and it seems as if his little brother has been thrown down by his older brother, and Ward is trying to help. The flashbacks are a bit vague, and the whole story is never revealed to us.

Supernatural: Bad Boys (9x07)

Okay, to start off... yeah, this episode gave me a lot of feelings. A lot and a lot and a lot of feelings. And I will spend part of this review squealing about them to you, but there are other things to discuss, such as story arc and acting of guest characters and other stuff of that nature. But don't worry. I'll be talking about all of the gushy emotions this episode incited within me. Because wow, really.

Let's go through the plot. Sam and Dean get a call from a man named Sonny, who Dean says he knows from his past. He then tells Sam the following story: when they were kids, Dean lost the food money John had left for them, and when he tried to steal food to feed Sam, he was caught and put in a boy's home. He stayed there for two months, while Sam stayed with Bobby, believing all the while that Dean was on a hunt. So, Sam and Dean go up to this boy's home to meet with Sonny and investigate the situation.

Now, the hunt of the week was basically just a good ol' ghost story. People were getting injured in creative ways, such as an old tractor suddenly roaring to life and impaling someone, or a lawnmower cutting someone's hands to ribbons. One woman gets suffocated with a shower curtain. Sam and Dean are on the case, and they encounter a couple of different people. One is a little boy named Timmy, who gets bullied by the other boys and is always alone with his action figure toy. Sam figures out due to some of Timmy's drawings that his mom died in a car fire, and he thus puts it together that the ghost must be Timmy's mom. Sam and Dean must get rid of the ghost while protecting Robin, Dean's old girlfriend. Eventually, they learn that the ghost isn't tied to any material object or deceased remains - she's tied to Timmy. Timmy has to let his mom go and tell her that he'll be okay without her. When the ghost hears this, she is finally at peace.

Castle: Disciple (6x09)

I thoroughly enjoyed this episode. It was creepy, it was intense, and it made me excited for the extended story line of the season for the first time since Beckett left her DC job. Let's go through the plot.

Our murder victim was found strung up by clear fishing line, her feet just above the ground. That gave the illusion that she was just standing on the ground, rather than actually hanged. That's not the only thing that makes this victim creepy: she looks just like Lanie. As the team starts to look into the case, we learn that the victim has gotten plastic surgery to make her look more like Lanie, and even has a tattoo identical to Lanie's. As the investigation continues, the team is led to a second victim, strung up just like the first, only this one looks just like Esposito.

They find a connection in the form of a plastic surgeon (Kelly Neiman) who knew both of the victims, but she has no clear motive, and anyway she has an alibi. Castle begins to suspect that this has something to do with 3XK. Of course, everyone believes him to be dead, but when Castle and Beckett go to find the 3XK files, they find they've all been checked out... by Esposito. But wait... medical files on 3XK have been checked out by Lanie. Turns out, the lookalike victims are involved. They then track down a man named Carl Matthews, who seems to be tied up in this somehow. Where do they find him? Well, the motel where they had earlier tracked down 3XK. Seems like one hell of a coincidence. Matthews confesses to several murders, but he does not explicitly mention a connection between himself and 3XK.

How I Met Your Mother: Mom and Dad (9x10)

I think this one was okay. It had a few standout moments that I think really worked, and then a few things that I found lackluster. Overall, it wasn't particularly strong, especially since we're closing in on the halfway point very quickly, and I'd love to get going with the Mother's character. Once again, she was absent in this one, and I think it's really hurting the show at this point.

So, there are three pretty separate plots here, and they don't overlap at all. I think that might be one of the main weaknesses, since this show generally works great when there's a unifying theme. For a while, I was okay with the wedding weekend being this theme, but when you've got such different story lines weaved around the central concept, there's no sense of connection between the characters. I would have loved to see more of that. However, let's take it one plot at a time and talk about what's good and what's bad.

The main plot belonged to Barney and his brother James. When their mother and both of their fathers show up, Barney and James both campaign for their mom to get back together with their own dad. Barney's dad is of course happily married, which makes it a lot more preposterous for him to scheme about this. They both try and get their mother together with their fathers, and even have a fight about it that involves a musical number. However, they see Loretta and James' dad, Sam, kissing, and it is revealed that they have renewed their relationship. While initially upset, Barney eventually accepts it. There's more good news: Sam can officiate the marriage, so Barney and Robin now have someone to marry them!

Once Upon a Time: Think Lovely Thoughts (3x08)

I've been checking out some comprehensive family trees of this show, and let me tell ya, it's getting really twisty. Let's go through the plot very quickly. I apologize in advance for the short length of this review, even though the episode is so weighty and important, but I'm on a serious time crunch.

So, in flashback we learn the story of Rumple and his father. His dad is a gambler and a cheat, but one day two old women give little Rumple a magic bean that can take him away to a new land for a fresh start. Rumple goes to his father and his father remembers a land he used to visit in his dreams as a child. It's called Neverland. The two of them use the bean to create a portal to Neverland, and when there, Rumple's dad seems a lot more excited than Rumple himself is. However, Rumple then meets a creepy shadow, who says the only way for him to fly and use his imagination like he used to is if he becomes a kid again. And the only way to do that is to let go of his son. The shadow takes Rumple away and back to his home, while Rumple's dad becomes... Pan! The shadow tells Pan that he has broken the rules in choosing to stay in Neverland, and that his youth will not last forever.

In the continued efforts to save Henry, we now have all of our rescue team together once more. Neal tells everyone that Rumple is here to kill Henry, not save him, and although Rumple tries to profess his innocence, nobody trusts him. He hands over Pandora's Box to Neal to prove himself. He also agrees to help save David once they get off the island, since he says there is another way to counteract the poison, and this way David can come home with his family. When they all arrive at Pan's camp, they discover that Henry and Pan are nowhere to be found. They then find Wendy, who tells them that Henry's heart will save Pan and make him more powerful than ever, but if Henry gives his heart, he'll die. The group splits up - Mary Margaret and David to go fetch more water, which can keep David alive away from Neverland until Rumple makes the cure. Hook and Tink stay to watch over the boy's camp, and Rumple, Regina, Neal, and Emma go to find Henry and Pan.

The Walking Dead: Live Bait (4x06)

This is an extended flashback episode that deals with the character of the Governor. I've gotta be honest, I liked the Governor okay as a villain, and as a complex villain at that. But since I was waiting to see what would happen next at the prison, I'll admit that this episode was a bit of a letdown for me. Let's take a look at the plot.

The Governor has fled, along with two of his men, after his slaughter of the people from Woodbury. Martinez and Shumpert, the two men, eventually abandon him and leave him to fend for himself. He goes back to Woodbury and burns it, and then just wanders around aimlessly for a considerable amount of time. Eventually, he catches a glimpse of a little girl in a window. When he goes inside the building, he meets a family. Two sisters, Lilly and Tara, live there, along with their father David and Lilly's daughter Meghan.

Although Tara is wary of the Governor, the family does allow him to stay in the building. While there, at first he is extremely reticent and says he's staying just for the night. However, he does eventually spend a bit of time with the family. He tells them that his name is Brian, and he agrees to go upstairs to another apartment to get a game of backgammon for David and Meghan to play with. He manages to retrieve the game, although he finds a Walker inside the apartment. "Brian" makes to leave, but Lilly asks him for a big favor. David, the sisters' father, is dying of cancer, and he depends on oxygen tanks to live. They are running out of tanks, and Lilly asks the Governor to go to a nearby old folks home to see if he can get some more. The Governor does so, and although he is attacked by Walkers, he does manage to get two oxygen tanks back to the family. Meghan and the Governor then begin to form a bond, as she questions him about his eye patch, and he begins to teach her how to play chess. Then, Lilly comes in with bad news: David has died. David reanimates and nearly bites Tara, but the Governor manages to stop him and save her. 

The Mentalist: The Great Red Dragon (6x07)

Wow. Okay, I'm impressed. This episode did a great job pushing us forward towards next week's epic Red John episode. And... it's Bertram, right? He's Red John? One of my favorite things about this episode is that we're pretty sure it's Bertram, but there is a tiny bit of wiggle room. All of the other suspects except for Smith are dead, and Smith has confessed everything he knows. But let's slow down for a moment and take a look at the plot.

We jump in right where we left off, with the house exploding and Lisbon running in, frantically looking for Jane. We see that Smith and Bertram are still alive, and so is Jane, although he's unconscious. Lisbon sees the tattoo on Smith's shoulder and thinks he must be Red John. They shoot at each other, and Smith gets hit, though he's still able to get away.

In the hospital, Lisbon is worriedly staying by Jane's bedside. However, Bertram shows up, acting fishy. When Jane awakens, he tells her that Bertram also had the tattoo, and Lisbon figures out that Bertram was probably there to kill Jane. Jane and Lisbon rush back to the CBI to start trying to track down Smith and Bertram.

The Legend of Korra: Night of a Thousand Stars (2x11)

Stuff is happening! And I really like some of it! And I find myself annoyed with other bits of it. Let's take a look.

In Republic City, Bolin visits Mako in jail on his way to the premiere of the final Nuk Tuk "mover." Mako warns Bolin that Varrick could be up to something, but Bolin is completely certain that Mako is wrong. While at the premiere, however, men from the Northern Water Tribe appear and attempt to attack the president! Bolin saves the day, and the Water Benders admit that Varrick hired them. Varrick is jailed, and Mako is released. Korra then comes back to Republic City and tells President Raiko that Unalaq is now threatening the entire world, not just the South. Still, Raiko refuses to send troops, because he says he needs to defend the city. Team Avatar goes to talk to the newly jailed Varrick, who offers his battleship to the cause. We also see that things are going poorly in the South - Tonraq tries to attack Unalaq, but he is quickly defeated, and is now imprisoned.

The best thing about this episode was that stuff happened. It was very active, very intense, and very much a good advancement of the plot. My favorite part was when Bolin saved the president. We haven't really seen Bolin doing any Bending this season, and in fact he rarely does any Bending at all outside of the games. To see him kick ass like this was enormously satisfying. It was an amazingly animated fight.

The Vampire Diaries: Death and the Maiden (5x07)

Last week, the problem was too much exposition. This week, a lot of stuff happened. So I guess you could say that's good. But on the other hand, wow. What a crowded episode. Let's go through the plot.

So, Silas decides he no longer wants to help Damon bring Bonnie back to life. His only goal now is to find Amara and kill her, thus destroying the other side. Then he can kill himself, and they can be together in the afterlife. Amara is being kept in the Salvatore basement, where everyone attempts to keep her safe. When Bonnie discovers that Amara can see and touch her, the group comes up with a new plan: if they can turn Bonnie into the anchor, then Bonnie will be alive again, and Amara can die, just like she wants. This of course will mean that Amara and Silas will be separated for all of eternity, but our heroes don't seem to care much about that.

They turn to Qetsiyah/Tessa in order to make Bonnie the anchor. She says she needs something powerful to do the spell, and she says that doppelganger blood will do the trick. While all of this has been happening, Katherine has been staying with Caroline away at school. Nadia shows up and tries to talk to her mother, but when Caroline tells Katherine her doppelganger blood is needed, she agrees to help. Katherine tells Tessa that she's only helping because she wants something in return. She's aging quickly (according to Wes) because she's mortal now, and nature is taking its toll at an advanced rate. She wants Tessa to fix it. Tessa says she will.

Parks and Recreation: Recall Vote (6x07)

This was a very un-Halloween-ish Halloween episode. In that sense, I found some elements of it to be a tad disappointing, because I wanted more of the jokes and the situation comedy to come from the fact that it's Halloween time. Regardless, there were great things about this episode.

Leslie and the rest of the group are planning a haunted house in the Parks department. However, while they are decorating, the recall election occurs, and Leslie learns that she has been officially voted out of office. This sends her into a spiral of depression. She gives up on life, basically, and it's up to Ann and Ben to try and cheer her up. They are not successful - in fact, at the Halloween party, Ben comes to the realization that he peaked at the age of eighteen, and thus he joins Leslie in her depression. The two of them get extremely drunk, and go to a pawn shop to get tattoos. Ann stops them just in time. She has Leslie read a note in her own voice so she can start to process what happened. The note says basically as follows: "I'm Leslie Knope, I lost the recall election. But, I'm still awesome, and I still have thirty days in office to finish serving the town." Leslie gives a gracious concession speech in which she promises to keep helping out just as long as she can while she's still in office.

Parks and Recreation: Filibuster (6x06)

This was an enormously fun and clever episode. The premise was small and contained and allowed for a lot of creativity. Basically, Leslie is throwing Ben an early '90's themed birthday party at a roller rink. However, Councilman Jamm tries to pass a ruling that won't let Eagletonians vote in the recall elections, and Leslie can't let that happen. She needs those votes so she won't lose. In order to stop Jamm's ruling from going through, Leslie has to Filibuster. Ben and Chris stay to support Leslie in her endeavor. Meanwhile, at Ben's birthday party, the rest of our characters get into a variety of shenanigans.

So, I'll start by talking about the filibuster plot. Filibusters are great. They're great because they can sometimes have real historical weight behind them, and they're also great because they can lend themselves to some great comedy. In Leslie's filibuster, she has to go through a lot of obstacles. At first, she's in skates, and she uses up one of her strikes in order to take them off. Jamm turns up the heat so she will be extremely uncomfortable, and by the end she has to pee very badly. However, she does make it in the end, and the Eagletonians are allowed to vote in the recall. All of these moments were really funny, and a great chance for Leslie's character to shine through.

Supernatural: Heaven Can't Wait (9x06)

So, another Castiel episode of Supernatural has arrived! Every time I know Misha is going to be in an episode I get really excited to see him, and he did not disappoint. The plot:

Cas is now working in a gas 'n sip, and when he gets wind of some odd deaths, he calls Dean to tell him about it. Dean insists that he can check it out without Sam, so he goes to investigate. Turns out, depressed people have been exploding. Well, more than that - they've been evaporating, into a fine pink dust. Initially, Cas doesn't want to help with the case, but Dean eventually convinces him. They find another victim who has been evaporated, this time a girl who has just been dumped. Cas puts the truth together: it's an angel, a special kind call the Rit Zien. Apparently during the war in Heaven, they were responsible for putting injured angels out of their misery. Now that one of them is on earth, it can't tell the difference between different degrees of human pain, and it seeks to eliminate it all.

Meanwhile, Cas has been asked on a date by his boss, Nora, but when he shows up he learns he's just the babysitter. The Rit Zien, named Ephriam, shows up to the house, where Cas worries he's after the crying baby. It turns out, however, that he's after Castiel. His pain can be felt from far away, and Ephriam is there to end it. Cas says he wants to live, and does what he can to stop Ephriam. It looks hopeless until Dean shows up just in time, and together they kill Ephriam. Dean apologizes for kicking Cas out of the bunker, and then drops him back at work in the morning.

Elementary: Blood Is Thicker (2x08)

We have more Mycroft Holmes this week, which is all sorts of awesome. Let's take a look at the case first, because it actually didn't interest me all that much. The stuff about our main characters, however, was excellent, and the focus was well balanced. Plus, we have a very surprising twist! If you haven't seen the episode, don't read this, because I actually wouldn't dare giving away this spoiler to anyone.

So, the case started with a dead girl, and then it connected to a technology mogul who ended up being the victim's estranged father. There were some twists and turns, and the entire thing was actually motivated by money, specifically an inheritance, since the mogul was dying and the wife would make more money in an inheritance than in a divorce settlement. Actually, the whole thing was pretty basic fare. Nothing bad or uninteresting, but there's really just not much to say about the case here. I guess the little twist was okay, with the wife being the one behind it, but as motivations go, money is pretty standard and boring. We did see Joan being very helpful in solving the case, and I do like that. It's nice to continue tracking her improvement.

But then there's the rest. Mycroft is leaving New York soon, and he continually tries to make plans to have dinner with Sherlock, which Sherlock of course brushes off. Joan then tells Sherlock to spend time with his brother, and Sherlock acquiesces. While at dinner, Mycroft tells Sherlock that their father plans on kicking him out of the brownstone because he's displeased that Sherlock decided to remain in New York. The strong implication being, however, that he would continue to support Sherlock and Joan in their endeavors, were they to move to London. I now have to talk about the funniest part of the episode: Mycroft tells Sherlock that their father seems to expect Sherlock to show him gratitude for helping him get sober, and that part of that would mean returning to London. Sherlock's response to this? "Early-onset dementia is so sad." I cracked up. But anyways, Mycroft's information prompts a very emotional conversation between Sherlock and Joan, wherein Sherlock spills his heart and says that while he loves London, he is not ready to move back there, because of the amazing support system he has in New York. This system includes not only Joan but Gregson and Bell as well. Joan basically says screw your father, Sherlock, we can find somewhere else to live in New York.

Parenthood: The Ring (5x08)

I'm getting really, really, really, really fed up with the Kristina runs for mayor plot. It's just. Not. Good. Okay? And since that plot did take up a lot of the episode, you would think that the episode would be a flop. Well... no. All of the other plots were actually quite interesting, and as always the acting in this show is excellent across the board. Let's take it plot by plot, starting with the dreaded campaign for mayor.

Bob Little leaks information about Adam to the press - he once punched a man for calling Max retarded. Kristina is horrified that Bob would sink so low. The episode involves her struggling to figure out whether she should come forward with the information she has on Bob: the incident with Amber would be the perfect thing to combat negativity with negativity. Even with Amber's permission, Kristina finds she cannot go through with it. She doesn't stoop to Bob's level, but in the process she drops several points in the polls.

The Big Bang Theory: The Itchy Brain Simulation (7x08)

Not much of a fan of this one. There were a few decent jokes, but other than that not much happened.

The plot is as follows: Leonard finds an old DVD that was rented on Sheldon's account, and Sheldon tells Leonard that he won't freak out about it if he finds a way to return the DVD. The catch? He has to wear an itchy sweater while he does so, to really understand how uncomfortable Sheldon can get when things are unresolved. The video store has gone out of business and the owner has died, so Leonard tries and tries to figure out a way to solve the problem. Sheldon eventually tells Leonard that he paid the late fee seven years ago, but kept the DVD so that he could teach a lesson to Leonard some day.

Meanwhile, Raj's ex-girlfriend Lucy shows up at the restaurant, and Penny yells at her for hurting Raj. Raj and Lucy then go out for coffee, Raj hopeful that he can get back together with her. However, she is now dating someone else. Penny sets Raj up with a girl, but he messes it up by freaking out.

Grey's Anatomy: Sorry Seems to be the Hardest Word (10x09)

Sometimes these Grey's Anatomy posts really wear me out because there are so many plot lines to contend with, but this week was actually very different. The focus remained almost entirely on Callie Torres. I really, really liked this unusual format, because it gave a lot more time to focus on Callie and Arizona's characters, and the others were basically sidelined. I'd love to see some of the other characters given the same treatment in the future. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's take a look at this plot.

Callie is being sued for negligence in a case concerning a famous athlete. He came in for a hip replacement and ended up getting both legs amputated. We get a series of flashbacks that tell the story, including how Callie and Christina argued about his care, and how many risky calls Callie had to make. We also learn that Arizona and Callie were planning on having another child, but that Arizona miscarried, just adding to all of the problems in their relationship. As she goes to trial for this, at first it seems totally helpless. Callie's dad shows up, learning for the first time about Callie and Arizona's separation. Callie does end up winning the trial, but she finds a piece of information later that could have implicated her even further in the case. Callie chooses to conceal it. Following her dad's advice, Callie goes to Arizona and asks her if she wants to come back home. Arizona, in her hotel room, tells Leah that she should leave.