My Review of The Secret Circle 1.20- Traitor

The identity of the traitor is apparently revealed (and it's a doozy!), Charles finds out about Diana and confronts Blackwell, Jake contacts the witch hunters, and Adam and Melisa find out how to get their hands on the final crystal.

The traitor is apparently....NICK!  I got it about 30 seconds before the reveal when Jake found the picture of his parents.  It was a shock that I literally lost my breath over.  Having Nick be the traitor (assuming he is) is perfect.  He was possessed by a demon and died, so if he came back he might not be the same person he was before.  This will also throw the Circle into chaos.  Melisa has finally gotten to a good place after Nick's death and Jake has firmly settled himself into the Circle.  If Nick comes back, this will throw the Circle out of balance.  Although I hate to even speculate about this, I do have to wonder if Jake is the real traitor and somehow brought Nick back to throw the Circle off balance.  Even worse, did Blackwell bring Nick back for some obscure purpose?  There is no way to be sure at this point, so we'll just have to be patient.

Diana is not adjusting well to the knowledge that Blackwell is her father.  I get it, her entire world is turned on its head and she needs adjustment time.  Can't say I was fond of the way she talked to Cassie though.  Is killing wrong?  On the whole, yes.  But there are times when killing is necessary.  Self defense, defense of others, or war are all instances where killing someone else is not wrong.  These are really the only times when Cassie has ever killed someone.  I think what is going on with Diana is that she is grasping at the one thing that is still solid and real in her life, her sense of right and wrong.  Unfortunately, she is letting this make her see the world in black and white, but there are shades of gray out there that need to be acknowledged.  I do admire that she sees the world this way, but it is dangerous because if she slips sometime, it may send her down a dark, dark path that will make her infinitely more dangerous than either Blackwell or Cassie.

Speaking of Cassie, that poor girl had a tough week.  Her grandmother is dead and she believes that the witch hunters did it.  She kissed the boy she loves, even though she is supposed to have gotten rid of those feelings.  Her half-sister is scared of her and hates her father.  Life just sort of sucks right now.

Charles attacking Blackwell was not the brightest maneuver.  And I was wrong in what I said last week, Charles did not know about the affair.  Huh.  I have to say that I am surprised about that.  His hatred is so strong that I was sure he knew.  At least he reaffirmed his unconditional love for Diana.  She needs that even if it will mean more later than it does now.  And leaving may not be a good idea.  I don't see Blackwell allowing it, particularly if Diana is necessary for his plan (whatever it is) to work.

Watching Adam and Melisa together was fun.  These two don't hang out much together, so watching them take the opportunity allowed us to see a different side of both of them.  That cloaking spell was neat, as was Melisa's line about Adam's grandfather using the spell to cloak his girlie magazines.  Oh, and the crystal?  It's at the school somewhere.

Not sure if contacting Isaac was the brightest idea that Jake has ever had.  Not an awful idea, but still, not the best.  At least it told them who the traitor was and gave him time with Faye, which is always fun to see.  I also loved Faye's quips about the Blackwell sisters or Super Powered Black Twins.  Those were truly amusing.

Until next week!

My Review of the Vampire Diaries 3/20- Do Not Go Gentle

Esther makes Alaric into the ultimate vampire hunter, Elena continues to waver between the brothers, and Tyler and Caroline confront the possibilities....

Esther has made Alaric into a vampire.  He will apparently be the only vampire who will not die when the Originals are killed because he is a new bloodline.  He has also been given the single remaining white ash stake which has been made indestructible by melting his ring and binding its magic to the stake.  Esther means business.  She recreated the original spell for a one time use.  Interestingly enough, she somehow altered the spell so that Alaric would have enough energy to kill hunt down and kill the Originals, and once he accomplishes that task, he will die.  All in all, Esther is not the white hat in this story.  She is so obsessed with destroying her children and their progeny that she has lost sight that not all vampires are inherently evil.  They may be unnatural, but they are not all evil.  Take Stefan (or even Damon!) for example.  Both brothers are good.  Are there bad vampires?  Yes, that is definitively true, but Esther is trying to throw out the baby with the bathwater.

While she is trying to destroy her children, she also hurts other people.  She used magic on Elena to cut her and get her blood for Alaric in order to cast the spell.  She has manipulated Alaric so that Alteric is now in the driver's seat.  She almost killed both Matt and Jeremy by making them point their weapons at each other when they were trying to protect Elena.  And she took control of Bonnie in order to get her to Alaric to feed him so that the transition would be completed when he didn't want to complete it.  Not sure who is worse, an admittedly evil creature like Klaus or a deluded person like Esther.  I think I'd go with the latter.

Speaking of Bonnie, can't say I am fond of her right now.,  I get that she is upset at Damon and Stefan for what happened to her mother, but Damon is right, would Bonnie rather have lost Elena?  I also get that Bonnie hates vampires because of what happened to her grandmother.  I guess I just am not fond of her attitude right now.  Elena has lost more than Bonnie has.  Her mother and father are dead, her aunt was turned into a vampire and then sacrificed by Klaus, her guardian has been killed in front of her eyes, and she was forced to send her brother away for his own protection, yet she continues to work with vampires to do what needs to be done.  Is it always easy?  No, but she can still do it.

Watching Tyler and Caroline was interesting.  He had to pretend that the sire bond was still functioning properly by allowing Caroline to dance with Klaus.  He is also willing to sacrifice himself by helping to destroy Klaus if it is necessary.  To be honest, I didn't think that Tyler could be that selfless, so color me impressed.

Elena still has a choice to make.  She loves Stefan with an epic, pure love but she also loves Damon with a more wild, chaotic, and passionate love.  She will have to make a choice soon.  Fortunately, Stefan seems to be not putting her in a position where it will be uncomfortable if she does not choose him.  He knows that he has hurt her dreadfully and knows that she and Damon have gotten closer.  He refuses to hear details yet, wanting Elena to choose him before she tells him.  And Damon is refusing to do anything to force Elena closer to him or further away from him.  Wonder who she'll choose.  I can't choose myself because I do think that either would be good for her in different ways.  So, I'll just wait and see.

Until next week!

My Review of The Secret Circle 1.19- Crystal

The second Blackwell child's identity is revealed; Charles and Jane have a confrontation with Blackwell; Jake, Faye, and Cassie meet Jake's grandfather; Diana has a date; and Adam and Melisa have a confrontation.

And the other Blackwell is Diana Meade.  That was definitely something of a surprise.  I was not totally surprised because I realized a while ago that to have Faye as the other Blackwell child was just too damn obvious.  Her mother is obsessed with Blackwell and she is bad enough that to have her revealed as the other Blackwell child would have been anticlimactic to say the least.  I must admit that at points I suspected either Adam or Melisa, but Diana seemed the most viable option.  What gave me the final clue was the way that Charles reacted to Blackwell.  We know that Adam's dad hates Blackwell because he kept Ethan and Amelia apart, but the hatred Charles had far surpassed that.  The only thing to bring on a hatred that strong would be if an affair of some sort happened.  I wonder if Charles knows that Diana is not his daughter or if he merely knows that Blackwell and his wife had an affair.  I hope we get to see his reaction to this news.

Given what Jake's grandfather said and Blackwell's actions over the past several weeks, I am seriously reevaluating the man.  We have always known that he has his own agenda, but it seems that he is lying to everyone.  Does he really want to turn the Circle evil in order to tip the balance of good and evil?  Or, as he has said constantly, has he reformed himself and become a better person?  I suspect the former, but I could be wrong.  In fact, I do wonder if he is the traitor to the witches.  Maybe he used the witch hunters all those years ago to destroy the Circle in order to get the Elders to strip the Circle of their powers so that when the children grew up, his children could corrupt the new Circle.  If so, then he plans for the long-term and will be most difficult to stop.  The only hope is that Cassie and Diana somehow stay true to white magic.  Also, if my supposition is correct, then all of his protestations to Cassie about using her black magic is meant to ensure that she uses it at a time of his choosing and not before.  And finally, his plan to reunite the crystals into their original form would not be a good thing.  Not sure how he'll use it, but it cannot be good.

I have to say that the Circle is ruthless when they need to be.  Marking that guy (forgot his name) and warning him to never come back was strong stuff.  I totally understand why they did it (for their own protection) but it was uberharsh.

Watching Jane and Charles confront Blackwell was interesting.  I wonder if Blackwell was feigning being weak or not.  What I do know is that Jane is now dead, killed by her blood being in a cruet with a personal item that she thought contained Blackwell's blood and ring.  That sucked.  And Charles is currently only alive (according to Blackwell anyways) because he will be useful to Blackwell.  Not a nice man.....

As for poor Diana, sometime being a witch sucks.  She was supposed to go on a wonderful date, but couldn't because of the search for the crystals.  And now her date has left on his boat and she wants out after the witch hunters are dealt with.  Methinks it won't be that easy.

Until next week!

My Review of Vampire Diaries 3.19- Heart of Darkness

Damon and Elena go to keep Jeremy safe, Tyler returns, Stefan brings out the darkness in Alaric, Klaus gets impatient, and Esther returns.....

That ending was a total mindfrack.  Esther died, but when she did, she took possession of Rebekah.  That is not a good thing for anyone.  I don't know if she still has her powers, although I suspect not since they have established that a witch cannot be a vampire as well.  I think that having that much power in one being would mess with the balance of nature or something like that.  However, since it is merely a possession and not a real transformation, I could very easily be wrong.  If I am, then we could very easily have the most powerful being in the Vampire Diaries world teaming up with Evilric to destroy her children and therefore all vampires.  Yikes....

Elena initiated a serious liplock with Damon.  That was also a surprise.  It has been fairly obvious that she has feelings for him, but to see her reveal them in that manner was just surprising.  I love that Damon is not letting her off the hook.  He has declared that he isn't going to be the one to screw this up.  Elena will have to choose which brother she wants all on her own.  And Rose is right.  Stefan's love for her is pure, romantic, and everlasting.  Damon's is more elemental and animalistic.  Stefan doesn't challenge Elena like Damon does.  Elena always has to question if this is something that she wants.  Not saying one or the other is better, each is good for her in his own way.  All I know for sure is that she has to make a choice one way or the other.  Either Damon or Stefan.  I do not think they will settle for sharing and I don't see her totally cutting them out of her life, so a choice will have to be made at some point.

Jeremy is seriously unhappy with Elena.  I don't know how much he remembers, but I know for sure that he thinks Damon is no good for her.  I can't say I blame him for being judgmental, Damon has earned the judgment.  He has also become a better person because of his love for Elena.  Hopefully with Jeremy coming back, Elena will be able to get his help to sort this out since he has been away for a while and may offer the most clearheaded advice.  Bonnie hates Damon and tolerates Stefan.  Caroline would also be fairly clearheaded if she can set aside the Tyler problem to help Elena.  I don't know if Matt would be of any help either.  And forget about Alaric, I don't see him being very helpful at all.

Watching Stefan bring out Evilric was just painful.  I am glad that Stefan has enough control over his Ripper tendencies to not kill Alaric.  That is progress.  And his deducing that Klaus won't kill him because Klaus wants Ripper back was smart.  Stefan knows that Klaus has out thought them at every turn and is more than a match for the group.  So, he is using what he can to manipulate Klaus.  Will it work?  Don't know, but we'll just have to wait and see.

Caroline was glad to have Tyler back.  Did he manage to break the sire bond?  Again, we don't know and will just have to wait and see.  Tyler thinks he did and his confidence is enough to make me worry.  Also, he knows that Klaus has feelings for Caroline and suspects (because she kept the drawing) that Caroline may have feelings for him.  I do doubt that she does and suspect that she simply enjoyed the wooing.  Unless she is trying to string Klaus along in order to see if she can be his Achilles' heel or something like that.

So which Original did Damon, Stefan, and Caroline descend from?  At this point, I don't think we'll know unless the Original involved confesses.  Kol killed Rose's maker and therefore the sole information source.  No one in the group was close enough to her for Jeremy to be of any help, so they are at a dead end.

Until next week....

My Review of Ringer 1.22 SERIES FINALE- I'm the Good Twin

And the Ringer comes to an end.  Bridget finds out about Siobhan, Henry finds out if he is the twins' dad, Andrew and Juliet find out about Bridget, and the twins receive a visitor.

I have to say that despite everything, I feel sorry for Siobhan.  She's a self-absorbed bitch, but I don't know if she deserved what she got.  She lost Henry (ok, that was her fault for not telling him he was not the father of her babies), Henry stole all her money (that was not cool), and she has no place left to go.  It's called karma, dear. While I can't say I approve of Henry stealing her money, I can't feel too sorry for her.  I fell the most sorrow for her kids who are going to be in trouble because Mommy is a scheming, conniving bitch.  I would not want to be Henry next season, because I can guarantee Siobhan is going to be back for revenge, which is (as the saying goes) a dish best served cold.

I feel even worse for Bridget.  I know she's been lying all season, but her lies were only ever meant to protect herself.  Once she started living Siobhan's life, she changed and became the person Andrew fell in love with.  I am glad she told the truth because if she hadn't and Andrew found out later, the results would be much worse.  I am hoping that Andrew and Juliet realize that Bridget is not a bad person and does truly love them.  I thought Juliet saying that Bridget was worse than Catherine was an incredibly low blow.  And a bad comparison to boot.  At least Bridget knows that Siobhan is alive and why things have been happening to her.  I am betting next season is going to be Bridget attempting to find Siobhan and figure out how to fix their relaitonship (if she can).

I do feel sorry for Andrew and Juliet.  They thought that Siobhan had changed and was a good person, only to discover that it was her sister who was in fact a good person.  I really hope (as I said above) that they decide to give Bridget a chance because she has earned it.  I do understand why they are upset, I just want them to realize that regardless of the lies she told, Bridget really does love the both of them.

Apparently, Malcolm is dead.  Given the fact that we never saw his body, I won't say it is definite, but someone similar to him was found dead.

Bodaway is dead, killed by Bridget in self-defense.  And the dirty cop from Wyoming is also dead, killed by Bodaway.  And does Machado still have a job?

Until next season....(if there is one) <fingers crossed>

My Review of Ringer 1.21- It's Called Improvising, Bitch!

Catherine's plans to get revenge on Siobhan are ruined, so she improvises.  Siobhan decides to help Henry out and ends up in the hospital.  And Machado finally shows that he can put pieces together to form a picture.

Having not seen last weeks episode, I have to make some educated guesses about what happened.  It seems (and please correct me if I am wrong) that the maid at the hotel identified Henry as having been in Tyler's room, Henry had his kids taken away (by his father-in-law?), Siobhan decided to attempt to bribe the maid into being quiet, Bridget and Andrew decided to let Catherine move in (WTF?), and Catherine started her revenge on Siobhan.  And Machado got suspended (or was that the week before?).  Did I miss much?

So let's start with Catherine.  That woman needs a serious checkup from the neck up.  She can't seem to realize that she has brought alot of these problems on herself.  Granted, Andrew shouldn't have cheated on her with Siobhan and Siobhan was (and is) a serious bitch, but Catherine is still messed up.  She doesn't see that she has driven away Juliet all on her own.  Instead she blames "Siobhan" for the distance.  All Bridget (aka "Siobhan) did was show Juliet love.  That's it.  I can understand wanting to kill Siobhan because she is so nasty, but the lengths this woman went through were ridiculous.  She hired a killer to kill Siobhan (the one Bridget killed and stuck in the box) and when that failed came up with the fake rape claim.  Then when Andrew threw her out, she went to Olivia's arms and decided to try again.  And then this week holding your own daughter hostage?  Granted, not tied up, but still a hostage?  Yikes!  Although her last shot at being happier living someone else's life hit Bridget hard because that is what Bridget has been doing.

I am glad that Machado is actually a competent cop.  He somehow figured out that Catherine was behind everything and got a warning to the FBI.  Too late as it turned out, but at least he got one to them.  And Bridget had the presence of mind to sneakily use a phone to dial Machado and get the information he needed so that he could arrest Catherine when she went to see Olivia.  That was good work.  Being outside the law has apparently raised his IQ and attentiveness by quite a bit.

I found it interesting that Catherine and Olivia have been working together for a while.  Their intent seemed to be to bring Siobhan down, which they nearly succeeded at doing.  They were never on the same page though, so it wouldn't have worked out.

Siobhan has had her babies and Henry is insisting on a paternity test,  Guess he doesn't trust her.  Smart man.  I have to say that going into labor while in a closet watching the only witness against your lover die was just weird.  But at least we know Siobhan didn't kill her.  But why did she lie to Henry about knowing anything about it?  Oh, because she lies about everything, of course!

Bridget is going to do some serious soul searching now.  She has been happily living a lie for months and that last comment of Catherine's really struck a nerve.  Given the previews for next week, she is going to spill the beans.  That won't be pretty.

Next week, the season (possibly series) finale....

My Review of One Tree Hill 9.13- One Tree Hill

And now begins my final review of One Tree Hill....

I need to start on a depressing note so it can only get better, so please do me a favor and hang in there because it will get better.  :-)

First, I have to admit that I was disappointed by the finale.  There was nothing wrong with the episode itself, but when they were advertising this as a "2 hour Series Finale", I was expecting just that: a 2 hour series finale; in other words a double episode.  Instead, we got a 50 minute retrospective followed by an extended episode.  I am not sure where to lay the blame for this, but I definitely think the advertising was misleading and consequently, I felt a little robbed by the episode.  I wish they had advertised it as an extended episode preceded by a retrospective.  If I had known that, my expectations would have been a little lower and I would not be feeling let down right now.  I was also disappointed because the synopses I saw said something about old faces returning, so I was expecting some former cast members to come back and the only one we got was Bevin.  Nothing against Bevin, I just wish we could have gotten more in that area too.  The episode seemed to pack too much into the extended time it had.  If they could have had a full two hours, I think they could have fit it in without feeling so rushed.

There were a couple other minor things I would have changed.  First, I would have loved to have seen an older Jamie and not just his back.  Second, it would also have been nice to have had a little montage of the opening of Baker Boys.  Not major, just things I would have liked.

Those complaints out of the way, what was there was great.  They wrapped up stories without ending them and we got to see our favorite characters in the future living life.  Since there was no character development, this won't be one of my standard character based reviews.  It will be more of a reflection on the episode and the journey that has brought us to this point.

I want to start with the numerous callbacks present in the episode.  Nathan getting Chris' guitar back to him; the references to the Scott's penchant for being kidnapped; Jamie seeing the wish box and using it; Haley's use of Karen's line "There is only one Tree Hill and it's your home."; the sets of Peyton's room, the school corridor, and the front of Brooke's house; the River Court; the group lines at the end of the episode (from the Season 4 finale if memory serves); Haley and Nathan spending time in the rain; Nathan's dinner of mac and cheese and Cracker Jack with a bracelet in it; and Gavin DeGraw singing "I Don't Want to Be" in Tric.  The memories of Jimmy and Keith and the growth in Chris' character were also wonderful.  Thanks for all the wonderful memories.

I loved that Clay and Quinn got married in a special ceremony after Logan called her mom of his own volition.  They never breached the subject of her adopting him, but he obviously wanted it and saw that it would be important to Clay.  When he called her mom, I choked up.  Ok, honesty time, I was misty eyed throughout the entire episode.  From start to finish, I had tears in my eyes.  There is so much love in that family and it was really sweet to see that he could accept her all on his own.

Seeing Haley and Chris performing for the last time in Tric was really special.  Both characters really got their start there, so it was fitting that Chris get his new start there too.  I also loved that he said that he actually admitted that he didn't like who he was then and he wanted to change.  That is a huge step for Chris.  I totally laughed when he called himself "I" for the first time; at least I think it was the first time.  I am so used to him calling himself "Chris Keller" that calling himself "I" was just funny.

Dan giving Mouth the $500,000 was just incredible and what Mouth did with it showed that Dan didn't make a mistake.  Using the money to honor Keith and Jimmy was a wonderful thing.

The ending (aside from the minor quibble above) was perfect.  We got to see our characters 7 or 8 years in the future.  Jamie is on the basketball team and beat Nathan's scoring record.  Logan is grown up.  One of Brulian's boys was with a girl (Lydia, I think) at the game.  Mouth and Millie are still together (married?) and Millie is pregnant.  And Skillz got back together with Bevin, which was really sweet.  Life really does go on and our group learned from the past so that their mistakes did not become their kids' mistakes.  This was unlike Dan, who learned too late how not to let his mistakes be Nathan's mistakes.

I am definitely going to miss this show.  It is the first show to get me to care enough about the characters and story to write reviews about them.  No other show has ever meant quite so much to me.  One Tree Hill, thanks for the memories and the wonderful times.  You will be sorely missed, although you will always live on in our memories.

"There is only one Tree Hill....and it's your home." - Karen Roe

My Hopes for the One Tree Hill Finale and a Retrospective

I knew I said I would get this out last week, but life got in the way.  Sorry about that, but I figure better late than never.

As far as the finale goes, I really only have a couple of hopes.  First, I would love it to be drama light.  Since there should be no cliffhangers or anything, drama isn't needed.  I just hope that they wrap up everything in such a way that the show ends with a life goes on sort of feeling.  No serious dangling threads, but just a feeling that life is continuing.  I really want to be able to look back at these 9 years (10 or 11 on the show) and be able to enjoy the journey that was have been on with the characters.  Second, I would love to see as many old characters back as possible.  I know they said they couldn't get Chad for anything but that one episode or Hilarie for any at all, but I would love it if they managed to keep it under wraps the way they did with Craig.  Not counting on that, but would love it.  I really hope to see Karen, Andy, and Rose again.  Seeing Jake would be nice, but given that all of his storylines revolved around Peyton, I don't see how they would fit him back in.  We've seen Deb, Dan, and Chris back this season, would love to see everyone else if possible.  If they can't bring the actors back, maybe do a montage with the old characters or at the very least a mention.  I figure we'll probably see Bethany and Tyler perform and it would be great to see Kate or Jana perform as well.  Other than that, I just know I'll miss this show once it ends.

One Tree Hill was the first teen drama I watched from the beginning.  I got into it after seeing the last few episodes of Dawson's Creek (first ep I saw was the Talkline episode with Dr. Drew).  I found that I really liked the genre and saw the ads for this new show and decided to try it.  And I love the way this show really addressed serious issues without being preachy or condescending.  While some of the plots were outlandish (i.e. Nanny Carrie kidnapping Dan!), a lot of them where fun or just flat out neat.  OTH also gave me my favorite episode of television ever: Episode 3.16- "With Tired Eyes, Tired Minds, Tired Souls, We Slept".  That episode was OTH at its finest.  The show dealt with the issue of bullying and reactions to it without taking sides or demonizing anyone.  The episode also set into motion events that are still echoing this season.  That is the power of an episode.  I have fallen in love with the characters and have enjoyed seeing them grow and develop.  I also love the continuity that this show has.  Rarely was a storyline just dropped, they were generally ended in some definitive fashion.  The show has had its downsides which I have mentioned in the past, but for the most part, it has been good and solid.  Not always stellar, but solid.  It really has been a joy to watch this "little show that could" keep chugging along despite everything.  And now, 9 years later, we are saying good bye.  I wish the cast and crew the best of luck and want to thank them from the bottom of my heart for a wonderful 9 years.

My last post about OTH will be my review of the finale this Wednesday.   It has truly been fun and I hope that my reviews have been entertaining and maybe even thought provoking on occasion.  Until Wednesday!