My Review of Ringer 1.02- She's Ruining Everything

Bridget covers up the events of last week and prepares to run ruining Siobhan's plans in the process, Gemma has a confrontation in a very public location, and Agent Machado continues to circle....

Bridget had an interesting week.  First, Gemma comes along after the shooting while Bridget is hiding the body.  Then, after Bridget decides to run, she just keeps getting roped into staying.  Between Juliet and Andrew, she just can't get away.  I actually think this is a good thing.  As made plentifully; and painfully; clear by the flashbacks, Bridget has never been in a position to help anyone.  Now, she can use her past to help Juliet out.  This could be interesting.  Juliet seems to be; ok is; spiraling out of control and while I don't think one good night is going to solve anything, it is a good start.  When Bridget was comforting her in the end, you could see the decision to stay; at least for now; being made.  After being abandoned by Siobhan; probably for valid reasons; Bridget is determined not to make the same decision with regards to Juliet.

I am also impressed with how she handled Machado.  Although obviously flustered during the first meeting, when he came to the party she handled him with grace and aplomb.  That was impressive.  And I don't know how involved she was in the party planning, but it came together incredibly well.  With only two minor problems, the phone and Gemma's confrontation, it came off rather nicely too.

Poor Gemma.  She knows that her husband is cheating on her, but she just can't figure out with who.  I shudder to think what will happen to Bridget when Gemma figures out that Siobhan was sleeping with him.  But, for now, she is relying on Bridget for support.  Yet another person that Bridget can help.

I was highly amused when it was revealed that Bridget had unknowingly spiked Siobhan's plan.  I do wonder what Siobhan is planning.  That is one of several questions raised this week that need to be answered.

Andrew was so happy to have the old Siobhan back.  If only he knew.  Well, at least he has a "wife" who is trying to be helpful, both to him and his daughter.

Questions:

[1] Who was Siobhan calling?

[2] What was the secret account set up for?

[3] What is Bridget ruining?

[4] Who was that man at the party?

[5] Why was the masked man from last week trying to kill Siobhan?

[6] Who took the body out of the chest?

Until next week!

My Review of The Secret Circle 1.01- Pilot

As this is the first episode, I'll mainly talk about the characters.  So here we go....

I have to say that I was really looking forward to the pilot and it did not disappoint.  I did read the books over the summer and I like the fact that they kept the characters mostly true to the books while not slavishly imitating them.  I approve of that.

Our main character is Cassie Blake, played by Britt Robertson from Life Unexpected.  And she did a good job.  Cassie seems to be a sweet girl and is totally clueless about her heritage.  And that last part was on purpose because he mother (played by Emily Holmes [Taken, Stargate SG-1, Supernatural, etc.]) wanted it that way.  Does that girl have power, or does she have power?!?  Between making the fire in her car bigger (if you can believe Faye) to floating a ton of water droplets to ending a fairly massive storm, she has power.  As for her attraction to Adam, that is so not a good thing.

Next, (since I just mentioned him) is Adam, played by Thomas Dekker from Heroes and Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles.  Nice guy, totally cute, but going to be a serious problem.  He is dating Diana who was the first person to befriend Cassie.  This could be awkward.  And if you believe his dad (played by Adam Harrington [Queer As Folk]), Adam and Cassie are meant to be together.  Well, he gets points for helping her out of the car, putting out the fire, and helping her to realize her potential.  Which is followed by losing points for the attempted kiss.  Well, nobody's perfect.

Next we have Diana, played by Shelley Hennig (don't know her from anything else).  She is nominally in charge of the group (the Circle) and seems to be in constant conflict with Faye.  She does need to work on her threats.  It just didn't work well.  Of course the fact that Faye was totally unfazed probably didn't help.  And is she totally clueless about the sparks flying between Adam and Cassie?  That could be really bad....

And Faye, our resident bad girl played by Phoebe Tonkin.  She is a witch in more ways than one (if you catch my drift), but she needs to work on the bad girl thing.  She strikes me as more of a spoiled, pampered princess than a bad girl.  She also has serious impulse control issues (the storm and the fire in Cassie's car) and needs to learn the meaning of the word "diplomacy".  I do think I could get to really like her.  But I could also go the completely opposite direction.  Depends on how they write her.

To complete the Circle, we have Melissa (played by Jessica Parker Kennedy [Smallville]) who seems to be a hanger on to Faye and Nick (played by Louis Hunter).  Neither is particularly fleshed out except for Nick liking to peek in on girls changing.  BTW, nice chest.  Glad to see the evidence of working out.  Now we just need to work on the hair....  :-)

Cassie's grandmother is played by Ashley Crow (Heroes).  She so doesn't want the kids playing with magic given the accident that killed several of the kids parents 16 years ago.

Our villains (well, seeming villains anyway) are Diana's father, played by Gale Harold (Desperate Housewives and Queer as Folk) who killed Cassie's mom in order to bring Cassie to the Circle and Faye's mom and the principal of the local high school, played by Natasha Henstridge.  Diana's dad is more overtly evil and slightly creepy while Faye's mom shows us that the apple truly does not fall far from the tree.

Until next week!

My Review of Vampire Diaries 3.01- The Birthday

Tyler and Caroline get closer; Stefan and Klaus are on a wolf hunt; Damon, Alaric, and Elena are hunting for Stefan; and Jeremy sees dead people as he spirals downward.....

Well, welcome back to Vampire Diaries and welcome to my first ever review of the show.  Let's get to it, shall we?

Elena has had a tough summer.  After losing her aunt and then dying (which always ruins my day too), she loses her boyfriend after kissing his brother.  Can we just say, "C*O*M*P*L*I*C*A*T*E*D"? (um, yeah, that's putting it mildly too...)  But, like the Elena we know and love, she just keeps on trucking along, holding out hope that Stefan will come back.  Sweetie, that ain't gonna happen anytime soon.  Damon is exaggerating when he says that it won't happen in her lifetime, but it sure ain't gonna happen quickly.  But she keeps hoping anyway.  And to top it all off, Caroline insists on having a massive bash for her 18th birthday.  So not the best day of her life.

And at said bash, Elena finds out two interesting pieces of information.  First, Damon has been looking for Stefan all along and hasn't told her.  To be honest, I get his reason.  He doesn't want to hurt her and crush her hope.  Sadly, he hasn't realized yet that keeping information like this to himself is so *NOT* a good thing.  <head smacking into hands>  The second thing she finds out is that Jeremy has starting smoking weed again.  Oh boy...are we in for a repeat of the beginning of Season 1?  I hope not, but given what Jeremy is going through, I can't say I am surprised that he has relapsed into getting stoned.  Seeing two dead vampire ex-girlfriends both of whom were killed is gonna make anyone a little loopy.  Not that I have personal experience in this particular area, but I can so get it.  And (on a slightly trashy side note) is it just me or do Steven and Zach look more buff than usual?  Maybe its just the tight shirts...Ok, I'm back now.  :-)

And now for Damon, our bad boy with a good heart (well, sorta).  Still compelling women to be his girlfriends and walking around nekkid.  Although, I must say that if I looked like that, I'd shed my clothes a lot too.  (Sorry, just, *WOW!*)  The scene where he was naked and walked in on Elena was just totally hilarious.  She was so embarrassed and he so didn't care.  <snerk>  It is nice to see the Damon/Alaric bromance is still going on, even if it is a little strained.  And nice recognition of the Ripper having a party.  That was just way creepy.  Ripper Stefan (Ripfan?  Rifan?) is creepier than Klaus is.  And that is saying something.

You gotta feel for Stefan.  He is doing what he can to protect his brother and the woman that he loves and in the process is turning into the thing he hates the most.  That just sucks.  I would almost believe his nonchalance if he hadn't insisted on going back to warn Damon.  That, more than anything else, told me that our Stefan is still in there, just carefully hidden and tucked away so that the people he loves are protected.  And Klaus knows it.  I think that fact gives Klaus the most pleasure possible.  Creepy and totally sadistic, that's our Klaus.

As for Tyler and Caroline, can we just say "COLD SHOWER!"  Wow, those two were pouring on the flames at all times.  And the culmination was, well, interesting to say the least.  At least he took enough care not to bite.  Presumably she did too.  <snerk, snerk>

Alaric is having the worst time of everyone.  His girlfriend and vampirized and then killed and he moves into her house for the summer and sleeps on the couch.  He really does need to stay with Elena and Jeremy, mainly for his own sake.  He needs someone to help and someone to help him out.

And our guest of the week, David Gallagher as a werewolf (forgot the name).  He had a bad week too.  Tortured by having darts dipped in alcohol laced with wolfsbane and then having his neck snapped after being forced to drink Klaus' blood.  Army of hybrids, here we come.

Last but not least, the ending.  All I have to say is "WTF!?!?!?!"  Mrs. Lockwood shoots Caroline with darts that seemed to be laced with vervain.  Suckage all around....

Next week, Kalus continues his army building.....

Commentary on TV- Tuesday 9/13/11

I have decided to do a brief commentary about the shows I watched the previous
day every day. In other words, after I watch a show one night, the next day I
will write a brief commentary about the episode (unless I am writing a review of
it of course). So here is todays.

90210 Ep 4.01-

Ok, I have to admit here that I watched the first 7 or episodes of the first
season and then didn't see any others until the beginning of last season, so I
am missing alot about what happened (for example, when I was watching Ivy and
Teddy weren't in it), so my reactions will definitely different than someone who
saw everything. Just for the record.

Thinking about the characters and the original BH90210, I think that some
comparisons can be drawn between some of the characters. Here is how I see it:

Annie- A mixture of Kelly and Brenda
Wilson- David
Navid- Brandon
Teddy- Steve
Silver- A mixture of Donna, Kelly, and Andrea
Adrianna- A mixture of Gina, Val, and Brenda
Naomi- A mixture of Kelly and Val (mainly Val though)
Liam- Dylan
Ivy- No real comparison here

I do have to say that I loved Val as a character, so comparing her and Naomi is
a good thing in my book. As for Adrianna, she is almmost irredeemable in my
eyes. They are going to have to work *REALLY* hard to get me to even tolerate
her at this point.

Anyways, about last night. I love Naomi. Granted, she is a totally
self-absorbed girl, but she does seem to have a really good heart when she lets
it loose. I do have to say that burning pot plants when the police are coming
is so not a good thing to do. And while I can understand her being upset at Max
for what he said, I can totally get where he is coming from. I think the
reaction was more inopportune than bad. And meet the new Casa Naomi. Nice
house.

As much as I wanted Annie to say yes to Liam, she did the right thing. With no
warning, no talking about it, no discussion of any sort, he proposes. Granted
the second proposal was seriously cute and romantic, but not that was a good way
to go about it. I hope they work things out. Oh, and BTW, Liam now owns a bar.
<snerk>

Navid and Silver are in for an interesting ride with Navid's sister. I do
wonder though, if space is an issue, why not move in with Naomi who seems to
have plenty of space?

Ivy and Raj are riding the wave of post marital bliss. It is nice to see, but I
wonder how much longer before things fall apart.

Dixon moving in with incredibly hot and sexy cowboy? Oh boy, this should be
interesting.

I'm gonna miss Teddy when he leaves. Hopefully he'll be back though.

Adrianna is back in town. The less said about her, the better.

My Review of Ringer 1.01- Pilot

SMG is back on TV.  And she's accompanied by a wonderful cast.  And let's get started....

Before I talk about the events, lets talk about the characters:

Bridget Kelly (Cafferty?, saw two different names, anyone know for sure?)- an addict who is an eyewitness to a major crime

Siobhan Marx- Bridget's twin sister who seems to be living a charmed life

Andrew Marx- Siobhan's husband

Gemma Gallagher- Siobhan's best friend who is designing the new loft that Siobhan and Andrew are planning to move into

Henry Gallagher- Gemma's husband and Siobhan's lover

Malcolm Howard- Bridget's sponsor

Victor Machado- a lawman (FBI maybe?) who is trying to protect Bridget

This show is definitely going to need to have definite attention paid to it.  It has some interesting layers that are definitely going to take some peeling back to get to what is going on.  But let's start with the characters.

Bridget is a troubled young woman.  Ex-stripper and prostitute who is an eyewitness to a crime (presumably murder), she decides to run rather than testify in court.  So, she goes to her sister, Siobhan in New York.  Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately) for Bridget, Siobhan has told no one that Bridget exists.  These two have some definite issues to work out.  Bridget apologizes for what happened to Sean, and Siobhan brushes off the apology with the statement that she has already forgiven Bridget who needs to forgive herself.  On the surface, this is about a boyfriend or something who Bridget slept with.  A little later we find out that Sean was (is?) a young boy; presumably Siobhan's son given the picture we saw.  Anyways, while out sailing Bridget falls asleep and when she wakes up, Siobhan is gone.  Bridget assumes that Siobhan committed suicide and decides to assume Siobhan's "perfect" life rather than go back to her own.  Unfortunately for Bridget, things take an interesting turn or two.

Siobhan and Andrew appear to have an in-name-only marriage.  There is a *DEFINITE* chill factor here.  Andrew is surprised when Bridget kisses him and after a party when Bridget asks him why he seemed happy at the party, but is not anymore, Andrew says that he is just playing the game that Siobhan wants.  Bridget also sees Henry watching her and at the party, he follows her and kisses her, much to her surprise.  Oh, yeah, this is complicated.  And then Gemma tells Bridget that she suspects that Henry is having an affair and Bridget has no clue how to respond.  Follow this with the step-daughter Bridget doesn't know about who despises Siobhan (and the feelings seem to be mutual) who is also a drug user or dealer (not made clear which) and you have a recipe for disaster.

Oh, and did I mention that Victor went to talk with "Siobhan" about Bridget?  That was an interesting conversation.  And Victor knows that Bridget has written Siobhan because he discovered a letter between the two in a locker that Bridget rented in a bus station.

And one more twist.  Siobhan is pregnant.  Andrew knows about the pregnancy.  Henry assumes the baby is his.  This will be *VERY* interesting.

Our episode ends with a scene that completes one we saw at the opening (an in media res opening) where Bridget is attacked by a masked man.  She insists that he has the wrong sister; assuming that the man is after her and not Siobhan; only to discover that he is actually after Siobhan.  We close with Siobhan in Paris receiving a phone call that there is a problem.

So here are some questions:

[1] What happened to Sean?

[2] Why is someone after Siobhan?

[3] Why did Siobhan run?  Presumably, if 2 is answered, then so will this question.

[4] Will Victor figure out what happened?

[5] Will Andrew figure out that Siobhan is pregnant with another man's child (if Henry is right)?

[6] Gemma seems to have figured out that Siobhan was sleeping with Henry.  What will she do?

Until next week!

My Review of Teen Wolf 1.12- Code Breaker

And so the first season ends with 2 deaths, major revelations, a serious blow, and 2 major questions.....

Ok, last week I made a couple of predictions, one of which came partially true and one of which possibly came true.   PsychoAunt is officially dead.  She had her throat ripped out by the Alpha in front of Allison.  That gets points for trauma to Allison and the Alpha gets style points.  Ahhh, justice!  I was wrong in that her death didn't drive a wedge between Scott and Allison, probably because he was right there to ensure her safety.  So I get a half point.  The possibility comes later under the heading of major questions.

No matter how much I disliked the Alpha, he gets points for the greatest line in reference to Lydia.  His crack about trying to kill Stiles twice a month was hilarious.  Sexist and crude, but hilarious nonetheless.

Let's start with Stiles.  Stiles, the ordinary guy who somehow finds a way to put things together and hold it together so that he can help his best friend.  He leaves Lydia after calling Jackson because the Alpha told him so he can help Scott.  And the username and password to Scott's computer was just too damn funny.  "Allison" for both?  <snerk>  Then going to the hospital and interrogating his dad long enough to figure out who torched the Hale house and mouthing off at Allison's dad because he is pissed off?  Geez.  Ladies and gentlemen, we have Xander 2.0.  Does whatever he can for his friends even though he is sadly ill equipped to do so.  And what exactly was in that flask he threw at the Alpha?  Whatever it was caused a nice little fire when Allison shot it and combined with what Jackson threw to mostly kill the Alpha.  Nicely done sidekick.

And Scott.  Running from his girlfriend's dad.  Nearly shot by said girlfriend and then blinded by a flashbang arrow.  That seriously sucks.  But she can't do more than that (thank goodness!) and she should be grateful for that because that is about the only thing that saved her from being killed by the Alpha.  2 Betas (Derek and Scott) v. 1 Alpha and the result is that the Alpha cleans up the floor with them until the humans arrive with nifty chemicals.  Nicely done.  Only to be betrayed by his "mentor" who kills the Alpha in order to become the new Alpha.  That sucks.  And if I am not mistaken, that means that Derek's sister was an Alpha.  That was an interesting little twist.

Allison, I am so glad you decided not to follow in PsychoAunts footsteps.  You'll be better for it, I promise.  For a bit there, I was a little worried, but you pulled through nicely and are now even more solidly in the good camp.  I am not entirely sure what daddy is going to think about you dating a werewolf, but I suspect he'll not protest too much since Scott did save your life.

And Jackson's good moment of helping was apparently done so that he could get himself turned.  <head smack>  Be careful what you ask for....

The twist I never saw coming, Derek killing the Alpha and assuming that mantle himself.  That cannot be good.

And last, what is up with Lydia.  She isn't healing, hence probably not a werewolf, but then what is happening?  Is she going to pull through?

We'll have these questions answered next summer during Season 2.  Until then!

My Review of Teen Wolf 1.11- Formality

Jackson sinks to new lows, Stiles makes a deal with the Alpha to save someone he cares about, Psycho Aunt shows how psycho she is, and Allison learns the truth....

Well, that was one heck of a part I of the finale!  I have some predictions about part II that I will mention at the end of the review.

Scott's life just got a lot more complicated.  After a very nice talk with his mom, he tells Allison that he loves her, only to be forced to reveal what he is when her dad and one of his buddies try to crush him between their trucks.  The look on her face was just about the worst thing that could have been seen.  Allison hears from Psycho Aunt about how bad and evil werewolves are only for it to be revealed to her that her boyfriend, the guy who just said that he loves her, is one.  Can we just say that this is one hell of a complication?!?!?  And although she doesn't know it, Scott has been going all out to protect her.  From getting her called out of the store when the Alpha is near to getting Jackson (!) to take her to the formal.  I did laugh at his method of persuasion.  That was hilarious.  And could Jackson have been a bigger ass towards her?  I know he's a jerk, but couldn't he have least pretended to want to be there with her?  Geez.....

And how much did I love that Allison got Lydia to go to the dance with Stiles?  Yes, he is a total goofball, but he is so sweet and so nice.  He deserves good things.  Three of my favorite moments were between Stiles and Lydia.  Number one was in the store when he was helping her shop for dresses.  Read that as, she was shopping and he was acting as her dress carrier.  Then at the formal when Jackson totally dissed her, Stiles told her she looked beautiful.  She gave him such a grateful look that it was nice to see.  The third was when Stiles was asking her to dance, then demanding, and then he told her that he knew how smart she was and that she would go to bigger and better things.  That was incredibly sweet and he so did not deserve to be left for her to find Jackson.  I do appreciate that she was honest about it after he forced the issue.  I so want those two together.  That would be nifty.  To end their night, Lydia was attacked by the Alpha and Stiles told the Alpha how to find Derek in exchange for saving Lydia.  Not the best idea, but given the circumstances, I find it hard to blame him.

Another hilarious moment was when Scott was on the run from the coach because he wasn't supposed to be at the dance and he got Danny to dance with him.  Poor guy, he just keeps getting used by people.  That had me in stitches.

And Jackson, I want to dope smack you so badly right now.  I know your life sucks right now, but giving Scott up to the hunters, so *NOT* a good thing.  It is going to take a lot to regain what little respect he gained recently.

Oh, and Psycho Aunt slept with Derek in order to get to his family.  Can I just say that I didn't think she could sink any lower, but she manages....

Ok, my predictions for next week.  Given the fact that the ads and the actors have said that someone dies next week and the ads saying that not everyone makes it out human, here is what I think will happen.  Either Psycho Aunt or daddy hunter will be killed and this will throw a major wrench into Scott and Allison's relationship.  I would see poetic justice in Psycho Aunt being turned though.  I could also see Jackson getting turned, although I think that is much lower on the list of possibilities.

Next week, part II of the first season finale of Teen Wolf.  Until then...