Mad Men: The Other Woman

This has been a fantastic season, and this episode was probably one of the better ones of the season.  It actually made me tear up a little at the end.  Naturally when something good happens at SCDP, then obviously something bad will happen to Don Draper.



The firm seems to be on the verge of getting the Jaguar account, then Pete learns that one of the three voters will give them his support if he can sleep with Joan.  Pete brings this to the partners.  Naturally, Don objects because he believes the work is good enough to win the account.

Ginsberg comes to Draper with a fantastic idea.  Oddly enough it was similar to the idea that Megan jokingly tossed out to Don in bed.  Anyways, after Don storms out of the partners meeting, the rest of them agree to talk to Joan.

Joan is not up for it at first and in fact she is appalled that Pete would bring it up.  Then, she thinks about it and the $50,000 they offered her would pretty much take care of all her financial problems.  Then Lane talks to her and tells her that she should try to get a 5% partnership.  Obviously Lane is going that route because he cannot afford for her to get the $50,000, because he was probably hoping to use his bonus money to pay the company back. 

Joan agrees to sleep with the guy and we see the nastiness happen.  There was a nice twist though, Don went to tell Joan not to do it and we are led to believe she was getting ready for the deed.  Instead, she had already done it and then she learned that Don had not voted on it. 

The episode ends with SCDP getting the Jaguar contract and there being a huge celebration.  That is when Peggy wants to tell Don that she is leaving the company.  He tries to convince her to stay, also to apologize for his idiotic behavior earlier in the episode (he threw money at her and insulted her in front of everyone).



Seriously, when Don kisses her hand and she leaves, it was probably one of the saddest television moments in years.  After all these seasons of Don hurting the women around him, he gets his heart crushed by Joan and Peggy. 

I have a feeling Don will no longer see Joan the way he did before.  It will be sad times at Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce...

Game of Thrones: Blackwater

Holy crap this was a good episode!  I am glad they set the episode up the way they did.  Instead of jumping between different characters, the entire episode took place at King's Landing.  Tyrion leading the men against Stannis and Cersei being her typical bitchy self towards Sansa.  All sorts of great stuff happened.

-I loved the way Bronn and The Hound sized each other up.  The Hound really thought he could take Bronn.  Then he sees him during the battle and realizes that Bronn is a true killer.  I only wish they would have done a better job showing that The Hound has a fear of fire since his brother burnt most of his face off.  Also, I liked Bronn in the books, but he is 23x better on the show.



-The best line of the night had to be from The Hound though "If any man dies with a clean sword, I will rape his corpse."  Or maybe Tyrion's motivational speech at the end.  "Those are brave men out there.  Let's go kill them!"

-I loved how they ended Tyrion.  No one knows whether or not he is alive or dead (I have been reading different sites and the comments seem mixed by people who have not read the books).  Those of us who read the books, know the truth.

-Sansa's decision making skills have not improved.  She started out by lying about what happened with Joffrey and Arya.  She then turns down The Hound, who says he will return her to Winterfell.  When will she learn?

-The wildfire scene was absolutely awesome.  I am sad they did not include the giant chain, but the fire worked much better. 

-Joffrey loved watching people get burned, but then freaked out like the little bitch he is when he realized Stannis and his men were still going to take the city.  Instead of staying to rally his troops, he sends his guards to represent him in battle.  Robert would have been the first one down there, hell Jaime would have fought everyone himself, yet Joffrey runs away like a scared little girl.

-Speaking of Stannis...I do not remember him being so badass in the book.  He cut a dude's head in half.  Also, he had to be pulled back when the battle was lost.

-Just when it seemed like all hope was lost, Tyrion was down, the gate was coming down.  In comes Loras Tyrell and Tywin Lannister to the rescue.  This is one of those things that was done better in the show.  We saw Littlefinger meet with Tywin and mention a wedding between Tyrell and Lannister, but it was never really mentioned if that would actually happen.  It was a little more spelled out in the book.

So, what will happen next week?  Most likely focus on the other characters and we will not learn about the fate of Tyrion and King's Landing until next season.

Rendition

Last night I watched a movie called Rendition.  Lindsey picked it up at Wal-Mart in the $5 bin the other day.  Oddly enough, she fell asleep two minutes into the film.  It was pretty good, it started out a little slow, but then picked up midway through.  Unfortunately, it tried to have a cool twist, but kind of screwed it up.  There will be spoilers in this post.  So if you have not seen the movie, you might want to stop reading.

The movie is about a CIA practice called extraordinary rendition, where they can basically take someone they think is a terrorist and secretly ship them another country and most likely torture them.  Apparently the movie was based on a few true cases.

The film starts out with a bombing in a North African country, where a CIA agent is killed.  The government then takes Egyptian-American Anwar El-Ibrihimi when he lands in the United States (coming from South Africa) and ships him to the country of the bombing.  Once there he is tortured about his involvement.  He is told that he received phone calls from the terrorist.

While this is happening, his wife back in the United States is trying to find out what happened to him.  She has a friend in Washington D.C., who works for a senator.  She is informed about the extraordinary rendition and that there is nothing her friend can do for her. 

At one point, Anwar finally admits to the crimes and he gives up the names of his terrorist buddies.  Jake Gyllenhaal does not believe Anwar is telling the truth.  He realizes that torturing someone is a terrible idea.  He investigates the names and finds out that they are just the names of kids Anwar played soccer with when he lived in Egypt.  Jake decides to help release Anwar and basically quit the CIA, later he is seen contacting the press.

There is another story at the same time about the minister of the interior's daughter and how she ran away with this boy.  The minister is the guy doing the torturing.  We then learn that her boyfriend is actually a terrorist and is planning on blowing himself up.  Then comes the twist:  he was the bomber at the beginning of the film.  And the girl that tried to stop him (the minister watches a video of the bombing) is actually the minister's daughter!

The movie makes you think that the boy is going to blow something up while Jake is releasing Anwar.  The reason the minister is not there to prevent the release is because he is looking for his daughter.  You think that he will die, but then you figure out that the boy was the bomber.  As does the minister.

Honestly, it was a pretty good twist, but it was somewhat predictable.  I mean, I knew once Anwar confessed that Jake would find a way to get him out of the prison.  I think it would have been cooler had Jake figured out that Anwar was innocent and went back to release him, but instead found that he accidentally died in the jail.  It would have been much more of an anti-torture message.

Oh well.  I guess this is what you get from the guy who directed X-Men Origins:  Wolverine.  If you like a spy movie or anti-war movies, then you should check it out.

Also, the guy who plays Khalid (the bomber) looks like the Middle Eastern (I apologize if Moa Khouas is not actually Middle Eastern) James Franco.  To the right is Moa, and below is Franco.

House: The Final Episode

The last few seasons of House have not been all that good, and this season has been no different.  I only keep watching it because at times House does something that makes me laugh.  I was at least somewhat excited to see how they would end the series.  Sadly, it did not end very well.

They did another idiotic episode of House talking to his subconscious through different characters that are no longer on the show.  Similar to him being crazy and talking to Cut-Throat Bitch a few seasons ago.  Then it turns out that he is inside of a burning building.  He needs to decide whether he wants to live or die.

He decides to live, but as he tries to get out of the building, there is an explosion and Foreman and Wilson see the building explode, and House is dead.  It seems pretty sad, but then Wilson receives a text during his eulogy at the funeral and we all know that House is somehow alive.

The two of them ride motorcycles off into the sunset.  I guess Wilson will eventually die and House is now free to do whatever he wants.  Yep, it was pretty much that stupid.  After eight seasons, House never grew as a character.  There were moments when you thought he might, then things would go back to the way they were.  Whatever, I am glad the show is over.

The Dark Tower: The Wind Through the Keyhole

I purchased the newest Dark Tower book Thursday night and started reading it Friday.  I finished it Sunday night.  It was fantastic.  I could not put it down.  I was afraid about reading a new story set in this world with those characters.  My biggest fear was that it would let me down or it would not fit well with the main story.

Fortunately, this book makes sense.  It is supposed to go between books four and five, and honestly, it is perfect.  The biggest problem I had in the original series was the way that after Wizard and Glass, there seemed to be a shift in the way Jake behaved.  He was a boy and then in Wolves of the Calla he seemed to have grown up a bit and became a gunslinger.  It just seemed like such a huge shift (also in the world they ended up in, they went back to that world, yet into a whole new place).

The book starts out with the ka-tet traveling to a river and taking a ferry across.  The ferryman tells them that there is a starkblast coming and they need to find shelter.  He even tells them about Andy the Robot. 

As they take shelter from the super-storm, Roland tells them a story about his follow-up adventure after killing his mother.  He and Jamie DeCurry must investigate a skin-man in a town called Debaria.  Once inside the story, Roland then tells another story to a young boy named Bill.  This story is the majority of the book, which is about a boy who goes on a quest to save his mother.  The structure reminded me of the first book in the series, The Gunslinger, with the different layers of stories.

For fans of the series, it is actually sad when you see Jack, Eddie, Susannah, and Oy again.  They were part of our lives for so many years and I had no idea how much I actually missed them.  Especially Jake and Oy.

I highly suggest picking it up.  You will not be disappointed.  Below are some of the images from the special edition book (which I did not buy).

The Path of Daggers

I will not lie, this book started off pretty slow.  It did not help that I started reading it way back in November, then put it down to read other books.  The story continues most of the stories from the previous book, minus the Mat storyline.

The majority of the book is spent explaining how the different armies are organized.  Plus, there are so many characters that it is hard to keep them straight.  It does not help that some of them have similar names.  I feel like this could have been avoided by just letting the reader know that each time Rand conquers a land, the nobles cannot be trusted.

Also, the drawn out problems between the different women who could channel became annoying.  Again, one chapter detailing how the Aes Sedai/Kinswomen/Windfinders/Wise Ones all argue and then bringing that to a head would have been better than half the book.

That being said, the last portion of the book was pretty cool.  Rand is attacked by Dashiva (I know that he must be one of the Foresaken--he came to Rand earlier and said that he never felt saidin act that way before, and implied that he was older than advertised) and a few other Asha'men.

I loved the Perrin story and I was pretty upset that Faile was kidnapped by the Shaido.  Something tells me that Perrin will go on a rage trying to get her back.  I am hoping at some point Mat will be reunited with Perrin, but I think that will not happen anytime soon.

Here are some observations:
-Did Logain somehow bond an Aes Sedai?  That seems like a pretty cool idea.  I actually like him and I really hope that he does great things like Min foresaw.

-I think Rand will somehow find a way to fix saidin so that the taint is removed and men do not go crazy.  That would be the only way for things to truly move along.  Plus, it would be great to remove the threat of men going insane.

-Lews will eventually take control of Rand.  That should be interesting.

I look forward to reading the next book and see where things go from here.  Also, I will do more character casting soon.  These will be very minor characters though.

The Avengers

All of the Marvel movies had been leading up to this one.  It all started way back with the first Iron Man movie, then the Hulk.  The after credits scenes hinted that this movie would come.  People complained because the second Iron Man movie was more of an advertisement for Thor than anything else.  Then Thor and Captain America were released, and the idea of there being one movie with all of them seemed to be more realistic than ever.

Unfortunately, I had some reservations about it.  I mean, how could they really put this many characters together and make it work?  The previews looked really good, and the one with Tony Stark saying "we have a Hulk" was great.  Needless to say, my excitement for the movie started to amp up over the winter, and I was only worried about being somewhat letdown.

Fortunately, Joss Whedon not only lived up to expectations, but he surpassed them.  The movie was pretty damn good and I am happy to see that it had the biggest opening of all time.  I just wish DC would pay attention (or just allow Marvel handle their movie projects). 

The movie started pretty quickly with Loki stealing the Tesseract and then a pretty funny scene with Black Widow, which ends with her beating up some Russians.  The team is assembled fairly easily and we get a nice battle between Iron Man and Thor, with Captain America jumping in the middle and an amazing scene of Thor's hammer versus Cap's shield.

The only slow part came after the death of Coulson and the team splitting apart.  It seemed like that half hour was the slow point of the movie and I really thought that it may end with a cliffhanger.  Maybe the Chitauri would attack the city and pretty much have beaten each hero individually.  Actually, that would have been pretty cool.  It could have ended on a moment where the world is being conquered and Captain America calls out through secure lines "Avengers assemble!"  And then boom, end movie.

Instead, the team comes together pretty quickly and saves the day.  Do not get me wrong, it was pretty badass.  I loved the way Banner tells the group that his biggest secret is that he is always angry.  The Hulk destroying that flying monster was great and when he and Thor take down another one and then Hulk just punches Thor was pretty damn hilarious.

I do want to mention that Hawkeye was pretty much how I imagined.  I am glad they did not go with his traditional costume and instead used a black suit.  I think everyone was wrong about the majority of the fight scenes involving the three human characters.  I did not feel like they were chewing up the screen time to save money on CGI, did anyone else?

The first post-credit scene showed Thanos finding out that the humans put up a good fight.  If I remember correctly, Thanos has a thing for death.  He will want to come to Earth to give Death a gift.  I just wonder if this will be more of the plot of the next Iron Man movie?  Also, will the next Thor movie have something to do with this, or just be separate?  I am excited for the future.


I think Maria Hill will end up dating Captain America...

My favorite line from the movie was probably when Captain America is about to jump out of the plane to go after Iron Man and Thor, Black Widow yells "Captain, that is a god you are going after."  Cap responds "There is only god ma'am, and these guys ain't him."  I am obviously paraphrasing here, but I just love the way Chris Evans pulls off those lines of a guy still from the 1940s.

I would also like to note that Mark Ruffalo was fantastic as Bruce Banner.  He had that nervous, quiet, shy quality that Banner needs.  I also thought his reference to the Hulk as the other guy was pretty cool.  The banter between Banner and Stark were cool, I loved the way Stark was trying to push him to accept the Hulk.  Actually, I enjoyed all the banter between the different characters.

Let me know what you thought of the movie.

Comic Book Movie Grade:  A

Damned

I started the newest Chuck Palahniuk book Damned awhile ago and then got a little busy with some other stuff (that means I just wanted to sit around and watch TV).  On the plane I finished the book (and actually started another one and just about finished it, but neither here nor there).  It was pretty damn good, but this is the second time that he has ended one of his books with a cliffhanger.

The book is a combination between The Breakfast Club (it has the same types of characters) and the Judy Blume novel:  Are You There God?  It's Me, Margaret.  Each chapter starts with Madison talking to Satan and then expands from there.  Madison is the main character and she is the rich of two of the biggest movie stars on the planet.  She happens to think she died from a marijuana overdose. 

The story goes from learning about the way Hell works, to the change in Madison, to a huge revelation (which is normal for a Palahniuk book).

SPOILERS FROM HERE ON OUT



-Did anyone else think that Chuck was making fun of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie a little bit with his portrayal of Madison's parents?
-The part where Satan reveals that Madison is just a creation of his was pretty insane.  I really thought the big reveal would be how she died.  Not that she would go on to conquer most of Hell with an army and then meet Satan, who turns out to be the first person she met.  The idea that you are not real is very much in the vein of Fight Club.
-Also, since she is wrongfully in Hell, yet she has helped condemn a bunch of people to Hell, does that mean she is no longer fit for Heaven?  Anyone else have any predictions on what will happen?

Game of Thrones: Garden of Bones

There was a ton of great stuff in this episode.  I will just break it down by character.  The best part about the whole season so far has been the subtle differences between the book.  Makes me happy that I will not know exactly what will happen.

Joffrey


-The beating and humiliation of Sansa was pretty cruel, but I liked how Tyrion dealt with the situation.  Ordering Bronn to kill Ser Meryn if he speaks again ("now that is threat, see the difference?") was pretty hilarious. 
-Getting the king laid seemed like a good idea, or at least it would be a good idea if Joffrey was not a crazy psycho.  Instead of banging whores, he forces one to beat the other. 
-Everyone hates Joffrey, which is impressive that Jack Gleeson is a good enough actor to pull off such an annoying shit-head.



Robb Stark
He takes an interest in a certain nurse.  I have a feeling they are going a different route with this girl.  Honestly, I like where this could go.  Also, the dude that played Roose Bolton is creepy looking.  I look forward to meeting his bastard...

Tyrion
As I said, he was pretty awesome from the beginning.  He then continues being awesome by calling out his cousin for banging the queen.  He threatens to tell Joffrey, which just about causes Lancel to shit his pants.  That kid is such a pussy.  Oh, and we finally get to see the Grand Maester without his beard...

Arya
Seriously, her story just becomes more depressing each week.  I always feel like she is the character that gets shit on the most.  Hell, I mostly forgot about her stay at Harrenhal.  I was starting to squirm when they began to torture Gendry with the rat in a bucket.  If I remember correctly, being Tywin's cup bearer is not a great job either.

Daenaerys
They finally go somewhere.  Christ, I was starting to think they did not want to move her story along.  She brings her group to Qarth (which was nice hearing how to pronounce it).  Unfortunately, my DVR decided to glitch for a minute or two and I had no sound.  I have no clue what the one guy was saying.  I am looking forward to what will happen in Qarth.



Renly and Stannis
-Littlefinger brings back the bones of Ned, wants to trade Sansa/Arya for Jaime.
-Catelyn says that if the two kings were her sons she would smack their heads together until they remembered they were brothers.
-Stannis is pretty stupid.  He does not seem like the kind of guy who would want to be the king, instead he seems like he would want to be the man behind the king.  Why not just allow Renly to be king and control him?
-The birth of Melisandre's shadow baby was much cooler than it was in the book.  Seriously, I thought it was pretty amazing looking. 

Mad Men: Signal 30

Do you people realize that Mad Men is consistently amazing?  It is tough for me to decide which is a better show:  Mad Men or Breaking Bad.  I could probably make an argument for both.  For those of you not watching either show, well you should be ashamed of yourselves.



Please, someone buy me Don's jacket
This week's episode had a pretty simple premise:  dinner party at Pete's house in the suburbs and a night on the town with a new client.  This should be one of those episodes where you go "oh, this is boring, nothing really happened."  Instead, we get fantastic insight into the relationships of the different characters.  So cool.

-Pete and Don:  Campbell continues to look up to and want Don's approval.  He basically says so when Don actually shows up at the dinner.  There was a certain amount of jealousy when Don took off his shirt and fixed the sink.  Also, did I hallucinate, or did Pete say "Dick, I'll get the toolbox"? 

-Don and Megan:  Don does not want to go to this party.  He tells Megan to call Trudie and let her know they cannot make it.  Megan is not Betty.  She tells Don that if he wants to cancel, he has to call himself.  Betty would have said "Yes, Don" and then been miserable about it.  Good for Megan.  The best part was Don actually calling Trudie and she pretty much cuts him off and says that his excuses will not work. 

Last week we saw that Don fears that he will slip up and cheat on Megan (also, he fears that he could snap and murder someone).  This week, he really does want to please his wife.  Also, he passes up a chance to cheat on her.  At the whorehouse he passes on the girls and continues to drink.  The madam even offers him a discreet gentleman (which got a chuckle out of Don, which she asks if he has ever gotten that before).

-Trudie and Pete:  They seem like such a happy couple.  Hell, even Don seemed jealous of them with their beautiful child.  Yet, all Pete ever does is bitch about her.  All he does is yearn for some high school girl at the driver's education class (also, does any show on TV have more finger-banging scenes than this one?), then at the whorehouse he has sex and does it in the creepy Pete way.  Did anyone else think that Pete might rough the girl up a bit and end with Don having to help smooth things over?

On the drive home, Pete has a hissy fit about Don judging him.  Don drops a knowledge bomb on him, by letting him know that yes he used to cheat on his wife all the time, but maybe if he put in the work and cherished what he had, it would have worked.  He does not tell Pete to stop being an idiot, but the implication was there.

-Pete and Lane:  The new business comes from Lane's friend, who works for Jaguar.  Lane wants to handle the account himself, but is not really an account man.  He goes to Roger who gives him some pointers.  Needless to say, he fails and has to call in the big guns.  Roger, Pete, and Don take the guy out, who does not want a nice dinner, but instead wants to party.  They take him to the whorehouse.

Apparently, the dude is a moron and gets caught by his wife.  The wife found chewing gum in his pubic hair, hahahhahahahahahaha!  Yes, that is the reaction by everyone at the partner's meeting.  Lane is furious and feels that it was their fault, until they mention that it was the guy's idea.  Lane scoffs at this, but then Pete says "he didn't want to go with you because he thinks you're a homo."  Lane then challenges Pete to a fight.

They get into a boxing match in the room and Pete loses.  We all knew this day would come, someone would smack Pete around.  I figured it would be Roger (he challenged him a few episodes ago), or maybe even Don back in the first season.  Hell, I even suspected Peggy at some point.  Two things happen from this.

First thing is that Lane and Joan have a moment.  They are such a good friendship pair, but then Lane makes the mistake of kissing her.  It was awkward for everyone.  Luckily, Joan saves the moment, by opening the door and pretending like nothing happened.

Then, Pete and Don share an elevator ride.  Pete breaks down and cries about his life.  Don should probably just strangle him and put him out of his misery.  As soon as Pete realizes that he is not Don Draper and he is never going to be Don Draper, the sooner that he will be a happy individual.

Justified Finale

The season finale of Justified was pretty damn awesome.  The show found a perfect way to conclude things (seriously Sutter, pay attention!) and ended with a pretty sad moment.  Here is a quick recap of some of my favorite things.

-Quarles kidnapping a family.  I was actually nervous that he was going to start raping one of the kids.  Has there ever been a quicker descent of a villain as Quarles?  Not in a bad way, but he went from being this smart one-step ahead of everyone schemer, to a drug-addicted psychopath (yes, I realize those things were there from the beginning).

-Harlan Roulette with Winn Duffy.  I really thought Raylan might shoot him.  At least in the leg or something.  I hope Duffy is back next season.

-How much energy will Raylan expend next season to try and bring Limehouse down?

-I loved Raylan's comment to Quarles about his hidden gun:  Cute.  Also, I love how Raylan never shows any fear in these situations.  Although, he did seem a bit shaken when he realized there were a bunch of men with guns behind him at Limehouse's. 

-Who hides money in a pig like that?  Why would you hide money there?  Still a pretty cool visual.  The best thing though was Limehouse cutting off Quarles arm.

 
 -Arlo admits to killing Tom (the state trooper) and to killing Devil.  That means that Boyd gets to go free.  The show ends with Raylan telling Winona the whole story.  She asks him why Art thought Raylan might be upset about Arlo.  Raylan says that he shot Tom because he saw a cop in a hat pointing a gun at Boyd.  The implication is that Arlo was hoping he shot Raylan.  That is pretty rough.

This season was definitely not a letdown from season two.  I hope they can continue the greatness next season.

Great Television Sunday

There was plenty of great stuff on TV yesterday.  Where should I start?



The Killing
I know that plenty of people did not like this show last year, but it was just good enough to keep me interested to watch it this season.  It turns out that Richmond did not murder Rosie.  In fact, Linden thinks the whole thing might be a huge frame job.

The best aspect of the premiere has been the way Holder seemed to be the bad guy.  It then turns out that he was duped just like Linden.  A great moment was him switching backpacks and then hearing the lieutenant say it contained Richmond's prints.

I believe the conspiracy starts with the Mayor's assistant, but how far does it go?  And what is the big secret that Rosie knew?  I am intrigued.

Mad Men
The second episode of the season was fantastic.  We see what Betty has been up to since we last saw her.  She has put on a few pounds.  It honestly could not happen to a nicer person.  Sorry, that was sarcasm.  I think I have mentioned before that I think she is a terrible mother/human.

We then got to see that she could have cancer.  The first person she calls is Don and all she wants to hear is him say "Birdie, everything is going to be alright."  This causes Don to be worried about her for most of the episode.  It turns out that she does not have cancer and when Don calls to check on her, Henry answers the phone.  Henry informs Don that everything is fine, but as Henry hangs up, he is clearly pissed that Betty told him.



Another great storyline has been the Pete/Roger showdown.  Roger was able to convince Mohawk Airlines to come back (although Pete initiated the meeting).  Pete calls an office meeting and basically says that he did the work and that he is saving the company.  Roger is not pleased. 

Peggy hires a new copywriter to do Mohawk's weekly ads.  The dude is a little out there.  Roger tells Peggy that he has her back if Don does not like the hire.  Peggy is a little afraid that if this kid is too good, he could replace her (although, she does not say this, you can sense it).  Roger admits that he made a mistake hiring Pete and basically defending him when Don wanted rid of him.  Hmm, could we see Roger taking a more active role in the day-to-day operations?



Game of Thrones
I loved how they used the red comet as the segue to a new character.  What were some of my favorite moments?
-Robb talking to Jaime.  I love how Jaime tries to taunt him, but Robb gets the final taunt by bringing his direwolf into the cage and allowing Grey Wind to almost bite Jaime's face.  Jaime shows no fear until that moment.
-I still love seeing little dragons. 
-Tyrion's arrival at the Small Council meeting.  This is the beginning of him being even more awesome.  Cersei does not seem to be pleased by this turn of events. 
-Speaking of Cersei.  She slaps Joffrey, which almost causes him to snap.  He lets her know that if she ever does it again, she will die.
-Joffrey is still pretty damn crazy.  He wants to kill some drunken knight, but Sansa convinces him to make the knight his fool instead.
-Melisandre was cast perfectly.  The poisoned drink scene was pretty good, although, in the book it was much better because you get the Maester's point of view and all his thoughts going into it.
-Joffrey sends the City Watch out to murder all of Robert's bastard children.  The scene where Janos slits the babies throat was pretty hardcore.
-And then Cersei shows her power by threatening Little Finger.  He mocks her by saying that knowledge is power, she has her guards seize him and almost cut his throat.  She then has them release him.  She says "power is power."  This is not something Little Finger will forget.

Obviously this episode was just a set-up for things to come.  It was still pretty awesome, but I cannot wait for the coming weeks.

Justified Blew My Mind

Last night's episode of Justified was one of the best in what has been an amazing season so far.  I do not need to go into everything that happened, but allow me to say one thing:  Quarles explaining how his father pimped him out to men was insanely frightening.  Look at this GIF of Wynn Duffy while Quarles tells this story.




That was pretty much my reaction as well.

The Walking Dead Season Finale

Before I begin, I just want to apologize to everyone for giving away Shane's death in last weeks episode.  I normally do not put things in the title that give things away.  If I ruined the episode for anyone, I feel bad about that.  Although, it is funny to me that no one got pissed when I gave away Dale's death the week before.  Okay, moving on...

The finale did a pretty good job of getting us off the farm.  The farm was a terrible place for the group to settle.  Definitely not secure and it amazes me that no one realized it.  Fortunately, a herd was able to come through and murder a few people and scatter the group.

They killed off a few minor characters, but nothing major.  Also, they went the ridiculous route and had everyone becoming top-shots.  I mean, obviously shooting zombies in the head from a moving car is pretty easy.  The group splits apart, but after a little they find each other.  Well everyone except for Andrea. 

The group makes a huge deal about Rick withholding his knowledge that everyone carries the zombie-disease and that is why if someone dies they automatically turn.  I actually do not understand why they are so pissed about this.  It just seems like a convenient way for the writers to try and make Rick somewhat interesting.  Also, his little speech about the group not being a democracy was pretty stupid.  I hated the slow shot of each group member's face to show their reaction to Rick's announcement that he killed Shane.  Reminded me of something you would see in Family Guy, as they pan to each character, they then finish off by showing Boba Fett or something equally ridiculous.



So the beginning was great, the middle was awesome, then it started to drag about the last fifteen minutes.  Then the last few scenes saved it.  First, we find Andrea being chased by zombies and running out of ammo.  She stumbles and seems to be done, when a sword flashes and the zombies head pops off.  We see a cloaked individual leading two armless zombies in chains. 

This will be Michonne, everyone's favorite katana wielding zombie killing machine.  Trust me folks, you will like her.  Apparently they cast her this week as well.  She will be played by Danai Gurira from Treme. 

After that, as Rick gives his speech about how he thinks there still is a place out there, the camera zooms out and we see that place is not so far away:  a prison.  This is where things become very interesting (although, I really hope they cast Tyreese for just one scene alone) and will help us find a great villain in the Governor.

The Walking Dead: RIP Shane

I knew it was coming.  I knew eventually they would have to kill Shane off.  It happened so fast in the comic, that it was actually amazing he was alive this long in the show.  I want to say that I enjoyed the show handled it.  I think if they went the comic route it would have been way too controversial.  Allow me to explain.

In the comic, Shane takes Rick out in the woods in order to shoot him.  Carl is the one to shoot Shane and afterwards, the book ends with Carl crying and Rick hugging him.  Carl then says "it is harder than shooting than the dead ones."  Rick then tells him that "it always should be."

This was the pivotal moment that defines Carl.  The kid has plenty of problems throughout the book.  Actually, for the most part he is cold and at times he scares Rick because he just does not seem to care when someone dies.

Unfortunately, parent groups would have had a fit if Carl was seen shooting Shane.  Instead, it is much more fitting to have Carl shoot Zombie-Shane.  Also, the group learns much later that someone who dies will still return to the dead.  This causes Rick to head back to where he buried Shane and finds Zombie-Shane and kill him.

Next week looks like it should be pretty good.  The farm will be invaded by zombies and hopefully this will force the group to abandon the area and search for some place new.



Oh, and did anyone else think the scene where Rick gives Carl the gun should probably be used as a Republican gun rights ad?  "Obama wants to take away your right to give your son a pistol to defend himself from zombies."

Justified: Devil You Know

This episode of Justified was supposed to be a simple one where Raylan tracks down two escaped fugitives.  Oddly though, this episode was anything, but simple.  In actuality, the escaped fugitives were Dicky and Dewey, the two biggest idiots on the show.

They are actually broken out by the guard and the prison doctor, the guard wants Dicky's money.  Now, while all this is happening, Quarles makes an offer to Devil.  We never hear it out loud, but we all know what they want:  Boyd dead.

Naturally, Raylan pays a visit to Boyd to see if he knows where the fugitives are hiding.  Raylan reminds Boyd that he can keep better tabs on Dicky if he is in prison.  Anyways, in the end Raylan captures Dicky, who survived with some help from Mr. Limehouse.  He then learns that the good doctor has Dewey.  The doctor is about to take out Dewey's kidney...

Favorite part of the episode?  Raylan hitting the prison guard with his car, and then seeing him get up and deciding to back into him.  Best way to avoid using a gun.  Also, telling him that his spleen could rupture was also pretty good.

The episode ends with Devil and Johnny confronting Boyd.  We all knew that Boyd would see it coming and that Johnny would not betray Boyd, but what made this great:  Boyd does not offer a choice or say a whole, he just shoots Devil and then asks him if he wants him to take the pain away.  He then puts the gun to his head, we hear Devil whimper and as the screen goes black, we hear the gunshot.

So, that sets up a few things for next week.  Dewey doing Deweyesque things, like robbing strip clubs or something.  He needs money, I think for his kidney.  Boyd versus Quarles.  Limehouse continuing to be a badass.  And Raylan in the center of it all.  I mean, if not for him, so much of this shit would not be happening.  Pretty crazy when you think about it.

And thanks to Warming Glow for this:

Hey, TV Shows are Back!

Now that the holidays are over and our lives are finally back to normal, television shows can resume (or premiere...or start a new season, whatever).  I will now tell you about everything I watched this week.

Alcatraz
It has Hurley and Sam Neill.  Obviously I am going to check it out.  After the premiere, I can only say that I will need a few more episodes before I decide if I like it or not.  I mean, the story is pretty interesting, but will it take forever to receive answers?



Basically, all the inmates from Alcatraz disappeared (it was all covered up) and now they are starting to return.  Neill's character (Hauser) is now hunting the convicts as they return, along with a hot cop and Hurley.  It seems that Hauser's assistant was a doctor back then who did experiments on the prisoners and has not aged since...hmm.  Very weird.

There are some silly things though.  I mean, Rebecca Madsen (played by Sarah Jones, who was Polly Zobelle on Sons of Anarchy and the pregnant fugitive on Justified and is smoking hot) dresses in super-tight pants (I am not complaining), but would a cop really want to wear pants like that while working?  Especially when she constantly ends up chasing people? 

Second, Hurley (I will not even bother looking up his character's name) has a PhD in criminal justice and is some kind of expert on Alcatraz.  For some reason he is perfect to work as Madsen's partner.  Even though Hauser seems to have spent his entire life studying and preparing for the moment these guys start returning.

Being Human
Seriously, why do I watch this show?  I might have to stop.  What happened?  Who honestly cares.  Hell, that show that came on after it was actually better (Lost Girl).

Justified
Now this is an awesome show.  Everything was pretty much perfect.  Without going into too much detail, let me tell you about the awesome stuff:
-Raylan pulling the table cloth on Fletcher Nix (who is an awesome villain and better be back at some point).  I knew Raylan would come up with something, but I did not imagine it would be that simple and then still shoot him in the arm. 
-Boyd fighting Raylan in the U.S. Marshalls office, which seemed a little odd at first, but then you realize that Boyd is now locked up with Dicky Bennett.  I love when Boyd has a plan (he always has a plan).
-Ava hitting a dude with a frying pan.  Seriously, the funniest thing I have seen in like a month.



White Collar
Neil and Peter save Elizabeth and catch the bad guy.  The big thing that happened though was that Neil had to decide whether he wanted to stay in NYC or run away with the treasure.  Obviously, he chose staying in the city and continuing his job with Peter.

The thing that interested me though, was where did Neil learn to shoot like that?  Is there anything he is actually bad at?

Royal Pains
This is one that Lindsey and I enjoy watching together.  It is basically like House, but a tad more upbeat.  The season picks up where we ended last time, with Hank's patient accidentally receiving the wrong medication from Divya (who was also working at the hospital without telling Hank).

Evan finally receives the General's permission to marry his daughter, but then has it taken away when Evan stands up to him.  Naturally by the end things were pretty much resolved.  Also, Divya tells Hank that she gave the patient the wrong meds, which will probably cause Hank to not trust her. 

Also, I am tired of the whole Jill/Hank story.  Get her to Uruguay already.  I think Hank should just go on a rampage banging his patients.  It seems like all of them end up being attractive women, who flirt with him.

Person of Interest
I expected a little more from this show.  I hope next season they shift gears a little bit and focus more on the machine.  I am more interested in watching Reese investigate Harold than each week's victim (which ends up being about the same as an episode of Human Target).

Archer
Burt Reynolds and Archer together, yeah it was pretty much as awesome as expected.  There were so many funny parts, but my absolute favorite was the elevator joke.  A super-slow elevator and then a discussion about putting in a bat-pole.  

Community Season 2

As some of you know (those of you that read this post), I am a fan of Community, but I am about a year behind.  I missed season one, so I got it for Christmas and well, you get the point.  Anyways, I finished season two the other day and I must say that it was also pretty damn awesome.  Fortunately, I was smart enough to DVR season three, so I can start watching ASAP.

The great thing about the show, I said this before, but I will say it again:  it can be many things all at once.  It can be hilarious, with traditional jokes, slapstick style humor, or insane situations.  It can also be pretty emotional when it wants to.  Here are some of my favorite moments:

-Abed delivering a baby in the background and then referencing it during Shirley's delivery.
-The two-part paintball episode.  So much awesome stuff in that one.  Especially since Sawyer showed up as a badass paintball mercenary.
-The zombie plague and how it ended up with Chang sleeping with Shirley.
-The trampoline.  That was such a silly thing, yet it really helped cement the idea of Pierce as the villain for the rest of the season.  It seemed to me that this was the moment that we saw being excluded truly bothered him.
-The number of moments where we thought maybe Jeff and Annie might get together, but then it gets made fun of during the fake flashback episode.
-Troy's 21st birthday, which ended up with Britta and Jeff realizing that they both were talking about the same bar.  Troy never orders a drink and ends up driving everyone home.
-Abed and Annie kissing, while Abed is in his Han Solo role.
-The Christmas special, which was kind of sad and yet very funny.
-The Valentine's Day episode was pretty awesome.  Starting with the fight about the Barenaked Ladies, Troy and Abed going for the same girl (but instead of doing the typical sitcom thing, they do not compete over her), Britta trying to teach Annie about being homophobic (although, the lesbian turned out to be straight, who thought Britta was a lesbian), Pierce's drug addiction, and Jeff eventually sending the group a very sweet text.  Pretty awesome.

There were more moments, but I cannot think of anything else.  I bet we can all agree though that Alison Brie is still hot...

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows

Lindsey and I went to see this the other night (she only fell asleep for like a minute, so proud of her!) and I must say that I was quite pleased with it.  All the good things about the first one were in this one. 

I love the deduction process he uses during fight scenes.  I especially loved it at the end when he fought Professor Moriarty, when both characters are laying out the way the fight will go.

I feel like this plot (Professor Moriarty trying to start a massive world war) was the plot for League of Extraordinary Gentleman.  Any Holmes fans out there know if that was something Moriarty planned to do in the book?  From what I can tell that was never really what he was up to.

Also, I have one complaint:  the scene where Holmes tosses Mary out of the train.  I am pretty sure someone would be severely hurt if they got thrown out of a train into a body of water.  I guess that is not too bad though if that is my only complaint.

I recommend going to see it if you have not already done so. 

Inheritance Review

Christopher Paolini's Inheritance Cycle series came to it's conclusion with the fourth book:  Inheritance.  Where does he go from here?  Something tells me that he is not done with this world.  I imagine he will write a few short stories about other things, but his next novel will return to this land.

Anyways, on to the book.  It was decent.  That is really about all I can say.  It had a few great moments, a few terrible moments, but the majority of it was pretty bland.  At least he tied up the majority of the earlier loose ends, but most of them seemed pretty weak.

The major one was the Vault of Souls.  I honestly expected whatever weapon be there to be something completely different, but instead it was just a bunch of the Eldunari that were hidden away from the world after Galbatorix went crazy.  My question is that if the dragons are that powerful that they could make everyone forget about these Elunari, how come they could not do more against Galbatorix? 

Also, the more I think about it, I feel like the Eldunari and Paolini's magic system come like a video game.  You can gain and absorb power, I almost expect to see a health bar near Eragon's head during battles.  "You have discovered the Vault of Souls!  Unlimited magic power!"

Second thing that bothered me was the way he portrayed Galbatorix.  At first, he seems to be very much not insane.  He has grand plans for the use of magic throughout the land.  He wants to make it fair and pretty much put everyone on equal footing.  Remember how Murtaugh said that Galbatorix had grand designs for the world?  Well, it seemed like he was not lying.

I just wish that Paolini had continued with this idea.  In fact, he should have taken it to an extreme.  Make Galbatorix the good guy, who represents change in the world.  Eragon and the rest are fighting to keep things the way they are.  This would have been an interesting idea, something to help ponder.  But, in the end, it turns out that Galbatorix is just batshit crazy and wants to rule the world.  Lame.

Although, I did enjoy that the secret to Galbatorix ended up being that he discovered the name of the ancient language.  Unfortunately, I did not like that the way he is defeated.  Murtaugh falls in love with Nasuada and this causes his true name to change, meaning all of the binding spells by Galbatorix are null and void.  He reveals this by stripping Galbatorix's wards with the new magic word.  Eragon then uses a spell without words to make Galbatorix feel pain or something.  Galbatorix then pulls an Emperor (or Sauron) and explodes, almost killing everyone.

Speaking of love...ugh.  Murtaugh and the Nasuada love story was pretty much the most predictable thing ever.  If someone could not see it coming, then they must have been mildly retarded.  Another thing I could do without:  the stupid contemplations about murder during war that Roran and Eragon both go through.  If I wanted to read about soldiers thoughts on the horrors of war, I would read biographies from actual soldiers...the reason Tolkien could write about these things is that he actually fought in World War I.

Wow, so it probably seems like I did not like anything at all.  Which is not true, allow me to mention the things I enjoyed:

-Angela.  I would love to see a short story, or maybe even a featured novel about her history/adventures.  Also, I loved the Monty Python reference.  She tells a story to the Urgals about a killer bunny and it ends with "and there was much rejoicing."

-Roran.  Again, if there was another book about his adventures in securing Carvahall or something.  I would be most pleased. 

-I actually enjoyed the ending with Eragon going away and not ending up with Arya.  Especially now that she has her own dragon.  I was a little upset that we never really saw anything from Vanir until the end.  I thought for sure he would lead an elf battalion or something.  Or at least become friends with Roran...oh well.  I also liked the way Eragon handled the Urgal situation.  He created the Olympics AND allowed an Urgal (and dwarf) to be a Rider.

-Minus the love story, I did enjoy the fact that Murtaugh decided to leave.  Maybe that is what his next book should be:  Murtaugh's adventure outside of Alagaesia.  Then he can return and explain to Nasuada that her becoming High Queen is idiotic.  He could bring democracy to the land...

Like I said, it was an okay book, but nothing amazing.