Chuck

You know what inevitably kills a show? When the sexual tension is resolved. I mean if one of the chief reasons you tune in is to see if the guy gets the girl, why tune in after it happens? Did you watch another episode of "Who's the Boss" after Tony and Angela hooked up? Especially if your show is already on the renewal bubble, why do something to reduce viewership?

Well if you don't know what I'm talking bout Chuck finally got together with Sarah. In fact they decided to quit the spy-game and run away together. They are on a train in Europe making plans for their new life when a plot twist approaches, excuse me I meant bad guy. They both recognize him but don't tell the other because they both agreed to get out of the game. Making excuses to each other they separately do some re-con and find out the guy's identity but get in each other's way and discover that they are both working on the same case. They decide to work together to neutralize the bad guy.

Meanwhile, Casey and the bearded one are back at the Buy-More trying to track down Chuck and Sarah. Morgan uses his encyclopedic knowledge of all things Chuck to track him down and the dynamic duo depart for Europe. The manage to find Charah (Man I hope that doesn't stick but it's better than Suck) just as they slip a mickey to the bad spy that manages to knock out his bodyguards but leave him free to run off. Casey handcuffs Chuck and Sarah and they respond with the most ridiculous moment of the night. They punch Casey with they're handcuffed hands and knock him out! That's right they knock out Green Beret Casey with a short jab to the face. That's believable. But it allows Chuck and Sarah to chase down the bad guy and learn that they have totally misread the situation.

Turns out the bad guy was turning himself in and the two bodyguards were Interpol. Whoops! Well now they have to tell the General what happened, she's not happy, and they have to babysit the spy until they can hand him over to replacement Interpol agents. But that's OK because it gives everyone a chance to talk. Morgan is heartbroken but understands and Casey won't stand in their way. So they leave to start their new life together and Morgan and Casey wait for Interpol.

Heading back to the train, they learn that the Interpol agents had been switched for more bad guys and Casey and Morgan need saving! So they run back and long story short they save the day. The spy gets handed over to the real Interpol, the bad guys are arrested, everybody's happy. In fact Chuck and Sarah have so much fun they decide to tell the General about their relationship and throw caution to the wind. The General's reaction? "About time" Indeed.

This is a fun show and another great episode. You really couldn't ask this show to have more heart, more thrills, or more humor. They hit just the right mix every week and do a wonderful job telling very good stories. And as much as I like Chuck and Sarah together I sincerely hope that it doesn't damage their chances for renewal.

What did you think? Leave me a comment.

Glee

What's better than a rockin' Glee? A Glee focused on one of the icons on my youth!

Turns out Sue is a huge Madonna fan and decides to restructure the Cheer-ios using the Material Girl as inspiration. Now no one can use their last names and all the girls need to find younger boy-toys to have on their arms. (Unfortunately this means the Freshman Cheer-ios have to raid the Middle school!) She even forces the principal to play Madonna music over the intercoms and choreographs a dance number to one of her songs.

The highpoint of the show is when Rachel, Finn, and Emma all decide to lose their virginity and launch into an imaginary "Like a Virgin" dance number. Fortunately two of the three decide to hold off with a very disappointed Finn being the only only one to lose his virginity.

Over all, a very good episode with lots of good music. (After all, that's why we watch!) What did you think? Leave a comment.

24

Goodness. Not a good hour to be Jack Bauer. First he has to deal with the love of his life being on a slab then the President makes a special trip to tell him "Screw You" to his face. Let's dive in.

First, Jack has to answer a few questions about Renee's next of kin. Should be simple, right? After all they were soulmates with a love forged in the heat of battle, but no. Turns out Jack knows nothing about her family, if her parents are alive, who should be contacted about her death, nothing. Perhaps a simple background check would have been in order before jumping in to bed with her. I mean after all Jack should know by now that the possibility of someone he loves being killed approaches 100%. Heck I knew that 5 episodes ago.

So a determined Jack calls CTU and finds out what Renee and Chloe were talking about when she was killed and that leads him to Sergei Bazhaev, remember him? He was the Russian that was trying to buy the bomb from Hassan's traitorous brother earlier in the day. Jack goes to see him while he is being arraigned, gets a private audience with him and makes it clear either he gets the info he wants or he kills every member of Bazhaev's family. Bazhaev's not a stupid man and tells him everything he knows. Doesn't even ask for immunity which seems to be the knee-jerk reaction whenever anyone wants to tell Jack anything. Jack "Where's the bathroom?' Bad Guy: "It's in the building, any more and I'll need immunity from the President" And scene.

Turns out the woman with all the answers is already in custody. That's right, our favorite Starbuck Dana Walsh is the source of all needed info. So Jack heads back to CTU to do a little interrogating, Bauer-style. After a few slaps to the head and face and Dana is ready to spill the beans but first she needs...wait for it...immunity. (On a side note, did anyone else's stomach churn just a little to see Jack unload on a woman like that? It was a little unsettling. I couldn't remember another time when Jack was so physical with a female, can you? Leave me a comment if you are remembering something I'm not.) Fortunately, this won't be a problem. The President already has immunity forms filled out and waiting for Jack's call, all he has to do is pick up the phone and before you can say Anger Issues the deal is done. Except not. And for why we need to go to ...

President Logan is given the task of getting the Russians back to the negotiating table and is able to use the fact that he knows that the Russians were behind the Hassan assassination plot as leverage. And it works; the Russians are back, the IRK has accepted Hassan's widow as leader, all is good in the peace process except for one small fly in the ointment. Logan gets word that Bauer is interrogating Walsh and if she gives up the fact that the Russians were involved in Hassan's murder, Hassan's widow won't sit with them at the negotiating table and the deal's off. Logan takes this to Taylor and President Taylor is forced to make a choice. Either she can refuse Bauer's request for Walsh's immunity or grant it and risk the Peace agreement falling apart. After some debate with Logan pushing for no immunity and Brian Hastings arguing for it, (Imaging President Taylor with Logan in an devil costume on one shoulder and Hastings as an angel on the other shoulder.) Taylor decides to listen to Logan.

Instead of just calling Jack and telling him no, Taylor hops in a car and actually drives to CTU to tell Jack to his face. (That's right, the President went to see Jack, not the other way around.) Not only does she refuse to give Jack what he needs to avenge Renee's death, she decides to sequester Jack for a "debriefing" until the whole episode is over. You know what that means right?! Ahhh yeah, it's Jack vs. the whole US government. Jack gets taken to a helicopter which he promptly commandeers and takes flight. Chloe sees all this go down and begs Jack to land or she will call the Air Force in. Ahh yeah, it's Jack vs. Chloe. Jack will take on all comers!

The only thing I'm unsure of is what his plan is. Will he rescue Dana Walsh and force her to tell him what he needs to know. Will he tell Hassan's widow about the Russians' involvement with her husband's murder and blow up the peace agreement? Will he retire to nice island somewhere and live out his days in peace? What do you think? Leave a comment.

Human Target

I gotta confess. I have seen every episode of this show. I never talk about it because I kind of just let it play in the background while I'm doing other stuff but darn it if it hasn't grown on me.

Christoper Chance is a mercenary with a Heart of Gold and a mysterious past who uses his considerable talents to protect the innocent and defend the weak and it just gets more entertaining every episode. This was the Season (Hopefully not Series) Finale where we finally learn a little about his past and the mysterious Katherine that gets mentioned every week. Seems Christoper used to be a hired assassin that was tasked to kill Katherine but had a change of heart because she hadn't done anything wrong. It also helps that she was very, very pretty.

We get the story mostly in flashback as Chance and Co. are held captive and asked about what happened on that fateful mission. Seems Katherine knows the location of a book with enough compromising info about world leaders to End The World As We Know It. Chance retrieves the book but gets Katherine killed. In fact the only way Chance survives his run-in with the other assassins on his tail is by a little Dues Ex Machina in the form of Lee Majors(!) shooting his attacker in the back just as he is about to stab Chance. Very cool to see the 6 Million Dollar Man back in action. (And this fresh off the heels of his guest spot on Community, do I smell comeback?)

So Katherine is dead, the book is presumably lost (but probably not, we don't know for sure) adn Chance decides to dedicate his life to helping people. Winston and Guerrero sign on to help and it's like the 3 Amigos Save The World. But the bad guys want the book back which brings us back to the present time. Chance and Co. manage to escape their captors but not before Winston is captured and taken away but before Chance and Guerrero can go after him Chance's old handler and Father Figure waltzes in and says he wants to help. At least that's what I think he said. This guy delivers his lines like his mouth is full of gravel. I had to rewind and turn the TV up to make it out but that's the gist of it. So Chance has to save Winston and that's where it ends. A little cliffhanger but enough to make me want to see this renewed.

What do you think of this show? Leave a comment.

Lost

Well, well, well. Everything's starting to come together. Tonight we saw the emergence of a new leader, a look at just how evil Smokey is, a better clue as to what the island is, the return of an old friend, and the power of Love. (Cue Huey Lewis and the News).

This episode opens with Jack and Hurley's group on their beach arguing about what to do. Ilana and Richard are determined to blow up the Ajira airplane so the Smoke Monster can't use it to leave. Ilana picks up up the bag of dynamite, packs a few things in the bag and promptly explodes. Goodbye Ilana, we hardly knew ye. Despite this Richard is still determined to blow up the plane and leads the team back to the Black Rock for more dynamite. On the way there Ben makes the observation that Ilana is dead because "the Island was finished with her" and wonders what will happen when the Island is finished with them. Good question. I think by now it's obvious that somebody is controlling things. In fact it's so blatant that if we get to the end of this thing and someone tries to explain all this as an experiment in Free Will I will throw something at my TV. The "Free Will" choices that these characters are making are obviously being guided by a higher power. (Of course I'm a Calvinist so I'm comfortable with the idea that man's Free Will and God's Decisive Will are compatible, but I wonder if that's where this is going.)

On the way to Black Rock, the team loses Hurley. Just let that sink in for a minute. They look around and Hurley's not there. There's not another character on this show that this turn of events would be more ridiculous for. Not only do they lose him but apparently he beat them to Black Rock with enough time to blow up all the dynamite there. Can you see Hurley taking off in a dead run towards Black Rock and NOBODY NOTICING? Can you see Hurley running? I sure can't but what do I know.

With all the dynamite gone this team has to make a new decision. Richard wants to continue to try to blow up the plane, Hurley wants to go to Locke. Unable to reach a consensus, Richard, Linus and Miles head toward the plane and Hurley leads Jack, Sun, and The Lawnmower Man towards Flocke. Along the way they hear the whispers that we hear right before disaster strikes but this time Hurley says that he knows what they are. He steps into the clearing and Lo and Behold, it's Michael back from the dead. Hurley tells us that those whispers are the ones who "can't move on". Apparently if you did enough bad things you are trapped on the Island after you die. So if the Island isn't Hell or Purgatory it at the very least has some connection to one of those places. I can't wait until that is explained.

Michael tells Hurley where Flocke is and Hurley leads his group out of the forest to Flocke's camp. Two things. #1 All 6 of the candidates are together just like Flocke said they would be. (Assuming that Sun is a candidate and not Jin) #2 Hurley is leading the way. Wouldn't it be something if the main over-arching plot of this entire show is Hurley's transformation from bumbling lovable loser to noble bold Leader of Men. Never bet against the fat ones.

Back at Flocke's camp, while all this is going on and before the other group arrives, Sayid delivers Desmond to Flocke and Flocke and Desmond go for a little walk. Locke takes Desmond to a well (like the one Locke fell into and turned the Donkey Wheel) and delivers a little history lesson about why people dug the well in order to see why it made compass needles go crazy. Then Flocke asks Desmond why he's not scared. After all, they are in the middle of a jungle alone, and no one knows where he is. Desmond answers "What is the point of being afraid?" and Flocke promptly throws him down to the bottom of the well. Poor Desmond, finally freed from his bunker only to end of at the bottom of a well.

Meanwhile, back in Flash-Sideways land, Hurley gets to meet the love of his life, Libby. Unfortunately she's crazy. Like Insane Asylum crazy. But when she sees Hurley she starts to remember her time on the Island and when she kisses Hurley, he remembers also. Which comes back to a theme in these Flash-Sideways, namely that Love is some kind of bridge between the two time periods. A strong enough bond will allow you to "pierce the veil" between the two worlds. I'm pretty sure that if I think about it to long my head will hurt but I look forward to that being revealed.

However, all of this was not the most entertaining moment of the night. That occurred when Flash-Sideways Desmond purposely runs over Locke while he's in a wheelchair. That is cold-blooded! I wondered if he remembered Flocke pushing him into the well?

What did you think? Leave a comment and let me know.

24

Hoo boy. 24 does TV right!

This episode begins where last week's shocking episode ended when Jack actually failed epically at a task. I've come to expect a certain level of success from our hero, especially when he's asked to do something directly by the President, so I wasn't expecting Hassan to be killed. But killed he was and along with him all hope of a Middle East Peace Accord. Or is it?

Seems Madame President has a trick up her sleeve. She wants Hassan's widow to be the new leader of whatever made up country she's from, have her sign the Accord and everyone's happy, right? Wrong! Seems there was another party at the negotiating table which was a shock to me since they had not even been hinted at until last week. The Russian ambassador must also sign off on the treaty for it to have any real power but he doesn't want to. He says it's because he won't recognize Hassan's widow as the legitimate leader of Islamistan (whatever) but we know the real reason.

The real reason? He's Russian. If you are a Russian on 24 you are automatically a bad guy and sure enough we learn those evil Russians were behind the plot to kill Hassan. They planned everything and the plan worked to perfection with Hassan dead and all the assassins killed by Bauer's team except for one. Not a problem, just need to slip a Russian guy in to the building where the CTU team is and poison the last guy with a little poison to the neck and Voila! The perfect plot to destabilize the MidEast reaches fruition with the Americans none the wiser. Almost.

You know what they say about the best laid planes, right? This one is no exception as the Russian assassin tasked with killing the last Muslim assassin that survived the CTU assault is seen by probably the only person in Washington who could recognize him. Who is that person? Why none other than Renee Walker. She doesn't put it together at first, after all it looks like that last Muslim will survive and she's got other things on her mind, namely Jack's sweet lovin'.

Jack and Renee hightail it to his apartment for a little afternoon delight and we finally get the answer to the question, how long does Jack make love to his women. Answer? About two acts. Pretty respectable and not a Viagra (or condom) in sight. After they finish making the beast with two backs, Jack gets up for some water (gotta stay hydrated) and while he's away his phone rings. Renee yells at Jack that it's Chloe and Jack tells her not to answer it. I'm sure I don't need to remind any of you if you do not EXPLICITLY OBEY Jack EVERYTIME he tells you to do something, you die. That's the rule. But poor Renee, not knowing she is sealing her own fate, answers the phone.

Chloe tells Renee that she has been put in charge of CTU (Yeah Chloe! You go girl!) and the last terrorist has just died from poisoning. Renee puts two and two together, remembers the Russian she saw at the CTU attack site and tells Chloe to get her files assembled so she can ID the guy. The she runs into the other room to tell Jack and that's when it happens. If you'll recall a few episodes ago I predicted that because Jack was developing feelings for Renee, she would surely get kidnapped, tortured, raped, and beheaded. Well I was wrong. She gets taken out by a high powered sniper rifle from the next building. I am neither a prophet nor the son of a prophet. Despite Jack's heroic effort to save her, Renee is lost to us forever and gets the highest honor any fallen 24 character can receive, the silent final countdown. RIP Renee Walker.

In other news, in order to get the Russians back to the bargaining table, Madame President has to take a desperate measure and we are introduced to a familiar face, President Logan! All of President Taylor's hopes for salvaging the Peace process is in the hands of a man so evil he assassinated an ex-President and was stabbed in the neck by his own wife. I'm betting this doesn't end well but we'll see.

The Mentalist

Patrick Jane verses Indians!

When an amnesia victim covered in blood stumbles to Cho and Van Pelt's car, the investigation uncovers multiple dead bodies and leads to an Indian reservation. Long story short, Jane uses his considerable talents to trick the killer into revealing himself, you've seen this before if you've ever seen an episode of this show.

By far the most entertaining part of this show is the presence of Special Agent Madeline Hightower. Finally there's someone who will at least attempt to stand up to Jane and bring some order to the team. Poor Lisbon looks like her spirit has been so broken by Jane she doesn't know what to do in any situation, even one as blatently obvious as how to handle Rigsby and Van Pelt's relationship. There's no thought needed here Lisbon! They can't be on the same unit and be in a relationship! Surely they covered this in Unit Leader Training!

Finally Hightower wades into this mess and lays down the law to everyone. Jane needs to shape up of Lisbon goes! Lisbon needs to shape up or she is fired! Rigsby and Van Pelt either need to break up or one of them needs to go! The only one that escapes her fiery gaze is Cho, probably explains why he's one of my favorite character's on the show. Of course anyone who comes into conflict with Jane doesn't last long, they'll probably get a few good episodes out of the fight but in the end she'll end up like Lisbon; shuffling around, looking to Jane before she speaks or acts, etc. In the meantime though, sure to be good TV.

A few other notes:

I was surprised when I saw the episode title didn't include the word "Red". Every episode had up until this point but a quick Google (actually Swagbucks, might as well get paid while I'm searching) informed me that Aingavite Baa means "Red Water" in English. Who knew?

Also this episode was directed by Stephen Gyllenhaal, father of Maggie and Jake.

Blog Party 2010

Blog Party 2010 has started! An exciting time for all us bloggers. Most people are probably more familiar with my wife's blog www.groceryshopforfree.com but I hope you like my site as well. I review TV shows and anything else I like that entertains me and you can read my past few post here. Stay a while, read a few posts or click on an ad. Thanks!

I would like these prizes if I win.

39 -Be My Guest certificate ($250 value) for one lucky winner, (2 night stay for a family of four) at any Hilton Garden Inn.
Provided by: Hilton Garden Inn
Follow here: bloggin2noggin

13 – $100 gift certificate to Kay Jewelers
Provided by: an unpink life
Follow here: life is not always

39 – A $50 paypal cash prize for one winner.
Provided by: MomDot
Follow here: MomDot or Visit Our Fan Page: Trisha Haas

If those are already chosen, I would love any of these:

US and Canada Only Prize List: #3, 8, 15, 35, 37

Stuff Christians Like

The “Is that contestant on American Idol a Christian? Scorecard”

49. During their performance they include sign language, which next to mime, is something Christian love = + 2 points

To add up your score with over a 130 other ideas on this scorecard, visit stuffchristianslike.net.