Quad Blogs

“False Positive” was mostly a transitional episode, a decent mid-season finale devoted to getting the characters where they need to be for the second half of the season. For the most part, the episode succeeded minus an inconsistent Robin story. Bob Saget enlightened the audience that the episode wanted to deal with development in everybody, and the episode focused on the characters. The baby stuff continues to be annoying but the rest of the episode worked rather nicely and hide the fact that “False Positive” belonged to Ted Mosby.

The career path of Robin has been alternately interesting and absurd throughout the six year run of the series. Robin has pursued the grand anchor job on a prestigious news network but somehow or someway shot herself and her chances in the foot. Most of the time, the bad career luck came from a character arc like Don last season. Robin, a girl who feared commitment, made the decision to stay in New York with Don to prove to herself that she could remain committed to a man, that she wouldn’t choose her career over personal happiness. The poor girl lost the man to the job she wanted. In “False Positive,” Robin decided to take the job of a coin flipper on the newest game show “Million Dollar Coin Flip.” Later, she lands a position with worldwide news as a researcher but soon opts out of the job following the news that Lily’s not pregnant. The story would’ve worked if the worldwide news job remained in the air, if she was unsure about her future. Considering Robin got burned the last time she took a leap of faith, it would’ve been consistent if she hesitated taking another leap for fear of being burned once again; however, she decided that she’s good-looking and the job would be easy on coin flip. It would’ve worked if the Worldwide News job wasn’t a shoe-in.

Barney took a small step in his arc that will surely lead to the discovery of his father. Barney became Oprah Winfrey and gave out presents to each patron in McClaren’s before he donated one million dollars to his half-brother’s father’s church. Marshall and Lily went through the typical beats of television couples who want a child. They feared that they weren’t ready nor good enough. They felt relief when the doctor revealed that the pregnancy test was false.

By the time everyone arrived outside of the theater to watch It’s A Wonderful Life with Ted, the four characters let hesitation, fear and uncertainty get the best of them. Ted saved the day and gave each the courage to accomplish exactly what they wanted to in life. Earlier in the episode, Robin doubted whether or not Ted could convince his buddy to follow through with marriage when doubt got the best of him. Ted proved that he could calm his buddy down when he needed it most along with his friends when they needed it most. At the end of the episode, Robin asks Ted to be her best man at her wedding, if it ever happens—quite a sweet moment.

In fact, the episode was mostly a Ted episode despite the time spent on the other four characters. He was the calming force admist the madness. Maybe the season will be about Ted’s development into the man who is ready to marry when he meets his wife at that wedding. The only one entirely sure of himself, and confident in himself, was the man himself Ted Mosby.

It was a good episode for the show to end 2010 on. How I Met Your Mother can be hit-or-miss but I like the characters enough that I look forward to how the season progresses and what happens to each. I also look forward to more Zoey and Jennifer Morrison.

With every show I write about in hiatus now, expect different kind of posts in the coming weeks. The Best Episodes of 2010 looms and other Best Of along with a new, exciting feature. Stay tuned.

THE YOUTUBE CLIP OF THE WEEK

PUPPET ANGEL

Seasons of television are usually broken into three-acts. Tonight, the first act of the second season of The Vampire Diaries concluded. While the episode offered some resolution to the first ten episodes of the season, the episode mainly focused on setting the arcs for the second act of the season which begins in the new year. For the most part, “By the Light of the Moon” as a bookend to the first act of the season and a harbinger for things to come; however, the episode struggled as an individual episode.

The reason why the episode struggled is because the writers wanted to address a plethora of storylines and that led to a lack of cohesion. Elena dealt with Elijah, who revealed his true motives while Bonnie tried to destroy the moonstone with Luca who intentionally deceived Bonnie with the spell and then stole the moonstone for his father who works for Elijah. Damon and Alaric teamed up to trail the new girl in town who befriended Mason Lockwood some time ago. Stefan and Katherine dealt with sexual tension in the tomb. Caroline helped Tyler through his first werewolf transformation.

The scenes were good. Some of them dragged or felt pointless like the Katherine/Stefan scenes until the two talked about Klaus and Isobel but, of course, the story ended once it became interesting. Some scenes had that trademark Vampire Diaries intensity like the entirety of the Tyler/werewolf transformation as well as the Elena/Elijah scenes. Others were entertaining like the Mystic Grille with Damon, Alaric and Jules the Werewolf. Anytime Damon stupidly picks a fight with someone who’s dangerous and will harm him never fails to entertain. Unfortunately, nothing united the scenes besides the fact that each story had been building since the premiere. Oh well.

The central arc of the season (with Elijah, Klaus and the originals) has certainly become more interesting since I railed against it a few weeks ago. The new characters have been good additions to the series. The more depth Elijah gets, the more interesting he becomes. Elijah revealed to Elena that the originals devoted to Klaus fear the vampire more than respect him. The fear causes forced devotion. Elijah has no interest killing Elena’s friends and forcing her to Klaus because Elijah wants to use her as bait to draw Klaus into his web and defeat him. Of course, it’s a power play by Elijah. Once Klaus is killed, won’t Elijah want to spill the blood of the Petrova doppelganger so that he can walk in the sunshine? The thing about deals with evil vampires is, the deal always has a catch that will be revealed during a sweeps month that shocks the audience. Elijah’s certainly more interesting and certainly untrustworthy. Elena’s a smart girl so I doubt she immediately trusts Elijah completely. I look forward to how the arc plays out.

Meanwhile, a full moon finally happened in Mys

tic Falls. First and foremost, werewolves are lame. The only cool werewolf in history is Buffy’s Oz, and Joss was smart enough to barely turn the man into a wolf. The werewolf transformation on TVD has more suffering and pain than the usual werewolf story but werewolves are lame–no way around that part. Tyler’s transformation’s only purpose, seemingly, is to bring he and Caroline closer. But soon the guy will learn about how his uncle died and how many friends of his were involved in his death. Caroline will eventually need to avoid him when the full moon happens and he KNOWS. Also, the character development was sorely needed for Tyler. Besides the fact that werewolves are lame, Tyler’s arc has been worthwhile.

The episode reminded me of the third season of Dawson’s Creek for the second consecutive week. Rose and Damon continued their hook-up. Rose said that she will be Damon’s special friend. Jen and Pacey came to a similar agreement despite Pacey’s evolving infatuation with the Potter girl. One can only hope Rose, Damon, Stefan and Elena take dance classes together where a falling out will happen. Also, the fight that Damon picked with Jules led to Rose getting bit. Any time a character gets injured, heals and thinks it is nothing then the injury will become much worse. Rose starts to have a bad time after the bite. But, like many of the happenings in the episode, it ends as soon as it becomes interesting. Oh, winter hiatus you rascal.

After the show spent so much time on werewolves and Katherine, it felt rewarding to gain further insight into the process of transformation as well as the secrets of Katherine. She’s becoming less of a big bad and more of an open book, more of a softie. But hopefully the badass Katherine returns in the near future.

All in all, the episode really wanted to build momentum for act II and it did. Mike Daniels wrote the episode. Elizabeth Allen directed it.

The Vampire Diaries doesn’t return until the 27th of January.

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THE WEEK 14 PICKS

Indianapolis over Tennessee

-Could it be that the Titans quit on their coach and the media refuses to report it? I have a feeling the media wants to protect Jeff Fisher in the same way they protect Brett Favre until Jenn Sterger and other females revealed parts of the real Brett Favre. Maybe the team didn’t quit on their coach. It is entirely possible that Rusty Smith and Kerry Collins aren’t capable to run an NFL offense but the sudden regression of Chris Johnson has no explanation. Regardless, it’s amazing to think that the Titans destroyed the Eagles in 13 minutes a few weeks ago. As for the Colts, maybe even Peyton can’t overcome a ton of injuries and a lousy defense. He has no running game to lean on. Reggie Wayne is his only consistent offensive weapons. Weeks ago, Manning was the leading candidate for MVP. Now, he can’t escape criticism. Give the man a break, America.

Cleveland over Buffalo

-If a team gets dismantled by Tarvaris Jackson then, by rule, I cannot pick said team to win the following week. Delhomme seems like the starter for the third consecutive week. The Bills have an opportunistic defense that should make Delhomme’s day miserable. The Bills should intercept a pass or three. The Browns defense is good though, and the entire team’s good enough to beat a pesky, resilient Bills team. It’s hard to believe that the Browns were a mess and that Mangini was regarded as dictator last season compared to the positive, hopeful spirits in the Browns locker room. Harvard Fitzpatrick works miracles behind center though. This game should be good.

Green Bay over Detroit

-The compliments for the 2-10 Lions have become backhanded comments. Comments like, ‘this team is dangerous in the 2nd half when they trail by 2-3 touchdowns.’ The Lions mustered 49 yards of offense in the entire second half against Chicago. Someone at FOX, CBS, ESPN and the NFL Network needs to ban Four Lokos because every analyst/expert drinks too much and praises Detroit for no reason. Maybe the whole NFL world feels bad for fans of the Lions but it’s not like football’s the only sport in town. The Red Wings have gone back to their ‘best team in hockey’ ways. They have one of the best defenseman of all-time in Niklas Lidstrom who hasn’t slowed down as well as one of the most underrated players in hockey (Pavel Datsyuk). Generation after generation has been brainwashed into thinking football’s the only meaningful sport in the entire world. Detroit, you have a hockey team. Watch them.

New York Giants over Minnesota

-The Giants would lose to the Vikings. Such a defeat seems fitting for the Giants in the month of December. Plus, two weeks have come and gone without a camera focusing on a flustered, annoyed, stressed out Tom Coughlin. ESPN has 12,000 reporters in Minnesota, trying to figure out whether that damn consecutive starts streak will end for Favre. Everything must end eventually, ESPN–his streak followed by retirement.

Pittsburgh over Cincinnati

-Matt Diaz would’ve turned down more money from the Dodgers to sign with the Pittsburgh Pirates/Nexus for less. He did, in fact, sign with the Nexus because he wants to train in Florida and remain in the East. The Pirates’ mlb.com beat writer described Diaz as a “much-needed” power bat in the lineup. Diaz and power hitter have never shared the same sentence before. Of course, I doubt anyone from Pittsburgh knows about the Matt Diaz signing. Also, I obviously have very little to write about the football game. The Steelers are good whereas the Bengals are terrible. Terrell Owens. 13 weeks too late, said the team has to stop talking and start winning. I’m more interested in the Pirates’ offseason transactions than this game.

Tampa Bay over Washington

-Ah Washington, the city that took McNabb and Jayson Werth. The Werth signing set off crazy rumors involving Carlos Pena and Cliff Lee before the baseball universe realized that the Nationals remain the Nationals despite giving Werth 18 million a year. If the Nats signed Pena, they would’ve had a puncher’s chance to win 80 games. Werth will remain one of my all-time favorite Phillies and I hope the man experiences some winning during his seven years in Washington as long as the team never surpasses my beloved Phillies. As for the football game, Tampa Bay won’t surprise anyone in the playoffs because they won’t make the playoffs. But the team will be a pain in the ass to those with playoff aspirations in the final weeks. The Redskins are the NFC’s version of the Titans. McNabb made a huge mistake signing a five year extension.

Atlanta over Carolina

-How fun it would be if, after coming back to beat Tampa IN Tampa, the Falcons lost to the Panthers. The Panthers are fresh off of a loss in which they gave up 31 unanswered points. Atlanta should roll in this game as John Fox wonders how he managed to screw up the team so badly in so short a time. At least his running backs are good.

Jacksonville over Oakland

-It was only ten weeks ago when I thought the Jaguars quit on Jack Del Rio. They now lead the Colts by one game in the South. The Jaguars usually fade down the stretch and I expect them to (even if it’s the first round of the playoffs); however, the Raiders are the Raiders even if they’re a slightly better version than in years past. Who knows how Oakland will react traveling East for an early game. Sometimes the team plays well. Other times, like the 35-3 loss in Pittsburgh, the team would’ve been better if they didn’t leave Oakland. Also, if I had Jones-Drew on my fantasy team, Rashard Jennings would highly annoy me after stealing goal line carries.

New Orleans over St. Louis

-The Rams are sort of the feel-good story of the 2010 season. The only thing is, the team’s only beaten teams with losing records. Sam Bradford continues to succeed with less-than-stellar wide receivers but do not let any expert fool you into thinking the Rams have a great chance to upset New Orleans. The Rams have the luck of being the best team from possibly the worst division in modern NFL history, and the Rams are a perfectly average team. The Saints want to rip the NFC South from the hands of the Falcons. Darren Sharper was on the TOcho show and he looked like he wanted to murder anyone who passed him as he declared that the Saints have much more work to do before anyone can say the team is as good as the Super Bowl champion team.

Seattle over San Francisco

-Pete Carroll must’ve offered Satan a lifetime supply of corn fritters to have his team alive and kicking for the division title. There’s no good reason to pick the Seahawks. Ditto for the 49ers. Hasselbeck might as well throw to himself since Carroll forgot Golden Tate exists and Hasselbeck forgets that Deon Butler can make plays. Every other receiver and tight end have injuries except for some enigmatic fellow named Cameron Morrah, who led the Seahawks in receiving last week. The 49ers are just the team that will get beaten by a non-existent pass attack.

New England over Chicago

-I’m well aware that the Patriots could experience a let-down following the Jets; however, the trouble the Bears had beating the Drew Stanton-led Lions will not be forgotten. Fortunately, Belichick’s an insane perfectionist. In fact, this game could show us how much better the AFC is. The Bears have their shitty field on their side though. The Patriots suspect pass defense might succumb to the same slapstick-esque missed tackles that the Eagles sucumbed to two weeks ago. In other words, anything could happen in this game.

New York Jets over Miami

-I might’ve been too quick to proclaim Chad Henne a good NFL quarterback. He played, possibly, the worst game of any NFL quarterback this season (even beating Todd Bouman and Brian St. Pierre). Perhaps I owe Tony Sprano for my arrogant words last week. Rex Ryan should be mad as hell, and ready to give the entire team ice cream to emphasize his anger. Heavy rain’s expected on Sunday and Sanchez can’t be trusted in conditions that don’t exist in Southern California. But Chad Henne will one-up his mistakes each time. The Jets will beat yet another mediocre team and expect the media to put them back into the conversation with the Patriots for best AFC team because the Jets are idiots,

Denver over Arizona

-Eric Studesville replaces Josh McDaniels (who will surely won’t receive a head coaching gig for the next few years after the botch-fest that was his tenure in Denver) as head coach of the Broncos. Selfishly, I hope the former runnings back coach uses Knowshon Moreno a ton against the Cardinals’ terrible run defense. The two teams are terrible but the game itself could be entertaining because both defenses dislike playing actual defense (Denver played honorable defense last week though). But yeah, this is always the fun part of the back-end of the NFL schedule when two teams with awful records face-off as the broadcast team tries to convince themselves and the audience that the game is worth something. It isn’t.

San Diego over Kansas City

-Matt Cassell’s major surgery made the Chargers a no-brainer. If Cassell plays, does Todd Haley draw comparisons to Jon Gruden? Probably not considering Cassell won’t play with an appendix about to burst. Chris Sims only played with a ruptured spleen. Amazing how the MNF team never brings that up to Gruden. The Chargers keep getting gifts. The Raiders loss could be a minor blip because Cassell’s injury gives the Chargers a golden opportunity to close within 1 game of the Chiefs’ lead. Maybe Norv Turner offered the corn fritters to Satan.

Philadelphia over Dallas

-My friend Dunk made a joke about how Kitna loses even if the man does everything right. It’s true. For a man who is God’s Quarterback, he barely wins football games. Philly writers have used many words in arguing that the Cowboys’ commitment to the run-game and screens have made the team dangerous. If the Eagles want to be serious contenders in the NFC, they win this game. I wonder if Jason Garrett secretly turned every Cowboy against Wade Phillips so that he’d be fired and Garrett could finally become the head coach of a football team. Perhaps Garrett tired of hearing how his stock dropped since he was the most coveted coordinator.

Baltimore over Houston

-The Texans have the advantage. They last played on December 3. The Ravens had a tough night game against Pittsburgh. I’m not exactly writing new, fascinating insights about this game. The better Monday Night game on ESPN(2) will be Manchester United vs. Arsenal at 2:55pm. Arsenal’s probably the hottest team in the EPL (ignore that choke against Tottenham) while Man U has struggled since Rooney’s return. They tied with Valencia on Tuesday in UEFA play. If by some Christmas miracle people actually read this then I officially lost my audience with that soccer stuff. Speaking of soccer, my bold pre-season Blackpool pick makes me look like a prophet. Hire me to cover soccer any newspaper in any country.

Last Week: 11-5

Overall: 115-77

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Glory hallelujah Christmas miracles DO exist. The hiatus for No Ordinary Family has begun. After each episode, the newest preview for the next episode begun. I wondered if the show would successfully air twenty-two episodes in twenty-two weeks. Thankfully, the show disappears for a few weeks. Of course, tonight’s episode had to leave the audience on the edge of its seat in anticipation for the next episode in 2011. Sylar II continued to act like his namesake whether he forced someone to kill himself or he wiped the memory of Daphne so that she forgot about her powers. Yes, No Ordinary Family has resorted to an amnesia plot. MOTHER OF PEARL.

“No Ordinary Sidekick” messed around with various arcs and began new ones. Frank, the detective, loves Jim after learning that Jim saved his life. George and Katie stopped being sidekicks for fifteen minutes until the plot demanded that the temporary schism end. Daphne nearly disrupted Sylar II’s fabricated persona. Stephanie began unearthing the secrets of the powers/abilities. J.J. received a kiss from a cute blonde and, perhaps, a courtship looms for the annoying fourteen year old. Sylar II forced Dr. Chiles to overdose and pen a suicide note. Stephanie discovered the body. Following a conversation with Dr. King, she believed Dr. Chiles injected the various supervillains we met (by various, I mean two villains) with the serum. With Chiles dead, she tells Jim that the supervillains should decrease. And then, as already mentioned, Sylar II erases three months of Daphne’s memory.

The most worthwhile part of the episode dealt with the progression of whatever Dr. King and Sylar II have planned. As always, the show moves at a snail’s pace and a PGA tournament moves faster than the narrative. Stephanie seems too smart to fall for every story that she hears until a new story emerges. When King tells her that Chiles assaulted him, she believes him. Later, she believes Chiles when he swears he didn’t hurt Dr. King. Upon finding Chiles’ body, Dr. King throws Chiles under the bus with research that Chiles had nothing to do with. Naturally, Stephanie believes Dr. King. She believed Volston’s wife. The woman believes everything and anything. When she inevitably figures out that Dr. King is the true culprit behind the crimes, the audience should have a similar reaction that Spike had when the Buffy characters realized that Ben is Glory and Glory is Ben.

Daphne unearths the information that Will doesn’t exist, that Sylar II continually lies to Katie. Despite overwhelming evidence that the man shouldn’t be trusted, Stephanie and Katie shrug off the concerns of Daphne. The sudden amnesia Daphne experiences by episode’s end shouldn’t be hard for the brilliant scientist or her husband who, despite being a sketch artist, does more police work than the entire force. But, considering the show treats its audience like morons as well as the show’s love for overused family drama tropes and cliches, Stephanie and Jim will be baffled for maybe three episodes; however, the show might wait until May sweeps to cure Daphne of amnesia because she possesses the information regarding the true cause of Chiles’ death. The show, remember, moves slower than the van in Inception.

Maybe Jim and Stephanie will gather the strength to work together after causing the death of the supervillain. Together, they might piece together (with the help of the suddenly insufferable Katie) that Sylar II disappears whenever a super-something needs covering up. Maybe Jim will quit solving tertiary crimes and bringing tertiary characters to justice considering Jim never helps any characters of significance. George can’t even enjoy fifteen minutes of fame before the envy of Jim kills his buzz. Speaking of George, how can a show be taken seriously when the Amy Acker character simply disappears and George declares himself single? Where in the world is the show’s bible?

“No Ordinary Sidekick” confirmed that Jim’s an extremely self-involved, egotisitical hero. The show portrays Jim as a selfless, do-gooder but the man cares only for himself and the self-gratification that the solving the case-of-the-week brings him. The episode briefly embraces the self-involved hero to fuel the temporary schism between Jim and George but the self-involved Jim has dominated the story since the pilot. Such qualities affect the character when the actor portrays the character with selflessness even though the writing suggests otherwise.

This show treats its audience like morons. The show gives the illusion that it’ll embrace serialized storytelling because of the superhero premise; however, the show follows the formula and structure of procedurals. Besides the ‘we’re-going-on-hiatus-cliffhanger,’ each episode offers the kind of closure procedural audiences and are drawn to.

The amnesia storyline’s the worst possible thing the show could’ve introduced. For a show on a shaky ground with the majority of anyone watching or writing about, the amnesia stuff just screams ‘we are lazy and uninterested in original storytelling.’

Zack Estrin & Jon Harmon Feldman wrote the episode. Wendey Stenzler directed it.

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The best new show on television, FX’s Terriers, received its official cancellation yesterday. The numbers were simply too terrible to justify a season renewal. The show averaged only 500,000 viewers. I won’t be surprised if the show garners an audience in its DVD life because Terriers is quality, rich storytelling. Don’t be surprised if this humble reviewer gets annoyed by new fans lamenting the one-season-and-done because the soon-to-be fans are entirely responsible for the poor viewership and cancellation. I enjoyed the first season of Terriers as much as I enjoyed LOST–that’s how good the show is/was. Now, the TV landscape looks barren. Check out What’s Alan Watching at hitfix.com for an interview with John Landgrad (president of FX) as well as with Ted Griffin (the show’s creator). Onto the regularly scheduled How I Met Your Mother review…

“The Mermaid Theory” didn’t exactly light the world on fire with its central theme: attraction to a married man or woman OR attraction to someone you’re not married to. Marshall constantly worries about the latter while Ted grows more attracted to Zoey each time the two spend time together. The show explored the dynamics of such a situation. For Ted, he felt guilty and imagined that the Captain took him out to international waters to murder him. For Marshall, he imagines any woman who isn’t his wife as a repulsive manatee.

In fact, the most interesting part of the episode belonged to the Marshall/Robin story. The two decided to have dinner alone to prove that a married man and a single woman can hang out alone. Marshall and Robin have hung out alone as I recall the episode when Marshall takes her to a Canadian or Robin takes Marshall to a Minnesota bar, and the show has shown how strong the friendship between the two characters are. The two felt awkward alone together. Robin didn’t know why. Marshall did. Both feared becoming physically attracted to one another even though Robin never said anything. But, of course, the episode quickly puts to bed any possibility once Robin vomits on Marshall’s shoes.

Meanwhile, the Zoey arc continues. Fans have expressed frustrations about the Zoey arc for some time now, annoyed by the knowledge that she isn’t the mother. The Zoey arc can travel in two directions. Ted can either learn something from whatever eventually happens (like how the Stella arc further developed Ted’s character and changed the course of the mother search for awhile) or the arc will be a waste of time. Thus far, the story has yet to earn any confidence. Currently, it feels like lazy storytelling. The Captain/Ted story felt lazy and the potential triangle feels even lazier. Even worse, the arc seems predictable. Vocal fans of the show have a point when they complain about the non-mother that Zoey is. After all, what are the stakes of the potential relationship besides the possibility that Ted destroys a marriage? What about Zoey will lead Ted to meeting his future wife in that church? Since good television storytelling comes from the character, rather than the guest stars (which is what the writers of ANGEL season 1 learned), the writers need to clarify why the audience should care about Ted and Zoey.

The C story foreshadowed future events in the show. Now that we know Lily will get pregnant, the show shouldn’t waste time with any anxiety-pregnancy stories. Also, Ted will find himself in a green dress at some point.

Overall, “The Mermaid Theory” was an average episode of How I Met Your Mother. I didn’t love it. I didn’t hate it. I enjoyed how pretty Jennifer Morrison looked in her three scenes.

I’ll be back tonight with my thoughts on the latest episode of No Ordinary Family.

THE YOUTUBE CLIP OF THE WEEK

“The Sacrifice” wasn’t the best episode nor the worst episode. Some of the episode dragged while other parts of the episode had tremendous amount of energy, tension and anticipation. Elijah, labeled by me as one of the worst villains introduced to the show, got some depth tonight. The man isn’t a henchman who only does what Klaus tells him to do. The vampire-who-can-destroy-cafes-with-quarters has his own agenda. Meanwhile, the werewolf story that I’ve dreaded since the first season may not be so terrible after all.

The A story belonged to Elena. Elena possesses a great memory. She recalls what Katherine almost did to the people she loves a few episode ago, and the girl’s resolved to protect everyone she cares about even if she has to sacrifice herself to Klaus to keep the people she loves safe. Elena forces Rose to take her to Slater’s where she wants to make Klaus aware of her willingness to surrender herself willingly; however, the plan doesn’t evolve smoothly. Elena and Rose find the corpse of Slater but manage to deceive Slater’s self-involved girlfriend into accessing the various files Slater kept on vampires, in hopes of finding a Klaus contact. Indeed, Elena succeeds and the girlfriend makes the call. Of course, Rose made Damon aware of the situation so Damon bolted to Slater’s where he prepares to do anything to protect Elena.

Inevitably, Elijah arrives at Slater’s after a wild spell that allowed the vampire to locate Elena. Elijah conveniently arrives as soon as Klaus’ men arrive. Elijah quickly rips their hearts out after learning that Klaus does not yet know about Elena, and he leaves. Elijah tells the elder warlock (whose name I forget of course) that he did not rip the heart out of Damon because Damon will protect Elena. The plot thickens.

The A story doesn’t have much meat. The majority of the A story exists as set-up for the season, and possibly, the cliffhanger episode next week before another hiatus. Elena’s plan is noble, and Elena continues to be (possibly) the most heroic female on television presently. The most interesting aspect of the A story was Elijah and his agenda. Why exactly does he want to keep Elena safe? Perhaps yet another layer of the doppelganger will be revealed, or maybe all vampires are in love with Elena. I enjoyed the reveal because it surprised me. The episode opened with minion warlock gathering personal things of Elena’s for a spell. One assumed that Elijah would simply whisk Elena away himself to Klaus but no. Good job, show. Good job indeed.

Meanwhile, Katherine does not want to remain in the tomb as she said she did in the last episode. Though the tomb provides security, Katherine feels bored and hungry inside the tomb alone; however, she gets company by episode’s end. The Salvatore brothers, Bonnie and Jeremy devise a plan to steal the moonstone so Bonnie can de-spell the moonstone to save Elena’s life. Jeremy, because he’s portrayed by Steven R. McQueen and McQueen always portrays annoying, dumbass characters, decides that he’ll get the moonstone himself without risking injury to a not-strong-enough-for-the-tomb-spell Bonnie. Jeremy’s plan backfires which eventually forces Stefan to enter the tomb to push Jeremy out. Unfortunately, he’s a vampire and can’t leave which leaves him all alone with Katharine, and she loves Stefan. Blah.

The Stefan/Katharine-in-a-tomb story has plenty of potential. The two are similar to Angel and Darla. They literally have over a century of sexual tension built up. Stefan’s the stoic, heroic vampire while Katherine’s the evil vampire temptress who can wrap Stefan up her in web. Angel and Darla had a similar past. However, this is The Vampire Diaries and the storyline feels like a contrivance especially after Katherine warned Stefan he made the biggest mistake of his life when he asked Damon to protect and take care of Elena. Stefan hasn’t watched Dawson’s Creek because Dawson asked Pacey to do the same thing for Joey. Of course, by season’s end, Pacey and Joey were together and Dawson seethed with rage before developing a photography habit.

In the C story, Caroline helped Tyler prepare for his first werewolf transformation. They found Mason’s old journal and a video of his first transformation. The transformation is unbearably painful and lasts for hours. Tyler’s scared. Matt shows up at Caroline’s house, explaining that he misses her and then Tyler walks to the door. Don’t tell me another love triangle begins, Williamson and Plec. I know this is a CW show but enough love triangles. ENOUGH.

Some actual thoughts:

-Katerina Graham’s shirt was quite flattering. Very good, wardrobe department. She’s a beautiful girl.

-Speaking of her, Bonnie and Jeremy feels terribly forced. It might be the whine that McQueen uses in such scenes or perhaps the characters don’t fit. It’s both actually. Luca and Bonnie had a whole lot of chemistry in their one scene when he let her channel him. The scene reminded me of Tara/Willow magic scenes from season four of Buffy.

-I hope The CW doesn’t pay too much for their generic alternative rock songs that plays during TVD. Absolutely horrendous and the songs make the already overwrought scene MORE overwrought.

-Carolines Dries wrote the episode. Ralph Hemecker directed it.

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THE WEEK THIRTEEN PICKS

The United States lost out on its bid to host the World Cup in 2022. The country of Qatar will host the Cup in an attempt to bridge the gap between the Arab world and the Western world. Will the 2022 World Cup turn into Rocky IV? With the exception of extremely hot, humid summers, Qatar is a rather stable country and one of the few countries that hasn’t suffered from the global financial crisis so the $50 billion committed to FIFA for climate-controlled stadiums shouldn’t be an issue. As for the 2018 World Cup, Russia won the bid. Arsenal’s Andrey Arshavin said the World Cup in Russia would leave “human legacy” that would last for generations.

If I could, I’d attend both World Cups but the English degree I earned won’t get me a salary to fund such trips. Instead, I might have to pick and choose. Of course, Russia would be the one. I studied the language for two years. It is a country I’ve considered teaching and living in for a year, and Russian women are amazing. Maybe I’ll go for the World Cup and never leave.

Anywho, I usually write about football on Thursdays and NOT soccer (though you can bet your Christmas gifts on me writing predictions for the 2011 Asian Cup). I went 10-6 in picks last week. My overall record is 104-72. Here’s hoping for perfection this week:

Philadelphia over Houston

-The difference between winning and losing the Bears game was simply not falling down as soon as the time to tackle came. No one will mistake Johnny Knox and Earl Bennett for Isaac Bruce and Torry Holt. Also, the lousy red zone numbers were a big part of the game. The team has struggled in the red zone for the last two seasons so, obviously, the personnel isn’t the issue. Blame lands squarely on the shoulders of the coaches. Players talked about how tight space is in the red zone. I’m not sure if that counts as an excuse but, again, the coaches need to create space for the playmakers in the red zone. Luckily, the horrific Texans pass defense come to town which should, hopefully, correct the red zone issues. The team did spend time in practice working on red zone efficiency. Also, if Asante doesn’t play, expect a shoot out.

Another thing: I got a kick out of knowing that Gary Kubiak gave Andre Johnson the game ball for a good game AND punching Cortland Finnegan. I also enjoyed how Finnegan clapped as if he would escape punishment even though he clearly instigated the fight. Cortland Finnegan is a fool of a took.

New Orleans over Cincinnati

-Ochocinco told the media that the team is close to winning. Any time a team clearly sucks, one player and, possibly, the coach claims that the team’s “close” or “very close” to winning. Last week, Iguodala and Doug Collins told reporters that the team is close. I’m sure the English soccer team, who scored only twice in their season while allowing 227 goals, have told people that they are very close to winning. Ocho also wants to fight Darren Sharper. Marvin Lewis must resemble Danny Glover during the first act of Angels In The Outfield.

Chicago over Detroit

-How unsurprising that the Lions lost for a seventh consecutive time on Thanksgiving by more than 20 points. The amazing thing, the 2-9 team continues to get respect. Analysts and experts continue to talk about the Lions like they are 5-6. Drew Stanton gets the start and Schwartz maintains that the offense won’t change. Well, maybe it should with or without a new quarterback considering the team is 2-9. The Lions (and the Islanders) are why American sports need relegation. As for Chicago, if everybody jumped on the Jets bandwagon last season, the Bears deserve the same amount of respect. Both teams are very similar. Good defenses. Questionable offense that made things happen every week. The Bears get my nod of approval.

Green Bay over San Francisco

-Frank Gore broke his hip. I’m not sure if the 49ers can overcome this. Westbrook’s a good backup (and one of my all-time favorite Eagles) but Gore brought so much to the Niners offense. San Fran won’t have the luxury of facing the Cards defense weekly. Frank Gore is on my fantasy team and he did everything for the offense minus throwing the actual football to himself. He caught passes and ran through defenses. The Packers should’ve beaten the Falcons. If Rodgers didn’t fumble, the Packers would be tied with Chicago. This will be a good bounce-back game and I’m excited for another excellent defensive performance from the Packer D. Clay Matthews should win the NFL MVP. Yes, I said it.

Jacksonville over Tennessee

-I doubt Rusty Smith starts another NFL game in his career. What a dreadful performance. Collins will start on Sunday barring any unforeseen circumstances. Jacksonville’s sort of won me back. Years ago, the Jags were my favorite AFC team. The Jags gave the game away to the Giants. They dominated the first half. The Giants couldn’t match their enthusiasm, according to Dan “Man’s Time” Dierdorf. The Jags shouldn’t be in underdogs. The game feels like one of those games the Jags need to win if they want to be considered an actual threat to winning the South and knocking off the Colts. They are the Jags though, and let-down performances have become their trademark.

Kansas City over Denver

-All eyes will be on the post-game handshake between Haley and McDaniels. Well, probably not in all actuality. Haley just might search McDaniels for a video camera. Matt Cassell could experience deja-vu in the coming weeks. He missed the playoffs after leading the Pats to a 11-5 record and the same might happen because of how competitive the AFC playoff race has become. The Broncos have serious issues on defense. The Chiefs might rush for 300 total yards.

Miami over Cleveland

-Jake Delhomme has negatively impacted the perception of the team as a whole, as well as the actual team. His first two passes of the second half were intercepted. The Panthers should’ve won the game. If not for Peyton Hillis, the Panthers would have routed the Browns. Delhomme was awful. Besides Hillis, Colt McCoy is the single most important player on the Browns. As for Miami, I feel vindicated in my argument that Chad Henne’s good and Tony Sprano temporarily lost his mind. The Dolphins cruised to a win without Marshall, used the running game and Henne brought stability and reliability to the offense. Buy me steak.

Buffalo over Minnesota

-What are the chances of Harvard Fitzpatrick and Steve Johnson gracing the cover of Madden next year? The duo has become the most exciting tandem in football. The Madden cover will never happen because the Bills are a 2-9 team but the tandem deserves some recognition. Minnesota struggled to beat a mediocre Redskins team. The time has come for the media to quit writing about the Vikings. I have nothing else to write about this game.

New York Giants over Washington

-Unfortunately, the Redskins are the team that gift-wraps wins for opposing teams. The Giants will win the game and keep pace with the Eagles even though Eli Manning throws an interception like it is an incentive in his contract.

San Diego over Oakland

-It’s December and Oakland’s chances of reaching the playoffs are very slim as always. They still have a chance but the Chargers won’t lose to Oakland. I enjoy the nonsense QB controversy between Gradkowski and Campbell. Both aren’t good options if a team’s ultimate goal is reaching the playoffs. Vincent Jackson hurt himself in his first game back. That feels like karma.

Indianapolis over Dallas

-Heads will explode if the Colts lose their third game in a row. Heads will only explode after the first 15 minutes of Sportscenter are devoted to the Miami Heat and whether or not they enjoyed their pre-game meal. The post-game praise about the fight of the Cowboys irked me. Does ESPN get money from Jerry Jones if the Cowboys never leave the news cycle? The Cowboys have consistently employed good publicists considering the Cowboys are quite unremarkable over the last fifteen years.

St. Louis over Arizona

-Believe it or not, the Cardinals were my first suicide pool pick of the season against the Rams. What an insanely risky decision in hindsight (the Cards won 17-13). Bradford continues to make magic happen. The Rams defense has become a unit with a few name guys. Atogwe’s considered among the top safeties in the NFL now. I recall the Eagles declining to go after Atogwe unless I’ve been drinking too much milk. I really like the Rams. I hope they can win the West.

Seattle over Carolina

-Seattle continues to do the opposite of what I think they’ll do. Oh well. At least the Panthers come to town. I wonder if Chris Rose and Torry Holt, the newest broadcast team, will be sent to Qwest Field for this exciting game.

Atlanta over Tampa Bay

-We’ll see how the Falcons do away from the dome against a desperate Bucs team. Tampa’s downfall is their lack of weapons on the offensive side of the ball. Freeman’s capable of winning games by himself, and he has a playmaker or two but the Bucs lack something in their offense…possibly a reliable running game though Blount’s become the central back. Tampa’s gotta shut down the passing game because Ryan’s been a beast lately. Obviously, I don’t think Tampa does any of this or, if they do, they’ll still lose.

Baltimore over Pittsburgh

-I wonder if James Harrison will get fined again. Maybe he can match Obama’s salary in fines by year’s end. I’m beginning to think the NFL discliplinary group is as biased as Colin Campbell. Anytime Harrison tells someone from the media that he thinks a questionable hit won’t result in a fine, Harrison gets fined. Goodell must have a white cat that he strokes as he reviews Harrison’s games and takes another $50,000 from his salary. As for the actual game, sweeping the Steelers will make a statement from the Ravens in the AFC. Flacco gets better every week. The Steelers have some holes in their team right now.

New England over New York Jets

-In their last meeting, the Jets won 28-14. Since then, the Pats traded Moss and have a 6-1 record since his departure. The Jets can’t afford to trail in the first half and hope for a comeback win. Belichick won’t let that happen.

Last Week: 10-6

Overall: 104-72

THE YOUTUBE CLIP OF THE WEEK

The first season of Terriers concluded tonight. The entire season felt like a novel. Of course, television series have adopted the word novel in recent years. After all, TV series’ extends for years with characters who appear in our lives weekly. However, the majority of television does not deserve the word novel associated with it. Many series belong to networks whose only concern is the bottom line. The majority of audiences would rather easy-to-digest procedurals and reality television rather than committing to a world with rich characters and rich storytelling. The Wire, considered the greatest example of a novel on television, struggled for five seasons on HBO because audiences wouldn’t watch. Critics hail The Wire as the greatest drama in television history–a title that earned the show many new fans once the show ended.

Everything mattered in the first season of Terriers. Ted Griffin, Shawn Ryan, Tim Minear and the rest of the writing staff never wasted a single scene. Every moment mattered, every interaction, every piece of dialogue. The season finale brought everything together in beautiful cohesion.

Hank, Britt and Laura were able to stop Zeitlin and Burke. In Ocean Beach, though, fairy tale endings don’t exist. The arrest of Zeitlin did not cut off the head of the beast. Rather, Zeitlin was one of many that made up the body. The beast (a man named Mr. Kurtow) continues to walk as a free man in Ocean Beach though he hired the hit on Mickey. Unlike in the past, the bad-man-who-walks-free does not send Hank into a drunken stupor that will cost him his job. Instead, Hank tells Laura that he can live with getting the best deal possible, and he can live knowing that the man will inevitably commit more crimes that Hank can bring him down with.

“Hail Mary” is an episode about much more than resolving the Zeitlin arc. “Hail Mary” is about moving on. So much of the season focused on the personal demons of Hank and Britt. The season is littered with pain and heartbreak. After so much pain and heartbreak, the characters deserved the choice to move on past the pain and embrace a future with hope. Hank decides to sell the house he bought in the pilot (an attempt to hold onto the last piece of life from his marriage with Gretchen). He invites Gretchen over so she has the chance to buy back the house but she doesn’t want to. In fact, she can’t because of the memories. Hank tells her that they both need to move on. Gretchen asks him to promise to find a good owner. Hank promises.

The most satisfying and cathartic moments of the episode involved Hank moving on and finding some semblance of peace. Hank is our hero, after all. Unlike in “Sins of the Past,” Hank is central in bringing the right men to justice. Hank and Gustafson help each other like they used to when they were partners in the force. Gustafson assists in clearing Hank’s name from the murder of Jason while Hank assists in Gustafson’s promotion to captain of the OBPD. Most importantly, Hank and Britt moved past their brief rift, and not even Hank and Gustafson are as efficient and successful together as Hank Dolworth and Britt Pollock.

The final scene of the season (and, possibly, the series) could only involve Hank and Britt. Britt accepts responsibility in his brutal beating of Gavin, and will spend the necessary time in prison. The two joke about the beat-up truck that keeps chugging along and gets better after being shot (sort of like our heroes). Hank offers Britt the chance to flee to Mexico where vacation will never end. The two can sleep late and then take afternoon naps. Hank describes Mexico as a place where they will never age. Once the light turn greens, Hank asks Britt to make the choice: Mexico or prison?

The scene isn’t so much a cliffhanger as it is a summation of the entire season. Hank will drive Britt to prison where he will serve his year sentence because there are no easy-outs in Ocean Beach. Plus, Hank has a new life to begin in Ocean Beach while Britt will return to marry Katie and be a father to their baby. It’s a wonderful scene and a wonderful ending to a brilliant season,

Honestly, I thought I’d wait a long time before I enjoyed a season of television as much as I enjoyed seasons of LOST while it was on the air. That is my show. I love it. Terriers brought me the same kind of joy and excitement on a weekly basis that LOST did. The two shows share two crucial qualities: rich characters and rich storytelling. I love Terriers. I love the world, the characters and I hope FX brings it back for another season because I have such a good time hanging out with Hank and Britt every week.

Other thoughts:

-The penultimate scene of the episode between Britt and Katie was wonderful. The entire relationship arc led to this moment when Britt accepted responsibility and made a clear commitment to love and be with Katie for as long as he lives. Plus, the location was exceptional.

-Steph returned briefly. I was happy to see Karina Logue once again. If a second season happens, we need more Steph. Unfortunately, no Firefly comparisons to make.

-Ted Griffin & Nicolas Griffin wrote the episode. Ted Griffin directed it. I think the time has come for me to watch Matchstick Men.

-I had a blast writing about the show every week. Hopefully, this isn’t the last time I write about Terriers. People of Earth, please watch the finale on Hulu when available. It will help the show.

THE YOUTUBE CLIP OF THE WEEK

A weekend PGA tournament moves faster than No Ordinary Family. The last 30 seconds of an NBA game (that somehow takes 15 minutes) moves faster than an episode of this show. The series continues to plod along, uninterested in telling interesting stories. Instead, the merry band of writers prefer to treat the viewers with lousy B stories like “the kids were left alone and they can’t let the parents know that they had company over” because the audience can really invest in a story when the stakes are, “the car will be taken away for a few weeks or JJ can’t get the computer he was already not allowed to buy at the beginning of the episode.”

The A story involved the Powell parents, as per usual. The happy couple’s 18th anniversary arrived and the two decided to get a hotel room and some dinner. For one night, Jim swore he would not fight crime (i wonder how many times a season he will swear to not fight crime before actually fighting crime 2-4 scenes later). Meanwhile, a serial arsonist ran through town setting fire to various buildings. George and Jim simply could not ignore the serial arsonist. Shortly after Steph gives up she and Jim’s table, the serial arsonist strikes and sticks around to watch the remains of his charred work.

Jim recognizes the man from an earlier fire, and the serial arsonist remembers that Jim is a nuisance. One would think the arsonist would learn to step away after the crime but he doesn’t. Jim and the serial arsonist fight until Stephanie joins in on the fun. Together, the married couple get the man locked up; however, arrest is the last thing they want because Jim knows the guy is a supervillain and dangerous to police. Jim, Steph and George scramble to intercept the transport vehicle with the arsonist inside.

Unfortunately, Sylar II intercepts the vehicle first and sets the arsonist free. You see, the serial arsonist got his powers from the nefarious Dr. King. The serial arsonist does not get saved by Jim. In fact, the complete opposite happens. The supervillain dies at the hands of the Powells though Stephanie claims the murder was in self-defense. The two experience maybe thirty seconds of guilt before they rest comfortably in bed, though Jim looks troubled before the scene ends.

I hoped the story would lead to the Powells discovering the duplicity of Dr. King; however, the story showed that Jim won’t be a hero all the time, that not even he can prevent accidents (even though he slammed the arsonist into the thing that would eventually result in his death so it wasn’t quite an accident although the contraption had no rhyme or reason besides easy plot device). Also, Jim and Steph realized that they are more powerful together than apart–a theme that has disappeared since the pilot episode, and a theme I thought the show would build itself around. Nevertheless, the theme would’ve resonated more if the couple had trouble in previous episodes.

I mentioned the broad beats of the B story already. JJ and Daphne clearly cheated during the poker game and won money through cheating. The show sent that message to families across America. In fact, the duo bribed the school security guard with the dirty money. The B story was complete filler and entirely unnecessary. Unfortunately, the show has developed an alarming lack of well-developed characters with stories of their own. If the show digs into cliche, parents-children shenanigans with so much season left, I shudder to think what kind of stories JJ and Daphne will find themselves in. Of course, No Ordinary Family is by-the-book so the possibility of more by-the-book cliche storylines is great. Jon Harmon Feldman isn’t exactly Joss Whedon or Damon Lindelof.

Also, Steph’s lab partner has begun to follow the trail of Dr. King after his abrupt firing. The plot thickens at a snail’s pace.

Elisabeth R. Finch & Kate Barnow wrote the episode. David Semel directed it.

THE YOUTUBE CLIP OF THE WEEK

I can't find a picture from tonight's episode so here is an adorable Jack Russell Terrier

Penultimate episodes are usually fun and gripping. After these episodes, audiences should be frustrated that they have to wait a week before the resolution the season finale will bring to the various arcs built throughout the season. Terriers’ penultimate episode of season one (and possibly the series) is fun, gut-wrenching and packs the familiar punch that’s become the Terriers trademark. And it’s fantastic.

“Quid Pro Quo” focuses entirely on the Zeitlin case. What exactly does he plan on doing with the various land grabs? Well, Zeitlin wants to pave over Ocean Beach and replace it with an airport. For the majority of the episode, it looks like the good guys will win. Hank and Laura enjoy a tremendous amount of success. Sam Albrect, public defender, joins the duo in hopes of bringing down whatever Zeitlin’s planned (of course he eventually gets paid off and forgets whatever he learned about the airport and refuses to return the incriminating evidence). Gretchen’s new husband. Jason, is the architect of an exciting development that he learns will fail because of Zeitlin. With this knowledge, Jason helps Hank and Laura identity blueprints for the planned airport. The amount of information that Hank gains throughout the episode puts various characters in jeopardy, including Laura’s source and Jason. Meanwhile, Britt cuts a deal with Zeitlin to free himself of possible prison sentence (following the brutal beatdown of Katie’s classmate who didn’t deserve the beating). Zeitlin assigns Britt to figure out whether or not a co-worker of his is the source leaking info to Laura Ross. Britt continues to keep Hank in the loop throughout so there’s no duplicity on the part of Britt. Britt only wants to find out more about the goings-on inside of Zeitlin’s offices as well as what his lawyers work on all day. Britt learns that the lawyers work on various real estate deals without knowledge of who’s exactly buying and whatnot.

Lives become endangered because the development deal is worth billions. The people involved haven’t hesitated in the past to kill and/or threaten anyone with advanced knowledge in the actual plans on the Montague group and the other group whose name I cannot spell from memory alone. Of course, by episode’s end, there is a body count. Laura’s souce and Jason become victims of Zeitlin.

The death of Jason especially ties into a season-long theme, and something so fundamental to Hank’s overall arc: Hank pushes too much and people get hurt or die. Hank had the best intentions throughout the episode. He offered Jason a way out after he explained how Zeitlin murdered Mickey and threatened Laura. Hank even accepted that Jason wasn’t the awful man he tried to push into Gretchen’s mind a few episodes ago. He tells Laura that Jason’s a “straight shooter.” Jason wants to remain involved because he and Gretchen envisioned raising their children in Ocean Beach. When Hank discovers the dead body of Jason, Hank’s face drops and he repeats “no, no, no” because of his epiphany about his past and his present. Hank wanted happiness for his wife. Hank told Gustafson last week that he needed to make amends for his behavior as partner. Internally, Hank realized he needed to make amends for his marriage with Gretchen, and his behavior in the days before the wedding and his way of making amends was to let the marriage be, to accept it and move on, which he had. And now something awful happened. The scene between he and Gretchen as she cried and he repeated the words “I’m so sorry” was so damn moving.

“Quid Pro Quo” packed everything Terriers does so well in one episode. The episode had good buddy cop humor, hard-boiled noir elements, dark and emotional pain, detective story and underdog story. The show belongs to Hank Dolworth. After 11 episodes in which he never gained persoanl victory, I hope the season finale makes a hero of Hank Dolworth.

Other thoughts:

-The episode contained a ton of set-up. Most of the episode was a super exciting chess game each piece getting to the place it needed to be by the finale. Such an episode is difficult to write much about in an English major kind of way. It doesn’t mean the episode was boring because the episode was great from start-to-finish.

-Hank buys a plethora of weapons at the end of the episode, ready and willing to engage in war with Zeitlin because things got personal. Very bad-ass.

-Angela Kang & Leslye Headland wrote the episode. Adam Arkin directed.

-Folks, don’t worry about not seeing the entirety of the season. Watch whatever episodes that are ondemand before the finale because Terriers is a show that deserves a second season. The finale’s going to be awesome.

-Please read my Happy Thanksgiving Week 12 NFL picks below this very entry.

THE YOUTUBE CLIP OF THE WEEK