Sometimes it can be dangerous to have a run of Supernatural episodes that are light on mythology.  But sometimes you get an episode like "Plucky Pennywhistle", which was most definitely light on mythology, but was just so fun that you don't even care.

After the trauma with Dean's "monster Amazon baby" in the previous episode, the boys found themselves at a dead end.  Dean checked in with Frank, suggesting that he continue to look into Dick Roman, but the trail on the Amazons has gone cold.  Instead, Sam suggested they look into a recent string of odd murders in Kansas.

The Scariest Place on Earth

The boys headed to town and it took a bit of digging, but Dean soon realized that the kids of the victims had something in common: they had recently been at a birthday party at Plucky Pennywhistle's Magical Menagerie, a local pizza joint like Chuck E. Cheese.  Dean suggested that Sam head over there to investigate and immediately Sam's hackles were up.  Here's the thing about Sam - his problems are usually so big that sometimes it's easy to forget that he's a person just like the rest of us.  And despite the fact that he's managing to suppress memories of HELL, he's deathly afraid of clowns.  CLOWNS.  I mean, come on, right?  Dean, of course, picks up on this, because apparently he used to drop Sam off at Plucky's when they were kids and go trolling for chicks, which may or may not have lead to Sam's phobia, but certainly scarred him for life in any event.

Sam was freaking out during his initial tour of Plucky's, because the place was covered in clowns. But he spotted a wall of children's drawings that caught his attention.  The kids had been asked to draw their biggest fear, which later actually came to life to kill their misbehaving parents.

While the Winchesters were convinced that Plucky's was the connection between the victims, they couldn't figure out who or what was causing these fears to come to life.  So they decided to have Sam play his "bad cop" routine (it was pretty amusing!) on all of the Plucky's employees, while Dean stuck around to see if anyone was acting strange.  One by one they eliminated the employees, until one decided to run.  But it turns out he only did that because he was afraid of being busted for drugs.  Fortunately, he was able to share some information that strange sounds had been coming from the boiler room.

It's Always About Family

Dean sent Sam off to protect a mother that they thought would be the next victim while he went to investigate the basement.  The eldest Winchester soon realized that the Plucky's greeter (Howard) was the man behind the mojo and was using the drawings and some magic to bring these creatures to life.  But Howard had a surprise for Dean...he was actually targeting Sam and he knew that Sam was afraid of clowns.

So while some scary-looking clowns beat the ever-loving snot out of Sam, Dean did a bit of therapy.  He found out that Howard had been passed over for a promotion and had he also wanted to teach the horrible parents a lesson.  Why?  Because he had lost his brother when they were younger, even after screaming for his parents as his brother drowned.  Dean threw a photo that Howard had drew into the fire and the ghost of his brother came back and drowned Howard from the inside-out.

Glitter!

Fortunately, Dean managed to stop the spells in progress and the two clowns that were about to kill Sam exploded in a shower of glitter.  Yes, Supernatural fans, Sam Winchester was positively covered in glitter.  You know who found that hilarious? (Besides us, of course).  Dean.  Dean laughed his butt off when he saw his brother.  Then we got a nice little Winchester bonding moment, where Dean apologized for ditching Sam in Plucky's when they were younger and Sam stole Dean a giant slinky.  That's love, folks.  Seriously.

Like I said, this week's Supernatural was light on the mythology, but I had such a smile on my face that I didn't mind much.  Sure, the leviathan action needs to ramp up soon (not to mention the personal demons both Sam and Dean are fighting), but sometimes it's nice to kick back with a case and a heap of references to the days when Sam and Dean were younger.  And yes, I realize this review is a lot shorter than it normally is, but there's not many deep things to say about the episode besides "I giggled a lot" and "glitter!".

Well, on second thought, it is a bit strange how Dean went from the "I'll do my best to stay alive" mentality in the previous episode to his more light-hearted attitude this week.  But I think it's because this case actually reminded him a lot of his and Sam's childhood.  I think that fact goes a long way to reinforcing the importance of Sam in Dean's life and the fact that his brother has become his last lifeline in a terribly cruel season full of loss.

Here's a tiny bit of trivia for you...cast your memory back to the Supernatural episode "Houses of the Holy".  Remember a comment Dean made about unicorns?  "You know what, there's a ton of lore on unicorns too. In fact, I hear that they ride on silver moonbeams, and that they shoot rainbows out of their ass!"  Well, the unicorn in this week's episode wasn't riding on a silver moonbeam, but it sure as hell had a rainbow shooting out of its ass.

There will be a new episode of Supernatural on February 17 and the Winchesters will be revisiting a case from their past, while Sam battles those aforementioned personal demons.  Watch a trailer for the episode here and browse through photos here.

Supernatural 7.14 Recap: Plucky Pennywhistle's...Where All Your Fears Come True

Oh. My. God. How is it possible that Revenge keeps getting better and better week after week?  What started out as a complex plot to bring down a family has become a delicious treat that continues to deliver twists at an alarming rate. Here's the most important things that happened in this week's Revenge:

Grandpa Grayson Came to the Hamptons: Victoria called in one of her biggest supporters - Conrad's father - to help her with the divorce.  She rightly believed that he would tell Conrad to grant Victoria an equitable settlement in order to keep the process civil.  Naturally, Conrad was furious that Victoria had gone behind his back and basically ratted him out to his old man.

Jack Found the Treadwell Tape: Jack irrecoverably got himself involved in the sticky Grayson situation when he found a stray Treadwell tape under a bed in his apartment.  Since it had Amanda's name on it, he was extremely interested in watching it and even asked Nolan to help him find a way to view it.  Naturally, Emily didn't want Jack to see the tape or get involved in the whole situation, which lead to....

Amanda Clarke Returned: Emily called on Fauxmanda to convince Jack to hand over the tape.  It looks like she didn't get as far out of town as we had thought.  Since Jack has been worried about her since her unexpected disappearance, he immediately came calling.  But he refused to hand over the tape, despite her pleading, and the two got into an argument.  He stormed off and she chased after him, but she wasn't seen again before the end of the episode.

Jack Learned the Truth: Despite Emily's insistence that Jack never view the Treadwell tape, Nolan decided to let him watch it, swayed by his declaration that Nolan had been a true friend.  In the tape, a young Amanda asked Treadwell to find that dark-haired lady named Victoria who kissed her dad.  Now Jack knows all about Victoria's affair with David Clarke.

Emily's Plans Are Thwarted, But the Truth Comes Out: At a Grayson family dinner (complete with Emily and Declan), Emily had planned to have Charlotte receive the tape where David revealed Charlotte's paternity, but that turned out to be completely unnecessary.  Conrad did reach out to Charlotte, apologizing for treating her poorly lately.  Jack's appearance at the dinner caused a shock, since he directly confronted Victoria about having an affair with David and not helping Amanda when she was younger.  This was one of the best confrontation scenes on Revenge thus far.  Daniel tried to defend his mother, saying that David had attacked her as Victoria had claimed.  But Conrad was tired of the lies and flat out told everyone that Victoria had had an ongoing affair with David and Charlotte was not his biological daughter.  Yikes.

Conrad Could Lose Control of His Company: Conrad told Charlotte that he would support her no matter what, but Grandpa was furious with Conrad over how he had handled his family at dinner.  He suggested that Conrad was no longer fit to run Grayson Global and suggested that Daniel take the reigns, since he was the only person who bothered fighting for their family any longer.  Conrad was understandably desperate to hang on to his legacy, and while Victoria was furious that Conrad had revealed the truth to Charlotte, she seemed happy that Daniel could take over the company.

Charlotte Is Upset: Naturally, Charlotte was stunned by the news that David Clarke is her father, and despite Declan's insistence that Conrad won't stop being her father, she appears to have decided to go on a bender.

Emily's Secret Stash is Discovered: Emily reamed Nolan out for allowing Jack to view the tape, insisting that all major reveals should be done her way, especially since Jack is now on Victoria's radar more than ever.  And while Emily has been forced to adapt to unexpected situations on previous episodes of Revenge, tonight marked her biggest surprise.  When she arrived home from dinner, she found that that the floorboard that hid the box with her true identity was missing, and an engagement invitation was in its place.  In other words, someone has discovered Emily's secrets and is clearly setting her up - intending for something big to happen at the engagement party.

This week's episode of Revenge was one twist after another, delivering big on payoff and emotional revelations.  Like I said, it's absolutely delicious fun.

Speaking of the engagement party - the big event will take place on the February 15 episode of Revenge.  Will Daniel be shot? You'll have to tune in to see.  In the meantime, watch a preview here and don't forget to vote in our poll about whether Daniel is the victim on the beach.

Revenge Recap: Emily's Plan Spins Out of Control, But Truths Are Revealed

NBC's ambitious new show, Smash, premiered tonight.  The show that critics have been talking about for months is a show about two young women who both want to be a star.

Julia (Debra Messing) and Tom (Christian Borle) are a Broadway composing team.  Despite promising to take a year off in order to adopt a baby with her husband, Julia gets inspired when Tom's assistant (Ellis) innocently mentions the idea of a musical based on the life of Marilyn Monroe.  She and Tom decide to test the waters for the project and call upon a Broadway veteran named Ivy (Megan Hilty) to record a song from the new musical.  Ivy may have been on Broadway for many years, but she's spent most of her time in the chorus and wants to be a star.

Unfortunately, Ellis accidentally leaks a video of Ivy singing the song.  Fortunately, the reception to the song is favorable and Julia and Tom get swept up in the happy feeling that they may have a hit on their hands.

Eileen (Angelica Houston) is a successful Broadway producer who is going through an acrimonious divorce with her husband.  Despite the fact that a revival of My Fair Lady is in the works, she's forced to shut down the show when her producing funds are caught up in the divorce.  Instead, she approaches Tom and Julia about producing the Marilyn musical and suggests they bring in Derek Wills (Jack Davenport) to direct.  Julia is receptive to the idea, but Tom and Derek have...ahem, "creative differences".  Despite that, Eileen convinces Derek to prepare one number as a sort of audition for Tom and Julia.

Derek tackles the "baseball number", with Ivy in the role of Marilyn.  Julia is blown away by Derek's work and convinces Tom to take him on.  Then the search for Marilyn begins.  Despite Ivy being eager to take on the role, she's got stiff competition in unknown actress Karen (Katharine McPhee), who is trying to catch her first big break on Broadway while bussing tables during the day.  It's clear that Karen has the talent and catches Derek's eye, who is pushing for a certain type of "star quality" for the role.

In the end, both Ivy and Karen get callbacks for the role and the two of them duel it out in a fantastic performance of an original Smash song.  The girls both hit their final notes as the pilot of Smash comes to an end.  But which girl will secure the coveted role?

Smash continues with a new episode on February 13 at 10:00 p.m. ET on NBC.  Do you think that Ivy or Karen will be cast as Marilyn in the next episode?  Vote on which girl deserves the role in the poll below.

Smash Pilot: The Making of a Star. Plus, Who Will Win the Role of Marilyn?

It only took 7 years of Supernatural for Dean's promiscuity to really have serious consequences (for some reason, it's always the women Sam has slept with that turned out to be crazy/murderous).   In this week's episode, Sam was eager to investigate a case that had a bunch of male victims who were murdered in a shower of blood, with their hands and feet cut off and a strange symbol carved into their chest.

Always Use Birth Control

Dean, however, wasn't too interested in the case and ditched Sam after some initial investigating to head to the local bar.  He found himself in the company of a lady (Lydia) pretty quickly and she was forward enough to invite him back to his place. Juxtaposed against their steamy scene was the murder of yet another man (that was pretty cool).  The next morning, Dean joined Sam at the crime scene, but noted that he had left Bobby's flask at Lydia's house.  He called her about it, but she brushed him off.  Why?  Well, she was massively pregnant.

The boys continued to investigate the murders, while the local female cop seemed abrupt and suspicious.  They met with an anthropology professor (the Mayor from Buffy!), who eventually agreed to research the symbol and help them out. Later, Dean decided to head to Lydia's to retrieve the flask himself, and was shocked to find out she had a baby.  A baby who was talking above its age.  He spent the rest of the afternoon on a stakeout of the house and saw a 5 year old version of this same baby be taken off by two other Amazon women to be "schooled".

You Don't Want to Mess With These Chicks

The professor later revealed that the symbol carved into the men's chest was a mark of the Amazons and brushed them up on the lore.  Dean started to get worried that Lydia's daughter (Emma) could very well be his and he might be the next victim (thinking that the mothers eventually killed their children's fathers).  The boys continued to dig through Bobby's research, even stopping at one point because some papers had been moved without being touched.  Dean suggested maybe Bobby's ghost was hanging around, but Sam dismissed it (more on that later).

Sam headed off to the university to get the professor to decode some ancient Greek text and Dean remained behind in the motel.  Shortly after, he got a visit from Emma - his daughter.  She asked for his help to escape the Amazonian tribe, claiming that they wanted her to do horrible things.

Meanwhile, the professor was setting Sam straight, telling him that it was actually the daughters killing their fathers as they were fully initiated into the tribe.  Sam realized Dean could be in danger and raced out of there, only to be stopped by the local cop, who was an Amazon and knew his real identity.  Fortunately, he was able to kill her with a single shot to the chest and then he was off.

Back at the motel, Emma did her best to sway Dean to help her, but it was all a ruse.  Fortunately, Dean was on to her and pulled his gun on her when she took out her knife.  But he hesitated, unable to shoot her, and the two were in a stand-off.  Sam made it back to the motel and burst through the door.  Again, he saw Dean hesitate, so he shot Emma through the heart.

Dean seemed conflicted, but the brothers headed to the Amazon warehouse, hoping to kill the other women.  Unfortunately, they seemed to have skipped town.  As the brothers were driving out of town, Sam confronted Dean about his hesitation, especially after his insistence about killing Amy.  Dean kept insisting he would have killed Emma, but what Sam really wanted was his brother to be alright and not get himself killed.  Dean rightly pointed out that the both of them were adrift.

Concluded on next page...

Supernatural 7.13 Review: A Public Service Announcement About One-Night Stands

Justified continues its third season with this week’s third episode “Harlan Roulette,” as Raylan Givens (Timothy Olyphant) faces an oxycontin supplier with ties to the Dixie Mafia and Boyd looks to reclaim his legacy.

If you didn't get a chance to check it out for yourself, read on for our Justified recap of "Harlan Roulette”!

Mr. Limehouse (Mykelti Williamson) fiddles with his barbecue making smalltalk with Ava Crowder, who has come to persuade him to take a meeting with Boyd.  Both parties meet on a deserted bridge in the dead of night, where Boyd assures Mr. Limehouse that he has no intention of reprising his racist ways, and only seeks the fortune of Mags Bennett.  Limehouse believes that some agreements transcend the grave, even if the duo bumped off Dickie Bennett and split the money, and believed this meeting was about other business.  When Boyd inquires as to what other business there could be, Limehouse mentions all of Mags’ recovered weed, which Boyd then punches Devil for not burning as per his orders.

The next day Raylan finds himself called away from coffee and house discussions with Winona to survey a roadblock set up to catch Wade Messer (James LeGros).  Messer and his companion J.T. manage to realize the purpose of the roadblock they find themselves caught in, but crash in their attempt to turn around and flee the scene.  Wade escapes, but J.T. finds himself at the end of Raylan’s gun.

Meanwhile in prison, Dickie Bennett (Jeremy Davies) and Dewey Crowe (Damon Herriman) roughhouse when the prison guard who allowed Boyd to confront Dickie, Murphy, asks for word with Dickie.  Having overheard of Mags’ fortune, Murphy wants in for himself, though Dickie teases that even if said fortune exists, no one could access it while he remains in jail.

At a nearby pawn shop, Wade Messer arrives to explain what happened to his employer and Oxycontin supplier Glenn Fogel (The Walking Dead’s Pruitt Taylor Vince), who sends his other lackey to post bail for J.T.  Once Raylan uncovers the incident’s ties to the Dixie mafia, J.T. returns to the pawn shop where Fogel sadistically forces him to play “Harlan Roulette” twice for penance and his take of oxy, though both shots turn out empty.  J.T. then turns the gun on Fogel out of anger, but the gun was never loaded.  Fogel then takes the gun, loads a single bullet, and pulls the trigger on J.T. until the bullet finally goes through his head.

The next day, some of Mr. Limehouse’s men arrive to pick up the weed, insisting on paying a sum of $5000 for it, which Boyd bestows on Devil.  He then gathers his crew to explain that where his father failed in running crime in Harlan, they will succeed by avoiding outsiders and making good decisions, starting with a plan to reclaim something that once belonged to the Crowder family.

Elsewhere, the mysterious “Carpetbagger” (Neal McDonough) meets with Wynn Duffy, explaining the Detroit mafia’s plans to fill in for Florida’s drying oxycontin pipeline.  They plan to establish a base of falsified doctors prescribing oxy, and selling half of them at a marked-up rate.  The man than takes a call from his son, as Wynn notices the owner of the house tied up in the next room.  Across town, Raylan pays a visit to Fogel’s pawn shop, who denies any association with Wade Messer or J.T., and denies Raylan access to his back room without a warrant.  Temporarily defeated, Raylan leaves the shop noting that Fogel’s behavior and his shop make an excellent cover for someone running a stolen goods scam.

Fogel immediately calls Duffy to inform him of the situation, and the Carpetbagger suggests having Fogel simply kill Raylan.  Even in the event of his likely failure, they believe Fogel to be more trouble than he was worth.  When Wade and Wally arrive, Fogel passes the job to Wade for having lied about his fugitive status, instructing Wade to call Raylan over to his home and shoot him on arrival.

In Johnny Crowder’s old bar, Boyd, Arlo and Devil enter to rough up the joint, noting the owner bought it during Johnny’s recovery period from his shotgun wound, and they intended to rectify that.  Given the options of leaving quietly or getting shot, the bartender chooses to stay, as two patrons rise up and take aim at Boyd’s crew.  Unfortunately for him, the other two patrons work for Boyd, and draw their guns as well.  Johnny rolls in, as the owner decides to relinquish the bar, and quietly leave.

Wade pulls up to his house to find Raylan already waiting there to take him in.  Raylan lays out a story from his childhood as to why he doesn’t enter people’s homes uninvited, which gives Wade an opportunity to go inside to “change his shirt” (look for his gun).  Wade finds himself unable to find it, because Raylan already searched the place, figured out the situation and took it, in contrast with his story.  He then forces Wade to call Fogel and pretend as if the job is done, but that he needs Fogel to pick him up with medical insurance.

When Fogel arrives with Wally, Raylan shortly thereafter emerges and reveals that he knows the whole situation, and could easily take out either of the two men before they raise their guns.  With no other options, Fogel offers to give up members of the Dixie mafia , but Wally complicates the matter by trying to secure a deal of his own.  The situation dissolves out of control, and both Wally and Fogel end up fatally shooting one another.

While Devil and Boyd share a drink to confirm their allegiances, Boyd pays a visit to Wynn Duffy’s trailer.  Despite the Taxi Driver-inspired derringer we know him to carry, the Carpetbagger happily stands down while Raylan throws punches at Wynn, claiming he knows none of what’s happened here is a coincidence.  He leaves a bullet for Dixie noting that “the next one’s coming faster,” and Carpetbagger gleefully poses for a photo when Raylan takes a picture of the mysterious man before exiting the scene.

Did you get your fill of gun-slinging action?  Tell us what you thought about the episode! Join us next week for an all-new episode recap of Justified on FX!

Justified 3.03 "Harlan Roulette" Recap - Taxi Drivers and Dead Owls

Glee returns from its brief vacation with its tribute to the King of Pop “Michael," which sees Rachel and Kurt awaiting news of their NYADA applications while the New Directions take on the Warblers for the rights to use Michael Jackson songs at the upcoming Regionals.

Don’t have the time to spare?  Then here's what you missed on Glee’s “Michael!”

Santana, Blaine and the other New Directions traverse the halls of McKinley high thinking on their victory at Sectionals and the spectacle of Michael Jackson songs, when Mr. Schuester chimes in that there might be an opportunity to the group to pay more attention to Michael.  With that encouragement, the group launches into an impromptu number of “Wanna Be Startin’ Something” with Blaine in the lead, everyone taking on different Michael Jackson looks.

Finn finds Rachel in the hall and presses for an answer to his proposal, but while she loves and wants to marry him isn’t sure it’s something they should do right now.  Rather than refuse outright, Finn reminds her of how it will strengthen their bond in New York, and asks her to take a few more days in her answer.  Later over coffee, the New Directions discuss the significance of Michael Jackson when evil Warbler Sebastian (Grant Gustin) shows up to inform them that thanks to a tip from Blaine, the Dalton Academy Warblers have taken their idea of using Michael Jackson.

The New Directions commiserate and almost reach a point of blaming Blaine for what happened, but Finn encourages them not to complain, and Mr. Schue agrees that the best way to get in a competitive mindset is to start a week themed “What Would Michael Jackson Do?”  To that end, the New Directions call for the Warblers to meet them in a parking garage where they perform a dueling rendition of “Bad” for the rights to Michael Jackson, which culminates in Sebastian throwing a slushie in Blaine’s eye that gravely injures him.

It turns out that Blaine has a scratched cornea and will need surgery, leading the group to suspect there might have been something in the slushie, though they can’t prove it.  Will informs the group that Dalton has opened an investigation into the matter, when Artie objects launching into a tirade about how sick he is of turning the other cheek to others, and that Mr. Schuester doesn’t understand the depth of their frustration and anger.  Swearing revenge on the Warblers, Artie imagines himself and Mike Chang in a full on shot-for-shot remake of Janet and Michael Jackson’s “Scream,” before Mr. Schuester tells him to go cool off.

Later, Rachel seeks Quinn’s advice on Finn’s proposal, when Quinn in turn reveals her fortuitous acceptance to Yale, parlaying the news into a lesson for Rachel that she shouldn’t take an anchor of her past into her bright future.  Despite the harsh implications, Quinn advises that she break up with Finn.  Remembering her own past loves, Quinn sings “Never Can Say Goodbye” before the group, and later thanks everyone in New Directions for their unending support through trying times that got her into Yale.

Santana finds Kurt still fuming about what happened to Blaine, but rather than stoop to petty revenge they both agree to take the high road in their battle against the Warblers.  Speaking of rekindled fires, Sam then texts Mercedes to the auditorium, where he proposes a romantic duet of “Human Nature.”  Though hesitant at first, Mercedes finds herself won over through the song, and the duet culminates in a kiss for the pair.

Some time later, Burt Hummel (Mike O’Malley) interrupts his son in class to bring a letter bearing results of his NYADA application, which reveal that Kurt is among the finalists being considered.  He and his father share incredible glee at the news, but when Kurt tries to share his joy with Rachel she reveals that she’s yet to receive any kind of letter.  The walls start closing in for Rachel, who laments the fact that she has no idea what her future holds beyond her relationship with Finn.  Later, Rachel, Blaine, Finn and Kurt all visit an eye-patched Blaine before his surgery, and cheer him up with a performance of “Ben."

Over at Dalton Academy, Santana confronts Sebastian and the rest of the Warblers, who won’t admit to putting anything in the slushie, and that it was meant for Kurt anyway.  Santana questions his honor and Sebastian demands satisfaction, and the two circle around dueling cellists performing “Smooth Criminal!”  In the end, Sebastian confesses to loading Blaine’s slushie with rock salt, and finishes with throwing a regular slushie in Santana’s face.

Having taped the conversation, Santana takes Sebastian’s confession to her fellow glee clubbers, but Kurt insists that they shouldn’t seek payback from everyone who wrongs them, but rather teach them a lesson.  Before they all head to the auditorium however, Finn pulls Rachel aside to remind her that she responds more to song than ordinary words, and a shared duet of “I Just Can’t Stop Loving You,” finally brings a ‘yes’ to Finn’s proposal!

In the auditorium, the Warblers show up to hear the New Directions’ announce that they’ve withdrawn their bid for Michael Jackson songs, adding that as show choirs they should be supportive of one another.  They start a rendition of “Black or White” which the Warblers slowly rise from their seats and join in support, with the exception of Sebastian.  Sebastian insists on maintaining their rivalry, to which Santana reveals to his fellow Warblers his confession of loading the slushie with rock salt, breaking their confidence in their leader.

Later, Rachel finds Kurt in the hall to announce that she too is a finalist for NYADA, but when Kurt asks if she’s told Finn, she suddenly grows worried.

So did you like Glee's "Michael Jackson"?  Do you think Rachel's response to the proposal will change with news of her NYADA status?  What did you think about the episode's music? Join us next week for an all-new episode of Glee on FOX!

Glee 3.11 "Michael" Recap - Bad, You Know It

Alcatraz continues its first season with tonight’s fourth episode “Cal Sweeney,” as Detective Rebecca Madsen (Sarah Jones), Dr. Diego Soto (Jorge Garcia) and Emerson Hauser (Sam Neill) race against time to stop another former Alcatraz inmate known for robbing banks of their safety deposit boxes, rather than vaults.

If you didn't get a chance to check it out for yourself, read on for our Alcatraz recap of "Cal Sweeney”!

In present-day San Francisco, a sharply-dressed, if anachronistic man walks into a bank, and inquires about visiting his safety deposit box.  Flirtatiously, the teller leads him to the vault, where the two get down to dirty business, before the man pulls out a syringe and drugs the woman unconscious.  He opens his briefcase and assembles a captive bolt pistol, which he uses to unlock a number of safety deposit boxes, dumping their contents into his case.  He eyes a particular necklace when another man comes in, finds the teller unconscious, and our villain is forced to put an end to him No Country For Old Men-style.

Back in Alcatraz 1960, the same man, Cal Sweeney (Eric Johnson) shows new recruit Harlan (Steven Grayhm) the business of smuggling contraband through the laundry, marking up another inmate triple the rate for being unable to pay that week.  He mentors Harlan, pointing out that any weakness shown in his enterprise will be seen by those looking to take over his operation.  Just then, a guard drops by to let Cal know that Deputy Warden Tiller (Jason Butler Harner) has tossed his cell.  Sweeney returns to his cell to find an important item missing, and notes how he needs to talk to Tiller.

In the present, Dr. Diego Soto (Jorge Garcia) and detective Rebecca Madsen (Sarah Jones) discuss over Japanese food the Gotham City-based criminology model that got Diego barred from being a professor, when Hauser (Sam Neill)  calls them into the bank scene.  Diego immediately recognizes the handiwork as Cal Sweeney’s, as Rebecca interviews the teller to learn that Cal had romanced her over time to get in that position, and that they could likely catch Cal when he attempts to pawn any of the items he stole.  However, at that moment Sweeney arrives at the home of the man whose necklace he stole, claiming to be an insurance agent taking stock of the stolen items.  The man grows suspicious when Cal demands to know the story of how he met the wife the necklace belonged to, and Cal captive-bolds his hand to keep him from calling the police

Back in 1960, Cal confronts Deputy Warden Tiller in the prison barber shop, where Tiller denies knowledge of Cal’s small metal box but demands a piece of his operation.  Sweeney refuses at first, but Tiller reminds him that he best comply lest he be “nicked,” and later Sweeney relays the situation to Harlan.  Harlan suggests he confront Tiller privately, and pulling steward duty at Tiller’s upcoming birthday celebration would provide the opportunity.  Meanwhile back in the present, Diego and Rebecca arrive at the necklace man’s wife and home to find him dead, while Cal walks into another bank and eyes his next teller.

In 1960, the guests slowly arrive for Tiller’s birthday celebration including Warden James (Jonny Coyne), Tiller himself, his mentally disabled sister, Dr. Beauregard, and our favorite time-displaced Dr. Lucy “Sangupta" (Parminder Nagra).  She and Beauregard banter about her research in removing traumatic memories as rehabilitation for convicts, before we flash back to the present observing Diego and Rebecca mining through Cal’s old possessions, solely a burn tin box with nothing inside.  Hauser arrives, and the group notes Cal’s change in behavior from his past crimes, but realizing that the bank robberies have in common Cal’s romancing of a middle-aged teller upon whom he bestows flowers.  They track the flower shop and learn Cal’s likely next target.

Cal pulls the same make-out routine on his next teller, but she manages to evade his syringe and sound the alarm before the prisoner knocks her out.  He empties the safety deposit boxes once more, but finds his exit blocked by security guards and the arrival of the police.  He fires his gun wildly, and creates a hostage situation.  Back in 1960, Warden James leads a toast and bestows the birthday gift of a fine pen upon Tiller, when Harlan spills coffee and creates an opportunity for Cal to confront Tiller in the bathroom.  Once there, Tiller demands 50% of Cal’s smuggling operation, but insists he has no knowledge of the tin box.  Cal turns violent in demanding his stolen property, but Tiller stabs Cal with the pen and threatens 60 days in the hole if Cal speaks of the incident.

In the present, Hauser arrives on the hostage scene noting that Cal has no demands and offering to distract the police while Rebecca sneaks in to lead Cal out discretely.  Rebecca enters through the next building’s vents, but attracts Cal’s attention.  She confesses to being unarmed, but assures him she knows who he is, and will lead him out rather than risk being caught by present-day authorities.  While Hauser continues to distract, gunshots inside draw a SWAT team, and in the confusion of gas canisters and hostage evacuation, Rebecca manages to sneak Cal out wearing a SWAT uniform, and the two drive away in a police car, Hauser riding in Diego’s mustang in pursuit.

Hauser chides Diego’s driving, and when Cal recognizes their following Rebecca calls their pursuit off by turning on their car's siren.  Meanwhile back in 1960 Cal awaits being taken into solitary, when a next-cell Harlan reveals that he was the one to take Cal’s burnt tin box, the only remnant of his childhood life and family, and returns the box before announcing his plans to take over Cal’s operation during his solitary.  Cal destroys the box, as Tiller arrives to take him to his confinement.

While Rebecca continues driving Cal, she questions the significance of the velvet bag he retrieved from the bank, which he cryptically admits he doesn’t know the contents of.  He menacingly instructs her to pull over, when she notices his lack of seat belt and crashes the car to gain the upper hand.  Later, Rebecca and Diego revel in their fourth victory, though Hauser denies them any explanation of the key, taking it to his lab of scientists for research.  They don’t uncover much beyond the keys having been carved by lasers, technology unavailable during the 1960s.

Back in time, Warden James leads Harlan to the downstairs chamber of a “dissident” who requests a meeting, using the mysterious keys to open a strange door that Harlan seems fearful of the contents of, but the warden leads him inside noting  that “your future just got brighter.”

Did you get your fill of time-traveling action?  What did you think about the episode? Join us next week for an all-new episode recap of Alcatraz on FOX!

Alcatraz 1.04 "Cal Sweeney" Recap - Just A Little Off The Top

So who predicted the end of Gossip Girl?  A lot of people thought that Blair wouldn't go through with the wedding, but I guess we were all wrong.  As she prepared for her big day, Eleanor Waldorf herself went to visit Chuck and said that he should be present at the event.  After all, she was very concerned about her daughter's happiness.  While Chuck seemed determined to respect Blair's wishes and stay away from the ceremony, he did end up making a visit at Eleanor's request.

The action moved to the church, where Georgina had decided to sneak in to see if she could seduce Louis and humiliate Blair.  Rufus and Lily put the kibosh on that plan pretty quickly, but Georgina had another ace up her sleeve.  When Chuck finally saw Blair - moments before she was set to walk down the aisle - he begged her not to go through with the wedding.  She admitted that she loved him - that she would always love him - but she was determined to go through with the wedding.  After Blair left the room, Georgina dropped by to tell Chuck that she had just videotaped Blair's confession.

After Blair finally met Louis at the altar (seriously, I cannot get over her horrible wedding hair), Gossip Girl sent out an email blast and every (incredibly rude) guest at the wedding saw the video of Blair's confession to Chuck.  The disgraced bride ran away from the altar and confronted Chuck, who denied sending the video to Gossip Girl.  But despite the fact that he knows the truth about her "bargain with God" (thanks to Serena), she told him that she still can't be with him.

Moments later, Dan, Nate and Serena confronted Georgina, who denied sending in the video and accused one of them instead.  Did they take steps to ruin Blair's big day?

In a surprise twist, Blair rejoined Louis at the altar and told the priest to proceed.  That's right, Blair ended up marrying her prince, but here's the real end to the story: at the ceremony, he told her that he went through with the wedding, but it's a marriage for show only.  She's to play the happy wife in public, but he's finished being humiliated by her. And she'll play the part until he's finished with her.  Instead of heading to the airport for her honeymoon, Blair asked Dan for help and the two of them ran off together - albeit platonically.

Serena also made her own confession and told Dan that she loved him.  He seemed a bit thrown, but she gave him an out for now and told him they could talk later.

But in the biggest shocker, the final scene showed Georgina writing a Gossip Girl post.  Can it be?!  Has she been the mysterious blogger this whole time?!?!

So what did you think of Gossip Girl's 100th episode?  Did you like all the throwbacks to the pilot?  What about Blair's decision to go through with the wedding?  We know Georgina will be sticking around for a little while longer, so we can't wait to see what trouble she gets up to next.  And what about this revelation that she's Gossip Girl?

A new episode will be airing next week on February 6.  Dan and Blair are still in hiding and it seems like everyone else is trying to figure out what happened to the runaway wife.  Watch a trailer for the episode below.

Gossip Girl 100th Episode: Did Blair Marry Louis? What Happens Next?

Trickery and twists were alive and well in this week's Once Upon a Time, which gave us backstory on Sidney/Magic Mirror, as well as a bit of the Evil Queen's origin.

In the fairytale world of Once Upon a Time, we met King Leopold for the first time.  The father of Snow White and the husband of the Queen, he was a happy man who happened upon a magic lamp one day.  Rubbing it, a Genie appeared. As it turns out, the man we know as the Magic Mirror was once a Genie.  Fortunately for him - at the time - King Leopold felt he had everything he needed, so he decided to free the Genie from the lamp instead of taking a wish for himself.  Then he wished to turn the third wish over to the Genie.  After, Leopold invited the Genie back to his castle to join his birthday celebrations.

As it turns out, Leopold very much loved his daughter, but he could never love the Queen as he did his first wife (Snow's mother) and the Queen knew this.  Drawn by her sadness, the Genie struck a friendship with her and fell in love.  When Leopold learned that his wife had fallen in love with another man, he tasked the Genie with discovering that man's identity.  Soon after, Leopold had the Queen confined to her rooms, so her father approached the Genie and asked him to deliver a box to the Queen.  He did and learned that it contained vipers from his homeland.  The Queen said that she could no longer bear her life - and her unfulfilled love with the Genie - and wanted to kill herself.  Instead, the Genie suggested they use the vipers to kill the King.

After the King had died, the Genie returned to the Queen and soon discovered that she had set him up.  Wanting him to kill Leopold, she tricked him into falling in love with her and also framed him for the murder.  Despondent, he used his final wish to remain with her forever.  But the magic delivered an unexpected result - as happens on Once Upon a Time - and he transformed into the Magic Mirror.

Oy.  The Queen sure is a bitch, isn't she?  For a while there, I was convinced by her acting and thought there was some goodness within her.  I wondered if Snow had somehow deprived her of the Genie in the end and that that would be the catalyst for her hatred of her stepdaughter.  But the Queen was a master manipulator.  How far back does this evil go?  And what of the reason she hates Snow White?  While the Genie storyline was admittedly a bit cheesy, I did appreciate the dedication of the Once Upon a Time writers in giving us completely unexpected origin stories.  The Magic Mirror was once a Genie?  Who saw that one coming?

Trickery and twists were also alive and well in Storybrooke in this week's Once Upon a Time.  After Henry's "castle" was damaged in a storm, he was worried about his fairytale book, which he had buried in the sand.  Regina came by, finally learned about Henry and Emma's "secret place". Later in the episode, Henry's book disappeared.  At the end of the hour, we learned that the mysterious writer had taken the book from the hiding place.

At Granny's diner, a drunken Sidney approached Emma, wanting to team up to get revenge on Regina.  He said that she had humiliated him in the election and then got him fired from the paper after he started researching an exposé on her corruption in the mayor's office.

When Regina continued to put down Emma, she eventually decided to take Sidney up on his offer.  He said he found evidence that Regina had taken $50,000 of the city's money for her personal use.  After bugging Regina's office and then later breaking in to find missing records, they realized she had taken the money to buy a piece of land.  Thinking she was going to build a house on the land, they exposed her scheme at the town meeting.  But Regina pulled the wool over their eyes, revealing that she actually bought the land to build a playground for the children of Storybrooke.

Disheartened and embarrassed, Sidney and Emma regrouped at Granny's for a beer and to lick their wounds.  Emma vowed to find another way to bring Regina down.  Later, we saw Sidney in Regina's office and learned that his entire plan with Emma had been a ruse.  He and Regina had come up with the plan together and he executed it perfectly in order to humiliate Emma.  Now Emma has been forbidden to see Henry by Regina and must stay away with him.

Well, that was fun...the twist with Sidney.  Considering the horrible way Regina has treated him - in the fairytale world and in Storybrooke - I thought his anger towards her was genuine.  But Regina certainly has that town sewn up.  The question, however, is exactly who this mysterious writer is, what he's doing in Storybrooke and exactly why he stole Henry's book.  Is he its author or someone else?  Also, Mary Margaret and David were not forgotten after their first kiss in last week's episode.  They only had a short scene together - where they went on a picnic as a date - but it's clear that they've decided to make a go of it.  Of course, David needs to come clean with Kathryn or make a break with her.  I sense danger in their future.

Once Upon a Time is on a short hiatus until February 12.  Watch a trailer for the next episode here.

Once Upon a Time Episode 11 Recap: Fool Me Once, Shame On You...

Justified premieres its third season with last week’s first episode “The Gunfighter,” as Raylan Givens (Timothy Olyphant) recovers from his injuries and faces off with a deadly new gunslinger (Desmond Harrington) while the new powers of Harlan County shift into place.

If you didn't get a chance to check it out for yourself, read on for our Justified recap of "The Gunfighter”!

Winona (Natalie Zea) drives along the road before a police vehicle flags her down.  When she stops, the officer informs her of Raylan’s shooting, from which she rushes to the hospital to find Art, who insists Raylan is okay but directs her down the hall anyway.  Three weeks later Raylan is alive and well and working on his aim at the gun range, but both his accuracy and draw have been greatly hampered by his injuries.  Later, Art reminds him of his luck in surviving, and that Boyd Crowder (Walton Goggins) has arrived to see him.

Raylan and Boyd share some friendly banter and catch-up that Ava’s healing nicely, before Raylan questions him on the disappearance of Mags Bennett’s weed stores and assets.  Boyd insists he has no knowledge of such matters, but asks for Raylan to fulfill his “promise” in delivering Dickie Bennett back to him.  Raylan refuses, and they come to blows, from which Boyd is dragged away into custody.

Across town in Mr. Arnett’s office, a mysterious man (Neal McDonough) makes smalltalk with Mr. Arnett before demanding back the money paid by the Detroit mafia for Arnett’s real estate.  Unshaken by the looming presence of Fletcher “The Ice Pick” Nicks (Dexter’s Desmond Harrington) on the other side of the room, the man demands Arnett’s $250,000 by the following day.  Upon his leaving, Arnett asks Nicks if he’s still looking for work.

“Hot Rod” Dunham inspects the stolen cache of Mags Bennett’s weed for purchase under the eyes of Devil and Arlo Givens (Raymond J. Barry), when Ava arrives on the scene.  Dunham appreciates the offer, but informs the group that due to their improper storage of the weed, he refuses to purchase any of it.  Devil insists he follow through on their arrangement, but Dunham leaves before any violence arises.  Later that night at Raylan’s hotel room, he and Winona get “back in action” before wondering if their new baby means they should start looking for a house.

At the home of a man named Delmer Coates, a visibly nervous pizza boy arrives with a pie that Delmer didn’t’ order, when Fletcher Nicks steps out brandishing a gun.  He forces Delmer to empty his safe of precious wristwatches, musing about the fact that the man didn’t recognize him from installing his (now disabled) security system earlier.  Nicks offers to play a game where they both reach for a gun between them as the pizza boy counts down from ten, but when he reaches one, Nicks stabs Delmer’s hand with an ice pick, pulls the gun to himself and shoots his opponent.  Before leaving, he takes the pizza and kills the delivery boy as well.

Tim (Jacob Pitts) places the case on Raylan the next day, given the disabled security system came from Raylan’s nemesis Wynn Duffy (Jere Burns), but Raylan doesn’t wish to visit Duffy given how he said their next meeting would go down.  Tim drags him along anyway, and despite some awkward recanting of his threats, Raylan learns nothing from Duffy, who insists he had nothing to do with it.  Raylan then leaves to speak with Mr. Arnett, just as Duffy calls Arnett to relay the situation, while his assistant Yvette listens in.  Meanwhile in prison, Ava visits with Boyd, who explains in code that they should destroy the stash of Mags Bennett’s weed if no one wishes to buy.

In Mr. Arnett’s building, Raylan shares an elevator with Fletcher Nicks, at the precise moment Arnett calls Nicks to reschedule their meeting.  Nicks departs musing that he’ll see Raylan soon, while Raylan upstairs finds Arnett already gone.  Yvette however asks him for a drink, and gives Raylan the information he needs about Nicks’ and Arnett’s next meeting.  Once Raylan leaves however, Yvette gets into the car of the mysterious man from earlier, and relays that she gave Raylan the information as they planned.

Back at the station, Raylan puts the pieces together that he saw Nicks earlier in the elevator, as the team plans to intercept the meeting later that night and Art refuses to let Raylan come along given his condition.  Over at Arlo’s, Ava cooks a meal before relaying Boyd’s orders to destroy the weed.  Devil and Arlo protest burning such a valuable prize, but she knocks Devil out with a frying pan to keep them both in line with Boyd’s wishes.

The team sets up to intercept Nicks and Arnett, but find only a homeless man paid to make a drop to one of Arnett’s bodyguards, in a plot the squad manages to foil.  Nearby however, Nicks observes their failure, and drives off in a stolen taxi.  Art relays the situation to Raylan and Winona as they drive joking about baby names, when the pair finds Nicks waiting in Raylan’s hotel room upon their arrival!

Nicks and Raylan share a bit of smalltalk about each other’s histories, before Nicks starts his usual game, placing the gun on the table between he and Raylan while Winona counts.  When Winona reaches one, Raylan pulls the tablecloth toward himself rather than reach for the gun, and finds himself with enough time to shoot Nicks in the chest.  Back in Mr. Arnett’s office, he meets with Wynn Duffy and the mysterious man.  The man explains how he sent Yvette to clue the police in on their drop, before sliding a hidden derringer out of his sleeve and coldly shooting Arnett.  He takes out Yvette as well, leaving a stunned Wynn Duffy to ponder his words, “you know me now?”

In prison, Dickie Bennett (Jeremy Davies) idly chats with Dewey Crowe, before Boyd Crowder gets marched to his cell and the trio exchange glances.  Once in his cell, Boyd smiles at his plan’s success.

Did you get your fill of gun-slinging action from the premiere?  Check out our review, then tell us what you thought about the episode! Join us next week for an all-new episode recap of Justified on FX!

Justified 3.01 "The Gunfighter" Season Premiere Recap - Back to Bloody Harlan

Alcatraz continues its first season with tonight’s third episode “Kit Nelson,” as Detective Rebecca Madsen (Sarah Jones), Dr. Diego Soto (Jorge Garcia) and Emerson Hauser (Sam Neill) race against time to stop another former Alcatraz inmate known for kidnapping children, and returning them to their homes after their murder.

If you didn't get a chance to check it out for yourself, read on for our Alcatraz recap of "Kit Nelsen”!

In present day Walnut Creek, CA, a man casually opens the gate and enters (with keys) a home while clutching a large white chrysanthemum.  He heads up to the bedroom of several young sleeping boys, casually observing them before clamping down over the elder boy's mouth, and assuring him that if the boy screams, he’ll kill his brother.  Flashing back to Alcatraz 1960, we see the same man chastised as a “child-killer” out in the yard, and savagely beaten by the other inmates while the guards look on.

Back in the present, Dr. Diego Soto (Jorge Reyes) illustrates a comic book based on his experiences with the Alcatraz task force, when he hears over his police scanner news of a child’s kidnapping with a flower found at the scene.  He panics, finds an old clipping from his files, and rushes out of his shop.  Meanwhile at the hospital, Emerson Hauser (Sam Neill) and Rebecca Madsen observe the still-comatose Lucy Banjeree (Parminder Nagra), when Diego rushes up to deliver the news.  He believes the recent kidnapping to be the work of Alcatraz inmate Kit Nelson, who kidnaps boys on a Friday, and returns them to their homes dead 48 hours later.

Noting along the way that Kit Nelson had a brother who died of scarlet fever the same age as his victims, they arrive at the boy’s house to question the mother, who upon seeing a photo of Kit Nelson recognizes him as a man from the local hardware store who stopped by to do some work.  When the youngest boy Liam sees the photo, he reveals that he indeed saw the man in the bedroom the night before, but was too scared to do anything about it.

At a local lake, Kit takes Dylan to rent out a fishing boat, while back in 1960 Kit recovers from the aftermath of his beating.  Dr. Beauregard doesn’t take too kindly to Kit’s recovery given the inmate’s history, when the man behind the divider we saw last week laughs and offers his own insight into why the other inmates attacked Kit.  After drawing blood from the man, the doctors draw the divider revealing Tommy Madsen, Rebecca’s grandfather.

Back in the present, Diego and Rebecca question the hardware store owner, who reveals that someone stole the real “Warren’s” uniform and some fishing supplies, and that that the only local area for fishing is the LaFayette Recreation Area.  Meanwhile, peaceful fishing between Kit and Dylan turns dark when Kit instructs his captive into the water, and soon follows.  He forces Dylan to hold him under as long as he can, and then afterward reveals with a sinister tone that it’s “your turn.”

Having missed them at the lake (from where they’ve since moved on to the movies), Diego reasons that Kit might be taking Dylan to do things the young boy likes, but seems troubled by the thought.  Back in 1960 the Warden brings a wheelchair for Kit and claims responsibility for his beating, informing him that he’ll protect him by isolating him from other prisoners.  Kit also received a letter from his father, and despite the inmate’s hesitation the Warden would like the pair to visit with one another.

In the present, Hauser grows increasingly despondent over Lucy’s absence and cancels the Amber Alert over Dylan.  Meanwhile, Diego and Rebecca interview Dylan’s mother once more, and upon learning that Dylan likes none of the things Kit has taken him to do, Diego rushes off babbling about cherry pie.  He reaches the front yard just in time to see the police leaving due to the cancelled Amber Alert, which Hauser arrives to explain is for the greater good, that they can catch Kit when he brings Dylan back (dead), the boy’s death preferable to releasing images of the 63 Alcatraz inmates to the media.  Diego storms off, and Rebecca reminds Hauser that they all need each other’s expertise to function, and must trust one another.

After checking out multiple nearby diners for their cherry pie, Diego manages to find himself in exactly the right spot where Kit has taken Dylan for a slice.  He calls Rebecca to casually relay the situation, while Kit flashes back to 1960.  In Alcatraz, he finds himself face to glass with his estranged father, who believes that Kit killed his own brother, and upon discovering her son’s horrid actions their mother protected the boy by hiding the evidence and blaming scarlet fever.  He believes that Kit hated his brother for loving life, lakes, miniature golf and cherry pie, but after his brother’s death their mother only ignored him further.  Kit refuses to admit his guilt, but the father leaves happy knowing his evil son will die in prison

Back in 2012, Diego attempts to stall Kit and Dylan from leaving, before Rebecca finally arrives and a standoff ensues.  Kit manages to gain the upper hand and has Rebecca cuff herself with Diego to a dumpster, but after Kit speeds off Rebecca uses her backup weapon to free herself from the cuffs.  Defeated, Diego dejectedly believes the boy’s fate to be his own fault.  Their luck quickly turns around however, as Diego later goes through Kit’s possessions and realizes he had unusually expensive cigarettes in his Alcatraz cell.  Diego traces the influx of cash to some back pay that Kit received from his job at a construction company, which for a time made bomb shelters, one of which was located in Walnut Creek not far from Dylan’s home!

Kit flashes back to 1960 once more, where the Warden has him thrown into a pitch-black solitary cell for a quiet conversation.  Lighting one match for every moment of questioning, the warden demands to know the truth about Kit killing his brother.  Through coercion and intimidation, the warden finally gets Kit to cop to murdering his sibling, unintentionally at first, but giving in to the thrill of it at last.  He put the chrysanthemum on his mother’s bed, as they were both hers and his brother’s favorite.  Back in the present, Dylan manages to distract Kit long enough to slip off his shoe and hurl it at the bomb shelter’s only light, climbing up the ladder and escaping into the forest!

Kit chases Dylan through the forest with Diego and Rebecca in hot pursuit, and Rebecca manages to corner the pair once more.  Despite his lack of a weapon Kit believes that Rebecca won't shoot, when all of a sudden a shot from Hauser hits Kit through the head.  Later, Hauser requests a moment with Diego, intimating that he knows what happened to him at the age of 11, and despite a state of arrested development he needs Diego to be an adult rather than an 11-year old.  Diego agrees, and Rebecca reminds him that he doesn’t have to tell her what really happened to him, as it’s his own origin story.

Diego takes it on himself to visit the now-safe Dylan and beef up his comic collection, when the boy confesses he’s still afraid.  Diego confesses that he himself was kidnapped at that age, but managed to get away.  He assures the boy that “once you know you can do that, it sort of give you a superpower, like [comic superheroes], but real.”

Later, Hauser carries the bodybag of Kit into "New Alcatraz," bringing it to a still-living and un-aged Dr. Beauregard.  Hauser intimates that he may need the physician’s help with “a friend of mine,” and the doctor reports ready.  Hauser takes off, as Dr. Beauregard lights a cigarette, and gleefully switches on the record player in his office.

Did you get your fill of time-traveling action?  What did you think about the episode? Join us next week for an all-new episode recap of Alcatraz on FOX!

Alcatraz 1.03 "Kit Nelson" Recap - Sweet Cherry Pie

I was flabbergasted at the end of this week's episode of Once Upon a Time.  As much as I had been rooting for Mary Margaret and David to get together, I still honestly didn't believe it would happen any time soon.  Boy, was I wrong.  By the end of this week's episode, the pair were kissing in the middle of a public street.

This week's Once Upon a Time brought Mary Margaret and David to the forefront.  The will-they-won't-they business was bound to get tired after awhile and, I have to admit, I was afraid the episode would just be frustrating.  For nearly 55 minutes, the episode taunted and teased the audience.  But then it delivered big time.

As it turns out, Mary Margaret hadn't really been following her own advice about staying away from David.  She was just being more subtle (stalkerish) about the whole situation.  She would head over to Granny's diner at 7:15 a.m. every morning to catch a glimpse of David while he came in from his morning coffee.  Later, at the drug store, Mary Margaret was in for a shock when she bumped into Kathryn and spotted a pregnancy test in her shopping basket.

After finding a trapped dove in the forest, Mary Margaret decided to venture back into the woods to return the bird to its flock.  David wanted to go with her, but remembering her encounter with Kathryn, Mary Margaret told him he didn't need to come.  Of course, he didn't bother listening to her, which was good news for her because he managed to save her from falling off a cliff.  As a storm approached, the two sought shelter in an abandoned cabin in the woods.  While there, they both admitted they had feelings for one another and seemed poised to kiss.  But Mary Margaret pulled away and told David that Kathryn might be pregnant.  Once again, we were left to believe that the pair would remain separated, especially after they both seemed ready to let go of their 7:15 a.m. stalking activities.  But when they met up again at Granny's, David told Mary Margaret that his wife wasn't pregnant and the pair kissed as Regina watched on.

Meanwhile, the B-story on this week's Once Upon a Time revolved around the mysterious stranger who had ridden into town at the end of the previous episode.  Regina was deeply suspicious after she saw him talking to Henry and told Emma to look into him.  Emma did and wanted to know what was in the box he was carrying.  As it turns out, it was simply an old typewriter.  Mr. Stranger declared himself a writer.  A lot of people speculated that he was the grown-up version of the boy who found baby Emma on the side of the road.  But knowing he's a writer, let's speculate on the possibility that he actually wrote the fairytale book that Henry has.  What do you think about that?  It might justify why he's in Storybrooke considering strangers aren't supposed to come to the town.  If he's connected to the people in town because he wrote the book about their lives, then maybe that explains the situation.  That's my theory for now.

While the Once Upon a Time super-couple-in-training in Storybrooke seemed to get a bit of a happy ending, the fairytale super-couple-in-training went entirely in the opposite direction.  As it turns out, Snow White's been hiding in the woods since escaping the Queen after her father's death.  She comes across Red Riding Hood (who finally got some screen time!), who announced that Charming's wedding to Abigail would happen in a matter of days.  Desperate to mend her broken heart over Charming, Snow went searching for Rumpelstiltskin on Red's suggestion.

After meeting the creepy magic man, Snow obtained a potion that was supposed to make her forget all about Charming (and all Rumple wanted in exchange was a lock of Snow's hair).  In his castle, King George continued to push Charming to forget about this other woman who supposedly "held his heart" and to marry Abigail in order to save the kingdom.  But Charming just couldn't let it go and wrote a letter to Snow, expressing his feelings.  She received the letter just before she was going to drink the potion and headed to the castle to meet him instead.  Unfortunately, she was captured and thrown into the dungeon.  But that was also her opportunity to meet Grumpy, who was also imprisoned after being falsely accused.  You have to love the twists on the classic stories that the Once Upon a Time writers deliver.

Fortunately, one of the heretofore unknown dwarfs - Stealthy - helped the two escape, but he was killed a few moments later. Grumpy nearly died as well until Snow arrived on the scene.  King George ordered her to tell Charming she had never loved him, otherwise he would kill him.  To save his life, Snow went through with it.  Later, the dwarfs met up with her and took her home with them.  Despite wanting to take the potion, Grumpy told her not to do it and not to forget Charming.

It seemed like all hope was lost - even though we know how the story ends.  Charming surprised everyone by calling off his wedding and riding out to find Snow.  While Grumpy arrived home with the good news about the cancelled wedding, Snow was simply confused as to who he was talking about.  Because, as you see, she had taken the potion.  Yikes.  That's the Once Upon a Time writers for you - giving in Storybrooke and taking in the fairytale world.

This was a great episode of Once Upon a Time.  Alan Dale is always a pleasure to watch as King George and is appropriately menacing.  Charming was wonderful and heroic, although it's sad to know that Snow took the potion after all.  I'm thrilled the show finally gave a proper introduction to the dwarfs.  But what can come next for Mary Margaret and David?  There's no way Regina will stand for the two of them being together.  And out of everyone in town at this point, I sort of get the feeling that David is closest to remembering his fairytale life.  More than the other Storybrooke residents, he seems pulled between two lives...the fake life that Regina created and his real life - and love - with Snow/Mary Margaret.

A few final thoughts:

-What is Rumple planning on doing with Snow's hair?

-What exactly is the history between Red and Snow?  In this episode Snow curiously said to Red "I helped you when no one else would."  Interesting, right?  I hope we get to see Red's story soon.  She's a character that has gotten so little screen time in the fairytale world and in Storybrooke.

-Do you think that Charming waking Snow with a kiss from the Queen's poisonous apple is the next time the pair see each other?  Or do you think there's more to come with them, even if Snow apparently no longer remembers him thanks to Rumple's potion?

-The scene that really struck me in tonight's episode lasted only a few minutes and came at the very beginning.  While Henry was talking to the mysterious stranger, Regina came out of her house and appeared very concerned.  That scene was probably the most genuine concern Regina has showed for Henry since the show began.  She's usually bossing him around or getting angry with him about something and we've never really witnessed Regina as a caring mother (at least, in my opinion).  I really liked the opening scene for showing us that.

A new episode of Once Upon a Time will air on January 29.  You can watch a trailer for the episode here and browse through photos here.

Once Upon a Time Episode 10 Recap: The Power (and Pain) of Love

The Good, The Bad, (The Meh,) and the Ugly

American Idol is back! Just to remind us that it's the original singing competition, they name check all ten winners at the beginning. The cynic in me says that this is the only time that Idol will acknowledge some of them, but one can hope. Instead of going chronologically, I'm going to organize my thoughts into separate categories.

The Good:

I like the balance of good/bad auditions, I hope that remains a theme throughout the season. There was a nice mix of both men and women, and while it seemed the auditioners skewed young, maybe my age is starting to show.

I especially liked Gabi Carrub, who sang Sunday Morning without any pretension, Schyler Dixon (Colton's little sister, in case you forgot,) Ashlee Altise, who was almost borderline funny audition, and Philip Phillips.

(Philip almost ended up in the meh category, but I liked his guitar playing, and there was just enough of a spark around him that I like him here.)

The Bad

Can we talk about the blue panels with the winner's images to the side of the judge's table? Good. I enjoy seeing the past winners, but I don't like spending half the episode trying to figure out who is who. Bring back the background with the winners on it. An old complaint of mine is that Idol has a terrible habit of not acknowledging its past.

Randy Jackson, let's have a talk. If I have to hear season one-one for the next five months, I may have to do something drastic. Love lots, me.

The Meh

I liked David Leathers, but I'm afraid his shtick is going to get old, very fast. Amy Brumfield had an interesting tone of voice, but I'm just not sure about her. Stephanie Renae: singing an Idol coronation song should automatically disqualify you. Seriously. Colton Dixon: while I appreciate your song choice, the whole bit felt manufactured, and you oversang it, dude. Lauren Mink was all backstory and no bite. WT Thompson felt like a weird mash-up of Michael Sarver and Michael Lynch and I see the 11^th/12^th place finish in his future. Brittany Kerr: your voice is pretty, but I'm waiting for it to go somewhere.

On another note the opening sequence: was it just me, or were Jordin and Taylor missing? Also, please stop trying to make Pia happen. She's a nice girl with a pretty voice, but don't make her a superstar yet. (Which begs me to ask, where were Adam, Daughtry and Jennifer Hudson in the nonwinners from last year's opening sequence? Discuss.)

Jennifer Lopez seemed happy to be there, and did offer some genuine constructive criticism. Hopefully it sticks around.

The Ugly

Let's not even get into the Steven Tyler bit. I don't mind that you're a flirt, but it's a fine line between flirt and gross old man, so please stop now.

I hated that we got the 'let's subtitle a foreigner' trope we get every year. I hate that he was treated with disdain and used for a few minutes entertainment.

Overall a solid episode, and I'm excited for Idol to start again.

(For those who care, I did watch the Voice and XFactor, and while they did bring some things to the table, one couldn't hold my attention and the other made me emotionally numb.)

The Good, The Bad, (The Meh,) and the Ugly- American Idol 11.1 Recap

Glee returns from the holidays with its twisty mid-season premiere “Yes/No," which sees Will working out a way to propose to Emma as Finn turns over a decision on his future, and Becky's gaze falls on none other than Artie Abrams for her new man.

Don’t have the time to spare?  Then here's what you missed on Glee’s “Yes/No!”

The McKinley high girls inquisitively question Mercedes about her summer fling with Sam, while the boys question Sam in a similar manner, before the scene turns into an impromptu rendition of Grease’s “Summer Lovin’!”  Because, you know, this has anything to do with anything.

With the voice of the Queen of England (Helen Mirren, naturally) as her inner monologue, Becky thinks of herself as the hottest and most accomplished girl in the school, before settling on Artie as the man for her.  Sue reluctantly supports her interest in the boy, believing that her young minion could do better.  And speaking of courtship, Coach Beiste reveals to Emma that she has eloped with Cooter Menken, which reminds Emma that she doesn’t think Will wants to marry her.  Sue encourages the redhead to simply ask the man herself, and her daydream of singing 5^th Dimension’s “Wedding Bell Blues” reveals that she accidentally asked Will in real life!  She denies it, but Will rushes off to confer with the New Directions, and come up with a proposal number to knock her socks off in return.

All the talk of marriage gets Sam thinking about Mercedes and asking her feelings, when she reminds him that their relationship ended with the summer and that she has a boyfriend now.  Similarly, Artie finds rejection from Sugar Motta (Vanessa Lengies), before young Becky arrives asking him out.  Looking to return to his Letterman days, Sam attempts to find his way onto the football team, but Coach Beiste directs him toward the school’s synchronized swimming team, coached by Roz Washington (NeNe Leakes).  Finn assures Sam that double duty with Glee and swimming is a death wish for bullying, and as soon as he takes a slushie to the face Mercedes stops to help him clean off.

Later, in the auditorium, Artie, Will and Harry decide against sappy roman ballads for Will’s proposal, and perform Maroon 5’s “Moves Like Jagger” while Becky watches.  They ultimately decide against the number on account of Emma’s hatred of sweating.  Becky on the other hand, refuses to take "no" for an answer on her offer of taking Artie to Breadsticks.  Later, Finn helps will shop for wedding rings and agrees to be Will’s best man, but also makes a disconcerting revelation about his interest in joining the army.

Later, it’s the girl’s turn to give Will advice, as they perform Roberta Flack’s “First Time I Ever Saw Your Face,” while thinking of their respective loves; Finn for Rachel, Mike for Tina, Brittany for Santana, and Sam for Mercedes.  The thought is enough to send Mercedes running into the bathroom, where the girls advise her to listen to her heart.

Later, Will tries to no avail to secure Emma’s Ginger supremacist parents’ blessing for marriage.  They offer up a troubling sentiment, that given Emma’s extreme OCD, she might not be able to cope with the messier aspects of parenthood, which registers with Will.  The next day, the Glee Club holds something of an intervention for Artie with their worry about his “dating” Becky, but Artie rolls out insisting they don’t know what they're talking about.  Elsewhere, Burt, Mrs. Finn, Will and Emma stage a meeting for Finn to discuss his troublesome thoughts about enlisting.  When Finn insists on his father as a war hero, his mother reveals the truth that his father actually returned from Iraq a broken man, and later died of a drug overdose in Cincinatti.  She sees his father’s goodness in him, but Finn breaks down claiming he wasn’t ready to hear that truth.

When Becky next insists to Artie that they should have sex, he finally brings the matter to Coach Sue asking for help, and she insists he treat her like a real person and break it off himself.  Later that night Will and Emma discuss marriage at their home, and Will reverberates her parents’ words about her inability to cope, but she insists she’ll find ways to manage.

Throwing a pity party for themselves in Breadsticks over their futures, dinner between Kurt, Finn and Rachel turns into Rachel’s performance of David Guetta’s “Without You,” which moves the entire group.  Over the course of the song Sam and Mercedes share a smile, while Brittany and Santana end up holding hands.  Will thanks the group and postulates that he has some difficult choices to make, but in a moment alone Sam comes up to him with an idea.

Will retrieves Emma from her office, and leads her down the McKinley corridors with her friends handing her flowers, and ends up at the school’s swimming pool.  There she sees the entire Glee club perform a synchronized swim to Rihanna’s “We Found Love,” which culminates in Will walking, then diving through the water, and proposing, to which Emma agrees.

Later, Artie politely lets down Becky, which she accepts assuming to herself that it has to do with her Downs.  Thankfully Sue helps her get through it by bringing out ice cream, tissues, and sympathizing over her own loss of Cooter Menken.  In the auditorium, Finn looks over a photo of his father as Rachel joins him, and the two reminisce about their first date.  He assures her that no matter what he ends up doing in life, he’ll always be there to support her, and gets down on one knee to propose!

So…what will she say?

So did you like Glee's "Yes/No"?  What do you think Rachel's response to the proposal will be?  What did you think about the episode's music? Join us next week for an all-new episode of Glee on FOX!

Glee 3.10 "Yes/No" Recap - Decisions, Decisions

Alcatraz continues its two-part series premiere with tonight’s second episode “Ernest Cobb,” as Detective Rebecca Madsen (Sarah Jones) and Dr. Diego Soto (Jorge Garcia) settle into their new roles investigating the re-appearing Alcatraz inmates, and a brutal sniper attack points them and Hauser (Sam Neill) toward an eccentric inmate (Joe Egender) known for sniping victims in threes.

If you didn't get a chance to check it out for yourself, read on for our Alcatraz recap of "Ernest Cobb”!

In Alcatraz 1960, Tiller leads prisoner Ernest Cobb through the pirson to meet Warden James, who questions Cobb about his sniper shooting crimes while popping off his own rounds at a makeshift targeting range.  Cobb declines to explain what motivated his original crimes, but does explain that he shot a prison guard to request a transfer to Alcatraz for a private room.

Later, presumably in the present, Cobb sets himself up a pleasant hillside picnic in the park.  After a bite of his sandwhich, he assembles his sniper rifle, and trains his eye on a coung couple strolling through nearby fair grounds.

Elsewhere, Dr. Diego Soto (Jorge Garcia) trains an assistant to run his comic shop while he works on the top-secret Alcatraz task force, when Rebecca Madsen (Sarah Jones) arrives with breakfast, and a few questions about the limited information about her grandfather in Soto’s books.  Back in the park, Cobb trains his sniper sight on a man, and the young couple he spied earlier.  He guns down the man, the young teen, and his helpless girlfriend, all of whom die instantly.

At the crime scene Diego expresses difficulty being around such gore, but contributes when he and Hauser realize that the dead crows mean another Alcatraz inmate’s MO, that of Cobb’s.  Cobb usually does three shootings in three days, before disappearing underground.  Diego and Rebecca have an epiphany about the type of gun Cobb used, and with some deductive reasoning manage to recover one of the bullet casings the inmate left behind!

Quickly flashing back to 1960, Cobb and his chatty cell neighbor observe the scene from the pilot of Jack Sylvane being dragged away from his divorcing wife, before the action shifts back to 2012, where Lucille (Parminder Nagra) interrogates Jack to see if he recognizes Cobb.  He denies knowing Cobb, and insists he has no idea how he arrived in 2012 or what the key he retrieved last week signifies.  According to their equipment, Sylvane appears to be telling the truth.

Diego observes a few hidden mysteries around their home base, before Cobb’s gun casing leads them to a gun shop Rebecca has investigated before.  There they discover via security footage that not only did Cobb retrieve his rifle using a prepaid cell phone, he also carried a distinct room key they can trace to a hotel.  Cobb sets up his rifle and coldly waits in his room, as Lucille, Diego and Rebecca head to the hotel room, which sits empty.  That is, until Lucille uncovers a window message with a bullseye over it, and Cobb shoots her through the chest from across the way!  An ambulance takes Lucille off as Hauser finally arrives, and ignores Rebecca’s questions to scold her that Ernest Cobb is still out there.

With Lucille alive but in a coma, Hauser retreats to his re-created Alcatraz to question Jack if Lucille was a target, which he denies knowing.  Hauser reminds him that “Dr. Beauregard” might be able to jog his memory.  Meanwhile, Diego and Rebecca manage to reason out that Cobb’s seemingly random MO hides that fact that one of his victims is always a teenage girl.  As Rebecca tries to get into his head from the prison cell, Diego brings an undelivered letter to Cobb from Eloise Monroe, his half-sister looking to strike up a pen-pal relationship after she saw their mother spurn Cobb.

In 1960, Cobb finds a method of passive resistance in Alcatraz that gets him sent to solitary confinement, while Rebecca realizes the man made a scope out of limited means, and liked to stare at the view overlooking San Francisco.  The ‘60s Cobb finds new torment from the warden by placing his chatty neighbor in solitary with him, as 2012 Cobb perches himself, and takes out three new victims by a local mall.

Rebecca reasons that the mall shootings were only Cobb’s second killing, Lucille not having been intentional, which means the man will strike once more.  Comparing Cobb’s prison cell view with the buildings he would have seen at the time, Hauser and Rebecca come to believe Cobb will use either one of two buildings as a vantage point for his final kills, and the team races to stop him.

Hauser takes one building while Rebecca takes the other, but it’s Rebecca that finds the man poised to kill on the rooftop.  She attempts to reason with him and explain how his half-sister tried to contact, but it’s of no use.  Thankfully, Hauser arrives and together he and Rebecca manage to outflank Cobb long enough to get him on the ground, where Hauser shoots Cobb through the hand for revenge.

Later, Hauser keeps watch over Lucille while Rebecca assures Diego that despite his trepidation, he’s doing fine in their mission, and she will need his help to continue.  Hauser leaves the hospital sharing an intense gaze with Rebecca, and heads back to “New Alcatraz” to bring in Cobb, who seems confused to see Jack Sylvane present as well.  Hauser assures Cobb he could have killed him, and Cobb will wish he had.

However, back in 1960, Warden James finally gives up on rehabilitating Cobb, and brings in a new doctor he believes can help, none other than Lucille Sangupta herself, at the very same age!

Did you get your fill of time-traveling action?  What did you think about the premiere? Join us next week for an all-new episode recap of Alcatraz on FOX!

Alcatraz 1.02 "Ernest Cobb" Recap - Sniper Hunt

Emma had to confront her own past in this week's episode of Once Upon a Time.   After two children (Ava and Nicholas) tried to shoplift some food, Emma was called in by the store owner.  She drove the kids home and quickly realized that they were squatting inside the basement of an abandoned house.  As it turns out, their mother had died a while ago and the children were on their own, not knowing who their father was.

Emma brought the children to Mary Margaret's house and told her that she wanted to track down their father so that the kids didn't have to go into foster care.  But Regina interceded and said that Emma needed to bring the kids to separate homes in Boston.  More determined than ever to find their father, the kids gave her a compass they believe belonged to him.  She asked Mr. Gold for help and he said that he sold it to a man named Michael.  Michael was Ava and Nicholas' father, but he was also a down-on-his-luck mechanic who said he wasn't ready to be a father.  With no other choices, Emma prepared to drive the kids to Boston.  But after the car stalled on the road, she called the garage for a tow trunk.  After seeing his children, Michael agreed to take on the responsibility of being their father.

On a more personal note, Emma told Henry about his father in this week's Once Upon a Time.  She told him that he was dead and had died saving a family from a burning building.  But she later admitted to Mary Margaret that she had lied and that Henry didn't need to know the truth about his father.  Emma also told Mary Margaret about Henry's storybook and how he was convinced everyone in town was a fairytale character.  She said Henry believes Mary Margaret is Snow White and that Emma is supposed to be her daughter.  The two shared a chuckle over it and Mary Margaret seemed to dismiss it.  At the end of the episode, a mysterious stranger rode into town.

Meanwhile, the Once Upon a Time writers had a bit of a twist on the Hansel and Gretel tale.  While chopping wood in the forest, their father disappeared and the children came across the Evil Queen.  She told them she would help them find their father if they stole something from a blind witch.  Unfortunately, despite the Queen's warnings, Hansel ended up eating something in the house and the witch woke up and captured them.  Fortunately, Gretel was fairly clever and the kids were able to escape.

Later, they returned to the Queen and it was revealed that she had asked them to steal the poisonous apple that she would later use on Snow White.  She admired their cleverness and spunk and offered to let them live in the castle.  But they were determined to find their father and refused.  We also learned that she kidnapped their father so that she could use the children to steal the apple.  At the end, she let him go, but we don't know whether he and the kids were reunited.

A few final things:

-Mr. Gold clearly knows more than he's letting on.  When Emma came into his shop to find out the name of the compass owner, he consulted a piece of paper.  But it turns out that the paper was blank, leading me to believe he knew exactly what was going on with Ava and Nicholas.

-How interesting that the Queen had to steal the poisonous apple from the blind witch.  I can't wait to see how she actually gives it to Snow White.

-Do you think that Hansel and Gretel's were reunited with their father?

-Who is the mysterious stranger who arrived in town at the end of the episode?  Any thoughts on his fairytale counterpart?

-I haven't really gotten a good look at the fairytale dwarfs, but it seems clear that the store owner is Sneezy.

-Who else thought that Mary Margaret might remember her fairytale past when she smelled Emma's blanket?  Because I did.

-What could be the truth about Henry's father?  Do you think we'll see him anytime soon?

A new episode of Once Upon a Time will be airing next week on January 22.  Watch a trailer for it here.

Once Upon a Time Episode 9 Recap: If You Go Into the Woods Today...

Fringe returned tonight from an interminable hiatus with “Back To Where You’ve Never Been”. It quickly becomes apparent why this episode was supposed to be the winter finale (before it got delayed by baseball): the episode is jam packed with mythology, character development, the re-introduction of a familiar enemy, and an ominous Observer visit. One of my favourite aspects of Fringe is when new developments cause everything to begin to coalesce into a clear image of where the story is going, and tonight’s episode had some fascinating revelations.

Fringe’s winter finale “Wallflower” left us with a cliffhanger of sorts, with the revelation that Nina Sharp, Olivia’s adoptive mother, is actually the one responsible for her escalating migraines. My guess is that Nina is dosing her with Cortexiphan, presumably in an attempt to activate Olivia’s powers. As horrifying as the breach of trust is – it also makes me question this new Nina – I do hope that something comes of it: the topic of the Cortexiphan kids and their powers has always intrigued me. It’s clear that Olivia really has no idea what she’s capable of, and I can’t imagine that it would be something the writers would ignore. I assume that Nina’s motivation is much the same as Walter and Belly’s was originally, that she is “preparing” Olivia for the coming threats. I doubt Olivia will take it much better than she did in the original timeline, however, especially considering that the person she trusts the most is the one dosing her.

Speaking of breaking trust, I was rather disappointed in Olivia for deceiving Peter and instructing Lincoln to use the trip to the Other Side to steal information on Walternate. Not that I can really blame her, but it just serves to highlight again how different this new timeline is. I miss the dynamic between Olivia and Peter – well, between all of the characters, really – and I’m torn between what I want this new reality to end up being. That is, whether “our” characters are in the original universe somewhere frantically searching for Peter who can indeed get back there somehow, versus this being “our” reality rewritten. There seems to be support for both, and I can’t get past the fact both Walter and Olivia clearly have some sort of connection with Peter, which wouldn’t make sense if this were an “alternate” universe of sorts. As we saw in “One Night in October”, there are people who leave a mark on us, whether we’re conscious of it or not. If it truly is the original universe rewritten, I’d love to see Olivia, at the very least, start to remember what things were like before the Observers erased Peter; perhaps the doses of whatever Nina has been giving her could facilitate such a shift. I think it’d be fascinating to see Olivia trying to reconcile memories of the original reality with the relationships and experiences she’s had in this new universe.

One of my absolute favorite moments in tonight’s episode was the scene between Peter and Walternate. In some odd way, Walternate actually reminded me a bit of Walter as he was at the end of season three, at least in terms of his relationship with Peter. I’ve been missing that connection between the father and son that was such a cornerstone for the show. I love the decision to alter Walternate a bit, but I do wonder what precipitated the changes. I assume that Peter’s death as a boy would change the Other Side far less than Our Side, because he disappeared when he was just a boy anyways.

If I had to hazard a guess, it would be that David Robert Jones is responsible for some of the changes we see in Walternate. Near as I can tell, since Peter wasn’t around to prevent Jones from crossing over at the end of season 1, he made it to the Other Side as he had originally intended. Evidently, he’s been up to no good ever since, given the humanoid shapeshifters we’ve been seeing. If Walter had been suspecting a new threat for quite some time, it could have diverted some of his ire away from Our Side: he’d be too busy fighting on another front at home. I also wonder if some of Walternate’s fury in the original timeline stemmed from jealousy or bitterness. Not only did Walter kidnap Walternate’s son and trigger a cascade of detrimental effects to his universe, but Peter himself kept choosing to side with his own father’s enemies. I can’t imagine that would be easy for anyone to accept.

As always, I’m intrigued as hell about where the story will go from here. I love the idea that the two sides will have to work even more closely together in order to combat a common threat. Not to mention the ominous warning from September, our friendly neighbourhood Observer, to Olivia regarding her own death. And how does a man (I use the term loosely here) who can catch bullets end up getting shot, anyways? September has always seemed more human than the other Observers, and I assume it’s due to his continuing involvement with the Bishops and Olivia – he has let himself become invested in them, and for someone who is only supposed to observe, he does an awful lot of interfering.

Between the reappearance of David Robert Jones, the new threat to both universes, Lincoln and Peter remaining Over There, Walternate’s new status as “not a bad guy”, Peter’s deepening involvement in this new timeline, threats to Olivia’s life, and Walter’s continued instability and denial of Peter, I have no doubts that “Back to Where You’ve Never Been” is only the beginning of what promises to be a fantastic back half of season 4. A

Fringe 4.08 "Back To Where You've Never Been" Review

When Supernatural is firing on all cylinders, there's nothing better.  This week's new episode gave us an unforgettable hour.  It may have been more of a stand-alone episode, but there were enough pieces of mythology woven it to progress the storyline, touch on past memorable events, and give us some hint at the future.

The Untouchables

Let's set the stage: it's 2012 and Dean is still researching Dick Roman.  Late at night, Sheriff Jodi Mills calls Sam to let him know about a strange case in Ohio involving a victim who looks mummified.  The boys head to town, find an abandoned house to squat in, and start their investigation.  They soon realize that a man in a fedora hat (guest star Jason Dohring) is generally around the crime scenes and track him down.  The boys separate to approach him from different sides, but Dean stumbles across him "feeding" from a victim and rushes him.  A red light appears and suddenly Dean and Mr. Fedora are back in 1944.  Mr. Fedora gets away, but not before Dean spots a distinctive ring on his hand.

Since he's carrying a gun in the middle of the street, Dean promptly gets arrested.  Luckily, none other than Mr. Eliot Ness stops by.  Dean immediately has a man-crush.  After all, The Untouchables is one of his favorite movies.  After taking a chance and describing what happened to him, Dean is kind of surprised that Ness believes him and realizes he's a hunter and they're both tracking Mr. Fedora.  Ness suggests they head off to get Dean some clothes appropriate for the time period.  As it turns out, Ness' seamstress (Ezra) also happens to be down with the hunting life.  She outfits Dean in a snazzy new suit and does some research about Mr. Fedora.

Killing Time

Back in the present, Jodi offers to come help Sam track down Dean and brings him some boxes of research from Bobby's storage unit.  In 1944 and the present, both teams realize they're tracking Chronos, the God of Time, who kills people in order to recharge his time travel batteries.  Sam wants to summon Chronos, while Ness wants to figure out a way to kill him.

Ness and Dean eventually find Chronos, but are shocked to find out he had a pretty, young girlfriend named Lila.  They tracked him home and Ness sent Dean back to Ezra for more information while he did some surveillance.  Ezra gave Dean a stake dipped in blood to kill Chronos, but Dean realized that killing him meant he would be stuck in 1944 forever.  He decided to pull a "Back to the Future III" move and left a note for Sam in 1944, in the same house he and Sam later squatted in.

The note lead Sam and Jodi to Lila in the future and they were able to pin down the exact moment when Chronos and Dean would be together again.  Hastily putting together the spell for the ritual, they were able to summon the God and Dean back to the present, while Ness managed to throw the stake to Dean in the past right before he disappeared.  Sam staked Chronos, who warned them that their future was filled with thick, black goo (ie. the Leviathans), and then died.  Fade to black.

Concluded on next page....

Supernatural Episode 7.12 Review: Going Back in Time Never Looked So Good

I’ve been enjoying the shift in focus on Revenge from taking down one person a week to the longer-term goal of focusing in on the Graysons. But sometimes you just want some plain old fashioned revenge, don’t you? Emily dished it out this week. And HOW.

Many years ago, shortly after David Clarke’s trial, a reporter named Leo Treadwell met with Clarke. He insisted that he was the victim of a conspiracy, but without proof, Leo was a bit hesitant to put Clarke's allegations out there.  He did meet with a 9 year old Amanda Clarke, who told Leo she thought her father was innocent.  All of Clarke's information eventually convinced Leo enough to approach the Graysons for an interview.  They shot down Clarke's claims as outrageous, of course, but Leo couldn't be disuaded.  After all, he had no money and nothing to lose.  That's when Victoria stepped in.  While her "bribe" wasn't exactly explained, it's clear that she offered Leo a chance at both fame and fortune.  Leo transformed himself into Mason Treadwell and published a book that further vilified David Clarke, leading Amanda to believe her father was guilty until Nolan brought her the truth many years later.

Fast-forward to present day Revenge, with Mason now in the Hamptons for a reading.  Naturally, Emily wants to meet the man who helped the Graysons publicly destroy her father's life and she's also interested in some good old-fashioned revenge, the likes of which we haven't seen for a little while.  Victoria, meanwhile, also used Mason's presence as an opportunity to have him gather research on Amanda Clarke.  Of course, the Amanda we know today didn't know Mason, who approached her at the Stowaway.  But when Emily found out Mason was speaking to Amanda, she told Amanda the truth about her plan and also used her to try and scare Mason into exposing the conspiracy at a reading at Victoria's.  But when Victoria learned he was planning on being truthful, she whipped him back into line.

Of course, Emily's plan wasn't so silly as to have Mason confess.  Please.  This is Revenge.  No, she wanted to destroy everything he held dear, which included his house, literary artifacts and the only draft copy of his memoirs.  Using Nolan as a diversion, she slipped into Mason's house and set a fire using his own cigarettes.  Mason returned home to find all of his prized possessions going up in flames.

You know, as I learn more and more about the individual conspirators - besides the Graysons, of course - my desire to truly understand the conspiracy grows.  Perhaps the only thing that's sometimes missing from Revenge in these sort of stand-alone episodes where Emily spends an hour taking down a single person is a deeper understanding of why they chose to be a part of the conspiracy.  I mean, people like Lydia were driven by fear and opportunity, while Mason did it for fame and fortune.  Did all of these people choose to destroy the Clarkes only for money or power?  How lucky for Victoria and Conrad that they were surrounded by so many superficial and greedy people.  What, then, were Victoria's reasons?  Obviously the show will be holding on that explanation for a while, but the conspiracy itself remains one of the most fascinating issues of Revenge for me.  Think of all the people that had to come together just to take down this one man.  It's staggering.  I really hope we'll be getting more flashbacks as time passes, as well as a deeper understand of why these individuals made these decisions.

Speaking of flashbacks, a piece of history yielded a shocking - although somewhat expected - revelation in this week's Revenge.  Before burning Mason's house, Emily stole the tapes of his David Clarke interviews and Clarke told Mason that 6 months earlier, Victoria gave birth to a baby girl named Charlotte.  Guess who Charlotte's father is?  Hint: it's not Conrad.  Ohhhhh, things just got interesting.

So we had a take-down and a revelation on this week's Revenge.  You'd think that was enough, but we were also treated to a subplot that is steadily heating up.  Daniel got it into his head to combine his shares in Grayson Global with his mother's shares so they could take over the company and force Conrad out.  Unfortunately, Daniel's shares are in trust.  His father was all set to release them until his lawyer made him wonder whether Daniel wanted them to help Victoria.  Conrad released David's money, but attached a condition to his shares: he could only access them when he turned 30 or got married, whichever came first.

Daniel saw no problem with these conditions and told Victoria he would simply marry Emily, since he already loved her.  Naturally, Victoria was less than pleased about her son marrying a woman she didn't trust.  She tried to plant a seed of doubt in Emily's head by having Ashley allude to Daniel's plan.  In the end, Victoria's lawyer told her to let Daniel marry Emily - after all, he just has to get married....not stay married.

In a really minor subplot, Deacon was upset about Charlotte heading off to her fancy prep school soon because they wouldn't get to spend any time together.  These poor kids have very little to do on the show lately.  Fortunately, with Emily's new information, Charlotte might join the "A" plot.

Amanda also showed Jack her wilder side in this week's Revenge.  He's a bit uptight, so he wasn't exactly happy about it.  But she was growing more and more concerned that there's something between Jack and Emily.  Eventually he apologized and told her he would make more of an effort not to be such a stick in the mud.

Overall, this was a great episode.  Despite the "C" plots, the storyline involving the Mason take-down was terrific.  Sure, it was obvious what Emily would do the minute she learned Mason only had one copy of his memoirs, but it was still fun to watch. I particularly liked that we seemed to get more flashbacks with him than previous conspirators that Emily has targeted and felt that rounded him out a lot more.  And I was thrilled that the show finally confirmed the Charlotte speculation, which many fans have been wondering for a while.  We're quickly closing in on the original engagement party from the pilot and the discovery of who died on the beach.  I, for one, can't wait!

An all new episode of Revenge will air on January 18 at 10:00 p.m. ET on ABC.  Daniel's going to propose!  Watch a trailer and browse through photos for the episode here.

Revenge Episode 12 Recap: Going Up in Flames

Once Upon a Time is teasing out a lot of stories - like how Snow and Charming ultimately come together and the secret that drove the Queen and Snow apart.  But the January return of Once Upon a Time didn't tease out Rumpelstiltskin's origin story.  In less than an hour we know exactly how and why he went from a mild-mannered villager and father to an evil and somewhat crazy creature capable of great magic.

This week's Once Upon a Time was all about the episode title: desperate souls.  As it turns out, Rumple had once been a solider.  At least until he deserted his post and returned to a wife who didn't want to be married to an AWOL soldier.  She left him and their young son (Baelfire) and Rumple raised the boy himself.  Just before Bae's 14th birthday, soldiers visited the town, looking for children fourteen and older to draft into the army.  Rumple's first instinct was to run, albeit to save his son's life.  This is an understandable desertion, even if Bae wanted to be brave enough to fight.

Unfortunately, soldiers found Rumple and Bae trying to escape and one of them humiliated Rumple in front of his son, then sent them on their way.  But how to ensure Bae would never be forced to live the life of a child soldier?  Well, an old beggar provided the answer: all Rumple had to do was steal a dagger from the duke's castle.  This dagger controlled a man known as the Dark One, who wielded magic and was able to keep the townspeople in line.  But the duke was controlling the Dark One.  If Rumple could steal the dagger and perform a ritual, he could control the magic man himself....or kill the Dark One and take the power for himself.

Bae was worried about the plan, but Rumple went through with it.  It wasn't until later that he realized he had been tricked by the old beggar, who turned out to be the Dark One himself.  As the Dark One told Rumple after he had been stabbed and his true identity revealed - magic always comes with a price.  The Dark One's life was horrific and he wanted to die, but he had to pass his magic on to another.

Rumple returned to his town to find the soldiers there with his son.  In front of Bae, Rumple revealed his new power (complete with the scary Rumple face we all know) and demanded fealty from the soliders.  Later, he killed them.  Bae was frightened of the man his father had become, but Rumple was pleased that he managed to hang on to something that belonged to him: his son.

The only question in my mind is what happened to Bae as Rumple became more and more of a monster?  And after watching Once Upon a Time this week I wondered whether this was the reason that Rumple made bargains for children.  Did Bae go on to die or leave his father and Rumple spent the following years trying to replace his son?  I loved that the writers didn't bother to tease out Rumple's origin story, but it's what comes next that really leaves me intrigued.  Rumple clearly did what he did for the love of his son, but was he also trying to overcome his own shortcomings?  After all, the Dark One pointed out that Rumple's son was brave where his father was weak, and was Bae even his son at all?  Perhaps those harsh words were just a last-minute taunt, but they seemed to strike close to home.

Meanwhile, Emma was Once Upon a Time's "desperate soul" in Storybrooke.  Still sad about Graham's death, Mr. Gold told Emma that she could take up the mantle of sheriff now that two weeks had passed since the old one had died.  Emma seemed hesitant and was also sad to see Henry so depressed.  As it turns out, he was worried about what Regina could do to Emma and wanted to put a stop to Operation Cobra, believing that Regina killed Graham no matter that Emma insisted he died of natural causes.

Regina put the kibosh on Emma's plans to become sheriff pretty quickly when she fired her, which led Mr. Gold to offer to become Emma's benefactor.  After all, he had a secret weapon: the town charter.  Using the charter's regulations, Emma decided to run for sheriff against Sidney Glass, Regina's pick for sheriff.  Later, realizing he had interfered, Regina went to visit Mr. Gold.  Mr. Gold's conversation about children and his various actions since the show has started has led me to believe he remembers his fairytale life, just like Regina does.  That may turn out to be wrong, but she is clearly wondering what his agenda is and why he is opposing her, even if she doesn't know whether or not he remembers.

Later, Mr. Gold set up an explosion in the mayor's office, allowing Emma to act as a hero when saving Regina from the resulting fire.  But Emma quickly realized what he had done and confronted him about it, telling him that dirty tactics were not how she wanted to win the election.  After all, if she couldn't show Henry how good can triumph over evil the right way, what was the point?  So Emma told the townspeople what Mr. Gold had done and they reacted favorably to her honesty by ultimately selecting her as the sheriff.

Regina seemed upset about the decision, naturally, but was thrilled that Emma had made an enemy out of Mr. Gold.  Only, as it turns out, Emma hadn't really won the "right way".  Because Mr. Gold had always planned for her to tell the townspeople the truth, knowing that would be the thing that would secure her the position.  Now Emma understands the depth of his deceit and cunning and is still in his debt.  A debt he feels will be particularly useful now that she is sheriff.

This was a great episode of Once Upon a Time.  I loved how Regina managed to be gleeful after Emma having Mr. Gold as an enemy even after her preferred candidate lost as sheriff.  There is literally no situation Regina could be in where she doesn't attempt to wrestle back the balance of power.  Meanwhile, Emma and Henry are becoming closer and it's clear that Emma is softening towards her son. No doubt this will continue to be a point of contention with Regina.

The only thing Once Upon a Time needs is more David and Mary Margaret.  Of course, I don't want to experience the never-ending angst of a "will they or won't they?" subplot, but I do want those two crazy kids to get together.  Now that David is back on his feet with a new job, it's high time he dumped his (fake?) wife for Mary Margaret.

A new episode of Once Upon a Time will air on Sunday, January 15 at 8:00 p.m. ET on ABC.  Watch a preview for the episode here.

Once Upon a Time Episode 8 Recap: The Dangers of a Benefactor

I’ll admit, I found out about Bobby’s fate shortly before Supernatural aired tonight and I was so angry. Angry enough that I typed three pages about my feelings. Then I watched the episode and I was still angry (and I saw where they were going with the whole thing). After the episode, I didn’t throw away my rant, but I did modify it, because despite Frank’s big proclamation about why hunters do what they do, I still think there’s flaws in the argument.  I also apologize about the length of this review, but I had so many things to say about motivation after watching it that literally spans the entire series, so I hope you'll stick with it.

The Five Stages of Grief

However, before we get to that, let’s start at the beginning. Bobby (Jim Beaver) is dead. Supernatural took a page out of Twilight’s book (and it pains me to even admit I know this scene happened in that movie) and showed the passage of time with silent stares. After Bobby flat-lined in the hospital, the boys regrouped at Rufus’ cabin. A few weeks past. Sam (Jared Padalecki) brooded, while Dean (Jensen Ackles) silently planned his revenge against Dick Roman. Said plan included a hunter’s wall of clippings, photos and notes, along with sending the numbers Bobby wrote on Sam’s hand to Frank to decipher their meaning. Well, it was taking Frank a few weeks to get back to Dean, so the eldest Winchester decided to head off to see him. Sam, meanwhile, went off on a case, but we’ll get to that later.

Dean managed to track down Frank and they both convinced the other that they weren’t leviathans in disguise. Dean pushed Frank to tell him the meaning of the numbers and eventually Frank revealed they were coordinates, with one number missing. Specifically, coordinates to a field in Wisconsin. So they headed there to do surveillance, only to realize that the field was already being surveilled by Dick Roman and his people. After tapping into the video feed, they spotted a woman surveying the property, indicating that someone was going to be built there. That’s when Dean got called away to help Sam on his case.

So, a Hunter Walked Into a Diner....

Speaking of Sam’s case, it’s clear that it was meant to draw parallels to the Winchester’s life. Before the boys separated, Sam took a call on Bobby’s phone from a 14 year old girl named Krissy, who was looking for help. Sam wanted to help her and tracked her down, only to learn her father went missing. He realized her father was a hunter and set off to follow his trail. He came across two monsters in a diner where the hunter (Lee) was last seen. These monsters - vetalas - were sort of similar to vampires in that the drank blood. Sam got ambushed by two of them and brought to a warehouse where he found Lee (still alive) and several other drained hunters.

That’s when Dean was called up by Krissy and learned that his brother had disappeared. He also realized Sam didn’t know that vetalas hunted in pairs based on a voicemail Sam left for his brother. So he headed to Krissy’s apartment and quickly realized she knew her father was a hunter. Not only that, but she demanded that Dean take her on the rescue mission. Like I said on Twitter during the episode, Dean finally met his match in a teenage girl. Krissy was sassy and fairly self-confident. Dean was convinced she was afraid - or should have been - when faced with a real hunt, but she was able to handle herself. They tracked down the warehouse and Dean went inside, handcuffing Krissy to the steering wheel.

Unfortunately, Dean couldn’t exactly get the jump on the two vetalas inside. And then Krissy burst in and got captured. It looked like all hope was lost until the girl managed to stab the vetala holding her and freed Sam, who killed the other monster.

Later, at the hospital, Dean told Lee he should quit the life so that his daughter could be normal. Lee insisted that hunters didn’t just quit the life, but Sam and Dean had hopes that this family could. Like I said, there were so many parallels between Lee and Krissy and the Winchesters. You had a single father raising a child to hunt. Krissy nearly lost her father like Sam and Dean had recently lost their father figure. And Dean was trying to convince Lee to take an option that the Winchesters could no longer take. This is where my problem lies, but we’ll get to that soon enough. The point is the brothers had another “emo conversation in the car” moment at the end of the episode, where Sam said he wasn’t fine, but just wanted to work. Dean, meanwhile, just wants to go on.

Bobby, the Friendly Ghost

So, Bobby’s dead. But we all know where this is going, right? No one actually came out and said it, but it’s clear that Bobby is around. Remember that scene at the beginning where Dean’s beer disappeared? Well, I’m pretty sure that was Bobby. Not because ghost Bobby likes to drink, but because he was trying to stop Dean from burying his grief in alcohol, as per usual. So, now is the opportune time to talk about my reaction to what happened to Bobby, the flaws in Frank’s argument, and why something’s gotta give.

Concluded on next page....

Supernatural Episode 7.11 Review: Smile, Though Your Heart is Aching

Revenge is back, readers, and while the ending of this episode may have been slightly anti-climactic, you have to give Emily props for finding every opportunity to manipulate the situation at hand.

Let's begin with the Grayson family.  More specifically, with Victoria and Conrad, who are proceeding with their divorce.  Victoria wants a few choice pieces of art but, more specifically, she wants Grayson Manor in the Hamptons.  Conrad and his lawyer refuse to simply hand it over since it's the most valuable Grayson property and want to hold Victoria to the pre-nup.  Only Victoria's lawyer said she was pregnant when she signed it, so it's invalid.  Later, Victoria admitted to her lawyer that she wasn't actually pregnant when she signed the pre-nup.  But hey, no problem, because her lawyer found a doctor who can fabricate some records!  Tsk, tsk.  Victoria's lawyer is giving lawyers everywhere a bad name.

In the midst of this acrimony, the Graysons did manage to find a common enemy in this week's Revenge: Tyler.  Conrad told Victoria that their son's psychotic friend had evidence of what they did to David Clarke and Frank's involvement in Lydia's accident.  This allowed for about 20 minutes of co-existence.  Until it went down the drain.

Meanwhile, Daniel was gearing up to celebrate his birthday, but preferred Emily's suggestion of a small clambake to his mother's customary large-scale events.  Emily recruited Amanda and Jack to help her, which led to a very uncomfortable first meeting between the Graysons and the girl they think is Amanda Clarke.  But before the interrupted party, Emily managed to snatch back the evidence Tyler was holding (in the firm of Nolan's whale video camera) and also discovered he was off his anti-psychotic meds.  This prompted Emily and Nolan to contact Tyler's brother in hopes that he could convince Tyler to leave town.

When Tyler realized that his whale camera was gone, he headed to Nolan's house to retrieve it.  Unfortunately, Nolan didn't have the camera, but he got a cut in the arm and tied to a chair for his trouble.  Tyler quickly realized that Emily had the camera and headed over there, breaking into her house while the party took place on the beach.  Later, Emily went back to the house to retrieve the cake and stood up to Tyler without any fear, even when he pulled her own gun on her.  Tyler then headed back to the beach and threatened Emily and the other guests.

In particular, Tyler prompted Conrad to tell the truth about what he did to David Clarke.  Fortunately, Conrad wasn't forced to spill the beans, but now the others - especially Amanda - are curious as to what Tyler meant.  In the end, Tyler's brother showed up and provided enough of a distraction to let Jack and Daniel take Tyler down.

Of course, that didn't really matter, since Emily knew from the beginning that the gun in Tyler's hand wasn't actually loaded.  And she also managed to plant Frank's missing wallet into Tyler's pocket, which means the cops are now focusing on him as Frank's murderer.  Which also means Conrad is off the hook and he warned Victoria that their divorce is about to get very messy.

Like I said, the ending was slightly anti-climatic.  The truth is, we always knew how it was going to end and the fact that everyone at the party (possibly barring Amanda) was going to survive.  Each of the clambake guests - save Daniel - was first seen in the engagement party in the pilot episode.  The only real question was how the situation would end and how Tyler would be stopped.  Regardless of how it ended, I am continuously impressed by Emily.  For a while there, it looked like she had lost her way.  Tyler's continued involved with the Grayson family and Amanda's unexpected arrival threw her for a loop and she struggled to get back on track.  How impressive was she in this week's Revenge, not only to stand bravely against Tyler but also to pin Frank's murder on him?  I would not want to cross that woman.

Overall, I'm pleased one of my favorite new shows of 2011 has returned for the new year.  Next week Emily gears up for another take-down-one-character-in-a-single-episode mission that's been largely absent for several episodes.  But it also looks like Daniel is planning his own revenge against his father that might prove to be delicious.  Watch a trailer for the January 11 episode of Revenge here.

Some final thoughts:

-I'm curious how Amanda and Victoria will interact in upcoming episodes, especially given how Victoria seemed to dismiss her as a non-entity this week. Was she merely posturing for Conrad and plans to learn more about Amanda?
-I loved the contrast between Victoria and Conrad as parents. Conrad is obviously no stranger to bad deeds, but unlike Victoria he didn't look down on Declan for his relationship with Charlotte.
-Victoria stealing Emily's idea of giving Daniel a scrapbook of memories was so sneaky and underhanded. Obviously she won with the better scrapbook, but Emily is clearly mistaken in thinking that Victoria will ever truly accept her.
-I'm curious whether Amanda will choose to pursue her suspicions about Conrad and David Clarke and what that will mean for Emily.
-I love that Emily and Nolan are back to being friends.  And, is it just me, or are they even more comfortable with each other now than they were before their little fight?

Revenge Episode 11 Review: Nothing Brings a Divorcing Couple Together Like an Unmedicated Houseguest

Terra Nova reaches the end of its first season order with tonight’s eleventh and twelfth episodes “Occupation,” and "Resistance," and with it Terra Nova faces its final battle when Lucas' army invades from 2149, while Jim and Taylor form a resistance against the occupation to return control of the colony, and protect the new paradise they've created.

In the year 2149, Lucas oversees preparation of the army he plans to take back with Terra Nova, when another man from his organization, Weaver, joins to question Lucas’ Nyko Raptor scar, and whether their use of Hope Plaza will be successful.  Lucas sinisterly assures his comrade that they’ll get in successfully.

Meanwhile back in Terra Nova, Jim and Tayor oversee security preparations for the arrival of the 11^th pilgrimage, and Lucas’ potential attack, noting that even destroying their manmade gate wouldn’t prevent the worst from arriving, only scatter it randomly.  At home, Maddy seems less than concerned about their chances, while Josh worries about his long-lost girlfriend Kara on the pilgrimage.  Jim assures his family that they’ll get through the fight, and that he’ll look out for Kara as well.

On the morning of the 11^th pilgrimage, Maddie and Mark exchange a good luck kiss and their first “I love you’s” as Taylor reminds Wash of the need to stay and guard the colony in his absence.  As the convoy rolls out and prepares for the arrival of the first new settlers, guns firmly trained, several people emerge from the portal without incident.  Eventually Josh’s girlfriend Kara arrives and warmly greets Jim, but just then a man with a bomb strapped to his chest emerges from the portal and detonates, devastating the security force at the gate and knocking Jim out in the process.

When Jim awakens in the infirmary, mostly unable to hear his attending nurse, he stumbles outside to find the colony in ruins, Phoenix Force patrols stomping about, and Lucas, his contact and Mira overseeing the surroundings from Taylor’s post.  Elizabeth ushers him back to the infirmary before a soldier attacks him, and informs him that the explosion took place three days ago.  Destroying the gate re-opened the rift closer to Terra Nova itself, leading to an easy victory for the opposing forces, 26 colonists having died before Wash ultimately surrendered the fight.

Jim returns home to the relief of his children, but Josh mourns the fact that Kara seems to have been killed in the initial explosion, blaming himself.  His gun taken by the soldiers, Jim then learns from his wife that the soldiers confiscated weapons, and enforce a curfew, keeping the survivors of Terra Nova alive as a bargaining chip with the still-missing Taylor.  They’re outnumbered, but Jim may be able to formulate a plan by talking with the now-deposed Wash

At a bar surrounded by the enemy soldiers, Jim finds Wash and attempts to end her self-inflicted punishment for surrendering the colony, when she reveals that the Phoenix group brought their own time portal gate, only to have it destroyed by dinosaurs.  The soldiers have enlisted Malcolm to repair it, and Jim and Wash formulate a plan to continue resisting the soldiers.

Mira drops by the infirmary to visit Jim, only to find he’s already gone.  He’s gone to see Malcolm, who explains that he’s only helping the soldiers under thread of death, and has deliberately slowed down repairs.  When Lucas and Mira arrive in search of Jim however, Jim and Malcolm devise a plan in which Jim appears deafened, crippled, and incoherent as a result of the explosion.  Lucas quickly abandons hope of using him, while Mira remains unconvinced of Jim's bad health.

The next day Lucas celebrates with a morning drink, as Weaver arrives and sends Mira to a mysterious mission in the Badlands.  Lucas also creepily summons Skye, intent on reminding her of her betrayal and that given their history with Commander Taylor, they should consider themselves brother and sister.  He makes awkward advances on his so-called “sister” and reminds her not to betray him again.  Meanwhile in line for their rations, Jim gets the idea that Josh should ask for his job at Boylan’s bar back, so that they might hear drunken soldiers’ rambling on about their plans.

While cleaning out bullet wounds of a Phoenix force soldier, Elizabeth notices  the bullets to all have the same number etched into them, eventually confirming with Jim that the numbers are a message from Taylor, coordinates on how to find him.  Newly incensed, Jim manages to sneak on Lucas’s convoy transporting the “Pyro-sonic bomb,” when Casey Durwin pretends his wheelchair broke down in its path.  Lucas eventually joins Weaver at a ridge overlooking the areas of Terra Nova they plan to decimate in search of meteoric ore, Weaver even sniping a harmless Brachiosaur despite Lucas’ apparent discomfort.

Having escaped from the convoy, Jim meets with Mark, Taylor and the other soldiers in the woods and relays news of the bomb, something  young soldier Riley believes she can defuse once they’ve traced the signal to its location.  The group races to the bomb as Lucas’s transport races away from the blast radius, and they manage to disarm the device only moments before Weaver planned to detonate it.  Enraged at his failure, Lucas fires multiple missiles at the opposing team from the ridge, but fails to destroy his father’s rover.

At night, Taylor and Jim discuss their respective losses, and Taylor provides him with a rotating frequency communicator to keep in touch before sending Jim back to the colony.  Jim manages to re-enter the camp by playing up his “delusion” condition and makes it home, while Elizabeth worries about the dangerous mission they’ve undertaken.  Jim assures his wife that no matter what, he always makes it back to her.

Over the next few days, Jim manages to attach transponders to the enemy soldiers’ vehicles, making them slim pickins’ out in the jungle for Taylor and his men.  Wash too helps the effort in her own ways, and Lucas eventually realizes that someone must be helping his father from within the camp.  He heads to Boylan’s bar and taunts Josh Shannon in an effort to draw out his father, even dragging out poor Skye to remind her of her father shunning her.  Josh loses his cool and takes a few swings at Lucas, only for the guards to string him up so Lucas can enact his revenge.  Skye runs to fetch Jim from a resistance meeting, and Jim blows his cover by rushing in to defend his son and taking out multiple guards.  When the soldiers finally get a grip on Jim, they search his pockets and find the transponder, for which Lucas throws them both in the brig.

Keep reading for your dino-filled recap of the second half of the two-part finale, "Resistance"!