Lost: Mr. Nama, Nama, Nama, Namaste Gonna Work Here Anymore

We pick up this week right when the delicate flower that is Sawyer reunites with Jack, Kate, and Hugo (and that sounds way more sexual than I meant, in that it wasn’t sexual at all).  Moving on!  Sawyer quickly concocts a scheme with Juliet to sneak Jack, Kate, and Hugo as new Dharma recruits on the submarine arriving later that day.  As Sawyer sneaks some 1970s-style clothes to the trio (and I wonder how he has a sweatsuit that would fit Hugo so well), Juliet steals and adjusts the ship manifest from Amy, who’s still resting after giving birth to her new son . . . Ethan!

With Amy making good use of the Dharma Initiatives maternal leave policy, Dr. Pierre Chang (a/k/a Marvin Candle) gets to register Jack and tell him his work assignment, which based on his aptitude scores is “workman.”  We, including Jack, have a good laugh at this as the new recruits pose for a group photo of the 1977 recruits.  Namaste!

That night Jack, being Jack, goes to see Sawyer to complain.  It’s awkward (for Jack) when Juliet answers the door, and I suspect his shortness with Sawyer is more about their ongoing contest between the only two women in the world: Kate and Juliet.  On the surface, though, Jack doesn’t like that Sawyer hasn’t done more since they got there except read a book or something.  (Sounds like me at family gatherings.)  It’s an odd position for Jack to take because didn’t Sawyer just save all of their necks?  Why yes he did, explains Sawyer, adding he likes to think before he acts and that is why fewer people have died on his watch then when Jack ran things his way.  Snaps!  And as the third ego blow to Jack that day, on his walk home Jack sees Kate watching Sawyer’s house from a distance.  I think we can all agree that she’s not looking to see what Jack is doing.

Jin, meanwhile, is searching the Island for Sun and heads to the Flame Station to see if there’s a report of any plane crashes on the Island.  The Flame operator, Radzinsky (remember him?!?), is inside building a model of what will become the Swan Station.  After a scan of their equipment and a check with the other stations, there’s no report of anything–that is until a sensor picks up an intruder nearby.

Jin races out hoping to find Sun, but instead it’s Sayid in handcuffs.  Jin, with his awesome English skills, quickly pretends Sayid is a Hostile.  When Sawyer arrives, he all but tells Sayid what to say so as to invoke the magical truce between Dharma and the Hostiles, which sounds about as complicated as the Third Geneva Convention.  What does it all mean?  Only that Sayid can’t be executed and Sawyer has, once again, bought himself more time to read a book (maybe Flowers for Algernon?).  Now since the Dharma folks aren’t savages, Sawyer calls for Sayid to get some food.  And who, of all people, should bring Sayid a sandwich but little devil child Benjamin Linus.  How ironic that almost thirty years later, Sayid would be the one bringing food to Ben after he is captured by the Lostaways.  (Not a coincidence, I’m sure.)

And what of Sun?  Well, she didn’t leap back in time with the other Oceanics and wound up in the emergency plane landing on Hydra Island, Sully Style thanks to the flying skills of Frank Lapidus.  (And who knew Hydra had it’s own landing strip?)  You know who also didn’t jump?  Ben.  Oh wait, you knew that already.  Anyway, while Frank is trying to keep the survivors calm, Ben sneaks off to find some outriggers his people hid on the island.  Sun is naturally suspicious and follows Ben, hoping he can help reunite her with Jin on the main Island.  Frank follows both of them and tells Sun not to trust Ben; she agrees and smashes an oar across the back of Ben’s skull.  And the audience goes wild!

Frank and Sun head off to the Island and land at the dock.  The whole place is deserted, except for the Smoke Monster, which disappears when they approach.  When they get inside the Village, the place is a mess and there’s no sign of anyone even though it’s been three years since the Oceanic Six left.  But suddenly a light comes on, a door opens, and (no-surprise) Christian Shepard walks out to greet them like he’s Ricardo Montalban or something.  After Sun asks where the others are, Christian gives them a tour of the rec room, where he shows Sun that her friends are trapped inside a photo from 1977.  Oh wait, no they’re just in the past, and Christian says they have a long trip back to get there.

Season 5, Episode 9: Namaste (originally aired March 18, 2009)

For another take on this episode, check out So what are we supposed to do now? by Robin Reed.

For more on Lost, click here.

Wednesdays, 9/8c on ABC

Photographs courtesy of ABC

Life: Just Got Better

Just when I thought Life couldn’t get any better, the show runners have raised the bar yet again. In the first minute of the episode, we get a funny conversation between Charlie and Ted and a kickass freight elevator fight sequence between Charlie and a perp. Charlie and Ted are talking over what Charlie should do now that he knows that his partner Reese was on Mickey Rayborn’s yacht three days before his blood was spilled all over it. Charlie says that he has to go to work, and today, work involves getting into it with an ex-con trying to flee a murder scene.

The ex-con thinks he can take Charlie because he survived prison. Little does he know that Charlie did too. Charlie wins the fight and puts a knife to his throat. Not standard police protocol, but Charlie isn’t a standard cop. At the end of his eventful elevator ride, Charlie meets his interim partner, an attractive detective named Jane Seever (Gabrielle Union). As she tells Charlie, Seever used to be a lawyer and now she’s a cop—two of the steps in her fifteen-year plan to become mayor.

The victim’s name is Sally, and she was beaten to death with a golf club and her apartment was trashed. At the station, Charlie and Seever interrogate her suspected killer John. John insists that even though Sally’s blood was on his boots and he was trying to flee the scene of the crime, Sally was dead before he got there. So why was he there? Well John tells Charlie that Sally wrote to him while he was in prison and they were dating. Charlie gets Jane out of the room so he can go one-on-one with this guy. They’re both ex-cons, Charlie can get in this guy’s head in a way that someone who hasn’t served time can’t. He asks if John wrote to anyone else while he was in prison, though he already knows the answer is yes.

John says he wrote to another woman in prison but stopped when he got out. Jane starts proving her worth by tracking down who this other woman is. Woman #2 is Amy, one of those religious fruities who take it upon themselves to save poor unfortunate souls. Amy was initially angry that John gave her the cold shoulder for another woman, but she decided she wanted him to be happy and let him be. Charlie notes though that she would have done anything for John, and John didn’t call her when he was arrested. So who would he have chosen to call over Amy?

The answer is Nina, woman #3. Nina is a playwright who also wrote to John every day while he was in prison, but she claims she didn’t hear from him either after he got out. When he called her, she hung up on him in six seconds. But now Charlie tells her that she has to be careful, because John was transferred and is now free. Charlie tells her that if he calls her, she has to keep him on the phone this time.

Meanwhile, Jane finds out that John was in prison for a diamond heist he committed with a partner. She goes with Crews to meet the partner, who is also in prison and is expecting a conjugal visit when he runs into them. The detectives ask if he knows where the diamonds are, but the guy says that both he and John thought the other one had them. They do find out though that Sally wrote to John’s partner too. As it turns out, Sally was the court reporter during John and his partner’s trial. So maybe Sally found out where the stolen diamonds were hidden. If Amy wanted to save John and Sally wanted his diamonds, what did Nina want? The answer to that question is the key to solving the case.

Meanwhile, Charlie and Reese both begin to get suspicious of each other. Each knows the other one met with Rayborn shortly before he died but they don’t know the other one knows they know. This is a bold, interesting dynamic to introduce into their partnership after they have been through so much together. The conspiracy keeps building and I’m more curious and invested in these characters than ever. I can’t believe the second season is winding down. Gabrielle Union is a nice addition to the show, and the cases are as intricate and offbeat as ever. I truly truly truly hope Life somehow miraculously gets a third season.

Season 2, Episode 18: 3 Women (originally aired March 18, 2009)

For more on Life, click here.

Wednesdays at 9/8c, NBC
Photographs courtesy of NBC Universal

America’s Next Top Model: New York’s Finest

Here we are again, with Makeover shenanigans behind us and the dreaded Runway Walk challenge before us, wherein those of us at home marvel over just how difficult it really is to walk in a straight line while looking fierce. We open with Nijah promising to show more personality to the judges (who, you’ll remember, called her a corpse. I mean, her picture! Yeah, that was it!), which means she’s going to fail and will end up in the bottom two. Tahlia worries about her dwindling confidence, especially when she started so strong. She remembers the early part of the season differently than I do. She whines this underdog refrain all episode, so I’ll spare you the repetition if you promise to remember this sporadically during the recap. Natalie feels she has an edge because she has previous experience with an agency. But how good could she have been if she had to come on this show? Aminat especially is offended by her cockiness. Allison worries about her awful runway walk and needs to learn to relax.

And so the girls head off to Ms. J’s Charm School, for lessons on runway walking. Most do pretty well, but Tahlia and Allison bomb, with Ms. J actually giving Allison a book to balance on her head as she walks. He teaches the girls about runway etiquette, i.e. how to pass other models when sharing the runway during a show. And to help him with this lesson, it’s Chantal and Bianca! This is hilarious for several reasons. The two biggest are that isn’t Bianca the worst one to teach us about etiquette, and didn’t Chantal knock people off of stilts during her runway show? Logic aside, they both look great, and Bianca’s definitely been practicing her fake smile.

When home, the girls fill the boredom with games, and apparently, one of them is Truth or Dare. And doesn’t that just invite all kinds of trouble? The answer is: Yes! I bet the producers recommended they play. Nijah thinks that she has a strong personality, because it comes out during games like this (apparently doing a good impression of the Carlton dance means you’re outgoing and fun), but when someone has to point out that they have a strong personality, then they usually don’t. That’s the kind of thing that shows for itself, usually with other people complaining about how strong it is. Natalie’s truth question is “Who had the worst picture last week besides you and Jessica?” She thinks for all of two seconds before choosing Tahlia (remember the insecurities!). Tahlia takes it personally, while Natalie’s already forgotten about it. And that’s why you don’t play games like this. On the other hand, that’s exactly why you play games like this.

Tyra Mail arrives to warn the girls that it’s a runway challenge the next day, and Allison immediately freaks. With real justification. The next day, Ms. J introduces designer and guest judge Jill Stuart. The girls will be walking Stuart’s show, while carrying shopping bags. Into hair and makeup, and I have to say, I really liked all of Stuart’s designs. They were practical and beautiful. I don’t understand the necessity of the shopping bags, but the dresses were gorgeous.

Celia opens the show and rocks it. One by one they all stroll out; Natalie’s so confident that she adds a twirl midway through her walk, delighting Jill Stuart and just about vaulting Ms. J to the stage in horrified shock. Allison does surprisingly well, with Ms. J noting that she listened to his advice, but Tahlia didn’t and her lack of confidence shows. Ultimately, Natalie’s criticized for poor creative choices, but wins the challenge anyway – as she puts it, even when making a mistake, she still outshines everyone else. Bitch-tastic!

At home, Tahlia calls her sister and hangs up refreshed. Oh brother. The next day, photo shoot! Mr. Jay meets the girls at Columbus Square along Central Park (where was I when all of this happened?). He’s wearing a bright blue cap that doesn’t match his clothes or skin tone half as well as it does for this kid. But literally, the same hat. The girls will be taking their pictures atop a tour bus, acting out different personalities in sets of two or three.

Fo and Aminat are up first as the bus pulls up to Wall Street, and the girls are high fashion … Wall Street Brokers! They look fabulous, impressing Jay with their commitment. The bus then heads to SoHo for Nijah and Kortnie to portray SoHo artists. Jay gives props to Kortnie, but they both seem pretty blah. Nijah receives most of the criticism. Celia and Sandra are high fashion nannies, and they easily impress Jay. London and Allison land on Fifth Avenue to portray snobby socialites. London nails it, but Allison, unfortunately, can’t call up the attitude. Finally, Tahlia, Natalie and Teyona are Tourists in Times Square. Jay loves Tahlia tonight, while Natalie relies on her natural good looks. Jay says she doesn’t “give … model on set.” Tahlia credits her sister for re-focusing her.

Judging. First up, Nijah and Kortnie. Paulina calls it lame. I call it the worst of the bunch. Fo and Aminat “look outrageously great.” Tyra tells Aminat it’s her best shot to date, and Fo surprises Nigel with her awesomeness – her previous meltdown has been forgotten! Ms. J loves how editorial the shot of Celia and Sandra is, and Sandra steals the photo. For the Times Square Tourists, the judges love Tahlia, while Teyona suffers from an unfortunate angle, and Natalie disappoints the most. London and Allison round out the group, with London easily impressing the judges. Allison also surprises Nigel, but in a bad way. Paulina calls her a “hungover Olsen twin.” How does one tell if an Olsen twin is hungover? Don’t they look like that all the time?

Over deliberation, Nijah, Allison and Natalie receive the most criticism, while London, Aminat, Sandra, and Fo are among the judges’ favorites. Bring them back out, and called first: Sandra! Boo! Celia will be cropped from the digital art. Bottom two: Allison and Nijah. Allison had an off week and “depressed” the judges. Nijah’s pretty, but not a standout. Going home: Nijah! I’d be sorry to see her go, but I’m pretty sure we’ll all forget she was even here by next week. Pretty, yes, but a little too ordinary.

Next week: Benny Ninja returns, and Celia rallies the girls for revolution!

Season 12, Episode 4: New York’s Finest (originally aired March 18, 2009)

For more on America’s Next Top Model, click here.

Wednesdays at 8/7c on The CW

Photographs courtesy of The CW

The Celebrity Apprentice: She Ain’t No Russian Model!

In a very special, one hour, pressed-for-time episode, the gloves come off and the boys are out to win! And it’s about time, because the girls have the upper hand in numbers, brains, and beauty. Brian McKnight’s the closest the men have to a real heartthrob on their team, and they haven’t managed to leverage that even once.

And so! We open with Khloe doing her charity thing, reminding us all, once again, how awesome these wonderful, caring celebrities are. Oh, and did you know she had a very public DUI arrest? Not so public that I knew who she was before this show, but sure. But on to the good stuff! The next challenge requires the teams to sell as many wedding dresses as possible within a given time frame. The team who makes the most money, wins! You’re sensing a pattern, aren’t you? But that’s not the best part: George is back! He replaces Don, because George rarely finds anything funny, and Trump allows George to be as harsh as he wants to be in the Boardroom. Which makes me miss Carolyn. Sigh. Those were the good old days.

But back to the task. The women nominate Brande to lead them, because … you know, she’s pretty. I guess. And pretty women know wedding dresses. Or something. Tom Green leads the men, as he offered to do in the last Boardroom – you’ll recall it as the Boardroom Where Nice Guys Finish Last. Bye, Scott Hamilton!

The teams each receive retail stores, side by side, to decorate as they see fit. Melissa calls in her friend Preston Bailey, a famous wedding planner, to design their space. The women then start calling in the big guns, finding people to pay exorbitant sums for donated wedding dresses they’re never going to wear. But that’s what this show is about, after all. Waste! I mean, charity!

Over at Kotu, the men feel at an immediate disadvantage because boys don’t know wedding dresses. They’re all, “Huh? People want to get married?” And they’d have a point, if it didn’t come down to who calls in the highest donations. While individual sales will probably make some difference in the final total, so will a $50,000 donation for one dress. So I don’t feel too sympathetic. Not to mention the guys have Dennis Rodman, he of the wedding dress fiasco, so can’t they find a way to turn that to an advantage?

Kotu decides on a minimal interior design to best showcase the dresses, and Jesse comes through again with his marketing prowess, suggesting a “red carpet” atmosphere. This has a lot of potential and the men all jump on board. Unfortunately, they don’t make the most of it. I’m not sure who was in charge of all the planning, but let’s talk about some other things that happened instead: Tom Green thought the wedding dress thing worked so well for Dennis, that he tries the same thing. To, uh, boost morale, or something.

Also, Dennis butters up Tom, as if they’re BFFs now, and offers to head out to the streets to spread some word of mouth advertising. Dennis Rodman and “word of mouth” just sounds gross, doesn’t it? Somehow, Herschel finds himself roped into joining Dennis, though it would seem to make more sense to keep him on the ground, calling in donations. For that matter, doesn’t Dennis know, like, entire basketball teams worth of guys with lots of money? Nevertheless, he and Herschel paint the town red and white, as in cranberry and vodka, please. Dennis apparently spent most of the time drinking and chatting up women about non-wedding dress related matters. We know this isn’t just sketch editing, either, as Herschel is repeatedly at a loss at the situation he finds himself in.

Dennis returns to the store, and calls a “friend,” who can secure some “girls” as “models.” One of them, perfectly, is Russian. Let the jokes begin! When she arrives, Dennis and Tom disappear shortly after for drinks at the bar. With the “model.” The rest of Kotu thinks it best to retire early in order to wake up on time, as they do and head to the store without Dennis or Project Manager Tom. Jesse’s wake up call (“Hey motherfucker, get the fuck up!”) stirs Tom from blissful slumber. Tom joins the team later, still a little drunk, and without Dennis, who apparently is suffering from an allergy. Or sunlight. Or a hangover. Whatever it is, it affects his eyes, and he can’t be seen or heard from. I can’t believe that people anywhere put up with this guy’s shenanigans.

The stores transform, but the women present a storefront with flowers and balloons, and a warm, girlie atmosphere. Melissa gives Brande props for organization and a cool head under pressure, and trust me – any compliment from Melissa is something worth noting. The men, on the other hand, have a store with a red carpet, and only Brian McKnight in a fine suit to work the sales floor and knock some ladies off their feet.

To the Boardroom! Brande compliments her team, offering no one up as the weak link, and calls Melissa and Annie this week’s stars. Oh brother. Like those two need the ego boost. Tom talks too much, complimenting Clint and Herschel for securing the most donations, and defends Tom’s “allergic reaction” to cats … or was it dogs? And poor Dennis, we called in a doctor, blah blah blah, and then George interjects! He cuts Tom off and calls it like it is – Dennis simply wasn’t there, and the store looked like ass. But it doesn’t matter – on to the results! The women beat the crap out of the men again, selling only one more dress than the men, for a profit of almost forty grand more.

The women head upstairs for champagne, and Tom tries to save himself. Much is made of Dennis’s disappearance, and Herschel flat out says he thought Dennis was hung over. Not, ahem, sick. Dennis’s responses border on disrespectful, and let’s face it – I don’t think there’s a soul in America who believes that Dennis was not hung over and/or just plain lazy. Really, who is this guy and how did he get this way? Clint tells Trump he would have made Dennis produce three doctors’ notes proving his illness. Ouch. It almost puts Trump in the position of having to fire Dennis. Jesse opts for firing both Dennis and Tom. When Dennis tries again to say he was sick and not oversleeping, Trump raises his voice and demands a sacrifice out of Dennis, if he’s so smart. Finally, Dennis offers up BFF Tom in order to save himself.

But it doesn’t matter, because don’t forget that George is here! George calls out Tom for being nonchalant and protective of Dennis’s disappearance. Tom foolishly continues to defend Dennis, even revealing that Dennis brought in donations, whereas Tom did not. Trump freaks into overload, pointing out that Tom was late, created a lousy looking store, had no control over Dennis, and brought in no money. And calls him, if you can believe it, not much of a leader. Trump’s practically ready to call Tom a loser! He brings up Tom’s poor performance last week, and seems on the verge of firing both idiots, but why get rid of Rodman early? How else would we get next week’s madness? In a quick, angry outburst, Trump fires Tom, and asks Dennis to try a little harder, please. Everyone, including the ladies, are shocked. Not even a “pick two people to bring back” final Boardroom!

Tom admits in his car ride home that he’s surprised by the elimination. I can’t imagine how this guy’s mind works.

Take note: Brian McKnight seems to be one of the smartest players in the game (even with his tendency to sulk and makes faces in the Boardroom), and if he doesn’t make it to the top three or four, then it’s because he’s going to make a stupid mistake. I think I might be predicting early for Brian and Jesse as the final two guys. The ladies are tougher – Brande, Annie … and Melissa?

Brande’s charity: California Police Youth Charities.

Next week: The Dennis Rodman meltdown!

Season 2, Episode 3 (originally aired March 15, 2009)

For more on The Celebrity Apprentice, click here.

Sundays at 9/8C on NBC

Photographs courtesy of NBC Universal

House: Here Kitty

House and I were one and the same at the opening of this week’s episode: House was putting off work by constructing a race track for his toy car, and I was putting off doing work by watching House. Alas, The Man…who in this case was Cuddy…came in to gum up the works for House (though I got to procrastinate for another forty minutes until the episode was over). Cuddy brings House a patient, a nurse named Morgan (played by Judy Greer who I swear has appeared in every movie and television show made in the last ten years).

Morgan starts complaining of various ailments to an uninterested House. And then she faints in front of him and starts convulsing. House doesn’t rush to her side, but he does at least call Cuddy, who informs him that Morgan is peeing herself silly-and neon green. Maybe it’s her way of celebrating St. Patrick’s Day.

The team starts going over the symptoms, though Taub walks in late. He then proceeds to get it on with House, criticizing him for taking a case that isn’t life-threatening. It looks to everyone involved that there is more under the surface here, that Taub is picking a fight. House doesn’t seem to care (and I can’t say I was too broken up about it either). He does however dispatch Taub and Kutner to check out Morgan’s office in the nursing home she works at, where Taub immediately finds pills on her desk that would explain the green pee. Taub is then convinced she is a faker, a Munchausen.  But in the spirit of competition, House sends Taub on another wild goose chase so he can secretly prove that Taub is wrong.

Unfortunately, House proves that Morgan is indeed faking. She begs him that she lied to get admitted, but only because she knows something terrible is about to befall her. And how, you ask, does she know this? Simple: a cat predicted her death. Makes sense to me…but not to House. He calmly tells Morgan that “cats make terrible doctors…oh no, wait, that’s women. You’re screwed.”

Morgan refuses to give up. She brings the cat to House and tells him that it has predicted ten deaths at the nursing home, sleeping next to patients right before they died. And the other day, it slept next to her. House isn’t buying it, but then she collapses again. And this time, it’s for real. Cuddy gives House 24 hours to prove that Morgan is really sick before she boots her from the hospital. House’s real interest is of course proving that Morgan is a nimrod for believing that a cat has supernatural cognizance, because House believes in logic, science, and reason, and all kinds of religious hokum drives him bonkers. Can’t say I blame him. But of course, for the episode to be cool, it has to turn out that the cat actually has been predicting deaths…but for a plausible reason.

It’s a creative case and it’s always fun to watch House do his thing. Chase makes a brief appearance but thankfully Cameron does not and there are no Thirteen/Foreman romance hijinks. House has a little fun playing on Kutner’s superstitions, but it is Taub who takes center stage this time around. The B storyline consists of Taub finally resenting being poor and not being a plastic surgeon anymore. He runs into an old high school acquaintance (or so he thinks) and finds out he’s a CEO of some big fancy corporation and tries to give up working for House to get back in the money. But House knows he’ll be back, and the funny last scene of the episode confirms it. Another good, solid episode of a good, solid show.

Season 5, Episode 18: Here Kitty (originally aired March 16, 2009)

For another take on this episode, check out Genetically modified for tastiness by Robin Reed.

For more on House, click here.

House, Tuesdays 8/7c on FOX

Photographs courtesy of FOX Broadcasting Company and IMDbPro

House: Genetically modified for tastiness

There’s a confession I really ought to make: I only started watching House about six months ago. Since then, I’ve seen almost every episode in the show’s history, mostly on the USA reruns, but I suppose it would be false to present myself as a longtime fan of the show.

I am, however, a fan nonetheless. And since it’s only been a couple of months, instead of five years, since I first saw the revelation about, say, Cameron’s dead husband, I have much better retention for all these details. The problem is, the writers are counting on me not to remember. That’s how they think they can get away with things like recycling tired storylines, or give House boring insults to recite – they figure I won’t remember the good ones from back in the day. Which is weird, because I’m used to shows like The Office, where references to classic season 2 episodes get dropped into scripts without new viewers even realizing it, and Lost, where it really has been five years since I last heard that Rousseau killed her husband, and then when I watch a new episode and realize that the writers are counting on me to remember every detail of her back story, I freak out a little bit.

But back to House, because my having seen all the episodes really recently, and out of order, is probably the reason I see the characters the way I do. For example, obviously, I love Chase, but if I’d started watching back in 2004 with the pilot episode I’d probably hate him. Because in season 1, Chase was mostly a prick. But I caught a lot of late-season-3 episodes when I first started watching, which is when Chase was at his best out of the entire series run. And then I went back and saw episodes like Heavy where it was like, “Oh my lord, this guy is a prick.” But I got over it, because Chase’s pluses outweigh his minuses, and every single character on this show is a prick at one time or another, and also, I like Jesse Spencer’s smile.

I was thinking about all that this week, when we were given a filler episode three-quarters of the way through what’s shaping up to be a filler season. I mean, last season, despite a debilitating writers’ strike, the show still managed to pull off a major shakeup in the show’s premise; introduce a dozen new characters, most of whom were compelling; feature some awesome medical cases; and set up major changes in the protagonist’s relationships with both of the show’s main secondary characters. This season, all we’ve had so far is two frustrating romances and a bunch of patients with ludicrous ailments and/or personalities who’re effectively sitting up in their deathbeds at 8:52 every Monday night and stage-whispering to us, “The writers just don’t care anymore.”

And I was thinking about Chase this week, too, because he got more screen time than usual this episode (two scenes with lines – good lines, spoken with feeling, and facial expressions too! And one more scene later with no lines, performed from behind a surgical mask, because the writers finally remembered what they’re supposed to do with Chase). (By the way, Cameron was once again missing from the entire episode – maybe Jennifer Morrison is off promoting Star Trek or something – and I suspect that’s the real reason we’ve been seeing more of Chase lately. Not that I’m complaining. Even though I do miss Cameron.)

So, in addition to being filler, this episode was “goofy,” too, centering around a wacky cat-based superstition. Of course, even goofy episodes of House feature dead children in the patients’ back stories. Our patient, played by the fabulous Judy Greer (and I do love how House, being a top-rated show, is capable of recruiting guest stars of Judy Greer’s caliber when it’s not even sweeps) shows up in the clinic faking seizures and peeing green to get House’s attention. It works – House keeps her on as a patient, mostly because she thinks a cat named Debbie predicted her death, and House thinks that’s neat. (The cat playing Debbie is fantastic, by the way, and just like every performer on this show, she has stunning chemistry with Hugh Laurie.) At 8:52, House comes up with a scientific explanation for Debbie’s habit of lying down next to people who subsequently die, and Judy is saved without much fanfare, because it’s a filler episode.

Also, we get a Taub subplot that looks at first like it could be interesting and revealing but then, not so much. He runs into a former high-school classmate who looks about 20 years younger than Taub and who’s running a medical supply company that appears recession-proof. This is good news for Taub, who lost big when the market crashed (can’t he just sell that sports car?). Next thing we know, Taub’s begging the friend for a job, or at least an investment opportunity. The guy offers him the latter – so Taub quits his job at Princeton-Plainsboro. House refuses to accept his resignation, because House knows everything (and because House likes Taub). So Taub’s “old friend” turns out to be some random guy running a scam. Oops! Taub’s back in House’s office, with donuts, the next day.

The episode also had some fun character moments, which is the kind of filler I like. There’s House doing an impression of a James Bond villain named Blofeld that was funny even though I had never previously heard of Blofeld. There’s House in the teaser, making one of those Rube Goldberg machines he sometimes assembles, only to be foiled by a destructive Cuddy (who’s inspiring more forlorn/sexually charged looks from House than usual, so I guess that storyline is winding up again, for better or for worse). And there’s Kutner, who still desperately wants to be friends with everyone on this show, even though no one wants to be friends with him.

Also, as aforementioned, Chase is there. His hair is looking better than last time, and his stubble is less horrifying. And this week, he even gets to make eyes at Judy Greer a little bit. I always have to rewind Chase’s scenes because I’m so busy paying attention to his facial expressions and hair status that I forget to listen to the dialogue. This week, when I did, I got to hear him arguing in favor of faith and prayer, and yay to the writers for remembering that about him, but this still doesn’t make up for his absence during the Father Daniel episode (or maybe they had to cut his scenes that time to fit in more of that superb Thirteen/Foreman banter about shoes).

Speaking of whom, Thirteen only has, like, four lines all episode this week. Hooray! I’d like to think the absence of any prominent Foreman/Thirteen developments from the past couple of episodes is evidence of the producers listening to the fans, but nah, I doubt it. At least I can be fairly confident they won’t kill Thirteen in the season finale. The show is repetitive, no question, but it’s not that repetitive.

Next week: A rerun of the best episode of the season. Is it my birthday already?

Season 5, Episode 18: Here Kitty (originally aired March 16, 2009)

For another take on this episode, check out Cameron Cubbison’s review here.

For more on House, click here.

House, Tuesdays 8/7c on FOX

Photographs courtesy of FOX Broadcasting Company and IMDbPro

Gossip Girl: Nelly Yuki Wears a Fat Suit

Since Gossip Girl has been on hiatus longer than the fourth time Dan and Serena decided to pretend to have a meaningful relationship, I can barely remember what happened before this episode.  Thanks to our interns in the Poptimal.com archives, though, I know Dan and Ms. Carr slept together at the very end of the last episode.  So let’s start there.

This episode we pick up with Dan making goo-goo eyes at Ms. Carr as he’s rehearsing as the lead in the senior class play, Age of Innocence.   He slips her a note that he wants to meet with her later (and slip her something); she replies but Rufus intercepts the note.  That night Rufus walks into Ms. Carr’s apartment and returns the key.  She’s rightfully embarrassed and Dan is upset at Rufus’s interference.  I’m sure they’ll all deal.

Blair goes on the warpath after Nelly Yuki gets early admission to Yale, which according to Blair means Blair didn’t get in to Yale because only one Constance girl gets early admission to Yale.  The faulty reasoning here just shows why Blair really isn’t getting into Yale.  Blair declares war on Nelly, who I’ll note is relegated to a fat suit for the stage production (it’s weird).  But someone has already decided to seek revenge on Blair by getting a Gossip Girl blast about Blair continuing to date Jimes after learning Jimes was sleeping with his step-mother.  Remember that?!? Blair blames Vanessa who’s filming the play for one of her granola mockumentaries.  Vanessa is confused and walks away.

Serena is also looking to kick ass and take names when someone Gossip Girl blasts that she only got into Yale because she agreed to serve as a publicity piece for Yale.  It’s just a tour through this season tonight, no?  Anyway, she blames Blair but Blair didn’t do it, so we get some tension between these two BFFs.  Serena comforts herself by trying to comfort the show’s director, Julian.  We get a brief moment of levity (and deep study of the theatre) when Vanessa plays Cyrano to Serena and talks Serena (via a Bluetooth headset) through a discussion of artsy films with Julian.  In the end, though, it does not matter because Julian is a gay.

But Nate (yes, he’s back) is jealous because (1) his gaydar isn’t working and (2) Vanessa has more in common with Julian than with Nate.  TO Nate’s credit, though, he breaks the fourth wall during the play and talks about his jealousy and how he’s the only person with any concept of emotional depth because his family has experienced public shame and humiliation.  I find it delightful that we get to see some depth to Vanessa and Nate’s relationship (culture clash issues aside), and it’s really the first time I haven’t walked out of the room when they were on the screen.  Baby steps, people, baby steps.

The tension of the text messages comes to a head when Dan, in a post-coital glow from a “private tutoring session” with Ms. Carr in the costume room, realizes Ms. Carr is the one who sent the messages to get even with Blair and Serena.  Dan confronts her after the show and she admits she’s let the petty vindictiveness of the Constance girls get the better of her.  Yes, she sent the messages based on what I can only assume was Dan’s pillow talk.  Dan, to his credit and maturity, is not having it because unlike the girls at Constance, Ms. Carr is an adult and should know better.  Back at the loft, Dan reads a note from Ms. Carr saying she’s going back to flyover country.  Good riddance!

And if those aren’t enough story lines to keep straight, Chuck is still on a mission of mercy to save some woman he met at an orgy.  He finds her, tries to help her, she gets kidnapped by the orgy people, and they pay her off to go away and never tell anyone about what happened.  Chuck gets played in the process and I just don’t care at least not until a distraught Chuck goes to Blair’s house to wait for her.  There are two good things with that scene: (1) Dorota in her pink terrycloth robe and (2) Chuck still has a heart for Blair and that’s a story that needs more exploring.  The downside for Chuck, though, is that Blair was out getting drunk with Carter Baizen, who’s definitely the snake to Chuck’s mongoose and who I’ve never mentioned before even though he’s been a bit player on past episodes.  My bad, as the kids at Constance say.

So there you have it.  Gossip Girl is back but with a slow start, which isn’t surprising in light of where this season has been going, i.e., in circles.  I’m still optimistic that things will pick up before Georgina Sparks returns from rehab, but like Blair I’m sure I’ve set my expectations too high.

Season 2, Episode 18: The Age of Dissonance (originally aired March 16, 2009)

Listen to The J Factor with J.B. and Jaimie here or on iTunes.

For more on Gossip Girl, click here.

Mondays at 8/7C, The CW

Photographs courtesy of The CW, Giovanni Rufino

Sunshine Cleaning

Sunshine Cleaning is strange. Not exactly a drama, with its light tone and some easy laughs. And it’s not a comedy, because of all the Amy Adams-I’m-going-to-cry-no-I’m-not-faces that come before and after bad news. Is it me, or does she always look like that? So it falls somewhere in between, and I hate to use the word “dramedy,” because I don’t think the movie pulls strongly enough in either direction to warrant that throwaway term. It’s funny, but it’s not funny, and it’s dramatic and sad, but I think because someone read the “how to write a drama” handbook and pulled out the typical elements and threw them all together. A light-hearted drama with no catharsis? What’s the point?

It is the kind of movie you can’t recommend that anyone see in the theater, but then, you can’t recommend that they don’t watch it at all. Is it DVD-worthy only? Or was Emily Blunt’s refreshing turn as the rebel sibling worth sending your friends out to see now? I think it might be, but then I remember that Amy Adams is Amy Adams and she’s a little draining with her ever-quivering lip (but still more entertaining than expected). Is that her fault, or the script’s?

It’s a nice movie, even with the death and the blood, neither of which shows up as often as you’d think. The trailers led me to believe the film would be more “Adventures in Crime-Scene Cleaning and Babysitting,” but funny and with heart. However, I think it’s supposed to be more about finding out who you are and that you are good enough, smart enough, and gosh darnit, people like you…or they would, if they hadn’t succeeded after high school where you didn’t.

The bio-hazard storyline might be unusual, but the rest of the film isn’t. Poor, hard working single mother with a slightly negligent dad, a precocious son and an irresponsible sibling becomes the missing mother for the whole family, but doesn’t have it all together herself. She doesn’t feel she’s good enough for the people around her until she realizes that if she just believes in herself, then that’s the real key to happiness. Oh and somewhere along the way, she’s actually helping other people, and isn’t that the real reward that all the soccer moms and cheating husbands are missing?

We’ve all seen the character and plot elements before, and we can guess how the film ends and the choices people make before they do. A little cliché. Just a little, though, because even with Amy Adams, the strength of this film lies in its actors, who make the usual dialogue sound fresh, and the usual choices seem spontaneous. I’m pretty sure Alan Arkin plays the same character here as he did in Little Miss Sunshine, but who cares because he’s a joy to watch no matter what he does. The movie really belongs to Emily Blunt, who provides a nice contrast to Adams and who adds layers of depth to an overplayed, archetypal role – even though, sadly, we’ll never know what many of those layers hold.

So I recommend that you try Sunshine Cleaning. In the theaters? At home? If you find yourself with nothing to see on a weekend afternoon, then this is a nice one to check out. I expect you’ll enjoy yourself. You just won’t be blown away by anything. But then, they don’t all have to be blockbusters, do they?
Click here for Kaitlyn’s review!

Friday Night Lights: Second Place is the First Loser

This week on Friday Night Lights: Saracen saves the day and looks adorable; Riggins takes a leap and looks adorable; Tyra runs away, gets in trouble, whines, cries, and makes her pretty sad face. WTH, writers? Here’s an early shout out to crazy fans!

But let’s start in the Beautiful World of Tim Riggins and Lyla Garrity, as Tim returns home from his babysitting of Jason Street, and finds Billy a drunken mess because Mindy dumped him. After football practice, Scotty the Recruiter from San Antonio State introduces himself to Tim. He expresses SAS’s acute interest in Riggins, and between Scotty and Lyla, Tim finds himself pressured into dinner with Scotty the following night. Only, to do that, Tim should really be sober, which he isn’t after spending the afternoon “tending to Billy and his broken heart.”  Lyla arrives to drive Tim and tries to prep him during the ride over on SAS. He laughs her off, so she schools him on his insecurities, and what about your dreams, Tim? Which is just the worst thing to do to someone who’s drunk. Naturally, Tim makes an endless series of jokes, poking fun at Lyla and her ambitions, which ends with Lyla pulling over and throwing him out of her car. I haven’t been a huge Lyla fan, but this is one of the first moments we’ve seen all season where Tim and Lyla act like a couple, not just like two hot people who look good together. Ahem, Brad and Angie. Just saying. It’s nice to see Tim and Lyla develop real personality,  though I don’t require a whole lot of personality out of Tim.

So she tosses him, and the next day runs into Mindy. The two former enemies find common ground in hating the Riggins brothers (stupid boys!), and end up hanging out Friday night, consoling each other much like the Riggins Brothers did: by getting drunk and removing some clothes. The ladies, however, also dance to Katy Perry. Billy breaks up the fun by banging on the window and apologizing, promising all the things that Mindy wanted, and the two are a happy couple once more. Good, because I really want to see Mindy in that wedding dress with wings. Following Friday’s game, Scotty the Recruiter tries again to entice Tim Riggins to SAS with the promise of soda pop. Tim shows up at the Garrity house the next morning to plead for Lyla’s forgiveness and tell her he’s so in. College, that is! A nice moment follows between Tim and Lyla regarding Lyla’s hangover. Isn’t he just adorable?

Over in the Saracen House, Grandma has had enough of Shelby playing Mama to Matt. A fight breaks out when Shelby lets on that she and Matt have discussed Shelby taking over Grandma’s care if Matt goes to school, and Grandma loses it. Grandma lays the pressure on Matt by saying that he wouldn’t go anywhere, he wouldn’t do that to her. Ouch. The blowup worsens, leaving Matt stuck between responsibility and freedom, and between two people he cares about. But it takes a lot more to tear the Saracen family apart. As we learn at the football game…

But first! It’s Taylor Time! Mama T wants to ignore her birthday this year, but Coach has other ideas. However, before he can focus on Mama T and his needs, er, her needs, he’s on the field prepping his team for their first playoff game this coming Friday. Buddy Garrity swings by to deliver the news that they will now have the added pressure of playing The Game of the Week on national television. Which is just an excuse for DIRECTV to promote their relationship with NBC. Enter the Peacock-labeled trucks! The school goes crazy with excitement, even Landry, who somehow scored himself an interview with programming because he’s a scholar athlete. Who knew? He’s had a total of about 50 lines, give or take 40, all season, so sure. I didn’t know he started a physics club. Anyway, we’ll visit Landry again later when Tyra calls him, but first…

During Friday’s playoff game, the Panthers fall apart on the field against old rival Arnett Mead. Surprisingly, it does not occur to Coach to put Matt in as quarterback, even though they beat AM early in the season with Matt leading the team. Instead, Coach rallies the team at halftime and decides then to put Matt in at the start of the third quarter.

Watching from the Saracen home in separate rooms, Grandma and Shelby scream when they hear Matt’s name on the television, and excitedly rush to the field to watch from the stands, momentarily a family again. Let’s see how long that lasts, shall we? But it doesn’t matter right now, because in a key play of the game, the ball goes to Saracen and he saves the game! Grandma and Shelby rush the field for hugs and congratulations. Does Matt dare to dream of family unity? It’s not enough to convince him that college is a real, attainable dream, but it’s a start.

Which brings us back to the celebrating Taylors, now in a hotel room Coach reserved for Mama T’s birthday. Champagne, chocolate-covered strawberries, hotel robes and the promise of a steamy shower. They start to groove into the nasty, until Tyra calls…

And now, our main event. Tyra trails Cash to Dallas, on the rodeo circuit. At his first (…apparently) event, Cash comes in second, infuriated and angry, snapping at Tyra for being a light-hearted cheerleader. Stupid girls. Tyra notes his anger and his tone with her “lost” look. She tries to cheer him up when they’re alone, and her tough love speech compels him to remind her that she’s in high school and he’s not, and oh by the way, he has a few grand in debts to a man who’s probably going to break both of his legs when he can’t pay them off. Whoops. She takes a break, and calls Landry, wanting to hear a familiar voice. He steps away from his interview prep to take her call, because let’s face it: he’s the good guy who puts Tyra first, further highlighting that Cash is the opposite. As if we needed the help.

Friday night, and Cash sits in a bar losing at poker. He abandons Tyra when he leaves to obtain more money, but he “abandons” her by physically and forcefully putting her back in her seat. Freaked, she leaves anyway, this time with a “lost/teary-eyed” look, which means puffing her lips a little bit. Unfortunately for the Taylors, Tyra heads back to the EconoLodge to call Mama T, who can never ignore a child in need, especially Tyra. I’m surprised Tyra didn’t call Landry, but maybe she felt she’d already played her hand there, hmmm? The Taylors arrive at the Dallas EconoLodge, disappointed and un-satisfied, to find Tyra trying to escape a handsy Cash. It’s all kind of PG physical abuse, but the threat is there. The Taylors step in without actually becoming involved, and Tyra stares into the darkness with her lost look again. Oh brother. She cries herself out of this episode.

I’ve touched on this before, but my biggest problem with Tyra is that the writers keep going back and forth with her: One week she has brains, the next week she’s ditching school. Then she’s organizing the dance, then she’s ditching class for cowboys. But, oh yeah, she really wants to make it into college and get the heck out of Dillon. Is she motivated, or not? I’d like to see Tyra become a little more consistent; which isn’t to say she wouldn’t make mistakes, but they’d be the kind of mistakes that make sense. How many times do we have to watch her be a victim? She’s a likable character, but even likeable characters have their limits when they repeatedly do stupid things.

Of note: The only time I’ve ever seen Coach smile this season is when he talks about stealing hotel robes. Interesting?

Next week: Coach finds Matt and Julie in bed together. Uh oh!

Season 3, Episode 9: Game of the Week (originally aired December 3, 2008 on DIRECTV)

Listen to The J Factor with J.B. and Jaimie here or on iTunes.

For more on Friday Night Lights, click here.

Fridays, 9/8C on NBC

Photographs courtesy of Bill Records and NBC Universal

Damages: Always Have An Ulterior Motive

Let’s start with that familiar flash forward.  We see that familiar scene of Ellen, sipping a drink on the rocks, looking calm and a little too collected (with great hair and make-up), across from someone whom she tells, “I lied, too.”  We see Patty, opposite her, looking like she could be tied up, but we don’t see her hands so we really don’t know.  Patty’s eyes are watery, and her voice is pleading.  Then we hear two shots.  (But, as before, we don’t see them.)  This week, we also see FBI Agent Werner watching the whole scene unfold from a van outside the building.  Upon hearing those shots, he runs out, presumably to the hotel room.  And we also see Patty, coming out of the hotel room, leaving blood on the walls around her, yet. . .um. . .she’s walking.  After she’s been shot.

But, the thing is, and this is really the important thing, Ellen can shoot a gun – she’s been practicing with Wes at the range.  So there’s no way in hell Ellen shot Patty with the intent to kill her from, like, 6 feet away and missed. Which means that 1) there’s another shooter in that room, or 2) (my newest theory) Ellen is working with Patty to set up whomever is out to get Patty.

Remember last week when I said that Patty just might be right that there’s a connection between UNR and the government to take her down?  Well, then, let’s just say that I wasn’t that surprised to find out that one of the FBI agents (who in my head I’ve just thought of as “the white one” but apparently the character’s name is Agent Werner and the actor who plays him also wrote this episode, just in case you care) has been communicating to a shadowy figure the details of the Patty Hewes investigation.  When his partner, Agent Harrison (“the ethnically ambiguous one”), realizes that those disruptive calls from Harrison’s ex are really calls by someone else entirely, Werner admits he’s been taking money on the side.  He doesn’t know who the person on the phone is exactly, but we soon learn it’s Dave Pell.

Of course.

Now, Harrison’s pissed, because he apparently is the only person this season who has been doing his job without ulterior motives.  He rats on Werner, but, naturally, any investigation is intercepted by Pell, and next thing you know, Harrison is dead on his couch surrounded by strategically placed drug paraphernalia.  (Which should serve as a warning to actors looking to be on this show – if your character does not have a hidden agenda from the getgo, Damages is probably going to be short term work).   Awwww.  Now that his character is dead, let’s go ahead and applaud Mario Van Peebles, shall we?  I totally remember the days when if you hadn’t seen Posse or New Jack City, you just weren’t cool.

Not so cool is being a raging sociopath.  Perhaps it’s too early to diagnose Michael Hewes, as such, but how else to explain his completely crazy behavior?  So Patty’s son has a girlfriend, and this week Patty gets to meet her.  But did she?  We first see Michael chat with an entirely too cool for school young lady with neon spiked hair, two eyebrow piercings, three lip rings, and (my personal favorite detail) a snake tattoo that slithers from her breastbone to her chin.  Later, when Patty sits in a restaurant with Phil while awaiting Michael and his girlfriend’s arrival, she hilariously says, “if she has piercings or a tattoo, I’m walking out.”   I anxiously wait for an awesome confrontation, but instead Michael walks in with this old chick, an art gallery owner named Jill who got her Ph.D in 1988.  Now, if Michael had brought in a college girl (maybe a Girls Gone Wild-type?) to freak out his mother, that would have been pretty funny, but dating this woman just feels like the work of a young man with serious issues.  You know, let me say that again, this time in caps.  ISSUES.

But what can Patty do?  Apart from taking up Jill’s invitation to visit her gallery and seriously biting her tongue, I have no idea.  But seeing Patty silently fume – and no one fumes better than Glenn Close - while listening to this woman tell her that the fact that Patty has a problem with her 18-year-old son dating a 40+  woman is a symptom of Patty’s poor mental health was frackin’ awesome.  Now, Jill might fit the modern-day definition of a cougar, but toe-to-toe, there’s no doubt whose claws are sharper.

Seriously, though, what the hell is Michael up to?  And why, after Michael exhibited signs of deep teenage disturbance last season, did I actually think for a second that the Damages writers had forgotten about this particular complicated character?

Speaking of complicated characters, Claire Maddox is back in the mix this week.  I have to say, I missed her.  I hope Marcia Gay Harden is the exception to my rule about Damages actors who play characters without ulterior motives.  Because apparently Claire really thought that Kendrick is a good guy.  Or at least good enough.  We got a great scene between Claire and her father this week where the two have a wistful dialogue about the choices that Claire has made in life.  Claire says, sincerely, that she is sorry that her father will never be a grandfather.  And, right there, we the viewers realize just how much this woman has given up for her position at UNR.  In other words, just how much she has given up to work for a criminal.

And now Claire knows it too.  First, Patty suggests during settlement negotiations that Claire mention the name Finn Garrity to her boss, and see how he reacts.  Claire does, and Kendrick isn’t quite convincing when he says that Garrity is the son of a friend of his.  And later, at the suggestion of Daniel Purcell, Claire asks Kendrick again exactly whether aerocyte is toxic.  Kendrick lies easily, but then gets really testy and tells her to just do her job and stop asking questions.  And right then, you know that Claire is thinking, for twenty years, I’ve been incredibly proud of working for this asshole?

After that conversation, she gets drunk, goes home and bones Daniel Purcell.  And someone is watching them, as we see that there is a video camera taping the whole thing.  You guys, that was really, really creepy.  No one should ever, ever, tape William Hurt having sex.

Now, if you want to tape Timothy Olyphant having sex. . . .wait, let me not put that out there, as it’s too distracting and I’m trying to get this review done before The Amazing Race tonight.

But I should point out that Ellen does find Wes distracting, at least distracting her from her proper mourning of poor, dead David.  Ellen’s confused, y’all.  She wants Wes, she’s mourning her dead fiancé, she’s also avenging him, she’s undercover for the FBI whose investigating the boss she believes tried to kill her. . .poor Ellen has a lot on her plate and no one to talk too.  And, again, Rose Byrne is just way over her head trying to play this character.  She’s not bad, exactly. . .she just makes me realize how good Jennifer Garner was, y’know?  Sydney was a convincing vengeful, yet vulnerable, morally conflicted yet likeable character, even when Garner’s material stunk.  And it’s not just Rose Byrne who sucks at playing this type of emotional ambiguity – Laura Mennell made me appreciate Garner, too.

Anyway, Ellen initially tells Wes she needs some time, but by the end of the episode, she’s back in his bed, and telling him all about her undercover work.  Of course, Timothy Olyphant’s agent wants to increase his chance of having work next year, so Wes reports back to Messer that Ellen is working with the FBI to put Patty away, not Messer.  But the last scene shows Messer (predictably) doesn’t really care about those kinds of details; Wes still has to kill her.

So, this story is set to wrap in three weeks.  Stuff I’m wondering:  Is Tom in on the plot to set up the FBI?  Is that why he gives Ellen the gun?  Or does he just think Ellen is going to take Patty out?  Will Claire switch sides and help Patty put Kendrick away?  Also, there’s a lot of baddies right now:  Pell, Kendrick, Garrity, Michael, Phil, Merrick, Frobisher, not to mention conflicted baddies like Phil and Wes.  And then there’s the baddie no one even knows about, Patrick aka killer of Pete.  Of these guys, just how many will Patty and Ellen expose and/or put away by season’s end?

I’m betting three.  Just seems like a good number.

Season 2, Episode 10: Uh Oh, Out Come the Skeletons (March 11, 2009)

For another take on this episode, check out Out Come the Skeletons by Kaitlyn Edsall.

For more on Damages, click here.

Wednesdays at 10pm E/P on FX

Photograph courtesy of FX and IMDbPro

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