Glee Review: Lady Music Week

It’s taking me longer and longer to get into Glee even after a hiatus, which is never a good sign, but the show continues to make me smile and leave me with a sense of happiness and hope even amidst all the ridiculous, oft-sensational, drama. This week’s episode permitted Cory Monteith to gain back some of that much depleted screen time when Finn decided to hold Santana’s hand through coming out instead of a pushing her there, while concurrently allowing Santana to take one more forward step toward character depth and range of emotion.

We picked up shortly after the slap heard round the world with Mr. Schue, Shelby, Finn and Santana in Mr. Figgins’ office. Santana was threatened with a suspension, which would take her out of next week’s Sectionals competition and severely hurt the newly-formed Troubletones. Schue seemed to be spearheading the campaign. (As a teacher, he’s becoming meaner and harsher, no? First, Mercedes and now Santana. Remember during season one when he totally let Quinn slide on creating the Glist because of the whole pregnancy/low self-worth thing? What’s changed Schue? Has losing hardened him so?) But Finn stood up for Santana, claiming it was just a stage slap, and she never physically assaulted him. Maybe he did just want Sectionals to be a fair fight. Maybe he felt bad about antagonizing her over her lack of comfort in her own sexuality. Maybe he truly did believe that “when you hide part of who you are, you hide your awesomeness with it” and he had to try to save her from herself before she stopped attacking others and started turning her anger and hate inward. Either way, he blackmailed her into joining his big plan: get New Directions and The Troubletones together to sing songs by ladies about ladies and, at the same time, support Santana since the anti-lesbian campaign video was about to drop. Her secret was about to be officially out of the bag.

To kick off the joint glee club sharing, Kurt and Blaine sang a song that they adorably sing to each other in the car, “Perfect,” though Santana’s steely exterior remains intact. Puck took his turn with “I’m the Only One,” where he spent about five seconds directing his attention to Santana and even Quinn, but predominantly just made Shelby feel really awkward. Not the brightest crayon in the box; doing so tipped Quinn off that something was going on. Of course, he was smart enough to claim it was an ode to babysitting. In turn, she invited him over to her place for a movie without the actual movie watching. He shut her down, for the moment, noting she’s “kinda nuts, higher maintenance than Berry,” to their crazy history.

After telling Santana in the hallway that he’d never forgive himself if anything ever happened to her and he hadn’t done his all to help, Finn sang Greg Laswell’s beautiful, slowed-down version of “Girls Just Want to Have Fun,” sitting directly in front of Santana, eye-to-eye, and brought her to tears. I miss awesomely, charmingly sweet Finn. Santana was so moved that she even gave him a hug. These two haven’t had this much intimacy since she deflowered the boy. Finn proved that she had her back, and the ladies followed suit when some slimy student tried his best pick up line on her. “Girls like you are a challenge. You just need the right guy to straighten you out…I’m just trying to make her normal,” he’d said. It was the perfect segue into “I Kissed a Girl.” Guys like that would make me want to experiment myself! The energy of the performance encouraged Santana, who’d already came out to her parents without a worry, to share her true self with her abuela. Her grandmother wasn’t quite so forgiving, though. In fact, she was as mean as Santana described earlier in the season. Sure, she seemed all sweet at first, plying her grandbaby with home cooking, but the minute Santana confessed her secret, her abuela called her selfish for making her feel uncomfortable and told her that she wished she’d kept the secret and to get out of her home and never see her again. “You made your choice, and now I have made mine,” Abuela said.

Elsewhere Rachel had worried almost as much as Kurt about him winning the election against Pixy Stix-distributing Brittany. Didn’t you know that, according to George Washington, sugar helps your concentration? If he didn’t win, Kurt wouldn’t get into NYADA and Rachel would be in NYC without her “best gay.” I’m so thankful they made up prior to this episode because it gave us quintessential Rachel, always doing something wicked for the sweetest of reasons. This time, she overly stuffed the ballot box with Kurt-winning ballots. It was so clear to Figgins there had been some vote tampering that the principal was ready to suspend Kurt. To be fair, it was Kurt’s idea first. He already has JFK’s impeccable hairline, why not take on his “ends justify the means” mentality? His morals just wouldn’t allow him to do it; hers, on the other hand, just aren’t so steady. But with Finn’s advice she did admit to Figgins and the club what she did. Unfortunately, this also took her out of the Sectionals competition and put a nasty black mark on her permanent record.

Finally, following the last episode, Puck continued to show his sweet and protective side when Shelby inappropriately called him to the emergency room for support because Beth fell and hurt herself. Later, the two had sex, and afterwards, Shelby very appropriately freaks out on him and pushed him out the door and right over to Quinn’s parent-less place. Puck learned the hard way that angry sex is never a good idea. Quinn began to seduce him, and he mentioned that he didn’t have protection. She said that she didn’t care which compelled him to laugh, remembering their prior track record. Incredulously, she said they could get lucky again. Hold the phone! This girl really is crazy. If she can’t have Beth, she thinks she can just make another baby. If Puck won’t give it to her, there are 20 other guys in school ready to love her. Poor girl, and Puck saw it too.

“I let you down. We all did. You just spent a whole week helping Santana with a secret everybody already knows, and not one person took 10 seconds to help you, and you’re a freaking mess. You have been for three years, ever since I knocked you up,” he said. He reminded her that she didn’t need a guy or a baby to make her feel special, and that if anyone would get out of Lima, it would be her, to some place warm and glamorous like L.A., Miami or Toronto. He wasn’t about to go back down that path with Quinn, but he was okay with lying with her and holding her. The comfort made him feel close enough to share a secret. The Shelby secret?! We don’t know yet, but Quinn sure was giving her the evil eye when the glee clubs joined to hear Santana sing one last song, “Constant Craving.” Puck may be getting sweeter by the minute. He may have even acquired some Beautiful Mind-like math skills, but he’s certainly not getting any smarter.

For once in a long, long time, the theme was overt, clear and understandable. It fit seamlessly into the surrounding storylines, even if there wasn’t an explicit connection. Sure, the culmination of the student/congressional election or the Shelby-Puck-Quinn triangle didn’t have anything to do with Santana coming out or songs about ladies supporting/loving ladies, yet they both complimented the earnest and heartfelt central storyline. Kurt’s worry over losing the election and how it would affect his collegiate prospects was your typical teenage life event, while the student/teacher/ex and baby mama storyline is just so ridiculous it was utterly juicy. And then there’s Coach Beiste’s inability to express herself romantically which led to a battle with Sue over Cooter. (You know, Murphy loves to merge humor with dark struggle with the absurd.) If only Glee could find this balance more often, between spotlighting its large cast, meshing songs to a consistent thematic thread and managing so many different tonal levels, it’d be more than just a FOX cash cow that may or may not deserve its accolades.

THE SONGS
“Perfect” by Pink and performed by Kurt and Blaine B+
“I’m the Only One” by Melissa Etheridge and performed by Puck B
“Girls Just Want to Have Fun” cover by Greg Laswell and performed by Finn with New Directions guys A
“Jolene” by Dolly Parton and performed by Coach Beiste B+
“I Kissed a Girl” by Katy Perry and performed by Santana and Rachel with New Directions ladies and the Troubletones B+
“Constant Craving” by k.d. lang and performed by Santana and Shelby with Kurt A-

MEMORABLE MOMENTS

• “When I get really pissed, Santana gets taken over by my other evil personality. I call her Snicks….I’m kind of like the Incredible Hulk. You can’t blame me for anything Snicks does.” – Santana
• “I haven’t been this worried about a vote since Lambert versus Allen.” – Rachel
• Kurt: “I’m gonna lose unless I pull a JFK.”
  Rachel: “You’re gonna shoot Brittany?!?”
• “Why would someone assume I’m a friend of Ellen, just because I’m man-ish and I have short hair and I only wear track suits and I coach a girls’ sport and I married myself?” – Sue
• Blaine: “If you would stop being so defensive…”
  Santana: “I’m trying. But your hideous bowties are provoking me.”
• Beiste’s workout orgasm
• “Do you realize you’re basically forcing me out of the flannel closet?” – Santana
• Finn telling Santana that she was his first and therefore will always be special to him.
• Sue’s sexploitation of Cooter to prove to the people that she isn’t a lesbian. “If I wanna win this race, I need 20 cc’s of man. Stat!”
• “It’s a reporter from USA Today. The newspaper for people who can’t read.” – Sue
• Beiste’s second turn at center stage with “Jolene.” Country songs fit her perfectly.
• Burt’s election win! Hopefully, it doesn’t mean less of him.

Season 3, Episode 7: “I Kissed a Girl” (originally aired November 29, 2011)

Glee airs Tuesdays at 8 ET/PT on Fox.

Images by Adam Rose and FOX.

Announcement of the 2012 Independent Spirit Awards Nominees

In the early morning hours of November 29, the organization Film Independent- along with event sponsors Piaget, Jameson Whiskey, and Elle Magazine- gathered the press in West Hollywood’s beautiful London Hotel to officially announce their nominees for the upcoming 2012 Spirit Awards. Following their mission to recognize and fund visionary new filmmakers with limited exposure and resources, Film Independent also named a few candidates for grants among the throngs of photographers and reporters who attended.

Actors Kate Beckinsale and Anthony Mackie were on-hand to make the announcement, which revealed the following nominees:

Images courtesy of Lauren Tyree for Poptimal.com.

Gossip Girl Review: Playing Pretend

I noticed a theme in this week’s Gossip Girl – pretending. There was a lot of discussion of people pretending to be someone they aren’t, be it literal or metaphorical.

The most metaphorical example of this comes from Chuck and Blair, though here the theme is more a lack of pretending. After finally realizing that this “good guy” Chuck has become is real and not a façade, she’s on a mission – to find out how he made the change so she can help Louis.  She badgers him and badgers him about how he became a better person, even going to therapy with him despite his insistence that there is no one answer.

To be frank, I thought this storyline felt a little like a plot device. As absurd (in a delightful way) as Blair can be, I find it hard to believe she’s ridiculous enough to actually try to find the source of how a person became decent. It felt far-fetched and ultimately only served one purpose – to get Chuck to divulge the truth about the engagement ring he bought for her.  After learning that Chuck bought her a ring and that he returned it in an attempt to move on, Blair seems crushed. Besides that, she’s now convinced that she brought out Chuck’s darkness and is now bringing out Louis’, even though Chuck tells her this isn’t the case.

I think Blair is just heartbroken to know how close she was to having a fairytale ending with the real love of her life. Poor B!  It’s not too late to cancel that wedding, you know!

In another Upper Eastside apartment, Dan is moping. He’s created a fake twitter account (@HumphreyLove – it’s a real account!) to combat the haters bashing his book (like @IHateHumphrey).  Okay, take it from someone who’s been there – being hated on sucks, but authors are NEVER supposed to reply to bad reviews.  I was younger than Dan when I got published, and even I knew that! The boy needs a good talking to.

Not only that, he tracks down @IHateHumphrey’s IP address and finds where he/she lives.  Turns out, it’s Dan’s own agent.  Oh snap!  But Agent Lady is an evil genius, she started the account to stir up drama and get publicity rolling again. After learning this, he comes up with a plan of his own.  The pair switch off the accounts and have a twitter war, with Dan occasionally pretending to be @IHateHumphrey. He’s good a self-deprecation, so this works for him. And it works! He gets retweeted by Katy Perry.

So while Chuck isn’t pretending to be good and Dan is pretending to be a twitter troll, Nate is busy trying to figure out what, exactly, his cousin Tripp (Remember? The one that hooked up with Serena a while back?) might be pretending. At first, news of Tripp’s wife’s affair leaks, and Nate realizes that running the story first would actually be better for his family in the long haul. But wait, this is Maureen, the same person who planted a drowning man in the Hudson to make her husband look like a hero.  And it looks like she’s up to her old schemes, this time pretending to sleep with a sailing instructor she never had to make Tripp look like a wounded family man before he runs for governor.

But what is Tripp’s role in all this? Is he in on the scheme or is he clueless?  Is his innocence a pretense?

We don’t have the answer about Tripp, but we do know the truth about Charlie/Ivy, and everyone else is close to finding it out too, thanks to the appearance of her ex-boyfriend, Max, who now wants $500,000 to keep her secret.  Her Fake Mother, Carol, has come to town to help talk Fake Grandma into giving Fake Charlie the cash, but it won’t be that easy, especially with Serena dating Max.

Serena confronts Charlie/Ivy after hearing that she “pretended” to be Ivy Dickens, Max’s ex-girlfriend, at one time, but with some fast thinking Carol and Charlie/Ivy turn the situation around, making it seem as if Max was the villain who was blackmailing Ivy about a sex tape.  Max vows to ruin Ivy’s life, but she seems stronger now, determined to keep her place in the Fake Family who have been better to her than her own.

My question is, where is the real Charlie?

Some storylines were stronger than others this week, but the real letdown was that they didn’t overlap as much as I would have hoped.  All of the plots felt very separate, and with next week’s episode being the mid-season finale, I was hoping to see more convergence right now.  Still, some of these plots were really well done. I even liked Charlie/Ivy’s story this week! And there is something very compelling about Aunt Carol.

Still, I hope the next episode steps it up a bit. I’m ready for the high-powered drama Gossip Girl usually promises!  Let’s kick it up a notch!

Best Storyline: Charlie/Ivy and Carol’s scheming.
Worst Storyline: Nate’s family stuff. It’s been done before. Let’s move on.
Want to See More Of: Aunt Carol
Want to See Less Of: Max . . . he’s annoying!

Season 5, Episode 9: Rhodes of Perdition(original air date November 28, 2011)

Gossip Girl airs Monday nights at 8/7c on The CW.

Images courtesy of Giovanni Rufino and The CW.

The Amazing Race Review: One Long Car Commercial

As far as branding in television goes, reality shows are pretty transparent with their product placement. Unlike sitcoms that try to slip it in under the radar, with characters casually eating Kellogg cereal, driving a Toyota or drinking Pepsi, reality shows are upfront and blunt with their in-show advertisements. The Amazing Race is no different with their trips from Travelocity, Pit Stops in scenic resorts, or challenges that feature a brand name product. They have also featured the cars the racers sometimes have to use. This kind of advertising is fine by me and it’s actually how I like my branding done. The Amazing Race is one of the best shows for product placement because of how seamless and natural it fits in the show. It’s not shoehorned in like a movie screening of Jack and Jill on Survivor.

But there is a limit to branding in shows, and this week The Amazing Race reached that limit and sped past it at 100 mph.

They only thing I can really remember from this week’s episode is the Ford Mustang was all over it. Teams went to a Ford test-track and were very excited about driving a Mustang and commenting how awesome and powerful it was. In the end a team was awarded two custom designed Mustangs. It was like an hour long infomercial for Ford, and watching it you couldn’t tell that it was an actual episode of The Amazing Race or even that it was in a foreign country.

This episode comes after last weeks, which was one of the best of the season. There are five teams still standing. Amani and Marcus are in first place and are the first to find out from Phil that this leg of the race isn’t over. They get a clue telling them to go to the Ford Proving Grounds and promptly get lost. Ernie and Cindy are the first to arrive, where they find out one of them gets to drive a Ford Mustang through a slalom course and do a couple of doughnuts at a 100 mph. Blatant commercial or not, it looked like a fun task and I was jealous watching them race around the track while I sat on my couch going 0 mph and eating Pop-Secret popcorn (Hey Pop-Secret, give me a call for some product placement.)

Ernie had a hard time completing the slalom, trying over 15 times. Because of that, Jeremy and Sandy were able to catch up. Jeremy had an easier time completing the course and closed the gap with Ernie and Cindy.  Andy and Tommy arrive, and Tommy was the one picked to drive the Mustang even though Andy  admits that  “he’s got jealousy in his heart” because he’s really into cars. “I had to ask for forgiveness through Christ, and Christ just lifted it from me,” he says. If Andy said Jesus lifted the jealousy from him I believe him, but it didn’t seem to be all lifted because for the rest of the episode he got really defensive whenever Tommy brought it up.

Marcus was the next to drive the track and Bill and Cathi were last to arrive. Again, this portion of the episode was just one long commercial for Ford and I was beginning to feel like I was watching a paid advertisement for Sham-Wow.

After the Mustang commercial the teams find out they must either “waffle,” build a waffle stand and then make 18 different Belgian waffles, or “raft,” and build a raft out of logs and paddle it around a canal to search for two halves of a clue. Ernie and Cindy were the first to get there and decided to build a waffle stand. They struggled because of Cindy’s height and Jeremy and Sandy were able to catch up even more because they were able to build the stand faster. But Jeremy and Sandy don’t have an eye for detail and fail to display the waffles correctly, wasting time on correcting it over and over and over again. Ernie and Cindy are able to get it done quickly and get the next clue.

Bill and Cathi see Jeremy and Sandy struggling at the stand and opt for the raft instead, along with Tommy & Andy and Marcus and Amani. Andy and Tommy are ridiculously good at these kind of building tasks and finish it in no time. Marcus and Amani are more deliberate putting the raft together (i.e. slower) and once in the water Marcus weighs down the back end of the raft so much that that Amani can’t reach the water with her oar.

It’s about this time that The Amazing Race editors do a number on Cindy. They put together a nice little montage of Cindy second guessing everything Ernie does. It highlighted her neurosis and his patience. Later on in the episode, when they’re lost, he finally snaps at her. Without the earlier montage Ernie would have come off like a hot-headed meanie, instead of a guy who has had enough of the backseat driving and passive-aggressive questions.

Ernie and Cindy head off to the next challenge, where the teams release a fleet of carrier pigeons and drive to where the pigeons are trained to land and receive the next clue. After each team finds the spot to release the pigeons, they all end up getting lost trying to locate the address where they fly to. Except for Ma and Pa, who can’t even find where the pigeons are released to begin with.

Andy and Tommy are the first to find their pigeon. After receiving the tiniest Amazing Race clue off a pigeon’s leg,  they get a picture of their next destination, the Atomium. The Atomium happens to be back in Brussels, where they started from (oh yeah, they’re in Belgium, I forgot with all of the Ford Mustang talk). Jeremy is the only contestant who recognizes it, all of the other teams had to ask the locals.

The Atomium (I just like writing Atomium and it is pretty cool) is the Pit Stop.  Andy and Tommy check in first and learn that they’ll each get a Ford Mustang. I’m pretty sure that helped lift Andy’s jealously better than Jesus did. Jeremy and Sandy come in second, with Ernie and Cindy in third and Amani and Marcus, who got lost the longest, check in fourth.

The sixty-somethings Bill and Cathi are last to arrive and are eliminated from the race. They ran a great race and are examples of how age means very little if you are able to stay healthy and active. I want to be like team Ma and Pa when I grow up. Like they said “Age won’t stop you.”

Quote of the episode: “Brought to you by Ford.”

Season 19, Episode 10 “Release the Brake!” (original airdate November 27, 2011)

For more on this episode, check out Release the Brakes by Keshaunta Moton.

The Amazing Race airs Sunday nights at 8/7c on CBS

Images courtesy of Robert Voets and CBS Broadcasting.

From Growing Pains to Starving Secrets, actress Tracey Gold Talks with Poptimal

If you’re anything like me, you probably have fond childhood memories of growing up watching The Seavers get in and out of wacky hijinks in about 22 minutes on the classic sitcom Growing Pains. Maybe you even recall singing the catchy theme song loudly in your living room at the top of your lungs each week, until your parents and brother begged you to please shut up immediately. No? Okay then. That must have just been me. But perhaps the sibling rivalry and banter between Mike and Carol rang true and familiar to you, as it did to me while watching with my own brother.

Whatever the case, Jason, Maggie, Mike, Ben, and Carol were a memorable, relatable family on America’s television sets. (Although let’s be honest: no one really remembers Ben. No one ever remembers the little brother on these shows. Like Jonathan on Who’s The Boss? Remember him? Exactly.)

However, not every problem can be solved in 22 minutes, plus commercials. What most people didn’t know at the time was the painful struggle of actress Tracey Gold who privately battled anorexia while maintaining the energy and focus to be a teenage girl while portraying the part of Carol Seaver week after week. Gold continued her fight with the disease for years and was the first actress to come forward with the disorder. She bravely allowed the public into her life and her treatment and has always been open and honest about what she has been through in her life. As an actress and performer myself, I admire Tracey, and was very happy to have the chance to speak to her in this exclusive one-on-one interview.  We discussed many things, including her brand new Lifetime Series, Starving Secrets, which premieres Friday, Dec. 2nd. It seems only fitting that now, more than 20 years after battling the disease herself, Gold is able to come full-circle with a show in which she can not only shed light on the realities of eating disorders, but also help others to see the light at the end of the long, and often lonely tunnel. Over the phone, Tracey was refreshingly truthful, insightful, and very friendly. She seems like the kind of person that would be fun to hang out with. Here is some of what we spoke about:

On Growing Pains, one of the things I loved about the show was the sibling relationship between Mike and Carol. It always seemed very real to me. How did you and Kirk Cameron get along off-camera? Were you friends?

Yes. Very much so. We liked each other, we had fun, goofed around together. It was very much like what you saw on-camera. Very natural. We both had a really similar sense of humor and personalities, so we made each other laugh and had that very teasing relationship that you saw on the show. We also lived really close to one another, so we would usually drive in to the set together too.

I love that. What about now? Are you in touch with any of the cast members today? I know that Joanna Kearns introduced you to your husband Rob; and for some reason, in my head, I always picture Alan Thicke randomly calling you up periodically to give you fatherly advice. Am I insane?

(Laughs) Well, you’re not insane, but it’s not quite that way exactly. Although I would say that Alan is the biggest facilitator of, sort of, keeping us all together, making sure we keep that bond. He is great at getting the ball rolling. Generally though, we all don’t see each other much or hang out much. Not because we don’t want to,but just because life gets in the way and everyone is busy with their own families and separate projects and things. When we do things like the reunion show that we filmed, that is really great because we get to all see each other again and catch up. We all have a very warm and friendly relationship with each other and a love for each other that never goes away.

I’m always curious to know what other actors or actresses find entertaining or funny. So as the former child actor on a classic sitcom, what are some of your favorite past and present sitcoms?

Oh wow, there are so many. Actually, when we were doing Growing Pains, I thought it was a great show, so I would sometimes watch that! I also watched Moonlighting, Family Ties, Who’s The Boss? As far as today . . . I’m a huge fan of The Office, and I also love Modern Family.

You have great taste in TV! Let’s talk about eating disorders and your new Lifetime Series Starving Secrets. You publically battled anorexia for years. Can you recall the first time in your life where you felt “fat,” or felt like food would be an issue for you? Is there a specific incident that comes to mind for you?

Not at first, no. At first, when I was very young and starting to go through puberty and all that (around age 12,13), it wasn’t so much about feeling or being “fat” as it was about being afraid of growing up, being afraid of change, of the unknown. Back then, I didn’t really have a name for that feeling, or really know what it was. When I was about 19 and on the show was when it became more public and more about “weight.” I remember I had gained a little bit of weight, maybe 15 pounds or so. Soon after, I started getting comments from the producers of the show, saying I needed to lose the weight; I started being called “fat” in the media; things like that. At first, the banter between Mike and Carol was mostly he would call her a nerd and she would call him dumb. Then, as you might remember,  it turned into fat jokes being written into the script about Carol, and I remember thinking,”But I’m not fat.” I fought the producers and writers about taking out the jokes because they were cruel, and they just kept saying “But it’s funny!” Dealing with all that snowballed into lots of extreme dieting for me, and then losing a bunch of weight too fast, and it just became this weird way of eating and dealing with food. That’s when I knew it was something that would be an issue for me, and then the term “anorexic” came into play.

I would think that growing up in Hollywood and being surrounded by the superficiality of that world would have to affect a young kid’s mind. Would you say that eating disorders like anorexia and bulimia are something that people are born with; is it a product of their environment; or a little bit of both?

I think it is absolutely a little bit of both, and all of the above. It’s like this perfect storm of being vulnerable, young, insecure . . . combined with the pressures of the environment around you and other people. I mean, it’s different for everyone what brings on this disorder. If it wasn’t so individual, it wouldn’t be an epidemic across the country, ya know? I think change is one of the biggest factors. Big changes in someone’s life. Going off to high school or college, being alone for the first time without the influence of your parents, going out on your own, making decisions. Anorexia can happen anytime, but it usually rears its ugly head when there are major changes happening.

Do you think consider yourself “recovered”?

I do consider myself recovered. It took years, and it took lots of different paths to get here, but now I know that it’s always going to be a slippery slope for me, and I know and I learned NOT to make food a coping mechanism. It is always in my head that I don’t ever want to go back there again, to just not let myself go there. I feel like I know my triggers, I can self-manage, and I’m very aware of where it came from and what it does.

On the new, 6-week series Starving Secrets, you and a group of specialists help women confront their conditions, and follow them through a treatment process. What made you want to turn this topic into a series, and how did you choose the 10 women that the show focuses on?

Well, the reason I wanted to turn it into a series is because there are always people coming up to me and talking to me about anorexia. I hear from people who want to ask questions, or who have a sister, a mother, a friend . . . who is going through it and they want help, suggestions. It’s such a dark, lonely disease, and I wanted to shed light on it in the right way, because the word anorexia is thrown around much too lightly in this “red-carpet” sort of way. . . I wanted to show the truth and I knew that the people at GRB (Intervention) would be the people to do it right. Lifetime bought it, and it just became the perfect marriage and opportunity to help people. As far as how the women were chosen, it was a long process. We started with something called “The Tracey Gold Project” on Facebook and asked people with eating disorders to reach out to us. Then we had to approve them medically, psychologically . . . We hired doctors; we had multiple treatment centers available because each person needs different things. For them, it was an opportunity for free treatment, and to get help. The casting process was intense. These are people who are at a crossroads and deciding to reach out, to share a huge part of their lives, do something drastic. It takes a lot of courage to share your life like that on TV, but I also think that when a light is shed on something, it makes the person more accountable to take action.

Did being involved in the series bring back painful memories for you, or did you feel like one of the lucky ones for getting through to the other side? How did it affect you emotionally?

There were certain stories that definitely hit home at times; things that were close to my heart, or brought me back to a certain place in my mind. But I never felt like it was in a destructive way. Mostly I was just so proud of these women, and so grateful to have the opportunity to be able to work with them and hopefully change their lives.

I’ve been reading up on the series, and one thing that I keep coming across is some people questioning whether or not a show like this is exploitive or if it is actually beneficial to people facing eating disorders. Just for the record, I personally believe it’s about time that the proper light was shed on these misunderstood disorders, but I’m curious as to how you respond to people who see the show as possibly backfiring, or coming across as a “how to” for potential anorexics.

Well first off, thank you for bringing this up. Here is what I think: as far as the show being a “How To,” I don’t believe that is true at all. Look, when you’re on a dead end road, you will pick up tricks anywhere. We are careful not to show “tricks” of anorexics for that reason on the show, but bottom line is that if someone really wants to know how to become anorexic, they can find the information anywhere. All they have to do is go to the internet. So, whenever you present something like this, you will always have somebody who will pick it apart or see it as negative, but you just have to develop a thick skin to that stuff and prepare yourself for it. There will always be naysayers. And anyone who says, “well, is this the best way to represent the eating disorder community?” I say to them, I AM the eating disorder community! This is a topic I am very familiar with, and that I lived and recovered from. So I am coming from a good perspective and place of understanding here. I know that this show will  help people, because when you hide something, you can’t grow from it, learn from it, move beyond it. When I first went through this in front of the world, I was embarassed. But shedding light on it in 1992 helped my recovery. Whatever people are saying about this show, I am just glad that people are talking about it and having a discussion about it. That means we are no longer in hiding.

You and your husband Rob have four boys together. As a mom who has been in the spotlight and been through an eating disorder, what messages do you hope to pass onto your sons about how to treat women, or even their own self-esteem?

That words hurt. Words matter. Be kind. I am still so amazed at how cruel kids are today, how they talk to each other, how they bully each other. My kids don’t bully, because that comes from our home where we teach them that you simply don’t treat people that way, especially at that vulnerable age of insecurity. You never want to be that person who changed the way someone perceived themselves forever.

Can fans find you on Facebook or Twitter?

Oh, I’m glad you asked that, because I’m so new to social media, I would have never thought to even put out the information. Yes! On Facebook; I am at The Tracy Gold, and on Twitter @thetraceygold .

One last question that I like to ask everyone. In addition to doing these interviews for Poptimal.com, I also write weekly, humorous TV Reviews of shows such as American Idol, The X Factor, Dancing With the Stars. Tom Bergeron is a regular reader of my DWTS reviews. So, Tracey Gold, would you ever consider doing Dancing With the Stars? Shall I put in a request with Tom for you?

Yesss!!!! I would looove to do that show, are you kidding me? It would be such fun. Of course, I’m not the greatest dancer by any means, but I would be representing all the people out there that think that maybe they can’t dance, and it turns out maybe they can! I would love to do it! It would be a great challenge!

Thank you so much Tracey. Are you listening, Tom Bergeron?

Starving Secrets premieres Friday, December 2 at 10/9c, on Lifetime.

The Walking Dead Review: All We Are Is Dust In The Wind

After the second season of AMC’s post-apocalyptic zombie meditation The Walking Dead got off to a rather lackadaisical start, many viewers and reviewers (ahem) alike have expressed frustration with the show’s seeming inability to elegantly balance horror thrills within the thematic framework of a newly lawless society. Lurching attempts to introduce existential and ethical dilemmas among the fundamental conflicts ensuing between the core groups of characters proved difficult, as a lack of articulate dialogue and narrative efficiency kept the series circling around the same plotlines. While Shane’s descent into pure, stark raving id nicely complemented the evolution of Daryl’s capacity for empathy and compassion, the missed opportunities to truly explore the juxtaposing values clashing between Rick’s band of survivors and Hershel’s homeland crew left a void in the series sadly filled with Lori’s pregnancy woes and Andrea’s gun obsession, among other trivial banalities. Luckily, the show’s writers seem to have readjusted their priorities and narrowed focus to round out the season’s first half with a bombshell development that finally brings the long-simmering conflicts to the surface.

The revelation of Hershel’s secret zombie stash gave the show a much-needed jolt to help set a tone of unavoidable confrontation between Rick’s gang and the Greenes, finally providing a point of discord far more tangible than the threadbare theological debates earlier episodes had offered. The title of Sunday’s mid-season finale, “Pretty Much Dead Already,” serves as a likely unintentional double entendre, since The Walking Dead’s second season had been looking precisely so; that is, until the riveting final scene let one last skeleton come staggering out of the proverbial closet.

The showdown gets off to a rather succinct start as Glenn and Dale exchange nods while observing the gang at breakfast. It’s time to let everyone in on the game-changing secret, despite Maggie’s distant glare of disapproval from the porch. “Uh, guys?” Glenn nervously diverts everyone’s attention from their previous tasks. Andrea stops sharpening her knife. Carol stops stirring the eggs. Rick stops gazing forlornly into the horizon. “So, the barn’s full of walkers.” Way to get right to it, Glenn! Are you sure no one needed you to pick up that announcement from the pharmacy first? An immediate sense of productivity is injected into the show’s entire bearing, as each character’s reaction helps solidify the necessary foundation with which to proceed. The initial opposition lies between Shane’s visceral realism and Rick’s stoic idealism, the former perhaps more fitting for the dire circumstances of their environment and the latter helping illustrate the compassionate humanism still brimming in the others. Rick combats Shane’s explosive tirade with a relatively calm suggestion to respect Hershel’s property and discuss the issue with him first. Dale, however, points out that he’d already had this conversation and discovered not only Hershel’s belief that the walkers are merely sick people, but that his wife and stepson are among the barn dwellers.

Plied with this useful information, Rick approaches Hershel with understandable trepidation but a firm case for his group’s right to safety. Despite their own horrific losses of family members and friends, the Greenes haven’t experienced the epidemic to nearly the gruesome extent that Rick’s group has. “Dale told me you watched it on the news,” Rick says. “It’s been a long time since the cameras stopped rolling.” The Greene’s sheltered existence in the relative comfort of their home has allowed them the luxury of ignorance regarding the truly catastrophic state of the world and an inability to recognize the walkers for what they are: dead and dangerous. Hershel simply doesn’t understand the conditions he’s forcing his new acquaintances to return to. After Hershel still insists Rick’s group leave his property within a week, Rick has no choice but to mention Lori’s pregnancy as a last-ditch effort to reinstate their residency.

He leaves Hershel without getting a definitive answer and subsequently has a bookending conversation with Shane defending their need to stay on the farm. Shane was ready to pack up shop and head to Fort Benning at the first mention of the barn zombies, but the news of Lori’s condition and Rick’s resulting desire to stay opens a whole new perspective for Shane to consider. He later confronts Lori, who had just been having her own discussion with Carl about their future at the Greenes. Carl has his sights set on finding Sophia and tells his mother he refuses to leave until their search is over. “I think she’d like it here,” Carl posits. “It could be a home.” In hindsight this comment carries far more gravity than upon first listen, but even without later revelations it’s hard not to soften a bit at the notion of security and permanence within a world of consistent, threatening chaos. No wonder Hershel’s got his panties in a bunch. The widening gap between Rick and Shane’s dueling leadership tactics is only illustrated further upon Shane’s knowledge of Lori’s pregnancy. The possibility of their affair preceding the outbreak still lingers, but the importance is placed upon Shane’s insistence that he’s the better man to turn to in these times of crisis. “Rick, he ain’t built for this world,” Shane says, citing Rick’s first season “suicide mission” to retrieve Merle from the downtown Atlanta rooftop in lieu of sticking by Lori as a prime example of his warped priorities. According to Shane, he’s saved Lori’s life at least four different times, but this apparent chivalry and likelihood of fathering her child doesn’t budge her from Rick’s corner. “Even if that baby’s yours, it’s not yours,” she spits. Ouch.

Meanwhile, Andrea’s rendezvous with Shane last week has worked Dale’s creepy paternal tendencies into overdrive. His perception of Shane’s real involvement with Otis’ death has only been exacerbated by Shane’s continuing devolution into living, breathing primordial ooze. With the news of the barn walkers sending everyone into a tailspin, Dale fears an imminent clock tower meltdown from Shane and stashes the group’s guns deep in the woods, assumedly to be returned after the dust settles. Carol spies Daryl trying to sneak off with Nervous Nelly (there isn’t another, more emotionally stable horse to borrow?) to keep looking for Sophia and quietly admits she sadly thinks the search may be futile at this point. A frustrated Daryl, explaining he “don’t wanna sit around doin’ nuthin’,” reacts with explosive frustration at his inability to solve another problem beyond his control. A later scene where Daryl points out a crop of Cherokee roses to lift Carol’s spirits and apologize for losing his temper inserts a nice dose of genuine sentiment within an otherwise awfully terse episode. Who would have predicted last season that Daryl would end up the breath of fresh air on this perpetually bleak landscape? Maggie has begun to exhibit her own broadening perspective and chides Hershel for rescinding his hospitality to Rick and the gang, especially because it seems to contradict the love and tolerance his faith devoutly touts. Her relationship with Glenn appears to be making progress as the two seem to be both mercifully overcoming and recognizing their respective immaturity. “I’m sick of secrets,” Glenn declares. So are we, Glenn. So are we.

How fitting, then, that Hershel would enlist Rick on a hush-hush errand to retrieve two future barn tenants from the woods right when everyone else is finally starting to acknowledge the major fundamental conflicts and behavioral inconsistencies plaguing their potential to peacefully cohabitate? Everyone besides gun-hiding Dale, that is. Rick, Hershel and Jimmy approach the walkers with metal collars attached to near-actual ten-foot poles and Hershel, of course, recognizes one of their targets. “That’s Lou Bush,” he drawls. “You knew him?” Rick asks with a slight hint of incredulity. “Lou as in Louise,” Hershel corrects. He lets Rick know this expedition is a trial run of sorts, since he will be treating future walkers this way as long as he’s a guest of Hershel’s. “There’s people out there who aren’t in their right mind…people I think can be restored,” Hershel declares. “You’re not talking about the walkers, are you?” Rick perceptively picks up on Hershel’s not-so-subtle subtext that he expects Rick and his group to be “restored” themselves if they want to stay on his property. “My farm, my barn, my say,” Hershel firmly responds.

In another pocket of the woods, Shane finds Dale stashing the weapons and doesn’t bother denying his accusations of killing Otis. Dale loads a bullet into his rifle and Shane steps right up, letting the barrel press squarely against his chest, daring Dale to shoot. “When you look at it in the cold light of day, you’re pretty much dead already,” he quips, evoking the surely intended meaning of the episode’s title. Dale replies that the harsh reality they’re living in is apparently the world where Shane and his primitive instincts “belong.”

The final ten minutes of the episode finally let each plot thread converge as Shane returns to the farm with a vengeance, buoyed by Dale’s words and the realization that this, to him, is purely about survival. Daryl and Andrea, impatiently waiting to start the day’s obligatory Sophia stakeout, wonder where the hell Rick is. Right on cue, he crests the hillside with Hershel and Jimmy, their two new neighbors in tow. Shane has been handing out the forbidden weapons like party favors and unleashes a verbal manifesto upon sight of the unlikely quintet. This twisted, long-anticipated meeting of the minds results in a jaw-dropping sequence that makes the sluggish meandering of the preceding six episodes nearly worth it. Rick’s group is aghast at the sight of walkers being led to safety on leashes, and the true depth of Hershel’s mission is laid out before their eyes. Shane responds by firing a few rounds into Lou Bush’s chest. “Could a living, breathing person walk away from this?!” he bellows, before shooting her in the head once and for all, Hershel collapsing with shock. As the group looks on in stunned horror, Shane’s diatribe escalates as he rushes to the barn and busts down the door. “Enough!” he shouts. “Things ain’t the way they were before. ENOUGH!” As the barn dwellers begin to creep out of their shelter and into the open, Andrea, T-Dog (oh, hi there), Daryl and Glenn (after getting an affirmative nod from Maggie) step in as backup and fire at the zombies, each one crumpling to the ground in definitive defeat. Lori, Carl, Maggie and, most of all, of course, Hershel all watch with grimaces of grief and despair as the bodies pile up. A few moments of silence seems to mark the end of the annihilation, until the moans of one last walker echoes from the barn. Slowly, a small, frail-looking zombie emerges. Sophia. Save for Carol’s wails of anguish, no one can speak or move as she staggers her way toward the group, until Rick steps forward with a look of steely determination not seen since last season. He fires a direct shot between her eyes and the episode closes with Sophia’s definitively lifeless slump into the dirt.

“Pretty Much Dead Already” finally inserted life (pun intended) into a clunky, aimless second season of The Walking Dead, finally presenting concrete ideas and platforms with which the next six episodes can explore. While Shane and Hershel’s staunch standpoints represent completely opposite schools of thought, Rick had spent most of the season flailing in the middle, trying to straddle both sides of the same coin. His decision to shoot Sophia puts him back in a leadership position, a post Shane seemed more than happy to take over. Interestingly, regardless of opposing ideology, the heartbreaking reveal of Sophia, predictable or not, created a crushing blow to everyone’s personal perspectives and rendered the season’s most annoyingly unresolved storyline a complete wash. Despite Hershel’s lack of understanding regarding the severity of the new world, this development likely serves as a lesson for all the characters, and viewers, who thought they had it right.

What did you think of the mid-season finale? Do you sympathize more with Hershel or with Shane? Were you surprised Rick took the final shot? Did Hershel know Sophia was in the barn this whole time? Did you know Sophia was in the barn this whole time? How can the gang think of staying at Hershel’s farm after what’s happened? Will Maggie leave her family and head for Fort Benning? Will T-Dog have more than three lines in the second half? Post your thoughts in the comment section below!

Season 2, Episode 7: Pretty Much Dead Already (original air date November 27, 2011)

The Walking Dead airs Sunday nights at 9/8c on AMC.

Images courtesy of Bob Mahoney/Gene Page/AMC.

Hugo Review: I, Automaton

Martin Scorsese has made one of his most personal films in Hugo. It is a tad strange to say that about a children’s movie in 3D, but there it is.

The title hero, Hugo Cabret (Asa Butterfield), is a young boy who has a knack for fixing things. An orphan, Hugo secretly resides within the walls and passages of a Parisian train station and keeps all of the many clocks in the building running on time. Hugo’s world of 1930’s Paris is filled with clockworks, movies, and magic, but he is also alone.

That is, except for a tin-man.

Shown in flashbacks, his father (Jude Law) once found and brought home a broken automaton. They began rebuilding it, but his father dies before it was completed. Hugo’s only desire is to finish restoring the mechanical man, and that’s where the real adventure begins.

Ben Kingsley plays a toy shop owner named Georges Melies, who is tired of young Hugo stealing his wares. Georges gives Hugo a job in the shop to work off all of his stolen goods. There he meets Georges god-daughter Isabelle (Chloe Grace Moretz). The two quickly become friends as they avoid the Station Inspector (Sacha Baron Cohen) and unravel the mystery surrounding the connection between the automaton, his father, and Georges Melies, who they realize is involved when a heart-shaped key around Isabelle’s neck fits perfectly into the automaton.

From that plot summary you wouldn’t think the movie also endorses film preservation and  includes an introduction to Film History 101, but it does and in a very entertaining (and kid friendly) way.  If you know who Georges Milies is, then you understand the early cinema connection. If you don’t, then you are in for a treat.

Hugo is Scorsese’s  love letter to cinema.  His passion for the art of movies shines in every scene and it’s contagious.  Hugo isn’t just one of the best family films this year, it’s one of the best movies of 2011. I never thought I would be saying that about a 3D movie but there you have it. Hugo has adventure, mystery, thrills and laughs.  I even teared up a little…a couple times…maybe more, I don’t know, but that’s  neither here nor there. Hugo has everything for a great family film experience.

The 3D is amazing. Each shot is uniquely framed and filmed to enhance the visual effect. Some of the scenes have a nostalgic Viewmaster feel to it that draws the audience into the Parisian world with a childlike wonderment. Hugo was intended to be a 3D movie and it not only takes full advantage of the technology, the 3D actually enhances the storytelling.  Objects don’t just jump out at you, scenes are framed and shots are layered. The 3D isn’t just an effect, it’s connected to the story itself in a way that I haven’t seen before. Some might find this a bit ham-fisted, but those people are forgetting that it’s a kid’s movie.

The young actors, who take on the bulk of screen time in the film, do a fantastic job. Chloe Grace Moretz has already proven herself with previous strong performances and she is captivating as the adventurous Isabelle. Asa Butterfield is more than up to the task as the lead. In one specific scene that takes place in Hugo’s hidden room in the station, he has a breakdown out of frustration and hopelessness because it seems that all he has been working towards has been for nothing. Asa is shockingly powerful here, surprising for his small stature, and by the scene’s dramatic end one thought occurred to me: This kid can act.

Ben Kingsley has always been a favorite actor of mine, and when he’s in a quality movie like this I’m reminded how good he can be. Sir Ben is in good form as the emotionally wounded Melies.  Sacha Baron Cohen plays a likeable antagonist and does his best keystone cop slapstick routine with a slight British humor twist.

But really, the acting could have been just dreadful and the movie would still be good. That’s how well the story is told, how well the scenes are shot, and how skilled these filmmakers are. Hugo might be trying to teach some film history, but it is a master class in filmmaking.

Like all good movies, Hugo sticks with you well after the credits roll. It gives you things to ponder and new ways to see the world around you. Will every kid like Hugo? No, but most will. I would guess Scorsese’s hope is that the children in the theaters watching it will feel just a little of how Hugo feels about the automaton and how Scorsese feels about movies.  That they should be enjoyed, cherished and most of all, remembered.

Images courtesy of Jaap Buitendiijk and GK Films.

Advance Screening: New Year’s Eve

Poptimal.com and Warner Bros. are teaming up to get 30 lucky Poptimal fans into an advanced screening of the new star studded movie New Year’s Eve. Here is your chance to win 2 tickets.

Monday, December 5 7:30 pm
AMC Mazza Gallerie Washington, DC

Please note, tickets do not guarantee admittance. Seating is first come, first served.

Fill out the form below for a chance to win. (No Purchase Necessary) *** If you are on Twitter, you can get extra entries by following us at @Poptimal and send the following tweet: “Check out Poptimal.com for chances to win tickets to an Advance Screening of “New Year’s Eve – bit.ly/tRXQeO” @Poptimal“ You will receive additional entries (limit one per day) to win the above prize.

The film’s all-star cast includes Academy Award® winner Halle Berry, Jessica Biel, Jon Bon Jovi, Academy Award® nominee Abigail Breslin, Chris “Ludacris” Bridges, two-time Academy Award® winner Robert De Niro, Josh Duhamel, Zac Efron, Hector Elizondo, Katherine Heigl, Ashton Kutcher, Seth Meyers, Lea Michele, Sarah Jessica Parker, Academy Award® nominee Michelle Pfeiffer, Til Schweiger, two-time Academy Award® winner Hilary Swank and Sofia Vergara.

This contest is now closed. Winners have been contacted

Top Chef Review: Bring on the Heat

This week’s Top Chef starts with a creative Quick Fire Challenge. The chefs are asked to create one dish that puts a spotlight on the chili pepper. The hotter the pepper they use, the more money they take home if they win the challenge. Padma and guest judges Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger decide Paul’s use of the ghost chili (the hottest pepper around) in his coconut soup can’t be beat and he walks away with cool $20,000 and immunity in the Elimination Challenge.

The Elimination Challenge this week is an authentic Texas chili cook-off. The chefs are divided into four teams of three. Each team is responsible for creating a chili dish for 200 guests attending a Texas rodeo. They will all be making their chili at home and can cook all night.

All the teams race to the store to picking up the cooking essentials and it is chaos at the meat counter as everyone tries to get their hands on the premium cuts for chili.

With ingredients in hand, the chefs all scope out the perfect chili-cooking spot in their house. Space is a premium so all kinds of deals are struck including Grayson trying to entice Chris J. for space on a grill in exchange for a sheet pan. Exciting.

At some point late into the night, people start getting loopy (or drunk of Shiner Bock) and jump into the pool, perform weird dances (Chuy, I’m looking at you), and just devolve into school kids. But who can blame them? Doing a chili all-nighter doesn’t seem that exciting but it’s got to be better than staying up to write a paper on the Spanish conquest of the Incan empire (Junior year, it sucked).

After staying up into the wee hours of the night, all our exhausted chefs head to the rodeo grounds to start dishing up their meals to a whole lot of hungry Texans. The rodeo-goers will pick the winning team and the losing team. Then, Padma, Gail, Tom and the guest judges will swoop in to send someone from the losing team home.

Notable Teams and their chili’s:
The Blue Team (Paul, Edward and Heather) – this team decided to smoke a brisket and add a summer medley of pickled vegetables to it. One question, hasn’t Heather pickled something or another in every challenge so far? Are we seeing the emergence of a pickling master?

The Green Team (Chuy, Sarah, Pretty Boy Chris) – this team decides to make a chili con carne with no beans (apparently, beans don’t exist in traditional Texas chili). It was a big hit.

The Black Team (Nyesha, Ritchie, Beverly) – these chefs go off the beaten path and make a chili inspired by mole. This chili has all kinds of flavors including cinnamon and chocolate. It’s definitely a risk, which doesn’t end up paying off.

The judges choose the Green Team as the winner of the challenge and the Black Team is the big loser. They give Nyesha, Ritchie and Beverly one more chance to wow them – each chef is asked to create one new dish using their loser mole chili. Beverly delivers an innovative dish using the sauce from the chili and a seared tuna encrusted with chili spices. Nyesha’s Frito-encrusted shrimp lacks creativity and Ritchie’s Frito-encrusted tenderloin didn’t go far enough. The judges decide to send Ritchie packing.

Ritchie gets one last chance on Bravo’s Last Chance Kitchen as he goes up against Keith (go Keith!) in a final challenge judged by Tom C. The task is to use three ingredients from a table filled with Thanksgiving leftovers and create a winning dish. Keith takes home the prize so he’s up against next week’s Top Chef loser in another round of Last Chance Kitchen.

 

Season 9, Episode 4: Red Hot Chili Cook-Off (originally aired November 23, 2011)

Images courtesy of Bravo TV.

Dexter Review: Three Twists for the Price of One

Dear readers, I’ll be honest, this is one twist I did not see coming.

This week we pick up with Dexter moments after the last episode with Travis at the church, having just agreed to help our antihero track down Gellar. Dexter wants to know what the next murder scene will be, and the two find a painting with “2LOT” marked on it. Travis isn’t in good shape, so Dex takes him to a hotel to recover while he does some research on the phrase. His quest leads him to a philosophy about order falling into chaos, and connects that with a Miami South University parking pass to a professor named Casey.

The Miami Metro team is all over the place this week. Quinn and Angel set out to get Quinn’s belongings back after he misplaced everything following a hook-up with a stripper. Turns out, wasn’t so much a stripper as an older woman at the diner across the street from the strip club. Still, he recovers his phone, but he and Angel share some much needed words. Deb spends more time with her therapist, who rightfully wants her to up her number of appointments after finding out about her relationship with the Ice Truck Killer and his ties to Dexter. Louis tries to take things to the next level with Jamie, at Masuka’s urging, and begins to track a new blog post by Gellar.

Dexter tells Travis about the new blog post and pays Casey a visit, who ignores his warning. He sets up a kill room and has a talk with Harry about the need to kill Travis’ dark passenger. The two go to Casey again, but Dexter gets stuck in an elevator and once Travis helps him out, they see Casey is already gone, probably taken by Gellar. Meanwhile, Deb decides to reopen the Morris case a week or so ago — the girl who it seemed someone attempted to resuscitate before leaving for dead — at the urging of the victim’s father, who found it suspicious the girl’s sternum was crushed. LaGuerta and Deb share words over this before we learn that Matthews was the man involved, and that the two are working to keep it covered up. Meanwhile, the team gets called to the next Doomsday crime scene.

Sure enough, it’s Casey, blood drained, hand severed, and alpha/omega symbols carved into him. When Masuka lifts his arm, buckets of his blood come pouring down on the crew. Back at the hotel, Travis finds the severed hand in his sink and a message in blood on the mirror to bring Dexter to Gellar. Travis calls Dexter, but doesn’t mention the message. He tells Dex that Gellar wants to meet at the church. Louis, in the meantime, manages to crack the IP address and finds a church in range…the same one Dexter’s on his way to right now.

At the church, Dexter circles around back while Travis goes in the front. It looks like Gellar and Travis are about to embrace. Dexter goes into the basement through a trap door after finding Travis unconscious on the floor, and finds Gellar’s body in a freezer. He immediately recognizes it’s been there for quite some time.

So that twist I mentioned earlier? While I was genuinely surprised by the turn of events, I’m not quite sure how to feel about it. So was Travis acting alone this whole time? Did he develop a Harry-like spectral visitor that became his own, personal dark passenger? This would mean not only did he kill his own sister and fool Dex, but that no one can be sure at what time Gellar went missing from his professorial work to become the harbinger of the apocalypse, if that was ever even his mission. Or is this part of some bizarre student-must-surpass-the-teacher self-sacrifice ritual?

Another not-so subtle twist, the missing hand from Masuka’s evidence locker turning up in Louis’ swank apartment. Just as he’s about to get busy with Jamie, after being warned to stay away from her, the audience catches sight of the missing prosthetic, last seen in the clutches of Masuka’s previous intern before being sold on eBay. It makes me feel like a crazy conspiracy theorist, but somehow the events have to be connected, right? Right? Okay, maybe not.

Was anyone else thrilled when the therapist asked Deb to stick around for more? I’m craving for her to have a Dexter revelation soon. Those may be the only scenes I’m eagerly awaiting from the next two seasons. On the Quinn front, I’m finally thankful someone called him on his behavior. It’s probably not best for a homicide detective to go sleeping with material witnesses and then off on strip club benders that result in his personal and professional property being scattered about the greater Miami metro area.

As for Matthews trying to keep his image clean, Deb’s not really a character who’s prone to roll over for authority. So, it’ll be interesting to see what he and LaGuerta attempt to hold over her to force the Morris case shut again.

Season 6, Episode 9: “Get Gellar” (Original Airdate November 27, 2011)

Channel your dark passenger with Dexter, Sundays at 9 on Showtime

Images courtesy of Showtime

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