White Collar Review: What A Ride!

Picture yourself on a rollercoaster ride. The excitement builds even before it begins. Your anticipation grows as the ride chugs up to the highest peak and your stomach drops as it plummets down towards the end. Afterwards, you feel a combination of shock and awe but a desire to ride again. That describes the White Collar midseason finale in a nutshell. Jeff Eastin and the gang expertly guided us through the rollercoaster ride that was the fantastic White Collar summer finale. This pivotal finale was full of twists and turns, a range of emotions, and a shocking ending which left me wanting more.

The episode begins when Neal and Peter enlist Mozzie to help with the music box—we finally see the inside of the box and discover a comb, which plays a second song that they decide must be a code.

When alone, Neal and Mozzie discuss whether Alex, who helped them steal it, could have taken something out of it or have already started to solve the code. Mozzie comments that it would be good to talk to her. Neal agrees and hints that he knows Alex is back from Italy.

Peter returns the music box to Diana at her apartment for safekeeping. Diana explains that there has been a withdrawal from Agent Garrett Fowler’s bank account. Peter suggests that Fowler could be desperate for money and decides to draw him out by faking the confirmation of an insurance claim for his deceased wife.

Neal and Mozzie meet with an old friend who believes Alex is in NYC stealing Spanish silver. They decide to “con the FBI” to help them find Alex. In an amusing scene, they create, age and plant a case file about the silver thefts knowing that it is a “diamond in the rough” case Peter would choose. Another cameo appearance by June who interrupts them to ask Neal to take care of her dog while she is out of town.

Neal is right on about Peter, who with Elizabeth’s help chooses the silver burglary case. At the FBI office, Peter announces the new case and that they will stake out possible burglary targets that night.

Meanwhile, Diana tells Peter that Fowler took the bait and withdrew money from an ATM in NYC and that she will check it out.

Back at Neal’s apartment, Mozzie is struggling with decoding the music box. He decides to go see Akihiro Tanaka, a code maker he thinks can help. Meanwhile, Neal plans on finding Alex during her recon work for another silver heist.

In the surveillance van, Diana reports back to Peter that she discovered that Fowler has been staying in short term housing and bought explosives under an alias. Peter sends Diana home to work on finding Fowler.

Neal catches up with Alex on a rooftop—she denies cracking the code from the music box. Neal convinces her to steal the music box from Diana’s apartment and return it to the Russian Heritage Museum.

Peter clues Neal in about Fowler and the explosives. Alex is almost caught in Diana’s apartment but gets away with the music box, which she leaves at the museum.

When Peter discovers that the music box was stolen and left at the museum, he (correctly) assumes Neal had something to do with it and was trying to draw Fowler out of hiding. A furious Peter benches Neal.

Mozzie talks with his code-maker friend at his antique shop, who suggests it is a two-part code and is willing to help Mozzie. Neal catches up with Mozzie at the shop and steals a gun.

The Russian Heritage Museum hosts a reception to showcase the music box, which the FBI plans to stake out in hopes of catching Fowler. Meanwhile, Neal is also planning on attending the event, sans his anklet. Fowler shows up at the museum and Peter follows him inside. Fowler tries to elude Peter but ends up barricading himself in a second floor room. A determined Peter and an employee of the museum are outside the door trying to get in.

Back at Neal’s apartment, Mozzie returns because he had a breakthrough with the code and finds June’s dog wearing Neal’s anklet plus the bullets on the table. He immediately calls Peter, fearing that Neal is about to do something stupid, and says, “Suit, we have a code red” and explains that Neal has a gun.

Neal arrives at the museum and begins searching for Fowler. In the courtyard where the reception is taking place, Neal sees Fowler in a window. He rushes up to an opposite balcony and uses a banner to dramatically swing across the courtyard and smashes through the window and into the room Fowler is in. (Side note, Matt Bomer actually did this tricky stunt himself!) In an extremely tense scene, Neal shoots at Fowler and demands to know why he killed Kate, as Peter, who forced open the locked door, tries to talk Neal down. After what felt like forever (and me holding my breath), Peter manages to convince Neal to hand over his gun. A handcuffed Neal is brought back to the FBI office.

Back at the FBI, Fowler has some serious explaining to do…His wife was murdered and he received an anonymous phone call telling him where his wife’s killer was. Fowler tracked down and murdered his wife’s killer. But the anonymous caller videotaped the murder and began blackmailing Fowler to get the music box. Fowler explained that he assumed Kate knew where the music box was, which is why he went after her while Neal was in prison. He also revealed that it was Kate’s idea to buy the explosives and fake their deaths so she and Neal could disappear together. However, the bomb went off early and Fowler denies being involved in that. After the Fowler explanation, Peter pulls rank, much to Neal’s dismay, and sends him home.

We then see an emotional Neal stewing at home while Peter continues the interrogation of Fowler. Peter questions Fowler about his mysterious meeting with the “Patchwork man” and then shows him the picture, which Fowler identifies as Julian Larsson, a man he trained with in Special Forces.

Diana interrupts with news about a homicide at the shop where Neal got his gun—turns out Mozzie’s friend was murdered, who also may have had a major breakthrough with the music box code. The surveillance tape in the shop was cued up to Neal, which leads Peter to believe he is the next target. This is when my freaking out began…

Peter and Diana rush to Neal’s apartment, where Alex is talking to Neal. As she goes to pull something out of her purse, Peter and Diana rush in with guns blazing—turns out it was her phone number for Neal. I was able to breathe a momentary sigh of relief until Peter explained about the murder and Neal says, “I wasn’t there alone”—recommence my freaking out and yelling, oh no Mozzie! Cut to Mozzie, sitting alone on bench, as Larsson walks by and shoots him in the chest and then steals the code he was working on. The final scene is Mozzie bleeding and slumped over on the bench.

Let’s tally up the score here: Jeff Eastin and his cliffhangers: 3. Me having any clue what was going to happen: 0. You got me again, Mr. Eastin, I was blindsided by the ending. But…you did the unthinkable—shot the loveable Mozzie. After my initial shock and panic wore off, I’ve come to the conclusion that Mozzie will be fine (just like Peter wasn’t the man with the ring). They couldn’t kill off one of my favorite characters, right? What would I do without my Mozzie-isms?

The finale had everything I could have asked for and more. There was suspense, intrigue, action, drama infused with the typical witty White Collar banter. I also enjoyed the diversity of characters—we saw the entire cast, including the Burkes’ dog, Satchmo.

When I think of Neal Caffrey, I immediately picture his put together, polished and sophisticated look. In the finale we saw some of that, plus we witnessed a distraught and disheveled Neal that we’ve never seen before. Hats off to Matt Bomer…I was blown away by his spectacular performance.

White Collar has certainly upped their game this season. Not only was the finale exceptional but it was the perfect ending to the first half of a strong sophomore season. It’s like a fine wine, better with age.

Collars, I’ve only got one thing left to say: how many more days until January?

For more on White Collar, click here.  You can follow Poptimal on Twitter @poptimal.

Season 2, Episode 9: Point Blank (originally aired September 7, 2010)

Tuesdays at 9/8c on USA Network

Images courtesy of David Giesbrecht and the USA Network.

Mad Men Review: Fight Night

It is hard to believe but with this week’s episode, Mad Men saw itself hurtle past the half-way point of its fourth season. A season, that should be noted, is arguably the series’ best. Each episode has proven to be more revealing, more interesting, more touching, and more laced with dark humor than the one before it and I simply cannot get enough.

This episode in particular, “The Suitcase” saw a number of things come to a head with Cassius Clay’s (Mohammad Ali) classic defeat of Sonny Liston serving as the backdrop for a duel between Don and Peggy. Everyone in the office is pumped for what is expected to be the boxing match of the century except for Don’s new secretary Mrs. Blankenship who claims that, “if she wanted to see two Negroes fight, she’d throw a dollar bill out the window.” Mrs. B’s enthusiasm not withstanding, everyone has plans to watch or listen to the match except for Don and Peggy. Don bows out in favor of working overnight on the Samsonite account, which has a looming deadline and a lack of options that Don finds suitable from Peggy’s team.

And even though it is her birthday and her boyfriend is awaiting her arrival at a nice restaurant, Peggy is sucked into staying behind to work with Don. The tension between these two characters has certainly been palpable in recent weeks with Peggy’s growing frustration from her lack of recognition and Don’s perception that Peggy has an overwrought sense of entitlement. I’ve always been fascinated by the similary, and yet so different, dynamic of these characters and watching their interaction here was just a pure joy because they finally air their grievances with each other at the top of their lungs and before it’s all over Peggy finally becomes a girl crying in the bathroom – something she has tried to avoid from the very outset of the series.

But it wasn’t just the issues between them that fueled the outburst of emotion. Both of them had very personal and private things happen to them concurrently which essentially created a perfect storm of solitude, anger, and, ultimately, sadness. As I mentioned earlier it was Peggy’s birthday and although only turning 26, she is faced with the scorn that women of the era had to deal with if they were unmarried and childless at her age. In a fascinating scene in the restroom, one woman congratulates her on how far Peggy has gotten in her career at such a young age, while not 30 seconds later, Pete’s wife, Trudy, “comforts her” by assuring her that 26 really isn’t that old. Poor Trudy. If she only knew that the baby inside her has a big brother courtesy of the “unaccomplished” Peggy. On top of that, her dorky boyfriend (Blake Bashoff) is waiting at the restaurant with her entire family and the scenes of him taking annoyed calls from Peggy that escalate into breaking up while her family listens in uncomfortably were wonderfully excruciating to say the least.

Don, on the other hand, is facing the inevitable moment he knew was coming when he found out that his first wife and best friend, Anna was dying of cancer earlier. At the outset of this week’s episode he gets an urgent message from Stephanie in California to call back immediately. In typical Don fashion he puts off the call and avoids his feelings all day long, allowing the tension to build as he and Peggy confront each other over work-related issues.

But following the explosion between them something somewhat beautiful happens. Don realizes that Peggy missing her birthday and breaking up with her boyfriend because of it is actually pretty shitty, so he takes her out for a meal and drink where the two of them start to open up to each other. I was reminded of earlier in the season when Don took Lane out and they both were able to ease some of their pains but this time instead of hookers, they deal with a drunk Duck Phillips (Mark Moses) sneaking into the office in his continued pursuit of Peggy…and to poop on Don’s chair.

Things almost turn to serious fisticuffs between the two drunkards but Peggy is able to get Duck to leave without any blood shed. And this is where things get really fantastic. Don asks Peggy to make him another drink so he can make the phone call he’s been avoiding but before doing that he curls up on the couch and sleeps with his head in Peggy’s lap while dreaming of Anna. At the earliest break of dawn he wakes and calls Stephanie in California who confirms that Anna has indeed passed away, which we see completely destroys Don. He begins sobbing uncontrollably thinking that Peggy is still asleep on the couch, but she is wide awake and swoops in to comfort him in a moment that can only be described as heart-breaking. This was a phenomenal episode for both Jon Hamm and Elisabeth Moss who I don’t think could be feasibly any better together on screen.

A little while later after Don has had the chance to pull himself together a bit we think he is all business as he and Peggy resume discussing the Samsonite project but for a moment he grasps her hand tightly as if he’s saying thank you for being there for him. The moment was truly stunning to behold and I don’t think I’ll be able to shake it for quite some time. I wouldn’t dare guess where Peggy and Don go from here but I, for one, cannot wait to find out.

For more on Mad Men, click here.  Follow Poptimal on Twitter here.  Friend us on Facebook here.

Season 4, Episode 7: The Suitcase (originally aired September 5, 2010)

Sundays at 10PM/9C, AMC

Photographs courtesy of AMC and imdbpro.

Hellcats Preview: Putting A Little Glee Into Cheerleading

Last year Fox unleashed a show in America that ended up taking it by storm and like all pop cultural phenomena, imitators are not far behind. Glee was (and will continue to be) an enormous sensation and it appears that The CW hopes to tap into and repeat that success with their new series, Hellcats. I recently got the chance to check out a sneak peak of the pilot and I’m sorry to report that based on what I saw I don’t think they should be clearing any space on the shelves for awards because Hellcats ain’t Glee. In fact, it’s not even close.

Hellcats takes us into the competitive world of college cheerleading at a small university in Memphis, Tennessee. At the outset we meet Marti Perkins (Alyson Michalka of the pop group Aly & AJ), a feisty law student who likes to ride around on her bike and make fun of cheerleaders with her incredibly hot friend, Dan (Matt Barr) who is clearly in love with her but should probably just settle for me. I’m just saying.

Marti makes it abundantly clear right away that she is a bit of a boisterous rebel but her bravado takes a bit of a hit when she realizes that her trainwreck mom (Gail O’Grady of NYPD Blue fame) who works at the university pub hasn’t been paying the bills and a loophole is costing her the scholarship that she depends on to stay in school. It was at this point, about six minutes into the show, that I completely mapped out the plot and found myself 100% correct as it played out. You’ve also probably assumed from what little I’ve told you that Marti must now find a way to stay in school and thus learns that you can earn a scholarship for being on the cheerleading team, The Hellcats, and what a coincidence – there is an opening on the team and tryouts are tomorrow!!

So in true everything you’ve ever seen before ever fashion, Marti practices for tryouts by dancing on her couch at home, acts like a rebel at tryouts by doing her own thing, impresses almost everyone and is chosen to join the squad! And before you can say “cliche,” she packs up her bags and moves into Cheertown where she must share a room with Savannah (Ashley Tisdale) whom she initially hates but turns out to be super sweet if not a little anal retentive and disturbingly positive.

This would not be a cheerleading show though, without a good old-fashioned bitch and it comes in the form of Alice played by Heather Hemmens. Alice has her pom poms twisted because she was injured in a recent practice and is being replaced temporarily by Marti who is already turning heads with her skills. Things are even worse for Alice when she learns that her male cheerleader partner/love interest, Lewis (Robbie Jones) has the hots for Marti. In just the pilot we see hints at Alice meddling to ruin Marti’s success so I imagine if the series survives they will have a rivalry to end all rivalries.

The pilot episode hints at a lot of potential storylines including Marti’s strained relationship with her mom, the team losing funding if they don’t make it to regionals (cough, Glee, cough!), and Dan getting jealous of Marti’s relationships on the team though someone should tell him that I’ll gladly comfort him when that hussy breaks his heart. In all, I’m not sure I saw enough potential for originality to make this show worth watching for an extended period of time. Sure, the dance routines are fun and the show is jam-packed with pop music (sometimes curiously unsuitable for the scene in question) but it needs to find its own rhythm if it hopes to distinguish itself from Fox’s juggernaut series that obviously inspired many aspects of this show’s creation. Hellcats isn’t a bad show by any means, but it just isn’t memorable either so I don’t foresee it sticking around long. Then again, it’s for The CW. For all I know it could be on for the next five years or more. Just don’t ask me to watch. Well…maybe I’ll watch the Dan scenes…maybe.

I will definitely watch the Dan scenes.

Please, please, please, Hellcats, don’t get cancelled!

I think I just hit rock bottom. Check out the show (and Dan) for yourself and let me know what you think!

Hellcats premieres tonight, September 8, at 9/8c on The CW.

For more television reviews, click here.

Photographs courtesy of The CW, Jack Rowland, Sergei Bachlakov, and Andrew Eccles.

Comic Con 2010: Being Human Press Room: A Vampire, A Ghost, and Two Werewolves Walk Into A Room

Getting a chance to sit down with the cast of Being Human has to be one of the most memorable and funny moments from San Diego Comic-Con. Sitting down with Russell Tovey (George), Lenora Crichlow (Annie), Aidan Turner (Mitchell), and Sinead Keenan (Nina) the cast delivered a lively and hilarious Q&A.

Before the event began the press went to place their recording devices on the table to capture audio. I had brought a fairly complicated looking device for Comic-Con, which happened to look like a giant taser. The reaction from the Being Human cast was hilarious. They spent a few minutes joking around asking if I was going to tase anyone in the room. Their relaxed and amiable nature really made it a great interview.

The cast revealed that season two consists of a human threat unlike the first season’s vampire menace. The characters each undergo their own personal story lines which causes them to separate for most of the season only to have their stories merge together at the end. Viewers will find Annie living in a blissful bubble, not realizing the troubles occurring to both George and Mitchell. Annie will come across issues of men, a baby, and dealing with her mother. George will continue to deal with the wolf that lives within him, which nearly took over him last season, and Mitchell must deal with his blood lust.

Some light was also shed on season three of the show. The cast and crew have moved from Bristol and headed to Cardiff, the same city from Doctor Who and Torchwood. Aidan was a bit jealous, as he is the only one out of the four who still has not been a part of Doctor Who. Steven Moffat – get him on!

Aidan went on to say how season two’s locations are a lot more iconic than season one even though most were the same and done on the same budget. Tovey, Crichlow, Turner, and Keenan all agreed that credit had to be given to the production team. Season three will be shot in studio so one can expect bigger and better from Being Human’s production team.

When I asked about any new supernatural creatures that might appear in season two I was told to possibly expect a new one in season three as season two will continue with ghosts, vampires, and werewolves. Russell and Lenora did say we could possibly see more of a political structure to werewolves in season three. The threat for season three comes from within. Does that mean the big bad will be George, Annie, Mitchell, or Nina? Only time will tell.

Discussing their time at Comic-Con, the group talked about premiering the second season the previous night to attendees of SDCC. Aiden joked that most people have probably already seen season two illegally, since it already aired in its entirety in the UK.

I asked how they felt about the episode differences between the UK and the USA. For those that don’t know, Being Human episodes run around 55 minute per episode, but when brought stateside they are cut down due to commercials. The average hour-long show in the USA is between 40-42 minutes of aired footage. The cast felt that the amount lost to commercials really affects the characters’ emotional development as well as the story’s plot. Russell joked saying he supports the illegal movement if it means people get to watch the real version. Aiden chipped in saying, “Go Illegal. Get it Right!” Lenora pitched in saying it is worth it to buy the uncut DVD box set if it means getting to watch the entire show how it was originally aired.

To wrap it up I’ll end with one of my questions, with possibly one of the funniest responses. On my plane ride to San Diego I was watching a few episodes of Being Human only to realize that George was naked in nearly every episode. Quite simply, I just had to ask Russell Tovey how he felt about getting naked on set.

Russell – First time I did it, it was around 6 o’clock in the morning and in a really cold wooded area in winter in Bristol.

Aidan – Freezing!

Russell – So my pride was destroyed.

Everyone laughs

Russell – As much as I say I don’t, every man will check out another man’s “tackord.” They’ll have a sneaky glance and I felt sneaky glances all day. By the end of the day I was like you’ve all seen it and so you just run around naked. Yea I’m used to it, but I have no idea why George has to take all his clothes off but that’s part of the script.

Lenora – I do. I know why. It’s hot.

Russell – Thanks babe.

Lenora – Yea it is. You know it is.

Russell – You just get used to it. That’s just what’s written and they are quite nice. We started doing a scene the other day where I wake up naked and when they said cut I would just stand there with my hands over my bits. No one was coming in and putting any cover on me. People were lighting around me, someone’s doing coffee, someone’s doing makeup and I’m like someone do me a favor and give me some protection. They think I’m so used to being naked that I’m fine.

Saturdays at 9/8c on BBC America.

For more Comic-Con coverage, click here.

Photographs courtesy of Poptimal.com and Bilal Mian.

Psych Review and Q&A: Talking with Tears For Fear’s Curt Smith

If you tuned in to Psych on Wednesday night, you might have noticed something a little bit different with the theme song.

Alright, make that very different!

It’s not the first time Psych’s “I Know You Know” opening song has been changed to reflect the episode’s theme – it’s been translated into Hindi and Spanish and even sung a cappella by Boyz II Men! This time around, Curt Smith of Tears for Fears fame added his own smooth retro twist to the song as part of his special guest appearance on the show.

“I made it as retro as I possibly could with some humor,” said Curt. “It was a mixture of going back to very old synthesizers and adding some humor to that as well. It was actually a really enjoyable experience, I have to say.”

The real structure for the “Shawn 2.0″ episode, however, came from Nestor Carbonell’s character Declan Rand. Declan is a criminal profiler who basically one-ups Shawn (James Roday) at every occasion: asking Juliet out on a date, connecting multiple murders, and describing the suspect. It’s definitely one of Pysch’s better episodes and I’m glad Declan will be a recurring character!

Curt Smith comes into the frame when Shawn and Gus arrive at Declan’s house and find out he’s actually filthy rich and can afford to fly out rockstars to his home for private parties. Curt is playing “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” on his guitar by the pool when Declan, Shawn, and Gus walk by. It’s no big deal for Declan, but Shawn fanboys Curt in a way only he could.

In fact, maybe there wasn’t a lot of acting required from James Roday when he meets Curt Smith! The Tears for Fears singer was originally approached by James to appear on Psych after one of his shows at the Wiltern Theatre in Los Angeles.

“I was introduced to James backstage and then he said, ‘would you come and do a guest spot on the show?” explained Curt. “And I thought well why not? The show is amusing.”

Apart from appearing on Psych, Curt hasn’t had much acting experience. He says he enjoyed the experience of being on the show and would definitely consider returning were he asked. The tricky part of acting, he says, is properly delivering the lines.

“What’s hard is that you’re talking someone else’s lines. Someone else has written them for you. Luckily, in my case [playing myself] I can say, ‘do you mind if I say it the way I would actually say it because it will be easier for me?’” he said.

Season 5, Episode 8: Shawn 2.0 (originally aired September 1, 2010)

Wednesdays at 10/9c on USA.

For more on Psych, click here.

Photographs courtesy of USA Network.

Project Runway Review: Button Knows Liars!

Season eight of Project Runway is getting dangerously close to pulling out the knives, or whatever fashion mavens do to settle their “I just can’t stand you and want you to no longer live” differences. Honestly there’s so much tension in this week’s episode, I’m considering going on Zanaprin just watching it.

Last week, Gretchen, Andy, Ivy and Christopher threw Michael under the bus in front of the judges. The purpose of this is questionable since he had immunity and could not go home. So, aside from creating a furious designer with something now to prove, it was purposeless. Maybe they thought that would be a good time to air their grievances. I don’t know. In spite of the fact that Tim found their behavior absolutely deplorable (my words, not his) this week the Detestable Quartet still thinks they were right and that Michael’s “lack of talent” is justification enough to show their behinds to the judges. Michael, of course, is still hurt and has become distrustful of the motives of the other competitors. You have no friends here, it’s true. Right on the back of that is his determination to continue strong in the competition. Yes, they have just loaded the gun to shoot themselves in the foot.

In the challenge this week, the designers have to transform hideous bridesmaids dresses into a fashionable look that their models can wear again and again. Oh, and speaking of models, there are new models for this week’s challenge. And as the designers catch glimpses of the line-up of average women in their questionable frocks, their horror is real. Tacky, shiny, ugly: these are just a few of the words that come to mind. Now while these dresses aren’t horrible (!!!) all of them are completely shapeless and compliment no one. One actually sort of looks like a sack, which I’m sure made model number seven, the owner of said dress, completely thrilled.

In the design phase, Christopher learns his model dropped out and he is given a new one with an even uglier dress. The color’s not bad, just strong and it’s covered in a black net of grotesqueness. Christopher is less than pleased. Valerie and Andy continue to trash talk. Evil Gretchen gives a completely unconvincing performance of wanting to go home. Even though I know it’s completely phony, I wish for the best with her speedy exit. Feeling “down,” Gretchen looks for perspective and Skypes with her mom and after absolutely no real convincing she decides to stay. Oh isn’t that sweet, her mom is her best friend. Isn’t that great, she learns there’s more to life than fashion. Tricky Gretchen, did you try to manipulate us?

During the designing, Tim calls himself “crazy about” Mondo’s design. April seconds this as well as Mondo’s inventiveness in turning his shiny fabric inside out. Valerie, Ivy, and Andy hope this will be the challenge to send Michael home and if his model is any indication he might be. She wants so much in this dress, Michael is having a hard time editing it. On viewing Valerie’s outfit Tim calls it “as far away from fashion as one can get.” It’s Stepford Wives meets Tennis Player. Big yawnfest. Tim tells her she needs to focus on making it good enough to get through to the next challenge.

The other Michael has a couple of problems. For the first, his original dress is polyester’s own brand of horrible and a bright pink. As a source material it sucks, and Michael is having a really tough time trying to work with it. And so to compound a bad situation even worse, Michael doesn’t have enough money for the fabric he wants so he settles for a cheaper version which just looks cheap. Peach dress looks like two ugly dresses somehow morphed together to become one hideous green and curtain looking catastrophe.

In a surprise twist the designers learn that before the runway, their designs will be judged by the public. The results of this will be taken into consideration at the runway. Not only do the designers have to showcase their designs, this is a chance for them to sell themselves to the public. It becomes clear halfway through the challenge that Michael and Mondo are crowd favorites. The other Michael doesn’t fare so well getting one single button. But he has a very good attitude about it; in fact he could teach some designers a lesson. Which leads us to Ivy, spoilsport stuck at three tells the other designers that the reason she isn’t getting any votes is because Michael has been telling people not to vote for her. They don’t show actual footage of Michael doing this so I choose not to believe. But even if he did, she is what he called her (rhymes with witch, starts with a b) and she deserves. She been talking smack about the designers all day, and now she’s upset because Michael was smart enough to get a more effective audience. For the record, Michael denies ever having said anything negative about Ivy.

On panel this week, designer Cynthia Rowley serves as the guest judge.

On the runway, it becomes clear that few designers conquered the beasts of the bridesmaid gown as most of the dresses prove a scant improvement over the original. Ivy’s outfit completely washed out her model. The light designs on her fair model looked weird. Peach feels so awful about her design that she won’t even look at the judges. This is a well-deserved feeling and I commend her on her honesty.

The top three designers this week were Christopher, Michael and Mondo. Of the three, Mondo’s dress makes the clearest statement. It has a great feel and if his model’s hair didn’t look like something from the Flintstones he’d have my vote. But it proves far too distracting for me and when Michael wins once again; the Quartet are disgusted. I LOVE IT!!!

In the bottom three are Valerie, Peach, and the other Michael. It is incredibly clear that the judges have nothing nice to say about Peach’s design. (They actually say they have nothing nice to say about her design.) So, Valerie’s awkward colorblocking and the other Michael’s prom dress have nothing to fear. It’s pretty cut and dry and Peach is sent packing.

Season 8, Episode 6:   You Can Totally Wear That Again (originally aired September 2, 2010)

For more on Project Runway, click here. You can follow Poptimal on Twitter @poptimal.

Thursdays at 9pm EST on Lifetime

Photographs courtesy of Lifetime.

Top Chef Review: It’s all too much to embrace as a human

In the final high stakes quickfire, the chefs are tasked with creating a dish to pair with a particular wine. Guest judge Dana Cowin of Food and Wine magazine, named Angelo and Tiffany the best, with Kevin and Kelly at the bottom. Angelo’s foie gras won, and he gets to go on an all expense paid trip to London. Looks like he’s got his mojo back.

Padma also announces that the final challenges will take place in Singapore and there’s five chefs left with only four spots available. Who makes it to the final four will be determined in this final DC elimination round. The contestants visit NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center where they discover that they are to create a dish that can be eaten in space. Vickie Kloeris (NASA’s Manager, International Space Station Food System and Space Food Systems Laboratory) gives some guidelines to not make their food too sweet, watch their portioning, and that spicy is good. The winner not only has a spot on the final four, but will also have their food reproduced and sent to space for astronauts to eat.

The chefs serve their food at the Ronald Reagan International Trade Center to guest judge Anthony Bourdain, Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin, astronauts Sandra Magnus and Leland Melvin, Vickie Kloeris, Padma, Tom, and Eric Ripert. Gail, I’m guessing is off filming Top Chef: Just Desserts at this point in time.

Bourdain funnily takes a shot at Ripert whom he strongly disagrees with concerning Ed’s Moroccan themed dish. He’s also a big fan of Angelo’s short ribs. Otherwise everyone is pretty happy with all the food with the exception of Tiffany’s dish. It wasn’t awful but they did have more negative things to say about it compared to the others.

Speaking of Tiffany, she gets into a trouble when her mussels get frozen and she is forced to change her game plan. But does it hurt her in the end? Indeed it does unfortunately. The contestant that seemed to be the one to beat ends up getting sent home because the judges liked her dish least. Valiant effort throughout the season and she was by far the nicest and most drama-free competitor. I really hoped she would make it to the finals.

I think it came down between Kevin and Tiffany to get kicked off. I’m sad to be wrong, but I understand that the judges felt that her dish didn’t come together. Kevin’s was so boring and uninspiring but he executed well. Thus that’s the kicker, Tiffany was kicked off because the sauce lacked acidity, the pepper skins were bitter, and the tomatoes were mealy. If we look at their overall performance I think Kevin should have been sent home.

Tiffany is in tears as Padma says her name and she realizes how close she came to the finals. It’s sad to see her go. At least she gets to go to France and has won twenty thousand dollars.

“I feel like I made love to this dish!” so claims Angelo at judge’s table. I understand that this was said out of his passion for cooking, but is the show still painting him out to be the weird one? Me thinks yes. But he actually wins the elimination round with his ginger short ribs and receives a brand new Toyota Avalon along with Bourdain’s new book.

“It’s too much to embrace as a human to tell you the truth,” he says then it cuts to his hand stroking the key muttering what sounds like, “Thank you Jesus.”

In this episode we learn all about Angelo and his relationship to Asia. There were a lot of quirky little details that makes me scratch my head a little and I believe that the show producers still want me to think that this guy is a little strange.

Here’s a list:

-       Angelo feels Asian inside

-       He is recently divorced; I believe his ex-wife is an Asian woman because of a) he says he has a kid from that marriage and we see a picture of him holding an Asian baby and b) he talks about how her family were big on “saving face” and wanted him to be a doctor or lawyer.

-       He owns an Asian themed restaurant

-       He mainly creates Asian themed/inspired food

On top of the new things we learned about him in this episode, let’s not forget he’s also engaged to a woman in Russia whom he’s only met a few times, the whole Tameka flirting that I’ve written about before in previous reviews, and his worship of prominent chefs as a child.

But on the whole I was happy with the elimination challenge because it was something new and I can understand why Tiffany was kicked off even though I wish it had been Kevin instead.

Since the finals are in Singapore, Angelo appears to have a great advantage. Will he continue to do well or will he crack under the pressure? I just don’t know folks.

For more on Top Chef, click here. You can follow Poptimal on Twitter @poptimal.

Season 7, Episode 12: Gastro-nauts (originally aired on Sept. 1, 2010)

Wednesdays at 10/9C, Bravo

Photographs courtesy of Bravo and David Giesbrecht.

White Collar Review: The Suit Meets the Corporate Suits

Corporate espionage, poison and murder, oh my. All in a day’s work, so to speak, for our dynamic duo, Neal Caffrey and Peter Burke. They are working to take down criminals, and dealing with their own inner dilemmas.  This week, Peter ponders “what if” he had chosen the corporate lifestyle and Neal wrestles with the concept of revenge versus justice.

We join White Collar as Peter introduces the team to their new case: the murder of a technology firm’s (Novice Systems), research and developmental specialist, Joseph Hayes. The murder is believed to be linked to corporate espionage. Peter explains that Hayes was murdered for the valuable prototype for binary code breaking that he created. Their suspect: founder and CEO Wesley Kent, who had a meeting with Hayes the night he died and seems to be hiding something. The plan: Peter, yes Peter not Neal, armed with his accounting degree, to go undercover as the annual auditor for Novice Systems.

At the Burkes’ home, Peter is preparing for his undercover work and Neal questions “what if” Peter had taken the corporate accounting career route rather than the FBI. Peter responds, “I’ve got the bureau. I’ve got Elizabeth. No regrets.” Peter then tells Neal that he wants to work together on the cockpit recording and to arrange a meeting between Mozzie and Diana to exchange information.

Peter reports to Novice Systems for his first day of auditing/undercover work and is provided with a lavish office with amazing views of NYC. He secretly plugs in a thumb drive that gives Agent Jones access to the Novice Systems database.

Meanwhile, in a very funny scene, Neal referees a meeting between Diana, “Lady Suit,” and Mozzie, his “pocket sized pal.” Neal encourages them to work together to find Fowler—the one person that can tell them what really happened with Kate.

In Peter’s luxurious hotel suite, Peter and El are skyping. In an “aw how cute” moment, Peter shows El the best part of the room—her picture that he brought. Neal arrives with some information from Jones: failed password attempts on Hayes’ laptop. The upper executives, like Kent, are ruled out since they have access to the passwords, so Peter suggests focusing on the junior executives. Peter decides to bring in Neal to “work” in marketing. Neal says, “marketing? I can do marketing.” I say, with that face, he can do anything.

At Novice Systems, Neal easily bonds with the junior executives and gets invited to dinner. Neal and Peter decide to make the mole come to them by having Neal spread gossip about Hayes at dinner, which he does.

The plan works—later that night, Neal catches a junior executive, Jessica Breslin, snooping around Peter’s office. Back at the hotel, as Peter is enjoying his new life of espresso, silk sheets and room service, he receives a dinner invitation from Kent for the next night. Neal shows up to discuss Jessica and they agree she could be spying for a competitor.

Diana and Mozzie swap information on Fowler at Neal’s apartment. June conveniently interrupts to allow Mozzie to take a quick look in Diana’s bag. He sees Mozart sheet music—so now Mozzie’s wheels are spinning.

At the same time, Neal searches in Jessica’s office—he finds mail containing information about Wesley Kent’s recent international travels, which he shares with Peter. Neal then has a “business lunch” with Mozzie who explains that Diana has the Mozart sheet music from 1775—the year the music box was made. Mozzie deduces that she had to have heard the music to know it was Mozart. Mozzie also alerts Neal that Jessica was following him. Neal follows and goes to talk to Jessica when she pulls a gun on him, demanding, “who are you working for?”

Back at the bureau, Jessica explains that she was dating Hayes and now is investigating his murder. She says that Kent lied about the prototype and has been shredding documents in his office. The FBI decides to put a hidden scanner on Kent’s shredder to copy the documents pre-shredding. But Kent’s office door is password-protected, so Peter must get a recording of the password from his dinner with Kent.

Peter’s dinner goes smoothly—not only does he use a recording device built into a pen to record the password but Kent also offers Peter a job. The next part—getting into Kent’s office is up to Neal—goes off without a hitch, and he puts the scanner on the shredder.

At the FBI office, Neal shows Jessica the pen recorder and explains how he got in Kent’s office. Jessica pours out her feelings and suggests that arresting Kent may not be enough for her, which Neal seems to understand.

The scanner proves to be helpful—Peter sees documents that reveal that Kent had Hayes’ prototype the whole time and was planning to sell it to a foreign government. Hayes did not want to be involved so Kent killed him making it look like a competitor did. Peter wants to use Jessica as bait even though Neal explains he’s not sure if she wants revenge or justice.

Agent Burke and Kent have a final meeting regarding the audit. Peter plants the seed about Jessica and then has a drink with Kent.

Outside, Neal receives a phone call from Mozzie while waiting with Jessica for an FBI agent to put her into protective custody. Mozzie tells Neal that Peter knows Diana has the music box. Neal suddenly sees the pen recorder with Kent’s office password in Jessica’s purse and demands to know what she did. She explains she poisoned the Armagnac in Kent’s office, which he and Peter just drank.

Neal runs in the building, past security, who calls 911, and hotwires the elevator to get to Kent’s floor. Meanwhile, a dying Peter questions a dying Kent about the poison and Hayes. Neal arrives as Peter collapses and Neal drags him to the elevator but Peter sends Neal back for Kent. The paramedics arrive to help both Peter and Kent—while on a stretcher Peter, with some help from Diana, arrests Kent for the murder of Joseph Hayes. Also, Jessica is arrested for attempted murder.

Peter, with a clean bill of health, is back at work. Despite his week of living the corporate life, he has no regrets about his career path with the FBI because without it, he wouldn’t have met the love of his life, Elizabeth. Neal then confronts Peter about the music box and says he is ready to see it. At Neal’s apartment, Peter warns Neal that his options are revenge or justice but with him involved it will have to be the latter. Peter shows Neal the music box and explains that he thinks there is a missing key, which Neal produces. The duo agrees to “no more secrets” and open the music box together as the episode comes to a close. Oh, I hate having to wait another week for some answers…

The scenes with Mozzie and Diana were very entertaining. I enjoy seeing the different and unique dynamics of Mozzie’s relationships with Neal, Peter, Elizabeth, June, Jones and now Diana.

It was so nice to have a short and sweet June cameo. We don’t see her enough…more June please!

I’m excited to see what is in store for us next week with White Collar’s summer finale. Let’s not forget last season’s midseason finale when they nearly gave us all heart attacks suggesting Peter was the man with the ring. I’m preparing myself.

Will Neal choose revenge or justice? Looks like he is leaning towards revenge, check it out for yourself here.

For more on White Collar, click here.  You can follow Poptimal on Twitter @poptimal.

Season 2, Episode 8:  Company Man (originally aired August 30, 2010)

Tuesdays at 9/8c on USA Network

Images courtesy of David Giesbrecht and the USA Network.

The Emmy Awards: Quick and Painful

LOST lost. Big time.

Despite the fact that Jimmy Fallon was hilarious and Modern Family took home the Emmy for best comedy, LOST didn’t win anything so I hated the Emmys. I’m heartbroken and reeling all over again as I’m forced to accept that the series really is over, and maybe everyone really didn’t love it as much as I did.

Before I share my sorrows, let’s run through the highlights of the night as quickly as the presenters gave out the awards:

Breaking Bad: What are you? Who are you? Apparently this show is going on its fifth season, and I have no idea what it is, but Bryan Cranston won for best actor (aka Matthew Fox did not), and Aaron Paul won for best supporting actor (aka Terry O’Quinn was robbed). I still think of Bryan as the dad from Malcolm in the Middle, and I have no idea who Aaron Paul is, so I’m less than impressed.

Comedy winners for acting: That’s right, Edie Falco, you aren’t funny, and your feigned surprise/modesty is annoying. Amy Poehler is actually the funniest woman on the planet, and Parks & Recreation became pee in your pants funny during its second season–so again, robbed. And, Jim Parsons, really? Who are you, what is your show? Glee’s actors should have dominated these awards, even though I don’t think it is totally fair to throw comedy and musicals in the same category. I can swing a joke, but that doesn’t mean I can sing out loud without clearing a room.

Archie Panjabi: I really love you, but your speech was the worst. The Good Wife is an awesome show (even though I stopped watching after 6 episodes, how did that happen?), and I have loved Archie ever since she played the annoying sister in Bend It Like Beckham, but who gets up there and says, “thanks, this award will be great for my career”? They aren’t even serving booze at this awards show, so I don’t know why she would be that honest. I wanted tears and funny speeches. This is not a networking event, Archie.

George Clooney: Dream boat. George definitely deserves the crap out of that Bob Hope Humanitarian Award. He told us to keep the spotlight burning on issues that are important even after the media (liberal fascists!) gets distracted by another Duggar baby. But really, a tip of the hat to Mr. Clooney. I’m going to go donate blood now. Or something.

Temple Grandin: I should probably watch this made for HBO movie because it was winning left and right. I will try to ignore the fact that I can’t stand Claire Danes since she stole Mary Louise-Parker’s baby daddy.

Best Variety show: RIP The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien. Hopefully Conaw will kick The Daily Show’s ass next year…even though I really think The Daily Show is the best thing on TV. So torn.

Bucky Gunts: Got the most hilarious introduction for his win as director of a variety, musical or comedy special (or something along those lines). Ricky Gervais is the second most hilarious person in the room after Amy Poehler. I wonder if the beers he brought out from backstage really were non-alcoholic?

LOST: Ghost times sad cat.

I’m still not ready to talk about LOST ending, hence why you never saw a review of the finale from me. Truth be told, I laughed the entire finale and was so disappointed that even my homemade Dharma beer couldn’t console me. However, there is no denying that LOST is the biggest thing to happen to TV since the clicker. It had such an amazing ensemble cast (please ignore most of season 2, I’m talking to you Nikki and Paulo), great story lines, and was all around bitchin. Now, I admit that my perception of how good the show was in its final episodes, let’s get real–seasons, was definitely clouded by my unwavering obsession with the concept of the show and unrequited love for JJ Abrams.

But still, I think LOST deserved legit recognition for being such a cultural phenomenon. You cannot deny that Matthew Fox and Terry O’Quinn gave unreal performances this past season (even though the stuff they were forced to say was stupid and repetitive most of the time). You also cannot deny that in the grand scheme of things, LOST was the best drama this year. You could not walk down a street the week of the finale without overhearing people mumble “4,8,15,16, 23, 42″ to themselves. Even if the actual season wasn’t that great, I was so affected by this series ending that I think it deserved its name to be etched next to the words “drama” on that GD Emmy. This show actually interfered with my daily life as I pondered the fate of the flight 815 passengers and the Others and struggled to accept that it was all over, and that it didn’t live up to my expectations. For a show to connect that deeply with viewers (I know I’m not the only one, I read the message boards), it definitely deserved to win the Emmy. I don’t care if that makes me lowbrow. I’ll take Mad Men any other year, but 2010 will always be the year LOST went off the air and made the lives of people who watch TV a little less fulfilling.

Was that dramatic enough?

For more on Lost, click here.

For more on the Emmy Awards, click here.

Photographs courtesy of ABC.

Entourage Review: Open Mouth, Insert Foot

Vince has been in love before, and it has negatively impacted his career before.  Remember Mandy Moore? So the fact that he’s in love is no surprise.  What is shocking is how quickly and deeply he appears to have fallen for Sasha.  This “relationship” is really frustrating me.  I don’t know how much time we’re supposed to believe has elapsed between their first meeting at a party and the present day, but it’s ridiculous.  He immediately began treating her as if she were his girlfriend, and the embarrassing part is that she doesn’t appear to be as into him as he is into her.  Every week I want to yell at my TV, “Vince you’re playing yourself!”

After meeting with new Air-walker director Peter Berg, Vince manages to secure a small role in the film for Sasha, in hopes that she will forego the adult film she’s been offered.  To make matters worse, one of her co-stars in the movie would be her ex-fiancé.  Vince really doesn’t want her to take the part, but this is what she does and he can’t change her.  When she finds out about the role in Air-walker she’s excited, but she still may take the adult movie gig.  Vince gets upset because he thought she said she wouldn’t do it if she could get another legit part.  Sasha says she never agreed to that.  This “relationship” is untenable, and I’ll be glad when it’s over.  Hopefully the writers are only putting Vince and Sasha together to underscore his temporary out of control, addictive lifestyle.  When (if) Vince sobers up, I hope he shows Sasha the door.

While Vince and Sasha are beefing over dinner, Ari and Mrs. Ari are at the same restaurant.  Amanda Daniels is also there having dinner with a small group of men.  Earlier in the day Ari bumped into Dana Owens (Queen Latifah), and she told him that Amanda was now working to bring an NFL team to L.A.  Assuming that she vindictively stole his opportunity, Ari goes berserk.  He tries to ambush her at her office but she’s not there.  He’s trying to make up with the missus by spending more time with the family and leaving his Blackberry at work – so he has to race over to the restaurant to meet his wife.  He gets his assistant to plant his Blackberry in the bathroom, and he later retrieves it like a scene from The Godfather.  He calls Amanda, who says that she’s been trying to reach him.  Before she can fully explain, he drops the phone in the toilet.  When he gets back to his table, she comes over to have a word with him.  Mrs. Ari says that it’s not a good time, but before Amanda can walk away Ari completely rips her a new one in front of the entire restaurant.  He says that he’s never hit a woman but he would like to pummel her face.  Ari is a funny guy, but you know what? I’ve never really liked him.  Lots of people say he’s their favorite character, but I think he’s a mean prick.  He’s a complete asshole to everyone except his wife and certain clients.  Amanda calmly explains that she didn’t leak the tapes to the media; a vindictive assistant did that, and she fired him.  Furthermore, the gentlemen at her table are from the NFL and they had been discussing bringing him on board.  Now?  Forget it. Nice going Ari.

Johnny has finally gotten on board with Johnny’s Bananas, the animated creation of Billy Walsh in which he will star.  Things are looking up for him.  Turtle and Alex are trying to get the tequila company off the ground, and have managed to secure funding from Dallas Mavericks’ owner Mark Cuban to expand the production plant in Mexico.  For some reason Carlos isn’t keen on the idea.  I guess he fears that he’s in danger of losing his small, family business to a rich American.  The episode closes with Turtle, Alex, Billy, Johnny and Lloyd all chilling out, celebrating Johnny’s show when Lloyd discovers a big bag of coke.  Will they stage an intervention?  Or is Vince really surrounded by “yes” men?  I can’t wait to find out.

Season 7, Episode 9: Porn Scenes from an Italian Restaurant (originally aired August 29, 2010)

For more Entourage, click here.

Sundays at 10:30pm ET/PT on HBO

Photographs courtesy of HBO and IMDbPro

Next Page »