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.

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 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.

Meet Garrett (Justin Long), a low level executive at Diesel Records based in NYC, who is stuck with the task of landing the next hit boy band rather than talented bands he is interested in. We learn that Garrett has commitment issues and witness his current relationship go down the drain with Amy (Leighton Meester). Meet Erin (Drew Barrymore), a thirty-one year old intern at the New York Senitel newspaper, who dreams of being a reporter. Her life is finally back on track after she took a detour and dropped out of college to be with a guy she thought was “the one.” She has six weeks left in NYC before returning to live with her sister in California and Stanford graduate school.

Garrett and Erin’s meet-cute—at a local bar, where they are both drowning their sorrows, when Garrett interrupts Erin’s Centipede arcade game. They bond over bar trivia and end up spending the night together. At breakfast the next morning, they exchange numbers and agree to keep their relationship light.

What is supposed to stay a carefree fling turns into something more as Erin’s time winds down in the Big Apple. When Erin heads back to California, she and Garrett begin an exclusive bi-coastal long distance relationship. Things go smoothly at first but as they spend more time apart than together, they are faced with many challenges with their long distance relationships—jealousy, loneliness, communicating with time zone differences, expensive airfare etc. The idea of one of them moving is tossed around but the bad economic climate makes finding a new job, on the opposite coast, quite impossible. We witness Erin and Garrett grow frustrated with the relationship and the fact that the person they love is 3,000 miles away. Can they make their relationship work? You’ll have to watch the film to see if Erin and Garret have what it takes to go the distance.

The supporting cast is especially important to the film since Erin and Garrett spend much of their time with them in their respective cities. The rest of the cast includes Erin’s neat freak and protective older sister, Corinne (Christina Applegate), who doesn’t approve of Garrett and laid-back brother-in-law Phil (Jim Gaffigan). But the two who easily stole some of the spotlight were Garret’s two hysterical friends—Box (Jason Sudeikis) and Dan (Charlie Day). Box, (yes that is really his name), with a “time machine” mustache to attract older women, was not always thrilled that Garrett was constantly on the phone with Erin as evidenced in an amusing driving range scene. Garret’s roommate Dan, not the brightest bulb but means well, deejays Garrett’s first night with Erin and has an “open door policy” when using the bathroom.

The lead actors, Drew Barrymore and Justin Long, have a strong chemistry and played well off of each other. They seem very comfortable in their roles and easily brought their characters to life—Erin, the strong-willed, at times goofy woman, who always spoke her mind, and Garrett, the caring and sensitive Top Gun fanatic with boyish looks.

Going the Distance is a breezy film filled with plenty of laughs, due to many punchy one-liners. It is a comedy that should appeal to both sexes. Plus, the film effectively uses split screens and technology like texting and Skype to show Erin and Garret communicating. It is worth mentioning that much of the humor is raunchy and a bit crass. Plus, there is a ton of cursing which may turn some viewers off.

Director Nanette Burstein, explained, “coming from documentaries, where I capture real life, I wanted to direct a movie that would feel as real as possible.” The realness of the film is one aspect that was very appealing to me. Perhaps it is simply because of Barrymore and Long’s on again off again relationship in real life but the emotions and affection seemed genuine. One of my favorite parts of the film is the montage of dates that Erin and Garrett go on during her last six weeks in New York—I felt as if I was witnessing real dates.

Going the Distance may not win any Academy Awards…but did it make me laugh? Yes. Was I invested in the characters? Yes. So, if you’re looking for a laugh, take a journey with Erin and Garrett in Going the Distance.

Photo by Jessica Miglio – © MMX New Line Productions

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Written & hosted by: Ference and Double Edge
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T. Dubb is a lover of the arts and enjoys drawing, listening to music, and watching movies in her spare time. Originally from Los Angeles, she currently resides in Davis, CA.

Check out our Pics from that night:

Poptimal.com's DC Team with Vanessa and Markett Poptimal.com's DC Team with Vanessa and Markett	Our Founder Zu Williams with DC On Heels co-founders Vanessa and Markette Our Founder Zu Williams with DC On Heels co-founders Vanessa and Markette	Writer Alana D. (center) enjoying the club atmosphere w/ girlfriends Nyema (left) and Sonia (right) Writer Alana D. (center) enjoying the club atmosphere w/ girlfriends Nyema (left) and Sonia (right)
Writer Alana D. (center) enjoying the club atmosphere w/ girlfriends Nyema (left) and Sonia (right) Writer Alana D. (center) enjoying the club atmosphere w/ girlfriends Nyema (left) and Sonia (right)	Writer Alana D. (center) hanging out w/ DC On Heels co-founders Vanessa (left) and Markette (right) Writer Alana D. (center) hanging out w/ DC On Heels co-founders Vanessa (left) and Markette (right)	Our Manager of Movie Content Jamal Henry kicking it with his wife Nyema Our Manager of Movie Content Jamal Henry kicking it with his wife Nyema
Our founder Zu Williams w/ DC entrepreneur Ramone Penny Our founder Zu Williams w/ DC entrepreneur Ramone Penny	Writer Mighel Jakson w/ girlfriend Sonia Writer Mighel Jakson w/ girlfriend Sonia	Jone Dome Regular Sebastian (center) hanging with Manager of Movie Content Jamal Henry (left) Jone Dome Regular Sebastian (center) hanging with Manager of Movie Content Jamal Henry (left)
Poptimal.com writers Matt DeGroot and Linda S. with Markette, Vanessa, and Wende Poptimal.com writers Matt DeGroot and Linda S. with Markette, Vanessa, and Wende	Poptimal.com witers Matt DeGroot and Linda S. w/ Friend Wende Poptimal.com witers Matt DeGroot and Linda S. w/ Friend Wende

In addition to two vastly distinct feature films, Grindhouse also boasted a handful of fake movie trailers to bridge the gap between films. Well, one of the most memorable ones of the bunch featured a renegade Mexican named Machete who always “gets the women and kills the bad guys!” It was outrageous and clearly stuck in people’s heads because now three years later we have a full-length feature based on that trailer and I’m happy to report that it was worth the wait and the effort.

Robert Rodriguez and co-director Ethan Maniquis could have easily thrown together any mess of a film called Machete and chalked any imperfections in quality up to it being intentionally bad but as I watched it I couldn’t help but notice the care that actually went into the film and the craft behind each shot. Not only is this a well-made B-movie, it also has a semblance of brain and heart in the political stance it takes on the immigration issue. Don’t get me wrong and assume that the politics ever override the bloodbath action or gratuitous sex because they don’t even come close, but in its own special way the film is an inspiration and beacon of hope for those fighting against the extreme and discriminatory laws being passed in places like Arizona. This movie won’t be enough to turn the tide of public opinion but it just might inspire a few people to stand up…but then again, within the first five minutes of the film a naked woman pulls a phone out of her vagina to make a call so maybe I’m just being overly optimistic.

But yeah, a naked chick taking a phone out of her vagina is actually one of the least vulgar things in the film so if you’re offended just stop reading now and don’t even consider seeing it. But those of you who get a giggle from vagina phones or seeing a man using another man’s intestines to swing from one window to another are in for a treat.

I’d go into great detail on the plot but it really is the last thing that matters while watching Machete.  That is not to say there isn’t a plot because there definitely is and at times it actually gets convoluted and complex enough to become tedious because that’s really not what we came for. But in a nutshell, Machete (Danny Trejo) is a former Mexican Federale who has lost his family to a drug lord played by Steven Seagal and is forced to cross the border into America where he attempts to make a living as a day laborer.

Life in Texas certainly isn’t great for him but one day a well-dressed fellow (Jeff Fahey) approaches him with an offer to kill a racist state senator (Robert DeNiro doing his best Tea Partier impression) for $150,000. Machete takes the job but is double-crossed and sets off on a road of revenge that has him encountering the Crazy Babysitter Twins, a sexy immigration officer (Jessica Alba), a sexy taco stand owner/revolutionary (Michelle Rodriguez), and a not-so-sexy gun-wielding priest in the form of Cheech Marin.

The already impressive cast also includes Don Johnson(humorously credited as ‘Introducing Don Johnson’) as a ruthless border patrol vigilante and everyone’s favorite train-wreck, Lindsay Lohan as the daughter of Fahey’s character. We see fairly quickly that Lohan is basically playing herself when we first meet her character while she passed out in a crack house. But things go downhill even further (like her career) when see her have a threesome with Machete and her mother! She may end the film in a nun outfit but we can safely say that nothing is sacred or holy about the girl.

Everyone plays their part with tongue very firmly in cheek to satisfying results and just seeing Trejo as the lead of a major film is a treat unto itself but the real star here is obviously the action. Every fight and every kill is so gruesome and gory that I guarantee you’ll be throwing up your arms (and maybe your lunch) with every swing of the blade. It is evident that Rodriguez found pure joy in crafting the action scenes because they are so damn hilarious and over the top that you can’t not enjoy them. I found myself giggling in sick pleasure from the gore unfolding in front of my eyes. One moment in particular involving a thermometer still brings a smile to my face hours after seeing it.

This is not the kind of movie that will ever find a huge audience because it’s humor and taste level is so specific but if you’ve ever had a good laugh at one of Rodriguez’s other adult films (Spy Kids doesn’t qualify) you’ll likely find something to enjoy here. It doesn’t barrel along as dynamically smooth as his Planet Terror from Grindhouse but the editing, the music, and the above-mentioned action make it a well-executed trip to the movies for those who are willing to accept its premise as a film who’s only objective is fun. And if you’ve ever wanted to see a Mexican gardener use his Weed Whacker as more than a lawn care tool, then this is most definitely the film for you. Lord knows it was for me.

Grade: B+

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

LOST

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.

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

Set in Los Angeles, the movie opens with a bank heist by a group of five men.  The men don’t enter the bank with guns blazing; rather they assemble on a vacant floor of the office building that houses the bank, preparing for the job there.  Clearly they’ve done their homework, right down to a brilliant escape plan.  The group is lead by Gordon and John, portrayed by Idris Elba (The Losers) and Paul Walker (Fast & Furious).  Chris Brown (This Christmas), Michael Ealy (Seven Pounds), and Hayden Christensen (Jumper) round out the cast.  They gather at a nearby location and divvy up the spoils, each departing in some sleek mode of transport.  As a unit, the group is cohesive and functions well, with each person knowing their role.  Ealy and Brown are brothers Jake and Jesse.  As A.J., Christensen handles the recon duties.  No reason is given for how and why this hodgepodge group of bandits decided to make their living by taking from others, but they ostensibly are very successful at what they do.  Each is impeccably dressed from head to toe, and their homes resemble those featured on MTV Cribs.  VIP treatment is what they expect.  They are cocky and daring, and life is good.

But things get interesting when a sixth member of the crew resurfaces.  Enter T.I. as Ghost, who is fresh off a 6 year bid in Chino.  He was busted while doing a job in ’04 with the gang, but kept his mouth shut.  He emerges from prison to find that his former love Lilly (Zoe Saldana, Avatar) has taken up with Jake, who has recently proposed after their successful bank heist.  Ghost also wants his share of the loot from the ’04 job.  His old mates aren’t exactly thrilled to see him, and they are even more skeptical when he wants to jump right into a new job.  Ghost wants to rob a few armored cars for about 30 million.  They would only have a few days to prepare.  They usually wait a year between jobs, but Ghost presses the issue and eventually greed takes over.  These guys are takers after all, as Gordon points out.  Their job is to take, so why not?  Although they pulled off the opening bank heist successfully, the Takers have drawn the ire and attention of two police officers, played by Matt Dillon (Crash) and Jay Hernandez (Quarantine). As Jack Welles, Dillon is smart and tough, but one step behind.  He spends most of the movie trying to piece it all together while side-stepping Internal Affairs.  The movie centers around the Takers’ ability to pull off the armored car heist while avoiding detection from law enforcement and keeping an eye on Ghost, whom they do not fully trust.

I would give Takers a strong 3 out of 4 stars.  The movie was not perfect.  Both T.I. and Chris Brown gave admirable performances, but I felt that their limited experience was evident in a few scenes and with the way they delivered their lines at times.  Also, the movie was a bit self-aware.  Clearly made for an MTV generation, Takers was all flash.  We get it, these guys are cool.  It worked for the most part because Idris Elba added some much needed heft to the movie.  I don’t know if it was his natural British accent or the fact that he was given a richer back story involving a drug-addicted sister (wonderfully played by Marianne Jean-Baptiste of Without a Trace), but Elba’s presence really elevated the movie.  You’ll hear many women praise the movie because of its “eye candy,” but there were some good performances.  I think Michael Ealy, Idris Elba, and Hayden Christensen were best in their roles.  T.I. was amateurish at times, but he showed flashes of potential in his portrayal of Ghost as a greedy and vengeful nemesis.  Paul Walker is lovely to look at it, but sometimes I think he attended the Keanu Reeves school of acting.  His omnipresent surfer dude intonation is passable in a movie set in L.A., but he comes across as a one note actor most of the time.  Love you Paul!

All in all, Takers doesn’t revolutionize the caper genre, but it is a solid addition.  Slick and stylish, it is sure to please most moviegoers.  The acting was surprisingly up to par, and there were several thrilling scenes that permeated with suspense and tension.  You won’t be disappointed.

Photo courtesy by Suzanne Tenner – © 2010 Screen Gems

In the challenge this week the designers are tasked to create a collection for Fall 2010. In teams of six, the designers are split into two groups, schoolhouse style. One designer picks the next, who then picks the next, so on and so forth. As winner of the last week’s challenge Michael gets first choice; very unwisely he chooses Gretchen. This is a horrible mistake! Can I say ew! The girl is a good designer, of course, but her ego makes it impossible to work with her. Add into that her disdain for Michael (which he probably doesn’t know of at this point) and that is a very bad move. From this point on, the team turns decidedly anti-Michael as Gretchen’s cohorts quickly join the stage. Gretchen picks Ivy (resident hater) who then picks Andy (another hater) thereby completing the perfect haters trifecta. Include also a bitter Christopher and a sulking AJ and it’s like… WHAT?! This group is full of heavy hitters, and as we the viewers know heavy haters. There’s going to be drama flying around, criticism and barbs thrown everywhere. Ouch.

On the other team, the not quite dramatic team, is Peach, April, Mondo, Casanova, the other Michael, and Valerie. This team is being rooted as the underdog, and with the winners of the previous four challenges all on the other team, this does seem like a David/Goliath situation if say Goliath was schiznophrenic.

The affect of all of the “superhero” designers on one team is tragic. For Team Lux, aka Goliath, instead of individual pieces the designers will create pick and choose elements of each garment to create. This is meant to cater to each designer’s strong suit. But what it really does is eliminate any chance of expressing individual style. To forward the spirit of group unity, selfless Ivy proves she’d rather offer criticism than help. And when Michael comes to her for help, she rejects him and then spends the next forever minutes telling him he screwed it up. Gretchen completely overrides the rest of her team and sticks her arrogant nose into everything that everyone’s doing. “I’m in every one even if I’m not the one sewing.” Remember that Gretchen. After Tim comes in for evaluation, he warns the team that in comparison to the other team Lux’s collection is “ho- hum.” And in truth these designs do look like Peach’s model’s grandmother would wear them in the good ole’ days. In spite of this insight, Team Lux is confident with their designs and refuses to youth-en up their looks.

Whereas Lux is a cathastrophe, Team Military and Lace are completely calm and confident with their work. Everyone is doing their own design under the themeof Military and Lace and though they have their differences, they settle quickly. Really they’re quite boring. When Tim comes in he seems to be right on board with Military’s collection. He loves Mondo’s garment and is wowed by Valerie’s. Unfortunately for our dear Casanova, his garment gets hit the hardest. Tim thinks his lace top is matronly; it’s something the mother of the other designs would wear. This hits Casanova pretty hard; frustrated with all the negative feedback he receives Casanova has a breakdown and feels like giving up. But after a call to his aunt and a few kind words from his model, Casanova decides to give it one more shot. This time he rocks out a cream pair of pants that that the judges later call “super-chic {and} sexy.”

Designer Georgina Chapman serves as guest judge.

On the Runway Team Lux is surprised by their challenge loss and are sent offstage while the judges talk to the winning team. In the waiting room, Team Lux ponders over the judges’ bad decision as they try to rip apart the other collection. In an attempt to show why they should have won, Gretchen says that in a Project Runway first, the group created a collection that didn’t show any of the designers’ individual style. Like that’s a good thing. The team decides to make a pact to stand united in front of the judges. This is Gretchen’s idea and when AJ questions whether anyone will change their tune and throw someone under the bus on the runway, Gretchen denies this as a possibility.

On the runway the winning team is being praised on the individual style Team Lux has forgotten. The judges love that the collection was cohesive and still retained each designers’ signature style. Judge favorites include Casanova, whose pants bowled the judges over, and Pearl, whose smart navy and red suit Casanova called the best work he’s seen from her. But Casanova wins this one; his first.

The united Team Lux comes out and Gretchen acts as spokesman. She starts off by saying how proud everyone is of the collection and they stand united, blah, blah, blah. But after a while her bull runs out and she shows the true cretin she is. She says she hates the collection and Michael C. was the weak link. Now we see where the true unity lies as a spineless Ivy, Christopher, and Andy quickly second Gretchen’s nomination. When the judges direct their attention to people who can actually be eliminated, (Michael has immunity this week), Gretchen keeps the Michael bash going pointing out how flawed his garments were. Unfortunately for her, this puts Michael’s garments under scrutiny and his work is praised. They love his garments and Georgina calls a top that he made “perfect.” AJ declines to jump on the bashing wagon and chooses himself as the weak link. Unfortunately for him the judges agree (he made one ill-fitting garment out of the whole collection) and he is sent home.

Before he leaves Tim Gunn sits all the designers down and reprimands Team Lux for their behavior on the runway. I’ve never loved him more as he calls out the designers for their poor antics. He’s calls out the team for letting Gretchen manipulate them and just like a light bulb the designers realize ‘oh yeah, we were manipulated.’ Gretchen is hurt by that accusation, but her tears don’t burn her skin off so I don’t care. AJ says his goodbyes and so ends another week.

Season 8, Episode 5:   There Is an “I” in Team (originally aired August 26, 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.

For now, however, the inexplicable focus on Crystal and her family’s trailer-park treachery has stepped in, along with the frustratingly sluggish evolution of Sam and Tommy’s brotherly “love,” Jason’s inability to let go of his high school glory days, and Arlene’s God-fearing attempt to use Holly’s witchcraft to circumvent the fact that what she really wants is a blasphemous abortion. Yawn.

Luckily, Sunday’s episode begins at a fever pitch with a delicious cold open featuring perhaps the most dialogue we’ve heard from Pam, like, ever. Bill rushes into Fangtasia to either rescue Sookie, pummel Eric, or both if the opportunity arises. Pam interrupts his frantic search to inform him neither whiny faerie nor brooding vamp are present, a statement to which Bill insists he can “smell [Sookie’s] fear,” and calls Pam’s bluff. A delightful fang-off between Bill and Pam ensues, complete with Pam calling Bill an “infatuated tween” who can’t see the “bigger picture.” I concur. Snap out of it and get with the program, Bill – and bless you, Pam. She turns up the heat even further just before we cut to opening credits as she blasts Bill’s face with colloidal silver – “in stock and overpriced at your neighborhood health food store.” May I say it again? Bless you, Pam.

While Bill and Pam duke it out upstairs, Sookie has been chained up a la Lafayette in the basement the entire time before a spurned Yvetta finally slinks in to rescue her. After sneaking back upstairs, Sookie ambushes Pam by wrapping a silver chain around her neck and then dashes over to Bill to survey the damage done to his purdy little mug. Although temporarily blinded and disfigured, his injuries are determined benign and the colloidal silver-wielding Sookie demands information from a physically compromised Pam – particularly, why Eric impulsively decided to hold her captive. Pam tells Sookie she was intended to be “a gift for Edgington,” but now they’re “all gonna die” because of her escape. Guess Sookie’s missing the big picture here, too.

Back in Bon Temps, Jesus and Lafayette are having different reactions to their synchronized, time-traveling hallucinations while tripping balls on V the night before (I just reread that sentence and laughed out loud – True Blood, you are one of a kind). Amateur Jesus is still euphoric and chomping at the bit to try the drugs again in attempt to revisit the spooky ancestors encountered hours earlier (“Just like a virgin!” seasoned pro Lafayette scoffs. Ha!), while Lafayette is eager to err on the side of caution, providing Jesus with the rationale that the effects of V are unpredictable and there’s no way to know if they’ll have that kind of experience again. Then, when the “aftershocks” kick in and Jesus’s head turns into a technicolor demon, Lafayette is really ready to call it a day and tells Jesus he needs some rest and he’ll “call” him. Uh oh.

Jason’s still processing the notion that the gorgeous panther purring in his bedroom just morphed into his girlfriend, the redneck meth empire heiress, before his eyes. Crystal reminds Jason she had warned him from the start she had “secrets.” Jason protests, “I thought it was shoplifting or something!” The degeneracy of Crystal’s family is further revealed as Crystal interrupts Jason to remind him her problems exceed his because she’s all but forced to marry Felton and breed until she’s “old or dead,” adding the fact Felton is her half-brother to the already deprave mix. Jason, understandably, has heard enough for the time being and takes off to search for Sookie, leaving a miffed Crystal shouting from the front porch, “I ain’t done talkin’ yet!” Thankfully, however, she is — at least for now.

The recently reunited Jessica and Hoyt continue proving they’re the star couple on True Blood as they cuddle on the couch and discuss how much they missed each other without a single eye roll from yours truly. Hoyt is eternally grateful to Jessica for saving his life, showing his appreciation with a bit more passion than usual. Jessica assures him his sudden, overpowering virility is from the blood she fed him, prompting Hoyt to hilariously ask if drinking vampire blood would cause his arms and legs to grow back if they got chopped off – hypothetically, of course. Hee. Jessica interrupts the levity to tell Hoyt that if they’re serious about their relationship, she needs to be upfront about who she really is. She confesses to accidentally draining that unlucky trucker a few weeks back, and admits she has no desire to live off of True Blood alone. “I drink human blood, and I’m not gonna stop,” she declares. “This is what I am.” Hoyt then offers himself as Jessica’s own personal buffet, a proposal to which she delightfully concedes. Their palpable chemistry throughout the entire scene, particularly when Hoyt scoops Jessica in his arms as she feeds on him, puts Bill and Sookie’s tiresome romantic plight to shame. Congratulations on the wedding, Anna and Stephen, regardless.

Elsewhere, Eric confronts Russell at a museum, where the king and his beloved urn of Talbot guts are staring forlornly at a painting as the body of a drained security guard is lifelessly sprawled on the ground a few feet away. A grieving Russell asks Eric why he staked Talbot, and Eric is finally given the chance to explain his thousand-year-old grudge against Russell for bludgeoning his family. In typical Russell fashion, he snorts in Eric’s face, chuckling, “To lose the man I love because you miss your Mommy and Daddy? Well, that is a kick in the pants.” Eric informs Russell he has an enticing bribe for him in exchange for his clemency – the ability to experience daylight. “Daywalking?” Russell scoffs, under the common impression faeries and their sun-protective blood are long extinct. Eric assures Russell his proposition is valid, and manages to pique the king’s curiosity enough to bide some time to execute his real motives.

Bill and Sookie are making their getaway, speeding far from Fangtasia and back home to Bon Temps as fast as her little yellow car will take them. En route, the pair have a discussion about trust, and Sookie mentions that after “this whole Mississippi mess” she’d be “a crazy woman” to trust either Bill or Eric again. Yet here we are, Sook. Bill points out that he and Eric have different motives and are nothing alike, prompting him to  project a fantasy scenario in which he and Sookie have a “normal life.” To them, this apparently means Bill teaching third grade (!) and Sookie being a “super rich” real estate agent. There’s a vegetable garden in there somewhere, too. Just as Bill describes going “fishing with Jason” as part of his desired existence, Eric and Russell pop up in the middle of the road and the car comes to a screeching halt. A hungry, hungry Russell slams his fists on the hood so hard the back end of the car flies into the air, and Bill and Sookie are surely getting the sinking feeling they shouldn’t dig out their gardening gloves anytime soon.

Back at Merlotte’s, Sam’s bender is still going strong as he stumbles in on a mission to alienate his entire staff and clientele with drunken belligerence. He shouts obscenities of varying degrees to his room full of customers before lashing out on a trying-to-be-helpful Terry, horrified Arlene, and disgusted Holly, who tells Sam he can wait his own tables if he’s going to address his employees with such disrespect. I like her more and more every week. Holly and Arlene take off to practice her spiritual miscarriage ceremony in the woods, leaving a hapless Sam to his own devices.

Jason’s search for Sookie has apparently led him to the Bon Temps High School football field (uh, I don’t think that’s where she’s hiding, Jason) where he suspiciously spies fresh-faced star quarterback Kitch Maynard throwing superhuman passes. Literally. After watching the football barrel through the air with the speed and precision of a torpedo, Jason confronts the up-and-comer on his obvious use of V. Kitch neither confirms nor denies Jason’s accusations, but points out that despite its illegality, V is undetectable by drug tests (Really? That’s pretty convenient.) and neither his parents nor the principal care about his alleged use – in fact, they condone it. Jason is dumbstruck and assures Kitch his long-standing football record remains intact and authentic because he didn’t rely on drugs to enhance his performance. Kitch shrugs and tells Jason he’s getting a scholarship to LSU regardless, and therefore won’t have to be “part of the chain gang” in Bon Temps like Jason. Ouch.

Meanwhile, a devastated, freshly dumped Summer is pounding on Maxine’s door, explaining in between sobs that her plan to woo Hoyt was met without regard despite her best efforts, and best underwear. Maxine, after a fiery “Dagnabit!” and the like, assures Summer not to worry — Hoyt is simply under the spell of the “red-headed bloodsucker.” While I didn’t expect Hoyt’s busybody mother to be the driving force behind Summer’s particularly plucky persuasiveness, I’m not surprised. Unfortunately, between Summer’s gullible tendencies and Maxine’s bullheaded narrow-mindedness, I don’t foresee a happy ending for either lady. Maxine can go fly a kite as far as I’m concerned, but poor Summer should surely be given the opportunity to meet a doe-eyed dope in Bon Temps worthy of her affections without wasting her time with the beyond uninterested Hoyt. Moving on.

After shedding a few tears while visiting Eggs’ grave, Tara strolls into Merlotte’s just in time to witness a bleary-eyed Sam barely keep it together as he tends to every single guest in the restaurant by himself. “I could use some help in here,” he pointedly slurs. “I can see that,” Tara retorts. “Too bad I’m not workin’ tonight.” Heh. Tara makes her way to Andy’s booth and invites herself to sit down. As she gives him a silent stare, Andy awkwardly scrambles to make conversation (“I used to drink hot sauce straight from the bottle!”) and finally, noting he needs a drink refill, plans an escape route. Just as he gets up from the booth, Tara quips, “I know about Eggs.” As she starts to rip into Andy for covering up the truth and deeming him a “dirty, dirty cop,” he tears up and reveals that Eggs had entered the scene that night in serious anguish while wielding a knife – Jason had just acted through instinctive defense, and Eggs essentially committed suicide by cop. Tara, realizing neither Jason nor Andy is really the villain in this scenario, thus she has no one to blame in a blameless situation, begins to enter a whole new stage of grief – acceptance.

Sam, desperate for an extra pair of hands, throws an order pad at Tommy and tells him to take a table or ten. While Tommy throws the paper on the ground, feebly trying to convince Sam he’ll just memorize everything instead, Sam angrily insists he write things down because the kitchen needs an order ticket telling them what to make. At this point, noting the defensive despair on Tommy’s face and his overly dramatic refusal to use the note pad (although calling sloshed Sam “Joe Lee in a Sam suit” was the zing of the week), I realize Tommy is clearly illiterate – this also explains his cryptic skepticism when Sam suggested college a few weeks back. Sam, however, is a bit lacking in the perception department at this time and explodes, firing Tommy and telling him to move out of his apartment, then making his way to the dining room and demanding the whole place be “empty in two minutes.” Whoa. Tara, meanwhile, is sipping tequila at the bar with a smug expression on her face – I’d be glad I wasn’t working that night, too.

Holly, having swiped some salt at Merlotte’s before telling Sam to shove it, is using it to make a  circle on the ground where Arlene’s Wiccan miscarriage ceremony will take place. Arlene is clearly uncomfortable with her surroundings, saying “Amen” as Holly performs ritual chants, welcoming the spirits into the woods with them. While making an herbal tea, apparently a crucial element in this process, Holly tells Arlene that the ceremony is not guaranteed – “If the spirit is meant to be born,” she warns, “then it’s meant to be,” and there’s nothing they can do about it. Arlene nods, and takes Holly’s advice to pray and focus on the task at hand. Addressing both God and her mother’s disapproving ghost, Arlene explains and justifies her reasons for wanting to rid herself of this pregnancy and the potential danger it could wreak upon her family and relationship with Terry. After adding a drop of her blood (“sacrifice,” according to Holly) to the tea, she takes a deep breath, drinks it, and raises her arms to the sky and spirits with Holly.

Russell, Bill, Eric and Sookie, meanwhile, are walking back into Fangtasia when Eric instructs Bill to hit him as a distraction ploy to let Russell and Sookie go inside by themselves. As Russell gives Sookie a brief lesson on the Edgington plans for ultimate tyranny (“…there will be anarchy, then there will be me,” he coos), Eric waits until he and Bill are completely alone to assure him he does indeed “have a plan.” Let’s hope so.

Sam, apparently starting to sober up despite drinking tequila at the moment, is sitting at the bar inside a desolate Merlotte’s with Tara and the two discuss their social difficulties. Sam is tired of being a pushover and seen as the reliable “nice guy.” Tara points out he may not have to worry about that after tonight (good point), and that her quick temper has never allowed her to be perceived that way (“Hide the wedding china, Tara’s coming over!” she mocks). As the conversation turns more and more flirtatious, Sam and Tara eventually decide to take out their frustrations on each other in Sam’s bedroom. While they’re busy knocking boots, Tommy is shown cutting the wires to Sam’s alarm system, enabling him to open the safe and pocket the cash without triggering any electronic alert. Okay, maybe he can read after all.

Morning is upon Bon Temps as Arlene dreams about fishing as a younger girl while her mother calls for her to come inside the house. A terrified Terry wakes her up as she realizes her bed sheets and nightgown are covered in blood. Terry tries to call 911, but Arlene assures him she’s okay and just needs to clean up and be taken to the hospital, no ambulance needed. She warns him she thinks they may be losing the baby and he begins to wail in distress. Poor, uninformed, unintuitive Terry. At the doctor’s, Arlene is stunned to hear the “strong critter” is still alive, and her tepid “yay…” amidst Terry’s one-man parade of gratitude all but announces her crushing disappointment that the previous nights’ ceremony didn’t work – to everyone but Terry, of course.

Meanwhile, Crystal and Jason are launching into yet another variation of  the same conversation they’ve been having since the moment they met. She insists on going back to Hotshot to stop the drug bust Jason let slip was going to happen any day now. Jason still can’t understand her ties to the people who live there, even though they’re her family, citing the bug-eyed, deer-eating naked guy he came across the other day as a prime example. In yet another moment of unintentional hilarity from a character on True Blood, Crystal responds, “That’s my double cousin Beaufort,” completely unaware how inherently wrong that statement is. I’m sure I’m echoing the thoughts of other viewers when I wonder, How does someone become your double cousin?

Back at Fangtasia, Russell is expressing serious skepticism about Sookie’s faerie ancestry and sun-repellent blood. Now apparently in on The Plan, Bill suddenly backs up Eric’s claims to help convince Russell Sookie’s blood can indeed provide “daywalking” abilities to vampires, much to Sookie’s horror. Didn’t we just talk about trust, Bill Compton?! her open-mouthed gape appears to be saying. Out loud, “I hate you,” is all she can verbally muster. We, of course, know Bill still eventually began to burn in the sun after feeding on Sookie, but Russell does not, and that’s what matters. While Russell considers Eric and Bill’s testimony, Pam is visibly upset over Eric’s yet-to-be-revealed true intentions and the two have a tender moment where Eric spies a tear on Pam’s face and tells her, “You know I love you when you’re cold and heartless.” As the two embrace, I think to myself, What does Eric have up his sleeve? Finally sufficiently persuaded, Russell and Eric feed off of Sookie while Bill watches, warning them not to drain her and use all the valuable blood at once. Russell then makes sure Eric bears the brunt of the sunlight first, and carefully watches his outing on Fangtasia’s security cameras. As I remember Godric explaining last season that older vampires burn more easily in sunlight, I begin to think The Plan is becoming clear to me. As smoke begins to waft from Eric’s skin, he faces away from the camera to keep Russell unaware and satisfied at the protection Sookie’s blood has given them. Russell, adequately convinced, slowly ventures outside, and basks in the glory of real sunlight for the first time in 3,000 years. As he turns to Eric to share his enthusiasm, the wisps of smoke lilting from Eric’s charred face cause Russell to immediately realize he’d been had. Eric then attaches himself to Russell with silver handcuffs and proclaims they’ll “die together” in his ultimate sacrifice as Bill, tied up inside, pleads a devastated Pam to let him feed an unconscious Sookie, drained within an inch of her life yet again.

Now, while I’m certain Eric won’t be meeting the true death as he planned (there’s just no way), I am genuinely concerned for Russell, as I’d hoped his destiny wouldn’t follow the template True Blood has used the past two seasons in killing off its primary villains. Of all the storylines to continue, Russell’s increasingly Machiavellian domination of the vampire world and utter destruction of their relationship to humans is at the top of my list – Jason’s beef with the high school quarterback? Not so much. I’m already at the edge of my seat to see how Eric survives his attempt to martyr himself, but not too thrilled with the amount of muck I had to wade through during this episode to reach such a gripping final scene. Here’s hoping the highly anticipated finale in two weeks (Happy Labor Day) stays focused on the aftermath of Eric’s sacrificial attempt and far away from the football field.

Season 3, Episode 11: Fresh Blood (originally aired August 29, 2010)

For more on True Blood, click here.

Sundays at 9pm on HBO

Photographs courtesy of HBO and IMDbPro

Some of Hollywood’s stalwarts are fast approaching the prime of life…Man.

Get Low is the directorial debut of contemporary “Mad Men,” Aaron Schneider.

Schneider hits the filmic pavement hard with a shortlist of some all-time Oscar-worthy heavyweights that may, honestly, leave viewers longing for whatever Golden Age there is to speak of this side of 1970. The nostalgia brims at the sight of a very aged Robert Duvall, who plays lead character, Felix “Bush” with no less grand austerity and composure than in his “Godfather” heyday.

The real life “Bush” is responsible for the 1930s kick-the-bucket legend set in rural Tennessee. According to the tall tale, “Bush” emerged from his self-appointed solitary confinement after 40-plus years to throw himself a funeral party. What begins as a strange request from an unknown (therefore frightening) enigma becomes the event of the century.

The nostalgia nearly runs over when Bill Murray appears, exquisitely pictured by Schneider’s DP, and gracefully aged: the latter point proving the soberest moment of all. Wasn’t yesterday just “Groundhog Day”? Murray plays Frank Quinn, funeral home director whose dead business ain’t booming. “Everybody loves to die in Chicago.”

Lucas Black plays the very reluctant and noble-hearted Buddy Robinson—partner to Quinn and the conscience of the Quinn Funeral Home. When “Bush” brings a wad of balled up money to the town minister as a down payment for his funeral request, Robinson happens to overhear the rejection…and witness the legend in action: Duvall’s character pummels a heckler…with his mule.

After a sales pep talk from Quinn and the spotless execution from the well-seasoned Murray—Robinson goes cavorting to Bush’s front door, just barely missing the bullet that flies through the front window. (Yeah. Bush is something like an old-fashioned Madea if Madea were an ornery old man minus the punch lines, the dress…the melanin…I guess…)

But the tenderhearted Buddy convinces Bush to buy his funeral fiesta from the Quinn service—a moral dilemma choice Quinn has no problems overseeing for the sake of dollar signs.

Sissy Spacek arrives on the scene as former flame—and oh-what-a-flame—Mattie Darrow. The hottentot elder who has moved back to the Tennessee town is newly widowed, and searching for answers that may or may not lie in the relationship she and the ballyhooed Bush once had.

*Spoiler Alert!* The truth that has everyone vested in their own rumor mills is buried in the opening scene. The people closest to Bush–the only “funeral guests” who haven’t supported the gimmicky $5 raffle for his land–come to find out that his chosen seclusion is all the result of deeply-ridden shame. Bush had an affair with Mattie’s sister while the two were an item–and while the sister was married. On the night they planned to run away together, Mattie’s brother-in-law put up an awesome fight leaving the house in flames, and leaving no one but Felix to tell the tale.

Not surprisingly, Get Low wins at every well-acted turn. Schneider can’t lose with this quality cast, and, oh, by the way: cinematographers, stand up.

While the setting may seem to lend itself to the muted color scheme of the countryside, prepare to be astounded by just how beautifully photographed this movie is. If you’re anything like me, you’ll pride yourself in watching a not-your-average Hollywood picture, and you’ll, likely, brush your shoulder off one’mo’gain for collecting yet another ticket stub from your local indie theater. But let’s be serious. There is something missing here.

Like how Bill Cobbs, who plays Rev. Charlie Jackson–Bush’s only willing eulogizer–manages to sneak into the BACKWOODS of RURAL TENNESSEE in the 1930s (read: that is, the FORMER PART OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY) without an explanation. (In case you’re lost, the better portion of the 20th century did NOT, repeat, DID NOT, fold out so gently for Black people. Please refer to Jimmy Crow.)

There’s also the matter of how and why this love affair constituted a good enough reason to become the kind of hermit that draws folks like a haunted house tour. Bush is a complex figure, but we don’t get a real chance to understand him as his critics do.

Nevertheless, Schneider’s flick is worth your watch. These O.G. actors may remind you of pending supernovas, but Aaron Schneider is a rookie well on his way toward the same beautiful destiny.

The art director in question (named Stan) is by and large a pure misogynist who’s biggest claim to fame is an election ad for Lyndon Johnson that never aired. He works at a snail’s pace and talks down to Peggy like he owns the place. And while you would think she could get a little support from Don on this one, he is unsympathetic to her plight and chalks it up to her lack of management skills. Don then drunkenly (more on that later) forces them to lock themselves in a hotel room until they can complete the assignment. It is in this hotel room where Stan happily lounges on the bed reading Playboy and claims to be a nudist.

And this is where for the second week in a row Peggy became my hero. She boldly calls him out on his nudist claim and strips down to nothing to do their work in. He sheepishly follows suit and Peggy mocks his erection until he finally submits and gets the assignment done. In my opinion, Peggy is the definition of cool beans and I really hope she can start getting a little respect like Rodney Dangerfield.

In addition to getting stuck with a lousy work partner, my hero was also denied the pleasure of attending the Clio Awards ceremony, which Don, Roger, Pete, and Joan attend to both claim victory and seek out new clients. Pete and Joan manage to stay sober enough to run into and talk to old coworker Ken Cosgrove whose friend spills the beans and makes a comment about the “old gang getting back together.” Pete is immediately suspicious of a merger but has to wait to talk to anyone about it because Don and Roger are already properly shit-faced.

After winning the award (where Don acts like a little boy on Christmas morning) the four are called back to the office for a meeting with Life Cereal that had earlier been postponed. Keep in mind the fact that they’ve been drinking all day long when you imagine how this meeting goes down. It starts with a “victory lap” around the table followed by a wonderfully slurred project pitch speech from Don. I’ve honestly heard better public speaking from crazy homeless men but the guys from Life Cereal eat it up (they are also drunk) except for the slogan. But rather than schedule a later meeting to pitch new slogans – Don starts riffing on the spot and pulls “The Cure for the Common Breakfast” out of his ass and the client loves it!

But there is one problem. Don didn’t really pull it out of his ass. He actually stole it from a young guy (Michael Yurchak) that he and Peggy interviewed earlier in the day who used the same slogan on every type of product in his portfolio. At the time they mocked the kid but here now was drunken Don using the idea much to the approval of the client. Peggy is furious about the whole thing but Don is oblivious and heads out to the bars for more celebrating where he picks up a chick for his Friday night and wakes up on Sunday morning with someone else and no recollection of Saturday. For the 111th time this season Don has hit rock bottom and even he seems a little disturbed by it. I take this as a slightly good sign but Peggy still has to show up at his doorstep and remind him that he stole his new Life Cereal slogan from the inept interviewee who Don then feels forced to hire.

What makes this all the more potent is the fact that throughout this episode we were treated to flashback scenes of Don meeting Roger for the first time when Don was hustling fur coats to the rich and trying to make the jump into advertising. We see Don throw his portfolio in with a nice mink stole that Roger gives to Joan but Roger has no interest in the coat salesman whatsoever. After some persistence from Don they meet over drinks (in the morning) where Roger gets wasted and mistakenly tells Don, “Welcome aboard,” so Don shows up at the office the next day to start his career as an ad man. Funny how things work out like that.

Is all of this a sign that Don is on his way to becoming just like Roger – a bitter alcoholic who spends his time recording memories for his memoirs rather than doing any real work? It’s hard to argue with that assessment but I think we all hope that that’s not the case. Don’t get me wrong – I adore Roger Sterling but losing Don to frivolous antics would be a crime against ad reading humanity.

One last nugget of information that this episode gave to us is the impending return of Ken Cosgrove! After running into him at the ceremony and suspecting a merger, Pete confronted Lane about it and learned that they’re actually hiring Ken instead. Long-time viewers of the show will remember the bitter (mostly just from Pete) rivalry between Pete and Ken over the years so it’ll be nice to have the evil, paranoid version of Pete back. Let the games begin.

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

Season 4, Episode 6: Waldorf Stories (originally aired August 29, 2010)

Sundays at 10PM/9C, AMC

Photographs courtesy of AMC and imdbpro.

If that was not enough, the Writer’s Guild of America (West) invited us to their Sublime Primetime writer’s panel event.  This year’s Emmy-nominated writers in attendance were: moderator Carlton Cuse (Lost), Rolin Jones (Friday Night Lights), Mindy Kaling (The Office), Robert King & Michelle King (The Good Wife), Steven Levitan (Modern Family), Bruce C. McKenna and Robert Schenkkan (The Pacific), Ryan Murphy & Brad Falchuk & Ian Brennan (Glee), and Andy Richter (The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien).

Be sure to check out our writer Erin Biglow’s Emmy articles and her photography below:

The 62nd Primetime Emmy Awards: Fallon Ready For His Close Up
A Starry Night For Emmy Attendees At The Governors Ball

John Shaffner (Television of Arts & Sciences Chairman) Jimmy Fallon (host) and Don Mischer (Executive Producer) out the Red Carpet . . . Maybe for Poptimal.com? Nah! John Shaffner (Television of Arts & Sciences Chairman) Jimmy Fallon (host) and Don Mischer (Executive Producer) out the Red Carpet . . . Maybe for Poptimal.com? Nah!

Before we get to that, let’s look at the quickfire. Padma and guest judge and Top Chef Masters alumnus Rick Moonen had the chefs pick a food-related idiom to base a dish on. (Don’t know what an idiom is? It’s an expression, word, or phrase that means something other than the literal meanings of the individual words.) Some of the choices included “sour grapes”, “the big cheese”, and “hot potato.”

The big winner is Ed who took “hot potato” and made herb and roasted garlic gnocchi, spring vegetables, and mushroom fricassee. He gets to have his food added to the frozen section aisle courtesy of Schwan’s.

Meanwhile Angelo still appears off his game. Before they get to the Hilton, we get Amanda sniggering during an interview that Angelo listens to Anthony Robbins books and chants to himself. Now that Alex is gone, are we being told that we’ve got a new weirdo in the competition? Early in the season Angelo was made out to be this super intense guy who was arrogant and appeared to have the skills to back it up. Now that he’s taken a nose dive to the bottom, we learn that as a child he had a shrine to famous chefs and he’d pray to them. Let’s not forget his Russian fiancé whom he proposed to in Paris, but has only seen a few times. How is that information relevant to this competition? Oh it’s not, but it just sets up his shadiness given all his flirting with Tameka.

But let’s get back to the relevant stuff. During the elimination round, the chefs learn they will be running a concession stand at Nationals Stadium where they’ll serve upscale food for ballpark goers. Here’s where the title comes in, “making concessions”, concession stands, get it? And that they have to learn to really work together as one unit because the kitchen is such a tiny space.

The night before Angelo steps up after no one else does to be in charge of taking orders. When they get to the concession stand though, he freaks out a little and starts handing out order pads. Kevin gets up in his face and tells him that’s not going to work. They have a little tiff and eventually Ed volunteers to cook Angelo’s dish so that the other is free to take orders. In Angelo’s defense I understand that when you are in a situation where no one wants to give in (because they are all thinking of themselves), you might feel pressured enough to volunteer. Kevin’s reason for getting pissed off, that Angelo shouldn’t have said he’d do it if he wasn’t up for it, is pretty lame. Why didn’t he step up then?

Everything goes smoothly and the lines begin to form. Most of the orders are for Tiffany’s meatball sandwich and Kelly’s crab cake BLT. They also get to feed three players from the Nationals who are big fans of the meatball sandwich and Ed’s shrimp and corn risotto fritters with jalapeno aioli. But what really matters is what the judges think.

Ed wins this round again. He may have lost the trip to Paris but he can take his girlfriend to Australia with this latest victory.

What the judges didn’t like, though, was Amanda’s grey tuna tartare and she gets eliminated for it. For the most part I agree with Ed’s sentiments that she’s been lucky to have made it this far. I think she made lots of mistakes in execution and also lacked the creativity to create new innovative dishes if last week’s French onion soup told us anything.

It came down to her, Kevin, Kelly, and Angelo. Kelly’s crab cake was good, Angelo’s beef was tasty but the bread got soggy, and Kevin’s shoe string potatoes got soggy as well and his little piece of chicken on a big skewer was dangerous. The judges made the right call to send Amanda home.

I predict Kevin will get kicked off next week. Tune in to see if I get it right for a third time or if I strike out and someone else gets let go. Either way I’m still hoping for a double elimination. Anything to make this season go by faster.

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

Season 7, Episode 11: Making Concessions (originally aired August 25, 2010)

Wednesdays at 10/9C, Bravo

Photographs courtesy of Bravo and David Giesbrecht.

The moral of the story is this:

There’s this full moon that keeps popping up.

Meant to indicate the passage of oh so much time—it fails to distract us from the fact that there’s nothing else to say and nowhere else to go with this season except to another fancy schmancy eatery!

At least there we’ll find fine china and spotless tablecloths to potentially break and soil in this blessed final episode of RHoNJ.

But be ye not deceived. iTunes is not mocked.
I may be hating on this final frontier, but somewhere in America, a demo is entertained to the point of purchase. And repeat purchase at that.

Perhaps, it was Danielle’s revelation in the last few weeks that she would search for her birth mom. Or maybe all of Bravo’s (absolutely 1000 per cent) contrived MacGuff-ing paid off.

Early in the season, Jacqueline came to the conclusion that she, too, was done with Staub.

Alas! This proved a major problem for story structure, as there would soon be no more reason to bring the warring factions to a scripted head—the highlight of the NJ branch of this franchise. Not too many episodes later, Dina Manzo decides to make good on her commitment to free her life of Staub, so she leaves the show. And the show is left swerving to find a purpose.

But it does! (Sort of.) The new plot: Incite confrontation at all costs and to the repeated detriment and humiliation of Supervillain Staub. (Good thing she’s paid.) Thanks to a dear, sweet child in need of rehabilitation—and a sister-in-law duo prepared to run this town—RHoNJ manages to keep drawing audences (como yo) using shameless antics to get ‘er done.

Danny and double-Kim? Bravo better be rewarding your moonlighting efforts.

If it weren’t for you, we wouldn’t have a missing weave to speak of, Kim D.

If it weren’t for you, we wouldn’t have a hearty laugh at your two-facedness, Kim G.

And if it weren’t for you, we wouldn’t be able to contemplate just how clinically crazy Danielle might actually be, Danny.

So, all the machinations so diligently wrought in the cover of night by the Bravo enterprise bring us to this final moment. (Hallelujah!)

Team Staub faces off with the Don(na): Team Caroline.

While the real Mrs. Manzo probably does give a hoot about Ashley’s misfortune per the family curse, I have trouble believing the finale face-off was anything but coached.

In the end, the hype is unnecessarily…well…hyped.

Just a week ago, Caroline was playing babysitter to Giudice’s litter in the peaks of Italy, simply wanting some R&R with Papa Bear Manzo but unwillingly suffering given Lady Teresa’s itinerary. (Which, might I add, was rather selfishly conceived, no…? The hills were flooded with Giudice. But not hating…just saying…)

Then this week, Caroline chooses to bear Jacqueline’s burdens thanks to Ashley’s decision to put her hands on Danielle?

Sorry.

I’d still want a vacation.

Caroline texts Danielle on the spot during a regular check-in with the fam at your above average, not-so-local or everyday high end fine dining establishment. Laurita, Giudice and Staub are equally confounded–and I’m certain that it’s less by the actual idea of a showdown and much more by the fact that Caroline just called this woman like she was a speed dial BFF!

I smell a production assistant.

There may be a side of drama still to come too in the form of a rather enlightening reunion episode. Will Bravo show its innards ‘round the coffee table convo with Andy? We shall see.

We shall see.

Season 2, Episode 16: The Heads of Family Will Roll (originally aired August 23, 2010)

Mondays at 10/9c on Bravo

For more on The Real Housewives of New Jersey, click here.

Photograph courtesy of Bravo.

The concurrent themes for both style and atmosphere in Sunday’s ball are “Starry, Starry Night” and “Celestial Heaven,” including an ongoing nod to astrology throughout the décor. While this may sound like a high school prom, in actuality the scope of the artistry involved to transform a standard-issue convention hall into such a dazzling spectacle proves beyond impressive. Jackson himself was on hand to elaborate on the staggering detail and overwhelming visual presence the room has in person.

The focal point of the room is the massive, nearly thirty-foot-in-diameter sun surrounding a giant, revolving mirror ball hovering over an elevated dance floor. In the center, a spiral staircase leads up to a towering Emmy award statue live musicians will perform beside, giving them an aerial view of the 3,600 guests below. Additionally, 3,000 smaller mirror balls will suspend from the West Hall ceiling throughout the room to accompany silver table linens and thousands of lighted “stars” twinkling on the carpeted black walls. While an enormous sun and disco ball may seem huge sitting, say, in one’s garage, said Jackson, one needn’t worry about such flamboyant decorations overwhelming a room that’s larger than a regulation-sized football field – 124,000 square feet, to be exact.

“It’s an interesting design problem that doesn’t often occur in film and television – it’s more like a scaling problem, which is what makes this job fun,” Jackson mused, talking about the arduous task of outfitting such a glamorous event taking place in such a cavernous locale.

While I enjoyed admiring the truly remarkable design and decorative aesthetics this year’s Governor’s Ball has to offer, my main interest, as usual, fell squarely on the food and beverage portion of the evening. Patina Executive Catering Chef Alex Lestr presented the evening’s menu, consisting of a first course of a summer vegetable salad with avocado mousse, salsa verde, and heirloom tomato water gelee, a main course of lamb chops with dried fruit crumble, chickpea puree, and basil marinated grilled eggplant with summer vegetables and rosemary juice, and (excuse me while I wipe my drool) a Duncan Hines-partnered dessert course of “dark chocolate decadence” with smoked fleur d’sel, coconut pineapple cupcakes, caramel apple spice cupcakes, and brown butter toffee blondies.

In case you were wondering, I did indeed sample every one of these goodies, and, I must say, tasting the mouth-watering cuisine while immersed in the tremendously ornate surroundings gave me eye-opening, admittedly envious insight into how the other half lives. Did I mention Grey Goose vodka, Beaulieu Vineyard winery and Vitamin Water are sponsors of the event?

Chef Lestr explained the menu has plenty to do with the earlier date of the Emmys this year, in addition to his own  instincts as an esteemed culinary artist. “The Emmys has been moved from September to August, which really changes us from the beginning of fall to the middle of summer,” he began. “So, wow, heirloom tomatoes are just incredible right now, and we also have squashes and zucchini blossoms … we really designed the menu around that … We just came up with food that was delicious, that was seasonal, that we would be able to do very well for 3,500 guests in a short, 2 ½ hour period of time.”

Cheryl Cecchetto, founder of Sequoia Productions, thanked a seemingly endless list of people for assisting her in successfully executing such an impressive event year after year, but put her overall objective into plainly succinct words. “What we love about this venue is that we have the space to be safe and to mingle — and to socialize, and to drink, and to eat – and, as you can see, to dance,” she said.

Governor’s Ball co-chair Russ Patrick, on the other hand, couldn’t keep his composure as under wraps as Cheryl, as his wide-eyed stance rightfully accompanied his statement that surely mimicked what everyone else on the committee was thinking. “We look at each other and say,” he said, gesturing to the extravagant environment, “‘What in God’s name are we gonna do next year that can top the previous year?’” Judging by the bar set at this year’s Governor’s Ball, I’m glad I’m not responsible for answering that question.

For more coverage of The 62nd Primetime Emmy Awards, click here.

Emmy

“Hopefully this rollout will be better than last year,” Fallon deadpanned, “when we rolled [the carpet] out and Paula Abdul was found … She’s fine, she’s fine, just a little dehydrated.” Not one to miss an opportunity to self-deprecate, Fallon continued, “Even after that, she’s still a better dancer than I am, which is sad.”

Adding to the early morning hilarity was Fallon’s succinct preview of the glamorous celebrity eye candy viewers can surely expect on the red carpet. “Beautiful women, beautiful men,” Fallon began before pausing to include  “…[and] Seacrest,” as both a perfunctory afterthought and good-natured dig to the omnipotent airwave presence.

After the ice was broken, Fallon got down to the nitty gritty of what will make this year’s Emmys special, excitedly announcing viewers’ opportunity to participate in the telecast via Twitter as they watch at home. By visiting www.nbc.com/emmys/imontheemmys/ and clicking on the “tweet about the presenters” link, anyone’s comment deemed worthy of on-air recitation can be used as an intro to a presenter’s appearance during the show.

As Fallon put it, “If you have a good intro or a good joke, or if you just want to say, ‘My grandma has a crush on Jon Hamm,’ that could be what we choose [to use] at the Emmys.” Fallon continued, eagerly musing that the Emmys’ new partnership with the social media craze “…should be fun. It’s something interactive, it’s something a little different. It just gives all the viewers at home … a chance to be part of the Emmys.”

To include further enticement, Fallon dictated an alluring scenario to aid viewers’ desire to participate. “If you feel like [introducing] the presenters, if you have something you want to say, you can just type it in, and it can go on live television, live on the Emmys. So you could be sitting at home in your sweatpants, drinking a milkshake, and be on the Emmys.” Fallon then used a common exchange heard on the red carpet to illustrate his point that even the coziest of couch potatoes will be given the Emmy treatment: “‘Who are you wearing?’” Fallon mocked. “‘Snuggie.’”

While Fallon had the entire press line in stitches, both Mischer and Shaffner were on hand to keep a tone of seriousness alive amid the palpable mirth. Aside from Twitter’s involvement, both men agreed that a general theme present in this year’s Emmys is an intent to acknowledge the television industry as a whole instead of focusing on the elite nominees. “We are really trying to take a broad look back at the television season,” said Mischer. “We are focusing not just on shows that are nominated, but also on other things that may not have been eligible or did not in fact get [a nomination] … A lot of things have happened that are funny, interesting … powerful and poignant … and we’re really trying to represent that, but we have to do it in a way that’s going to be fun.”

Shaffner echoed this sentiment, adding, “We’ve always struggled with, ‘What is the awards show?’ I think you have to pay attention to what the content is, and I think we really focused … on celebrating the whole year in television — not just the Emmy-nominated programs, but all the programs … Just because a show doesn’t get nominated doesn’t mean there aren’t great moments from that show, so we really made our show about the year in television and that makes a big difference to the audience at home.”

Even Fallon had to take a break in his signature levity to ponder the gravity of his upcoming gig — for a moment. When asked what his preparation plan was for Emmy morning, the comedian shifted back to his funnyman ways:  “Wake up. Maybe throw up a couple of times — that’s more to lose weight, not because I’m nervous – then I gotta put my Spanx on … and then have breakfast with Snooki and come right to the stage.”

No self-respecting television junkie should miss Jimmy Fallon hosting the Primetime Emmys this Sunday, August 29, 2010 at 8 p.m. EST on NBC.

We join White Collar on a Saturday morning breakfast with Mr. and Mrs. Burke (welcome back El!). Not a relaxed Saturday morning, because both are on their cell phones for work and must rush off, but they plan a date later for a movie, bottle of wine, and Peter’s famous pot roast.

On the way to the Bureau, Neal, who is not thrilled about working on the weekend, tells Peter about an art exhibit, “White Bored,” that he wants to go see. Peter declines an offer to go but says that Neal can go to the exhibit, which is out of his radius, if he finds an FBI agent escort.

At the office, they discover their bosses’ boss Bancroft (Joe Morton) and the U.S. marshals, including a cocky and uncooperative Marshal John Deckard (Max Martini), are there to bring in Peter’s team on a case. It involves Peter’s former white collar colleague, Agent Jack Franklin (Jeremy Davidson), who is a fugitive and suspected of revealing locations of federal witnesses, some of which have been murdered. Franklin was demoted from the white collar unit for having an inappropriate relationship with his CI (confidential informant). Peter is determined to find Franklin before the Marshals because he is “one of us.”

Peter and Neal decide to question Franklin’s CI, Rebecca Vidal, who sells luxury cars. Peter and Rebecca go for a test drive in a hot Ferrari, where Peter reveals that he is with the FBI. Rebecca insists that she hasn’t seen Franklin and doesn’t know where he is. Trying to appeal to her, Peter says, “my CI is who I turn to when I need help,” and explains that he would be willing to listen to Franklin if he contacts Rebecca. Meanwhile, back at the car dealer, Neal, posed as Nick Halden, sells a car, and gets into Rebecca’s computer and learns that she took one of her aliases out for an hour and a half test drive the day before. Neal and Peter suspect she was actually with Agent Franklin.

Back at the FBI office, Diana found the actual case file Franklin was working on before he was transferred. Inside the file, there are surveillance pictures of witnesses plus Marshal Deckard and a defense lawyer, Stan Volker. But why? Deckard quickly shows up at the bureau because he is tracking Neal’s anklet. Peter doesn’t share the latest discovery and goes home to work and start his “date night” pot roast.

At the Burkes’, Peter’s cooking is interrupted by Franklin who is willing to talk. Franklin explains that Marshal Deckard is the one who was selling the witness locations and working with Volker. Franklin can prove it because there is a hard copy of the evidence in Volker’s office.

Meanwhile, Neal makes a quick pit stop at his apartment where Mozzie is working on the cockpit tape. Moz discovered the phone number that Kate called but it was a store bought burner cell phone.

Peter and Franklin rush to Volker’s office only to find Deckard, who is there destroying evidence and starts shooting at them. Agents Burke and Franklin get away from Deckard with some help from their CIs by commandeering Volker’s Lamborghini. A victorious Peter tells Franklin, “my CI beat your CI.” They later meet up with Jones and Neal, who disables the GPS on the Lamborghini. To clear Agent Franklin’s name and expose Marshal Deckard for the crimes, he and Peter go on the run.

Neal arranges for help—Mozzie to the rescue as he provides a hideout, his “Tuesday” safehouse, “somewhere no suit has ever gone,” for Peter and Franklin. Mozzie’s “Tuesday” is amazing—an abandoned warehouse but decorated with Buddhist décor including a Zen sand garden. Peter asks, “Mozzie, how would you like to participate in a government sanctioned con?” Mozzie replies, “Involving a dirty marshal, Stan and one of his prized Lamborghinis? How about yes.”

So the government sanctioned con begins…Mozzie visits El for date night to explain about Peter being on the run but also that he is safe. They also share a bottle of “vino.” Meanwhile, Neal and Jones, who are keeping tabs on Deckard, are in a surveillance van outside the Burkes’ home. Neal discovers that Deckard has a key to his anklet, which he later lifts.

Deckard, Neal and Jones tail Mozzie as leaves the Burkes’. Mozzie heads to the luxury car dealer. Mozzie tells Franklin’s CI, Rebecca, to pretend that she knows him to help clear Franklin’s name. Diana shows up with the defense attorney, Volker, who believes they are there about his stolen car. Outside, Neal receives a phone call with both Peter and their boss, Bancroft, on the line telling Neal to run a “prisoner’s dilemma” on Deckard and Volker. Their plot is successful—they get Volker to rat on Deckard and arrest them both. Later, good news for Franklin…he has been cleared of all charges and reinstated into the white collar department.

While the rest of the agents leave the bureau, Mozzie calls Neal to tell him he knew who Kate called: Agent Garrett Fowler. Neal, while holding the key to his anklet, says, “now I need to find him.” But before Neal can leave, in a surprising twist, Bancroft asks Neal if he wants to attend the “White Bored” exhibit with him, which Neal has been dying to see.

The episode closes with Peter, on his cell phone with El, going to “Tuesday” to bring a new rake to Mozzie but when he arrives, Tuesday is empty except for a note that says “J. Edgar Hoover was here” in the sand.

Another week and another superb White Collar episode. At this point, I expect nothing less. White Collar had many fantastic elements in this week’s episode including the return of Mrs. Suit. To quote Mozzie, “it was nice to see you, Mrs. Suit.” I was thrilled to have Elizabeth back in this episode. Hooray for no more green screens! The cast just felt complete with her back.

We were also invited into Mozzie’s home, “Tuesday,” which he frequents on Wednesdays. How Mozzie-like! And what a change of pace for Agent By The Book Burke driving hot cars around New York and being on the run. Plus, this episode was overflowing with what I like to call Mozzie-isms, i.e., “mi casa es suit casa.”

The voice behind the Mozzie-isms, the White Collar writers, deserve plenty of recognition for their topnotch writing and creative banter that they entertain us with each week. Kudos and keep it coming!

I can’t believe it but only two White Collar episodes left this summer. I guess what they say is true, time flies when you’re having fun.

Season 2, Episode 7: Prisoner’s Dilemma (originally aired August 24, 2010)

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

Tuesdays at 9/8c on USA Network

Images courtesy of David Giesbrecht and the USA Network.

After we were left hanging with Russell’s epically shocking behavior involving both a declaration of war between humans and vampires and the spine removal of an unfortunate newscaster – on live television, to boot – I had predicted a more relaxing episode this week, hoping Alan Ball and company would have the good judgment to prevent viewers from suffering complete sensory overload from another mind-blowing development. Indeed, “I Smell a Rat” followed suit with my expectations and toned down the theatrics, serving as a meditation of sorts on the aftermath of last week’s shocking shenanigans. Some would say this means the episode was boring, but I found it strangely reassuring to watch the characters at least attempt to make sense of the messes they’re in, both collectively and individually, and try to assess the extent of the havoc wreaked upon the residents of Bon Temps.

Of course, this is True Blood, so the hour was by no means devoid of an eye-opening backstory and game-changing developments that could thwart the trajectory of multiple characters’ storylines by the end of the season. Sticking to business as usual, a few impulsive decisions were still made that ended up essentially negating any otherwise promising progress rational behavior would have secured.

We start things off with an attention-grabber, as the first line of dialogue spoken in Sunday’s episode is Sookie’s incredulous response to Bill divulging her identity: “I’m a faerie?!” she scoffs. “How f—in’ lame.” While this piece of information may have been one of the worst kept secrets ever as far as most viewers are concerned (I silently echoed Sookie’s sentiments to myself, verbatim) and gave the anticipated disclosure a rather anti-climactic feel, Bill’s subsequent statements certainly made my ears perk up.

After explaining that one of Sookie’s ancestors had been forced to procreate with a faerie long ago, establishing the supernatural bloodline in the Stackhouse family tree, Bill tells Sookie that her appeal to Russell, Sophie-Anne and Eric lies within the fact that faeries’ blood is “delectable and intoxicating” for vamps. Bill assures a skeptical Sookie his feelings for her are genuine, however, and not inspired by his instinctual drive to suck her dry. Whatever you say, Bill. The opening credits are then cued by perhaps the most pertinent piece of information in the entire episode: Faeries, as a species, are generally believed to be extinct, annihilated at the hand of hungry vampires. Hmm. No wonder that Sookie Stackhouse is such a hot commodity.

Outside Merlotte’s, Jason and Tara are processing his impromptu slaying of Franklin – a character I’m sad to see go, frankly. He and Russell could have had dueling insanities for seasons to come, and I’d have stayed glued to my seat. Jason is immediately reminded of both his secret slaughter of Eggs and vampire Eddie’s brutal demise months earlier at the hands of his then-girlfriend Amy, and begins to go a bit crazy himself. While practically rolling around in Franklin’s stringy remains and simultaneously experiencing the five stages of grief in record time, Tara snaps him out of it and instructs him to “DIG!” He and Tara do a rather shoddy cover-up job of the guts and speed off in Jason’s truck to burn Franklin’s clothes.

Hats off to the editors for smoothly cutting to another careening pickup, as Jesus, Lafayette, Crystal and a bloodied Calvin hightail it to the hospital to mend Sam’s brutal handiwork. Instead of the ER, however, Lafayette stops at his house to give Cal a drop or two of vampire blood, healing his mangled mug almost instantly. While Crystal cries with delighted relief, Jesus is shocked and intrigued by the effects the V had on Calvin’s injuries. Calvin, meanwhile, is horrified at Crystal for letting a couple of gay guys feed him “fangers’ blood,” an apparent double-whammy to a hillbilly’s ego. Crystal tries to point out that his life has been saved, but Calvin’s pride is too damaged and he focuses on the fact Crystal has ditched Hotshot and her birthright to have Felton’s children (corrective side note: I’ve been calling Felton “Fenton” for the last couple of recaps. Apologies.) to shack up with a human. “We ain’t supposed to mix,” Calvin sneers at Crystal, who doesn’t help matters by declaring she doesn’t love Felton. Calvin charmingly informs Crystal, “You ain’t supposed to love him. You just gotta lie under him.” Touching. As Calvin runs off and a more-pathetic-by-the-second Crystal chases after him, Lafayette utters the best and most succinctly accurate character assessment of the season: “Them f—ers is a whole new dimension of trash.” Hee!

Calvin’s miraculous recovery is unbeknownst to a guilt-ridden Sam, who’s using whiskey to aid both the physical and psychological ramifications of his sudden attack of brutality at Merlotte’s. After pondering a series of unsupportive voices from the past, Sam takes an ill-advised trip down memory lane to ripen his already looming self-destruct. It’s flashback time, to 2003, where we see a clean-shaven, suit-wearing Sam, hair slicked back, enter a hotel room with a comely blonde. He and his lady friend are all over each other and drooling over the contents of the bags Sam has brought with him. As fistfuls of expensive jewelry tumble out of the sacks and the blonde’s eyes widen with glee, it’s become apparent Sam has not always used his shifting abilities for the greater good. As he begins to project a future of bar ownership and good-looking kids with his girl, a sleazy-looking fellow with a pistol sneaks around the corner and holds the barrel of the gun to Sam’s temple. Turns out, poor Sam was taken for a chump by both the blonde and her real boyfriend as they run off with Sam’s loot and he’s left on the floor of the hotel room with empty pockets and a broken heart.

Meanwhile, back at Fangtasia, a seriously spooked and seriously screwed Eric is frantically getting his affairs in order in the likely case a vengeful Russell decides to show up and rip out his spine. As a lawyer recites the terms of his will, Eric reveals he intends to leave his entire estate to Pam (or, Pamela Swynford de Beaufort, a name almost as fit for a Southern belle as Scarlett O’Hara). Yvetta, serving as a legal witness, is upset she isn’t being considered in Eric’s life beyond the “job and good sex” he promised her. Eric isn’t in the mood for whining and shouts a handful of offensive obscenities in Yvetta’s direction until she flees the room in tears. A disgusted Pam clearly isn’t impressed and calls Eric a “cold hearted bastard.”

Back in Bon Temps, Bill is watching perennial TV talking head Nan Flanagan desperately try to spin the PR disaster Russell’s homicidal tirade had on the AVL’s cause back in her favor by likening him to Jeffrey Dahmer – the horrific acts of one person, she claims, shouldn’t create a backlash against their entire species. There certainly wasn’t an anti-human movement after such monsters as Dahmer went on their killing sprees, were there? Nice try, Nan, but Russell’s outburst has spiked the fundamentalist fear-mongers’ motivation through the roof and anti-vampire sentiments are saturating through society like a wet sponge. Case in point? Arlene, watching TV at Merlotte’s, is transfixed by the smug return of Steve Newlin and his Fellowship of the Sun movement as though it were the Second Coming. Newlin states to his audience that if he weren’t such a good Christian, he’d say, “told you so!” regarding the allegedly proven unforgivable evil of the vampire race. Between this and Jessica’s discovery of a burning cross in her front yard, I could write a thesis about the wry symbolism True Blood uses to parallel vampires’ plight for civil rights to our political climate in real life, but the transgression could distract me for pages. And pages. While I love me some shirtless Eric as much as the next gal, my love for True Blood as a show lies directly in its cutting satire of society and its ongoing bigotry throughout history, and scenes like this only rekindle said love and make my heart aflutter. Sigh.

As Nan continues, Eric interrupts and announces to a startled Bill that he, too, knows what Sookie is (thanks, Hadley) and asks Bill if the rumors are true — can faerie blood actually neutralize a vampire’s aversion to sunlight? Bill scoffs at Eric, asking him why he’d bother revealing any information to Russell’s “butt boy” (Bill’s uncharacteristically crude words, not mine). Eric informs Bill rather plainly that his standing with Russell was destroyed as soon as he killed Talbot. Bill sarcastically thanks Eric for single-handedly setting vampires’ cause back 1,000 years at the whim of a madman, and then admits that faerie blood only makes a vamp able to stay in the sun for a few minutes and smolder more slowly than normal — but smolder nonetheless. This question had apparently been of particular interest to Sophie-Anne, as Eric mentions she’ll be “disappointed” upon this news. Eric then cryptically warns Bill that he’ll “tell Sookie the truth” if he loves her. Before I can ask, Sookie appears and takes the words right out of my mouth, inquiring, “what truth?” Bill, the predictably bad liar he always is, says the “truth” they’re referring to is the remarkably un-earth shattering news that Sookie’s a faerie, which is a glaringly lame cover but somehow suits Sookie just fine. What is Bill hiding? Why is Sookie so frustratingly dumb when it comes to this guy?

After an increasingly creepy Tommy hits on Jessica at Merlotte’s, again, and hilariously assures her he isn’t too good for her (I’m howling – what an idiot), Hoyt is seen enduring yet another painfully awkward date with the painfully eager Summer. Poor thing – both of them. Hoyt can’t take it anymore (can’t blame him) and heads to Merlotte’s to declare his love for Jessica, much to Tommy’s raging chagrin. Jessica is dumbstruck at Hoyt’s gesture and responds by citing her history of doing “terrible things” as a vampire as the reason behind her unworthiness for Hoyt’s affections. Hoyt and his broken heart slump out of Merlotte’s where a pesky Tommy tries to be a smart ass and rightfully gets clocked in the face by a morose Hoyt. Tommy then shifts into a pit bull and tears a serious gash in Hoyt’s arm before Jessica shows up, tosses Tommy (still in pit bull form) into the woods (another guffaw-inducing moment), and tells a profusely bleeding Hoyt, “I love you, too. Now drink my blood.” Aww.

Back at Jason’s house, Bill and Sookie have been hiding out and are greeted by a Franklin-covered Jason and an unhappy Tara, still targeting much of her residual anger at Bill for his disregard for her safety while she was being held hostage at Russell’s. Sookie begins to protest Tara’s vehement disapproval of Bill’s reappearance in Sookie’s life when Tara finally explains what Franklin had done to her and that Bill hadn’t “lifted a finger” to help her. Instead of being horrified that her boyfriend had treated her best friend this way, Sookie chooses the sympathetic route and gives Tara a hug. Oh, Sookie. Bill, meanwhile, has asked Jason to make sure he has adequate weapons to protect Sookie from the impending werewolf attack should it happen during the day when he can’t be there. Jason assures Bill he has it all under control, which I would find the least-assuring statement possible, coming from Jason Stackhouse.

The next morning, Jesus and Lafayette are discussing the previous night’s events after Lafayette discovers Jesus rummaging through his stash of V with visible curiosity. After a convincing campaign from Jesus, they each take a taste and embark on a hallucinogenic trip so deeply vivid they share the same visions and catch a glimpse of each other’s paranormally inclined ancestors. From Lafayette’s great-grandma Winnie using a magic powder to protect her from her abusive owner to Jesus’ sorcerer grandfather who practiced “black arts,” it seems my assumption that the relationship between Jesus and Lafayette wouldn’t involve any supernatural activity was dead wrong. I remember Ruby Jean’s mysterious mumblings about Lafayette’s “power,” but I had assumed any further exploration of this tenuous subplot would either go completely ignored or remain untouched at least until next season. As a fan of Lafayette, Jesus and their intensifying romance, consider me intrigued.

Sam braves surely one of the worst morning afters of his life and quietly steps into Merlotte’s with a visible, albeit quivering, resolve. It’s immediately clear the entire staff is terrified of him after they all witnessed him beat someone to a pulp the night before, but Sam announces that Lafayette had called to tell him “the guy’s fine” and everyone can go about their work and “pretend to be normal.” Ha! The mysterious Holly hands Sam an, ahem, herbal remedy she says curbs rage, defending her nosiness with the assertion she’s a practicing Wiccan. Sam raises his eyebrows and informs Holly there are two rules at Merlotte’s: no dancing, and no religion. All right, then. Tommy tells Sam he was “proud” of his “big brother” for his testosterone-drenched demonstration the night before, a statement to which Sam replies, “Yeah, well, you’re an idiot.” Couldn’t have said it better myself.

Meanwhile, Terry has snuck out back for a smoke and Arlene corners him to  finally fess up about the baby being Rene’s. She explains she wants to “get rid of it” because the spawn of someone so heinous couldn’t be anything but evil, but Terry responds all kinds of adorable and insists he’ll raise the child as his own and the loving household they’ll provide will insure the kid is a relatively normal human being — under Bon Temps standards, anyway. Despite this amazing declaration of devotion from Terry that would turn most women into a helpless puddle of goo, Arlene asks Holly the self-proclaimed witch about her alluded-to “other ways” to end the pregnancy.

Back at Stackhouse central, Sookie and Jason are discussing Jason’s murder of Franklin, an act that, combined with his guilt over the deaths of both Eddie and Eggs, has culminated into a grief so profound Jason can barely speak without wailing in despair. Sookie is confident Jason did the right thing, considering Franklin’s monstrous treatment of Tara, but recoils in horror when Jason admits to his role in Eggs’ death. Sookie insists Jason tell Tara the truth because “people always find out anyway and it’s 10 times worse.” She has a point, but Jason says he’s kept the truth about Eggs from Tara to protect her. Sookie is dubious, saying Jason isn’t protecting Tara, he’s just lying to her. Those two things, says Jason, “ain’t so different.” Besides, says, Jason, Sookie’s opinion is unfairly biased because no one can lie to her – no one, that is, except vampires. Duly noted.

As Sookie naps on the sofa, she dreams about a visit from Eric in which he insists, “you know you have feelings for me.” Although Sookie responds with a tart “Ew,” the predictable dreamland sexytime commences anyhow. More importantly, Eric tells Sookie, again, that she “can’t trust Bill,” and the consistently cryptic, increasingly  maddening, loose end of this plotline continues to drive me crazy. What does Bill have up his sleeve, if anything? Considering the amount of heavy-handed foreshadowing devoted to this exact topic, it had better be something. Eric begins to munch on Sookie’s jugular and she wakes up with a jolt. Jason has taken Tara breakfast in bed, slowly working up the guts to spill the beans about the murder of Eggs. Tara derails his intentions by batting her eyelashes and gushing how Jason has “been saving [her] since [she] was a little girl,” and they actually kiss for a few seconds before Tara realizes she’s made a mistake and begins to run out of the room with embarrassment. Before she gets too far, however, Jason blurts out rather impulsively, “I shot Eggs,” and Tara’s stunned silence evokes a deeper level of anguish than the loudest shriek ever could. She seemingly tries to keep her eyes from popping out of her skull, and runs out of the house. Jason begins to chase after her, but then makes the unfortunate discovery that Sookie has skipped town, leaving a completely uninformative note regarding her whereabouts.

While Jason begins to frantically look for Sookie, we find out she’s headed to Fangtasia to confront Eric about her dream and demands to know why she can’t trust Bill. Yeah! Before I can get too excited, however, Eric all but avoids the question and launches into a soggy proclamation about his imminent execution at the hands of Russell, and his inability to live with exiting the world without ever having really kissed Sookie Stackhouse. Whoa. Sookie tries her best to pretend she didn’t completely fall for that (nice try), but the kiss happens anyway, and it’s actually quite glorious in terms of fluffy True Blood anticipated romantic interludes. Pam, however, interrupts as her fabulous self walks into Eric’s office, drolly stating, “Blah, blah. Vampire emergency. Blah,” as her reason to lure Eric away from Sookie. An incredulous Pam is miffed Eric is purposely bypassing the opportunity to relieve himself of Russell’s ire – if Eric just handed Sookie over to Russell’s captivity, he would no longer have to fear for his life. Eric vehemently denies this option as a viable possibility, which hurts Pam’s feelings because she can’t believe Eric has such deep-rooted feelings for a human that would make him choose Pam, and his life, second. Sniff.

As for Russell, he’s separating himself farther and farther from sanity as we catch him propositioning a male prostitute in a dirty alleyway, Jar ‘O Talbot in tow. The young escort looks dubious at the glass urn of guts his prospective client is carrying with him, but seems to overlook all warning signs as the many faces of Benjamin Franklin are waved in his face. As Russell and his new companion lie next to each other in a seedy hotel room, Russell is clearly hallucinating the young man as Talbot, and talking to him as though he were still alive. The escort looks visibly, and understandably, terrified, but we then see him through Russell’s eyes as Talbot himself looks back and Russell says his final goodbye and stakes him through the heart. Yikes.

Despite his put-together appearance at work earlier in the day, Sam clearly hasn’t sorted through his issues, as he drunkenly stumbles through the woods and continues to reminisce his past. A return to 2003 is shown where the conniving blonde and her pistol-toting boyfriend are counting Sam’s stash by a campfire while a cute, inquisitive beagle looks on from a distance. As the pistol is set down on a tree stump, the beagle rushes toward the campfire and shifts into Sam (was that supposed to be a surprise?), then grabs the pistol and demands his money back. Bonnie and Clyde don’t acquiesce as quickly as Sam would like, and he begins to beat the real boyfriend within an inch of his life, showing similar lack of control as he did with Calvin. As the blonde screams for him to stop, Sam has no restraint and accidentally shoots her in the chest. Horrified, Sam feels he has no choice but to also kill the boyfriend, demonstrating a pattern of impulsive rage he’s clearly had problems processing for years. Turns out, Sam has more Mickens in him than we previously thought.

Back at Jason’s, Bill is livid Sookie has gone missing under Jason’s watch. Jason reminds Bill he knows as well as anyone that she’s going to do whatever she wants regardless of what her boyfriend or brother say – and, oh yeah, how dare Bill give him a hard time when he’s the one who almost killed her with his own two fangs. Tired of Bill’s nagging and using the opportunity to vent his pent-up frustration, Jason revokes his invitation to let Bill in the house, forcing him by the vampire code to back out the front door until Jason says otherwise. Jason, having a Suck it, Bill! look of satisfaction on his face, hears a strange sound in his bedroom and discovers a gorgeous (albeit glaringly CGI) black panther intently staring at him. Stunned, Jason’s only response as the panther shifts into Crystal (I’m glad this is finally getting somewhere, but again, was this supposed to be a surprise?) is a meek, whispered, “Mama.” My level of interest in Crystal has increased a hair, but will only remain on the up and up if most of her screen time is spent in panther form.

Back at Fangtasia, Eric has apparently found a new spring in his step after his conversation with Pam as he marches back into his office where a pouting Sookie begins to shout how he can’t just keep her prisoner if he feels like going somewhere without her. “Oh, yes I can,” Eric tartly replies as he flings her over his shoulders and chains her up in the basement. WHAT?! Oh, now I get it: “I Smell a Rat.” Indeed. Cut to black.

While I agree Eric’s change of heart is founded upon good timing now that Russell’s energy is surely focused on revenge after paying final respects to Talbot, I have to wonder what his motivation really is. His devotion to Pam is surely a factor, but one mustn’t forget he does have a deal with Nan and the AVL to kill Russell or he’ll have far bigger problems than a telepathic waitress in his basement. With only two episodes left in the season, so many loose ends remain I can’t imagine how everything could possibly be tied up in a couple of weeks. I’m anxious to see which storylines will be given the axe and which ones will be carried over into what is shaping up to be an intense Season Four. Villains don’t have a good track record on True Blood, given Rene’s death in Season One and Maryann’s long overdue demise in Season Two, but I’m hoping Russell Edgington breaks the pattern and sticks around Bon Temps for a while to come. With the paradigm between vampires and humans shifting so profoundly in the True Blood universe, I can’t imagine the character most responsible being killed off just as things get rolling – but, as we know, stranger things have happened in Bon Temps.

Season 3, Episode 10: I Smell a Rat (originally aired August 22, 2010)

For more on True Blood, click here.

Sundays at 9pm on HBO

Photographs courtesy of HBO and IMDbPro

In the latest episode of Entourage, Vince continues his free fall.  Between his constant partying and marathon public make out sessions with Sasha, Vince is in another place right now.  Over the past few episodes we’ve seen him take any drug placed in front of him and wash it down with alcohol.  First it was painkillers, then coke, omnipresent alcohol, and now Vince is popping pills.  In case you forgot, Sasha is a porn star.  Vince seems to have let the last few weeks go to his head, and she snaps him back to reality when she tells him that she’s found a new job.  Vince quickly learns it’s not a mainstream role and tries to put his foot down.  He tells her not to take the job, and that he’ll pay her the $200,000 she’s being offered for the movie if she doesn’t do it.  The “role” would require her to have sex with a few guys; you know a good old-fashioned “gang bang.”  Yep, folks: this is Vince’s girlfriend.  It’s also weird to me that she’s playing herself.  I know that she’s a porn star in real life, so she’s obviously not ashamed of anything, but I still think this role on Entourage casts her in a poor light.  But I guess anything is a step up from her typical portrayal on camera.  Let’s be real.

Ari is still unable to give Vince his undivided attention because he’s putting out fires at work.  The details of his management style have come to light, with some of his most offensive comments over the years making headlines.  As always, he must smooth things over with the missus.  I like how Ari remains committed to his wife, despite being such a prick.  But the hen-pecked husband routine is wearing a little thin for me.  At this point Mrs. Ari is even starting to get on my nerves.  She has valid criticism; Ari frequently breaks promises and seems to put work ahead of his family.  But she is a bit of a nag.  Eventually, he manages her to placate her for the time being with joint therapy sessions.

Drama’s ego still won’t allow him to accept the role in the animated series that Billy envisions.  Now Phil and the network are behind the idea, but Johnny still won’t budge.  He feels insulted and doesn’t think he should have to stoop to doing voice work, especially as the title character in a show about a monkey.  It is a big step down from what he’s accustomed to doing, but it could turn out to be a good thing for Johnny.  When Eric can’t guarantee Johnny’s involvement, Phil toughens his stance and threatens to find another actor for the role.  Eric flexes his muscles right back and tells Phil he’ll do no such thing.  Eric owns the show, and without Johnny’s participation the show won’t happen, period.

Phil isn’t the only one Eric has to set straight.  His boy is slipping, big time.  Billy tells a surprised Eric that he saw Vince doing coke with Lavin, and he hits the roof.  He tells Lavin to stay away from Vince, and marches off to find Vince and get to the bottom of everything.  Vince is in line for his biggest professional paycheck to date, and he’s jeopardizing everything with his recent rock star behavior.  The studio’s confidence in Vince is wavering and they want him to submit to a drug test before filming begins.  He refuses and tells Dana Gordon face to face that he won’t do it.  She goes to bat for him but the result is that the director leaves the project.  I sense that things are disintegrating, and Vince needs to be reminded of what it feels like to lose everything.  When the episode closes, it’s with Vince assuring Eric that he is fine, refusing to take a drug test, and bullying Eric into finding a part in Air-Walker for Sasha.  He wants to keep her out of adult movies, as if that’s not her chosen profession.

Vince is really starting to get on my nerves.  He’s being an asshole and he’s flushing his career down the toilet.  Is this the guy that I’m supposed to be rooting for?  As long as he’s cavorting with this porn star and acting indignant when others don’t treat her like she’s the First Lady, I will be against Vince.  He needs a reality check before his character goes the way of River Phoenix.  He’s cracking up, and I hope Eric and Ari can pick up the pieces before it’s too late.

Season 7, Episode 8: Sniff Sniff Gang Bang (originally aired August 22, 2010)

For more Entourage, click here.

Sundays at 10:30pm ET/PT on HBO

Photographs courtesy of HBO and IMDbPro

For those who loved About a Boy but could have done with a little less emotional scarring and therapy-feel-like screenplays, this one’s for you. The Switch is touching and funny, and features one of the cutest children I have ever seen or heard. If this movie and its characters were any more endearing, my head would have exploded.

Let’s start with Jason Bateman. Talk about perfect casting. While this is no Oscar-contender, it also isn’t a throw-away romcom or chick flick. The Switch is somewhere in between thought provoking and funnily cute (or cutely funny), in the same weight class as Big Daddy. It’s a toss up as to whether Wally (the neurotic, workaholic, emotionally stunted Bateman) or the tiniest actor in the bunch, Sebastian, (neurotically played by an oh so adorable Thomas Robinson), really stole the movie. It definitely wasn’t Jennifer Aniston, but she was perfectly perfect for her part without seeming too much like Rachel Green. The boys really turned the movie into a delightful experience when it could have been something overworked and cliche.

The storyline is fairly predictable in terms of the nuts and bolts you get from the preview: Kassie (Aniston) is single and living in New York, and realizes that she wants to move forward with her life, even if she isn’t where she was expecting to be in her mid-thirties. Her best friend Wally (Bateman) is her confidant and best man-friend, and she lets him know that she is looking for a sperm donor  because she wants to get preggers and doesn’t need a man to determine her timeline anymore. As fate and heavy drinking might suggest, the donation goes astray and Wally ends up inadvertently/unconsciously becoming the father of Kassie’s son. The outcome is revealed seven years later, and Wally’s sidekick (Jeff Goldblum in the same role he always plays perfectly) tries to give him moral advice about how to handle the paternity situation when the child’s emerging genes are leaving nothing to the imagination. Kassie’s BFF (Juliette Lewis in the same role she always plays perfectly) has some great one liners that add an element of crazy to the mix. Feelings get confusing and bonds are forged until the truth has to finally come out, and you can probably guess what happens next.

What might not be so readily obvious is just how charming and good this movie it.  I want to eat that little boy that plays the son. It is painful how adorable and funny he is. And he and Bateman together are like a Eeyore/ Charlie Brown dream team. My face hurt from smiling so much, I laughed out loud, and I teared up a few times.

The Switch snuck up on me with its sweet, and at times cliche snapshot of a “modern” family. While the film sometimes reaches to make itself out to be all about the human condition and the essential connections we make in life during the “human race”, it is more a a snapshot of a serendipitous circumstance than a portrait of a contemporary, unorthodox family. The movie attempts to show that the generally accepted (and expected) milestones into maturity don’t necessarily have to be followed (take that, baby boomers with your early marriages and steady jobs), and that one can take control of life at his or her own pace. But really, this is a very well-done story of boy meets girl and falls in love in a funny little scenario. In that way, and by being so damn cute, it succeeds in being universally entertaining.

In the last episode, drama abounds.  Ronnie continues his bi-polar debauchery: calling Sammi a bitch one minute, and trying to cuddle with her the next.  I used to feel sorry for her, but now I think she’s just a glutton for punishment.  Although she doesn’t know the details of what Ronnie does when he’s out with the guys (no one has spilled the beans yet), she does know that he gets drunk and is verbally abusive.  Yet she still tolerates it.  She has a hunch that the girls know more about Ronnie’s antics than they are letting on, and questions each of them.  Sammi tells them that if they know something, they should tell her.  I agree.  Ronnie shouldn’t have the same expectation of confidentiality with the girls that he has Mike, Pauly, or Vinny.  The girls have tried to pass the buck, each hoping that the other comes forward with the dirt.  Angelina said last week that she feels no obligation to tell Sammi, in part because she doesn’t feel like it would make a difference – Sammi would take Ronnie back.  It’s lame.  Eventually, J Wow and Snooki decide to write an anonymous letter to Sammi revealing Ronnie’s treachery.  This has got to be the dumbest idea ever.  There are seven people who could have written the letter.  Every guy is immediately ruled out, because guys don’t do stupid shit like that.  Maybe the girls think that the anonymous approach would smooth things over with Ronnie.  Again, I don’t think Ronnie cares.  All of this has to come to a head eventually. 

Sammi isn’t the only one having relationship issues.  Snooki calls her boyfriend to talk, and judging from the background noise, he is having a good time.  He yells that he can’t hear her and she tells him to go somewhere so that he can.  He says there are hot girls everywhere and hangs up.  Later he calls her back and tells her that he slept with a girl.  She tells him to go f*ck himself, and that’s that.  Maybe Sammi can borrow Snooki’s backbone and kick Ronnie to the curb.  In the next episode she finds the anonymous note, so at least the air will be momentarily clear before filling again with smoke! I can’t wait!

For more Jersey Shore, click here.  You can follow Poptimal on Twitter @poptimal.

Season 2, Episode 4 (originally aired August 19, 2010)

Images courtesy of imdbpro.com

I know it seems like only yesterday that she was playing in plastic bags and making drinks, but our favorite ten-year old Draper is growing up fast and exploring things down below…in front of her friends. Oh yes, so you can probably imagine Betty’s reaction when she is brought home early from a slumber party with this news. I speculated last week that we might see Betty at an 11 on the Bitchy Richter Scale this week but it may have actually been 12. Her threat to cut Sally’s fingers off drifted dangerously close to Mommie Dearest territory which was relatively calm compared to the slap across the face Sally received after unveiling her self-cut hair done during a weekend at daddy’s apartment.

It is clear that Sally’s downward spiral continues, but perhaps there is a light at the end of the tunnel thanks to step dad Henry Francis (Christopher Stanley) who suggests a psychiatrist for the troubled girl. Betty thinks this a superb idea and informs Don of it but he naturally scoffs thanks to his disdain for opening up to people but Betty goes on with it anyway. We get to witness Betty’s first meeting with Dr. Edna and surprise, surprise – Dr. Edna would like some extra sessions with Betty as well. Dr. Edna clearly knows a nut when she sees one so let’s help she can help out both of our girls. Lord knows they can’t get any crazier….can they?

On the business front, new hope springs out of SCDP when Pete brings in a potential new client, Honda Motorcycles, as they prepare to unveil their first automobile. It seems like a great possibility to everyone involved except for one. Roger Sterling wants nothing to do with a Japanese company due to his experiences in World War II and puts a kabosh on the whole operation. This does not stop Don and Pete, though, who decide to go around Roger’s head and pursue the client anyway.

The interaction between the staff of SCDP and the visiting Japanese businessmen is pretty hilarious and things seem to be going well until Roger stumbles upon the meeting and lets loose a volley of angry, racist remarks. In a nutshell, they think this kills any chance they have of landing the client and puts Pete and Roger at very tense loggerheads that felt dangerously close to getting physical if others weren’t in the room to pull them apart.

The team might be willing to  let go of the Honda account and not even give a presentation if it weren’t for a rival ad firm nipping at their heels, led by a jerk named Ted Shaw  and picking up SCDP’s other recently aborted clients. Both firms have $3,000 from Honda for a presentation with a strict rule that no finished ads can be presented. Don toys briefly with the idea of going for broke and producing an excellent TV spot for them but when they realize the financial risk of spending more than what Honda gave them could bankrupt SCDP, they back off and instead launch a ploy to get Ted Shaw to produce a TV spot.

I have to say that watching Don, Peggy, Joan,and Dreamy Joey hatch the scheme to make Ted Shaw believe they are making an expensive commercial was a highlight of the season for me. The shot of Peggy riding a Honda motorcycle around in a circle in an empty soundstage alone was priceless and I wish I could have it running in a loop on a frame on my wall. Luckily, this all pays off when Don goes into the presentation with Honda and resigns from the competition due to the dishonorable fact that other competitors (Ted Shaw) did not heed the rules and stick to the $3,000 limit. And guess what – SCDP gets the account! Score 100 points for Don.

Despite the horror of Sally masturbating, this was an incredibly entertaining and well-crafted episode complete with wonderful scenes between Joan and Roger as well as Don and Faye Miller. Oh and let’s not forget the amazingly hilarious new secretary for Don – Mrs. Blankenship. I honestly laughed out loud every time she opened her mouth or used the intercom. This one’s a keeper.

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Season 4, Episode 5: The Chrysanthemum and the Sword  (originally aired August 22, 2010)

Sundays at 10PM/9C, AMC

Photographs courtesy of AMC and imdbpro.

When last we left, it was a long time ago. Let’s overlook that and set up the scene that was the biggest letdown (and my most inaccurate prediction) in Bachelorette history:

Frank: Out of the picture. Even though Frank wasn’t in the finale, he really was because Ali was probably projecting him all over the place. Let’s get real, Ali wanted him to be the last man standing, but Frank got confused and thought he was on The Bachelor when he went back to Chicago. To give everyone a little refresher, Frank wanted to have his cake and eat it too (ok that got a little too suggestive, sorry) and went to visit his old girlfriend because he was feeling conflicted about Ali. To clarify, he wasn’t really conflicted about Ali. He was head over heels for her, but he should have never gone on this show in the first place because his heart was never in it. The ABC team really needs to do some better background checks. Frank didn’t seem conflicted at all when he checked in with his ex-girlfriend to be sure that she was still in love with him, and didn’t think twice about getting back together with her and essentially cheating on Ali. That girlfriend needs to grow backbone. Poor form all around in Chicago. Clearly I don’t have strong feelings on the subject or anything…

I don’t know if ABC, Frank, or even Chris Harrison is to blame for making Frank fly all the way out to Ali to go through the emotional abuse of letting her know the terrible news in person. She fell apart like a sad bunny. This was the only time in my history with Ali that I think she was justified in her pouting and her temper tantrum. She cried, Frank cried, she said everything any self-respecting girl would (he was a liar, he was selfish, why couldn’t he have just brought this up earlier bla bla bla). Even though I was a little in love with Frank, I realize my foolish ways and see that he was pretty much a dbag. So good for Ali, even though I still think she wanted it in the end. Also, I dislike Frank even more for not showing up for The Men Tell All, and despise him for canceling on After the Final Rose. Cardinal sins of Bachelor. Frank sucks.

OK moving on to the actual finale now…

Chris and Roberto: If I had to guess at the beginning of the episode (and you bet I did), I could have sworn that Roberto would be left standing alone at the end, but all would be well because he would be the next Bachelor. Case closed. I also thought that Ali and Chris would have an amicable breakup after the finale aired because even though they loved one another, Chris didn’t look very gifted in the kissing department and they could only ever be intimate as friends. I was very wrong as it turns out.

I’m going to throw it out there, Ali is the weirdest Bachelorette that has ever been chosen. Not because she “broke all the rules” or because boys were treating her poorly on the show, but because she seemed way too…unstable? Not ready to be engaged? I still strongly dislike the fact that she uses the line of being a career driven woman when she quit the one job she probably got straight out of college to come on this show. I’m not saying she isn’t ambitious, I’m just saying that’s a little weird. Also weird, the fact that I really don’t think she likes her family? I know that her parents split when she was little and that her grandma had a huge role in raising her, so maybe that has thrown off the family dynamic? It was just weird and after the bizarro family moments I still thought Chris had it in the bag.

Cut to Roberto and Ali’s last date. They had romantic kissy time in the water as per usual and then Roberto made her a gift with a note in Spanish (of course) and I was still fairly certain that he was going to be standing alone because he is that nice, too perfect guy that is always left alone on the Bachelorette because “something” was missing. Judging from all these failed relationships on this show however, I am beginning to suspect that that “something” is a habit of treating women poorly and being selfish. Which maybe seems intriguing after a few weeks of dating (?) but turns out to be a disappointment within a year (See: Jillian and Ed).

But Chris didn’t have that bad “something,” he seemed to have all the perfect Massachusetts Somethings that Ali and her bad hair have been waiting for since she left home. Even though I think Ali and her need to find a man at the ripe old age of 25 is weird, I still thought Chris was perfect. He still is perfect and I’m not above looking up prices for flights to Cape Cod. So after Roberto and Ali’s hot and heavy date, she shows up to Chris’s bungalow door in ragamuffin clothes hours before their final date. She is a stuttering mess and I think she had an entire bag of Sour Patch Kids covered in Pixy Stix before going to see him based on how fidgety she was, but she finally gets it out that she isn’t going on this date today and isn’t having him come to the final rose ceremony, because she knows she is in love with someone else. Ok, I guess Ali is a class act by realizing that Chris and his puppy-dog heart were going to get more invested and he would be seriously heartbroken and devastated on national TV when she let him down… but it still seemed crappy to let him go before having a final date when Roberto got one. I guess she was just that sure? She didn’t want to pull a Frank to test her feelings? I give her this one, I wouldn’t want to see Chris cry more than is necessary.

What was necessary was crying when that rainbow appeared after Ali gave Chris the boot. Earlier in the season Chris told Ali how before his mother died, she told him to look for her in rainbows, and then he seemed to notice them all over the place. What does it mean? Does Chris Harrison have more pull than any of us ever realized? It was very touching and I don’t care if that is corny. Boom.

So the final rose ceremony was definitely not the most dramatic in Bachelorette history, and Ali looked like a too tan, extension version of Belle from Beauty and the Beast (Chris would have made that movie come to life if she had picked him, grr). For a split second I thought that Roberto was going to tell Ali that after all this and really getting in touch with his emotions, he realized that he wasn’t in love with her. But no twist today folks, he got down on one knee, proposed and Ali accepted.

I couldn’t have been more wrong on this finale and they seem to still be going strong, so who knows. If Chris becomes the next Bachelor, 1. I don’t know if he can handle the emotional toll, and 2. Where do I sign up?

Season 6, Episode 11 (originally aired August 2, 2010)

For more on The Bachelorette, click here.

Mondays at 8/7c on ABC

Photographs courtesy of ABC, Matt Klitscher, and Rick Rowell.

Lottery Ticket

The premise of the story is simple: Kevin Carson (Bow Wow), a boy from the projects, wins an unbelievable amount of money in the lottery, but can’t redeem the ticket for three days. Not only does everyone want a piece of the action, some violent thugs are willing to kill him for it.

Kevin Carson is a poor boy with big dreams – to go to design school and one day create his own line of sneakers. At the moment he’s stuck working at Foot Locker and helping his grandmother (Loretta Devine) make ends meet. He does his best to stay out of the underbelly of his world, keeping his nose clean and working for his money.

He gets fired after a fiasco at  Foot Locker when some local thugs who are out to get him, led by ex-con Lorenzo (Gbenga Akinnagbe), try to steal hundreds of dollars worth of shoes from the store. He decides to drown his sorrows over Chinese food with his best gal pal Stacey (Naturi Naughton) and pockets a fortune cookie fortune.  On his way home he decides to play the numbers on the back of the fortune slip.  When he wakes up the next day, he finds that he’s won over of 300 million bucks.

After issuing a warning to his grandmother to tell no one, he and his best friend Benny (Brandon T. Jackson) head off to redeem the ticket. The problem? It’s 4^th of July weekend and the offices are closed until Tuesday.

Here’s where things begin to go juuuuuust a bit off to the right of believable. Me? I have a ticket in my pocket worth 300 million and know for a fact people would kill me for it…I don’t go home. Not until Tuesday, not until all of America knows who that money belongs to. Kevin? He goes home, and finds that Grandma got drunk and spilled the beans to the neighborhood gossip. Now everyone wants a piece of Kevin, including the hot girl (Teairra Mari) who didn’t give him the time of day 24 hours before and the “Godfather of the projects” Sweet Tee (Keith David).

Then there’s the mysterious Mr. Washington (Ice Cube) who lives underground and hasn’t been out in public in 22 years – and only speaks to Kevin. Along the way he finds out what true friendship is, learns not to judge a book by its cover, and discovers he’s in love with his best friend.

The question is – will Kevin hang onto his ticket, and his life, until Tuesday?

I’m not going to spoil anything. I’m also not going to recommend you pay $10 to find out.

My main issue with the film is in the character of Kevin Carson. He begins the movie disillusioned about life but determined to play by the rules – even if it means giving up his dreams. Everyone is talking about buying a lottery ticket, what they would do with the money, but not Kevin. He proclaims how the lottery is designed to keep poor people poor, taking their money and selling them empty dreams.

Then he wins the money.

He becomes a completely different person. He’s suspicious of everyone, even his best friend. He borrows $100K from a gangster and spends it on tennis shoes, food, jewelry, Hummers, etc without a second thought. He goes home with the hot girl (though, to his credit he runs like the wind when she refuses to use a condom). I had whiplash from how fast his character changed.

I suppose perhaps the writers were trying to illustrate how money changes a person. I agree that it does, but the message here comes across ridiculously heavy-handed. I felt like someone beat me over the head with a life lesson stick. It’s called finesse, writers. Use it. Love it.

He also apparently became the dumbest person alive. If an ex-con who was willing to seriously hurt and/or kill me over a pair of sneakers knew I had $300M lottery ticket in my pocket there’s no way you’d find me in public. There’s Kevin, though, wandering around all alone, at night  – and then he’s all pissed off and shocked when he gets knocked out and robbed. Duh.

The Mr. Washington character is by far the most interesting, as random as he is. An ex-boxer who’s career ended when he himself was robbed and shot in the neighborhood, he chose solitude over being part of a community that betrayed him.

Overall the movie’s heart is in the right place but it’s unbelievable. The writing makes the mistake I hate more than anything – introducing characters or situations for no other reason than we need them to move the story. It wasn’t funny, it was over the top, but the message is an important one.

I’d say you could wait for video. That’s just one gal’s opinion.

Photo by David Lee – © 2010 Alcon Film Fund, LLC.

Director Alexandre Aja had begun to pique horror fans’ interest in 2003 with the stylish slasher flick High Tension, but has failed to live up to his own hype with his subsequent efforts, helming both 2006’s middling The Hills Have Eyes remake and the stupefying Mirrors in 2008. With Piranha 3D, however, Aja has wisely chosen to strip away the pretension and go for broke with a gratuitously gory campfest devoid of its predecessor’s (1978’s Piranha) underlying social commentary, while chocking itself full of needless nudie shots and the kind of mind-numbing dialogue that mercifully evokes genuine, intended chuckles rather than smirking, unintended snickers – for the most part.

The movie wisely opens with a wink, rather ingeniously casting Richard Dreyfuss in full-on Jaws regalia (down to Matt Hooper’s wire-rimmed glasses and warbling of “Show Me the Way to Go Home”) as a beer-swilling fisherman waiting for the first bite of the day in a desolate desert lake. An earthquake from deep within the earth’s crust tears a cavernous trench at the bottom, tossing Dreyfuss’ meager canoe into the throes of a spiraling whirlpool. Sadly, a bigger boat wouldn’t have helped in this case, as an army of the titular ferocious fishes slips through the quake’s cracks and the sharp-toothed aquatic nibblers are officially unleashed onto their first of many victims.

The seismic release of the prehistoric piranhas just so happens to coincide with the arrival of 20,000 or so ripe coeds for spring break at Lake Victoria, a fictional desert oasis in Arizona where the water is cool and the bikini tops are optional. For the other 51 weeks of the year, however, Lake Victoria is a rather sleepy southwest town where the residents seem to spend their time preparing for the debauchery the keg-tapping college kids unfetter upon their otherwise idyllic existence. No-nonsense Sheriff Julie Forester (welcome back, Elisabeth Shue) and Deputy Fallon (Ving Rhames) are already awash with public property damage and disorderly conduct violations, and the presence of “Wild Wild Girls” auteur Derrick Jones (Jerry O’Connell, doing an appropriately sleazy, thinly veiled Joe Francis impression) among the wet t-shirt contests isn’t helping restore much order amidst the mayhem. Sheriff Forester’s teenage son, Jake (Steven R. McQueen, grandson of his namesake), is usually stuck babysitting his younger brother and sister instead of letting loose with the spring breakers, but this year he’s bribed the moppets into taking care of themselves while he plays “location scout” for Derrick and his groupies. A local girl Jake’s got his eye on, Kelly (Gossip Girl’s Jessica Szohr), joins him on Derrick’s boat, and with every main character now in their proper place for bedlam to ensue most efficiently, the carnage officially lets loose.

After a team of scuba diving seismologists brought in to investigate the subterranean earthquake first discover the army of carnivorous critters hatching in a massive water-filled cave underneath the fault line (“A lake under the lake?” Sheriff Forester quips), the entirety of Lake Victoria is under siege and no body part (and I mean no) goes unchomped. The particularly gruesome bloodshed comes in the form of finding rather inventive ways to separate a person from their limbs, in addition to the astounding amount of flesh being constantly devoured by our water-dwelling foe. Repeatedly throughout the film, a hilariously sickening casualty would make me think the money shot had surely just befallen the gasping audience. As soon as the thought came, however, another set of guts would fly across the screen in a creatively repugnant manner that induced an even louder roar of horrified laughter than the last.

The 3D aspect of Piranha 3D is, unfortunately, an afterthought clearly designed to jump on the moneymaking bandwagon the revamped special effect has enjoyed in the last couple of years, but the notion of having it at least makes more sense for this type of throwback, mindless entertainment dependent on eye-popping visuals than, say, Step Up 3D, which is just mindless. It was difficult to sense much 3D enhanced detail in the underwater scenes where an unfortunate bikini babe or frat boy met their demise at the wrath of hundreds of lacerating teeth, but above ground the occasional wad of entrails or rogue eyeball would jump out of the screen with sufficient startling effect and render the 3D experience worthwhile as a whole.

As a woman, the flagrant female nudity throughout many scenes seemed incredibly superfluous to me, and I had gone in with the full expectation, given the genre, to be greeted with multiple sets of nipples during the course of the film. While the movie didn’t seem to have ever met a set of breast implants it didn’t like, the piranhas themselves, however, didn’t seem to be too impressed, as evidenced in one of the cheekier scenes. While a colossally stupid sequence involving a nude, underwater ballet of sorts between two of the film’s leading eye candy “actresses” also had me groaning with dissent, I have to admit Derrick’s loss of a very personal item at the whim of the piranhas did make me chuckle in spite of my feeble attempts to avoid the hypocrisy on my part.

Despite its lowbrow exhibitionism in many areas, Piranha 3D keeps its self-awareness in check and dishes out the gleeful camp in spades. Christopher Lloyd makes a welcome cameo as the resident aquatic life expert, helpfully informing both the characters and the audience where these deadly fish came from and why they’re so ravenously hungry all the time. Lloyd chews the scenery and spits it out, particularly as he delves into the maniacal mannerisms of Doc Brown – the audience in the theater I went to actually applauded when he appeared on screen, if that is any testimony to the target demographic for the film. For those who enjoy a true getaway to the movies where the gags are gross, the laughs are plentiful, and the pretense is all but nonexistent, Piranha 3D will satisfy your need for a real summer escapism at a theater near you.

Item number 1 is a trip to New York City. Can you really be a fashion maven without stepping foot in New York? Well, I suppose you could but any excuse to travel is a good one. Speaking of which, Ivy went on a little trip of her own. After passing out in the hall after Runway, Ivy is taken to the hospital. Back at the house Valerie and Gretchen play WebMD and try to diagnose her. They blame her drinking and smoking and failure to eat as contributing factors to her illness. And in a way they’re right because the actual diagnosis is dehydration. Ivy emerges from the hospital with a vow to take care of herself as well as a new inspiration for the upcoming challenges. (Something about the way the hospital curtains in her room fell.) And it is at this point that I remember a lot of famous artists were notorious druggies.

Item number 2: a tablet PC. Those things just seem so cool. Being able to draw and have your computer understand it. I can’t draw but I’d like to think that if I had this PC even that wouldn’t matter anymore. This week the designers use their PC and their artistic skills to create a design inspired by the hats of Phillip Treacy. This is the guy who created that acorn hat for Sarah Jessica Parker at the Sex in the City premiere. And all of his work here is just as daring. There’s an orchid hat, Heidi’s wearing one that looks like an upside down rose, (it looks like something threw a giant rose at her head and it stuck!) then there’s one that’s not a hat at all, it’s a mask. It’s a beautiful mask, black and glittery but I kind of love his daring about saying it’s a hat. But it’s a mask.

Item number 3: an accessory wall. A mask like that would be a great addition to my accessory wall; if I had an accessory wall to add it to. I can just see it now, necklaces, purses, shoes, scarves and belts all perfectly laid out before me to stand in their marvelous light. (One of these days I AM GETTING an accessory wall. That’s not even a question.) Most of the designers are excited about this challenge; Michael knows what he wants to make, Andy looks at this as a chance to get another win, and the other Michael is all inspired to make his model into a warrior. Not all the designers feel this way; Casanova talks about quitting, but that’s mainly to get attention. And while Kristin at first did not like her orchid hat, she later gets into the spirit and is all on board. For her inspiration Kristin remembers her wedding. She wants her dress to be “walking sex.” April has this hat that sort of looks like a tropical umbrella is above her model’s head. So she’s trying to go with a resort feel. And to match that she makes these tiny shorts which all the other designers correctly say looks like a diaper. But April loves the shorts (which indeed shows love is blind, or delusional) so they stay. Tim comes in to mentor the designers. He loves Christopher’s print but thinks he’s trying too hard, Tim looks devastated by Michael’s dress and tells him to be concerned. Then Tim goes back and forth with Casanova about how unoriginal his design is. (Casanova disagrees.) After the critique Michael cuts his dress up and starts again.

Number 4: Phillip Treacy. Aside from the fact that I adore this guy’s accent, it would totally rock to have him as my personal designer. And as seen on the runway, if done right, his designs could make every ensemble POP! Treacy is the guest judge for this week’s challenge. Overall the contestants did a pretty good job with this challenge. Mondo’s outfit rocked – it was colorful, quirky and screamed Mondo style. Andy’s seemed a bit dated and though Ivy had a cute jacket it’s nothing drugworthy. The top three this week are Michael whose last minute dress was called effortless, Valerie whose dress Nina called mischievous, and the other Michael whose architectural dress Treacy called fantastic. On the bottom are Kristin who must have completely abandoned the romance theme with a heavy black dress Nina said had no harmony. Michael thought April’s diaper looked like layered underpants, and Treacy thought that it was a weak attempt. Christoper was the designers’ favorite, but in the judges’ bottom three with his dress that the judges called too dark and overly designed. Michael wins this week, and in proper design all the other designers completely start hating on him; bitter Gretchen at the lead. In the end, Kristin’s flaws outweighed any others and she was sent packing much to her relief. No one seems sad.

So there you have it; my Christmas list twenty-ten; just four little things to make this girl happy another year ‘round. Who says this generation is unrealistic?

Season 8, Episode 4: Hats Off to You (originally aired August 19, 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.

But first let’s get to the quickfire. This challenge was actually suitably tough! The chefs were presented with a mystery box by Padma and guest judge Wylie Dufresne. Inside the mystery box were different ingredients that had to be incorporated into a single cohesive dish. Wait a second, did Top Chef just rip off Food Network’s Chopped? Well to make it harder and perhaps to not make it that obvious that they were stealing ideas from another show, three more mystery boxes came out during the course of the quickfire and the same rules were applied. This was to challenge the chefs to be creative with their dishes and to see who could handle the pressure.

Tiffany, who won both challenges in the previous episode wins again with her fish stew with hominy, fava beans, saffron and black garlic. She earns herself another ten thousand dollars and more interestingly prevents Angelo from bringing over his Russian fiancée. Say what? Yes you heard right! Where did that come from? Wasn’t he just flirting with former contestant Tameka openly a few episodes ago? Now he’s engaged? Shady.

It was great fun to see Angelo sweat though and see his confidence shaken. My theory is that he’s lost his mojo because of Kenny’s departure. Kenny was the yin to his yang!

The chefs find out their elimination challenge is to take a classic dish and give it a new identity. They’ll be cooking and serving their creations at the Central Intelligence Agency for the judges, CIA employees, and current director Leon Panetta.

Inside the CIA kitchen, Angelo continues to be frazzled and stressed out as he uses store bought pastry dough for his beef Wellington pizza. Let’s note that the very first contestant kicked off in episode one was due to store bought pastry dough. But Angelo doesn’t care because he thinks that if he executes his dish well enough the judges will think it was creative.

As dish after dish is presented, a note is passed to Panetta who excuses himself to leave the judging early because of some top secret CIA missive that needs his attention. There’s a tense moment where different individuals at the table are looking at the director as if some matter of national security has suddenly come up and the threat level is about to go red. Maybe the CIA have a lead on what happened to Ed’s pea puree.

At judges’ table, Eric Ripert is back! I’ve missed his French accent.

Tiffany, Ed, and Kelly were deemed the most successful, Tiffany winning yet again with her roasted leg of lamb with smoky eggplant, tomatoes and pickled onions. I’m glad she won because she’s helpful and doesn’t cause drama, plus she’s been pretty consistent in her cooking. Ed was in the top three because even though his chicken cordon bleu wasn’t disguised very well, his execution was top notch. Kelly in the meantime did a terrific job in giving kung pao shrimp a new identity in soup form, which is actually pretty inventive considering she’s never made the original dish before. She does a great job in figuring out the key ingredients and making it her own.

At the bottom we have Alex, Amanda, and Angelo. This moment feels good because no matter what, someone who’s been annoying goes home. All three contestants failed on execution and creativity. Amanda had the French onion soup and she basically just had a watered down version of it with an overly sweet marmalade. Angelo got called out on his store bought puff pastry. Alex appeared to have put in more effort in the presentation than the other two but his execution was  done poorly.

The man who may or may not have stolen Ed’s pea puree was sent packing and I felt that the judges finally made the right call. Between the three of them, Alex was more consistently at the bottom and performed the poorest overall. So I’m glad, one down two to go.

This episode has me thinking though that it really could be anyone’s game. Now I’m wondering if we might see Top Chef’s first all female finals with Tiffany versus Kelly. If Angelo steps up again I could easily see it come down to him and Ed if it were an all male scenario. I think Kevin will get kicked off at some point because he’s been hit or miss this whole season. I’m rooting for Tiffany to make it all the way with Kelly or Ed as a worthy adversary.

Lastly, has anyone else felt like this season has dragged on? I can’t believe that there are still six contestants left and it feels like it will take an eternity to get to the finals! Bring on the double eliminations!

Season 7, Episode 10: Covert Cuisine (original air date Aug 18, 2010)

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

Wednesdays at 10/9C, Bravo

Photographs courtesy of Bravo and David Giesbrecht.

Janet reluctantly agrees, with the following two caveats: this is Tommy’s very last chance—and if he blows it it will be the cruelest thing he has ever done to her—and he has to say goodbye to Sheila for good. Janet tells him that when he turned to Sheila when he was wallowing in post-9/11 and post-Jimmy grief, that it was “emotional betrayal.” I’m not sure that’s fair, because she had already given up on their marriage before he ever got involved with Sheila. But then again, who am I to keep track?

Next up: Needles and Feinberg go to HQ to try to convince them to reopen the firehouse. This was without a doubt the highlight of the episode for me. Feinberg knows the old fart head honcho who shut them down, so he goes in there and in his pathetic, bloated way tries to butter him up and convince him to reopen the firehouse. He fails miserably, mostly because he didn’t really try in the first place because he’s an obsolete pushover who doesn’t care. This is where Needles steps up to the plate and hits it out of the freakin’ galaxy.

He takes it to this geezer, chops him down and blackmails him the livelong day. He points out the little incident last week where the crew responded without gear to the burning school for deaf kids and pulled all of them out of there just in time to see the other firefighters saunter up in their cars. “I don’t know if you heard Dickie, but my boys had a bunch of saves at a school for deaf kids the other day. They responded in their own vehicles with no tools, no bunker gear, and they got every kid out safely, just as your trucks were rolling up…better late than never huh? Maybe you should have that painted on all of your vehicles.” Jab! Geezer hits back: “None of those men were authorized to report to that call.” Needles: “And none of those kids were authorized to burn to death.” Uppercut!

For the knockout blow, Needles pulls out a little homemade DVD with all of the footage on it, promising to deliver copies to all the major newspapers and, “just in case what I hear is true about print media being dead, this whole footage is getting posted on YouTube. That’s the newfangled interweb you’ve heard so much about. When you go home, have one of your grandkids type in ‘FDNY Turns Deaf Ear To Disabled Children.’” Bam! I swear, if I could have leaped into the television screen right during that scene, I would have tackled Needles and given him a big platonic, strictly non-sexual kiss on the mouth and squeeze on the ass. He more than made up for any crap he did last season with that scene. I mean that stuff was Network quality. The writing and strength of performance on this show continues to astound me.

From there, the rest of the episode centers on Damian trying to score with his new ladylove, and Sean and Mike trying to make firefighter-turned-terminal-cancer-patient Pat feel appreciated by taking him to meet up with former victims he saved, with very mixed results. We also get Tommy trying to follow Janet’s ultimatum and say goodbye to Sheila with no drama. Guess how successful he is?

Season 6, Episode 8: Cowboy (originally aired August 17, 2010)

For more on Rescue Me, click here.

Tuesdays at 10pm on FX

Photograph courtesy of FX and IMDb Pro.

Vince’s behavior has caused the studio to lose confidence in him.  After showing up to the initial meeting for Air-Walker drunk, they want to make sure he has his head on straight.  Unfortunately for Vince, he doesn’t fare much better in the second meeting.  The director thinks Vince is “coked up,” and when word gets back to Ari and Eric, they are livid. And very worried.  Eric assures Ari that Vince has never done coke in his life.  Eric doesn’t know the new Vince.  New Vince is immersed in sex and drugs, succumbing to any vice placed in front of him.  Sasha is a terrible influence, and Vince is a follower at times.  It’s a shame that he had a great comeback, only to jeopardize everything he’s worked for.  His “handlers” aren’t doing a very good job of handling him, and I think it will take a rock bottom moment and a stint in rehab for Vince to get back on track.

Meanwhile, Ari and Lizzie manage to call a truce.  Initially her problem with Ari was a professional one.  She just wanted the promotion that she felt she deserved.  Teaming up with Amanda made it personal.  Lizzie has a change of heart and decides to leave Amanda’s agency.  She turns her incriminating audio tapes over to Ari, in exchange for his promise to find her a new job.  Ari puts in a call with Dana Gordon, who says she will give Lizzie a look if Ari can secure Lenny Kravitz for an upcoming movie the studio is filming.  That’s how things get done apparently: you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours.  Everything has a price.  Especially fame.  I hope Vince realizes this before it’s too late.

Season 7, Episode 7: Tequila and Coke (originally aired August 15, 2010)

For more Entourage, click here.

Sundays at 10:30pm ET/PT on HBO

Photographs courtesy of HBO and IMDbPro

True Blood

As Russell flees back to his palace to begin grieving the loss of Talbot – by this, I mean clutch his slain partner’s sludgy remains and howl with despair – Eric makes an equally harried trip to Fangtasia to both update Pam on his staking of Talbot and brainstorm on a temporary refuge from Russell’s lethal angst. Knowing he’s in for a world of trouble, Eric’s characteristically cool demeanor has devolved to a full-fledged panic as he vehemently rejects Pam’s idea to crash at Sookie’s and is visibly agitated about the imminent revenge Russell is sure to seek. When barmaid Ginger asks if their stress is a result of the “V-Feds” prowling the bar, Eric and Pam exchange looks that adequately express the fact they had no idea such visitors were present. Uh-oh.

The V-Feds are an imposing troop of rifle-toting commanding officers decked out in Robocop gear and led by AVL representative Nan Flanagan. Nan has paid Fangtasia a visit to check for traces of V dealing and interrogate Eric about the recent “disappearance” of the Magister. The V-Feds are a threatening enough presence by themselves, but perennial talking head Nan has ditched her Meet The Press garb for a black vinyl trench coat and slicked-back ‘do reminiscent of The Matrix or Blade Runner to emphasize the severity of the situation. As Nan informs Eric his statement will also be dispatched live to the Authority, a chillingly sterile scene depicting the mysterious entity as a lineup of Secret Service-looking men staring inquisitively at a giant screen has a ominously sci-fi feel to it – George Orwell meets Philip K. Dick, perhaps.

Despite knowing Big Brother is watching him, Eric eloquently explains Russell’s history of tyranny throughout the centuries, citing a succession of instances in which he had witnessed a suspicious gang of werewolves instigate a massacre at Russell’s whim. Including the murder of his Viking family and his experiences as a soldier in Nazi Germany in his statement, Eric is honest and forthcoming about the reasons behind his intent to exact revenge on Russell after a millennium of pent-up anger and resentment. Nan is incredulous at first, making note of Russell’s generous donations to the AVL and asking Eric why he hadn’t reported these alleged, treasonous actions earlier. Eric replies that his beef with Russell dates back long before the AVL or the Authority were a twinkle in any vampire’s eye and his admittedly selfish objective superseded any obligations to the government. Furthermore, he tells Nan, Russell’s financial contributions are simply designed to distract the AVL from his actual disdain for the Great Revelation and the entire concept of vampires and humans peacefully co-existing. After the Authority whispers an unintelligible message in her ear, Nan informs Eric Fangtasia will be on non-negotiable lockdown until his testimony is analyzed and a verdict is reached.

Back in Bon Temps, Sookie and Bill extend their post-coital bliss with a shower together, after which they engage in a refreshingly adult conversation about the nature of their relationship. “Normal couples do not do this, Bill Compton,” Sookie declares, as the two heave a werewolf carcass onto a tarp. No, Sookie, they do not. When Bill mentions the importance of trust between them, Sookie confronts him about the dossier on the Stackhouse family he has in his desk. Oh yeah, Bill’s startled expression says. That. Bill, reverting back to the chivalrous methods of the 1800s, covers his tracks by insisting his intent was to find out who and what Sookie is in order to “protect” her. Sookie informs Bill in the plucky, girl-power way she does best, that this is the 21^st century and, as his girlfriend, she is “not a thing to be protected.” Bill appears to acquiesce, but his rather dodgy reply to Sookie’s inquiry about Russell’s interest in her powers suggests he may still be withholding pertinent information from her.

Also enjoying their morning after is Jesus and Lafayette, a twosome I’m happy to report has successfully maintained their googly eyes from last week (“two days in a row” alone is a self-admitted “record” for Lafayette). A gussied-up Ruby Jean emerges, hilariously singing the praises of Lafayette’s extensive cosmetics collection. Noticing “LaLa” (okay, I love that) is uncharacteristically fresh-faced for a change, Ruby Jean marvels that he doesn’t have his “mask” on, and her “son is shining through” as a result. Aww. When she asks if Jesus is “responsible for this,” Lafayette at first responds with a defensive “No!” then pauses and offers a sheepish “Yes,” giving his mother a chance to reconsider previous misconceptions on her part. “Maybe God loves fags,” Ruby Jean ponders out loud. Thank goodness Alfre Woodard is an acting dynamo – a lesser thespian would render such dialogue unlistenable.

As for a couple I’m decidedly not rooting for, Jason and Crystal’s relationship seems to have mercifully hit the skids as he returns to his house to find a furious Fenton under the impression Crystal has been kidnapped and held at Jason’s house against her will. Confused, Jason exclaims that Crystal sought him out and is escaping both her betrothal to Fenton and the entire Hotshot life she’s known up to this point. Instead of backing Jason’s claim, Crystal reveals herself as the perpetuator of Fenton’s misunderstanding and even fuels the fire by impulsively shouting that Jason also raped her. Good lord. As Fenton lunges toward Jason, Crystal clocks him upside the head and issues a brief mea culpa to an exasperated Jason that she didn’t know what else to say when Fenton showed up. Sheesh. Crystal’s next brilliant idea is to tie up Fenton, make sure an incriminating bag of V is in his pocket, and call the cops while he’s still unconscious. Jason, somehow still not picking up that this crew isn’t just a bunch of meth-cooking rednecks, misinterprets Crystal’s cryptic clue that rope is the only sufficient restraint for Fenton since he can “escape handcuffs.” “What is he, a magician?” Jason asks. Oh, Jason. Apparently the naked, deer-eating tweaker from last week wasn’t a red enough flag for him.

When Jason and Crystal show up at the police station the next day (Jason for work, Crystal as his “ride-along”) they’re given the bad news that the sheriff’s deputy, the lovably doofy Kevin, was the unfortunate soul to be dispatched to Fenton’s whereabouts and is now in the hospital in critical condition courtesy of a blitzkrieg from the Hotshot bunch. Upon receiving this news, Jason realizes drastic action is needed and he recommends to Andy they use the bag of V found in Fenton’s pocket as probable cause to raid their camp and lock up the entire gang once and for all. Andy dutifully agrees and shoos Jason away before opening his desk drawer and pointedly handling the bag of V he’d just said had been locked in the evidence cage. Hmm.

Poor Sam just can’t seem to catch a break, as he gets a late-night phone call from Terry complaining about “girl noises” coming from Tommy’s apartment. Eww. Sam, forced to interrupt his heart-to-heart with a reeling Tara, heads over to find Tommy naked with a strung-out, topless Merlotte’s regular whose first name he can’t keep straight. Tommy agrees to keep it down, but tells Sam to take a hike after rhetorically asking him if he’s trying to act like his landlord or his dad. As irritating and inconsiderate his actions might be, Tommy’s newfound freedom after a life of the continuous abuse he’d had to endure is sure to result in a bit of reckless abandon. I’m just sayin’.

Just when I’m about to garner a bit of sympathy for the little twerp, however, he and Arlene come to blows during work after she confronts him about stealing her tips. His ability to lie to her face without so much as a blink, in combination with his colossally entitled attitude regarding the matter (come on, you know he took the money) knock him back down a notch or two in my book. Arlene starts to cry and confides in Holly, the new waitress who’s also in Tara’s new trauma survivors group, that she’s not carrying Terry’s baby, but Rene’s, and is concerned not only for the “pure evil” that Rene’s genetics may carry, but also for Terry’s reaction when he finds out. Arlene is far from my favorite character, but Carrie Preston knocked this scene out of the park, successfully expressing Arlene’s turmoil and giving the character a depth previously unseen. When Arlene admits she doesn’t want the baby but can’t morally stomach the thought of an abortion, Holly again alludes to her possible supernatural abilities when she tells Arlene, “there’s other ways to resolve it.”

Sookie, finally able to enjoy some alone time, is wistfully paging through a family scrapbook of various pictures and newspaper clippings. Just as she comes across an interesting headline about her grandfather crediting his heroism during a local fire to a “sixth sense,” Hadley interrupts with a phone call asking Sookie to come see her at the Monroe aquarium (thanks, Hadley – we might have actually been onto something). Sookie arrives and is surprised to see Hadley’s young son, Hunter, whom Hadley fears may be also be a telepath. After confessing to Sookie she had been involved with Queen Sophie-Anne and revealed the Stackhouse Secret, possibly piquing Russell’s curiosity, Hadley admits she’s terrified Hunter may be possessed with powers, too. Indeed, Sookie administers her unofficial telepath test and she and Hunter engage in a brief thought-to-thought conversation, much to Hadley’s horrified chagrin. Before Sookie can squeeze any more information from her, Hadley is taking a hike and dragging Hunter with her, apologizing to Sookie for any trouble she may have caused.

Bill, enjoying a long day’s slumber, is strangely awakened by water dripping through his floorboards. He pushes his door open and is transported to the twinkling fairy paradise we spied two weeks ago — the home of both Sookie’s guardian angel of sorts, Claudine, and a number of  feminine hygiene commercials. Bill, understandably, is awash with confusion at not only his sunlit surroundings and all-white getup, but also his newfound ability to walk on water in this mysterious locale. He and Claudine spot each other, and she is convinced his presence in her world can only be explained by Sookie’s death. Bill vows Sookie is alive and well, and unwisely attempts to feed on Claudine (smooth move, Bill). She zaps him with the same lightning fingers seen from Sookie in times of self-defense, and Claudine gives Bill an ominous warning to stay away from Sookie and her “light.” Bill demands he be told what Sookie’s supernatural capabilities consist of, and what she is, exactly, if not human. Later, at Sookie’s house, a visibly shaken Bill confesses his unintentional visit with Claudine to Sookie, and informs her he now knows What She Is. Really? That sure seemed easy. I assume Claudine, like Sookie, is unglamourable, so I have to wonder why she’d give up such pertinent information to Bill so quickly. Perhaps he’s just full of it and doesn’t actually know what he thinks he does, but my skepticism regarding this storyline being resolved so neatly is certainly palpable. I have a feeling the full knowledge of Sookie’s powers and their meaning won’t be entirely revealed for some time. Claudine knows better than that! Right?

Back at Fangtasia, an exhausted Eric has begun to bleed from his ears and nose (?!) and is dubious about his future. Assuming the worst, that the Authority will sentence him to execution (or a grief-stricken, ravenous Russell will find him first), Eric initiates a touching conversation with Pam about her need to deflect any responsibility from herself regarding his current predicament and become a maker in the event of his death. Before things begin looking irreparably doomed for Eric, Nan pops in to inform him the Authority has reached a verdict in his case. Apparently, from a governmental point of view, the situation is a “political tar baby no one wants to touch,” and Eric is instructed to never mention his contact with the AVL or the Authority, and any record of the case will be expunged. The Vampire Rights Amendment, Nan explains, is too close to ratification and a scandal as epic as the one Eric has the ability to ignite is too politically dangerous to address. Eric asks what, if anything, is to be done about Russell and his assured mission to destroy the Great Revelation and its progress, and Nan gives him a surprising answer: kill Russell himself, off the grid, and bring Nan his fangs, or she’ll have Eric’s. Well, then.

I should mention that while this conversation is taking place, Russell is on the roof holding an ornate glass jar containing Talbot’s remains. This elaborate urn of sorts has not only already become an internet sensation since Sunday, having been given both a catchy name (Jar ‘O Talbot, among similar others) and a Twitter account (seriously), but is also Russell’s confidant on the show, a creepy reminder of his inability to process Talbot’s death and a reason for him to delve into his devilish ways with further zeal than ever seen before. “They will suffer,” Russell tells Jar ‘O Talbot, repeating with deeper intensity, “They. Will. Suffer.”

After a brief check-in with the ongoing saga of Jessica and Hoyt, in which he confesses he can’t stand his new girlfriend, the doll-loving, God-fearing, biscuit-baking Summer (“Can’t do much antiquing after dark, can we?” she chirps to Hoyt, pointing out one upside of dating her instead of a vampire), and is only with her because it beats mooning over Jessica, Crystal is next shown having a conniption over Jason’s plan to raid Hotshot with Andy. While I understand her hesitation to sever family ties, Jason’s level of frustration seems to be matching my level of confusion about his unwavering devotion to this chick in the first place. From what I’ve heard, Crystal in the books is far more enticing than the shrill, mopey hillbilly we’re given on the show, and I daresay Jason Stackhouse is out of her league.

While Jason continues trying to convince Crystal she’s better off if her abusive fiancé and father are in jail, both men strut into Merlotte’s looking for her. Before Crystal and Jason can approach them, Sam goes ballistic and seems to unleash his pent-up frustration on Calvin’s face like a scene in Fight Club. The sequence is actually difficult to watch as Sam punches Calvin so furiously the altercation reaches the point where people have stopped gasping and begun staring in stunned silence. Tommy appears both mildly disgusted and mildly impressed, while Jesus and Lafayette load an unconscious Calvin and his bludgeoned face into the backseat of Jesus’ truck to take him to the hospital. Crystal rides along, in spite of Jason’s ardent protests to the contrary.

Meanwhile, Tara is alone in a secluded corner outside Merlotte’s (because that makes sense) and suddenly gets confronted by the reemergence of Franklin (finally!), back after a sabbatical where he clearly let his head re-inflate. Despite his utter delusion and through-the-roof ickiness, I have to say he’s been missed these past couple of weeks. Franklin notes with sinister disdain that Tara didn’t mourn his “death,” but he will surely mourn hers. Tara, having finally made a step toward recovery, tells Franklin exactly how she feels about him and says he may as well kill her because if that’s the only way she’ll be rid of him forever, she welcomes the freedom. As Franklin spends a torturous amount of time showing her his fangs, Jason suddenly appears, shotgun in tow. Franklin, always the smart-aleck, points out that Jason can shoot all the ammo he’s got, to no avail – his bullet wounds, no matter how numerous, will heal. With that, Jason fires his first round and Franklin unexpectedly explodes into a lifeless, bubbling pile of guts, Lorena-style. “Not if I have wooden bullets,” Jason retorts. Guess that Fellowship of the Sun safety kit came in handy, after all.

Finally, in the episode’s hysterically disturbing denouement, Nan (the self-professed True Blood purist) is seen snacking on a prostitute in the back of her limo, en route to an AVL press event in Portland. As Nan busies herself, the television inside the limo broadcasts the local evening news. The anchor is in the middle of a story about the upcoming Vampire Rights Amendment, and seems briefly distracted by strange noises coming from somewhere off camera. Suddenly, Russell appears at the news studio, on camera, and rips the anchor’s spine out of his body during the live newscast. I’ll pause to let you reread that if you didn’t get a chance to actually see it. What happens next is Russell’s captivating delivery of his gloriously horrifying manifesto about the AVL’s attempt to disguise vampires’ actual bloodthirsty intentions and instincts to feed on humans. As Russell reveals his desire to wage war on the human race, the final lines of his diatribe are the most chilling: “Why would we want equal rights? We are not your equal. We will eat you. After we eat your children.” Before I’m able to begin to pick my jaw up off the floor, Russell fixes his gaze to another in-studio camera without missing a beat, switching his tone and playfully tossing the newscast to its next segment: “And now for the weather. Tiffany?”

Recapping this scene in plain text simply doesn’t do it justice, as Denis O’Hare’s show-stopping performance is what made it the sensation it is. With only three episodes left, I can honestly say the complete lack of werewolves in this episode and the possibility of a Big Reveal in terms of Sookie’s identity pale in comparison to the major plot development courtesy of Russell and what his declaration of war means for the future atmosphere of True Blood. Nan and the AVL are surely in for a media frenzy and a non-stop parade of PR damage control on their part, while Eric’s covert assassination mission may prove to be all the more difficult in light of these events. Crystal, as far as I’m concerned, had better show me something worth seeing quick, or any possible interest I could have in her is as dead as Franklin. Personally, I’m anxious to see what storylines will be resolved by the end of the season and what will be left hanging for Season Four. I’m thrilled with the increased focus on vampire politics and society, and Russell’s staggering sermon was not only worthy of a season finale in itself, I dare say it was a highlight of the entire series for me. While watching, I couldn’t help but be reminded of Peter Finch’s legendary rant in Network: “I’m mad as hell, and I’m not going to take it anymore!” While True Blood certainly boasts one of the most noteworthy and diverse cast of characters on television, I have no qualms admitting I could watch an entire show consisting of Russell, Eric, Pam, Nan, the Authority and Jar ‘O Talbot. Sookie who?

Season 3, Episode 9: Everything is Broken (originally aired August 15, 2010)

For more on True Blood, click here.

Sundays at 9pm on HBO

Photographs courtesy of HBO and IMDbPro

We join White Collar as an exchange takes place with a woman, Catherine, selling stolen jewels from her employer for $100,000 to an undercover Neal. She is arrested but the surprise is that her five-year-old son, Ollie, is asleep in the backseat of the car during the exchange. Catherine reveals to Peter and Neal that she adopted Ollie recently from Chechnya but could lose him because the birth mother now wants him back. Her international adoption lawyer, Luke Donovan (John Larroquette), has recommended Catherine pay off the birth mother, which is why she stole the jewels. Neal and Peter become suspicious of Donovan and theorize that he is extorting money from his clients using the threat of birth mothers and their adopted children as leverage.

Peter meets with Donovan and questions him about Catherine and his adoption work but a sly Donovan proclaims his innocence. On Peter’s way out of Donovan’s office, he sees “Clark the Shark” entering, the enforcer for Chechan mob moss, Kaz Abramov. Peter’s gut reaction—there is some sort of connection between the Chechan mob and the possible adoption scam.

Meanwhile, Mozzie manages to break into Sara Ellis’ (Hilarie Burton) house and retrieves the FAA cockpit recording. Neal is not ready to listen to it and hides it in his apartment. Unfortunately, Sara realizes that someone, she assumes Neal, broke into her house and took the package. She immediately makes him take a polygraph in the FBI office, which Neal passes with the help of a pushpin.

Back to the case—Peter and Neal discover that Abramov is running an underground gambling club. As always, the crafty Caffrey uses his cell phone to gain entrance to the club and learns that Donovan is down $200,000 to Abramov. Neal, as Nick Halden, manages to talk his way into the upcoming poker game, that Donovan is also taking part in, but needs a $100,000 buy in from the FBI.

At the bureau, Jones, Diana, Peter and Neal concoct a plan. Donovan needs to win the poker game to repay Abramov. If Neal wins, Donovan will become desperate enough to extort another couple, which will be undercover agents Jones and Diana, in order to catch him red-handed.

Later, Mozzie stops by Neal’s apartment to check up on him and the recording. Neal, who is not yet ready to listen to the cockpit tape, assures Mozzie they will listen to it together when he is ready. In this scene, we learn an interesting tidbit about Mozzie; he was in foster care but never adopted. Moz is furious when he hears the current FBI case involves an adoption scam. He instructs Neal “crush him (Donovan).”

Diana and Jones are an attractive and convincing “married couple” as they meet with Donovan, who agrees to help their adoption. Afterwards, Neal asks Peter for help in discovering Donovan’s “tell,” a sign that he is lying. Peter meets with Donovan and recognizes his “tell,”—blinking twice. While this is occurring, a determined Sara shows up at Neal’s apartment with the police to search for the stolen FAA package. After the package is found, Sara has Neal arrested until Peter arrives and talks her out of it—explaining that Neal’s judgment is skewed when it comes to Kate which he assumes the tape is related to. Peter also tells Sara that Neal is critical to the FBI adoption scam case. Thanks to Peter, Neal is free to go to the poker game, no limit Texas Hold’em. The game is narrowed down to two players—Donovan and Neal, and of course, Neal wins.

The FBI’s takedown of Donovan continues according to plan. After losing the game, Donovan calls Jones and Diana to scam them for money to pay Abramov. He wants $200,000 brought to his office the following day. Donovan pushes up the meeting by a half hour because he plans to flee the country and not pay Abramov. However, not only does the FBI show up early, but so does Abramov and his crew. After a stand off with Abramov, Peter offers to look the other way at Abramov’s illegal gambling if he helps shut down the adoption scam. With Abramov’s help, who finds it disgusting that Donovan is using children for money, and after staging Neal getting “beaten up” by the Chechan mob, Donovan admits to running the adoption scam. This confession is what Peter is waiting for and they arrest Donovan.

Catherine and Ollie return to the FBI with good news, that she is on probation with community service and can keep Ollie. They also thank Neal and Peter, who seem to have a soft spot for kids.

Later, Sara pays a visit to a shirtless, yes a gorgeous shirtless, Neal at his apartment. She asks about Kate and reveals that she listened to the FAA recording. Sara moves back into my good graces when she hands the recording to Neal and says, “I don’t know what possessed you to drag me into this but I’m in.”

The episode comes to a close with Neal and Mozzie listening to the tape and discovering Kate telephoned someone just before the explosion.

In June, I had the opportunity to spend a day on the set of White Collar—coincidentally, while this episode was being filmed. On my tour, I walked through the Burkes’ home and the FBI office, saw the poker table and FBI surveillance van plus met the cast including Hilarie Burton, who was wearing that spectacular blue dress…it was fun to see this particular episode come to life. Congrats to White Collar writer, Matt Negrete, on a phenomenal first episode.

This week’s episode was a homerun for the entire cast including guest stars John Larroquette and Hilarie Burton. Weren’t Jones and Diana fantastic undercover as a married couple?

White Collar is superb at weaving bits of information about the Kate/music box mystery throughout the episodes and leaving us wanting more. White Collar has it all—comedy, drama, crime and, of course, bromance. I’ve enjoyed each episode thus far this second season and my impression is that each week they get better. So much so, I’m not sure I could pick a favorite.

As an aside, are you following Jeff Eastin on Twitter? You should be. Each week during White Collar, one of my favorite things is discovering the interesting facts that he tweets, like, “Donovan is a nod to Jeffrey Donovan,” from Burn Notice or “Our conman consultant, Simon Lovell, is seated screen right of Neal (with glasses)” during the poker game.

Also, according to Jeff Eastin, we will “learn a lot about Mozzie in next week’s White Collar” plus see an undercover Peter Burke. Check out the promo. Until next week Collars…

Season 2, Episode 6: In the Red (originally aired August 17, 2010)

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

Tuesdays at 9/8c on USA Network

Images courtesy of David Giesbrecht and the USA Network.

In a recent Q&A conference call, I caught up with the dynamic Marsha Thomason. Here are eight facts on Marsha/Diana that are certainly worth knowing.

1. Marsha reads a lot on set.

She’s currently reading The Glass Castle, by Jeannette Walls. “I just actually started, I literally just like put it in my bag and I’ve read a page. It was recommended actually by a hairstylist on the show. I just finished reading American Music, which actually the DP [Director of Photography] on our show, Russell Fine, gave to me because his friend, Jane Mendelsohn, is the author. But that’s what I just finished reading. It was really wonderful, a beautiful love story.”

2. Favorite Episode From Season 2:

“Need To Know” was my favorite episode (the second episode in season 2 when she went undercover as the call girl with Neal). Marsha also enjoyed last night’s episode, “In The Red” and said it was “another fun one for me, another one where I go undercover. My favorite ones [are] where we go undercover because I get to play another character on top of the character I’m already playing.”

3. Any similarities to her character, Diana?

“We look alike, which is kind of weird. Am I similar? Yes, she’s a ball buster. Which I guess is something that could be said about me. She really has a sense of doing the right thing and I have that. I couldn’t imagine having a job where I had to wear a suit every day. But other than that, I think there are many similarities between us.”

4. Pros & Cons of NYC:

“Well, the pro is that it’s New York City, hello. The con is that it’s so bloody humid right now and I’m in a suit all the time. They come and powder me, so I look like I’m smooth and cool.  Underneath I’m literally dripping with sweat. It’s so hot all the time. It’s kind of chaotic, but I like that. For me right now, it really is just the heat.”

5. Marsha on Diana’s motivation to get out of bed each day:

“She just really loves solving crimes. She likes putting bad guys away. Of course, we all have a sense of right and wrong, but she really has a strong sense of that. She doesn’t really deviate from it. So I think for her, her passion for being a FBI agent and going to do that job everyday really is just getting the bad guys and helping innocent people.”

6. Any challenges for Marsha on set?

“Well, there are a couple. One of them is some of the language that we have to use on the show. In the pilot I had on my very first day, it was this little speech and there was this big scene where we bust into this warehouse. I had to say something about, “exigent circumstance means we can do the blah, blah, blah.” I had no idea what exigent circumstance was or how to say it in an American accent. I managed to get one take out and then something happened and the second take, I go, “exigent circumstance, blah, blah.”  And Tim [DeKay] looks at me and I look at him like I don’t know. I don’t know what I’m saying. Just say your line.”

“Some of the action I find a little bit tricky. I enjoy it very much, but it can get very technical. Something as simple as the handcuffs that we use, obviously they’re not real handcuffs because we’re dealing with actors and not perps. And so when you hook them on, the mechanism, it can just go around and around and around. In other words, it makes them really difficult to get on. They bounce back, and I just look completely inept.”

7. What she would like to see happen with Diana:

“I’d really like to see the relationship with Neal explored a little more. I work with Tim [DeKay] a heck of a lot on the show. We have a lot of scenes together. But Neal and Diana, it’s kind of a slow build, so I’m really looking forward to seeing that storyline develop.”

Marsha would also like to Diana interact with her girlfriend, Christy. “I ask them [the writers], “Hey, when are we going to meet Christy?” And they’re like, it’s coming, it’s coming. But I’m hoping we meet Christy soon because I’ve shot quite a bit of footage in Diana’s house, but Christy is never there.”

8. Will Neal give up on trying to make himself attractive to Diana?

“No. Absolutely not. His ego is too big. You’ve seen the way women swoon when he walks into a room, because no, it’s sport for him. He’s the guy that fakes art and steals and does all of that stuff for sport. There’s no way he’s ever going to give up.”

Marsha Thomason is extremely amiable, down-to-earth and fun. On a side note, I enjoyed listening to her native English accent during the call, which she speaks without on the show. Hey writers, can Diana go undercover and use her English accent during an upcoming episode?

Make sure you tune in to see White Collar’s Marsha Thomason in action as Agent Diana Barrigan on Tuesdays at 9PM on USA Network.

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

Images courtesy of Eric Odgen and the USA Network.

If you have not seen Scott Pilgrim vs The World STOP! This article contains spoilers for the end of the movie and a few other scenes.

If you’ve seen the movie then please read on.

The Original Ending

The first significant change comes after the fight with Evil Exes Five and Six, Kyle and Ken Katayanagi. Scott jumps off the stage to confront Gideon, but is intercepted by Knives. The scene plays out the same as the finalized version of the film till the very end of the clip. Scott walks away, leaving Knives by herself in the crowd. As Knives looks in the direction that Scott left, the black box that gives out character information as seen early in the movie (e.g. Scott Pilgrim, Age 23, Rating Awesome) pops up again displaying Knives Chau, Age 18.

The next major change occurs after Scott “deals” with Nega-Scott. Meeting up with Knives on the street, Scott and her look off into the distance where Ramona stands in the street. A silent understanding takes place between Ramona and Scott where each understands that Scott is better suited to be with Knives. Ramona walks off into the darkness and Scott and Knives share a kiss. The movie comes to an end with the two of them at the arcade laughing, having a good time playing the Ninja DDR game.

And that’s that. The original ending for the movie.

Personally, I prefer the new ending that can be seen in theaters. It flows better with the movie. For those that have seen the movie, you can definitely see that the film hints towards this ending.

When I initially saw the original ending I felt a bit sideswiped by what just happened. After dwelling on it a bit, I came to terms with the ending, but I could possibly see others being put off. I would definitely say the “Knives’ Ending” is more of a character building ending than the “Ramona Ending.”

Hopefully viewers will get a chance to see the original ending as part of Extras on the Scott Pilgrim DVD/Bluray.

Photo by Kerry Hayes – © 2010 Universal Studios.

Based on the New York Times best selling book of the same name, the film is about a woman, who is told by a medicine man in Bali that she will have two marriages, loose everything and gain it back, and that she would return to visit him.  After experiencing a devastating divorce and a recent rebound relationship, Liz travels to Italy, India, and Bali to reclaim her life.

This film can certainly be classified under chick flick with the amount of women inside the movie theater, but it was a damn good one. The story begins with Liz having what most women aspire to have, a great career, a loving husband, and a new house. But we soon learn that something is wrong with the picture because she isn’t happy. She soon realizes that she doesn’t want to be married and goes through a divorce with her husband Steven, artfully played by Billy Crudup. Next she meets David (James Franco), an actor who becomes her rebound boyfriend. But soon she feels just as alone and unhappy as she did during her marriage. Liz resolves to spend a year abroad to “deal with herself”. As Liz travels to Italy, India, and Bali she learns valuable lessons on how to achieve balance in her life, through nourishment, prayer, and love. Along the way she meets people who teach her different ways to live as well as giving her the opportunity to make a difference in their worlds.

I thought the acting in the film was incredibly well done. Everyone brought their roles to life with depth and sensitivity. The best part is that I wasn’t even paying attention to whom was playing whom because they all became their characters to me.  I particularly loved Richard Jenkins, who made me teary-eyed as his character talked about almost killing his son because he was driving drunk. Javier Bardem as Felipe, the divorced man Liz meets in Bali, came across the screen with humor, passion, and vulnerability.

The movie also had beautiful cinematography, showing New York City, Rome, India, and Bali. There is nothing like amazing cityscapes and picturesque exotic locations to help those on a soul-searching journey.  Of course it could be the very thing that critics may complain about, that films such as Under The Tuscan Sun have already done this formula, a woman rediscovering herself in a foreign country. That is a legitimate critique.

The movie may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but I believe that we can all learn some valuable lessons from Liz’s experience – such as forgiving yourself, finding balance, contributing to other people, letting go of our attachment to what life is supposed to look or feel like, taking big bold risks, and living in the present. The film did an excellent job in bringing these messages across in a way that I could relate. The target audience may have been women, but still I’d like to think that it doesn’t matter what gender you are because we all go through problems and have to deal with ourselves.

It may be formulaic, but I really enjoyed it. It was inspirational to see a woman really struggle with herself to figure out what it is that she wants and needs in her life. While not everyone might be able to just drop everything and travel the world for a year, it makes for a good movie to vicariously live through and perhaps take inspiration from for our own lives.

Photos by Francois Duhamel – © 2010 CTMG, Inc