The Vampire Diaries

Greetings-

This marks the debut of my column for The CW's vampire drama The Vampire Diaries. Most people think that this is just a rip off of Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series of books, but the truth of the matter is that The Vampire Diaries series of books were published starting in 1991. The Twilight series came to us in 2005; 14 years later. The Vampire Diaries probably owes its television life to the Twilight movies, however.

In a nutshell, The Vampire Diaries is about a high school girl who falls in love with a vampire. Yes, it all sounds familiar.  However, I believe that The Vampire Diaries is much better in terms of the mythology of the vampire.  These are vampires that actually use their fangs.  These vampires don't sparkle in the sunlight.  These vampires don't rely on venom to kill their prey, they simply suck the blood of their victims until they die. In other words, these are the vampires that we have come to know over the years instead of their neutered sparkly cousins from The Twilight Saga.

Main Cast:
Nina Dobrev (Degrassi: The Next Generation) - Elena Gilbert
Paul Wesley (Wolf Lake) - Stefan Salvatore
Ian Somerhalder (LOST) - Damon Salvatore
Steven R. McQueen (Everwood) - Jeremy Gilbert
Katerina Graham (17 Again) - Bonnie Bennett
Candice Accola (Deadgirl) - Caroline Forbes
Zach Roerig (As the World Turns) - Matt Donovan
Michael Trevino (Cane) - Tyler Lockwood
Sara Canning (Slap Shot 3: The Junior League) - Jenna Sommers
Matthew Davis (Legally Blonde) - Alaric Saltzman

The Vampire Diaries airs Thursday nights on The CW at 8 PM Eastern/7 PM Central

I'll be back next week with episode reactions for the 15th episode of the second season.

Until next time,
-Bill-

V S2 Ep5 "Concordia"

Greetings-

Even though a 3rd season of this show hasn't been green lit yet, the producers are planning a major cliff-hanger for the end of the 2nd season. I have a feeling that this is an effort on the part of the powers that be to get the fans to create a preemptive campaign to demand a 3rd season of the show. Fan driven campaigns have worked in the past (Jericho).

Here's what TV Guide has to say about "Concordia":

Anna uses a gift to humanity as a cover to hide a fleet of breeding vessels while Eli tries to sway the Fifth Column to assassinate Anna at a gala.

As with the rest of my TV columns this week, I'm not going to be doing a full recap of the episode.  I'll be sharing my thoughts with you at the end of the show.

Orion slave girl Vina played by Susan Oliver

Before I actually get to the meat of this column, I want to express my growing disappointment with this show. For a show about a resistance movement against an alien invasion, the fifth column really hasn't done much over the course of one and a half seasons. There's really no sense of a global resistance like there was in the original V miniseries from the 80's. Another thing I'm disappointed in is the plot line changes. In the original miniseries, the Visitors were abducting humans to use as food. That's some pretty freaky stuff right there. In this iteration of the show, the visitors want to do the horizontal mambo with humans. That's not so scary.  In fact, it's the dream of many a fan of science fiction television ever since Captain James T. Kirk got it on with the green Orion slave girl in Star Trek.

On with the show.

Guest starring tonight is Nicholas Lea (The X-Files) as Tyler's father, Joe Evans.

It's nice to see Erica and Father Jack get on board with the assassination attempt. For someone that is so concerned about her son's safety, she hasn't really shown up to this point that she's willing to do what needs to be done in order to protect humankind from the Visitors. I'm glad to see this change.

The overly elaborate docking stations for the waiting invasion force was pretty cool looking, but how the heck are they going to get built so quickly? Anna told Chad that Concordia was going to be built by human labor. There's no way a bunch of construction workers are going to get these things built as quick as Anna wants them to be built.

Very disappointed in Ryan's choice to believe Anna's line of bull. Ryan should know better, but still chooses to tip off the Visitors about the assassination attempt. At least he didn't (as far as we know) let Marcus and Anna know who exactly was behind the attempt. I guess this is a good out for the writers as we still haven't gotten any resolution of the plot line involving the meetings between Hobbes and Marcus. However, we do know that the Visitors have the technology available to them to bring someone back from the brink of death.

Hobbes is also ticked off at Ryan. Ryan better go back to living on the mother ship.  I don't think he's going to be able to talk himself out of this situation. He just confirmed to Hobbes and Eli that the Visitors can't be trusted.

That's it for this week.  Things are starting to move faster in the V universe.

Favorite Quote:
Jack Landry "They can take my collar, but they can't take my faith."

Until next time,
-Bill-

No Ordinary Family S1 Ep14 "No Ordinary Double Standard"

Greetings-

Yep, another show that I'm still enjoying despite its lackluster ratings.

Like the rest of my television columns this week, I'm going to refrain from writing a play by play recap of the episode and instead give you my thoughts after watching.

Here's what TVGuide has to say about "No Ordinary Double Standard":

Jim and Stephanie have a contest to test their crime-fighting skills after a friend of hers is attacked; Daphne is upset by her father's double standard on a dating issue; Katie makes a shocking discovery about Joshua.

 Guest starring is Ethan Suplee (My Name is Earl) as Tom Seeley.

The villain in this episode has a pretty cool power. He turns into smoke/mist/fog in order to enter into the homes of his victims. The smoke effect was pretty well done for television special effects.

The double standard of being a parent with both a boy and a girl when it comes to dating seems to be pretty spot on in tonight's episode. I can only hope that when my kids are old enough to be dating that I won't apply a double standard, but the fact of the matter is that I probably will. I think it's written into the DNA code of parents.

Still loving the adorable geekiness of Katie. I like the fact that they didn't go with the typical comic book geek for this show. They could have gone with a pimply kid with hardly any friends, but instead they went with a woman. Very nice to see ABC stepping away from the stereotype.

I usually like when the Powell's work together (like in the episode "No Ordinary Anniversary"), but the little contest to see who could solve the crime first between Stephanie and Jim seems a little bit "meh".  Jim is a little bit too arrogant about his abilities in this episode and it puts a little damper on his likability as a character. However, once the Powell's and their respective sidekicks decide that it would be best for them to work together, things get better.

Another problem I had with the episode, and previous episodes, is that the kids seem to exist within the show as a plot device instead of fully fleshed out characters.

The appearance of the menacing Dr. King (Stephen Collins) is always a plus. I don't get tired of seeing him as a villain.  When he spills the beans about how dangerous Joshua is to Katie, I just wanted to punch him in the guts. Good reaction to have towards a true villain. When Tom tells Steph and Jim that Dr. King is behind the experiments that made him into a smoke monster, I about cheered.

Daphne learns a new way to use her powers tonight as well. It turns out that not only can she hear people's thoughts and see people's thoughts when she touches them, she can also push thoughts.  Daphne has now learned that she can use the Jedi Mind Trick.

The confrontation between Tom and Dr. King was decent, but we don't know if Dr. King was telling the truth about Tom being healed by the injections.

Joshua is really creepy.  I was hoping that his true nature (that of a killer) would stay buried, but when he used his powers to cover up his past to Katie, I just wanted to kick him in the teeth.  He's getting a little obsessed, and it's sufficient to say that I don't think it will be much longer before he's working for Dr. King again.

The tension builds.  Next week we see the return of the shape shifter, Victoria as she tries to destroy the Powell family.  I'm looking forward to an "Incredibles" style family team up to put the smack down on Dr. King and his team of super-villains.

Favorite Quote:

George: She lied to me and she violated the sanctity of the lair.
Katie: Lairs don't have sanctity.
George: Well, then you violated the sanctity of the smoothie, which is even...
Jim: Kids, if you don't behave, I'm going to turn this lair right around.

Until next time,
-Bill-

Being Human S1 Ep4 "Wouldn't It Be Nice (If We Were Human)

Photo courtesy of Syfy.com

Greetings-

I'm still really digging this show. Let's hope Syfy keeps it around for a while. Everyone probably knows by now that I'm into vampire television. I'm a fan of "The Vampire Diaries",  "Forever Knight", "True Blood" (even though I've only seen the first season), and I even enjoyed the short lived ABC series "The Gates".

There's just something about vampires that speaks to my nocturnal nature. When other kids were pretending to be super-heroes, I was secretly hoping that one day I would become a vampire.

Guest starring is Andreas Apergis (voice actor in Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood) as Ray. Also a very special appearance by a pair of Zubaz pants.

Anyway, enough about my childhood fantasies. Let's get on with the latest episode. Here's what TV Guide has to say about "Wouldn't It Be Nice (If We Were Human)":

Josh befriends a werewolf who doesn't like vampires; Rebecca seeks out Aidan's help to evade the vampire clan; Sally learns a new trick.

Like the rest of my TV columns this week, I'm stepping away from doing a blow by blow recap and just giving you my initial thoughts and reactions after watching the show.

First half hour:
Ray:  A bit creepy at first, but tolerable. However, by the midpoint of the episode we find out that Ray is a full out bigot when it comes to vampires. Detestable character by this point of the show.
Aiden:  He's definitely not as strong as he thinks when it comes to the lust for blood. He tries to teach Rebecca how to stay away from drinking the blood of humans, but at this point it's almost like watching an alcoholic trying to teach another alcoholic how to stay away from whiskey by having them drink light beer instead. The blood lust scenes are very sexy in a dark way.
Sally:  She learned how to travel outside of their house by using her mind in last week's episode, which was pretty darn cool. I felt even more excited for her when she actually made something happen on the physical plane tonight. She learned how to cock-block from beyond the grave.
Josh:  What can I say? I think it's great that he's beginning to shed some of the awkwardness and starting to gain some self-confidence. Just goes to show that we can learn something even from the most deplorable of sources.

Second half:
Okay, so maybe this dose of self-confidence wasn't such a good thing for Josh. I gave a good old fashioned face-palm during his attempt to hit on the hot blonde nurse in the hospital cafeteria. When he chews Aiden's ass for asking him about his attempt at dating suicide, I almost wanted to hit him in the eye.

I may be getting more emotional as I get older, but I was really touched when Sally decides to let go of the past and communicates to Bridget that it's okay for her and Danny to be together. I got a little misty eyed. It got a little bit dusty in my house during that scene.

Rebecca learns how hard it is to control herself. It's not easy trying to control your desires.

I really want Ray to come to a bad end. Bringing Josh to the vampire den was not a good idea. Ray puts Josh in a position where he has to let his inner wolf out in order to defend himself. I like Josh better when he's awkward. However, this, along with Rebecca's struggles show how hard it can be to repress our baser instincts.

A little bit relieved to see that Rebecca is gone for now. Aiden is barely strong enough to keep his own urges in check. He doesn't have the strength that he wants to have. Danny needs to just grow a pair. Sure it may seem silly to try to talk to someone that you can't see, but he really needs to try. He's got something to get off his chest.  Not sure what he wants to say, but if it's important, he needs to just say it no matter if he believes that Sally can hear it or not. It was nice to see Marcus get the snot beat out of him, but not at the expense of Josh's likability. While some of the things that Ray said to him at the end of the episode may hit a little close to the truth, we don't need Josh to go down that road.  He needs to strike a balance between his inner-wolf and his humanity.

Seems that toxic relationships aren't only limited to humans.

Next week, Bishop is back.

Favorite Quote:
Josh:  I think the wolf eats its own poo.

Until next time,
-Bill-

The Cape: S1 Ep5 "Goggles and Hicks"

Greetings-

Yes, I know that I'm really far behind.  The kids have had way too many snow days off from school, so I haven't had much time to get caught up with my shows.

I won't be doing a full episode recap tonight, but I'll give my reactions to this episode of "The Cape".

First, as always, here's what TV Guide has to say about this episode:

Fleming hires a team of technical whizzes to uncover the Cape's true identity. Meanwhile, Dana digs further into her husband's case.

Guest Starring are Pruitt Taylor Vince (Deadwood) as Goggles and Chad Lindberg (Supernatural) as Hicks.


The two bad guys in this episode (Goggles and Hicks) are members of the assassin's order Tarot.  They are represented by The Chariot card.  The Chariot is the 7th trump card in traditional Tarot decks.  The Chariot is said to represent war and eventual victory.  


Fleming hires the two man team to kill The Cape.


We get more of what we've come to expect from an episode of The Cape.  We get our weekly flashback early on in the episode.  We get our weekly consult with Yoda Max. We get an annoyed Scales.  By the way, does Scales ever have a good day?  We had a hint last week that he really enjoys lasagna, so perhaps he has missed lasagna night again. We also get our weekly dose of Orwell being all Orwellian.


One of the things that I don't get about this show is that for a guy that's supposed to be dead, Vince sure likes being in public places.  He also likes to discuss things about his previous life in public as well.  Sure he's just talking to Orwell, but doesn't he ever think that maybe someone is listening in?  Perhaps after tonight, he won't go out in public without being The Cape as often has he's been doing in the past episodes.

Okay, now on to what I thought was good about the episode.  Dana finally beginning to put the pieces together that Marty knows something about what happened to Vince.  The confrontation in Marty's hallway was pretty good.  Trip's new annoying friend from the apartment from downstairs.  The kid is annoying, but it's nice to see that Trip has someone that believes him about The Cape.  Call me sappy if you will, but I liked the exchange between Orwell and Vince before she finds the tracker on him.  I also liked the creepiness of Goggles and Hicks.  They were much more entertaining and fleshed out than the other member of the Tarot order, Cain.

Best line of the episode:  "If I see you in my town again;  If I even hear that you're looking in this direction, I'm gonna tear your eyes out and pour my coffee in your skull"

We recently learned that NBC has cut the the episode order for The Cape from 13 to 10. That's not a good sign.  Also, the show is shedding viewers every week.  This could be yet another show I like that won't get another season.

To me, The Cape brings me back to a time when superheroes were allowed to be more like their comic book counterparts.  Bigger than life, clichéd and cheesy.  I miss that sometimes.

What do you think about The Cape?  Will we get a second season on television?  Do you think we might see a comic book spin-off of the show?  Love it or hate it, be sure to let me know down in the comments.

Until next time,
-Bill-

X-Men: First Class - Official Trailer

Greetings-

The internet is buzzing with the news of the release of the first trailer for the new installment in the X-Men franchise. Take a look below and tell me what you think down in the comments.

Supernatural: S6 Ep12-Like A Virgin

Image Courtesy of  CWTV.com

Tonight is the mid season premiere for one of the best shows on television, Supernatural.  The episode was originally scheduled for last week, but The CW execs postponed it a week.

Supernatural stars Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles as brothers Sam and Dean Winchester who travel around the country hunting Supernatural phenomenon.

Here's what TV Guide has to say about tonight's installment:


Virgins mysteriously disappear, and Dean and Bobby learn that dragons are responsible for the kidnappings. Dean seeks out a weapon to slay the beasts, but he must prove himself worthy before he can claim it. Meanwhile, Death tries to restore Sam's soul. 


Okay, I'm going to go away from my normal routine of doing a play by play recap of the entire episode.  Why?  Because it's nearly 2:15AM, and I really need to start getting a little more sleep at night.


At the end of the mid season finale, Death was putting Sam's soul back into his body.  In this episode, the deal has been sealed and Castiel gives the verdict that Sam's soul is indeed reincorporated.  The only problem is that the wall that Death has erected inside of Sam has left him without any memory of what has transpired through the first half of the season.


During the episode, Sam finds out from Castiel what happened over the past months and now wants to make up for the things he did while soul-less.  Dean still wants to protect Sam from the truth, but Sam is determined to put things right.


Tonight, we also find out who the next big bad is going to be.  Seems that Crowley wasn't the only one interested in purgatory.  The dragons (who take the shape of humans) are kidnapping virgins.  We find out that they are wanting to perform a ritual to open a door to purgatory and release the "Mother of All".  They need a vessel for "MoA" to inhabit and that explains the need for the virgins.


At the end of the episode, the dragons succeed at opening the door and letting "MoA" into our world.


Great return for the series.  I liked Robo-Sam quite a bit, but it's good to have Sammy back to himself now. 


Next week it looks as if Sammy runs into a bit of legal trouble and ends up behind bars.


Until next time,
-Bill-

Smallville: S10 Ep12 - Collateral

Photo courtesy of CWTV.com

Greetings-

Tonight, the mid season premiere of Smallville airs on The CW.  Tonight's episode was originally scheduled for last week, but The CW rescheduled for this week instead.

Smallville stars Tom Welling as Clark Kent, Justin Hartley as Oliver Queen (Green Arrow) and Erica Durance as Lois Lane.

Here's what TV Guide has to say about tonight's installment:

The VRA releases Clark, Oliver, Lois and Dinah, who all have flashbacks of Chloe's involvement in their capture. Trust becomes an issue when Chloe returns to town and Dinah fears she is now a traitor.

When we last saw our band of heroes, they had just finished the funeral ceremony of Hawkman (Michael Shanks).  After the burial, a strange device came up out of the sands and detonated, leaving members of the Justice League unconscious.  Tonight we find out what happened.

We open the episode at the Kent farm where an anxious Lois is on hold with the Vigilante Registration Agency.  When someone finally gets on the line, Lois gives the person on the other end a butt chewing and threatens to go after the agent that she's speaking to.  The agent hangs up on Lois.  While cleaning up a broken glass, Lois hears a noise and runs to the front hallway to see Clark coming home.  Clark informs her that the VRA was behind their abduction and tells her that they'll get answers tomorrow.  Lois runs off to the kitchen to fix Clark something to eat.  Clark follows her and assures her that he's fine.  Lois isn't convinced.  Clark squats down to pick up the broken glass on the floor and cuts himself.  He tells Lois that the VRA somehow removed Clark's powers.  They try to compare notes about what happened to them while in the custody of the VRA, but neither of them have a clear memory of what happened to them.  Clark then has a wicked flashback where he's strapped into some kind of containment unit.  He gets an injection in his neck and remembers Chloe being there at the containment unit.

At Luthorcorp, Oliver Queen is standing at his office doors which have been sealed off by the VRA.  He tears down the official VRA notices and enters his office.  Ollie pours himself a stiff drink.  He notices his phone, picks it up and stares at the picture of Chloe that is his main background image and flashes back to his time in the custody of the agency.  He's also strapped into some kind of containment unit having experiments performed on him while Chloe watches.

At the now abandoned Watchtower, Clark (in his Daily Planet uniform of shirt and tie) enters.  Dinah (Alaina Huffman) steps out of the shadows.  Dinah tells Clark that her powers are gone as well.  She doesn't remember anything about her time in custody except for flashbacks that she's been having.  She begins to tell Clark about the flashbacks and he knows that she's experiencing the same thing that both he and Ollie have experienced.  Chloe is in all of their flashbacks watching.  Dinah suspects that Chloe may have something to do with the absence of their powers, but Clark tells Dinah that Chloe wouldn't tell the VRA anything.  Dinah is not convinced and asks Clark if he'll do what needs to be done if they find out that Chloe has turned on the League.  Before Clark can answer, Dinah's phone rings.  She tells Clark that Ollie is up at Metropolis General Hospital and things are not going well.

At Met-Gen, we see Ollie hunched in the corner of a glass enclosed room wearing a straitjacket.  The thought that Chloe is somehow behind their abductions has pushed him over the edge.  Clark enters the adjoining room and calls out to Oliver.  Ollie tells Clark that the VRA is in his head.  He tells Clark that they have him believing that Chloe is behind their time in custody.  He tells Clark about the flashbacks that he's been having. Clark's face tells Oliver that Clark saw Chloe too, but Clark won't tell Oliver what he saw.  Clark tells Ollie that he's going to find a way out of all this and leaves the hospital.  The lights in the observation room begin to spark and explode.  The walls begin to ripple.  Chloe, or a vision of Chloe, steps out through the wall.

Ollie tells the vision of Chloe that whatever drugs they have him on are working.  Chloe tells Oliver that he's not hallucinating.  Chloe explains that she's there to save him, but Oliver isn't buying it.  He tells the vision of Chloe that he remembers her being there when experiments were being performed on him.  He also explains that Clark remembers the same thing.  Chloe then explains that they are still in the custody of the VRA hooked up to a mainframe where their minds are being held prisoner in a virtual world.  She explains that it's like they are playing a video game powered by their subconsciouses.  Their own personal hells.  Oliver tells Chloe that she's not real, and she explains how she is there.

She broke into the facility where they are being held, hacked into the computer and created an avatar of herself so that she could warn them about what was happening to them.  She explains that the flashbacks that they've all been experiencing were flashes of reality when she tried to unplug them from the virtual world.  When she unplugged them, their bodies flat-lined and she had no other choice but to plug them back into the mainframe.  Chloe then goes into an explanation that since she knows that everything around them is fake, it gives her power (stealing an idea from "The Matrix").  She shows Oliver how she's going to rescue them all.  Oliver buys her theory and the straitjacket disappears.  Chloe tells Ollie to follow her out of there.

As they begin to leave the hospital, they run into Smallville's version of Agent Smith.  They need to avoid the anti-virus programs or else they are toast.  She explains to Ollie that if the agents catch him, they will kill him.  Major plot hole here.  She just explained that everything there is fake and as long as he believes that everything is fake, nothing can stop them.  Here she is, however, completely contradicting herself by saying that if he dies in the virtual world as the result of being caught by the agents, he'll die in the real world as well.

They round a corner and run into an agent.  Chloe and Oliver duck back around the corner.  Chloe asks Oliver if he trusts her.  He tells her that he trusts her with his life.  Chloe steps back around the corner, pulls out two guns, and shoots the agent in front of them.  Then she fires back down the corridor that they are in and takes out another agent.  They continue their escape.

At The Daily Planet, Lois and Clark are trying to find out where they were held.  They are soon joined by Dinah who explains that Oliver has just escaped from Met-Gen.  Dinah shows Clark and Lois video surveillance footage of  Ollie's escape and that he's being helped by Chloe.  Lois and Clark decide that they need to find her, but Dinah says that if Chloe wanted them to find her she would have contacted them by now.    Clark explains that Chloe must have a good reason for what she's doing, but Dinah tries to explain that they both saw what she was doing to them in the lab from their flashbacks.  Lois tells Dinah that Chloe would never hurt Oliver.  Dinah then shows them the footage of Chloe taking out the agents in the hallway.  Chloe and Lois begin to argue.  Clark's phone rings;  it's a text message from Chloe telling him to meet her on the roof.  Clark leaves without being noticed by the two women.

Clark joins Chloe and Oliver up on the roof of The Daily Planet.  Chloe and Oliver bring Clark up to speed about the whole virtual world thing.  They also explain how the VRA wants the League working for the government by manipulating their powers and skills.  By this time, the agents make it up to the rooftop access door.  Chloe gives the whole spiel about how Clark has to believe that everything around him is fake so that they can escape.  Chloe tells them that they have to jump off the roof in order to get through the portal back into the real world.  Clark wants to trust her, but wants answers first.  Chloe tells Clark that she will answer his questions later, but they have to go now.  Clark tries, but can't accept that what Chloe is saying is the truth.  The agents are almost through the door.  Chloe and Oliver jump from the roof and make it through the portal.

The glass topped gurney opens and Oliver is awake.  He unhooks himself from the machine and gets up off the table.  He turns and Chloe is there waiting to give him a kiss.  The camera changes angles and shows a group of guards taken out on the floor.  Flag and Deadshot enter the room.  Oliver goes to confront them and they pull weapons.  Chloe orders the two men to stand down and that she'll explain everything to Ollie later.

Flag explains to Oliver that the VRA doesn't know that they've infiltrated their facility in order to free the members of the League.  But they will be finding out soon.  He tells Oliver that they are going to be up against the dangerous and lethal VRA operatives.  They need to get the rest of the crew unplugged and mobilized.  Chloe goes back into the matrix.

Chloe is confronted by Dinah just moments after she jumps into the world.  Dinah wants to know what she's done with Oliver.  Chloe then tries to explain that they are inside a virtual world, but Dinah doesn't believe her and still believes that Chloe is a traitor.  Dinah tries to ram Chloe into a wall face first, but Chloe pulls off some Keanu Reeves moves and flips back behind Dinah.  They square off.  After a few moments, Dinah pulls out one of her throwing blades and chucks it at Chloe's head.  Chloe makes the knife stop in front of her and plucks it from the air.  She asks Dinah where Lois is.

Back in the real world, the VRA operatives are on the way to the facility.  At the lab, the next pod opens and Dinah gets unhooked from the machine.  Oliver brings Dinah up to speed, Flag informs the team that the VRA agents are on their way.  Flag goes to take up his defensive position, followed closely by the Black Canary.  Oliver stays behind for a moment and Chloe tells him that it's going to be hard to get Clark out.  Clark doesn't trust her anymore since she left the team.  They've got just about 17 minutes to get the rest of the team out of the machine.  Oliver tells Chloe to keep trying.

In the virtual world, Clark meets up with Lois in front of the Daily Planet.  Clark wants to know what's going on and get back his powers so that he can stop Chloe.  He thinks he's beginning to go crazy.  He's seeing things that can't be real.  He tells Lois that he saw Chloe and Oliver jump from the roof of the Planet, but when he went to check down below at the ground, they had vanished.  Lois tries to explain the whole virtual reality thing to Clark.  Clark still isn't buying it because he still doesn't trust Chloe.  He's a little ticked that Lois is going along with the whole VR thing just because Chloe says so.  Clark explains to Lois that he doesn't trust Chloe not because she left, but because she didn't explain why she was leaving.  She just went.  Lois tells Clark that Chloe has earned his trust and that he should respect her secrets and still believe in her despite the things that she's keeping from him.  Lois tells Clark that they can't make him believe that the VR world is fake, he has to believe it all on his own.

Back in the real world, time is ticking away and the VRA agents are closing in.  Chloe is pistol whipped from behind by Lt. Trotter as she's trying to get the rest of the team out of VR.  Trotter's team then infiltrates the virtual world using Chloe's avatar.

The Chloe avatar seems to have something wrong with it.  The Chloe avatar makes her way into the bullpen of the Planet and confronts Lois and Clark.  The Chloe avatar tries to make Lois and Clark think that they are losing their minds by contradicting everything that the real Chloe tried to tell them earlier in the episode.  Lois notices something is off about this version of Chloe.  Lois backhands the Chloe avatar and sends her flying through a set of doors across the room.  The Chloe avatar seems to be down for the count as Lois and Clark take to the elevator.

In the real world, the VRA agent that hijacked Chloe's avatar gets left alone in the pod room as Trotter and the rest of her team go to transport Chloe.  Trotter tells the techie to not let Clark out of the VR world.  Once the agents are outside they come under attack by gunfire.  Flag walks calmly down the alley firing as he comes.  When he stops to take cover, the VRA agents toss Chloe to the ground and are preparing to kill her when Deadshot saves the day with a couple of well placed bullets.  Chloe runs and is stopped by a VRA agent.  A green arrow slices through the night and Oliver jumps in to save Chloe.  He uses his communicator to tell Canary that Trotter is coming.  Trotter is firing as she runs, and Black Canary is acrobatically dodging the shots.  When Trotter runs out of ammunition, Black Canary hits Trotter with he sonic scream taking Trotter out of the picture.  The VRA agents are out for the count.

Back in VR land, Lois and Clark have made it up to the roof of the Planet, but they are stopped by the Chloe avatar who keeps trying to convince them that the VR world is the real world and that it would be suicide to jump from the rooftop.  In another plot point ripped off from the Matrix movies a buttload of Chloe avatars appear on the rooftop.  Lois tells Clark to not listen to the Chloe avatar and to trust in himself and take a leap of faith.  Clark grabs Lois in his arms and he takes flight!  Sure, it's in a virtual world, but we are seeing Clark Kent fly!  Clark flies Lois through the portal.

Some time passes during the commercial break and when we come back we're at the Kent Farm.  Chloe is looking through some pictures and Clark comes in the room to talk to her.  She then explains how she took control of the Suicide Squad.  She took out their missile capabilities and then gave Flag a choice.  She could either report them to the government or they could work for her.  Clark and Chloe then share a little chick flick moment about trust.  Lois comes in from a grocery run and tells them that she just heard from Tess that Trotter and the rest of the VRA agents are now hooked up to their own VR hell.  The League's secret is safe once again.  Lois then asks Chloe if she'll be the maid of honor at the wedding.  Chloe gives Lois a great big hug (I guess that means yes in the Smallville universe).

Later we join Oliver at Watchtower holding a rather large bouquet of flowers.  Chloe comes in wearing a dress and tells Oliver that the flowers are beautiful.  We have another chick flick moment about trust and Chloe tells Oliver how the helmet of Dr. Fate warned her to stay away.  Oliver explains how he felt while Chloe was gone.  Oliver asks if she's going to be sticking around for a while.  Chloe says yes, and then they share some smooch-time.

In the barn at the Kent farm, Clark is reading through Carter's journal.  Lois comes up behind him and lets him know that she's done picking out the flowers and bridesmaid dresses and it's safe to come back in the house.  She notices he's looking through Carter's book and they share a moment about believing.  They share some smooch time, and that's the end of this week's episode.

I had quite a bit of a problem with this episode and the borrowing of plot points from "The Matrix".  It really took me out of the episode quite a few times.  I was like "oh here we go again with the recycled plot points".  Once the episode moved past the virtual world, though, I was back to enjoying things again.

Next week, we see some familiar faces return to the Smallville universe.

Until next time,
-Bill-

Hiatus

Greetings-

Just wanted to put a quick note out that I am putting this blog on a temporary hiatus.  I've gotten so far behind on my television watching over the past week, that I don't think I'll be able to catch up at all until the end of the week.

Starting today, I'm going on a short hiatus to catch up and clear my head a bit.  I'll be back at it, though, this coming Friday for the mid-season premieres of Supernatural and Smallville.

Until next time,
-Bill-

The Cape: S1 Ep3-Scales on a Train (Recap Part 2)

Okay, I'm finally back with part 2 of my episode recap and reaction for "Scales on a Train".  I know, I know, it took me a while, but sometimes a man has catch up on some rest.

When we left off, Scales had just tried to talk business with the mayor of Palm City with less than the desired results.

The Cape runs into Rollo and tells him to call off the robbery so that his plan of outing Fleming as Chess through Scales can go off without a hitch.  Rollo refuses and Ruvi sets off some kind of flash blinding The Cape.  Portman finds The Cape and goes off to find some water for The Cape's eyes.

Flashback to a camping trip.  Vince and Trip share some father/son bonding time. Vince tells Trip that he'll always be there to help him get to where he needs to go.

Back at the Faraday's apartment, Travis is still stuck outside in the hall.  Trip asks Travis through the door what happens when someone seems guilty.  Travis tells Trip that there's always the presumption of innocence in the law.  Trip opens the door and asks if that means that legally his dad is innocent.  Travis tells Trip yes and starts to get up to go inside the apartment.  Trip shuts the door and locks it again (haha) and slips a fruit roll-up through the peephole to Travis.

Back on the train, The Cape regains his sight, and goes off in search of Max.  Meanwhile, Fleming enters one of the train cars surrounded by photographers and the press.  He notices Orwell (but doesn't know who she is) and asks her if she's alright.  She says a quick yes and retreats to the rear of the group.  Fleming brags to the press about how much ARK is doing for Palm City.  He mentions the drop in the crime rate, city beautification efforts, etc.  Orwell, from the back of the pack mentions that the illegal sweeps of Palm City is the reason for the drop in the crime. and accuses him of Fascism.  Fleming dismisses her as someone just parroting talking points from the "Orwell is Watching" blog and tells the press that the blog is full of misinformation.  Orwell beats a hasty retreat, followed closely by Fleming.  Portman returns with the water and notices that The Cape is gone.

Orwell is still making her way through the train being followed by Fleming.  Fleming comes upon Scales giving a tongue lashing to the mayor and the judge.  Meanwhile, Portman is on the hunt for The Cape and finds him in between train cars.  The Cape wants to see how the confrontation between Scales and Fleming plays out.  The mayor asks Fleming why he brought his "friend" onto the train.  Fleming assures the mayor that Scales is not his friend (which gets Scales even more annoyed) and tells him that if Scales is bothering him, he'll have him thrown off the train at the next stop.  This is just too much for Scales and he makes the announcement in front of everyone that Fleming is Chess.  Everyone in the train car laughs it off like some big joke.  This annoys the crap out of Scales and now he's angry.  The Cape watches from between train cars and is disappointed that his plan to clear his name didn't work.  Fleming tells one of the members of his security team to take care of Mr. Raoul and begins to leave in pursuit of Orwell.  He doesn't get far before Scales punches the guard, disarms him, grabs his gun and takes everyone in the train car hostage.  He tells them if they want villains, they've got one.  The Cape continues to watch from outside the train car.  Scales then demands everyone's valuables and starts with the judge.

The Cape tells Portman to take cover, but Portman still wants to help.  The Cape radios to Orwell to tell her to get to the front of the train and secure the engine.  He then gives Portman a gun and explains that the safety is off and to not fire unless he absolutely has to.  Back inside, Fleming asks Scales if he thinks it's a good idea to rob the train as there's going to be no where to hide from ARK and Fleming.  Scales says he won't need to hide.  Portman bursts into the train car, gun drawn.  Scales and his lackeys turn their guns on Portman.  Portman explains who he is and that he's "off the reservation"  He tells Scales and the lackeys to drop their guns before he "blows (their) gizzards off".  Scales is dumbfounded and prepares to shoot Portman, but before he can, The Cape busts some fuses and the lights go off in the train car.  Scales pushes Fleming through the door and leaves the car.  From above The Cape uses his cape to disarm Scales.  Guess what?  Scales gets annoyed again and decides to take off after The Cape across the rooftop of the train car leaving Fleming below with one of the lackeys.  Scales says something menacing to The Cape, but he just grins as he winds up to grab him with his cape.  The cape gets caught in the wind, though, and flies off somewhere.  Scales and The Cape fight.  The Cape gets thrown near the gap between train cars and looks down as Max unmasks himself and looks up.  The Cape shouts for help, but Max goes into the next car.  Scales then kicks The Cape off the side of the train and makes his way back down.  It's now a stand off between Scales and Fleming...they both have their guns drawn and Fleming gives Scales the chance to give up and go back to the docks where he belongs.  Scales basically tells Fleming to shove it and instructs his lackey to disconnect the cars.

Seems that The Cape wasn't thrown from the train (big surprise, right?).  He makes his way back onto the train and meets up with Orwell who tells him that the braking system failed when the caboose was disconnected from the rest of the train.  The Cape asks the engineer if there's any way that the train can be stopped.  Engineer tells him that the only way to stop the train is to cut the main brake line underneath the train.  He sends Orwell and the Engineer to the engine room and takes off to stop the train.

Inside the party car, Fleming is giving orders to his men and The Cape comes through the door.  All guns swivel toward The Cape.  Just then, Portman comes through the door to stand at The Cape's side with his gun drawn.  The Cape tells everyone to take it easy so that they can stop the runaway train.  People start to show a bit of panic at this news and Fleming and his men lower their guns.

At the now stopped caboose, Scales and his lackey open the door and catch Ruvi in the act of stealing the goods.  Scales tells Ruvi to get his hands off his cash, but then from behind the open door, Max steps out and knocks out the lackey, points his shotgun at Scales, calls him ugly and orders him to turn around.  Max talks a bit about their last meeting and then Rollo steps out and asks Scales how his knee is doing.  Say it with me, folks, Scales gets annoyed.  Max orders Scales into the security cage.  We get a brief flashback of a cage with a wooden sign saying SCALES on it and a voice saying that his place is in that cage.  We flash on a little person offering the young Scales a piece of cake and then taking it away just before he can reach it (no wonder Scales doesn't like Rollo very much).  Rollo locks Scales in the cage.  Max and the gang high tail it out of the caboose and into the night.  Back inside, Scales is banging his head against the bars of the cage.

Back on the runaway train, The Cape has recruited Fleming to help him stop the train.  The Cape uses his cape (I guess the cape is like some kind of boomerang or something) to lower Fleming down to cut the brake line.  As Fleming is being lowered, he looks into The Cape's eyes and starts to realize who is behind the mask.

Fleming asks to be lowered further to get better access to the brake line, but before he will cut the line, he asks The Cape who he is.  The Cape just tells Fleming to cut the hose before he drops him.  Fleming finally jabs a pocket knife into the hose and the train's brakes reengage.  The Cape pulls Fleming back up and then slams him up against the wall.  The Cape tells Fleming that he will end him and that Fleming isn't as smart as he thinks he is.  The Cape then goes back inside leaving Fleming outside.

Back at the caboose, a now bloody Scales is still banging his head against the bars of the cage.  He stops, pushes on the cage door, and the door falls off.  Scales walks out of his cage.  Before he leaves, he looks down and sees the stooge from the beginning of the episode and grabs him.

Back at the Faraday's apartment, Trip is sitting on the couch reading the latest "The Cape" comic book issue and Dana comes through the door with his present and cake.  She tells him happy birthday, apologizes and embraces him.  Travis walks in soon after.  Trip asks "Trevor" if he'd like any of his melted cake.  Travis says he'd love some.  Dana goes to Travis and asks him to join them.

At Trolley Park Amusements, Max is counting up the loot from the train robbery and Vince enters the trailer.  Vince is wondering why Max is helping Vince and questions if doing good actually matters to Max.  Max replies that sometimes it does matter.  Vince grabs Max's wrist and explains that some time in the future their two very different ideologies are going to put them at opposite ends of a loaded gun and that friendship has its limits.  Max just smiles and says something about enjoying the times they will have before that day comes.

Back at the Cape-Cave, Vince and Orwell are sitting back and about to have beers.  Orwell apologizes for being off her game.  She laughingly blames it on the outfit and Vince agrees.  Orwell gives him an annoyed look.  He explains to her that he's upset because he got Scales on video outing Fleming as Chess and no one believed it.  She tells him about the good things that came out of this night (Scales and Fleming at war, saving hundred of innocent lives, etc.).  He looks down at the table and we see that he's wrapping up a birthday present for Trip.  Orwell asks why parents love their kids like that (and we're given another hint that she's really Fleming's missing daughter).  Vince just tells her it's because they just do.

Back at the Faraday's apartment, Trip is sleeping but is awoken by a noise out on the fire escape.  He wakes up and goes over to the window where there is a present and card on the window sill.  Trip opens the present and finds a new compass.  Tears open the card and reads "No journey too far.  Your friend, The Cape" (almost enough to bring a little bit of a misty feeling to my eyes).

Next week's episode guest stars Mena Suvari (American Beauty) as Dice.  Dice is a woman that knows the secret double life of Fleming.

Until next time,
-Bill-

Dark Tower Casting News

Javier Bardem (No Country for Old Men) has officially been offered the role of Roland Deschain in the upcoming adaptation of Stephen King's Dark Tower epic.

More news should be forthcoming over the next few weeks.

The Cape: S1 Ep3-Scales on a Train (Recap Part 1)

So, we're now 3 episodes in (4 if you count the two hour premiere as 2 episodes) and I'm still enjoying the show.

Tonight marks the return of Vinnie Jones (X-Men: The Last Stand) as the intimidating Dominic "Scales" Raoul.

Here's what TV Guide has to say about "Scales on a Train":

A tip about stolen money from the Cape prompts Scales to confront his business partner Peter Fleming at a costume party on a train. Meanwhile, the Cape and Orwell learn Max's gang is planning a heist aboard the train, and Dana and Trip are taunted.

 "You interrupted Lasagna night, and I like Lasagna"

We open at the docks where Scales is waiting for Peter Fleming.  The limo pulls up, but it's not Fleming that gets out of the car, it's one of Fleming's stooges.  Scales isn't pleased.  The stooge tells Scales that ARK is going to be taking over security at the docks.  Scales is definitely not pleased.  Scales threatens the stooge while two of his lackey's watch.  Cut to The Cape getting a USB drive from one of Scales' lackeys.

At the Cape-Cave, Vince is listening to the audio from Scales' meeting with Fleming's stooge.  Orwell is fitting a camera into a masquerade mask in preparation for surveillance at Fleming's Masquerade ball on a train.  Vince is in a bad mood because today is his son's 10th birthday and he can't be there.  Orwell tells Vince to stop being such a baby and suit up.

At Trolley Park Amusements, Vince interrupts Max, Rollo and Ruvi discussing their latest caper.  Vince asks for backup, but Max tells Vince that they are busy tonight.  Once Vince leaves, Max and crew begin preparations.

Back at the docks, The Cape grabs one of Scales' lackeys and tells him to call Dominic.  Dominic arrives and is annoyed that The Cape has interrupted lasagna night.  The Cape then tells Scales that Peter Fleming and Chess are one and the same, and that Scales is essentially going to be paying the same man twice.  Once for sharing the revenue of his ill-gotten gains at the docks and again for the security force from ARK.  The Cape then tells Scales about the big masquerade gala on the train and about all the money and back alley deals that will most likely be going down.  Seems that Scales wasn't invited to the party, so he decides to get a little payback.

At the train station, Fleming (dressed in a ridiculous Marshall's outfit) and Marty are at the photo op for the big party.  Marty tells Fleming that he'll see him at the other end.  Vince watches from the shadows and notices a father and child triggering a flashback of Trip's last birthday where he was the special guest at school for a little Q & A session with the kids.  We find out that Trip is also day dreaming of that day.  He opens his school book and notices that some punk kid has scrawled a nasty message "RETURN TO MURDERURS(sic) KID".

Stuck in traffic, Dana is fiddling with Trip's birthday present.  She makes a call to her colleague, Travis to let him know that she's stuck in traffic and that she's going to call Trip to let him know that Travis is coming to the house so he doesn't freak out about a stranger at the door.  Her phone battery dies before she can make the call.  Travis arrives at the apartment and explains who he is and why he's there, but Trip won't open the door (Good move kid, I wouldn't let that weasel Travis in either).

Back at the train station, Vince watches from his perch as Scales arrives and says hello to Fleming in front of all the cameras.  Fleming is noticeably nervous and becomes even more so when Scales tells Fleming that he knows his dirty little secret.  Vince asks Orwell, who is in the crowd, if she's getting all of the action on camera.  Scales and Fleming share some more words and then board the train.  Vince then notices Rollo disguised as a train conductor on the train and figures out what the "Carnival of Crime" was planning earlier.

Later that evening at the party on the train, Orwell is meandering through the crowd.  Fleming looks right at her without seeing her (thank goodness this is a masquerade party) and makes his way through the crowd being followed closely by Scales.  The Cape arrives on the train in mid journey (from where, we have no idea he just kind of jumps out of the sky onto the train).  He makes his way into the party and finds Orwell.  He tells her what he knows about the plans of the Carnival of Crime.  Vince decides that the Fleming issue can wait and goes off in search of Max and the rest of the Carnival to try and stop them.  On his way through the train Vince runs into Portman (the Secretary of Prisons) dressed as The Cape.  They share a few words and when Portman asks what The Cape is doing on the train, The Cape opens up a side door and notices an ARK guard knocked out on the floor.  The Cape tells Portman that he's working.

The Cape makes his way through the train to try and find Max, but Portman stops him and tells The Cape that he wants to help.  The Cape tells him to keep his eye out for Rollo as the Carnival is about to rob the train.  Portman wants to call the police, but The Cape tells him that it's "just you and me" and then takes to the roof of the train.

Back inside, Fleming runs into the mayor and a judge.  Scales, still tagging along, gives the judge a compliment and then the judge tells Scales that he has the most hideous costume she's ever seen.  Scales is annoyed (again).  Fleming makes the introduction that Scales wanted and leaves.  Scales and the mayor begin to talk business but the mayor isn't having it.  I guess the mayor isn't as corrupt as Scales had hoped.  Scales is annoyed as the mayor leaves.

I'll be back with part 2 of my recap later today once I've enjoyed a little bit of sleep.  It's been a long day and I'm very tired.  Also later today, look for my recap and reactions to Being Human:  There Goes the Neighborhood Pt 2.

Until next time,
-Bill-

No V Recap?

Due to circumstances beyond my control, there was no recap for last Tuesday's episode of "V"

In other words, someone erased it from the DVR before I could get around to watching it.

Sorry, everyone.

No Ordinary Family S1 Ep13: No Ordinary Detention Recap (Possible Spoilers)

IMDB says:

While Internal Affairs officer Rachel Jacobs investigates reports of a rogue cop, Jim risks revealing himself as the prime suspect when the police station is overrun by a group of thugs, and he is the only hope of survival. Meanwhile, while trying to nurse an ailing Joshua back to health at the lab, Katie and Stephanie run into Human Resources VP Victoria Morrow and begin to suspect that she isn't who she says she is.

Recap:
We open on Stephanie in the Kitchen using her speed power to whisk eggs (yes, it is a bit silly, but think about it...if you had these powers you'd probably use them in your personal life as well).  Kids in too much of a hurry to eat breakfast, so they take off to school.  Jim tells Steph he'd love to have breakfast with her, but George calls with a tip about 4 escapees on the run.  Ring leader Austin Davies was last seen headed toward Pacific Bay College.  Jim jumps into action and arrives at campus just in time to see Davies jump on a scooter with two cops on foot pursuit.  Davies drives the scooter through a campus building but Jim takes him out at the exit with a clothesline.

At the high school, Daphne is giving a report in front of her class and is distracted by bad boy Chris' thoughts about how bored he is listening to her. He turns on his mp3 player to drown her out.  The teacher notices Daphne's distraction at which point she rats out Chris which results in him getting detention.  Daphne finishes her report and goes to sit down.  She and Chris argue about what a jerk he is.  Daphne gets detention for not paying attention in class.

At Global Tech, Stephanie is in the lab and gets a phone call from Katie.  Katie is worried about Joshua being sick (from not taking Dr. King's magic juice) and tells Steph that he absolutely refuses to go to a doctor.  Stephanie tells her to bring him to the lab so they can run some tests.

At the police station, George and Jim are talking about the take down of the ring leader of the escaped cons.  George notices Rachel Jacobs of IAB at the station in the interrogation room questioning an officer and gives Jim the scoop on the investigation into a number of recent arrests of criminals that Jim has taken down.  Rachel leaves the interrogation room to let George know that she has a few questions for him and introduces herself to Jim.  As she and George walk away, Jim is noticeably nervous.  As a quick aside here, I'd like to point out that Joanne Kelly doesn't look as hot here as she does in Warehouse 13.

Back at the high school, J.J. is in Mr. Litchfield's class.  J.J. and his love interest, Natalie (played by 21 year old Katelyn Tarver of Nickelodeon's Big Time Rush) are sending cute little test messages back and forth.  They get caught, and Mr. L reads their messages out loud to the class and gives them both detention.

Katie and Joshua arrive at Global Tech and are greeted by Victoria.  Victoria "introduces" herself to Joshua and you can tell that Joshua is a little freaked out by her presence as Katie still doesn't know his secret, but Victoria does know that he was working for Dr. King as his "Watcher".  Victoria leaves and tells Joshua in a rather ominous way that she's sure she'll see him again soon.  Katie and Joshua arrive at Steph's lab and Katie tries to play off the fact that she and Steph planned to get him there so they can find out what's wrong with him and make him better.  Joshua tries to tell them that science can't help him, but gets drown out by an alarm for a radiation alert in the lab.  We see that Victoria set off the alarm manually in order to lockdown Joshua, Katie and Steph in the lab.

Back at the precinct, Jim is sweating bullets as George is in interrogation being questioned by Rachel about the rogue cop that IAB is trying to track down.  A couple of cops bring in Austin Davies and his crew for booking; Jim tries to keep a low profile, but Davies notices and recognizes Jim as the man that clotheslined him off the scooter.  Jim heads to the bathroom to splash some cold water on his face.  George enters and tells Jim to calm the hell down and quit acting like a suspect.  Jim is freaked out because he is a suspect. While Jim and George are having their little chat, Davies and crew take out the cops escorting them to the cells.  Jim and George exit the bathroom when they hear shot and emerge to see Davies taking Rachel hostage.  Now Jim will have to risk exposing his "secret" in order to save the day.  That brings us to the first commercial break.

Back from break and things at the precinct have gone from bad to worse.  Davies and his crew have armed themselves, put on bullet-proof vest and taken the precinct hostage. George and Jim have hidden themselves in the bathroom hoping to keep an element of surprise so Jim can do his superhero thing.  They come up with a plan inspired by "Die Hard" (one of the most awesome movies of all time, btw).  Jim is going to use the air vents to travel through the building and take out the bad guys one at a time.  Best line so far in the episode...George is trying to convince Jim to let him help and tells Jim "Bruce Willis would have never survived if he didn't have that black dude there helping him.  Jim, let me be your black dude" (LOL).

Back at Global Tech, Katie is freaking out about the lock down, and Steph is beginning to examine Joshua.  The alarm quits and Katie relaxes.  Ol' Josh is getting worse by the minute and burning up with a fever.  Victoria enters and lets them know that she's been able to get all the interior doors unlocked but can't get any access to the exterior doors.  She asks if there's some kind of override.  Seems that Steph has a key card for the override.  Victoria sees that Stephanie is busy with Joshua and asks if Katie can use the keycard.  Joshua tries to get Katie to stay as he doesn't trust Victoria (because he knows she's Dr. King's new enforcer), but Katie just tells Josh that she's in good hands and leaves with the wicked redhead.  One question here pops into my mind.  Why doesn't Joshua reveal the truth as to why he's sick?

At the high school, we are in detention with Mr. Litchfield, J.J., Daphne, Bailey, Chris and Natalie.  Mr. L informs his charges that he has important matters to attend to in the teacher's lounge, but will check in on the kids on a regular basis (Am I the only one getting a "The Breakfast Club" vibe here?).  Natalie decides she has to break up with J.J.

Jim is up in the ventilation system above the precinct.  He hears and eventually sees Davies on the phone with the department negotiator.  George starts telling Davies that he needs him to do the negotiating for him since he's an attorney and that's what attorney's do.  He gives the advice that Davies needs to keep his hostages happy or things will end up badly.  George tells Davies to get the pregnant woman some snacks.  Davies sends one of his crew off in search of snacks giving Jim the opportunity to take out one of the bad guys.

Back in detention, bad boy Chris isn't doing his homework like he's supposed to do.  He recruits J.J. and they take off from detention leaving the girls.

Back at the precinct, bad guy #1 is looking for the vending machines when Jim springs into action, easily taking him down.  In the bullpen there's an exciting game of "Hurry up and Wait" going on.  George really needs to stop looking up at the ceiling all the time.  Rachel asks George where Jim is at.  George tries to say that he doesn't know, but Rachel knows that Jim was around when the shit hit the fan.  Bad guy #2 comes back into the main area and tells Davies that bad guy #1 is no where to be found, all he found was just a busted vending machine.

At Global Tech, Stephanie assumes that Joshua has OD'd or is in withdrawal from some type of drug.  Joshua assures her that he's not on drugs, so Stephanie tells him she wants a blood sample.  Joshua tells her that there will be no needles and takes off from the lab.  As he tries to use his powers, he's confronted by Katie who explains that the doors to the outside are still locked.  Joshua is getting more nervous and tells Katie that he's not going back to the lab and he's not going to be undergoing any type of tests.  Katie kisses Joshua and that's when Joshua realizes that it's not Katie at all, but Victoria posing as Katie.  If you remember, last week we found out that V. is a shape shifter (think Mystique from the X-Men comics).  V. shifts back to her own form and Joshua demands to know where K. is.  We cut to K. knocked out on the floor.  That brings us to the next commercial break.

There's a short struggle between Victoria and Joshua.  V tries to inject J with the juice, but J knocks the syringe away.  He doesn't want to go back to being one of Dr. King's stooges.  Joshua slumps to the floor.  Victoria explains to Joshua that soon his organs will start shutting down and when he's too weak to resist, she'll inject him and bring him to Dr. King.  She then walks off to let Joshua suffer alone.  Joshua notices that the syringe of juice is within easy reach.

At the precinct, George keeps looking up at the air ducts and Rachel asks him what the heck he's looking for (see George, you should have listened to me and quit gawking up at the ceiling).  George says he's just wondering when they are going to turn the AC on because it's hot.  Davies gets a call on the walkie talkie from who he assumes is bad guy #1(his name is apparently Waid). Jim (as Waid) says that he has one of the cops pinned down near the gun cage.  Davies sends BG2 (Quesada) to help BG1 (Waid), which of course gives Jim the means to take out another of the bad guys.  George tries to hide his grin from Rachel.  BG2 comes out by the broken vending machine looking for Wade, we see Jim playing possum on the floor.  BG2 goes over to investigate and it's lights out.

Back in detention, Daphne is worried, Natalie is trying to study, and Bailey is being a twit.

Meanwhile back at the cop shop, Davies is calling for BG2 on the walkie talkie and not getting a response, so he starts throwing things around.  Rachel still has her suspicions that Jim is behind the disappearances of BG1 and BG2, but George tries to quell that suspicion by telling her that the only way that Jim can make bad guys disappear is with an eraser.  His misdirection doesn't work as Rachel can tell that it's not an actual cop behind the disappearances because a real cop wouldn't put everyone in danger with such a stupid stunt.

At Global Tech, Stephanie is looking at something under the microscope when Victoria (as Katie) comes back to the lab inquiring about Joshua.  Steph tries to explain that they are just a research facility and don't have access to medicines that Joshua might require.  UnKatie tries to get Stephanie to use the "ability giving" flower (sorry, I can't remember the name of the dang thing to save my life).  Joshua bursts into the lab saying "Don't trust Katie" and then collapses in a heap on the floor.  Time for another commercial break.

Back from commercial, Steph and UnKatie are tending to the unconscious Joshua.  Steph uses her speed to go get some ice packs and UnKatie is stunned.

At the precinct, Davies has had it with the waiting game.  He tells BG3 (Brueur) to pick a hostage and kill them.  Rachel pops off saying that if the bad guys do that, he won't learn who is picking them off one by one.  Rachel has a chat with Davies and explains her theory (dumb broad).  She gets Davies to start giving a description of the guy that took him out earlier in the day, but he's interrupted by George.  George tries to get Davies to let him go to the bathroom, but Davies isn't having it.  He wants the identity of the guy taking out his men.

Back at detention, the boys are back after almost getting caught.  Bailey continues to be a twit, but suggests a game of truth or dare.  Natalie doesn't want to take part, everyone else is up for it.  Daphne asks Chris if it's true that he's been arrested (I'm guessing it's because she wants to dispel his bad boy image).  He answers  that he has not been arrested.  Bailey dares Daphne to kiss Chris.  Daphne kisses Chris and gets a vision of a bloody Chris, someone being loaded into an ambulance and Chris being arrested.  She pulls away from the kiss disappointed, but there's probably more to the story as is usually the case with these glimpses into people's thoughts.

At the precinct, it seems that Davies now knows who Jim is and calls him on the walkie talkie trying to goad him into showing himself by asking questions about Jim's family. Davies then gets Jim to show himself by shooting one of the hostages.  The plan works and Jim comes running out to see Rachel lying on the ground clutching her wounded left shoulder area.

More truth or dare teen drama crap.  Oh boo hoo, Natalie's a foster kid.

A Katie rushes into the lab (anyone else see a show down coming where they have to choose which Katie to take out?).  She tells Steph what happened to her, and then the other Katie comes back into the lab demanding to know what's going on.  Steph is freaking out, the Katies are freaking out.  Steph wants to know who the impostor is.  One of the Katies proposes a quiz to determine who the real Katie is.  The other Katie starts to argue, but realizes that it's a pretty good idea.  Steph starts asking questions and we find out that UnKatie is a pretty big geek as well, but when real Katie divulges something that only the real Katie would know, UnKatie grabs a trash can and knocks out Steph.  UnKatie then shifts back to her true form.

Back at the cop shop, Davies is ready to put a bullet in Jim when the phone rings.  It's the negotiators and they are giving in to the demands.  George and Jim are both relieved that no one is going to die and that Jim's real secret is still safe.  Davies knows, though, that there are snipers, so Jim volunteers to be Davies hostage as they leave the station.  Davies thinks that's a pretty good idea, but he takes Rachel along for the ride as well.

More teenage drama.  J.J. makes faux-snow by dumping a bunch of stuff into a lab sink in order to impress Natalie.  It seems to work.  J.J. is quite the little ladies man.

Joshua wakes to see Katie and Victoria struggling.  It looks like Victoria is about to give up Joshua's secret and it also looks like she's about to attempt to kill Katie by injecting air into her veins, creating a gas embolism which will presumably travel to her heart and kill her.  Joshua sneaks out into the hall, barely able to walk and begins stumbling toward the syringe with the "ability juice", it's the only way that he can save Katie.  He injects himself, and rushes back to the lab in time to telekinetically lift Victoria into the air, and throwing her through a large pane of glass.  Katie is stunned to discover that her new boyfriend has powers, but a little freaked out that he's been keeping the truth from her.

Leaving the police station with their captors, Jim and Rachel argue about proper protocol on the way to the exit.  Jim tells Davies to let her go as they really don't need two hostages to get away.  Davies agrees that they don't need both of them and fires at Jim.  Jim slumps to the ground.  Davies and BG3 (Brueur) continue on into the underground parking garage with Rachel thinking that Jim is dead or at the least incapacitated.  They all jump into their black getaway vehicle (a mini-van?  Really?) and here comes Jim busting through the driver's side window and bashing BG3's head into the steering wheel.  Davies jumps out and tries to get away but Jim takes him down.  Rachel looks on in amazement from the now magically opened sliding door (Davies closed the sliding door before getting into the passenger seat).  Rachel asks Jim how he's still alive.  Jim shows her that he's wearing a bullet proof vest (nice c.y.a. moment, Jim).  Rachel knows he's the one that has been going around stopping crimes, but she doesn't know about his powers.  She tells him to go before the SWAT team shows up.  Jim wonders if she's going to turn him in and she tells him she's not because he's a hero.

After Joshua saves Katie, Steph wakes up from her little forced nap and sees the broken glass and Victoria laying on a table in the other room.  She asks what happened and Katie gives a vague answer about Joshua saving her life.  The outside doors are now unlocked and while Katie, Steph and Joshua have their backs turned, Victoria escapes.  Joshua stands there looking nervous about the questions about him that are sure to follow.

Detention is over, and Mr. L returns to find the kids where they are supposed to be.  He returns everyone's phones not knowing that these kids have bonded (yup, plot points stolen directly from "The Breakfast Club"). Mr. L sees a piece of the faux-snow on the counter, gets a confused look on his face and then leaves the room. The other kids leave, leaving Daphne and Chris alone.  Daphne confronts Chris about why he was arrested (She can tell when people are lying, she explains).  Chris tells her the story about how he and his dad were out to dinner, Dad got drunk so Chris took his keys away.  Dad decides that since Chris is being such a big man, maybe he should drive them home.  Chris hit a tree on the way home, and was arrested for driving without a license.  Dad was paralyzed in the accident, but he tells Daphne that there's a chance he'll walk again.  Daphne then confesses that she likes Chris...not just like, but like like.  Chris says that it's a good secret and the two share a real kiss.

J.J. catches up to Natalie in the hall and offers to help her in any way that he can, but Natalie declines because she's been taking care of herself for so long that she doesn't know how to let anyone else in and walks away leaving J.J. standing in the hall looking like a lost puppy.  Bailey overhears the conversation, comes over and gives him some words of encouragement and a kiss on the cheek (Seems that Bailey isn't the big bitch that she'd like everyone to believe she is).  One side note...J.J. needs to ditch the Justin Bieber look and get a haircut.

Joshua let's Katie know some of the truth about his abilities.  He was sick, and the serum they used to make him better also gave him powers and made him special.  He realized after meeting Katie that he didn't need the "juice" anymore to feel special as Katie made him feel special.  Katie offers to work on a new serum with Stephanie, but Joshua tells her that no one else can know the secret about him.  He still doesn't confide that he was at one time working for Dr. King (hasn't he ever heard about weaving a web of lies that may be impossible to escape from?).

Back at the Powell house, Stephanie is in the dining room setting the table for dinner.  At first it seems like she's going to be eating alone, but Daphne comes in followed by J.J. and then Jim comes and gives his wife a kiss and they all sit down to a family dinner.

I was disappointed that Stephen Collins wasn't in this episode.  It's great seeing him play against type as a scheming big bad.

Next week is a repeat, so I won't be doing my recap.  Also, I know that my recaps tend to be very long, but I'll try my hardest to get them a little shorter in the coming weeks.  Thanks again for coming along on this ride with me, and I'll be back tomorrow later today with my "V" episode recap.

Until next time,
-Bill

Main Cast:
Michael Chiklis (The Commish, The Shield) - Jim Powell
Julie Benz (Angel, Dexter) - Stephanie Powell
Kay Panabaker (Summerland, Phil of the Future) - Daphne Powell
Jimmy Bennett (Star Trek, Orphan) - J.J. Powell
Romany Malco (Weeds, The 40 Year Old Virgin) - George St.Cloud
Autumn Reeser (Entourage, The O.C.) - Katie Andrews
Josh Stewart (Criminal Minds, Dirt) - Joshua/The Watcher

Guest Stars:
Rebecca Mader (LOST) - Victoria Morrow
Joanne Kelly (Warehouse 13) - Rachel Jacobs
Andrew Rothenberg (The Walking Dead) - Austin Davies
Katrina Begin (The Beautiful Ordinary aka Remember the Daze) - Bailey Browning
Luke Kleintank (The Young and the Restless) - Chris Minor
Jason Antoon (Kings) - Mr. Litchfield

No J. Jonah Jameson?

Bad news for those of us that are looking forward to the new Spider-Man movie.

IGN.com is reporting that J. Jonah Jameson will not be appearing in the upcoming Spider-Man reboot.

http://movies.ign.com/articles/114/1144625p1.html

Sorry, Marc Webb, but triple J is an essential part of the Spider-Man universe.

What do you think about this decision?  Let me know in the comments!

Being Human S1 Ep 1 There Goes the Neighborhood Pt. 1

Tonight marks the premiere of the Americanized version of the BBC's supernatural drama.  Here's what TV Guide has to say about tonight's episode.

After a bloody night out, a vampire and a werewolf decide to become roommates to look out for each other, and they find a townhouse that's haunted by the ghost of their landlord's fiancée in the opener of the series following three supernatural beings who try to live like humans.

I've only caught parts of 1 or 2 episodes of the Original on BBC America, so I won't be able to make any comparisons between the 2 versions, but I'll be back after the show with my thoughts.

So far so good!  I'll definitely be tuning in next week.

Decent effects, much better than the CGI work that goes into Syfy's original movies.  Josh's transformation at the beginning of the episode wasn't the best werewolf transformation that I've ever seen (That honor still belongs to the transformation in An American Werewolf in London), but it was very nicely done.

Seems we have some mysteries to unravel with this show, which is always a good thing in my opinion.  As long as the show runners don't drag the mysteries out too long, it should work out just fine.

We don't yet know how Josh and Aidan met and we don't know how Josh came to be a werewolf.  We do know, however, that it happened about 2 years ago and he was so freaked out that he ran away from his family and hasn't had any contact with any of them until his sister ends up at the hospital that both Josh and Aidan work at.

Seems that Bishop is some kind of Vampire boss in some sort of Vampire Mafia.  Bishop was responsible for turning Aidan.  Sometime in the recent past, Aidan decided to leave "the Family" and try to run away from his true nature.

It's always great to see Mark Pellegrino back on television.  He seems to have beefed up a little bit from his time playing Jacob on Lost and Lucifer on Supernatural.

We know that Sally died sometime recently (of course she did, duh...that's why she's a ghost), but we don't yet know how she died and neither does she.  All she can remember is going to bed and waking up a ghost.
Sally can't leave the place where she died (although from the promo for upcoming episodes, it seems that she learns how to leave the house), and she's really upset about the whole deal.  She'd love to be able to leave and be with her fiancée, but she can't.  Very easy to sympathize with her.  When she's not brimming over with excitement that someone can finally see her and that she has other people to talk to, you can damn near feel her sadness coming right through the television.

Near the end of the episode, we see Bishop take Aidan to some kind of Vampire groupie whorehouse type place, where the women let the vampires drink from them.  Bishop believes that he has Aidan back under his power again, but things aren't always what they seem.

Also near the end of the episode, Josh leaves the hospital, but his sister Emily follows him wanting answers.  Josh makes it to his "cage" and both he and his sister end up locked in moments before the transformation.

As I said earlier, I've only seen parts of 1 or 2 episodes of the BBC series, so I look at this show with a fresh pair of eyes.  It's nice to watch something without always sub-consciously comparing it with the original.

Until next time,
-Bill-

Main Cast:
Sam Witwer (Smallville, Star Wars:The Force Unleashed I & II) - Aidan (The Vampire)
Meaghan Rath (The Assistants) - Sally (The Ghost)
Sam Huntington (Superman Returns) - Josh (The Werewolf)
Mark Pellegrino (Lost, Supernatural) - Bishop
Alison Louder (The Mummy:  Tomb of the Dragon Emperor) - Emily

The Cape: S1 Ep2-Kozmo (Spoilers Ahead)

The Cape returns this week in its regular time slot.

Here's what TV Guide has to say about "Kozmo"

 Vince fights to protect his new friends from an old pal of Max's who comes in search of the cape. Meanwhile, Dana returns to work at the public defender's office, and Peter and Marty try to determine Orwell's real identity.

Looks like we're going to get some background on the history of the actual cape that Vince Faraday uses as The Cape.  I'll be back with my thoughts after the show.

Decent episode tonight.  We learned that the cape seems to have some kind of power to know what lies deep down in the soul of its wearer.  In recent history, Max Malini was the wearer of the cape that has been passed along through generations.  Max passed along the cape to his apprentice, Gregor, but Max saw that Gregor had a dark soul, so Max took the cape back and tipped off the authorities about Gregor's crimes.  Gregor escapes from prison and hunts down Max to take back his cape.

Meanwhile, Peter Fleming (James Frain) aka Chess and his stooge Marty got close to capturing and eliminating Orwell.  We also see Peter trying to find out where his daughter is.  Seems she's been on the run from him for some time.  It was heavily hinted at in tonight's episode that Orwell may indeed be the daughter of Chess.

Dana Faraday is settling in to her new job at the public defender's office (at least it seems like the public defender's office and not the District Attorney's office as some sources are saying).  While going through the large pile of new cases, she comes across a defendant that lives at the Train Yards.  When she goes to talk to this defendant, she uncovers evidence that suggests that her husband was framed.

Later on we see ARK is rounding up all the folks at the train yards to hopefully bury any evidence that supports the notion of Vince's innocence.

We see Orwell beginning to come out of her shell a little bit tonight.

Best moments:
Gregor is looking for information on where his cape might be.  He joins a card game and gets the information he's looking for, then kills the other players with playing cards to the jugular.

I also like that the show is building up a decent Rogue's Gallery.  In the big showdown between Vince and Gregor, Vince has the chance to kill Gregor, but decides to take the high road and have him turned over to the authorities back in Russia which sets up an opportunity for a return.

Next week, we see the return of Vinnie Jones as Scales.

Main Cast:
David Lyons (ER) - Vince Faraday aka The Cape
James Frain (True Blood) - Peter Fleming aka Chess
Summer Glau (Firefly, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Dollhouse) - Orwell
Keith David (Pitch Black) - Max Malini
Jennifer Ferrin (As the World Turns) - Dana Faraday
Ryan Wynott (Flash Forward) - Trip Faraday
Martin Klebba (Scrubs) - Rollo