Wildfire: The Home Stretch

Wildfire: "The Ties That Bind Part 2"

Monday night marked the last race of Wildfire (the horse) and the last episode of Wildfire (the show), and both were bittersweet.

I have to admit that I was let down that the whole "Wildfire's been stolen" story line quickly turned into "Wildfire just wandered away for three days because some dumbass named Ernie forgot to lock his stall and then made it look like there was a break-in to cover his butt." Perhaps the switch wouldn't have seemed quite as abrupt if we'd ever met Ernie before or at least heard someone mention him and his questionable moral code before. But, at the same time, I understand that opening the Junior's-dad-is-so-awful-that-he'd-resort-to-stealing-horses-who-are-more-like-family-members can of worms might have been a bit much, as it was the series finale and all.

The miraculous return of Wildfire allowed Kris to have her "last race" (which turned out to not be her last race at all) and said race turned out to be so lengthy that it took what felt like a good 10 minutes to finish. I remember them mentioning last episode that the Tucker Stakes was a long race, but this was ridiculous. It did made it all the more amazing that the race essentially ended in a three-horse tie. If I were Wildfire (a formerly retired horse with a broken leg who had just gone AWOL for three days), I'd be pretty proud just of finishing in the front with hot shot Tamarack and Dani's promising filly. However, as is appropriate on the series finale of a show called Wildfire, Wildfire ended up prevailing on the photo finish. A sincere congratulations to both Wildfire and Kris. (And the scene of Junior in the airport bar was really cute.)

After the race, we could all refocus on resolving Kris' off-track life with a "surprise" wedding to Junior (more of a surprise to her than it was to us, since they've been showing clips of it in promos for months). The decidedly no-frills ceremony was performed with the alacrity of a wedding ceremony in the last five minutes of a series finale, and that was that.

There was nothing particularly shocking or revelatory about this series finale, but it was filled with exactly what we wanted to see.

Highlights and (final) observations:

• It's no use trying to talk sense to Kris when Wildfire's missing. She accuses you of giving up on her and then she shoves you.
• There are still wild mustangs in the vicinity?
• It's nice that Matt's friend Pete keeps up-to-date tabs on the mustangs' location.
• It was kind of weird that no one seemed to be wondering who took this too-famous-to-sell horse and set it free/made it disappear and why.
• Junior: "If I thought Dad stole Wildfire, I wouldn't be out here looking for wild mustangs. I'd be in a gun shop."
• If Kris is Junior's priority now, it's too bad that she seems to have gone nuts.
• I was already hard on him, but I'll say it again: Ernie is such an idiot! Where does Raintree find its employees? We know Kris is an ex-con, but I didn't know all the staff members were.
• Poor Kris, she thought Junior vs. Matt was a tough decision, but Junior vs. Wildfire is even worse.
• Junior's taking a lot of suitcases to Alaska. More than Blair Waldorf took to France, I believe.
• The horrific Mr. Davis did manage to deliver a fairly lovely apology to Kris.
• Riley, the jockey on Dani's horse, needed to stop looking around at Wildfire and concentrate on riding her own horse. Geez, focus.
• Wildfire won $1 million! Yikes! I never want to hear any complaining about Raintree's finances ever again. (And I might get that wish, but only because this is the series finale.)
• The "final ride" around the ranch was a nice Matt/Kris moment.
• People randomly appearing in the forest is creepily reminiscent of Lost. I definitely found it unsettling when Pablo just popped out from behind the tree. I expected the Smoke Monster to show up next.
• Did Kris have to change clothes in the middle of the field? That's awkward
• Dani: "I never had a sister, which is probably a good thing because I would have eaten her alive."
• Ha, when Kris said "someone's missing" from the wedding (meaning Mr. Davis), I thought she meant Wildfire and that Junior was supposed to go call Wildfire.
• Wildfire was quite decked out in a lovely array of flowers for the occasion. Who dressed him up? Matt? Pablo?
• Good, I'm glad Junior and Kris are not moving to Alaska. That was a dumb idea. I really expected Mr. Davie to redeem himself by finding Junior a similar, better job close to home.
• Is Matt serving as Kris' Man of Honor?
• The wedding ceremony was shorter than the horse race!

Wow, even with wrapping up story lines as hard as it could for 5 episodes, Wildfire still had to power through a lot of stuff at break-neck speed in the final few minutes to complete the story (the wedding, Junior reconciling with his dad, Pablo and Jean giving Wildfire to Kris, the decision to not move, etc.). I was expecting more Kris/Matt stuff or more Junior/Matt stuff (since they were beating the hell out of each other just a few episodes ago) and more of Kris protesting Junior's decision not to move, etc. But that's ok; it was still a lovely finale for a show that was better--and more addictive--than you would expect.

Happy trails, Wildfire.

Grey's Anatomy: Extraordinary Expectations

Grey's Anatomy: "Freedom"
Well, here's to Grey's for proving that it still can be rather extraordinary, as Ellis Grey would say.

Grey's season 4 finale last night was worlds better than the monstrosity of depression that was its season 3 finale. During last year's finale, there was just horrible thing after horrible thing after horrible thing. In this year's finale, sure, several horrible things did happen (one of the clinical trial patients died, Ava/Rebecca proved to be unfixable by Alex, etc.), but then--amazingly, mercifully--several really nice things happened too! And that, my friends, is how you make your season finale both touching and watchable.

The episode even got off to a great start with some very vintage Grey's banter among the core group of former interns. Izzy's play-by-play of how Alex and Rebecca were acting was amusing ("And he was like, take a bite, take a bite!"), and also great was Meredith's "Now, George, we have had this discussion and we decided it's not appropriate to call Izzie crazy. She's sprited!" It's important for Grey's to not lose sight of the fact that it can be pretty darn funny when it wants to be.

Another highlight was Jurnee Smollett's guest role as the first person to survive Meredith and Derek's brain tumor/virus treatment. Jurnee certainly made a strong play for the Best Acting by a Former 'Full House' Child Actor award, not that she has all that much competition in that area these days. After tearfully parting with her boyfriend before his surgery, I absolutely loved her delivery of the line, "Do not kill him."

I do wonder, though, how it is that all the people who find their way into MerDer's clinic trial seem to have such complicated/unusual/dramatic love lives. There was that first guy and his supposedly unextraordinary wife, the gay soldier with his soldier boyfriend, the lady with her "made up" boyfriend, and now two kids with brain tumors who are in love. Who knows what the other 8 people we didn't see were up to?!

I liked that George demanded his second chance (nice job pointing out that everyone else in the hospital seems to have gotten at least one second chance). I could do without the Hahn/Callie/McSteamy stuff, probably because I don't like Hahn and I'm not a huge fan of Callie. I did like Christina finally telling Hahn to shut up and the chief giving Hahn a lecture. And Bailey coming through on her promise to save the boy encased in cement was great.

I was a big fan of the Izzy/Alex stuff (but, then, I'm always a fan of interactions between those two). It's nice that lately they've had Izzy toughen up. She handled the Ava situation very well. And, poor Alex, with his admission that as a child he used to have to take care of his mother. The scene of him crying at the end was heartbreaking (very nicely done by Justin Chambers). We've always known that there were some painful secrets in his background, so it was nice to finally learn a bit about them.

Also sharing some painful childhood secrets was Meredith. After hearing about Ellis' half-assed suicide attempt, it's no wonder Meredith is so messed up. But good for her for finally working through it and figuring out that she can try to do better in love than her mother ever did. Her candle/blueprint grand gesture was lovely, but what was great was that she was annoyed and ranting about it by the time Derek showed up. I don't think Meredith should apologize at all for admitting that she still doesn't really trust Derek, because he's certainly had his moments of buttheadedness. But, yea for them finally reuniting to be "extraordinary together."

I cannot refrain from one final dig at McDreamy: he knew he was going to find Meredith. He knew he loved her. He knew they were going to open the champagne and make out. But he didn't bother to break up with Rose before going to find Mer? So he had to kiss her and immediately run away? What a loser. It's like he seriously wanted to string that other poor (pathetic) girl along just in case things didn't work out... Whatever. The important thing is that this year--unlike last year--things did work out. Hallelujah.

Wildfire: Preparing for the Last Race

Wildfire: "The Ties that Bind Part 1"

I'll begin with the obligatory reference to The O.C.: If you're going to give your episode the same title as the iconic season 1 finale of The O.C., you'd better bring it.

And, for the most part, I think this penultimate episode of Wildfire did bring it. The beginning seemed a little slow, but the last half was pretty bangin'.

Although I never want to be in agreement with Matt, I'm not on board with the move to Alaska. Alaska? Can't we find a "geothermal energy project" to work on a little closer to home? I mean, Junior managed the darn wind turbine project from his living room. I'm also not a big fan of people moving away in the series finale for the sake of moving away in the series finale. And I guess I'm also just personally leery of having to make such life-changing decisions on such short notice. The whole thing makes me a little nervous. Although, to be fair, Marin Frist moved to Alaska on Men In Trees, and everything worked out quite nicely for her (until ABC started to mercilessly eff with her show).

The episode's other big development was that Kris is going to bring Wildfire back for her farewell race. I should be embarrassed to admit how awfully excited I was about the prospects of Wildfire coming out of retirement. I believe my exact thought process was along the lines of, "Wildfire!!! WOOooo! Race him! Yea!" Yep. I'm 23. Moving on...

The army of people fighting tooth-and-nail against a Kris/Junior marriage finally backed off (with the exception of Mr. Davis), and everything else was beginning to fall into place with Pablo finally kissing Jean and Matt kissing Dani, when: we discover that Wildfire is not only missing, but has been stolen!

It would seem that the obvious culprit is Mr. Davis, Sr., since he acted like nothing but a world-class jerk all episode long. I mean, whoa, no wonder Dani's so down on the man. Firing Kris as Tamarack's jockey was just nasty. And then calling her an opportunistic ex-con at the bar was just ridiculous. Thank goodness Junior took the opportunity to cut his father out of their lives for good after that. Enough is enough.

Highlights:

• So Tamarack's good enough for the Kentucky Derby, huh? Sweet.
• Matt's determination to enter Flame in races he's ill-suited for made me very nervous. You can't make those kind of mistakes in a world where horses die from broken legs.
• Geothermal energy projects are the new wind turbines.
• Matt is acting like a jerk, but to be fair, he keeps getting worse and worse news thrown at him--first Kris and Junior are dating, then they're engaged, then they're getting married imminently, now they're moving to Alaska... That is a lot to take in.
• No, Matt, I don't think Kris moving to Alaska is the stupidest thing you've ever heard. Unless you can't hear the crap that's coming out of your own mouth half the time.
• Wait, Junior's mom and Dani's mom are not the same person? Whoa, more back story I don't know about. I keep getting confused and thinking that Dani is older than Junior.
• Kris: "I can taste the turf on Churchill Downs I want it so badly." Eew.
• The look Pablo gave Matt when he snapped at Dani was funny.
• I'd say it's always a triumph if a show can get by with writing a scene in which, for several minutes, the characters do nothing but yell, "Go [title of the show]! Yea [title of the show]!" I'm having a hard time coming up with other shows that could pull that off. Veronica Mars maybe, but it would have been a weird moment.
• Hey, (speaking of Veronica Mars...) it's the "All My Life" lady! Her name is apparently Lissie, although the song is listed under DJ Harry on my iPod.
• Just when I was thinking that they were doing a pretty good job to hiding real life Dani's pregnancy, she showed up at the bar looking rather pregnant. It's a little disconcerting watching her "drink" alcoholic beverages.
• So there's no age limit for the horses in this race?
• Junior: "I'm laying down the law: no swan napkins and plenty of barbecue." (Ha! His dislike of the swan napkins was one of the highlights of the season, I think.)
• Whoa, Matt and Junior just made a truce? Matt is listening to reason? Wha?
• Hey! Pablo finally kissed Jean! It's about freaking time.
• Matt: "Look! Mom and, uh, Pablo. Pablo!"
  Dani: "Oh, Matt, everyone knows, honey."
• Now Matt and Dani are kissing too! I do rather like them together, actually.
• Junior: "Do you think I can change my name to Furlow? I'm not really loving being a Davis anymore."

  Kris: "Well, Furlows aren't really role models either."

Ok, next week all we've got to do is get Wildfire back, win the Tucker Stakes, and get Kris and Junior married. Let's do it, Team Raintree.

(photo: abcfamily.com)

Gossip Girl: For Better Or For Worse

Gossip Girl: "Much 'I Do' About Nothing"

Whoa. And I thought last week's episode felt like several shows worth of material shoved into one. This finale felt like at least five different episodes; more happened tonight than has been happening in this season's seriously fast-paced episodes of Lost. I feel like I have serious story line-induced whiplash.

Dan and Serena: first they were apart, then together, then apart, then together, then apart. Rufus and Lily: together, apart, together, apart. Nate and Vanessa: together, then inexplicably apart. Blair and Chuck: apart, together, apart.

And, on top of freaking all of that, Georgie was permanently dispatched, Nate's dad came back only to immediately skip town, Nate beat up his dad, Jenny got an internship with Eleanor Waldorf, Rufus went on tour, Lily planned to redecorate the house, Blair found a new guy (who kind of looked like Cillian Murphy), Chuck hit on Patty Hearst's daughter, Vanessa and Dan began to spend the summer together, Nate and Serena decided to spend the summer together, and I don't even know what else.

It seems that the folks at GG were really trying for an O.C.-esque Season 1 finale wedding/multi-break-up ending, but the problem was that they had to get all of the couples together before the could break them up. All in one episode. If I watch the final montage of The O.C.'s "The Ties That Bind" now--even five years later and knowing how it all turned out--I still am affected by the images of Ryan being driven back to Chino, Seth sailing away, Kirsten crying into the sheets, and Marissa drinking alone. That's because the characters are miserable and we're allowed to sulk for awhile with them. They're not already out in the world moving on and finding new love interests.

For about 10 brief minutes there, I had my B&C. Chuck and Blair were finally exactly where they belonged: together! And then they weren't... I thought we were going to "take it slow" and "do it right" this time, but in one short week they were planning trips to Europe and breaking up already. And, did Bart Bass think he was helping with that little speech of his? He was making having a girlfriend sound like being in a POW camp. No wonder Chuck ran for the hills (or, actually, ran to the really skinny interior decorator).

What's frustrating to me is that all of the new developments in the last 10 minutes or so of GG could have easily been saved for next season and rather quickly explained. Or not. What's wrong with allowing everyone to savor a story line (good or bad) for a while? I know the season was shortened by the strike, but why stick to the same rigid plot structure if doing it in fewer episodes means cheating it? Why not save something in the bag of tricks for next season?

You know I love you, Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage, et. al., but you bit off way more than you could chew tonight. You're supposed to leave the audience wanting more...not wanting a neck brace to help with the whiplash.

It seems ridiculous to try to even comment on everything that happened, but here is my feeble attempt with some bullets:

• The shout out to Luscious Jackson was a nice blast from the past. Too bad their reunion didn't work out, because "Naked Eye" is a kick-butt track.
• With Lily and Rufus shacked up who knows where, no wonder Serena can stay out all night wandering around and Dan can have sleepovers with random girls... Eesh. And Jenny's apparently around too! I shudder to think about what trouble she could have gotten herself in while left unattended for a night.
• Chuck and Blair were so cute asleep together.
• Blair: "It's not like you ever do anything athletic."
  Chuck: "Well, that's not entirely true, now is it?"
  Blair: "Nothing that requires taking off your scarf, anyway."
  Chuck: "That was one time; it was chilly." (ha, Chuck is really attached to that scarf...)
• It was nice of Serena to give Dan a free pass on suddenly turning into a big slut...not that she kept it up for very long.
• Serena: "When I told my mom not to go away with Rufus, I said it was because you and I were forever. I know I was right." (hmm...)
• So Bart staged the elaborate building metaphor because he knows about Lily and Rufus? That was a little over the top. Couldn't he have just said, "Yo, Lily, pick between me and R once and for all, wouldya?" At least then he wouldn't have to sell his building. And he wouldn't have wasted so much of our time--which was at a tremendous premium tonight.
• Blair called in Georgie's parents! Ha! A boot camp for troubled girls! Ha! Ok, while I enjoyed this part while I was watching it, in retrospect, it too seemed a little rushed. All it took to get rid of the big, bad Georgina Sparks was to call in her parents? If that were really the case, why didn't Blair or Serena do that four episodes ago and save us all a whole lot of trouble?
• Blair: "Haven't you heard? I'm the crazy bitch around here."
• Yea for using MGMT's "A Time To Pretend" in the soundtrack! That's one of my favorite songs right now.
• "Whore-gina"
• "I didn't sleep with her, but I may as well have." Wha? Just shut up, Dan.
• So Rufus and Lily love each other, but decided to have her marry Bart anyway? That doesn't seem like the best plan. Have they reconciled to the fact that they aren't meant to be together or are they just banking on the fact that she'll get another divorce in the near future?
• Who is the poor guy sitting next to Blair? Why is Dan sitting with a little girl?
• Serena is the saddest bridesmaid in the whole world.
• Chuck: "I was in love with Blair and I'm sorry." (Whoa!!! That moment alone would have held me over for the whole summer, but, nope, we still have miles to go before we sleep...)
• And, again, Nate has amazingly crappy parents. At least Lily and Eleanor have gotten to move somewhat beyond their ice-queen appearances, but Nate's parents are still just terrible.
• No, Dan, you got seduced by a girl pretending to be someone else because you're gullible.
• Ahh, but Serena's also missing the issue: it's not that she's not who Dan thought she was and he can't get over it--it's that she lies to him. A lot.
• I know Death Cab for Cutie when I hear it!
• My reaction when Chuck and Blair kissed: "AAHHHHHHHHHHHH."
• Chuck: "Let's take it slow this time; do it right."
  Blair: "Chuck Bass, a romantic! Who knew?"
  Chuck: "Now you do. That's all that matters." (Chuck is just killing me tonight--in a good way).
• Serena: "Oh, B, what's it going to take to get you to relax?"
• Blair: "Chuck!"
  Serena: "Eeew! My ears are bleeding!"
• I liked the characterizations of Vanessa as "Punky Brewster" and Nate as "Man Bangs."
• I'm totally not loving Serena/Nate or Dan/Vanessa. At least with Nate/Vanessa the two boringest people were kind of quarantined together.
• Serena: "Oh, Nate, when are you ever happy?"
• Doesn't this guy from Bart Bass' marketing division (or whatever he said) notice that Blair is a high school student?
• There wasn't even much time allotted for Gossip Girl to narrate :(
• So, Blair and Chuck get together and break up in, what, 10 minutes? Come on the hell on, people.
  

Moonlight Serenade

Moonlight:
"Sonata"
Well, CBS, you dropped the ball. It's not the first time (Now and Again), and it certainly won't be the last, but, boy, did you do it...

Moonlight's (sigh) series finale episode was fantastic. Just a thoroughly entertaining and enrapturing hour of television, which--if the 3 minutes of Ghost Whisperer I accidentally watched were any indication--is not something that is easy to come by on CBS.

There was so much to like about this episode, just as there was so much to like about this show (which I truly believe has been getting consistently better and better all season). The post-strike episodes have been particularly solid, with intriguing weekly cases and heightened romantic stakes (he he, stakes, get it?). And the best post-strike revelation was that the show's third--or is it fourth?--showrunner seemed to understand the importance of using Jason Dohring in as many scenes as possible. The guy is just hilarious. And hot.

If it had to be the last episode of Moonlight, at least it had Joseph making wisecracks, a vampire task force, a humongous police transport vehicle crash, a touching sacrifice, and a romantic revelation.

Gotta say that I love Moonlight's new favorite pastime of having Beth walk into Mick's apartment right when he's saying or doing something incriminating. I was pretty amused by her showing up right when Mick succumbed to peer pressure and tasted the other lady's blood (to check her blood type) and the ensuing argument: "There are laboratories for that!" Ha.

I also loved that the show threw in some final references to Veronica Mars with the return of Hearst College. Especially great was Beth asking Joseph if he went to Hearst College. Yep, he definitely did. Another fantastic line in that conversation was Joseph's "You know, prom wasn't really big back in the 1700s. High school either. The plague--the plague was big."

And I'm not sure which Hearst College fraternity Mick and Beth wandered into, but those guys made even Veronica's Pi Sigs look classy. The best line of the night, which I'm still laughing about, was Mick's line (which was flawlessly delivered by Alex O'Loughlin):

"Yeah, well, I got hit in the face with the sacred ass paddle."

The vampire posse banding together to stage the prison break was fun (wow, those "cleaner" ladies sure mean business), and the execution/sacrifice of the vampire wife and husband was emotional, but the cancellation of this show would have been especially hard to take without that ending. Thank goodness for that ending.

I expected the show to fade out on post-break up Mick and Beth crying into their respective walls. I was terrified that the show would end like that, because that did seem to be the best move for a season finale. As a series finale, however, I think Moonlight's fans (who take this show very seriously) would have taken a collective jump off the roof. Or, more appropriately, driven a stake through their collective heart. Or something. But how gratifying was it to see Mick finally overcome his fear of commitment and actually tell Beth what his actions have demonstrated all along: that he loves her. Beautiful.

Personally, I could have stood to see Mick and Beth do a little more than just kiss after all of that, but, sure, go out on a classy note. Good call, Moonlight. CBS, not so much.

(photo: cbs.com)

Wildfire: Marrying Rich

Wildfire: "Being Mrs. Junior"
Maybe Wildfire's imminent departure is making me overly sentimental, but I thought this episode was pretty great. And not just as compared to other episodes of Wildfire, but as simply an entertaining hour of television.

First of all, Kris and Junior were all kinds of cute together in this episode. The opening scene of them in the kitchen was so super adorable that I almost got a toothache. Like rivaling-Jim-and-Pam-for-cutest-TV-couple cute.

And the other highlight of the night was the return of the wind turbine!!! Yea! How I've missed you, wind turbine. (I really was going to call B.S. if that thing was never mentioned again.) And darned if the thing isn't worth $3 million. Not bad.

One of the more messy developments of the episode was Mr. Davis' attempts to scare Kris away by showing her that she doesn't fit into "Junior's world." Kris needn't feel too badly, though, because this scenario is something every outsider character has to deal with when they snag a rich significant other. Dan on Gossip Girl, Rory on Gilmore Girls, Ryan on The O.C., and the list goes on. Kris is in good company. Some more good news for Kris is that in the other shows, the outsider ultimately prevailed. I have a sneaky suspicion that she will too.

As for Matt and Dani, I really thought that they had eons more chemistry together than Matt and Kris ever did. I say, go for it! Especially if they have this history has been referenced but I don't know about. Plus, Matt is considerably less of a miserable human being in his scenes with Dani than he is at any other time.

What I could do without, however, is the unceasing bickering about the ranch. Eesh. Ok, they all work a lot, they need to be profitable, dude ranchers pay money, horse racing is a gamble, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. It just reminds me of vintage Smallville when they used to argue about the farm. Who cares? I sure don't when Junior is off somewhere else being adorable. Let's watch that.

Best Quotes:

Kris: "What about next month?"
Junior: "Or the year 2050! We could get married and get Medicare at the same time."

Matt: "What happened? What are you doing back so early?"
Junior: "Hey, if you're going to punch me again, can you punch me on the other side? My left side is still a little swollen...see?"

Kris: "How'd the pitch go?"
Calvin: "I lost my voice!"
Junior: "You did get it back."
Calvin: "Yeah, like ten minutes later."
Junior: "We got off to a rocky start... Of course, the end didn't go that well either."

Mr. Davis: "Like I said, it's nothing personal."
Kris: "Well, it's personal to me and don't you forget it."
Mr. Davis: "Are you threatening me?"
Kris: "Yeah. I am."

Random observations:

• I guess it's ok to show up an hour late if you bring a rock like that with you. Yikes.
• At least Wildfire is always there to stand with Kris while she mopes.
• Geez, these Kris/Junior naysayers just do not give up: they're still going at it next week! Give it up and move on, people.

photo: abcfamily.com

Greek: Practice Makes Purrfect

Greek:

"Mr.

Purrfect"

I'm not loving that they are still trying to shove Rebecca and Cappie down our throats...it still makes me gag--especially when they have Cappie adopt a very similar mentor/older brother role with her as he does with Rusty. The only difference is that she makes out with him after he teaches her a lesson...

As for Casey, her new boy was definitely a himbo. When she's already got the two fleshed-out characters of Cappie and Evan to pick from, it's hard for the audience to get on board with some random new guy in just one ep. Thankfully, Evan took care of getting "Mr. Purrfect" out of the picture.

But, Evan, buying off Casey's new bf? Oh nooo... Actually, they've done such a good job of making me like Evan over the last several episodes, that I don't really care that he's deviated into bribery. I was just thinking how cute he looked in his sweater vest...

The episode's biggest highlight: Deputy Leo!!!! Yeeeeaaaaaaaa!!!! He's just so adorable. And it's nice to see that instead of just borrowing plot points from Veronica Mars (a character named "Beaver," anyone?), Greek has gone the extra mile and is employing some of VM's actors.

The episode's biggest flaw: No Dale. Enough said.

Quotes and thoughts:

• Rebecca: "Isn't gambling a gateway behavior back to bitchery?"
• Beaver was braiding that other guy's hair!
• Rebecca: "And he's the creepy perv who keeps 'accidentally' walking in on me during intimate moments and judging me." (She's kind of got a point there.)
• Cappie: "She is kind of like a sexy Bobby Knight."
• Calvin does do a nice Tyra impersonation.
• Deputy Leo is coming on a bit strong with the flowers. That seems like Rusty's over-the-top behavior of a few eps ago.
• Rebecca: "God, Rusty, you're trying to get them to donate money, not get in your van!"
• Beaver: "Rusty's upset because of...science."
• The Cappie/Rusty ventriloquist dummy routine was great. Especially with the "I've got to tell you something," "Should we take this upstairs?" exchange while Rusty was still sitting on Cappie's lap.
• Calvin: "Ashleigh, have you ever been to a gay movie?"
  Ashleigh: "Does The Devil Wears Prada count?"
• Cappie thanks that something made Rebecca crazy this week? What about every other week?
• I'll gladly accept $500 to stay away from Casey. She's not that great. How much will you give me to avoid Rebecca?

Samantha Who?: Turning 1

Samantha Who? "The Birthday"
With the plethora of TV shows I watch on Monday nights (and the several that I am committed to blogging about), I haven't gotten around to commenting on Samantha Who? in quite a while. I want to rectify that fact, however, in honor of the show's season 1 finale.

To say that Samantha Who? is my favorite new half-hour comedy series of the year doesn't give it the credit it deserves, since I don't watch any other new half-hour comedies (except Miss Guided, which didn't last very long). What's more to the point is that this show is solid, it's funny, and it's very entertaining. Personally, I haven't tired of the amnesia plot device, and I genuinely enjoy watching Samantha try to reinvent herself. Christina Applegate makes for a charismatic heroine. (Oh, and her wardrobe is fantastic.)

The main strength of the show, in my opinion, is that every character on the show can consistently deliver funny lines. Samantha, Andrea, Dena, Sam's parents, Todd, and Frank are all capable of complete hilarity. I especially want to send kudos to Jennifer Esposito, because I remember that I expressed worry at her over-the-top antics after the pilot episode. She's completely won me over as Andrea, however. I love how funny she is even when she doesn't have a line and is just sending someone (usually Dena) a look of total disgust.

And Barry Watson was never this dreamy on What About Brian? and especially not in (ugh) 7th Heaven.

Finale Highlights:

• Sam: "...and, thank you for helping me find this book on tanks, sir!"
  Todd: "No, tank you!"
  
• Sam: "A hospital is kind of like a club; they've got cute people, skimpy outfits, and drugs!"
  
• Evil Sam wore seriously dark lipstick.
  
• Frank is great. His omnipresent condescension is definitely a highlight of the show.
  
• Howard (Sam's dad): "Well, I'm sorry I don't dress like the internet."
  
• Andrea (about her kitchen): "It's just, I've never been in here before."
  
• It's pretty cute that Sam is saying that she's "turning 1."
  
• Howard: "You know some of these people--the glitterati--don't roll in until at least 8:30!"
  

Gossip Girl: Sending in the Cavalry

Gossip Girl: "Woman on the Verge"
After several weeks of building the suspense, Serena's secret was finally revealed, and then promptly dealt with in about 20 minutes. See, S? It wasn't worth all the fuss.

So, as expected, Serena only "killed someone" in the loosest definition of the phrase. She finally told Blair, Nate, and Chuck, then Blair told Lily, and then Lily made her confront the situation by talking to dead Pete's parents. And, when they told her they knew he was an addict and didn't blame her, that was that. Except, of course, that Georgina, in total psycho-Oliver-fashion, was making up stories about fake significant others and Stupid Dan was buying it hook, line, and sinker.

Ever since Nate relinquished his crown as Stupidest Person on the Show, there has been quite a battle for that honor. Jenny and Serena passed it back and forth for the first three post-strike episodes, but tonight the title was all Dan's. I'm beginning to understand why Dan hates to be lied to so much--it's because he will believe absolutely anything. Come on, Humphrey, Georgie's story was ridiculous, and you ate it right up. Geez.

More than compensating for the frustration that is Dan/Serena/Georgie, the interaction between Blair, Chuck, and (even) Nate was awesome. It is nice to know that while the people in this clique have torn each other to shreds (and will totally do so again in a heart beat if necessary), when someone is threatening one of their friends, they're willing to do whatever they can to help.

The only thing I ask from this show is that, in the series finale, Chuck and Blair will get married and rule the world. They are just too perfect for each other.

Exchange of the night:
Chuck: "You're starting to scare even me. What did you do?"
Blair: "You can tell us...none of us are perfect. I had sex with him in the back of a moving limo."
Chuck: "Several times."
Nate: "And I had sex with you at a wedding when I was her date...once."
Chuck: (pause) "I'm Chuck Bass."

And then there was Lily and Rufus making out on the night of her wedding rehearsal dinner. That's classy ;-) It was also pretty hot though. How much though does GG ending its first season with the Lily/Bart wedding remind me of The O.C. ending its first season with the Julie/Caleb wedding? It's practically the same darn thing. At least the similarities seem to have ended there, and Dan hasn't maybe knocked up Vanessa. That would be unbearable.

For all the ruckus over the "OMFG" hook-up promotional ads, it seems like there's be a dearth of sensational hook-ups since the show has returned from the strike. It looks like Lily and Rufus are going to get it on, but since they're the parents, I think they only warrant an "OMG."

Bullets:

• Rufus (to Dan): "I don't know if you know this, but you can be a pretty judgemental guy." (Amen)
• Chuck (to Blair): "Are you drunk dialing again?"
• It's impressive that Blair found Serena after her night of drunken debauchery. I would have liked to see Blair Waldorf navigating the seedy underbelly of NYC night life.
• Why is Lily doing an interview with Rolling Stone anyway? And why does this guy care so much about Lily and Rufus? Move on, dude.
• Dan: "Don't all of you hate each other?"
  Blair: "Yes!"
  Chuck: "No."
  Nate: "Absolutely."
• Serena looked darn good for being such a huge hungover mess.
• I thought Dan was going to try to not be judgemental. That sure didn't happen.
• I wouldn't mind Wild Serena if she weren't so darn whiny. She's like the guy on The Real World who drinks all night and then complains all day about how he drank too much (I'm embarrassed that I can draw connections to the current season of The Real World).
• Hey! I just realized what I love about this episode--no Jenny yet! I hope her trip to see her mom lasts for a good, long time.
• Eew, Chuck lost his virginity to Georgie in the sixth grade! Eew, eew, eew!
• Lisa Loeb! Cool! Hmm, I bet 80% of the people who watch GG don't know who she is...
• Props to Blair for telling Lily the truth. It's nice to see the kids actually letting their parents help them out of a mess for once.
• Wow, and Nate called BS on the "Sarah" story. It's amazing how quickly these people can get things done when they want to.
• Chuck: "What's gotten into you? (look of disgust)"
  Blair: "What if I told you I know where Georgina Sparks is right now?"
  Chuck: "I'd say, let's get the bitch."
  Gossip Girl: "Spotted: Blair and Chuck reunited to avenge Serena's honor. With friends like these, who needs armies?"
• The first time I've ever liked Vanessa was she lectured Georgie about lying. But I sooooo wanted to see Chuck and B put a smackdown on Georgina's sorry butt. Grr.
• Personally, I would be pissed off I had to listen to Georgina's sob story while Lisa Loeb was performing.

(photo: cwtv.com)

OMG! SVH!

I just discovered that ABC Family has episodes of Sweet Valley High that you can stream on its web site!!! This revelation makes the 8-year-old Saturday morning TV watcher inside me very excited.

Watch it here!

So far, I have only located episodes from season 4 (I'm kind of surprised to learn/remember that there even was a season 4 of this show).

Ok, it's not the best show in the world. The acting and writing do leave a bit to be desired. But, dude, SVH had a fantastic theme song!

I know what I'll be doing tomorrow night...

Greek: Spitting on Injustice...Figuratively.

Greek: "47 Hours and 11 Minutes"
Good episode. I really enjoyed the exploration into the Rusty/Casey/parents dynamic. It is interesting how everyone else thinks Casey's great and Rusty's a loser except Karen and Russell Cartwright, who think Rusty's perfect and Casey's "ridiculous." This situation has left both Casey and Rusty with some baggage, but it's nice to see them helping each other through it now. I really like it when Greek gets around to fleshing out (eew, maybe that's not the best term to use when talking about siblings...this isn't Brothers and Sisters or a Nabokov novel after all) Rusty and Casey's relationship.

And, G.D. (Dale joke, sorry), didn't Rusty bring his A-game in this episode! I don't know if Rusty's ever had so many funny lines in one episode. His attempts to keep the Cartwrights from find out what Kappa Tau is really like were hysterical. He wins the best lines of the night for:

Rusty: "[The fraternity] is closed this weekend because most of the guys are away in Mexico...building huts... It's for humanity...like Habitat for Humanity, but huts...so 'hubitat'."

and:

Karen (Rusty's mom): "Why did he call you 'Spitter'?"
Rusty: "That's my nickname... Yeah, I spit on injustice everywhere. Figuratively."

I can't say I was surprised that the K.T.s were able to successfully fake being a service frat for a night; they all are quite good at lying, sucking up, and B.S.ing. I also don't blame Casey for feeling the desperate need to expose them for what they are to her parents. A person can only listen to so much Kappa Tau-praise.

Best Dale Moment (notice how even when I'm raving about Rusty, I put a pic of Dale on my blog? I can't say "no" to that face...):

Dale: "When I told my parents about your descent into the Greek sect, my mother cried, and my father said 'G.D.' for the first time in his life."

Highlights/thoughts:

• Freshman Parents Weekend seems like it's occurring awfully late in the year. I thought they were normally held a few weeks into the fall semester. These kids are practically done being freshmen at this point.
• I didn't know/forgot that both of Rusty's parents are professors.
• Casey: "This is the first I'm hearing about the biscotti! ...Does anyone like biscotti?"
• Ohmygosh--Dale's parents brought an air mattress and are going to sleep on the floor in their dorm room!!!
• Parent: "I bet the G.P.A. of your fraternity is near 4.0."
  Rusty: "I'm not sure if anyone has added it up."
  Casey: "Or could."
• The geological tour girl was funny. Cappie/Rusty/Dale/Someone should date her.
• Cappie referenced Amelia Bedelia.
• Cappie/Casey seem to have an awful lot of heart-to-heart conversations.
• Did Casey tell her parents nothing about Cappie? Yeah, probably not.
• Beaver's gotten used to being "Charles"! And Beav is looking extra cute tonight.
• Oh, Rebecca, don't interrupt Cappie when he's going to tell us what he's studying! We came this close to finally finding out what his major is. (I'm pretty sure that's something they're never going to tell us...or at least not for a long while.)
• Cappie: "Why are you trying to make me look like Kevin Federline?"
• Russell (Rusty's dad): "Did you know that Ben Bennett is a kidney donor?"
• Dale: "I finally put on 'The Passion of the Christ' and said I was going to the bathroom... That was like an hour ago."
• Rusty: "Growing up is not a punishable offense."
• And, just to answer last week's question (even though I'm otherwise avoiding talking about Cappie and Rebecca), Rebecca ended up saying: "I think that I...you know, maybe, very possibly care about you." Ugh. At least it wasn't "I love you," but it was close to what I was fearing.
• Rusty: "Now I want to see a menu, and I want to see it now."
• I loved the last scene of Rusty and Casey making a mad dash out of the airport when they heard that their parents' flight had been delayed for 2 hours.

Why does ABC Family keep making Cappie/Rebecca scenes the hook at the end of the promos? Is them being gross supposed to make us want to watch? Eew. It doesn't. Stick to Casey or Rusty or Dale or solo Cappie.

(photo: abcfamily.com)

Wildfire: Too Much Too Soon?

Wildfire: The Comeback
Ah, Wildfire, a world where horses can hurt their legs and don't have to be put down. I like it better here.

So, basically, Jean's not dead and Kris and Matt take on too much to prove to her and Pablo that they're not incompetent. Except they kind of are. At least Matt is. (Just my personal opinion.)

Don't have too much to say one way or the other about the plot of this episode, but it did add a certain realism for Kris to only win one of the six horse races. I've felt before that Wildfire lets her win a few too many races to be realistic, but humbling her and Raintree a bit in this episode was a nice touch.

While watching this episode, it occurred to me for the first that that the actress who plays Dani (Nicole Tubiola) is pregnant in real life. Suddenly it made sense why she's always standing behind boxes and wearing empire waisted shirts.

Best part of the episode was, as expected, Matt and Junior wrestling on horseback and then down the hill and into the river. That was entertaining. Also funny was how they both just kind of gave up mid-fight and walked away with Junior muttering something like "what's the point?" Those two boys certainly have their issues. It's awkward because just when they had basically worked through the issues that resulted from Matt stealing Kris from Junior, Junior goes and takes her back.

Highlights:

• Girl Camper: (when told to go make a lanyard): "I'd rather make a noose." Ha, she's an edgy little one. I kind of liked her until she went and got herself lost in the wilderness. Could have lived without that.
• For a second there, I thought they were foreshadowing that Dani's filly was going to get hurt in the race against the colts. That would have hit way too close to home this week.
• Noah is kind of a wet blanket. But, guess what, he turns out to be right. Oops. Good riddance anyway.
• I enjoyed the amusing timing in this exchange:
  Matt: "Where were you?"
  Kris: "At the stable."
  Matt: "Doing what?"
  Junior: "Hey guys!"
• I was super glad to see Kris (figuratively) knocking Pablo off his high horse for once. It's about time someone finally turned on his smug self.
• Oh, Dani... back so soon to using morally questionable means to win horse races.
• Chris riding in all 6 races seems like an awful lot for one jockey. How's she supposed to keep track of all the horses, strategies, etc.? Apparently, she's not doing a very good job of it.
• Noah was brave to root around in the trash can in a horse stable. Eew.

Sadly, I think there are only three episodes left. Now that Pablo is back at Raintree, it seems like everyone is where they should be. Things are falling into place. Let's just see if Kris and Junior can pull off this wedding despite the fact that their relationship upsets EVERYBODY.

And, the best news I heard today is that Ausiello is reporting that Wildfire's Ryan Sypek will show up on Greek to play a love interest for Casey! If we can't have Junior, we might as well get to see him on Monday nights anyway. But, seriously, congrats to Casey--now she's got Cappie, Evan, and Junior?! Is there anyone she doesn't get to have?

Gossip Girl: Restoring the Natural Order

Gossip Girl: "All About My Brother"
All hail Queen B! It's good thing that Blair didn't go to all the trouble of moving to France, because even without Serena's promised help, it only took B three episodes to fully resume her status at the top of the social pyramid. And thank goodness Jenny has finally socially crashed and burned for what we can only hope is that last time.

I thoroughly enjoyed this episode--at least as much as I can enjoy an episode with no Chuck and plenty of Jenny. Even though he recently developed a fairly pleasing personality, Nate was not particularly missed tonight. Chuck, however, must return. Immediately.

I really liked tonight's renewed focus on the Gossip Girl blog, which, after all, is the premise of the show. It seems to have been slipping into the background for a while now, but I'm glad it was at the forefront tonight. The more I get to hear Kristen Bell, the better (is it wrong that when she says "You know you love me, XOXO" in the opening, it almost brings a tear to my eye?).

Eric's outing was the second coming out I've seen on TV in two days. At least Eric is dealing with it 50-55 years before Uncle Saul got around to it on Brothers and Sisters. But, seriously, Eric met Asher at the Ostroff Center and liked him? Him? Because if the dude was half the asshat in rehab that he is in the outside world, Eric made a major character misjudgement.

And Serena. Oh, Serena, things are not getting better. Early in the episode, when Georgie showed up with the video, it felt very anticlimactic, because all I was getting from the video was that Serena was involved in some sort of orgy. Yes, participating in drunken orgies is not exactly a sign of great moral character, but it did not seem nearly bad enough to cause all this trouble--after all, whatever she did was supposed to scandalize even Chuck...and we all know that an orgy wouldn't phase old Chuck for a second.

But, then, in the final moments, we find out what I've been speculating for weeks: Serena killed someone, or so she says. I think the most remarkable part of the revelation scene was that Serena's tears and eyeliner were combining to make her look eerily like Mia from Heroes. And I want no reminders of Mia from Heroes.

I see why Serena maybe doesn't want to tell Dan that she killed someone during some sort of orgy, but not telling him anything isn't working any better. It seems like she could come up with some kind of half-truth ("I knew Georgina when I was really wild and she's a horrible influence and knows things that I did that I'm not proud of.") that would at least buy her some more time.

Highlights!

• Nelly Yuki is now part of Blair's gang! Yea! This is awesome news! (Look, she's in the picture on the far left!) That girl rocks some seriously wicked glasses. I'm surprised she has time for these events, parties, and scheming sessions, what with being a concert pianist, scholar and all, but I'm not complaining.


• Wow, "Sarah" really latched on to Dan/Vanessa. They should find that suspicious. They (especially Vanessa) are not that interesting.


• I called that Eric and Asher had a relationship even before Dan saw Asher kissing a boy on the street.


• Lilly: "When you revise the seating chart, don't forget to put Mr. Spitzer as far away from Serena's table as possible."


• Jenny's not a very good bitch. Her delivery on "Even you should know that jealously clashes with L.L. Bean pants" was off. Or maybe it's just a really weird thing to say. I don't know, something about that was weird.


• Dan: "And she dissed my pants."


• Hazel (?) (when Gossip Girl reported that Jenny's bf is gay): "Now you know how Vanessa Hudgens feels."


• Like the girls in Blair's posse, I'm glad Gossip Girl "got her balls back" too.


• Blair said "endgame"! For an Alias fan, that's pretty exciting.


• Why would Nelly Yuki be displaying such loyalty to Blair one week after she messed up her ability to do well on the SATs? I guess Nelly has yet to figure out the extent of Blair's scheming.


• Georgina! Outing Eric at dinner was way harsh! Wow, I knew he was gay and I knew he was going to be outed, but I didn't think she was going to do it. Poor Eric always gets dragged into Serena's battles


• Rufus should knock Jenny over the head with something. He's about the worst parent ever. She weighs like 90 pounds--how hard is it to keep her from going out a door?


• Aw, Eric confides in Chuck! That's so sweet.


• Blair's party dress was fantastic.


• Blair (dispensing life lessons): "The most important parties to attend are the ones you're not invited to."


• It's nice to see Blair's agenda finally lining up on the side of truth and justice for once. She's acting like a superhero tonight by avenging Eric and taking down Asher and Little J.


• Izzy: "And to think, I almost asked you to wear a matching dress!"


• Gossip Girl: "Don't worry, Little J, the sun will come out tomorrow, even though your boyfriend did today."


• If it's an consolation after her fall from grace, Jenny's dress was pretty. I wonder what she had to steal/pawn to get that one.


• And this line wasn't funny, but I thought it was sweet and rather beautiful. Blair: "We're sisters, we're family, what's you is me. There's nothing you could say that would ever make me let go."

And next week, it seems that Serena decides that the best way to keep her horrible secret drink heavily and sleep around. That's brilliant, S.

(photo: cwtv.com)

Thursday Night Highlights

Ugly Betty: "Burning Questions"

I can't think of any particular one-liners that I loved, (at least not as much as last week's "We want her to be crazy, not thin and crazy!") but I thoroughly enjoyed this episode. Daniel's dream sequence of Betty being in love with him was funny.

30 Rock: "Sandwich Day"

Kenneth: "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for a good man to stand by and do nothing."

Tracy: "Please ask my permission before you quote me, Kenneth."

Liz: "I'll move to Cleveland when you get that IKEA... Never!"

I liked how last year's episode about Cleveland made it out to be a mythical, wonderful place, where as this episode made it seem a lot less cool.

Also, how cool/funny/weird is it that Liz Lemon got her hands on the same dress that Cameron Diaz just wore to her movie premiere?

Grey's Anatomy: "Piece of My Heart"

I thought the first two post-strike episodes were both pretty good. George and his funny comments were the highlights of the first ep. I was glad to see Izzy realizing how ridiculous she's become in the second ep. Also liked Bailey telling Alex to stuff his feelings back inside. I'm intrigued by what crazy, non-pregnant Ava is up to. I'm glad Meredith is (finally) seeing a therapist.

As for Addison, I could not care less that "it is killing her" that Meredith has let "Addison's husband" get away. I stopped caring about Addison's feelings when she moved to L.A. and started dancing naked around her house.

By far the highlight of these two eps (and the whole darn season of Grey's as far as I'm concerned) was this exchange, which reminded me how seriously funny this show can be.

Callie: "Does anyone ever think you two are a couple?"

Meredith: "No, because we screw boys like whores on tequila."

Christina: "And then we either try to marry them or drown ourselves."

(photo: nbc.com)

Wildfire: The End Is Near

Wildfire: "Vows"
Well, let's just say that as soon as I started to watch this episode of Wildfire, I realized that I missed this show more than I care to admit. I mean, I graduated summa cum laude and it's Wildfire. But, whatever, I've decided that for these last five epsidoes, I'm going to stop trying to rationalize why I enjoy this show and just enjoy it.

There were several moments in tonight's episode where it seemed pretty obvious that Wildfire is well aware that there are a finite number of episodes left. The plot lines were speeding right along (a la Junior in his Porshe). There were a number of things that were dealt with quickly that under normal soap opera circumstances would probably have been dragged out for an agonizing number of episodes. I mean, Junior got Kris her racing license back before the opening credits even rolled! And then Kris and Junior had a talk about how they need to tell Matt that they're back together as soon as possible, and then Kris just flat out tells him the next time she sees him! After seeing the whole you-tell-him, I'll-tell-him, I-didn't-tell-him, you-need-to-do-it saga play out so many times on so many shows, it seemed kind of amazing to see someone just cowboy up and tell the truth.

I feel a little bit awful for Kris and Junior. Like Kris said (with absolutely the correct inflection), their relationship upsets EVERYBODY. I understand why Matt would have an issue with it, and, too a smaller extent, why Jean might also disapprove, but Pablo? Come on, dude, get over it. I'm not quite sure why Jean and Pablo both seem positive that Kris and Junior can't have a relationship and still do their jobs. I understand that running a ranch and training horses might both be require a substantial time commitment, but it's not like they're the President of the United States or playing Sydney Bristow on Alias--they have to have some free time! Plus, it's a tremendous double standard that Pablo told Kris she couldn't work for Raintree and love Junior right before he, who is a partner in Davis Farms, was about to tell Jean, who owns Raintree, that he loves her.

Nevertheless, I'm fairly confident that Junior and Kris will prevail (the scenes in the promos of their wedding seems to confirm my suspicions). Not sure if Jean's going to make it, although I image she will since killing her off in the last episodes of the show would be extremely dark.

Before I get to the bullets: I've previously mentioned that the acting on this show isn't exactly Emmy-caliber, but I do want to note that I thought Nana Visitor (I still cannot believe that's her name) did a great job of playing post-coma Jean. So often on TV shows, characters wake up from comas and a few minutes later seem ready to run a marathon, but Jean actually acted like she's just woken up from a coma. She was talking quietly, looked drained, coughed occasionally...it was actually quite novel.

• Whoa, Junior and Kris definitely shouldn't be making out while speeding down the highway...that's a little dangerous.
• Junior: "Ok, let's start with the cons."
  Kris: "Ok, well, we're really young."
  Junior: "Not if this were 1956."
  Kris: "And we've never officially been together for more than a few weeks."
  Junior: "This is fun. Let's move on to the pros."
• My limited Wildfire background is showing: Is there a history between Matt and Dani that I don't know about? His "nothing about us ever scared me" comment seemed laden with meaning.
• I hope Kris hasn't been spending her time away from racing eating too many burgers and chocolates, or she's not going to make weight to be a jockey at the upcoming race.
• I'm still loving the clip in the promo of Matt tackling Junior on horseback and the two of them falling into the river.

(photo: abcfamily.com)