Goodbye Chuck

On January 24, 2010 (yes, I remember the date), I discovered Chuck, and although I was 4 years late to the game, I became one of its rabid fans.  It took me just 6 days to completely catch up on the series and then on February 1st, I started watching again.  Call me obsessed; I know I would.

I knew the show was “on the bubble” and would probably not receive a 5th season, so I was surprised to learn that it got a 13 episode pick-up.  I was ecstatic; I was getting 13 more hours of Chuck.  Tonight, the clock struck midnight, and I feel like Prince Charming watching Cinderella as she leaves the ball.  I have to say, I am a little disappointed in the series finale, but I have seen worse (Dollhouse *cough cough*).  After it ended, I decided to do a marathon of my favorite episodes, but trying to choose only a few episodes out of 5 seasons was hard, especially if I planned on only watching 1 night’s worth of episodes.  (I realize I should have done this last week as a way to lead up to the finale, but whatever.)

Here is my list:

Season 1:

1. The Pilot
2. Chuck vs. the Alma Mater
3. Chuck vs. the Imported Hard Salomi

Season 2:

1. Chuck vs. the Cougars
2. Chuck vs. Tom Sawyer
3. Chuck vs. the Santa Claus
4. Chuck vs. the Colonel
5. Chuck vs. the Ring

Season 3:

1. Chuck vs. the Angel de la Muerte
2. Chuck vs. Operation Awesome
3. Chuck vs. the Beard
4. Chuck vs. the American Hero
5. Chuck vs. the Other Guy
6. Chuck vs. the Subway & the Ring Part II

Season 4:

1. Chuck vs. the Coup d’etat
2. Chuck vs. the Couch Lock
3. Chuck vs. the Leftovers
4. Chuck vs. the Balcony
5. Chuck vs. the Push Mix
6. Chuck vs. Agent X
7. Chuck vs. the Last Details
8. Chuck vs. the Cliffhanger

Season 5:

1. Chuck vs. the Business Trip
2. Chuck vs. the Hack Off
3. Chuck vs. the Santa Suit
4. Chuck vs. the Kept Man
5. Chuck vs. Bo
6. Chuck vs. the Bullet Train
7. Chuck vs. Sarah & the Goodbye

Looks like I’ll be watching a lot of Chuck.  What about you?

The End of an Era

I started reading the Harry Potter novels when I was 11 years old.  At the time, I wasn’t a very big reader, so my mom didn’t expect me to actually read the book–she bought it for my 8 year old brother, who loved to read, especially the Matt Christopher and Wishbone books.  However, he hated the first book (he read the first chapter and claimed it was boring–not a ringing endorsement, I know). For some reason, I picked up the book, which had been left on the coffee table, and to my surprise, I loved it. I remember wanting to read the second book right away, but it hadn’t come out yet, so I had to wait. I’m not quite sure what happened, but I didn’t pick up the 2nd book in the series until September 2001, several years after it had been released. (As a matter of fact, I was reading Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets on 9/11.) At 14, I was more enchanted with the world of Harry Potter than I was at 11, and from that point on I devoured the books, however, I put off seeing the first movie. I didn’t think that it would do justice to the book. It wasn’t until 2 weeks before Chamber of Secrets was released that I caught Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone on ABC Family.  Again, I was surprised by how much I enjoyed something Harry Potter related.  Since my dad was coming in from California for my 16th birthday the week the 2nd movie was being released, I asked him to take me to see it as a birthday present.  So, the weekend before my birthday, we made the trek to  the now defunct Crossbay movie theater.  From that point on, I only missed seeing 2 other Harry Potter movies (HP 4 and HP7.1) in the theater.  (I always loved the fact that the movies tended to be released on or around my birthday–at least until that Twilight dreck began competing for viewers, forcing the Potter movies to come out in July.)

When the last book came out in 2007, I held tight to the notion that there were still several more movies coming out, so it wasn’t really the end–I just got a big jump on all the spoiler sites.  However, as each movie came out, I knew we were getting closer and closer to the end of the series, and now that it is finally here, I’m finding it hard to let go.  This is a big part of my adolescence that is ending; it’s almost like a neon sign telling me that I now have to grow up.  Harry, Ron, Hermione, and the rest of the Hogwarts gang did, so now its my turn, despite the fact that I am at least 7 years older than the characters at the end of the Battle of Hogwarts.  I still have the DVD’s and (most) of the books, so I can revisit them whenever I want, but it’s not the same as reading/seeing it for the first time, although there are advantages to knowing what is going to happen. (SPOILER ALERT) Each time I saw Nagini during the battle, I was waiting for Neville to come up and kill him.

That said, I want to give my impressions of this final movie.

1. It was amazingly true to the book.  Sure there were a few things left out–we never get to meet Teddy Lupin or find out that Neville ended up being a professor at Hogwarts.  There was also a lot of the Dumbledore storyline left out–there was nothing about his relationship with a dark wizard back in his school days or about his father’s imprisonment for killing a bunch of muggles, his sister’s death (and his part in it), or much of anything about his brother, Aberforth.  There were also a few changes to the movie.  In the book, when Harry, Ron, and Hermione returned to Hogwarts, they snuck through the castle, looking for Rowena Ravenclaw’s diadem BEFORE any staff members knew what was going on, and the first professor to see Harry was Professor McGonagal, who was in her dressing gown when Harry came upon her.

2. Alan Rickman is a great actor (not that I missed that in the first 7 movies or Die Hard for that matter).  Snape ends up being a very complex character.  (SPOILERS GALORE)  He starts out a misunderstood little boy (not that much is shown in the movie–this scene was much better in the book, imho), then a bullied teen, an angry young man, however, underneath that all there was love for Lily.  Everything he did was about Lily.  True, he swore allegiance to Voldemort, but once he knew that Lily was in danger, he was ready to do anything to protect her (and her son).  I think the most telling part of this sequence was when he angrily argued with Dumbledore over the fact that Harry needed to die at the hands of Voldemort in order for Voldemort to be killed.  You can see that he has truly learned to care for Harry, despite the fact that he reminded him of James.  Rickman did a wonderful job of making Snape human for the first time in the series.

3. Neville Longbottom is the most underrated character in the series.  Sure, he was there when Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, and Luna broke into the Department of Mysteries in Order of the Phoenix, but he never seemed all that important.  The last book, and moreso this last movie, showed us that he was just as important as any of the main characters.  In a way, Neville is Harry.  Like Harry he lost his parents when he was a year old just as Harry did.  Yes, he was raised by his grandmother, who loved him, but nothing could replace the parents that he could have had, should have had, if not for Voldemort and his Death Eaters.  In the end, Neville is very much his parents’ son.  He’s every much the hero of this story as Harry is.  (Actually, I can see a romance novel featuring Neville as the hero =).)

4. The epilogue felt just as unnecessary in the movie as it was in the book.  Of course, it gave the movie a happy ending, but it was kind of jarring coming out of the battle.  One minute, Harry’s killing Voldemort and the next he’s 19 years older and bringing his kids to the Hogwarts Express.

5. The movie should have been released May 2nd–the date of the Battle of Hogwarts–or July 31st–Harry’s (and J.K. Rowling’s) birthday.

What did you guys think of the movie?

Exercising Our Right to Free Assembly–Protesting the Cancelation of AMC and OLTL by ABC

Recently, I posted a blog about my anger over ABC’s cancellation of not one but two iconic soap operas–All My Children and One Life to Live. AMC is set to go dark in September and OLTL will end in January 2012. I am now hearing that General Hospital may also be canceled sometime next year. If that happens, there will only be three soaps left–Y&R, Days, and B&B. Despite the fact that I cannot stand the way GH has been written in the last few years (the annihilation of core families, the focus on the mob, only showing certain characters, etc.), I don’t want to see it go. It was of course at one time the highest rated soap on television; now it is down in the cellar. There are many reasons for this, and the easiest way to remedy the situation would be to find a new head writer (Bob Guza is a total ass, who believes that women are stupid and need to be trained to like his storylines). For some reason, Brian Frons, who at this point seems to be a bigger ass than Guza (you’re seriously going to make jokes about Agnes Nixon when announcing that you’re canceling two of her soaps?), seems to like the direction GH has taken, and is unlikely to force Guza out anytime soon.

Anyway, back to the issue at hand. Almost immediately after the announcement, dozens of fan groups popped up to protest the cancellation. One of the biggest groups is Protest ABC Across America. It is a facebook group that combined with several other facebook groups to present a united front. It is in the process of organizing nationwide protests outside Disney/ABC studios on April 26th. They have also started a phone campaign, trying to get sponsors to pull their ads from ABC, and it seems to be working. Yesterday, Hoover announced that it was pulling its ads from the 1-3 time slots. Hoover has also created an e-mail account, saveoursoaps@hoover.com, and it has promised that any e-mails it receives will be sent to their contacts at ABC. Today, another sponsor, Excedrin, has also announced that it intends to meet with ABC executives to discuss the possibility of pulling their ads as well.

If you want to help, there is a list of sponsors and their contact information on the wubtub.

Update: Here is a link to Protest ABC Across America’s website. There is contact info for local ABC affiliates and links to event pages for the protests next week. For my fellow New Yorkers, our protest is outside of the ABC Studios on West 66 St. on Tuesday, April, 26, 2011 at 10 AM.

Deeply Disappointed in ABC Daytime

As many who read this blog know, I have been watching soaps for almost 16 years. I started watching in 1995 after my mom was released from the hospital, and the first one that I ever paid any attention to was General Hospital. This was back when Jason was still a Q, AJ was an unabashed drunk, the Spencers and the Cassadines were still feuding, and the writers knew what they were doing.

I don’t know when I started watching All My Children; it was a natural progression from watching GH. One of the first things I remember seeing was watching Dr. Maria Santos Gray walking down the hallway of Pine Valley Hospital. I can’t tell you why that one scene stuck in my head when there were probably dozens of more memory-worthy scenes. All I know is that I looked up from dressing my Barbie doll and there she was. The first story I remember was Julia and Noah’s wedding. It was so romantic.

I do believe that GH was more addicting back then. I can remember more of the storylines than I can for AMC. Unfortunately neither show is anywhere near as good as it was over a decade ago. The last really good story that GH told was the MetroCourt Hostage Crisis, and I couldn’t tell you the last time AMC has really had a great story, although the stories that are currently unfolding are much more watchable than anything GH has aired in the last 5 or so years.

In the last few years, the one soap on ABC that has been consistently good is One Life to Live. Unlike GH (and to some extent AMC), OLTL writes for veteran actors/characters. Erika Slezak’s Vicki has had several storylines in the last few years, as has Robin Strasser’s Dorian, who has recently married Tuc Watkin’s David Vickers, a character that is always funny, but never on enough (that’s what happens when you split time between OLTL and Desperate Housewives). I do not understand how ABC could have canceled OLTL or how it could be replacing it with more reality and talk shows. A lot of fans are trying to get Oprah to pick both AMC and OLTL up for her OWN network, which knowing her love of soaps could be a possibility if ABC is willing to let go of the rights to both shows. However, knowing the way ABC Daytime has been run in the last few years, I doubt that the network would do anything that wasn’t a direct “fuck you” to the fans. (Well, here’s my fuck you to ABC.

A New Obsession

The title of this post says it all–I have a new obsession. Anyone who has spoken with me for more than 10 minutes over the last 2 weeks knows what it is and that I blame Twitter. Two weeks ago yesterday, I was on twitter while watching Castle (best episode of the series) and all of the other people watching Castle were tweeting about another show that had apparently had a great episode that night as well. I decided that while i was still on the adrenaline rush from Castle that I would check out that other show–Chuck. I vaguely remembered the pilot episode; my mom and I had caught it on NBC the Saturday after it originally aired, but it didn’t interest us enough to give up whatever we were watching Monday nights at 8. So, that night, I watched the first 2 episodes, and became hooked. The next morning I got up, turned on my computer and queued up the rest of the first season (11 episodes). By the Wednesday I was finished with season 1 and on to season 2. It took me 6 days of watching the show almost non-stop (I took breaks to watch new episodes of my current shows) to catch up with the series. Last Monday, I saw my first ever live episode, and I was blown away. (I remember looking at the time at 8:49 and thinking where did the hour go–I have to say that Timothy Dalton played the best villain ever.) The next day, I started the series for a second time, skipping episodes that I wasn’t totally crazy about. That time it took me 4 days to catch up. I am now watching it for a third time–I told you I’m obsessed (I wonder if there are Chuck Anonymous meetings). This time I am taking it slower; It has been 3 days and I’m still on season 1, although in an hour i’ll be on season 2. The thing about this show is that no matter how many times you watch it and how short a period of time has passed since your last viewing it is still mesmerizing. Each episode pulls me in until I’ve reached the point that i look at the time i find i haven’t eaten or slept (seriously, last Thursday I was up until after 4 AM because I didn’t realize how late it was).

I have also taken to reading the IMDB message board to talk to other fans about the show. Last night was fun because I chatted with them as it ended on the west coast. Anyway, the people on there are a lot like me. Some of them have been watching from the beginning while others have done repeat viewings of the entire series over a fews months and weeks. What I like about it the most, though is knowing that there are others out there who share my strange attachment to this show and its characters. Speaking of the characters, I do have a favorite–Casey. Yes, the show is about Chuck, and I love that character, but there is something about Casey that pulls me. He is the oldest member of Team Bartowski, and lately he has become a father figure (not to mention an actual father to the daughter he didn’t know he had) for the younger characters. The thing about Casey is that he has changed the most throughout the series. When the show started, he was the type of person to shoot first and ask questions later. At first, he didn’t blink at the thought that he would have to kill Chuck once the new Intersect was up and running. He didn’t plan on liking Chuck, Sarah, or any of the other characters, but as the first season progressed he started to accept them as his partners and like them as people, so much so that when he was told that the new intersect was complete he had trouble with the idea that he would have to kill Chuck. By the second season he was willing to bend the rules for them, doing so more than once. By the third season, he was just as invested in Chuck and Sarah’s relationship as the viewers–he was even willing to let the flee when he was ordered to bring them back to Burbank. The one relationship that I like the most is the one Casey developed with Chuck’s best friend, Morgan. For most of the series, he didn’t like him, thought he was a moron more often than not, but once Morgan found out about Chuck’s secret and became an unofficial then an official member of Team Bartowski a strange bond began to form, especially when the general put Casey in charge of Morgan’s training. I also like that a person who didn’t want attachments quickly strove to make a connection with his daughter, even though he never planned on actually telling her who he was (We know that once he learned Alex existed he became a regular at the diner where she worked so that he could get to know her). I think it was really sweet how protective he was of her from almost the moment he met her (his reaction to finding out that she gave Morgan her phone number at the end of season 3 was great, and so was his reaction to finding out that the two of them were dating earlier this season). The most telling change, though, was that in the span of 1 season he went from wanting to leave Burbank behind (and hoping to move to Rome with Chuck when he was given his CIA badge) to putting down roots and becoming afraid that he would have to leave when Chuck stopped flashing because his mother blocked the intersect. He found a family (with his daughter and with his team) and he didn’t want to lose that. I also find it interesting that in yesterday’s episode he was scared to speak with Alex’s mother, who still believes that he is dead, but that he was going to do it for Alex and Morgan. Fans knew that he still cared about Kathleen, the fiancee he left behind when he joined the NSA), last season, but the disappointment on his face when he found out that Alex never wanted him to tell Kathleen that he was alive was so sad. I hope he finds some happiness.

And I hope that NBC gives the series a fifth season.

E-mail to ABC Daytime

Dear Sir and Madame:

I have been a fan of General Hospital since I was 8 years old back in 1995. My mom would tape the show so we could watch it together after I finished my homework. Back then, the characters were richly drawn and history was taken into account. My favorite storyline from my childhood was Elizabeth’s rape and its aftermath. Rewatching those clips on youtube.com yesterday made me remember how much I used to love General Hospital. The thing that really got me was the use of old footage of Laura’s rape when Luke told Lucky the truth about his and Laura’s past. That is rarely done today. Rarely is history even acknowledged; there have been some exceptions, such as ghost Stone, ghost BJ, and clips of Jonathan Jackson’s Lucky when he returned to the show last year.

Another thing that I miss about the GH I knew and loved is romance. I used to write scenes in my head because the ones on the show were so good that I wanted to see more of the characters, specifically Ned and Alexis, Liz and Lucky, Mac and Felicia, and Jason and Robin. As I got older, I wrote fanfiction featuring Alexis and Ric because I thought that they deserved a better story than what was being written for them and I hated seeing what the writers did to them when he cheated on her with her daughter.

I was a loyal viewer for years. I stayed as the mob took over and General Hospital became The Sopranos: Daytime Edition. I stayed as the story lines became implausible–Jerry Jax and Mr. Craig had plastic surgery by the same surgeon and just happened to look exactly the same, Sonny gets arrested and released even though the prosecution had him dead to rights, Robin’s ridiculous Post Partum Depression, Alexis’s miracle cancer recovery, Emily’s rape by the Nikolas doppelganger, Nikolas’s amnesia, Jason taking Sam back after she helped Jake’s kidnapper, toxic balls, Sonny shooting Carly in the head when she was in labor with Morgan and expecting her to be okay with it after waking up from her coma, Sonny’s murder trial and Michael’s confession (hint: he should have had either his own trial or a deal from the state–first because that is how the legal system works, and second because IT WAS SELF DEFENSE), Liz’s affair with Nikolas, Franco, Maxie’s affair with Franco, the decimation of Maxie and Spinelli, Luke retroactively cheating on Laura with Holly and getting her pregnant with Ethan, Sonny shooting Dante and making it all about him because Olivia kept his paternity a secret (gee I wonder why), Helena switching Aiden’s DNA results to show that Nikolas was his father when Lucky was, Nikolas acting as if Helena hadn’t attempted to kill (a) Emily (b) Lucky (c) Laura (d) Stefan (e) Gia (remember her? We fans do.) (f) and too many others to count, Nikolas acting as if Helena never kidnapped Spencer, Nikolas and Brook Lynn, Brook Lynn (well, anything about Brook Lynn), Dante covering up Brenda’s crime after turning in Michael, Carly acting like a moronic high schooller because Lulu and Dante were the reason Michael went to jail (Oh really?!), Johnny fake dating Kristina to piss off Sonny, Sonny using a car bomb despite the fact that a car bomb is what killed Lily and their son back in 1996, Lisa, Siobhan, Sam, Maxie trying to make Spinelli jealous by flirting with Matt, Diane and Spinelli writing a book, and so many more there isn’t enough time in a day to list them.

The one thing that I cannot stay for is the way beloved actors/actresses are treated. Last year, Greg Vaughn was summarily fired because tptb secretly signed Jonathan Jackson to come back as Lucky. This was one of the worst things GH had ever done. While I liked Jonathan Jackson when he played Lucky in the 90′s, Greg Vaughn had made that character his own. That was when I dropped from loyal viewer to I’ll watch it when I have the time. Then, Leslie Charleston was demoted to recurring. This is when I decided to watch if I there was nothing else on television and I was desperate not to do more homework. Now, I have heard that Rebecca Herbst has been dismissed because the story line demands that she leave. This is the biggest mistake that General Hospital and ABC Daytime could possibly make (short of firing Susan Lucci, Erika Slezak, and Robin Strasser). The fans know that the only reason Becky was fired was because Bob Guza and Brian Frons want Jason and Sam to have their miracle baby and because they know that the only way this would be accepted is if Elizabeth was no longer on canvas. Fans do not want this. I REPEAT: FANS DO NOT WANT THIS!!!!! Many fans plan on boycotting General Hospital until it is either canceled or Robert Guza is fired (and replaced by someone worthy of the title Head Writer). I am done with General Hospital.

Goodbye Elizabeth Webber: The Travesty that is General Hospital 2011

General Hospital played a big role in my childhood–when i had no friends, i could pretend I was a member of the Four Musketeers (Liz, Lucky, Emily, and Nikolas), the main group of teens in the late 1990′s. They were the types of people I wanted to hang out with. It has been about 14 years since, most of those characters walked across my screen, and while the characters have remained on the canvas, only one of them has consistently been played by the same actress–Rebecca Herbst originated the role of Elizabeth Webber in 1997. When she first joined the show, she was Audrey Hardy’s bad girl granddaughter, who showed up on her doorstep with a cigarette in her hand and no warning. She was supposedly a wild child, but once she met Lucky Spencer that all changed. She gave up the cigarettes for a job at Kelly’s and the dream of romance with Lucky, who unfortunately had a thing for Liz’s good girl sister, Sarah (who had a thing for Lucky’s older half brother Nikolas Cassadine). Liz’s first big storyline came in February 1998 when she was raped in the park because Lucky stood her up for a chance at a date with Sarah. (I never actually saw the episode because my parents had taken my brother and me to Atlantic City and because my dad had put his foot down over my soap watching.) The aftermath brought the Four Musketeers together. Lucky was the one who found her and at her insistence, brought her to his family’s house and had his Aunt Bobby (a nurse at GH) examine her. Then, in anger, Lucky confronted Nikolas and accused his father (Stavros Cassadine) of raping Laura while she was held captive by the Cassadines in the 80′s. From the moment, Lucky showed up on Spoon Island, you knew nothing good would come of it because Nikolas knew the truth, and was more than happy to tell his brother that it was his father that raped their mother back in the 70′s. Of course this lead to Lucky moving out of the Spencer house (not understanding how his mother could have forgiven his father for raping her–apparently, he wasn’t a fan of old skool romance novels either), going on the run with Liz, and eventually living in a box car–in the box car, the scene of Liz and Lucky’s first kiss.

Over the years, Liz has grown up–she had her first heart break when Lucky was presumed dead (identified by an old NYC subway token necklace that she had given him) and her second when Lucky came back (in the form of Jacob Young), brainwashed by Helena Cassadine (and then accidentally by Nikolas) to forget his love for her, and a third time when she lost her and her husband’s (Ric Lansing) baby after being pushed down a flight of stairs by Faith Roscoe, and a forth time when she discovered Ric’s secret room and Carly #2 chained to a wall, so he could take her son when he was born, and a fifth time when Lucky #3 (Greg Vaughn) cheated on her with Maxie…It’s safe to say that she has had a lot of heart ache in her 14 year run on the show, but the worst heart break of all came yesterday when her portrayer, Rebecca Herbst, was summarily fired from the show because the story line demanded it, which is total bullshit. Over the last 8-9 years, the writers have ruined her character: first she had a one nighter with her best friend’s ex and got pregnant. Then, she had a one nighter with the same best friend’s brother and got pregnant. Last, she had an affair with her fiance’s (Lucky) brother, got pregnant and once again didn’t know who the daddy was (It’s Lucky, but Helena returned long enough to switch the DNA results). While everyone matures, this is not who Elizabeth should have matured into–she was an artist and a loyal friend. Liz Webber would never have done any of the things that Elizabeth has done. She has become a hypocrite; she used to criticize Carly for having 3 kids with different men (AJ, Sonny, and Jax), but Carly has matured (at least until last year when she regressed) into the type of person Liz should have been. Even with the kids from different men, Carly became a fierce mother, who knew what she wanted and fought to keep it. At my most recent viewing, Liz knows no such thing. She has been relegated to enviously watching Lucky with Sioban, Nikolas with Brook Lynn (ew), and Jason with Sam. It really shouldn’t surprise anyone that the character is being written off–the writers haven’t done anything with her since Becky returned from maternity leave last year.

I haven’t consistently watched GH for more than a year. It is sad that something that taught me about life no longer has a place in mine, but things happen. You grow older and you realize that the things that you once loved hasn’t grown with you. I just wish that things were different–that the writers still wrote for characters and that the characters actually act in character. The real travesty is that the writers ignore characters like Liz and then dump them the first chance that they get. I wish Becky the best of luck, and I hope that she gets picked up by a soap that knows how to write for vets. It would be nice to see her on One Life to Live, which still has quality writing and has actual story lines for characters that have been on canvas for years.

A Time to Be Born…HIMYM A Week Late

I know…I haven’t done many reviews in more than a month, but if there ever was an episode deserving of a review it was last Monday (1/3/11)’s episode of How I Met Your Mother, which was entitled Bad News. My immediate feeling after watching the episode was of both utter shock and sadness. I opened my facebook page and the first status I saw was from a former classmate, who wrote “How I Met Your Mother” is supposed to be funny…not sad.” While I agree it is supposed to be funny, I feel that the content of this episode (the unexpected death of Marshall’s dad at the end) was appropriate for a show about the lives of 30-somethings. Death is a part of life, and as we (as children) age, we are more likely to lose one or both parents. It would be abnormal for a show about adults not to deal with the possibility of losing a loved one when real people–people like the characters on HIMYM–have to deal with this all the time.

I think that part of what seems to annoy people (people who were more perceptive than me) was the countdown to the end of the episode. While I did not notice the numbers (starting with 50–Marshall and Lily in the doctor’s office–and ending with 0001 on the cab that Lily takes to the pub), it was apparent that something bad was going to happen (you could have made a drinking game to the amount of times that “bad news” was said prior to the delivery of the actual bad news). I for one figured that the bad news was going to be that Lily and Marshall would not be able to have a baby (which would have been pushing it even further into the Friends territory–who else remembers Monica’s hostile uterus?), but when Marshall found out that neither he nor Lily were sterile I had a feeling it had something to do with his parents since there was really no reason for them to show up in the city. When his dad didn’t answer the phone, I knew either he or the mother were dead or in the hospital. (My mom figured that they had gotten into a car accident.) When Lily got out of that cab, it was obvious that something was wrong and Marshall just was not seeing it because he was so happy about being able to father a child.

I have to say that Jason Segal and Alyson Hannigan did wonderful jobs with their character’s reactions. When Marshall breaks down, saying “I’m not ready for this,” it was as if he was summing up what every person feels when they lose someone they love. It was the perfect reaction based on his relationship with his dad.

Many people have commented that they can no longer watch HIMYM because this signaled the end of comedy…that because they had a “real” moment at the end of the episode that it cannot be funny anymore. What will happen if next week’s episode is funny (an interview with co-creator Carter Bays reveals that former BtVS/Gilmore Girls alum Danny Strong will guest star in the episode as Marshall’s childhood bully…have you seen Danny Strong?)? Will they jump back on board? Will they call it a fluke, a one-off?

The loss of Marshall’s father is not the only thing that happened in the episode. We did find out that Marshall and Lily can conceive a child, but the other major plot point to the episode was that Robin’s new boss was her former co-anchor, Sandy Rivers (another BtVS/Angel alum, Alexis Denisoff–also Alyson Hannigan’s real life husband), who tells everyone that they slept together despite the fact that they never actually got around to it–Amy Aker’s (yep, another Angel vet) rain dance put a damper on their camping trip, allowing Robin and Ted to get together back in season one. Once Robin convinces him that they didn’t sleep together, he finds every horrific moment that ever happened to Robin on air (all those Robin Sparkles clips!) and showed them to her new coworkers. The way she played it was brilliant (although, I would have gone to HR).

My Score: A

(btw, BtVS/Angel Count–excluding Alyson Hannigan–4; Amy Akers, Alexis Denisoff, Harry Groener, and Danny Strong.)

To Tell the Truth: Review of Supernatural 6.6

Finally, fans have gotten some answers as the the Sam mystery. Following last week Twilight parody, Dean was even more suspicious of Sam than ever before–just as he was cured of his vampirism, he got a flash of Sam watching the vamp turn him. At the very beginning of tonight’s episode, Dean calls Bobby and tells him what he saw, asking him to do some digging to figure out what is in his brother. Bobby tells him to stick with Sam and act naturally, and when Dean balks, Bobby tells him that Sam is the case.

Tonight’s plot device was the Goddess of Truth–she comes to a town and when some asks for the truth, they get it, and they keep getting it until they commit suicide. Of course, Dean inadvertently invokes her, and is cursed. He decides to make the most of a bad situation, and asks Sam what he is–not that Sam tells him. IMHO, he laid it on a bit too thick, and the only one believing him was Dean. Eventually, they track down the goddess, who realizes that Sam is lying to her. She asks him how he’s doing it, and accuses him of not being human–right before they kill her. This causes Dean to confront Sam for a second time in one episode. This time, it seems, he gets the truth. Sam doesn’t know what he is, but he has known for awhile that there was something wrong with him. He claims that he is a better hunter because he doesn’t feel any fear, which is also part of the reason he let Dean get turned last week. He knew that Samuel had a cure and they needed to find the nest.

*Spoiler Alert
If you haven’t seen the preview for next week, skip to the next section.
According to the previews for next week, Sam doesn’t have a soul, which would definitely explain why he is suddenly a psychopath.

The thing that bugged me with this episode was that they used The Horn of Gabriel as a way to get Cas into the story. Let me be frank (pun intended), I like Misha Collins, but he was not necessary for this episode. We already knew that he didn’t know anything about what was going on with Sam, so we did not need him to tell us again. It would have been better if the Horn of Gabriel was what made people tell the truth because we know who Gabriel is, and because it would have furthered the angelic war subplot that they are cultivating. (It also would have given them a way to bring back Richard Speight Jr.–it was rumored that he would be back this season, despite being iced by Lucifer in Hammer of the Gods.)

One of the things that I really liked was that we finally got to hear what Lisa really thought about Dean and his relationship with Sam. Under the influence of the curse, she told Dean that his relationship with Sam was inappropriate. This only shows that she didn’t know the real Dean. The bigger thing is how were they able to have an honest relationship when she was keeping her real feelings from him. I wonder if this is the last we will be seeing of her.

Honestly, if it wasn’t for the ending revelation and a couple of funny moments, this would have been a rather boring episode. I’ve been struggling over the grade I will give this episode. Because it was somewhat funny at times and did give us some new info to mull over until next week, I decided that I would give it a solid B.

Damnit, Will: Review of The Rocky Horror Glee Show

I’ll admit that I have only ever seen the Rocky Horror Picture Show once before watching tonight’s episode of Glee. (However, there were some scenes that stuck in my mind, such as the unveiling of Rocky and the murder of Eddie.) Because of this I was mostly a blank slate. I was hoping that this episode would live up to the hype that Fox had built up around it. Unfortunately, I don’t think it did. I think part of the problem is that The Rocky Horror Picture Show is a cult favorite, and when Ryan Murphy decided to Glee-ize it some things were lost in translation. It kind of felt like the episode was written to showcase the songs rather than the songs being inserted into the story to further the plot. This is something that a lot of people have been talking about since the show came back from its hiatus last April.

There were some things about the episode that I did like. First, I liked the fact that John Stamos got to sing. When he was first introduced during the Britney Spears episode, I had hoped that he would get to sing, but he didn’t. Tonight, he got to sing an entire song. Let me say, his voice is just as good as I remember it being back in his Full House days. Second, quite a few of the men were shirtless. I have to say that Sam had the best abs, followed by Will, and then Finn. All that was missing was a shirtless Puck (but since he wasn’t in the episode that would have been impossible). Third, they did the Time Warp. Did they do it justice? Probably not, but it is such a fun song and it looked like the cast had fun shooting it, so I couldn’t help but smile. Fourth, both Barry Bostwick and Meatloaf had cameos.

What I did not like about the episode was how childish Will was acting. The only reason they even did Rocky Horror was because Emma and Carl went to see it at the movies and Will was jealous. I’m sorry, dude, but when you play with a girl’s feelings, she has every right to move on to her good looking dentist.

One final observation: Finn still has feelings for Quinn. Every time Sam mentions liking her, he gets this look on his face. It kind of comes off as “You can’t have her; She’s mine,” which would be fine if he wasn’t dating Rachel. I hope something comes of this during the rest of the season.

Overall Score: B