The Joy of the Season: How I Met Your Mother, Dexter, and other stuff

Happy Christmas Eve! I have been taking this time during the hiatus to: 1 watch a new show (and hopefully another guilt-free one before I return to school/have classes that give me work that I will probably not do anyways because I am always watching television), and 2- prepare for the inevitable emotional toll that Season 5 of LOST and Season 4.5 of Battlestar Galactica will take on me. Based on the way things were left in my other shows, here's what I'm anticipating the most:1) Pushing Daisies- There are only 3 episodes left, and rumor has it that they will all be aired back- to-back one night in January. And instead of the original cliffhanger ending for the final episode, Bryan Fuller did some reshoots and work in post-production to make a satisfying conclusion. Thanks, dude!

2) Friday Night Lights- NBC did not order more than 13 episodes for Season 3. This means there are 2 more to air on DirecTV in January, and then the entire season will be replayed on NBC. We are in the same position as we were last year- we really don't know whether NBC will pick it up for Season 4. DirecTV is happy with the way it performed for them this Fall, but who knows what NBC thinks about it. Their decision is supposed to be announced in mid-January. In the meantime, I am trying not to worry and enjoy the end to this wonderful season, in which the Dillon Panthers are heading to state, Billy Riggins and Mindy Collette are getting married, and the future of all the characters will be revealed (colleges, relationships, etc.). Texas forever.

3) The Office- When will Andy find out the truth that Phyllis revealed to the office at the Moroccan Christmas party? When will Jim and Pam finally get married? What will stand in Angela's way of getting an annulment from Dwight? These are the questions that I have. Mostly I'm just excited for the hour-long, post-Super Bowl, Jack Black-filled episode that promises to be an Office masterpiece.

4) Chuck- Fulcrum continues to hunt for the Intersect. They arranged an elaborate scheme in the Christmas episode to find out about Chuck. And he found out just how far Sarah would go to protect him. It obviously scared him, but I think it will be an important part of their future development. I am looking forward to the Ellie-Awesome wedding (which I am sure will bring the return of Bruce Boxleitnere and more Scarecrow and Mrs. King nostalgia for me), and to as much John Casey as I can get.

5) Desperate Housewives- Even though we are no longer wondering why Dave Williams is on Wisteria Lane (his wife and daughter were killed in the car accident that led to Mike and Susan's divorce), I can't wait to see how his plan unfolds. He is clearly intending to make Mike feel the same pain that he did, which puts Susan and M.J. in certain danger, but I am more interested in the implications this will have for Mike and Susan's future. Seeing them hold hands at the bowling alley, I couldn't help but realize that I still care about their crazy rollercoaster of a relationship over this show's 5 seasons. Bree and Edie are on the backburner right now. Lynette's got a pretty intense storyline at present, but it doesn't intrigue me in the slightest (I think it's the consequence of the ridiculous extremes to which her character has been taken. They've completely lost the nuanced mix of humor and tragedy that she had in Season 1, which is an unfortunate waste of Felicity Huffman's talents). Carlos' sight has been restored which promises to create a lot of interesting situations for him and Gaby.

6) Bones- The first half of Season 4 went out with a dud that didn't really leave one pondering and craving the show over the month-long break. I'm absolutely positive, however, that it will hit its stride soon. I read that the Gravedigger will resurface soon. And this is the preview for the next episode, airing January 15th: "The death of female conjoined twins who worked in the circus is investigated. The investigation leads Brennan and Booth to go undercover as a Canadian knife-throwing act, and also causes Booth to come face-to-face with a clown." That just makes me smile :)

7) Heroes- I'm kind of confused as to how I feel about Heroes right now. This ambiguity, of course, keeps me curious enough to tune in every week, but there are times when I feel like I might abandon it for good. Some episodes are really great ("The Butterfly Effect," "Dying of the Light") and I get excited and think the show is back to Season 1-caliber, and then something happens that just ruins everything (e.g. Nathan suddenly becoming a bad guy who has turned on Peter and Claire and everyone; Hiro losing his awesome control of space and time; Sylar displaying hidden layers to his character and then becoming completely 1-dimensional again and killing Kristen Bell!). Good news: I haven't given up yet, so I remain hopeful. Especially with the confirmation that Bryan Fuller will be moving from my darling Pushing Daisies back to the Heroes writing team. Character development, here we come!

Quick news:

-This Fall, I said farewell to Gossip Girl and Private Practice. Sure, I sometimes have pangs of missing Chuck Bass and Tim Daly. But I think, ultimately, I'm better off for keeping my standards high. This is not to say I think people who do watch those shows have low standards. That would be hypocritical of me, considering I did watch many episodes of both. I just can't be a good, critical tv-watcher when I watch shows like LOST right after I've finished an episode of Private Practice.

-I got behind on Life on Mars, but hearing that the show has continued to gather momentum is motivating me to catch up.

-Brothers & Sisters has sort of fallen to the wayside. I've watched a few episodes without being impressed by what has happened this season. This is not to say I have abandoned it completely- I will read recaps and watch those episodes that seem compelling. I will say this: Steven Weber came back for 1 episode and his chemistry with Rachel Griffiths could not be any hotter. The executive producers should seriously consider making him a recurring character again.

Dexter Season 3- Dexter's relationship with Miguel Prado came to a head when both men had exhausted every possible option to gain control over the other. Our serial killer champion had the benefit of experience after years of living by a code and always accomplishing his goals, in spite of Miguel's power in society as the Assistant District Attorney. In the second to last episode, Dexter understood that Miguel fit into Harry's Code because he had killed an innocent person and would probably do it again if he had the chance. So, he choked the life out of his former friend, whose dying words were: "This isn't over." The truth was that it basically was over. The final episode saw Deb finally receive her much-deserved Detective shield and the last-minute details of Dexter and Rita's wedding fall into place. The only lingering problem that Miguel posed for Dexter was when George King kidnapped him and tried to skin him for information about Freebo's whereabouts. That lasted about 4 minutes before Dexter escaped and broke King's neck. Then, the wedding, and happily ever after! Some people in the online community were disappointed by the normalcy of the finale, but I can appreciate some normalcy after the intensity of this season. Besides which, it was an unexpected way to end things, and to be surprised is what I always expect from this show (if that oxymoron makes sense). And Season 4 will be father time for Dex. Killing people + babies = only awesome on Dexter.

Lastly, a few words on my new acquisition: How I Met Your Mother. By some unique formula, this show manages to be a hilarious sitcom all about friends living in New York (not unique), in addition to a fun and mysterious puzzle that is slowly pieced together (very unique). A father in the year 2030 is telling his 2 kids all about what his life was like as he became the person who married their mother and had them. The main character is Ted, played by Josh Radnor, who I had never even heard of before. I truly do like him, but I must admit that my heart was stolen

by Alyson Hannigan's Lily, Jason Segel's Marshall, and especially Neil Patrick Harris' Barney. He has taught his friends so much about the importance of suiting up, the art of being a wingman, and how to make things legen...wait for it...dary!

My favorite episodes:

1) "Swarley"

Season 2, Episode 7- Barney gets a new name and the gang has lots of fun with it. "Hey, there's a call for Swarls Barkley."

2) "Slapsgiving"

Season 3, Episode 9- Slap #3, my personal favorite, because it is followed by a special song to commemorate the occasion.

3) "World's Greatest Couple"

Season 2, Episode 5- Barney lets Lily stay in his apartment and finds that a fake wife is good for getting rid of one-night stands. Marshall adjusts to single life in a couples-oriented world by going to brunch and the theatre with one of his guy friends.

4) "Slap Bet"

Season 2, Episode 9- We learn about Robin's secret past as a teenage Canadian popstar, and the slap bet begins.

5) "How I Met Everyone Else"

Season 3, Episode 5- Ted's crazy new girlfriend, and reminiscing about the first time they all met.

6) "Intervention"

Season 4, Episode 4- The group decides they should hold lots of interventions because they are so good at them- to get Lily to stop using a fake British accent, to get Ted to stop pronouncing words strangely, to get Barney to stop doing magic tricks, and then an intervention to stop doing interventions.

7) "The Bracket"

Season 3, Episode 14- A review of all the women Barney has slept with and who would have the greatest reason for hating him.

8) "Showdown"

Season 2, Episode 20- Barney goes on The Price Is Right because his mother told him when he was young that Bob Barker was his dad. Lily and Marshall try spending their nights apart before the wedding, but they end up sneaking to a hotel to spoon because they miss each other so much.

9) "The Return of the Shirt"

Season 1, Episode 4- Ted thinks he ought to try again with one of his old girlfriends, but he realizes she's not the One. So he breaks up with her on her birthday. For the second time. Barney gives Robin money to make a fool of herself on the air when she's reporting stories on the news.

10) "The Limo"

Season 1, Episode 11- Ted tries to plan the perfect New Years Eve. A line-up of 5 parties, and meeting not-Moby.

Scene from the end of "Slapsgiving"


Robin Sparkles' hit song

Bones

I do have a few friends that have watched Bones from the beginning. Every single one of them is a Buffy fan, so I thought, "They're only watching it because David Boreanaz is in it. Who needs another procedural?" Then I became a Buffy fan and knew that I would have to watch it to see as much of that charming man as I could. I mean, have you seen him? ---------------->

Anyways, I put it on my list of "Shows to watch," which you'd think was pretty short, given how freakin' much I've already seen, but it's not... (about 20 shows to go, and always growing). Once I was finished with episode 3, "A Boy in the Tree," Bones had already exceeded all the expectations I had for it. It's funny and smart and sweet and ridiculous. The cases are never boring, although they are admittedly sometimes difficult to stomach- the man dissolving in the tub of lye, the woman smeared along an elevator shaft, many people that have had larvae crawling all over them! My favorite aspect of the show is, of course, the relationship between Bones and Booth. Anyone would say that. But, unlike most, I am perfectly content with the way things are. They are partners who have complete trust and would do anything for each other. There is definitely love there, but it doesn't have to be romantic to be special. Everything I see on the internet from fans is about wanting them to finally be together. But, if you watch the progression of things throughout the 3 and a half seasons, Booth and Bones each have different romantic interests coming and going- their partnership is the only constant. There have been little moments, as well as huge ones, that show how important they are to each other. Some of the best:

-When she made him mac & cheese

-When he gave her a Christmas tree

-When she was buried alive and he wouldn't give up until he found her and he ran to where she was and dug her out of the ground with his bare hands

-When they hug (every time)

-When he blocked her from a bullet

-When he allowed himself to be tortured because he needed to give her time to find him

Sure, their kiss under the mistletoe was fantastic. Would I be happy if they fell in love Absolutely. And the way they deny that they have feelings for each other leads me to believe that it will probably happen eventually. But I'm okay with what they have now. I would never want their partnership to be ruined if they slept together too soon or something like that. The important thing is how they have grown as individuals because of their working together. Bones is still socially awkward- much too rational and direct (which, by the way, Emily Deschanel plays perfectly- my favorite example being the one with the midget from the State Department, "See, even you don't want to hurt his tiny feelings...If a regular-sized person tried to intimidate you, you'd threaten to kick him through the window. But because in his case, it's an actual, physical possibility..."). Booth has softened her up by teaching her about the parts of the human experience that she can't understand from bones. He's still brash and instinct-driven, but she has made him appreciate the intellectual side of things.

As for romance, I am 100% in support of Angela (Michaela Conlin) and Hodgins (TJ Thyne). They care about each other so much, and I really hope they get back together soon. The rest of the supporting cast is great, too. I do miss Zach (Eric Millegan) because his awkwardness was hilarious (Zach: Sometime when you're not busy, I was wondering if I could ask you a few questions about sexual positions. Booth: If you even try, I will take out my gun and shoot you between the eyes). I have to concede, though, that I was spoiled on his involvement with the Gormagon killer in Season 3. As a result, I never let myself get very attached to him. I wish that I had not accidentally seen that secret online before I started watching because the impact would have been significantly more powerful. I used to be annoyed by Tamara Taylor's character, Dr. Camille Saroyan. She came in at the beginning of Season 2 and acted like she owned the place. I didn't like her relationship with Booth, either. Now, though, she has been fully integrated into the group, and I've started to really like her. This season has given her the opportunity to provide some comic relief as we see her interacting with all the interns coming through the Jeffersonian. My favorite was the tall emo guy ("You're bringing me down, Eeyore"). I think Ryan O'Neal has done a wonderful job as Bones' con man father, Max Keenan. He comes in and out of the story, always managing to provide an interesting perspective on Bones' character.

The best development in the show, since the end of Season 2, has been the psychiatrist element, starting with Stephen Fry in a recurring role and then bringing in John Francis Daley as a series regular. Putting Bones and Booth in "Partners Therapy" makes for very amusing moments with Dr. Sweets, who also helps on some of their cases with criminal profiling. In addition to being adorable, Sweets studies their relationship, talks them through their issues, and is able to say some of the things we, the audience, are thinking about our 2 beloved characters-

Sweets: Are you normally this protective of him, Dr. Brennan?

Bones: We are partners. Our lives depend on being protective of each other.

Sweets: And you feel the same way, Agent Booth?

Booth: Sweets, I can only hope that one day you know what a real partnership is.

My favorite episodes:

1) "Aliens in a Spaceship," 2.09- Bones and Hodgins get buried alive by the Gravedigger.

2) "The Man in the Fallout Shelter," 1.09- The Jeffersonian team is quarantined over

Christmas.

3) "The Girl in the Fridge," 1.08- Bones is an expert witness for the prosecution and has to show her humanity, not her intelligence, to convict a murdering, sex fetish couple.

4) "The Baby in the Bough," 3.12- Bones and Booth take care of Andy, a baby who swallowed evidence. (Awesome moment when the baby starts crying and Bones gets him to laugh by waving her fingers around saying, "Dancing phalanges!")

5) "The Wannabe in the Weeds," 3.14- Booth gets a stalker who tries to shoot Bones.

6) "Two Bodies in the Lab," 1.15- Booth gets hurt by a bomb meant to kill Bones. While he is in the hospital, she gets kidnapped and almost killed, but Booth saves her. At the end, she cancels a date to hang out with him in the hospital.

7) "The Woman in the Sand," 2.08- Booth and Bones go to Las Vegas where they uncover a series of organized crime murders. Booth goes undercover as a boxer to find out who is responsible.

8) "The Boy in the Shroud," 2.03- The death of a teenage boy reveals some harsh truths about

the foster care system and Bones' past.

9) "The Widow's Son in the Windshield," 3.01- With Zach gone off to Iraq, Bones doesn't seem to want to work with Booth anymore, but a new cannibalistic killer is introduced, which requires them to talk through things and reaffirm the value of their partnership.

10) "The He in the She," 4.07- Bones and Booth investigate the murder of a transsexual, once a male televangelist preacher with a wife and son who became a female preacher of an small church that welcomed everyone from criminals to homosexuals. This episode had a hilarious Cam + intern moment-

Vincent: Triangular pubis, no evidence of a ventral arc. The pelvic bone speaks, it says, "I be male."

Cam: The pelvic bone can say whatever it wants to say, this part here says female.

Vincent: What part's that?

Cam: It's called a vagina.

"Aliens in a Spaceship" video


One of MANY fan vids about these 2. I like this one a lot because the song isn't too sappy, plus it includes most of the amazing clips I could think of

The ULTIMATE Post, Part 1

Hello, wonderful readers! It has been exactly 1 week since I returned from my European adventure. I feel well-rested after 3 months of exhaustion (totally worth it, though). In addition to lots of sleep, I have been steadily making my way through all the television that I missed while I was gone. I finished with all my shows a couple days ago and have since turned my attention to the new Fall shows that I have heard good things about. Almost done with those, so that post will come soon. By the time Sunday night rolls around, I will be just like every other tv-viewer again: watching shows one episode at a time and having to wait an entire week before the stories continue. To tell you the truth, I'm looking forward to it. It gives structure and normality to my life to be back on my tv schedule. I'm not even kidding, most of the time when I was traveling in Europe, I didn't even know what day it was.So here begins my quick (but remarkably thorough and poignant, of course!) recap of everything that went down over the past 3 months.

The Closer- This show has really started gaining in popularity and critical acclaim. It is for this reason, I'm sure, that the network ordered a bigger season and decided to split it into 2 halves of 10 episodes each. What they had been doing since Season 2 was showing 13 episodes in the Summer and then a 2-hour special finale in December. I loved this setup and thought it

worked really well. This new arrangement, though, means that we get more episodes, which can only be a good thing. So the first part of Season 4 aired from July to September. I would say that my favorite episodes were:

1) "Time Bomb," episode 10- They seriously stepped it up for the mid-season finale. The body of a teenager is found, which leads to the uncovering of a terrorist plot involving the dead boy and one of his friends at school. Brenda seems to have figured out everything, but as she is tying up a loose end, she realizes that a third boy was involved and that he was about to launch an attack on the mall. Her team goes into action to stop him, and Sanchez is shot while acting as a human shield for Lt. Provenza.

2) "Dial M for Provenza," episode 5- Lt. Provenza goes undercover and is hired by a woman (played by Jennifer Coolidge) to kill her husband. The evidence gets stolen, and hilarity ensues.

3) "Sudden Death," episode 7- Heartbreaking. Sanchez's younger brother is killed, so it becomes a very personal case that Brenda and the squad are determined to solve.

4) "Controlled Burn," episode 1- For the reasons that I mentioned in my previous post, mainly Jason O'Mara's return as Billy Kroelig.

5) "Split Ends," episode 8- The death of a hairdresser in Hollywood. I liked this one a lot because Brenda's parents were visiting, pressing Brenda and Fritz to set a date for the wedding and start having kids.

Mad Men- Season 2 presented interesting journeys for all the characters, and slowly but surely, the past was unraveled. We got to learned what Peggy went through in the hospital after she had her baby. We met another person connected to Don's former life as Dick Whitman. We saw some of what Betty's family life had been when she had to return home to see her father after he had a stroke. Pete's humanity was developed more, through his interactions with his wife, Trudy, and their attempts to get pregnant, as well as through his father's death in a plane crash (on an airline that Sterling Cooper represented). My favorite episodes:

1) "The Mountain King," episode 12- Don is AWOL from Sterling Cooper after his business trip to California. He stays there for a few weeks with an old friend, Anna Draper (the wife of the real Don Draper), remembering all the things he missed from his life and trying to decide what is most important when he returns to New York.

2) "Meditations in an Emergency," episode 13- Betty finds out that she's pregnant. Don finally comes home. Peggy tells Pete that he got her pregnant and that she gave the child up for adoption. The future of Sterling Cooper and its employees is uncertain after a merger.

3) "Six Month Leave," episode 9- Everyone is dealing with the news that Marilyn Monroe committed suicide. We see once again what kindred spirits Don and Peggy are.

-I thought this season was great, but I didn't love the first half of the season because Don's affair with Bobbie was very jarring for me. Don Draper is a fascinating man, but I like him the most when he's being honorable- which, to me, always seems to be when he's with his family- or when he's being brilliant- which happens when he's working on an ad campaign. I do not like him when he is having affairs.

Desperate Housewives-

The 5-year leap forward has created an abundance of material for them to address this year in Season 5, some of it good and some of it bad. I don't enjoy this season as much as I did Season 4, and certainly not as much as Season 1 (still one of the best stand-alone seasons of television that I've ever had the pleasure of watching). Nevertheless, I am invested enough in these characters' lives to continue watching, and I have found some of it to be very interesting. These are the current stories of each housewife:Susan- She and Mike are recently divorced. They broke up because, one night as they were driving to dinner for their anniversary, they got into a collision that killed the woman and child in the other car. Susan's guilt caused her and Mike to fight until they just couldn't be together anymore. Upset over the failure of her marriage to the man who was undoubtedly the love of her life, she began sleeping with the guy who was painting her house, Jackson (played by Gale Harold). At first, they both just wanted a physical relationship, but his feelings for her began to grow. When he broached the subject of his moving in, she refused. He realized that even though he loved her, she never wanted to be with him long-term, so he left. (This may or may not be the last we will see of Jackson, but it is for the time being because the actor was recently in a motorcycle accident and suffered severe injuries.) Meanwhile, Mike is still in the picture for M.J., his and Susan's adorable 5-year old son. In the last episode we saw, he began renting Mary Alice Young's old house right across the street from Susan so that he could be closer to his kid.

Bree- This woman has been through more than any of her friends, from Rex's death, to her alcoholism, to the terrible things her children have done. In flashbacks, we have seen that Orson went to prison for 3 years so Bree would forgive him for what he did to Mike. While he was gone, Danielle returned. She had gotten her life together and married a lawyer, and she took Benjamin away. Things really couldn't get worse for her. So, for some balance in Bree's life, Marc Cherry has improved her situation substantially. She runs a successful catering business with Katherine. She just released a cook book. Her son, Andrew, is working as her manager. Orson served his time in jail and has returned home. On the surface, everything seems to be great, but, up-close, her seemingly perfect life has many problems (Isn't that what this show is about, after all?). Her success has made her friends jealous. Katherine, in particular, resents her because they were supposed to be partners but Bree has gotten all the credit. Orson is mad that she didn't fight harder to keep Benjamin.

Lynette- Zzzzz. Oh, I'm sorry, what was I saying? Perhaps how bored I have been with

Lynette's story this season? Honestly, I don't understand how they could let Felicity Huffman go from having the best and most complicated arc in Season 1 that let her explore all the nuances of a "desperate housewife," to this snooze fest. Lynette's experiences in seasons 2-4 were intensely dramatic, bordering on ridiculous. Tom discovered that he had a daughter named Kayla from a one-night stand before they met. Kayla's mom died in a hostage situation at the local supermarket, during which Lynette was also shot, so Kayla had to come live with them. Kayla turned out to be a demon child that hated Lynette and pretended that she had been abused so that Lynette would get taken away. Tom decided to leave the advertising business and open a pizza parlor. Lynette quit her job, too, so she could help him run it. They hired a cook for the restaurant, and Lynette sort of fell in love with him. Lynette got cancer. A tornado demolished her house. It's just too much! But the alternative has been to make her story irrelevant. Oh no, her teenage sons get wild sometimes. Oh no, her husband is going through a mid-life crisis. Blah.

Gaby- And the winner of the "Housewife with the story I am not annoyed or bored with" award is...Gabrielle Solis! What a fantastic idea to take the stunningly beautiful woman who was all about the material things in life and to turn her into a mother, now too tired to worry about her appearance. We have gotten to see a whole new side of her, as she takes care of her 2 daughters and Carlos with more love than we knew she possessed. She hasn't completely changed, though. Upset that she was losing her social status, she and Carlos crashed a party at the country club. Bringing her blind husband in through the service entrance because she hadn't told him that they were not really invited, she wanted enough people to see her there so that they thought she was still somebody, but she stayed too long and Carlos was thrown out by security. We saw last week that Gaby's period was late. She was getting angry, and her daughter Juanita asked her why: "Mommy has a friend who visits her every month, and she's late. And that's bad because she's the one who assures me that you won't get a baby brother or sister. Mommy really misses her friend, and Mommy's going to be sad if she doesn't show up soon. Now go downstairs and play, Mommy has some praying to do." At the end of the episode, Carlos told her that he was hoping they would have a baby boy. After seeing how much Gaby has grown as a person, I hope that happens, too.

-Unfortunately, Nicollette Sheridan and Dana Delany have been vastly underused this season. Edie returned to Wisteria Lane after her expulsion 5 years ago because her new husband insisted that she mend her relationships with her former friends- and bringing her back seemed to be just an excuse to introduce him. This husband, Dave Williams (played by Neal McDonough), is our obligatory dose of creepy this season. All we know about him is that he recently got out of a mental institution because he has rage issues. He puts on the air of a very calm guy who wants to assist everyone on the road to self-improvement, but he has released his irrational anger a couple times. We don't know why he wants so badly to be on Wisteria Lane, but he has a plan that somehow involves being in a band with Tom and Mike. Katherine has not had anything to do this season except to resent Bree. It's so tragic- I want more Dana Delany!

Brothers & Sisters- I am sad to say that I have not been drawn in by Season 3. It's the kind of thing where I will watch it if I have time, but if I miss it, I probably will just read the recap the next day. Kitty and Robert are in the process of adopting a child. Justin and Rebecca are in the early stages of their relationship. Kevin has quit his job at his law firm because he wanted to make partner but his bosses were having issues

with the fact that he's gay. Sarah quit Ojai and is now adjusting to being a stay-at-home mom. Saul quit, too. The entire Walker family is curious about Ryan, but we haven't met him yet. (They're saving him for November sweeps, of course.) Whatever...

Dexter- The best aspect of this show is still (and will forever be) Michael C. Hall. Nobody except Dexter has anything particularly interesting

going on. Deb still wants to get her Detective badge. Some cop girl keeps trying to get her to spy on one of her fellow officers. She keeps denying that she will ever be a rat. Angel made Sergeant. Masuka wants more respect. Nothing of consequence for any of them, really. Dexter, on the other hand, is dealing with something huge- he's going to be a father. This took a long time for him to come to terms with. How could a man with no emotions help raise a child and teach him/her anything about life in this world? But he's sticking by Rita and preparing himself for the responsibility because, in spite of his sociopathic nature, he knows that he is not completely bad man. He would do anything for Rita and Cody and Astor and his future son or daughter. He even proposed to Rita and is getting ready to join his new family in a new house, knowing that he will have to sacrifice the freedom and independence he has always possessed. On the "Dark Passenger" side of things, Dexter accidentally killed a man in the premiere who got in the way of getting his intended victim. This man turned out to be Oscar Prado, the younger brother of Sheriff Ramon Prado and Assistant District Attorney Miguel Prado. Miguel (played by Jimmy Smits) has remarkably become the closest thing Dexter has ever had to a best friend. The crazy thing is that he understands who Dexter is- he does not know that Dexter killed his brother, but he knows that he brings bad people to justice- and believes that he is doing good. I wish that there were more interesting storylines for the supporting characters, but I guess you can't ask for everything.

Chuck- I am absolutely loving Season 2 of Chuck.

It is my probably my favorite show at the moment because, somehow, they have gotten me to the point where I am in love with every single character and care so much about what they are going through. All the episodes have been as enjoyable as the last, not to mention an impressive list of guest stars, from Nicole Ritchie and Ben Savage in "Chuck vs. the Cougars," to Michael Clarke Duncan in "Chuck vs. the First Date" and Michael Strahan of the NY Giants in "Chuck vs. the Break-Up." I don't know how long he will be staying for, but Tony Hale (Buster from Arrested Development) was introduced last week as the new Assistant Manager at the Buy More. He is hi-larious. If I had to pick, I would say my favorite episode thus far has been "Chuck vs. the Seduction," in which Melinda Clarke from The O.C. played a

woman called "The Black Widow," whom Chuck was supposed to seduce. A suave, older gentleman agent came in to help Chuck on his romance tactics. Everything this season has been building towards a way to get the Intersect out of Chuck's head, even though we know that once that happens, Casey has been assigned to kill Chuck because he knows too much of the government's secrets.

(In other Josh Schwartz news, I have abandoned his other show, the ever-trendy Gossip Girl. I just can't take anymore of the ludicrous web of relationships and teen angst and the struggles of that unfortunate life on the glamorous Upper East Side. I do miss Chuck Bass, though, so I read the weekly recaps to see how much tension there can be between him and Blair.)

Heroes- Welcome back to the show I became addicted to in its spectacular first season! Everything has been turned upside down: there is a formula for a drug that gives abilities to non-heroes. Mohinder has taken it and is now quite powerful, and evil. Mr. Petrelli was revealed to be the top villain- he steals people's powers. For Adam Monroe, this meant that he disintegrated from his supernaturally long life (Farewell, David Anders! It was nice while we had you!). Peter Petrelli is now powerless. Sylar appears to have had a change of heart after discovering that he is actually a Petrelli. With this newfound family, he has started trying suppress his hunger for understanding and power and has (almost) stopped killing. He has been working for the Company as HRG's partner, hunting down people with dangerous abilities. As much as I love HRG, he keeps trying to kill Sylar, refusing to trust that he, or anyone else, might have changed. This has begun to make Claire doubt her father (I have disagreed with some of his decisions, as well, but he reminds me too much of Spy Daddy to make me question his motives- those kinds of dads always want to protect their daughters first and foremost). As for Sylar, I would say that I think this change of heart is all an act to acquire even more powers, but Peter went to the future and Sylar was a sweet, loving father of a little boy. I don't know what's going on with Claire. In the future, she was a cold-hearted killer. Her disillusionment is happening gradually. Ali Larter has lived on, but not as Niki- she is her sister (separated at birth) and has the ability to freeze things. Nathan survived being shot (by Future Peter, as it turned out) and believes that he was saved by God. He is now serving the people as the Junior Senator from New York. Matt Parkman, usually a moral compass, is now a bit of a wuss. He went on a spirit walk in Africa and saw his future in which he was the father of a baby girl and was married to the speedster, Daphne. In the present day, though, she is a

villain working for Mr. Petrelli, and Parkman wants so badly to get to that happy future that he is allowing her to trick him into thinking she has changed her ways. Wake up, Parkman! With everything that's gone on, it's hard to distinguish between who is good and who is bad, a line that Heroes has always blurred, especially in this, its Villains chapter. The only person I have faith in is Hiro, who is still trying to pursue his destiny as a hero who saves the world.

-The coolest thing about this season: we finally learned Mrs. Petrelli's power! She dreams the future. That is awesome.

Coming soon: my take on Samantha Who?, Pushing Daisies, Private Practice, Friday Night Lights, The Office, and Grey's Anatomy

Buffy the Vampire Slayer

There is no conceivable way for me to adequately describe my experience of watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer for the first time. Even if I could, I don't think that I would be willing to share everything I felt about it because, frankly, it is far too personal and can only be understood by others who have watched it. Just ask my friends who started giving each other confused and frustrated glances when my Buffy mentors, Will and Duffee, and I entered into discussions about vampires, Slayers, Watchers, and a world full of demons and other worlds. Once I realized that this was happening, I of course felt bad about it, but it was near impossible to stop. The intensity of my love for these characters, their story, and the art of Joss Whedon, forced me to reevaluate my perspective on other television shows. I know that I have loved many before this--Scarecrow & Mrs. King showed me my capacity to become obsessed with tv back at the young age of 12, Alias opened my eyes to how incredible and moving and beautiful tv could be (and will always be most dear to me because I grew up with the help of that show), and LOST fulfilled the need that I had for great tv when Alias left me and then exceeded all my previous standards for great tv--but how do those shows now compare to Buffy? I posed this question to Will and Duffee, and she gave the perfect response: "Buffy just matters more." That's exactly it. It's life and death, good vs. evil, in every single episode. The themes of family, redemption, and human nature, are universal, but the execution is one-of-a-kind.

Top Ten Favorite Non-Joss Episodes:
It goes without saying that the best episodes were those written and directed by Joss himself. They were epic on every level, from character development to story advancement. So I am going to put them on a separate list because it's just not fair to the many fantastic episodes over Buffy's 7 seasons:
1) "Fool for Love" (written by Doug Petrie), 5.07- Spike tells Buffy the stories of how he killed two previous Slayers.
2) "Tabula Rasa"(written by Rebecca Rand Kirshner), 6.08- Willow casts a spell that backfires and causes everyone to forget their identities. Giles and Anya think they are engaged, Spike thinks he is Giles' son Randy, and Buffy calls herself Joan.
3) "The Wish" (written by Marti Noxon), 3.09- Cordelia makes a wish that Buffy had never come to Sunnydale, transferring her into an alternate reality where the Master rules the town, Willow and Xander are his most loyal vampires, and there is no Slayer to help.
4) "Earshot" (written by Jane Espenson), 3.18- Buffy fights a demon that gives her the ability to read minds.
5) "Band Candy" (written by Jane Espenson), 3.06- All the adults in Sunnydale eat chocolate bars that turn them into teenagers.
6) "Selfless" (written by Drew Goddard), 7.05- Flashbacks show Anya's past as a vengeance demon.
7) "Pangs" (written by Jane Espenson), 4.08- A mysterious curse brings an attack from Native Americans on the Scooby Gang.
8) "Passion" (written by Ty King), 2.17- Angelus continues to torment Buffy and those around her.
9) "Intervention" (written by Jane Espenson), 5.18- Giles takes Buffy into the desert to learn more about the history of the Slayer, and Spike's Buffy-bot confuses everyone back in Sunnydale.
10) "Lover's Walk" (written by Dan Vebber), 3.08- Spike returns to Sunnydale and kidnaps Willow to do a spell that will make Drusilla come back to him.

Top Ten Favorite Joss Episodes:
1) "Once More with Feeling," 6.07- A demon comes to Sunnydale that makes everyone express their feelings through song and dance.
2) "Doppelgangland," 3.16- The vampire version of Willow from "The Wish" enters her counterpart's universe.
3) "The Gift," 5.22- Buffy and her friends fight against Glory to try to prevent her from opening a portal into other worlds and letting demons flood in.
4) "Chosen," 7.22- Buffy and the Potentials take their fight against the First down into the Hellmouth, and Willow changes the world.
5) "Amends," 3.10- Angel is being haunted by his past victims, and Buffy tries to help him understand why he was brought back from the dead.
6) "The Body," 5.16- Buffy faces the death of her mother.
7) "Becoming, Pt. 2," 2.22- Buffy has to stop Angelus from opening a gateway into hell while Willow works on the spell to get Angel's soul back.
8) "Who Are You?," 4.16- Faith and Buffy discover what it's like to live in each other's bodies.
9) "Hush," 4.10- A group of demons called the Gentlemen come to Sunnydale and steal everyone's voices.
10) "Nightmares" (also written by David Greenwalt), 1.10- People's nightmares start coming true. The episode where everything clicked for me.

Buffy + Angel forever

Marathon #1: LOST

I have spent the past 8 days of my life in the world of LOST, leaving me more excited than ever about the Season 4 premiere on January 31st. I am, however, experiencing some serious withdrawal right now, probably because I've gotten about 10 hours of sleep total and watched almost 50 episodes over the past 3 days. Walking outside today through my rainy, cold campus, all I wanted to do was get back to that island.

I decided when I started my marathon that I was going to keep track of a few important things: my favorite episodes, big unanswered questions, and, most importantly, the best Sawyer quotes.

(For this list, I limited myself to only 1 season premiere and 1 season finale since those episodes are often so pivotal that it seemed like cheating to put them all on there.)
TOP 10 EPISODES:
10) "Deus Ex Machina" Season 1, Episode 19- Locke's flashbacks reveal that his father conned him into giving him a kidney transplant, Boone becomes "the sacrifice that the island demanded," and Jack helps Sawyer with his headaches.
9) "Outlaws" Season 1, Episode 16- Sawyer seeks revenge against a boar, and he and Kate play 'I Never' by the fire.
8) "The 23rd Psalm" Season 2, Episode 10- Mr. Eko carves Scripture into his "Jesus stick" and Charlie takes him out to the Nigerian drug plane from his past.
7) "Tricia Tanaka Is Dead" Season 3, Episode 10- Hurley finds a Volkswagen van and rides around with Jin, Charlie, and Sawyer.
6) "The Other 48 Days" Season 2, Episode 7- Flashbacks show what happened to the Tailies after they crashed on the other side of the island. Introduces a whole new dimension to the Others (Goodwin killed Nathan because "He wasn't a good person. That's why he wasn't on the list").
5) "What Kate Did" Season 2, Episode 9- Kate takes care of Sawyer and thinks he is inhabited by the man she killed, who turns out to be her real father.
4) "Flashes Before Your Eyes" Season 3, Episode 8- After turning the fail safe key in the hatch, Desmond relives part of his past and learns that he can't change history.
3) "Pilot" Season 1, Episode 1- Jack saves many survivors from the plane wreckage and becomes the reluctant leader.
2) "Through the Looking Glass" Season 3, Episode 23- Charlie dies a hero, and Jack's flashbacks turn out to be flashforwards in which he and Kate (and who else?) have left the island.
1) "All the Best Cowboys Have Daddy Issues" Season 1, Episode 11- Jack and Kate go after Claire and Charlie. Boone and Locke find the hatch. (This episode is my favorite because I remember realizing as I watched it on television that LOST would be the greatest show of my entire life.)
-Other amazing episodes that deserve mentioning: "Greatest Hits," "One of Us," "The Man from Tallahassee," "Lockdown," "Confidence Man," and "The Moth"

Major questions that have not been resolved yet...
Who is Jacob and why could Locke hear him? What is the smoke monster and why did it kill Mr. Eko the second time he faced it? Sub-question: Are the whispers part of the smoke monster? Why did Jack see his father/Eko see his brother/Ben see his mother? How does the island affect health (i.e. cancer, age, pregnancy)? How is Walt special? Why was Libby in the mental hospital? Why was Desmond in prison? Who tried to make it look like nobody had survived the plane crash? What does Locke's dream in "Further Instructions" mean? Why do the Others make lists and take people? What is the 4-toed statue? Who was in the coffin?

TOP 10 SAWYER LINES:
10) "Look, I don't know what kind of commie share-fest you're running over in cave town, but down here possession's nine-tenths and a man's got a right to protect his property."
9) "Oh I don't know, Mr. Clean, I probably would have gone around Mt. Vesuvius. (Locke: Why'd you pick that name?) Ain't it obvious? All you need is an earring and a mop."
8) "Come on, Freckles, wait! You need me to make you a mix tape?"
7) "Oh yeah, there's my favorite leaf. How could I forget this place?"
6) "What, don't you read? It's from Of Mice and Men. You'd like it. Puppies get killed."
5) "Well gosh, you sure know how to butter a man up, Stay-Puff!"
4) "Do I get a lollipop?"
3) "One second, I'm like this close to the high score on Donkey Kong."
2) "Great plan, Moonbeam. After that we can sing 'Kumbaya' and do trust falls."
1) "You got a band-aid?"

I love Sawyer. My favorite scene is when he is saying goodbye to Jack in "Exodus," the Season 1 finale, and he tells him what his father said in the bar in Sydney about wanting to call his son and tell him that he was sorry and that he was proud of him.

I wish that I still loved Jack. He used to be such a hero- when he saved Charlie's life, when he tried to save Boone's life- but now he's just a tool. Although I will say this for him, when Juliet asks him what he wants to know about his ex-wife, and instead of asking who she left him for, he asks if she's happy, I thought that was very noble. It didn't last very long...