Body of Proof 1.07: "All in the Family"

Sarah joins us again for another write-up of "Body of Proof." Enjoy!

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“I know what it feels like to be forgotten. And I’m sorry that I made you feel that way again. You have every reason in the world to doubt me. I just hope that you never doubt that I love you.”
- Megan

We begin with a rather disturbing scene. A baby is safe in her playpen while the sounds of a fight echo all around her. We see shadows and a blood trail. The baby is unharmed. Next, Megan and Peter arrive and we learn Peter grew up not far from the crime scene. He spent a lot of time in the nearby park to get away from his three sisters. They walk in to find a woman holding the baby. Bud shows them to the victim, Ed. There’s a pretty big blood pool and his watch his missing. The wife was home to feed the baby and he was a stay-at-home dad. Their fifteen-year-old son, Mike, wasn’t home yet. Bud offers to go inform Mike but Megan says not to. It should be news that comes from his mother. We get a quick flashback of a very young Megan coming home and being told by a cop that her father is dead.

Back at the lab, Curtis runs into Todd, Megan’s ex-husband. He’s there to talk to Kate about a case that he needs a forensic anthropologist for (why not pop over to Bones?). But he also needs Megan to play kid taxi and pick Lacey up from a sleepover the next day. A short while later, Megan and Peter are examining Ed’s body. At least five stab wounds plus multiple abrasions to his chest, stomach and arms. They also discover, with Ethan’s help, that he had ulcers. And she finds that the body was exposed to hydrogen peroxide. Megan races off to tell Sam that the wife is lying. She didn’t just touch the body, the phone and the baby. It’s likely she tried to clean up. Ed’s wife says it wasn’t her. She wouldn’t want to kill her husband. But with the new baby and money tight, it’s probably why he was so stressed. Meanwhile, Bud’s picked up their son from football practice. He doesn’t actually get to play because he has asthma. But he plays in a touch league on weekends. Not that his parents ever go to see him. His dad’s too busy with his sister and his mom works all the time. So his mom coming home in the middle of the day to feed the baby was news to him. They get to the station and his mom breaks the news to him about his dad.

Back at the lab, Kate is meeting with Todd. She’s a little skeptical about the case he’ brought her. It’s not his typical rich white client. In fact it’s a teenage illegal immigrant who went for a joyride that turned bad. And Todd needs Kate to verify his age. But she has to do it tomorrow since the case starts on Monday at 9am. Megan gets back to lab and is on the phone with Lacey when she spots Kate and Todd. Todd didn’t tell Megan that she was supposed to play kid taxi to Lacey and her friends. And Megan has to work tomorrow. We’ll see how that works out. She’s examining the body some more with Peter and Ethan and they discover that the stab wound to his heart is what killed Ed. The other wounds were post mortem. And the funny thing about the blade is both side were serrated. Even I picked up on the fact that he has tools to make furniture. Even before Peter figured it out. Back at Ed’s house, Bud and Sam are walking the wife through what she did to find the body. They’re still not convinced she didn’t do it but Sam finds a partial bloody shoe print leading out the back door that could match Mike.

Megan’s gotten to Ed’s house and she and Bud are trying to get his wife to admit that she’s covering for her son and determine why. Mike skipped school the day before, and now they can’t find him. But Bud figures out pretty quick where he is. He learns that Mike skipped school to meet a girl he met online. And he insists he didn’t kill his dad. He does admit they fought the day before Ed died and that Mike got grounded. He gives Bud the name of a day laborer named Jake that sometimes helped his dad. It’s a lead.

Megan’s at the office still trying to piece things together when Peter stops by with a carpool survival kit; namely snacks. Pretty soon she realizes she’s late. She ends up making Peter tag along in the company car. Bud and Sam are pretty obviously getting tired of looking for Jake until they find him, complete with Ed’s missing watch. Lacey and her friends are kind of annoyed at Megan for being late. Well, mostly Lacey. And I have to say, it’s now become obvious they aired something out of order because Lacey asks who Peter is, even though she met him in “Helping Hand”. Anyway, Peter tells the kids they’re working on a homicide and it seems to get them a little interested.

Back at the lab, Todd’s arrived with his client, Manny. Kate rattles off some convincing-sounding scientific jargon about determining Manny’s age. He appears pre-pubescent (so still a teenager), but she says there’s one way to know for sure. And apparently that involves Curtis taking a look at Manny’s man parts. Curtis does not look happy about this request at all. Todd insists they need the determination as soon as possible. Bud and Sam are interviewing Jake and like everyone else, he insists he didn’t kill Ed. He liked Ed and says Ed gave him the watch as payment. They did find a double serrated tool in Jake’s toolbox, and they’ve got Ethan trying to match it to the wounds, as well as test for blood. Ethan says the tool is a match to the wounds, but there was no blood. Upon closer inspection, Megan finds something in the tissue that looks like fish scales. This reminds me of a recent episode of Hawaii Five-O that involved fish scales in wounds.

It turns out what they found in the wound wasn’t fish scales but flakes of human skin. And almost immediately, Megan has to run off to pick up Lacey and her friends from riding practice. She gives Peter a pleading look (they seemed to like him and I don’t blame them. He’s pretty easy on the eyes) but he says she can handle it on her own. So she’s off but she wants to know the results on the skin as soon as possible. It doesn’t take long for Ethan to call. The girls seem really impressed with Megan working the case from the wheel. Even Lacey is impressed (though she tries not to show it). It turns out the person who killed Ed has peeling skin. Curtis has agreed to examine Todd’s client. And Ethan ends up walking in just as he’s about to begin the exam. You have to love Ethan for his penchant for walking in at the worst possible times. Ethan tries to leave but Curtis drags him back in. There’s something not right about Manny and Ethan says they need a full body x-ray. Now I want to know what’s going on!

Bud and Peter are checking to see if Jake has the shedding condition, but he’s clean. There are other symptoms that come with the condition, including sweating and breathing issues. So it looks like we’re back to Mike as the prime suspect. I kind of want to know more about Megan’s past that’s dredged up by this case. So Megan and company head back to Ed’s house. Mike didn’t go home after his football game. But they’ve got a warrant to check his room. His mom confirms he has the shedding condition and they find out why Ed and Mike were fighting. Ed wanted to take away Mike’s computer. Bud and Sam find a message on his computer saying he hated his dad and wanted to make him disappear.

Bud, Sam and a computer tech are going through the chats between Mike and Carla (the girl he was going to see the day his dad died). And now it seems they’re meeting up at a coffee shop. So Bud and Sam head over. Meanwhile, Curtis fills Kate in on why he did a full body x-ray. They tell Todd that Manny’s been abused over the last two years (since his mom died and moved in with his uncle). They refuse to send him back to his abuser, so Kate tells Todd to figure something out. Bud and Sam catch Mike soon enough at the coffee shop and bring in to interrogation. At least he’s got an attorney present. Anyway, Peter swabs his arms so Megan can compare it to the flakes they previously found on Ed’s body. Watching from outside, Bud says he’s never going to have kids. Megan just looks kind of sad but says she’ll let him know when she confirms a DNA match.

We have a quick scene between Kate and Megan in the break room where Kate tells Megan to find out why Mike killed his dad. Big departure from the pilot where Kate said they weren’t interested in the ‘why’. Curtis stops in to tell Megan that Ethan needs to see her. And Curtis gives Kate a brochure of some kind. I’m guessing for foster care or something to do with Manny. Downstairs, Ethan makes a revelation that he doesn’t even get at first. Ed wasn’t Mike’s biological father. It turns out Ed’s wife, Jen, fled from Arizona fifteen years earlier after filing domestic abuse charges. It looks like her ex killed Ed. Megan goes to try and talk to Jen but Jen refuses. It turns out Tim (her ex and Mike’s biological father) is holding Mike’s little sister. He’s definitely one scary dude.

Megan is stubborn and ends up in the house. Lucky for her, Bud and Sam and a bunch of back up are on their way. She finds the baby in her crib and Tim drags Jen out the back. The cops corner him and Bud ends up shooting Tim in the leg. We get a little reunion with Jen and Mike after Jen says she never would have thought Tim found them. We also get a little replay of what actually went down when Tim showed up. As Megan watches mother and son reunite, she flashes back to watch the coroner take her dad away and she sits down on the front steps alone, waiting for her mom.

Kate meets up with Todd in her office and gives him the brochure from Curtis. It turns out it’s a children’s home. Manny would need a sponsor (a professional who could give him a part time job). Todd seems unsure. I really don’t like him. he’s kind of a jerk. But I guess we’ll see if it works out. That night, Megan drops Lacey off at home and they have a rather important conversation. Lacey was mad that Megan messed up so much in the past but today her mom actually came through. And they both agree that Lacey’s friends thinking Megan is cool is kind of weird. Megan tells Lacey that she knows what it’s like to be forgotten, but that Lacey needs to know Megan will always love her. They part ways with Lacey asking Megan to do carpool the following week and Megan saying she’d like that. Not as much Megan back story as I thought coming into the episode but overall, a good show.

Glee 2.19: "Rumours"

“Stakeout! So exciting! It’s like an episode of ‘Hart to Hart.’”
-Rachel

I found “Rumours” to be a decent episode of “Glee.” The musical performances were a little lacking (just because I’m not a huge Fleetwood Mac fan…I know…I’m a horrible person), but I was happy to have Kristin Chenoweth back on the show as everyone’s favorite alcoholic McKinley alum April Rhodes. I didn’t love that Terri, my least favorite character on all of television, was the one pulling the strings behind April’s visit, but any chance to hear Chenoweth sing makes me happy. Even if one of her songs was really, really stupid (and no, not one of the Fleetwood Mac songs). I also liked that the episode had a really cohesive theme. Every plot was about rumors and gossip and the damage it can cause. We even got some decent character development in this one, especially for Sam, who had really been an non-entity to me before now, although some characters motiviations (cough…Santana…cough) were a little more difficult to discern.

The episode opens with Brittany taping a new show for YouTube called “Fondue for Two.” Despite the show’s name, she’s eating fondue while interviewing two of her classmates (leading to “fondue for three,” in actuality), Tina and Mercedes. Brittany’s “interview” basically consists of her blurting out rumor after rumor and asking the other girls to comment. In this process, she manages to out Sanatana. This kind of throws a damper on the party, so Brittany ends up feeding fondue cheese to her cat. I prefer beef fondue, myself, and Brittany mentions that will be the featured fondue in the next episode.

Meanwhile, Terri and Sue meet up at the local coffee shop. Sue is using silly disguises to remain incognito, including a David Bowie costume, and she tells Terri she has restarted the McKinley school newspaper, called the “Muckraker.” She’s going to try to use the newspaper to tear apart the glee club. Terri says she has another idea that will destroy the club from the outside instead o
Terri and Sue meet at coffee shop (sue in silly disguises). Sue has restarted the “muckraker.” Terri has idea to get Will out of Glee club. It’s soon obvious that Terri’s plan involves on April Rhodes. April pays a visit to Will and tells him she needs to borrow the auditorium. Her all-white production of “The Wiz” wasn’t exactly successful, so now she’s trying to mount a one-woman show on Broadway called “CrossRhodes: The April Rhodes Story.” Will is only too happy to help.

Both Sue and Terri’s plans have some success. The first issue of the Muckraker causes some big time fighting amongst the members of the glee club. Meanwhile, April and Will are sharing some wine, and Will complains about the glee club’s fighting. April thinks the situation sounds like Fleetwood Mac, and that gives Will an idea. This week’s glee assignment is going to be to perform a song from Fleetwood Mac’s album “Rumours.” To kick things off, April and Will perform a Fleetwood Mac song for the club. April is all over Will while she’s singing, and the kids most definitely notice it. The next singer is Artie, who performs a different Fleetwood Mac song after a fight with Brittany. They were fighting over Santana, Artie called Brittany stupid, and Brittany ran off crying. The song itself was kind of boring (Artie was backed by a veritable orchestra of acoustic guitars), but I was happy to see some movement for this particular triangle.

Following up on another Muckraker story, Rachel and Finn go on a stakeout to see if Quinn is cheating on Finn again, this time with Sam. They’re parked in front of the cheap motel where Sam and Quinn have been rumored to have been seen. They see Kurt leave the motel room, followed by Sam. Now everybody thinks Kurt is cheating on Blaine with Sam. A group meeting is held to figure out how to deal with this, and they end up deciding they need more information before doing anything. It seems to become more clear soon enough, however, when Rachel sees Sam wearing one of Kurt’s jackets. Rachel confronts Kurt, but Kurt refuses to say anything about the rumors, saying instead that any time spent on gossip is time wasted that they could be spending rehearsing for Nationals.

Santana sings yet another Fleetwood Mac song to Brittany, and since she and Artie have broken up, Brittany is open to the idea of a relationship with Santana. Santana’s still reluctant to definitively come out, but Brittany has a plan. She’s going to come out first by bringing Santana on “Fondue for Two” and asking her to prom. This sounds good to Santana, although Santana is back to her old ways soon enough, standing Brittany up for the “interview” and telling Jacob Ben Isreal that she and Karofsky are soulmates in front of Brittany. Brittany decides to work for the Muckraker. Of course anything she does for the Muckraker is dictated by Sue. Brittany interviews Will, but it’s more tabloid fodder than hard hitting journalism. Then Brittany starts grilling Will about April’s show and the rumor that Will might be going with April to Broadway and leaving New Directions. Will confronts Sue about this, and Sue suggests that maybe Will really should go to Broadway.

Finn and Rachel go on another stakeout, and this time they see Quinn with Sam at the motel. They both think Quinn is cheating again, but at this point, I started to figure out what was going on. It was pretty obvious Sam was living at the motel and Kurt and Quinn were helping him out, but I hadn’t yet figured out why. At the next glee club rehearsal, Quinn and Finn have a confrontation about what Finn saw. Quinn’s not happy Finn was alone with Rachel, and Finn assures her that Rachel just wanted to figure out a Fleetwood Mac duet. Quinn says that if Finn wants to stay with her, he needs to never sing another duet with Rachel again.

Will and April are in the auditorium rehearsing April’s show, which is really hilariously bad. Emma stands in the back of the auditorium and watches the performance. She also hears April try to convince Will to go with her to Broadway. Later, Will notices that Emma is eating some grapes without cleaning off each individual fruit. She reveals that she has been taking meds for the past few weeks. Will is extremely proud of her, but then the conversation turns to him. They have a bit of a heart to heart about Broadway, which I thought was nice. Will reveals that although he really doesn’t want to leave the glee kids or Emma, the thought of passing up his Broadway dream hurts, too.

Since she’s got to do a solo now, Rachel sings “Go Your Own Way” for her Fleetwood Mac song. It was a great, energetic performance, which really pissed off Quinn (partly because Finn was playing drums for the number). It was fun to see Lea Michelle really go to town on a song that wasn’t a Broadway standard. At that glee rehearsal, the truth also comes out about Sam. His family is living at the motel because his dad lost his job, and Kurt and Quinn were indeed helping out, Kurt with clothes and Quinn with babysitting services. Rachel and Finn are rather embarrassed about the accusations they made, so they pay Sam a visit at the hotel and are nice to his little siblings. They also bring some of Finn’s old clothes, which they think Sam will like better than Kurt’s old clothes, and they also have Sam’s guitar, which he had sold. Sam breaks down at the sight of his guitar. I think I might actually like Sam now if he didn’t have that obnoxious Justin Bieber hair. Despite the hair, it was some much needed character development for Sam.

The episode ends with Will shooting down the rumors- he assures the glee club that he’s not going anywhere. The club does a big performance of “Don’t Stop Thinking About Tomorrow” for Sam’s little brother and sister. It had a lot of energy, and I thought it was one of this season’s better performances. All may not be well in New Directions-land for much longer. April sits next to Will as he’s watching the performance, and it looks like Will might be having second thoughts about his decision to stay in Lima.

HIMYM 6.22: "The Perfect Cocktail"

“Look, I can handle you trying to prevent me from fulfilling a lifelong dream. That’s just being in a relationship.”
-Ted

I found “The Perfect Cocktail” to be pretty entertaining, although there wasn’t a lot of substance to it, and the character motivation (or lack thereof) will make your head hurt if you think about it for too long. Maybe this one didn’t bother me so much because the unexplained character turns didn’t really affect Barney. When Barney is turned into a cartoon, like he was in “The Exploding Meatball Sub,” it is so extreme that it drags the whole episode down. When the other characters act somewhat out-of-character for an episode, it doesn’t have quite the same effect on the overall tone of the episode. So I was able to enjoy the laughs without getting overly irrationally angry at the episode. I especially liked that we got to see more interaction between Lily and Robin. Even though we know they’re “best friends,” it’s not a relationship we see demonstrated all that often.

The episode opens with a revisiting of Marshall quitting his job at GNB to become an environmental lawyer. Marshall’s boss promises to give him a horrible reference, but then Marshall ends up losing a job opportunity because his boss doesn’t keep his word. What happens could possibly be considered defamation and is the reason past employers usually only give very basic information to potential new employers. The fact that this legal inaccuracy didn’t bug the heck out of me tells you I was really entertained by the episode. Marshall’s feeling like doing something rash in retaliation, and on his way to GNB, he runs into Zoey, who is in the middle of a protest. Zoey tells Marshall she has the perfect way for him to get back at his former boss.

Barney is going on to the rest of the gang (minus Marshall) about how excited he is to plan the demolition of the Arcadian. He wants to make a big spectacle out of it, of course. In response to questioning from his friends, Ted explains how he and Zoey deal with being on opposite sides of an issue that is extremely important to both of them. If it ever comes up, they change the subject. That’s all going to end real soon, though. Zoey walks into the room and introduces the new lawyer she’s hired to save the Arcadian. That lawyer is Marshall, of course, looking rather sheepish. This is another legal inaccuracy that surprisingly didn’t bother me. In the real world, it would be a major conflict of interest for Marshall to represent a client with opposing interests to his former client (GNB).

This development leads to all out war between Barney and Marshall, which I found to be especially hilarious. Barney kept having one of his lackeys show Marshall disgusting pictures of anything Marshall was touching (or about to eat or drink). Presumably the pictures showed Barney doing something not especially hygienic to these items. In retaliation, Marshall messed with Barney’s game. Every time Barney would try to hit on a chick at MacLaren’s, Marshall would step in and say something to make the woman run off, such as implying Barney just had a kid. Or that he had various STDs. At the same time. It was pretty genius comedy. While the boys are fighting, Lily and Robin are feuding with a woman who keeps walking by their MacLaren’s booth, obviously trying to take their table. She’s doing the “walkby with stinkeye” as Robin and Lily put it, while they’re doing an impression of Lily with her high school friend Michelle (aka fake urban speak) for some reason.

Barney and Marshall’s feuding turns into a knock-down-drag-out fight, and they get the whole group kicked out of MacLaren’s for their trouble. To add insult to injury, Lily and Robin lose the booth to the walkby chick and her friends. This is the final straw. Robin and Lily decide they need to stop Barney and Marshall’s feud once and for all, and they’re going to do it by getting their men drunk. This is kind of like an “I Love Lucy” storyline on crack. Lily and Robin debate over the exact right types of alcohol to get Barney and Marshall to make up. They compare reactions they know the men have to different drinks, and we get lots of fun flashbacks to illustrate. For instance, Robin knows that red wine leads Barney to have uncomfortable emotional moments of clarity and peppermint Schnapps turns him into a former host of Family Feud. I think that was my favorite flash back- Neil Patrick Harris seemed to have a lot of fun with it. I like how it was shown that Robin still has a strong connection to Barney even if they aren’t dating. She knows things about him Lily doesn’t. The ladies also ask Ted if certain types of alcohol cause strange reactions for him, and they have to correct him when he says bourbon makes him an awesome beatboxer.

Ted and Zoey are going on a weekend trip, and during the car ride, Ted calls Zoey on the Arcadian issue. He wants to talk about it because, since his two best friends are fighting and they’ve all been banned from MacLaren’s, it’s really ruining his life. They end up spending the evening at the Arcadian instead of wherever they were planning to go. It’s a total dump, occupied by squatters. I thought it had been completely abandoned, but I was willing to go with the switch. The room where they try to stay is really disgusting, and everybody else living there seems to use the bathroom attached to Ted and Zoey’s room. Ted tells Zoey that if she can spend the night there, he’ll give up on trying to change her mind about the project. Zoey finally tells Ted the truth about why she wants to save the Arcadian. It turns out she lived there for a while when she was a kid and her family was broke and had just moved to New York. It was magical to her back then, even if it’s a dump now. An appearance of the elusive Cockamouse, which Ted, Lily, and Marshall discovered way back in season 1, finally drives Zoey to say they need to leave.

Meanwhile, Robin and Lily perfectly orchestrate what Barney and Marshall drink on a night out to try and stop the fight. Until the boys drink tequila while the ladies aren’t paying attention and ruin it all. They are completely spaced out. Later, Robin and Lily find them at MacLaren’s, where they appear to have made up. They’re certainly generous with the “I love you, man’s.” Carlos, the owner of MacLaren’s, lets Robin and Lily back in the bar. He used the obvious drink to fix Marshall and Barney’s fight- beer. The next day, however, Barney and Marshall are back to fighting. The ladies ordered a round of champagne to celebrate the make-up, which made Barney and Marshall forget making up in the first place. Things get worse when Ted and Zoey emerge from Ted’s bedroom, and Ted announces that he’s siding with Zoey about the Arcadian. Lily and Robin turn to absinthe to dull the pain, and they float down the street to “Gymnopedie #1.” Once they’re sober, they use Barney’s disgusting photo guy to win their MacLaren’s booth back.

Game of Thrones 1.03: "Lord Snow"

“People have been swinging at me for years, but they always seem to miss.”
-Jaime

I found “Lord Snow” to be another rather dry episode of “Game of Thrones,” more focused on downloading world building information to viewers that moving the plot along or having compelling character moments. This time, it was information about the politics of Westeros. Some of the layers were peeled back from the more glossy (but not entirely glossy) picture we had seen of Westeros in the first two episodes. We see the extent of the corruption that was only alluded to in the first two episodes, and we see just how important family loyalty is in this very harsh world. While I didn’t love this episode, I’ve heard that things start to pick up soon, so I’m willing to stick with the show a bit longer. I’m hoping that once the producers feel the audience has a good enough understanding of the world of Westeros, the dialogue on the show will become more organic and the plot will begin to move at a more rapid pace.

The episode opens with King Robert, Ned, and the rest of Robert’s entourage arriving in King’s Landing, the capital city. Ned is called to a meeting of the King’s top advisers, called the Small Council, almost as soon as he steps through the gate. The young man who delivers the message asks Ned if he’d like to change into something more appropriate for the meeting. Ned just gives him a look of derision and heads for the meeting. I guess that’s supposed to show that because he’s from the North, Ned doesn’t care much for ceremony. On his way, Ned finds himself in the throne room. He has a bit of a war of words with Jaime, who is sitting by the Iron Throne. The whole thing can really only be described as a dick measuring contest that also happens to download some information on the Mad King (the Targaryen who was king before Robert) and his death caused by Jaime to viewers.

The Small Council meeting really exposes the extent to which things are wrong in Westeros. First we meet Petyr Baelish, who already knows Ned. In fact, Petyr grew up with Cat and once had a thing with her. He’s pretty shameless about reminding Ned that he might still have a thing for her. He’s also played by Aidan Gillen, who played Mayor, eventually Governor Carcetti, loosely based on Baltimore Mayor, eventual Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley, on “The Wire.” I had to mention that because, as I’ve said on this blog before, “The Wire” will never die! We also learn that Westros a financial mess. The Crown is in a lot of debt, much of it to Tywin Lannister, father of Cersei, Jaime, and Tyrion. King Robert doesn’t show up at Small Council meetings, but he dictates frivolous things, like a tournament in honor of Ned’s installation as Hand, that are going to make the financial situation worse. Ned says he’s going to put a stop to this sort of thing, but I don’t think he’ll be very successful.

We then get a brief interlude where we see just how indulgent Cersei is of Joffrey and begin to get a sense of the importance of appearances in Westeros. Joffrey, after being embarrassed in front of her, doesn’t want to marry Sansa anymore. Cersei tells him that he’s marrying Sansa, but he can sleep with anyone else he likes, and the world will be exactly how he wants it. Joffrey then goes on an anti-North rant, declaring that when he’s king, he’ll raise a royal army and bring the North under control once and for all by installing a Lord loyal to him. Cersei gently but firmly shoots him down, making him think through the problems with his plan, especially the fact that the Northerners recruited to his army are unlikely to go to war against their families. Her basic argument is that there’s a time and a place for everything. She also reminds her son that everyone who isn’t a Lannister is an enemy.

We also see in this episode that the Night’s Watch isn’t all it was cracked up to be, either. They’re a rather rag tag bunch, mostly criminals who accepted joining the Watch as an alternative to the sentence they would have otherwise received. Jon Snow fights a bunch of the members of the Watch to prove his worth. They aren’t big fans of him, because they all think he’s rather elitist. The Commander of the Watch talks to Tyrion about how he doesn’t have enough men to properly guard against foes like the White Walkers, and he begs Tyrion to take word back to Cersei that the Night’s Watch needs more resources. Tyrion still seems skeptical that such protection is really needed. Despite their ramshackle nature, or maybe because of it, Jon is impatient to advance up the ranks and become a ranger like his uncle. His uncle gives him a reality check, saying that he won’t get anything that he hasn’t worked to earn.

Back in Winterfell, Bran has woken up. His nanny is watching over him and trying to tell him stories to pass the time. Bran wants a scary story, so the nanny helpfully downloads to the viewers information on just how bad winters in Westeros can get. They can last several years, encourage the White Walkers to move south to inhabited areas, and cause nobles and peasants alike to freeze to death. Robb interrupts this tale to talk to Bran a bit, and in their conversation, we find out that Bran claims to not remember a thing about the accident, and the doctors think he’s going to be paralyzed. Bran is petrified at the idea of being paralyzed for the rest of his life and tells Robb he’d rather die.

On a lighter note, Ned has a family feud to quell amongst his daughters. Watching rough and tumble Ned try to be a dad all on his own is kind of amusing. Arya and Sansa are in the middle of their lessons, and the instructor complains to Ned that Arya isn’t very lady-like. Arya and Sansa get into yet another argument about what happened with the butcher’s boy and Joffrey, and Arya is sent off to her room. There, Ned discovers her practicing with Needle, the sword Jon gave her in the last episode. Ned is a little troubled by the fact that his daughter has a sword, but he eventually decides to encourage her interest. He also tells her to patch things up with Sansa, because, again, staying loyal to family is important, especially in a dangerous, corrupt place like King’s Landing.

Cat arrives at King’s Landing fairly quickly, and she is immediately met by what look like two guards. They take her to a building, and inside is Petyr. The building is one of his brothels, and he thought Cat would be safe there. Cat’s kind of offended that she was taken to a brothel, but she’s grateful to Petyr for looking out for her. Petyr has a friend who is a weapons expert look over the dagger that was used in the recent attack on Bran and Cat, and he doesn’t recognize it. Petyr recognizes it, though. It used to belong to him, and he lost it to Tyrion. Cat is more convinced than ever that the Lannisters are behind the attempts on Bran’s life.

We can’t have a proper episode of Game of Thrones without a brief interlude to see what the Dothraki are up to. Daenerys has another information downloading conversation with Ser Jorah, and then she decides she needs to take a little break from riding. She commands the horde to stop until she’s ready to rejoin them, and Ser Jorah compliments her on acting like a queen. Daenerys walks into the trees, and when she’s by herself, Viserys tries to attack her. He’s horribly offended that she would try to command him to do anything. Other Dothraki soon arrive on the scene and offer to kill Viserys if Daenerys wishes it. Daenerys is horrified at the thought of her brother being killed, even if he is a despicable human being, so she calls them off. Viserys tries to complain to Ser Jorah, who ignores him, and the horde reconvenes to keep moving. The Dothraki make Viserys walk as punishment. Later, one of Daenerys’ maids figures out that Daenerys is pregnant. Ser Jorah is in the middle of trying to sell weapons to the Dothraki when he finds out, and he says he needs to leave urgently. I’m not sure what he’s up to, but it seems like Dothraki/Targeryen offspring was not in the plan.

Word of Bran waking up gets out quickly, to both King’s Landing and the Wall. Petyr brings Ned to Cat, where they have a rather sweet reunion, and Petyr also offers to help the Starks find out the truth about the attack. Jaime and Cersei understandably freak out a bit at the news of Bran’s recovery. Jaime assures his sister that he would have no problem killing everyone else in the world until they were the only two people left. Which is more than a bit creepy and psychopathic, if the incest wasn’t already bad enough. The episode ends with Arya getting her first swordfighting lesson, which was a pretty fun scene. Ned looks on, amused at first, but then he realizes his daughter could actually be pretty good at it.

Fringe 3.21: "The Last Sam Weiss"

“I know what it’s like to feel unequal to the task required of you. To feel incapable. I’ll never be the man I was. But I’ve come to embrace those parts of my mind that are peculiar. Broken. I understand now that’s what makes my mind special.”
-Walter

The penultimate episode of this season of “Fringe” really kicked the story into high gear leading us into the finale. Well, except for the second long “walking to the doomsday device” sequence in as many episodes. Have I mentioned that I’m a touch excited that series are beginning to wrap up for the year? I’m really looking forward to bringing you some different content in the summer. Summer is when I like to discover new things in TV (like my Doctor Who obsession that started last year), and can’t wait to share what I discover here on the blog. Anyway, I think I enjoyed this episode better than last weeks. It had some real shocking moments, which was a lot of fun. I’m also kind of at a loss for how this is all going to get resolved in about 43 more minutes. There are holes in the fabric of our universe, people! Luckily, all of our characters seem to be getting their act together and are beginning to work towards actually eliminating the threat of the doomsday machine once and for all.

The episode opens with Walter watching over Peter in his hospital bed. Walter hasn’t left Peter’s side since Peter was brought to the hospital. Astrid is concerned about this, and she tries every trick in the book to get Walter to leave Peter’s room for just a little break. Eventually, Astrid succeeds with the promise that the hospital cafeteria is serving tapioca pudding. As they’re on their way back to Peter’s room after their meal, they see a number of people being brought into the hospital who had been injured by a Fringe event. Astrid uses this as a catalyst to get Walter motivated to get back to work. She finally convinces him with one of my personal favorite sayings “God helps those who help themselves.” Walter finally agrees that he can leave Peter for just a little while to test a few theories.

Walter’s got to move fast, though. We see a family on a car trip, and the son is so freaked out by what he’s seeing that he actually takes of his headphones. All of a sudden, the family sees the car in front of them get struck by lightning. The dad stops the car and gets out to have a look around. As you do. He finds a place with a good view and sees that there is lightning all over the place, and it’s quite destructive. In Boston, Walter is quite intrigued by the lighting, of course. He decides to investigate it Ben Franklin-style (Philly represent!) by flying a kite attached to something metal. Walter gets struck by lightning twice while flying his kite, and the second time knocks him over, freaking out Astrid just a bit. It gives Walter the breakthrough he needs, though. He realizes that he “has to account for repetition” when analyzing the pattern of Fringe events.

Meanwhile, Olivia and Sam are looking at the doomsday machine. Sam explains that the machine currently has a force field around it because the activation of the Other Side’s machine has tricked it into thinking Peter is in it. Sam thinks they need to find a sort of crow bar to pry open the force field and let Peter in for real. They look through a crowded storeroom for the box that contains the “crowbar,” and Sam clues Olivia in on his family history a bit. He’s not the first Sam Weiss. His ancestors have collected information on the First People and the doomsday machine for generations.

Sam and Olivia do find the box, but they need the key to open it. The key is in a museum, and the museum is currently getting bombarded with lightning. The situation is so bad that the whole block has a police barricade, and the museum curator says lightning is even striking inside the building. Just as they reach the key, lightning strikes and sets of the museum’s alarm system. They’re about to be trapped inside, but thanks to some skillful throwing by Sam, a vase ends up propping a gate open. It reminded me of the Tenth Doctor’s prowess with a cricket ball in the Doctor Who episode “Human Nature.” Olivia opens the box, and the crowbar isn’t really a crowbar at all. It’s a picture of her, much like the freaky picture of Peter and the machine.

Meanwhile, Peter has finally regained consciousness. And Walter’s not there, which can only lead to…not very good things. Peter’s rather confused when he wakes up, which is understandable. He starts taking off sensors and taking out IV’s. I’m wondering why this doesn’t set off some sort of alarm that brings nurses running. Peter grabs his jacket and starts wandering around the hospital. The hospital staff all seem very busy treating people who have been struck by lightning. A nurse finally stops him and asks his name, and Peter has some trouble replying. I started wondering if he had some sort of amnesia. Even though the nurse tells Peter to stay put while she helps with another emergency, Peter keeps wandering. He goes outside and watches the lightning. The he gets a cab to take him to New York City. Which is quite an expensive fare from Massachusetts. When Peter arrives in New York, he continues his spending spree by purchasing a very expensive coin from a pawn shop. I think it’s the pawn shop that used to house the inter-dimensional typewriter. The real WTF moment, however, happens when Peter wanders up to the Statue of Liberty and tells the guard he wants to see his father- the Secretary of Defense.

Up in Boston, Astrid and Walter use see-through maps to line up where various types of Fringe events have happened. Walter notices a rift forming between where our doomsday machine is located in Massachusetts and where Walternate’s machine is located on Liberty Island. Walter thinks the two machines are sympathetically linked to each other, and he tells Broyles that they can contain the damage somewhat by moving our universe’s machine to Liberty Island, too. While Broyles works out those logistics, Walter takes a look at Olivia and Sam’s discovery. He figures out that the picture is trying to say that Olivia’s telekinesis powers might be able to be used as the “crowbar” that can bend the force field. Olivia is skeptical because she has only used those powers once before, and all she was trying to do then was turn on some lights. To make things even more complicated, Olivia is going to have to manipulate the Other Side’s machine to make the plan work.

Walter thinks Olivia can do what she needs to do from our universe without crossing over again, and he also thinks she’ll be fine with some practice. And that practice is going to take place on the inter-dimensional typewriter. Olivia sits at the typewriter a while and has no luck making any words show up. Walter tries to give her a pep talk, sympathizing with Olivia’s feelings of inadequacy. The pep talk inspires Olivia to try again, but it still appears to be a no go. Practice is interrupted by Astrid, who delivers the news that the hospital has finally discovered Peter is missing. And he left a note saying “I’m going home.” The music gets very “Lord of the Rings”-like as Walter gets very upset. I half expected the Gondor theme to ring out in honor of John Noble’s other famous character, Denethor. Eventually, Olivia tells Walter and Astrid what I was hoping the FBI would figure out sooner rather than later- that Peter made two large transaction with his credit card, and he’s now in New York.

The team finds Peter pretty easily in New York, and as Walter runs a few tests on him to check him out, his memory of our universe gradually starts to come back. The weather in New York is getting worse, so whatever the team is going to do, they need to do it quickly. Olivia and Peter talk out the problem of how they’re going to get the machine to work. It’s nice to see them still working together easily, even though their brief time of more carefree happiness is over. Astrid interrupts with a very important phone call. The inter-dimensional typewriter has suddenly started typing “Be a better man than your father” over and over, which is what Olivia had been trying to get it to type. I thought Peter would have some sort of reaction to that being the phrase Olivia chose to concentrate on, but it’s kind of dropped. Olivia mastering her telekinesis power leads to yet another long, drawn out walk to the machine, but this time Olivia and Peter take that walk together. Olivia successfully takes down the force field, which is definitely noticed on the Other Side. Peter sets himself up in the machine, and all of a sudden, it appears that he’s been zapped 15 years in the future, which is quite apocalyptic. And I’m left wondering where this show is headed.

The Big Bang Theory 4.21: "The Agreement Dissection"

“Top of her class. Cambridge University. Licensed to practice law in three countries. And your face.”
-Leonard

“The Agreement Dissection” was a fun episode of “The Big Bang Theory,” mostly because Priya finally had a good purpose. I also liked that Sheldon got put in his place for a little while, even if he did win in the end. And I liked seeing Amy be a human being instead of a Sheldon clone. Her character has actually had an arc since she’s been introduced, and I think that’s a great thing. Sheldon is uncomfortable at the prospect of having “fun,” while Amy seems to be embracing it, and even seeking it out. I think watching their relationship progress is going to get really interesting. The episode overall was very cohesive. There wasn’t a silly, unrelated B story for the sake of having a B story. Everything that was happening was at least loosely connected to Leonard and Sheldon’s feud over the roommate agreement. I think that make for a fairly strong episode.

The episode opens with Sheldon really, really needing to use the bathroom. Which doesn’t sound like it could lead to a funny episode, but ultimately it does. Leonard is in the shower, but Sheldon decides it’s such an emergency he can enter the bathroom anyway. This is all fine until he realizes that Priya is in the shower, too. This greatly disturbs Sheldon for multiple reasons, and at first he tries to demand Leonard and Penny leave so he can use the toilet. When that doesn’t work, he ends up dashing across the hall to use Penny’s bathroom. Following this incident, Sheldon charges Leonard with two violations of the roommate agreement. Leonard is just going to go along with the crazy, not even caring what the charges are, but Priya, being the good lawyer she is, steps in. She takes a look at the roommate agreement and easily comes up with loopholes to clear Leonard of the “charges.” Leonard finally realizes that dating a lawyer who can help him stand up to Sheldon is damn fun. And I have to agree. I’m not generally at all a Priya fan, but her “lawyering,” as Marshall of HIMYM would call it, is awesome.

The gang gets used to not having to do what Sheldon says pretty quickly. They decide to have Greek food on Pizza night just to mess with Sheldon. This is again thanks to Priya’s lawyering skills. She nullifies the part of the contract about notice required to change food selections by reminding Sheldon that their pizza restaurant was changed without following the required process. The only thing I didn’t like about this scene was that there was a lot of ragging on Greek food. The gang gives the distinct impression that they’re only eating Greek food because Sheldon absolutely hates it, and they don’t like it much themselves. I personally think Greek food is amazing, so I was a little disappointed by that.

Sheldon can’t take the chaos in his apartment anymore, so he pays a visit to Penny. Penny says she’s about to leave for a girl’s night with Amy and Bernadette, but Sheldon is welcome to join them. Sheldon has no interest in going on a girl’s night until Penny mentions that there will likely be lots of Priya bashing. While sipping fancy drinks at a bar, the ladies begin to discuss how Sheldon’s never kissed a girl. Amy implies that she wants to kiss Sheldon, and Sheldon’s just kind of disgusted by her alcohol-buzzed behavior. The ladies then decide they want to see Sheldon dance, and Sheldon innocently mentions he learned several ballroom and Latin dances on the Cotillion circuit back in Texas. This of course means the ladies now absolutely have to take Sheldon dancing. Bernadette appeals to Sheldon’s cotillion-bred sense of etiquette to get him to agree. They all hop in a cab and get the driver to take them some place where they can waltz. Next thing we know, Sheldon and Amy are dancing, and it’s pretty darn cute. Meanwhile, an older man is hitting on Bernadette and Penny. Bernadette manages to fight him off by showing him her engagement ring, but Penny isn’t so lucky. It’s kind of amusing until the guy grabs her ass while they dance. Then it’s just kind of gross.

Things just get stranger and stranger for Sheldon and Amy as the night progresses. Sheldon drops Amy off at her apartment, and she invites him in for a nightcap. Sheldon is reluctant until Amy says she has YooHoo. Apparently chocolate soda is all it takes to get Sheldon Cooper over his social hang-ups. Amy’s apartment is just weird. She has a monkey who smokes- he’s part of an experiment she’s working on, and he isn’t very nice. Sheldon wants to talk to Amy about his roommate agreement problem, even though Amy is pretty buzzed. Amy suggests Sheldon take the approach of the monkey- he needs to fight back. Then she kisses him. And then she runs to the bathroom to vomit because she’s had too much to drink, after assuring Sheldon that the vomiting isn’t because of kissing him.

The next morning, Leonard wakes up to discover that Sheldon has drawn up a new, more carefully worded in his favor, roommate agreement. Leonard doesn’t see any reason why he should sign it until Sheldon, imitating a classic Star Trek episode, starts up a “self destruct” sequence on his computer. When the countdown ends, the computer will send of an e-mail to Priya’s parents letting them know she’s dating Leonard. Priya, who had been so adamant about Leonard standing up to Sheldon before, instantly surrenders. Leonard resists a little bit, mostly because he’s upset that it seems like Priya’s too embarrassed to tell her parents about him, but eventually he gives in and signs the new agreement. Like I said earlier, I was a little disappointed that Sheldon ultimately won, but I liked the rest of the episode enough to forgive that. The episode ends with Sheldon Skyping with a very hung over Amy. Rather than deal with the discomfort caused by their kiss, they decide to completely “reboot” their relationship. Which makes me a little sad, but I’ll get over it.

Body of Proof 1.06: "Society Hill"

For your reading enjoyment, here is another "Body of Proof" write-up courtesy of Sarah.

***

“Where were you?”
“I was right here for you, Megan.”
“No. You were too embarrassed. You were too worried about your friends.”
- Megan and Joan

We begin in what looks like a pretty nice enclosed yard. Until we see an overturned table and chair and a dead woman floating in a pool. It turns out the dead woman lives in a really rich neighborhood. Peter makes fun of Megan for saying she didn’t really miss all the perks of upper class living as they walk in to find Bud working the case solo. Sam’s dad is sick, so she’s visiting him in DC. I kind of miss the fun Bud/Sam dynamic. We quickly learn that the victim is Daphne Zimmer, an old friend of Megan’s mom. Bud tries to impress Megan by saying she died that morning. But Megan proves him wrong. She’s passed rigor and has been decomposing for at least two days. At the lab, Peter reads off her past like a fact sheet. Fairly impressive resume but not a lot of personal life. Megan hands over some maggots to Curtis to see if he can confirm time of death and the errant hair sample they found in the pool to Ethan for full analysis. And with that, Megan and Peter are off to see if they can find a match for the sample while Daphne’s body dries out.

Bud, Megan and Peter show up at the fashion magazine where Daphne worked to find pretty people scurrying all over the place. Apparently the show must go on. They run into a guy with dark hair that at least from far away matches color-wise to the sample fished out of the pool. He tells them that he can’t disturb Daphne because she’s in a meeting. And then everyone at the magazine learns that Daphne is dead. Megan goes through pointing out all the various problems people have, from nail biting and excessive drinking to compulsive hair pulling. Turns out the hair puller, Steve, was Daphne’s assistant, so Bud takes a crack at him first. We discover that Daphne would disappear for days at a time and not tell anyone where she was going, so the assistant would inform interns that if anyone asked, Daphne was in a meeting. And the last time he spoke with Daphne was five days earlier. Back at the lab Ethan walks in on Kate making a rather private phone call. She hangs up and after admonishing him too knock next time, asks him what he has on Daphne’s case. All he knows is that the hair is human. Just as Megan and Peter get back to the lab, Megan’s mom calls. She’s heard about Daphne and wants to know what’s happening. Megan of course can’t say a word and turns down going to a black tie event with her mom that night because she had a miserable time at the last one.

Daphne’s body has dried out by this point, and Megan finds nail marks in her skin. Square and deep. Made by acrylic nails. One of the women at the magazine had fake nails, so Bud interviews her. Apparently Daphne ran an award and opened it up to everyone this year. It pissed off a copy editor, and he went after Daphne. The officer manager (acrylic nail girl) had to pull Daphne away. So next up is the copy editor. Bud also discovers a hidden camera in the wall clock in Daphne’s office. Megan still doesn’t know what killed Daphne. Her lungs are clear (including no water). But she did have some kidney damage and high calcium (which apparently can lead to mood swings and paranoia).

Bud takes the videotape back to the station and a CSU tech finds video from when Daphne’s assistant talked to her last. In the video, the assistant looks really upset and ends up throwing the phone off the desk. Bud talks to the assistant again, and the assistant says he was pissed because Daphne demanded he get a scarf for the mayor’s wife’s birthday, and so he spent the weekend in Chicago trying to find it. Bud basically tells the guy he’s full of crap, but the assistant claims he didn’t do it. He says there are plenty of high society people who Daphne has pissed off with magazine content in the past.

Megan has examined Daphne’s corpse a bit more and discovered that she suffered some health issues related to being assaulted. She probably saw a private doctor for it. And based on the x–rays, it appears the injuries occurred about a year ago. And she died more than two days ago, so her assistant couldn’t have killed her. Megan and Peter go through a bunch of issues of the magazine and find a suspect of their own, Colin Lloyd. Meanwhile, Ethan is trying to figure out how to get DNA from the hair sample while Curtis sings to his little maggots. Somehow, I am reminded of Grissom on CSI. Ethan tells Curtis to be quiet so he can concentrate, and then weird things happen. The hair follicle just breaks. So he goes to ask Kate for some help.

Meanwhile, Bud’s found out who assaulted Daphne; a guy named Tillman. Daphne refused to testify, so he only got three months in prison. Too bad he’s dead. But he did work for Colin Lloyd. Maybe Lloyd sent Tillman to assault her and then killed her a year later. They’re going to have to go undercover. Guess Megan will be going to that club dinner after all. With Peter as her date. Megan and Peter run into some old friends of Megan’s on their way into the dinner, and Megan manages to convince her mom’s date to introduce her to Colin Lloyd. She makes a scene and snags a piece of his hair and has Peter take a picture. Megan’s mom is mortified as Megan and Peter duck out to continue work on the case. Megan needed to make a scene because she needed Lloyd to open his eyes. It turns out he’s got a disease that affects the irises (benign nodules that form in the eye) and the intern that we met at eh beginning of the episode has them too. It’s genetic. He’s Lloyd’s son.

Bud and Megan confront the intern, but he claims he wouldn’t have killed her. He went to her with the information that led to the expose on his dad. She gave him an internship in return. He wanted nothing to do with his father. And he would do whatever Daphne asked. After listening to the types of errands he ran for her, Megan says that many of Daphne’s demands were related to her kidney issues. Still, no time or cause of death yet. Megan is leaving the building, and her mom confronts her. She yells at Megan for embarrassing her in front of her friends. Megan isn’t interested in listening. It’s clear she and her mom don’t get along (hard to tell if that’s because of the accident or just their relationship).

Kate is just as baffled as Ethan is by Ethan’s results from the hair DNA. Apparently the attacker was high and put resin in their hair. So she tells him too run more tests. Curtis has some information though. Daphne did die about two days previously. She had aspirin in her system (which could make her potassium spike). The maggots are apparently high on the stuff. Only one person knew her medical history. And we’re back to Steve as the prime suspect. Steve admits to giving her aspirin, but he didn’t think it would kill her. Megan and Bud don’t buy it. Steve says every day he gave her some and she stayed home, he could just focus on his writing. So it looks like things are wrapped up, but Megan still isn’t satisfied. She tells Peter that they still don’t have a cause of death. In an attempt to cheer her up, Peter invites Megan out for drinks with a few other people from the lab. She initially declines, saying that her mom wants to call a truce over dinner. She doesn’t exactly reconsider but she realizes she missed something. Back at the lab she reexamines some cells from Daphne’s body and discovers that the cells in her heart changed dramatically in the seconds before death. Daphne was electrocuted (which Megan demonstrates by rubbing a plastic bottle on her sleeve and then tapping it on Peter’s head.

Both Megan and Peter and Bud and the CSU tech are looking for what could have cause the electrocution. Together they discover it was the space heater that her intern (Lloyd’s son) bought her. And Kate has a breakthrough on the hair. It was over one hundred years old. Megan and Bud put it together. The hair was from the necklace of the office manager. She was upset about the journalism award being opened up to interns and so she confronted Daphne. Daphne fired her, and the manager pushed her in the pool and then threw the heater in. The manager burned herself when she tried to unplug the heater and that’s what gave it away for Megan. So Megan heads for dinner with her mom while Curtis, Peter, Ethan and Bud go for a boys' night and Kate presumably meets the guy she’s been calling/texting throughout the episode. Seems everyone’s ending on a high note this week.