The Drips

Don and Charlie frequently find themselves on opposite sides of an issue even though they are working together to solve crimes. That is one of the basic tenets of Numb3rs, but in this season finale their differing viewpoints finally spilt them apart when one of Charlie's colleagues (Ravi Kapoor) was arrested for being a member of a potential terrorist group and for sending high level scientific information to Pakistan. The information he was sending turned out to be just stuff to help with agricultural issues, but it was still illegal to send it, so he was kept in custody even after he was cleared in the rest of the case. Charlie made a decision to forward the professor's information himself, therefore committing a federal crime and getting all his security clearance taken away, just because it was the right thing to do to help people. Now he can't work with Don anymore or on any special projects at the university.

I'm sure that Charlie and Don's separation will only be temporary, but I kind of hope they let it go on for at least a little bit of the next season. The two brothers have worked so hard to understand each other and grow close, now it will be interesting to see if they can maintain that closeness when they don't work together. And, of course, they are going to end up needing each other, personally and professionally, more than they ever knew. We've seen Don and Charlie argue before, but, in what I saw as an interesting sign of their growth and love, they didn't yell at each other or get overly angry in this episode. They talked about their own opinions, and their respect for the other's opinions, and then they went their separate ways. The boys are growing up.

As for Megan's departure, I think the reason they gave for her leaving was very accurate to the character, and I think the fact that she didn't make a big deal about it was also true to the character, but I was hoping for more of a chance to say goodbye. If they didn't want the whole finale to be about Megan I would have preferred that they did a separate episode, last week, where they had more time to actually devote to the character's departure. I mean, she was on the show for THREE years, and yet we only saw her say goodbye to Larry, David and Colby? Where were her farewells to Charlie, Alan, Amita and, ESPECIALLY, Don? I always thought they had a special relationship, but we didn't even get to see him get the news that she was leaving or say goodbye. These characters have all become like family to each other, and with such a major member of the family leaving, they needed to acknowledge the effect on everyone. That being said I'm glad that they didn't split up Larry and Megan and good luck to Diane Farr with her future plans, including the birth of her twins. I think she is a very talented actress and Megan's addition to Numb3rs was what got me interested in the show to begin with. She will definitely be missed.

I missed the Earl finale (the difficulties of being in the Central Time Zone), but The Office and ER finales gave me plenty to blog about:

The Office
--I knew there was going to be a proposal in this episode, but I was thinking that it would be too easy for it to be Jim and Pam. When Michael started flirting with Holly (the fantastic Amy Ryan)I feared he might jump the gun and propose to her, but thankfully Jim told him to slow down. So that left...Andy and Angela!? How funny was it that her response was a long pause and then "Okay,"? And then she gets caught having sex with Dwight in the office!! Oh, Angela, I am shocked.
--Long live Phyllis, planner of the best party the office has ever had! Angela, please relinquish your crown.
--Okay, I felt a little sad because Pam and Jim had their proposal moment ruined, especially after Jim spent all that money and Pam was so excited about it, but I was actually a little glad that they didn't get engaged yet. After all the stuff Toby has gone through pining for Pam, to have Jim use his going away party to propose to Pam may have been the nail in the HR guy's coffin. Now he can go to Costa Rica to pine in peace.
--Ryan is going to jail for fraud. And his arrest tape is on Youtube. Sometimes people get what they deserve. I loved Jim's very different phone messages for him, particularly the joy on his face when he mentioned Ryan having his "hands tied." I also hope Kelly enjoys taunting Ryan in prison. And I hope that he loses that "crime" of a beard (according to Oscar).
--Oh Michael! He finally met a woman (Holly from HR) who shared his interests, thought his jokes were funny and who made him act like a grown-up and even seem charming...only to give up on her to be a part of Jan's life with a baby that she didn't even want him to know about because she went to a sperm bank while she was still with him! Just when I get mad at him for being a jerk most of the time he reminds me that sometimes he cares too much.
--Dwight telling Holly that Kevin is "slow" and nothing Kevin did or said for the rest of the episode doing anything to convince her otherwise.
--Creed's monologue of panic as he tried to figure out what exactly he does in the office.
--Jim and Pam forwarding both Dwight's phones to Jim. I've missed their pranking.


ER
--After everything seemed to be going so well in Pratt's life during this episode I definitely thought he'd be the one to die, but did he? Or was it Sam? Or someone else? Oh September, you are so far away!
--Abby and Luka are back together and headed off into the sunset...wherever that may be. Definitely not Chicago. Good for them, and good for Luka for slugging Moretti (even though, up until he slept with Abby, I actually thought Moretti was a fairly interesting character).
--Neela and the obnoxious new doctor? Ugh.
--I hope Dubenko isn't really leaving. Despite his recent freakouts with Skye and Neela, I still genuinely like his character.

Well, the crazy cab driver mystery finally came to an end and I have to admit that despite my comments last week I did end up feeling sorry for Reed. Oh, I still think he is a moron (Who did he think his source was? And why would he get in a cab to begin with? And, oh yeah, he was indirectly responsible for getting an innocent man killed!), but he did spend most of this episode tied up in a trunk with a dead body, he had to watch a creepy killer carve a Bible verse into the body, he had to type the guy's psychotic ramblings into his blog, and then he got his neck sliced open. I don't care how stupid you are, you don't deserve all that. He was smart enough to send Mac hidden "beer-making ingredient" messages through his blog, though, so he redeemed himself a bit in my eyes. Was I the only one who thought it was a little thoughtless of Mac to make the kid ride home from the hospital in a cab, even if he did go with him? Couldn't you have given him a ride in the squad car just this once, Mac? Oh well, as Stella pointed out, Mac isn't quite used to this "dealing with a kid" thing yet.

I get the feeling that Mac's female friends/love interests were upset that they didn't know about Reed for more than professional reasons. Um, ladies, maybe he just didn't want you to know because he was trying to protect "his" kid, not because he doesn't trust you or like you. At least Quinn was nice about it when she found out; Jordan was downright rude to Stella, especially after poor Stella had just been trying to hold Reed's throat together with her (apparently) teeny-tiny hands. Do not mess with Stella!

Sid didn't do anything particularly awesome tonight besides figuring out that the murdered cop/cab driver was beaten to death, so my favorite moment of the evening goes to Hawkes (Yes, he was actually in this episode!) for calling Lindsay "Montana." She said that it was nice and that she missed it. So do I.

This is a little short since I'm traveling so please help me fill in all the good stuff that I forgot.

While this was certainly a powerful episode for all of the characters I couldn't help but think as I watched it that I might care a little bit more if the writers had actually taken the time to develop Lake's character over the course of the season instead of throwing some random mystery past in at the last minute as an excuse to get rid of the character. I think all SVU detectives probably become haunted by cases (one reason why there is such a high burn-out rate) and are tempted to take matters into their own hands like Lake did in this case, so it is probably fitting that one of the show's detectives finally cracked in that way. I just think it would have meant more if it was character we all cared about instead of the guy who they brought on for one season and hardly ever used.

I also wasn't a fan of the way they chose to get rid of Diane Neal by having Casey lie about some tests and getting (probably) sentenced to a year suspension by the Board. While it was great to see Judith Light back, and when Casey started crying I almost teared up with her (mainly because I genuinely like Diane Neal and I don't know why the show is dumping her) I don't understand why, of all the difficult cases Casey has been faced with over the years, she would choose this one to tell a boldfaced lie during. I know the opening scene was supposed to let us know that the work was getting to her and that she never sleeps, but I wish they'd given us more than one scene of character development before axing her so abruptly. Is that too much to ask?

Something in this episode that I actually found interesting was Finn's refusal to forgive Elliott for running his phone records because he suspected that he was helping Lake. Elliott has done worse things to defend Olivia when she's potentially in the wrong, and vice versa, but I guess, for the first time, we saw that he doesn't really completely trust Finn. Apparently the feeling is mutual because Finn requested a transfer that should hopefully make for an interesting season premiere in the fall. I enjoyed how that part of the storyline played out with Olivia urging Elliott to apologize to Finn and Finn eventually telling Elliott that his doggedness made him a good cop, but not a good friend. Elliott didn't even deny it, which makes me think that he probably knows it is a least a little bit true.

Note: I'm leaving today to go to Houston and won't be back until Sunday. I'm taking my laptop and I hope to still have some time for blogging, but if I do disappear for a few days you'll know why.

Let's begin at the end, shall we? Okay, I'll admit to being a spoiler junkie so I've known for awhile that something bad was going to happen at the end of this episode (i.e. someone was going to get hurt) and as soon as I realized Pam was becoming obsessed with Booth I thought that she would try to hurt Brennan. And as soon as I saw Booth stand up to face Pam I knew that he was going to step in front of the shot. But I never saw it coming that Brennan would pick up Booth's gun and shoot (and probably kill) Pam, or that Booth would black out at the end with Brennan holding him and screaming his name. I think we can all figure out that Booth will make it (there is no Bones without Booth), but this sets up lots of interesting possible circumstances for the finale.

This episode involved a lot of psychology so Sweets got to take a leading role and I was quite happy about it. He recognized immediately that Pam was dangerous (and had VERY complicated body issues) and that she was going to attach herself to Booth, even though Booth and Brennan both mocked him for his predictions. ("Mocking will not change my opinion. I’ve been mocked many, many times before. That came out wrong.") He also helped Brennan and Booth understand their superiority issues and even got in a psychological argument with Brennan (Booth pulling up a chair between them: "Kids, you keep fighting, no dessert.") It was also cute how he is still so excited about their therapy appointments.

If separating your trail mix is a sign of craziness then I am definitely in trouble, but Pam had way bigger issues going on. We don't see Booth genuinely scared very often, but when Pam confronted him in his office, brought him socks, and responded to his "Ma'am, this is way inappropriate" by giggling and saying she was going to tell her mother our FBI guy was genuinely freaked out. He even took a step back from her. I don't know if he was afraid of losing his pride by admitting that Sweets was right and he was wrong, but I really wish he would have told someone about how crazy she was before it was too late.

Between this episode and the absolutely, mind-bendingly amazing episode of House that I watched afterward I had quite a night of TV...and a ton to try to process between now and the finales next week. Is it Monday yet?

Other highlights:
--Brennan singing "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" and putting on quite the spectacular and adorable show as Booth as her friends cheered her on creating "an appropriate atmosphere of frivolity", and Booth even brandished his lighter. This was such a cute, fun scene...until everyone got shot, of course.
--Zach bursting into song after being heckled by Hodgins and attracting the attention and admiration of everyone in the lab. I loved Angela's two thumbs up and Hodgins begrudgingly respectful, "Thanks for the free concert."
--Booth's joy at having a reason to say "Cut the cheese."
--Not that it is an excuse to kill anyone, but that alarm clock going off every two minutes got on my nerves, too.
--Zach was full of surprises is this one. I enjoyed him detailing his work-out routine and admitting to being deceptively strong. Hodgins: "I'm deceived."
--Brennan describing Booth's grass allergies: "Particles from the cut grass are causing his mast cells to release inflammatory mediators."
--Brennan: "Until I was 13, I wanted to be the next Cyndi Lauper."
Booth: "I’d say you were kidding, but I don’t think you know to kid."
Brennan: "The other girls and I referred to her as 'rad.'"
--Another gross opening scene; the head in the tractor with the eyeball dropping out at an appropriate moment in the conversation. Eww!
--Pam calling Brennan scrawny and scarecrow, Brennan: "I’m not scrawny! My body mass index is well within normal limits."
--Booth ogling the girl working out at the gym.
--The American Idol references to match the American Idol guest stars: Booth calls Brennan "Paula" after she keeps saying how good all the karaoke singers are and Booth referring to Kelly Clarkson, American Idol and "Because of You." Brennan: "Because of me?"
--Brennan: "I like it when you break down doors. I don’t know why exactly, I just do."


Note: I am leaving town early Wednesday morning and I will be in Houston until Sunday. I'm taking my laptop with me so I plan and hope to still be blogging, but if I go missing for a few days you'll understand why.

A few of my thoughts:

My Name is Earl
--Earl yelling from the hotel balcony during his honeymoon about how happy he was with Billie only to be yelled at and shot at by the other hotel guests for being too happy. I guess that was foreshadowing.
--Randy's disturbing misunderstanding of "rabbit ears" and his subsequent attempts to find a home for the earless rabbit.
--The concept of a grocery bagging competition complete with a referee, grocery groupies, and Miss Bag on Her Head.
--Earl looking creeped-out every time Joel (Jon Heder) touched him with his claw.

Scrubs
--The whole Princess Bride storyline was very clever and had a lot of great moments. A few: JD/The Fool's secret hair product is extra manure, The Janitor/Giant eats babies...I mean, toddlers, The Todd as a high-fiving fairy, everything about the two-headed wizard Turla, and Ted's hunchback.
--Aloma Wright returning as Shirley. I loved the part where The Fool tried to turn his mule Sasha into a horse and he and The Princess ended up on Wench Shirley's back instead.
--ABC needs to officially announce they are picking up this show NOW. This was a cute, charming, fun, funny episode, but we can't leave it like this!
--Since this episode was obviously out of order (Kelso was still Cheif) I wonder when it was supposed to air.

The Office
--Watching Jim do something he's never done before in his time at Dunder-Mifflin: Try. Ryan might be able to suspend Jim from work, but he can never take away the best thing in his life, Pam. The conversation where she called him on the golf course to tell him what Michael was making her do, and he responded, "I like you," was adorable.
--Andy is such a moron that it hurts to watch him sometime. It almost literally hurt in this episode where he managed to get oozing blisters all over his hands AND take a nose dive out of a golf cart into a sand trap.
--Creed leading the revolution to leave work early (“Let’s ditch this bitch!”), saying that he finished all his work months ago, and calling Angela from across the office to see if she's "in" with the plan.

30 Rock
--Matthew Broderick as "Cooter Berger" (his nickname was given to him by the president because he looks like a turtle and he was eating a burger one time...that was really just a sandwich) as an employee of the Bush administration ("The media is so obsessed with the pending election they totally forgot we're here. Exciting times!") and Jack's new "best friend". I loved all the stuff about the lack of pens, and the brilliant pen CAP delivery, and the leaking ceiling. ("The ceiling is not leaking. I can show you a study," and "No, it's not. We've looked into it and it's not."
--Liz mistakenly going to visit Kathy Geiss's office and Kathy staring silently and taking a toy car from her mouth...and then replacing it after Liz left.
--Kenneth's series of Olympic events to get his Jenna-produced Beijing Olympics Page Application to the 12th floor after being repeatedly sabotaged by Donny.
--Pete's bid to be an Olympic archer was destroyed by Jimmy's Carter's Olympic boycott. "Saboteur!"
--Liz's series of baby drama voicemail messages to Jack and the little smile on Jack's face as he listened to them. Then he went all the way back to NYC just to make sure she was okay. Aww! The heart of this show is the Liz and Jack friendship and I'm glad it was on display in the season finale even if they have been (Hopefully! Wake up again, Don Geiss!) temporarily separated.
--Season finale cliffhangers: Will Liz adopt? Are Jack and Cooter and some other high level Bush administration employees gay now? Will Kenneth be killed in China? And what did he do to deserve that's guy's wrath?

ER
--Abby once again proving that she is probably the best doctor County General has ever had. After so much suffering this season it was nice to see her thriving again, and putting the new doctor (who I HATE--the way he treated that intern--disgusting) in his place. As much as I love her at County General, though, I have to admit that I was momentarily excited for her to have the opportunity to get out and be in better place. I just want Abby to be happy.
--Pratt is in love. Real, grown up love. He is actually taking care of Bettina and admitting that he's never felt like this before. Aww, our obnoxious teenage boy has become a man.
--The whole storyline with Lois/Lonnie and her parents was very well done. I thought Beth Broderick as the mom was fantastic. I can't imagine a parent being so angry with his or her child that they wouldn't at least try to save his or her life, no matter what the child had done.

Okay, I know this is wrong of me to say, but I have to admit I was a little glad that it was Reed getting into the killer cab at the end of this episode instead of Lindsay. I feel badly because I know next week is going to be really hard on Mac, and that he is already upset enough about this cab driver killer and that he will probably blame himself for Reed's kidnapping, but over the past couple of weeks Reed has been really getting on my nerves. He's using the fact that Mac wants to have a personal relationship with him to pressure Mac into giving him exclusive information on the cabbie killer, he made up information on his blog and made in look like it came from Mac, he set Mac up to get in trouble with the NYC cab industry at a press conference, and then--MAJOR MORON ALERT--he got a mysterious text message, went to meet a "source" alone, and then got into a cab by himself!

Mac really is having a rough time with this case; he is getting pressure from his bosses and the people of the city to catch this killer right away, but he's doing the best he can. And, as he admitted to Stella in their nice office chat where we actually got to see "vulnerable Mac" for once, he's putting a lot of pressure on himself, too, because he knows how many innocent people are being hurt by this crazy cabbie. Next week's episode should be intense.

The cheerleader storyline wasn't that interesting to me because I figured it out almost in the first moment when I saw the cheerleader kiss the guy on the mouth. I didn't figure out why she did it until they searched her apartment and they showed the "fat" picture, but all in all it was pretty predictable. The best part of the storyline was seeing Mac and Flack being buddies and messing with each other at the "New York Empire" game and Flack saying "Boom" for the second week in a row. By the way, what was up with the cheerleaders' uniforms? They looked like the ones that the cheerleaders wore at my junior high school. Have these people not seen the type of things pro cheerleaders wear these days?

Danny and Lindsay are both missing each other; she's taking rain walks and Danny seems to genuinely regret letting Lindsay slip away from him, even though HE HASN'T TOLD HER WHAT HE DID YET. He does want to see her, though, and with Ricki seemingly gone for good to start a new life, and Lindsay able to escape the cab killer's clutches, maybe they will make their way back to each other. I only want to see it if Danny is honest with her, though. Lindsay, and the audience, deserve that.

Random Sid is Awesome Moment: Sid says he's afraid of group sporting events because of things like this (indicating the victim), but he enjoys fencing. Things like what, Sid? Having a chance to make the million dollar shot at a pro-basketball game, making it, and then dying because you got a poison kiss from a cheerleader who you made fun of when she used to be fat? Because I hear that happens all the time.

Okay, this one is going to be fairly brief because I'm running off to my last day of proctoring exams (Yay!). These are just a few of my thoughts so help me remember some other good, bad, or just plain crazy stuff (lots of that) from this episode:

All of these people were very, very, VERY screwed up. The victim was a gold-digging hustler who hooked up with the wealthy son of a coffee fortune family(Matthew Davis)in order to get her claws on the family money by marrying the son and having his baby...except he was infertile so she slept with his dad (Stephen Collins) so she could still get the money. The plan worked fairly well because the father and son were a little crazy themselves (at one point in the episode the dad threw P.J. through a window in police station only to hug him and be forgiven hours later at the hospital). Ultimately, though, the title of craziest person in the episode goes to the family lawyer who had been in love with P.J. since they were in college together and does everything in her power to protect him, including murdering his crazy, gold-digging fiance. That was bad enough, but when faced with a hidden video of the crime instead of going to jail the lawyer ran up to the roof of the NYPD (security, anyone?) and jumped off the ledge grabbing her "beloved" and taking him with her so they can be together in death while daddy cries for him on the rooftop. In summary: Everyone in this episode was insane.

Highlights:
--Munch stalling the father and son in the middle of the night by asking the dad how to brew the perfect cup of coffee. I love Munch!
--The return of Peter Hermann (Mr. Mariska Hargitay) as Attourney Trevor Langan representing Peter Bartlett. It has been awhile since we've seen him.
--The lady who was the spiritual advisor to the victim and who communicated with the angels. I'm so glad "Cleopatra" gave her solid advice about the Bartlett's identity.
--Casey figuring out the juror was paid off by getting some "behind the scenes" information from her friend the police officer who escorts the jurors. I'm sure that is illegal somehow, but that is one reason why I'm going to miss Casey; she's always been smart enough to make friends with the right people to get stuff done.

Over a year after Brennan's father, Max Keenan (Ryan O' Neal), was accused of murdering the crooked deputy director of the FBI we finally got to see his trial and it was definitely worth the wait. The Squint team and Booth were forced to testify for the prosecution, which didn't set well with them, but given Brennan's ability to compartmentalize she seemed completely fine with it. That and the fact that she and Zach are both "crazy competitive." Everyone involved with the case, including Max's own children, knows that he's guilty, but they also all know that he did the world a favor by taking down a bad man to protect his children.

With all of these conflicted emotions and thoughts this was a great episode that truly showed the dynamics of the team and how deeply their friendship really goes. Deepest of all was Angela's devotion to Brennan; she refused to testify even though Brennan told her to, and was sent to jail for contempt of court. "Sweetie, this is one of those times when I know I’m right and everyone else is confused." Their jail cell talk showed the beauty of their friendship when Angela admitted that she thought Max would be convicted and she couldn't be a part of that. "Friends don’t send friends’ fathers to the electric chair."

For the first time ever I was put in the position of hoping that my beloved Squints would make a mistake and it felt very odd. Brennan found herself in the same position for the first time, when it turned out that Zach did make a mistake, and return character Clark Edison (I actually like his character, but, of course, not as much as I love Zach. Maybe he is Gormagon?), the forensic anthropologist for the defense caught it, casting doubt on Max's guilt. For a few brief moments while the new murder weapon was being found there seemed to be hope that Max would go free and Brennan realized that she really wanted him to go free even though she knew it was guilty. Her love for him overruled her scientific reason.

She also discovered that her father was willing to sacrifice his life just so that he didn't have to leave her again, and in a shocking display, decided to do the same for him by allowing herself to be painted as a possible suspect in order to give reasonable doubt to her father's guilt. Did you see how Booth could never bring himself to suggest that she could have done it, even after seeing a disturbing version of the murder with her as the killer in his mind? After catching on to what she was doing ("That's a lot of heart, Bones.") he finally did what she wanted and said that she could have had time to commit the crime, but it hurt him greatly to say it because he could never hurt her.

The scene at the end with the entire cast together hugging, and Brennan holding her father while silently thanking Booth with her eyes was wonderful and it reminded me why I love this group and this show so much. I'm also glad that Caroline isn't going to prosecute Brennan; I don't think I could go through another trial like this and neither could the Squints!

Between this episode and the new episode of House last night (So much Cuddy! *dies of excitement/love of Lisa Edelstein*) I had quite an excellent birthday even if I did spend all day proctoring exams. Thank you Fox writers.


Highlights:
--Booth making Brennan laugh about separating her head and her heart as they waited for Zach to search for the murder weapon. Brennan to Booth: "Sometimes I think you are really very nice." Aww!
--The opening scene where Brennan laughs hysterically at Booth's theory that a contorted skeleton was wrapped in a carpet. Caroline deadpans, "I did not know she could laugh." I didn't know she could laugh like that either! I wonder what did happen to that body.
--Booth and Brennan teasing Sweets about "liking" them when he says he wants to continue to "study" them. He really just wants to spend time with them, but they give in eventually in exchange for help with cases.
--Sweets being a genius with a ton of degrees, but still using words like "totally" and "mega-dangerous."
--Caroline prepping the team for trial and telling them what is wrong with them: Booth has to lose his "Cocky" belt buckle, Zach is not allowed to cut his own air, Cam has to eat so her stomach isn't growling and Angela needs to, "Ugly up a little. The plain women on the jury will hate you."
--Brennan and Booth getting separated by the judge in court for whispering across the aisle. Also, later when she went to Booth to discuss her plan to cast reasonable doubt on her dad's guilt, even though they weren't supposed to be talking to each other about the case. "Please, you are the person I talk to about stuff like this." And everything else, Brennan.

Once again, my thoughts are going to be a little brief because I'm having a busy week with work until Wednesday, but I look forward to catching up with your comments soon and I hope you can help me remember all the good stuff I forget to mention. Also, sorry for the lack of a Numb3rs blog last week; I was packing to go out of town for the weekend and I didn't have time to write one. Anyway, here goes this week:

--I loved the opening and closing scenes of Charlie and Larry "walking on water" (nice metaphor for an episode filled with thoughts on religion). Watching Larry sink into the mixture was great, as was Charlie remarking that he must not have added enough starch. I loved at the end when Charlie was preparing to try the walk and Larry faked him out and ran across it before him. It looked like a lot of fun, although I have a feeling I'd sink like Larry did the first time!
--This was quite a big episode for Larry as he continued to go through his crisis of faith by questioning his beliefs in God, in science, and in his place in the universe. Although I agreed with the message of his outburst against the woman in the cult (God created man, and wouldn't God want his creation to use the mental gifts he gave us to make scientific discoveries and help people?), it wasn't the time or the way to discuss those issues. Megan even had to send him to "take a walk" to cool off. Later he realized that just because you disagree with someone's dogma doesn't mean you should hate the purity of their beliefs. We all have something we believe in without question.
--The murders and poisoning at the cult turned out to have no religious basis; they were basically a war of two con-men who worked together to get accepted into the cult as a minister father and his son, took over the church, and tried to steal the church's money, but greed won out and the con-men tried to kill each other with the younger one (Steven R. McQueen) eventually succeeding. Even as he was being led away in handcuffs he still tried to foist the blame on his innocent "girlfriend" Audrey; once a con man, always a con man.
--The FBI team was fooled by the con men, too, because they seemed to be more "normal" than the rest of the church members. We all tend to trust those who are most like us.
--I think the criminals run more on this show than any other crime drama. This week Colby got dragged by a car!
--Therapy must be helping Don; he is making a genuine effort to learn about Robin's interests and to spend time with her (other than just to have sex). I didn't enjoy them much the first time, but they are turning into a pretty cute couple.
--Alan likes being a student because as long as he doesn't look in a mirror he can look at the people around him and pretend like he is still in his twenties.
--With Megan on her way out and Larry having a crisis of faith do you think they will leave together?

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

For those who missed my disclaimer yesterday I am proctoring exams at a local college over the next few work days so I might not be around as often as usual and my blogs might be a little shorter. That just means I need you all to help me remember all the great moments that I forgot or didn't have time to mention! Here are my brief highlights, blog away:

My Name is Earl
--Wow! Earl is married again. Well, what woman can resist this line: "Even though most of those words were written by Bret Michaels in the '80s, they're coming straight from the heart"? Hopefully this one sticks for awhile and he Billie can figure out karma together...with Randy along for the ride, of course.
--Catalina's awkward lesbian small talk with Billie before licking her neck.
--Kenny's not-so-secret crush on Stuart the cop.
--There were lots of funny things about Joy and the kids living in the Crab Shack now, like when the guy at the bar was teaching one of the kids to carry numbers...on his spelling homework, the pool table "bunk beds", and when the phone rang and Joy said, "Who calls a bar after 7:00?! We have kids sleeping."

Scrubs
--JD and Turk shopping for a testicular implant at "Ball Mart".
--Dr. Cox insisting on being called "Chief Dr. Cox," even by the announcer guy, who apparently just follows him around these days.
--A brief cameo from Kelso who laughed hysterically when Dr. Cox had Carla call him to ask him to help with some work that was left over from his regime.
--JD and Elliott becoming friends again by pranking a local drive-thru with a "Speaker Broken: Talk Loudly" sign that accidentally got the manager kidnapped. By the end of the episode they were laughing and chatting and playing with Sam like a family, and Turk and Carla aren't the only ones who noticed.
--Whoever came up with the idea of making a "braintrust" out of my favorite supporting characters, The Janitor, Todd, Doug, and Ted, is a genius. They make me laugh out loud every week.

The Office
--Just when I was feeling a little sorry for Ryan last week he goes and threatens Jim's job...and Toby backs him up because he's jealous of Jim and Pam! I guess that awkward fence jumping incident last week taught him nothing. Not cool, Toby.
--I was actually a little proud of Michael this week. First, he proved to be smarter than Andy by not allowing himself to be suckered into surrendering power to Dwight, and then he actually acted like a real boss. Michael Scott, they guy who wants everyone (except Toby) to love him, told Stanley that even if he didn't really respect him, he still had to pretend to respect him because he was still the boss. Okay, he "fake fired" Stanley first, but we take moments of maturity when we can get them from Micheal.
--Speaking of Andy and Dwight, did you catch the admiring look on Angela's face when she overheard how Dwight had tricked Andy? I believe someone is still smitten with his evil genius.
--One of the gangs that Darryl has belonged to: The Newsies. I also enjoyed his explanation of "fluffy fingers".

30 Rock
--Floyd's involuntary reaction to seeing Liz at her door after his airline was "canceled.": "Crone!!"
--"Floor 12" complete with blinking florescent lights, a one-eyed receptionist, and elevator doors that don't open again.
--I knew something was up when Jack was giving Liz a (mostly) comforting mentor-like speech about her life, but I never dreamed he'd leave NBC to go to that "sinking ship," the Bush administration. Blurg.
--Kenneth realizing that alcohol is the "Hillbilly Milk" that he has been drinking since he was a baby. I knew that not even the Teamsters could beat the TGS crew in a drinking contest, especially when the batteries are dead in Tracy's ankle monitor.

ER
--I continue to be amazed at the path that Morris has gone on from his early days on the show until now. Tonight he proved to be smart, compassionate, and an extremely capable leader under horrific conditions. Scott Grimes has taken the worst goofy screwup in ER history and made him into a man without ever losing that original, slightly goofy, quality. Bravo!
--Another character who had a rough road becoming a man is Pratt, but in this episode, under circumstances where anyone might be expected to bail (especially on someone who isn't even their girlfriend anymore), he stood by Bettina and told her that he loved her and wanted to spend his life with her.
--We all know that County General is the unluckiest hospital in the world (How do people keep getting weapons in?!), but tonight's scenes were especially harrowing because the shooter really seemed like a guy who'd just lost everything and couldn't bare to lose anything else. He did terrible things, but like Morris, I felt a pang of sadness when he was shot by the sniper.

Okay, I don't have time to write this paragraph style this week, so here are just a few of my thoughts from the episode:

--Guy with half his face burned off by acid--Eww!
--Stella and Mac have been spending too much time together, they are starting talk alike. Also talking alike: Danny and Flack (who has picked up Danny's, "Boom").
--The sequence of Stella and Flack interviewing kids at the prom was hilarious. My favorites were the snobby girl that Stella talked to and the suck-up who Flack cut off with, "Stop. Just stop."
--Kids growing pot in the school science lab?! Come on, someone HAD to notice that.
--I'm not very tech-savvy, but the way Adam was able to use the pictures from the kids cellphones to create a 3D image of the room was totally cool. Stella agrees with me.
--Jesse/Hank posing at a high school kid so that he and his fellow predator could drug and rape young girls together was very twisted and creepy. I can't believe he managed to keep up the act, and pass all the checks and screening procedures to get into such an exclusive school, but he was very intelligent...in a very evil way.
--I just knew that Inspector Gerrard (Carmen Argenziano--"Scooter" from House this season) was going to take matters into his own hands after we saw him crying outside the room as his daughter Natalie admitted to Lindsay that she was drugged and raped. I think Mac had a bad feeling about it, too; he didn't seem at all surprised to see Gerrard with the gun in his hand at the end.
--No mention of Danny and Lindsay's relationship.
--Three episodes left and the taxi-cab killer is still out there!

Random Sid is Awesome Moment: Actually, maybe this one should be a "Sid is a little creepy" moment--He tells Mac that he sometimes thinks about taking a swig of acid just to see what it would feel like, and when Mac pretends to agree with him by saying that he thinks about doing self-autopsies Sid is glad to be understood for once, until he realizes that Mac is messing with him. That's okay, Sid, I still like you...please don't hurt me.

P.S. I proctor tests at a local college, and it is exam time, so I might not be around much during the day to respond to your comments or chat on other blogs, but comment away; I promise I'll read them soon!

I like Robin Williams, but he has become so good at playing these psychopath characters that he creeps me out a little now. Even when he is being his funny self, I can't look at him the same way anymore; the same way I will never be able to look at Scott Adsit (Pete from 30 Rock) after this (200th!) episode.

The episode started out with Adsit's character, a manager at "Happy Burger" tying up and groping a teenage employee in a storage closet because an "Officer Milgram" called and told him to do it. What. A. Moron. I cannot even imagine the thought process behind that one, but apparently there wasn't much of one considering the manager is probably going to jail now.

Of course, the real case is about this "Officer Milgram." (An alias chosen based on the famous Milgram experiments where Dr. Stanley Milgram tested to see if civilians would give electric shocks to their loved ones just because they were told to do it. The shocks weren't real, but the people didn't know that and they gave them anyway.) Milgram is actually Merritt Rook (Robin Williams) who is an audio engineer with some serious grudges against authority, and some very clever, extremely twisted, ways of carrying out revenge against the establishments that he believes have wronged him.

When Rook, acting as his own defense, manages to get himself acquitted from the Happy Burger case he becomes a local celebrity, appearing on TV and organizing rallies (with Mo Rocca as his guy with a megaphone) urging people not to be "sheep". He appears on a local talk show with an actual sheep named Elliott (Elliott: "You've got to be kidding me") to prove his point and even Munch (yay for Munch!) gets sucked into his logic and takes part in a group rally/pillow fight.

When Rook stages a giant "freeze" in Grand Central Station (similar to a real-life one a few months ago) Olivia and Elliott attempt to arrest him for driving his dead wife's doctor to suicide (the wife died in childbirth, Rook knew there was something wrong, but the alcoholic doctor didn't believe him, so he kept his mouth shut), but by lifting the freeze at the right moment Rook kidnaps Olivia by telling her that he has a bomb that will explode the station if she doesn't go with him.

When Elliott finds Rook (he goes alone, of course, because no TV cop ever has back up) in an old record studio, Rook attempts to get Elliott to repeat Milgram's experiments and shock Olivia. Elliott, even though he starts crying when he hears Olivia screaming as Rook hits the button, can't bring himself to hurt her because "too many people have been hurt". Rook congratulates Elliott on being a man instead of a sheep like he was concerning his wife, and admits that the whole experiment was faked. As Olivia and Elliott attempt to take Rook away, Rook fools them once again by blowing up the record studio and escaping to his death...or to return another day.

Okay, so clearly Rook is a psychopath, but am I the only one, besides Munch, who thought he actually had some valid points? He did terrible things and his methods were deplorable, but I found myself understanding at least some of what he did. That is something I love about SVU, even the most twisted characters are still human enough that we can find ourselves identifying with them, in the same way that Elliott came to understand Rook.

That's what I thought it would be like when Brennan was put in charge of an infant for few days, but she surprised me, Booth, and even herself ("Just because I have breasts doesn't mean I have magical powers over infants") when she ended up bonding with little Andy and being a pretty good short-term foster mom. Of course, she still had her funny/awkward moments (Andy peeing on her foot, "How about some visual and auditory stimulation"), but by the middle of the episode when she was teaching him about "dancing phalanges," blowing raspberries on his stomach, and still making Booth change all the diapers (smart girl!) I knew the little guy had won her over. Maybe a baby in a regular situation wouldn't have made such an impact on her, but Andy losing his mother, having a criminal father, and being all alone in the world hit a little close to home for her. She even realizes the importance of saving little Andy when Booth makes her promise to drive off if she hears gunshot come from the trailer; she says she won't leave him/Booth, but in the end she agrees because there is a baby involved. I cheered when she lost her cool with the murderer and shoved him against the fence yelling, "There was a baby in that car, you son of a bitch!".

Booth also realized how close Brennan had gotten to Andy, and how to get a plasma TV for himself, when Brennan admitted in the final scene that she had decided to use her considerable wealth to rebuild the bridge in the town where Andy lived with his new parents so that the town could rebuild its economy and hopefully begin to thrive again. Brennan wanted a good life for Andy and Booth decided that Brennan should buy another residence there so that "our little guy" could come to "our home," eat 5/7 layer dip, and "we" could watch "our" giant plasma TV. Brennan may have pacified him, literally, but it sounds like someone wants to set up house with his partner.

Other highlights:
--Booth's refusal to say the word breasts. "I'm not talking teats with you."
--Brennan referring to Booth as a "baby-daddy."
--"Elephants aren't purple. This is wrong."
--Booth when he finally knows something scientific, "That's right guys! I am a constant surprise!"
--After the baby's poop is pink, Zach wonders if it is supposed to be that color, and Cam asks him if he's ever seen pink poop. He responds several minutes later that one time after he ate a lot of beets...luckily Cam cuts him off with, "Too much sharing, Zach!"
--Bones and Booth arguing over baby talk, and Booth catching Brennan doing it herself.
--Angela wanting a "million" kids and Cam and Hodgins both being concerned about that. Cam refuses to give up her body for the same gross vomit and feces that she gets every day at work and Hodgins manages to make Angela think more about "two" and less about "a million" by telling her he'll still love her and think she is beautiful even when she is all lumpy after giving birth to so many kids.

Here are a few thoughts on my favorite Thursday night lineup (although I love Ugly Betty and Grey's, too; I just haven't seen them yet).

My Name is Earl

The past few episodes have certainly been interesting, but I'm definitely glad that Earl is finally out of his coma!
--Darnell on why Randy shouldn't be trusted with taking care of Earl: Remember the first Mr. Turtle that who came out of his shell and then you put him back in as if I wouldn't notice? These are the things that make me worry.
--Randy filling Earl's IV with a mixture of chicken, fries and beer. Eww!
--"Hey Old Earl." "Hey Old Crabman." Good to know that some things never change.
--Randy using tongs and a blowdryer on Earl during his spongebath.
--In Earl's sitcom coma world they brought in Cousin Wendell after their own kids grew too old to be cute.
--Earl's "pimp chair" with rims, speakers, and a bubble machine.
--Joy after Earl says in his dream world he was married to Billie: "Oh crap, I think the coma made him gay".

Scrubs

Noooo!! Sacred Heart needs Bob Kelso! Even Dr. Cox wants him to stay! I thought Scrubs was really back on its game tonight with an episode that was funny, a little absurd (I loved the "Love Train" sequences), and very emotional (I teared up when Kelso genuinely thanked Ted).
--I loved all the stuff with Kelso talking to Boone on the bench. It proved how much he really does care about the hospital and its people, even though he has to make a lot of decisions that make people hate him. I especially enjoyed his "negotiation" with Dr. Cox where he admitted that he lost most of their battles over the years, but he arranged it so Dr. Cox thinks he lost more. I'm glad Kelso left on his own terms, with his portrait in hand.
--All the stuff with the old folks was funny, from the guy stopping traffic and "honking" back at the cars to the old man randomly wandering through the emotional ending. "Only 470 tiny steps to your new room, Mr. ________."
--The janitor believing he had magical powers, but only succeeding in making one of the old people fall down.


The Office

--Wow, Toby is so embarrassed that his crush on Pam was discovered by the whole office (after letting his hand linger on her knee for a really long time) that he climbs and jumps a really high fence so he can jog home and says he's moving to Costa Rica. Now that is commitment to your fear.
--For the first time in a long time I felt a little sorry for Ryan. Yes, he's a jerk who shoots down Jim and acts like he's a genius with a great life, but it turns out that his big website is a disaster, he has one friend in NYC (who, according to Dwight, might be a hobbit), and he has a drug problem. And he is so desperately out of control that he turns to Michael and Dwight for friendship and advice about his problem, only to wind up passed out in his bed with both of them and Michael giving him a description of The Wire. Another Dunder Mifflin corporate worker hits bottom.
--The mind of Dwight Schrute is a mysterious thing; one moment he feels the need to add to Michael's proclamation that he's going to NYC to "get laid" by saying "with sex" and later he's the only one smart enough to find a way for the guys to get into an exclusive club and winds up making out with a gorgeous college basketball player (who he says he's never going to call). He also has both keys to the office because he believes that if he ever died, everyone else would be already dead.
--Jim's so proud of himself for his plan to work late on Friday so they don't have to come in on Saturday that he gets the whole staff locked in the parking lot, but out of the building, waiting for a security guard that he forgot to collect the Christmas bonuses for. Tough night, but at least he still has Pam.

30 Rock

--Jack and Devon discussing Clay Aiken in Spamalot.
--Liz discovering "business drunk" and "business sick" all in one day, and making her first, and last, major business decision about microwave "button classic."
--Jack wanting to tell his mother about her new job before she dies: “I want her to go to her grave a defeated woman.”
--Liz's counter attack when Devon threatened to tell Geiss that Jack almost let Liz sell NBC to the Germans: making out with Devon in an elevator so it shows up on security footage. She got through it by pretending he was a sandwich.
--Geiss's daughter Kathy munching on potential wedding flowers in the background while Devon flirted with the flower guy.
--Liz to her "former" employees after seeing her new salary and deciding to accept Jack's old job: “Suck it, monkeys, I’m going corporate!”

ER

--Although, Dubenko was off his mark when he decided to confront Skye, I can't really blame the guy for having his suspicions about her. Her "love the one you're with" philosophy is fun as long as you are that person, but as soon you see her start looking at other men you almost have to question if anything is going on. He didn't choose the best way to do it, and that makes me a little sad because I've grown to really like Dubenko and I wish he'd find a little happiness.
--Speaking of happiness there isn't much of it for Abby and Luka. Abby got back to work and managed to deliver a difficult birth and re-earn the respect of all her co-workers including Sam. Luka found a new job, and bonded with Hal Holbrook as an aging cancer patient, but in the end decided that he needed to move out. I understand his choice, but I hope this isn't the end for the two of them.
--Brenner is really starting to annoy me...and Neela. Telling a person that they have cancer while on speakerphone? Not cool. Also, the fact that he is Anspaugh's nephew (or "Australian love child" according to Morris) isn't going to win him any points at work.