The Watcher: 02/18/11 - 02/24/11

S01E06 - "It Takes Two To Make A Thing Go Wrong" (21 February 2011) - Josh gets the gorgeous doctor (and she is gorgeous), his sister breaks up with her girlfriend and decides to live with Josh and Aidan for a bit, Aidan is falling for Rebecca even harder after seeing a vampiric snuff film (vampire porn - not so much the sex as much as the blood being the turn on), and Sally trying out more ways to screw Danny over while being lonely and depressed and sulking. A good character episode where things are actually going good for Josh, which is majorly awesome. He's still a bit of a bafoon, and he could definitely have made the dinner with Nora less awkward. C'mon, dude! As for Aidan, I genuinely do like his interactions with Rebecca, I just wished he got a bit closer to picking a side already. And Bridget: god, I love that woman. Josh has one hell of a cool sister. Score: 9.2/10

S04E16 - "Chuck Vs. the Masquerade" (21 February 2011) - Alexi Volkoff may be preoccupied with the whole being-in-prison thing, but that doesn't mean the Volkoff story is completely done. Now the show is centered on Vivian Volkoff, the daughter of Alexi, who happens to have a key that opens something mega important that some assassin dude really, really wants. In the midst of Valentine's Day bliss, Team Bartowski is tasked with locating Vivian, saving her arse, and stopping this assassin dude from gaining any Volkoff intel. Suffice to say, they succeed. The real impact of the episode, I'd say, was the Chewbacca and Han Solo action figures. Chuck and Morgan can't seem to decide on how to part with them, since they are supposed to be together. They're best friends, man! The ultimate decision was brilliant and cute at the same time. However, I would have loved to take care of the collectors items, sirs, that would be lovely. Thank the Lords, it looks like Casey is going to have a real storyline soon! Some big CIA lady was all up in his face about getting a new job, and it has something to do about the renovations they made inside Castle. Now that plotline I'm intrigued about. Vivian Volkoff and whatever he left her...meh, let's see how that developments. But Team Chuck: please, please work on making more exciting action pieces. Score: 7.2/10

S03E14 - "69B" (18 February 2011) - Our side of the universe is beginning to rip apart, and shit, as it has been eloquently phrased, is about to hit the fan. At the epicenter, a old woman in 69B who receives visitations of her dead husband who she mistakenly believes to be a ghost, but is in fact a man from the Other Side. To combat the inevitably Vortex that would begin at the hotel, Walter becomes grumpy and soul searching and adds even another layer of dimension to this guilt ridden man. I absolutely adored the moment between Walter and Nina (or was it Astrid?) where he confesses he always thought of Walternate as a evil man with evil methods, but to save this universe, he might need to do the same, so what kind of man does that make him? Nina/Astrid responds, "the type of man who asks the right questions." Great, great scene. In the end, of course, disaster is averted for another day, leaving the rest of the episode dedicated to the Olivia/Peter relationship that finally hits home run tonight. I'm sure it won't be that easy and complications will sure be coming - not to mention that whole baby thing with the Other Olivia - but for now, I'm happy Olivia finally just caved in with her emotions. The next episode looks puzzling, and I'm not too fond with the idea that Olivia and Peter meeting each other was actually part of a master plan on Walter's part. Just doesn't vibe well. See ya then! Score: 9.4/10

S02E03 - "The I Of the Storm" (23 February 2011) - Holy crap, Boyd is losing his mind! Looks like Walton Goggins has his work cut out for him, because I am officially 100% invested in what happens to ol' Boyd Crowder and who he becomes here on out. Frakkin' A. And as for Boyd living at Ava's, it's not a romantic arrangement (not like I really thought they would go that route), just her helping him keep on the honest track. Although I understand Raylan's continued interest in Boyd, I do hope that the writers let them go their separate ways for the most part and allow their individual arcs to grow until, like "Bulletville", they come together in some magnificently awesome way in the end. After all, looks like Raylan not only has to deal with Mags but also this Dixie Mafia. It would be interesting to see Raylan begin to lose his edge, a little. In the pilot, Winona said Raylan is the angriest man she knows, and that's good enough excuse for the mile of bodies in his wake. But I'd think it would be interesting if all these people gunning for Raylan and all romantic entanglement with Winona and Ava gets him a bit angrier, edgier. Even if that doesn't pan out, JUSTIFIED is still 100% awesome, and the scene where Dewey barges in stealing the drugs in a cowboy hat yelling he's Raylan Givens compliments that statement really well. Plus I loved Art's questioning of who Raylan went to dinner with: 'I think I'd remember if we...' And then his realization of Winona: brilliant. Score: 9.5/10

S01E15 - "Alexandra" (17 February 2011) - NIKITA gets some darkness, and I'm all for that. Doing away with the unnecessary romantic subplots that seemed to be all the rage last week and instead concentrating on the relationship between Alex and Nikita in addition to Alex's past, the show gives us one of the most shocking, cold, and powerful moments of the season. A drugged up Alex stands over the beaten body of Victor, tells her captor her true identity and coldly shoots the man three times point blank range. Damn. There's other elements to the story, like Nikita seeing the footage Victor was taping and thus watching Alex kill Victor, and the moment where Nikita almost let slip she still has the hots for Michael, but that's all inconsequential right now. I can't wait to see where this leads Alex, how this situation has affected her or whether it made her stronger or weaker or more kickass. Brilliant episode. Score: 9.1/10

S01E06 - "Abbud" (21 February 2011) - Just the right amount of fun. Taking a break from the serious issues of these kids' lives, "Abbud" instead concentrates on a camping trip in Canada where the kids can just let loose and be themselves - which ultimately includes drugs and sex, of course. Abbud is just the right amount of sucker for romance, comedic genius, and crazy stoner man. While concentrating on Abbud, it still provides development of arcs that will hopefully be bursting relatively soon (Michelle/Tea/Tony/Stanley). Overall a immensely enjoyable episode. Score: 9.7/10

S10E14 - "Masquerade" (18 February 2011) - There were hits and misses, but for the most part, "Masquerade" was pretty good. I really liked Chloe confronting manifestations of sins and giving them a big "F U" in the face. I loved Clark in this episode, he had the perfect balance of humor ("it's my ability, I can name it whatever I want!") and heroics (doing his usual Superman thing). The subplot involving the CIA and Oliver & Chloe taking up the name of Jones wasn't exactly my cup of tea, but the strengths of the episode outweighs any little nitpicks. Unfortunately Alexander, Lionel, and Tess take a backseat this week, and looks like the same for tomorrow's episode, which majorly sucks because that's one of the most interesting developments of the seasons. With a limited number of episodes left, I would like some more momentum growing. Nonetheless, Clark put on the glasses, which was awesome. However, for the nitpicky, there are some inconsistencies watching "Masquerade" with "Homecoming" in mind, an episode earlier this season where he traveled forward in time. That's why you shouldn't have a time travel episode, cos they always end up screwing you over (see: "Doomsday", the Legion folks coming back to say Clark's gonna die...yep). Score: 8.7/10

S06E14 - "Mannequin 3: The Reckoning" (18 February 2011) - After the "holy shit!" cliffhanger finale of "Unforgiven", SUPERNATURAL goes back to basics with a Case of the Week, but ultimately, it's not up to their usual standards. Still a decent episode, indeed, just could have been better and freakier. I mean, freakin' mannequins, man! It's not their worst episode of the season, "All Dogs Go to Heaven" is definitely still the ranking champion. Dean gets a frantic call from Ben and heads back home to Lisa and faces...something. There is no real resolution with the Lisa/Ben storyline, unfortunately. Sam is back to basics, although he still has a bit of edge to him (which I like). The fact the ghost is connected via organ donation was pretty clever, but the resolution to that was also mildly disappointing. Here's to looking for next week's mega meta episode! Score: 6.2/10











S02E06 - "Birth Pangs" (22 February 2011) - THESE are the people who are going to save the world? To quote Giles, "the earth is doomed." With Erica, Hobbes, Jack, and a bruised Ryan (damnit, you're still alive!) in charge, we might as well surrender now. Take their Hong Kong activities for example: although they were sorta successful in that regard (and non successful in another), Hobbes and Erica ran around the hotel like two monkeys who hadn't a clue what they were doing, and they even had the audacity to have one of those 'close-proximity-intimate-?' moments that was just a super huge utter facepalm. Ugh, please treat us with respect. The one storyline that gives me hope right now is Lisa. When she finally grows the balls and fights back against Anna - and that butter FRAKKIN happen - it will be glorious. And now with Lisa and her grandma in the kahoots, looks like that just might be a reality. Also, this whole 'human emotion' thing: aside from being super obnoxious and lazy script-wise ('human emotion', '...human emotion', 'HUMAN EMOTION!'), I cannot fathom how anyone in charge can say they are without emotion, save maybe Marcus. Anna clearly shows emotion with her angry outbursts, Lisa obviously conveys insecure and worried during her conversations with mommy. The whole damn fleet of main character V's having emotion coming out of their ass. Meh, three episodes left. Let's see how this goes down. Score: 6.8/10