V: Heretic's Fork

I think they missed a couple of big opportunities in this one. Ryan got voted out of the runaway group even though it would have been a bold decision to keep him off the series for a few episodes. Lisa is already waffling between her conflicting commitments to her mother and Tyler when Joshua's test last episode was more than enough to inform the audience that Lisa's loyalty was up for grabs. Tyler continues to be a two dimensional character who sees the world in black and white when he should be growing as a person.

Hobbes is definitely a brilliant substitute for Georgie. I love that he does not trust or care about our core group of three heroes. Hobbes is smart enough not to torture the prisoner in front of the priest but does not shy away from saying what he feels needs to be done. Though I must admit I am more than a little annoyed by the television troupe of torture as effective means for information acquisition. Of course, if the torture victim gave false information Ryan, Val, and the Dr. would all be dead, I guess that would not make for happy TV.

The twice repeated chorus of "tell me one bad thing they've done" seems to have a simple answer and yet Erica chooses not to give a response either time the question is raised. The V's have killed an entire warehouse full of people who simply grouped together to consider that Visitors were a threat, they have secretly implemented a human tracking program through their healing centers, and target their own for death once they display human emotion. Those are just a few things Erica has seen first hand and yet she decides the the appropriate non-verbal response is deer in the headlights.

Did anyone else think that Ryan's chemistry with Dr. "V" is much better than the vibes he has with Val? Is anyone else curious as to why those two kids did not get together? Why in the world would Val run away with a woman Ryan has basically kept a secret from her for who knows how long?

I must say that I was unimpressed with the skills of the V soldier. It sees in bubble vision and has sonar capabilities but it certainly did not make a wave of destruction as Anna had inferred it would. Also, I am fairly certain all V's would be able to get up from that ax blow considering their hearts are on the other side of the body.

Chad has decided to through in completely with Anna. Good for him, bad for humanity, I wonder if he cares. He obviously knows that Father Jack is connected somehow to the Fifth Column as per their previous conversation. I am curious as to how long it will take for him to drop Jack's name to Anna. If Chad is willing to run a story on the Fifth Column, why would Anna not automatically give him Val's picture? Plastering her face on the highly rated television show would certainly make locating her much easier.

Speaking of the Fifth Column, where is it? We met two V members in this hour only to have them killed quickly. I am not frustrated with this show in the same way I was frustrated with FlashForward, but this episode did a bit to lessen my love for it.

Supernatural: Hammer of the Gods

I love that the fictional world of Supernatural is big enough to include non-Judo-Christian gods. Hammer of the Gods, like the episode where our heroes went to heaven conforms perfectly with a vision of gods that I have had dancing in my head for a very long time. The gods are people powered. Lucifer is stronger than all the other gods at the party because a larger portion of the human population believes in the Judo-Christian tradition than believe in the Norse warriors or the gods of Mount Olympus.

I think it is worth noting that Kali, a Hindu goddess of fairly significant importance, managed to survive her encounter with Lucifer. Perhaps that was because Hinduism is the third largest religion in the world and the largest group that do not believe in the god of Abraham. Or maybe it is because Gabriel saved her life by trading for his.

If it was that simple for Lucifer to kill Gabriel I wonder what kind of chance Michael truly has against him. Consider that Lucifer is currently in his imperfect vessel and has only "walked" the planet for a few months while Gabriel has been among the humans for thousands of years. It is too bad that Castiel was missing in action due to the events of the last episode. Castiel and Gabriel may have had a fighting chance against the devil.

Will Kali come back to help the boys at a key moment? I hope this was not the last we have seen of her. Maybe Kali went back to mourn the death of Gabriel and found the "Arch Angel" sword. If that sword can kill Gabriel, it must be able to kill his brother Lucifer. Unlike last week, I am now guessing that the sword that killed Zachariah (not a brother of Lucifer) would not be of a high enough level to kill the angel that God loved most.

While on the subject of wild conjecture that I was well off the mark with, now would be a good time for me to admit that Conquest is not coming. I thought that Conquest may replace Pestilence as a horseman based off some brief Wikipedia research because Conquest seemed to be more interesting than a rotting ball of disease. While I would like to reserve the possibility that I may have been right, the writers of Supernatural have decided to go with snot.

Did anyone else geek out when Gabriel tried to convince Kali to run to Pandora with him?

Fringe: The Man from the Other Side

The pieces of the Fringe season two puzzle are slowly falling into place. Peter finally knows his true origin, but he does not know the circumstances under which he came to this world. The "Director" must be important considering multiple shape shifters were sent cross dimensions to set up his arrival. Smart money is on the director being someone we already know, someone like Walternate perhaps.

I was hoping for more drama to come from Peter's revelation. He seems to be playing out the, "This information is too much for me to handle, therefore I must run away" trope. Fringe has been building up to this reveal for the better part of a season and a half, I guess I was expecting fireballs or a giant Icelandic volcano.

The shape shifter "embryo" was unbelievably disgusting. I cannot believe they attempted to wake that thing up without back up. I seem to remember the shape shifters having super-human strength to go along with their metallic blood. After seeing how they cross over to this dimension, in much the same way a "Terminator" does, the three pronged body transfer box seems to be completely out of sync with the rest of the organism. It is an almost retro device for such an advanced creature.

I know it has been a few month since I checked in with plot line, but I wonder if they ever plan on bringing Charlie back to this series? Or at the very least explaining the completely incongruous episode in which Charlie appeared after the death of both his character and his character's doppleganger.

FlashForward: The Garden of Forking Paths

Dyson Frost we barely knew you! This one was probably the best episode of the series. It set Frost up as an almost sympathetic scientist whose research accidentally led him down a path that ultimately led to his death. He was the man who discovered the process of flash forwards and more than likely projected himself into the future thousands of times. Each flash brought him to a slightly different vision of the future, "The garden of forking paths".

I wanted to cry foul on Dyson seeing his own murder, because Demetri simply did not flash but then I remembered Nicole's flash. Nicole felt herself drowning because was going to happen at the exact time of the flash. Since Frost could calibrate the time jump, he may have conceivably plotted a flash forward to the exact moment (or moments) of his death.

Demetri survived his predicted death because Dyson Frost did not. I must say, while I like Dem I think it would have been much more useful to the FBI had Demetri bit the big one and Frost lived. I think the Oedipus reference was pitch perfect. Frost attempted to warn Mark with the painting of the Greek who killed his father and married his mother, but he should have taken that warning to heart himself. Speaking of warnings, Frost did seem to infer that either Charlie or Olivia would be the key to saving the world.

Elsa played Zoe like a fiddle. Why else would she need a specific day in court? I find it hard to swallow that one of the many FBI agents escorting Zoe and Elsa did not think it important to get the window washers away from the window. On a separate note, Elsa is important, I really thought she was a red herring.

James Callis (the actor, I didn't catch his characters name) appeared as a crazy savant! He is a wonderful actor and I would not have even recognized him if his name did not appear in the credits at beginning of the episode.

According to FlashForward lore, it would now seem that the world is destined to end in December of 2016. I wonder if this show is going to get to its second season in order to inch closer to realizing that new end date. It is definitely a bold move to call a series finale date in the very first season of a television show. In fact, it is a move I wish more series would attempt.

V: We Can't Win

The pace of this show is lightning quick. Valerie managed to leave Ryan, through herself into the clutches of the V's, and be rescued by Ryan well within the 42 minutes of this episode. If this was "Lost" that storyline would take an entire season to tell. I cannot decided if I love the breakneck pace or feel completely overwhelmed by it, especially when we take into account that the plot I just summarized was the C or D storyline in this week's episode.

I find it interesting that Chad dreamed of Anna murdering him yet decided to jump into her camp so readily. If his motivation is simply self promotion, he's reached the peak of the mountain. If he desires world peace and prosperity his subconscious is trying to tell him Anna is not the real answer. If Chad is attempting to get closer to Anna as a means to help the V resistance he is going to have to significantly step up his game. As far as Mr. Decker knows the leader of the Fifth Column is a priest named Jack.

Tyler and Lisa are actually in an interesting predicament. Tyler is obviously important because he was born through the process of parthenogenesis which has only been demonstrated in sharks. Lisa is obviously important because she is Anna's daughter and as far as we know the only one Anna recognizes. Lisa failed Joshua's "empathy test" which makes her recruitment material for the Fifth Column.

Speaking of the Fifth Column, why would anyone in their right mind choose to join it? Erica is losing her son because of it, Ryan almost lost the mother of his future lizard child, Father Jack has had his faith shaken, and Georgie, Alex, and at least 10 others are dead because of their association with it. What is worse is the fact that John May does not live, again because Ryan killed him. I find it slightly disappointing that their was no mention of John May's stepson in this episode. One would assume that after what he went through last episode he would be primed for a key spot in the Fifth Column.

Since Erica knows how to test for human authenticity, why would she not subjugate her superiors and coworkers to the ear test? If she cloraphorms her boss and cuts his ear to find he is actually human she can bring him into the Fifth Column, which is in desperate need of new recruits. If the test proves his V-hood she can kill or interrogate him which does a considerable amount to help the cause as well.

A human sniper is doing the dirty work of the V's because he believes that the humans cannot win in the coming war and he would rather be on the winning side. Interesting, but it would seem to be more prudent of the V's to trust their assassination work to actual V's at this point. Why would the V's even bother to scare this particular human into working for them when they could just kill him and assign his hits to a V?

Anna's plan is to get the humans to power the planet with "Blue Energy" and then take it away when we are dependent on it. Seems like a fairly obtuse plan. Why not just use some of the "V weapons" that Ryan hinted at to take the planet in a few short hours?

Lost: The Last Recruit

"It's gonna be OK, you're with me now". That was the creepiest line I have ever heard uttered on television. Smokey is telling truths when it suits him, however, I believe he is lying nearly as often. The smoke monster said he was Jack's dad and he proved it by confirming the result of Jack chasing his "white rabbit". Locke, however, is more than a broken shell that Smokey chooses to inhabit. The Man in Black has spoken ill of John Locke every time the actual man is mentioned, maybe it is because some measure of the man still exists.

When Jack and Un-Locke met at the beginning of this episode electricity was in the air. Their conversation on the outskirts of camp as dawn was approaching did not fail to deliver. I find it interesting that Jack checked with Hurley before heading into the jungle with Locke, because it is possible that may be the last time Jack decides to let someone else render judgment about important life altering decisions. Smokey the Nemesis was his normal confident self but Jack was approaching a Desmond like level of Zen that has been absent in his character since he convinced Kate to stitch up his back in the pilot episode of this series. Jack's decision to make his case to Sawyer and then jump off the boat seemed to make perfect sense after seeing the progression of his character over the course of the past two seasons.

Desmond did not die in that well. Sayid is heartless but he is not without reason and considering deep down he really knows he does not deserve Nadia I am positive Des will be with us for at least one more episode.

Widmore it seems is as cold as ever despite the hope that he was doing something selfless. If Widmore is the man I believe him to be, it would make sense that he plans to execute Sawyer, Jin, Sun, Kate, Claire, and Frank. It is the only way to keep Smokey from leaving the island with the candidates. Unless of course killing the candidates frees the Man in Black automatically.

Off island the action was as interesting as ever. Claire and Jack met and now know they are siblings and Jack has grown well into his role as father of the year (though we still do not know who David's mother is). Desmond continues to work his magic, thankfully he did not need to hit pregnant Claire with a bus to make his point! Semi-conscious Sun took one look at semi-conscious Locke and freaked out right before Jack attempted to make Locke walk again.

On the other side of L.A. Kate and Sawyer still have chemistry even if they are on opposite sides of the law and even though Miles and Sawyer have a better relationship. Sayid still feels, which is good, except for the fact that he felt Sawyer handcuff him, which is bad for Sayid.

I know I have been harping on this but the flash sideways as some kind of psychic psycho therapy seems more likely with each passing episode. I do not trust Widmore or the Man in Black and even Jacob seems suspect considering how much better the Lostie's lives would be without his influence. The island itself must be powering the flash sideways.

FlashForward: Let No Man Put Asunder

While this episode continued to push towards a marked increase in quality I can find several things to complain about. Olivia and Lloyd are now an item simply because they were an item in their flash forward? Mark Benford cannot find his best friend in the whole world because he went "off the grid" but Stan can find him in less than a day? Also, Mark cares enough about Aaron to keep his secret, but not enough to look for him? The Vice President decided to go to the one man she obviously hates and mistrusts for help on an issue of the utmost importance to her and possibly the nation?

But the biggest thing I have a problem with is the fact that Janice is pregnant with Demetri's child. Janice obviously has a skewed moral core (at least as far back as the last episode) but Demetri should not have done that, and by "that" I guess I mean Janice. It could not be more than a few weeks since Somalia and now Dem wants to fast forward to his wedding in an effort to stop the future from coming true.

However, in a perfect example of Greek tragedy the decision to avoid the future is what ultimately brings it about and Dyson Frost has captured Demetri on the day of his expedited marriage. That I liked, even if I could see it coming. I could complain that Dem said he wanted to go away yet decided to get married in L.A. but I will not. Obviously the guy has complex commitment issues.

It was wonderful to see Al again. His death still represents the highlight of this series and it was refreshing to reconnect with a character that did not repulse me on sight. I also liked that Vreede was an ordained minister, somehow that made sense. I was disappointed that we did not get more than a brief mention of how many people Marcie shot. Was the "WOW" knock off player killed?

Marcie became a double agent because she was not assigned a partner upon entry into the FBI. Additionally, Janice became a double agent because she was not assigned a partner upon entry into the FBI. Does anyone else find that to be weak motivation?

Fringe: White Tulip

The universe has a way of course correcting. Even though Fringe and Lost are not in the same story sphere, those words spoken by Eloise Hawkings should have been the words that Walter used when attempting to talk Alistair out of going back in time to save his wife. That would have been the only thing that could have made this particular episode of Fringe any cooler. Suffice to say I immensely enjoyed this one.

After Alistair went back in time and we started to see the same scene play out again with minuscule variations I thought I was going to flat out hate this episode. Yet once we got away from the train and Alistair was located off the print I completely let go of my trepidation. By the time Walter was in a deep conversation with the professor I was completely hooked into this story. My only worry was that Peter was going to find out his true identity in this episode only to have it washed away by Alistair's actions.

That was where the real brilliance of this episode played out. Walter confessed his sins in order to connect to our time traveler not to subdue him. He was the only person in the world who truly would understand and sympathize with Walter. That sympathy paid off because the white tulip was delivered without the final version of Walter that never told anyone about his personal sign from God. Of course by delivering a white tulip to Walter, Alistair proved his point that science is God. Unfortunately for Alistair, the universe course corrected and Walter must assume that his unspoken prayer was answered.

I am aware that the time travel in this episode made no sense whatsoever. If Alistair from 10 months in the future went back and died in a car crash, Alistair from that present must still exist. Additionally dead body with that much "modification" would have certainly showed up in the Bishops laboratory at some point. That noted, I still find this to be a superior episode of an excellent show. Perhaps Alistair of that present did a little course correcting of his own.

Fringe has done a wonderful job slowly building to the Walter/Peter confrontation and it would seem like the story stars have aligned and it should happen soon. I, for one, cannot wait to see it finally play out!

Supernatural: Point of No Return

This episode delivered on a ton of fronts! Dean found a way to get over his pain (looking at Sam's stupid face is more or less what he needed to do), Adam was reintroduced as a true Winchester (he came back from the dead), Castiel proved he was a hero (we will get to that later), and even Bobby had a great character moment (which have been few and far between as of late). All that and Zackariah was spiked through the head.

Zachariah has been a great villain for this series. He perfectly portrayed the angels as holier than thou and extremely flawed. Zach seemed to have a human moment in the bar at the beginning of this episode and then Michael delivered his new marching orders. Zachariah did not even blink when those orders obliterated the human he was drinking with thus cementing for the audience what a detestable entity he is, or was considering how this episode ended! While I did enjoy the character arch of Zachariah I was thrilled to see Dean stand up to him then kill him in such an epic fashion. No matter how many millennia Zach was around for that as got to be a painful way to go.

Speaking of pain, I am hoping that Bobby's admission of his internal struggle will allow him to power through it. As I have mentioned in the past, depressed Bobby is not fun Bobby and fun Bobby has been one of the highlights of the series as a whole. Dean did manage to cut him deeply when he told Bobby that he was not his son.

The highlight of this episode was Castiel. Castiel has given up more than anyone in heaven and earth to help Sam and Dean and his sense of betrayal when Dean decided to give up was palpable. In the eyes of heaven, Cas and Lucifer are the same and that has got to be a tremendous weight for him to carry. His brutal beating of Dean felt justified and the only reason Cas did not kill him was because it would put Dean right back into heaven's hands. The ease with which Castiel killed three angels and the fact he is in open rebellion against heaven leads me to believe that after Lucifer is killed Castiel may become the new dark lord. He is certainly smart enough to be heaven's competition. Sending four angels halfway around the world was a brilliant maneuver and one I honestly did not see coming, even after Dean zapped Cas earlier in the episode.

If Castiel was able to kill angels with the "God Spike" and Lucifer is an angel, does it not stand to reason that one of those spikes could kill the devil? When Dean dispatched of Zach it became clear that even humans could kill angels with that weapon in hand.

I am glad the creative forces behind Supernatural brought Adam back into the narrative. I felt manipulated when he was introduced as a character only to be killed off technically before we got to meet him. I wonder where in time or space Adam is existing at this moment. I have to assume he is no longer at his homecoming dance because I doubt he is dead. Michael knows how valuable Adam is and he will be smarter about using him in the future than Zachariah was in this episode.

I am glad Sam and Dean are back on track. Hopefully it is for good this time!

V: John May

Is the narrative of this show moving swiftly or did I spend too much time with the first half of Stargate Universe season one? Speaking of shows on the Syfy network, John May is Michael Trucco, but you might know him as Sam Anders from BSG! That was an inspired bit of casting considering this actor is no stranger to fighting in resistance movements. Unfortunately, Ryan had to go and kill John May 10 years ago thus negating the awesome factor almost entirely.

Ryan was a V sent by Anna to kill John May. John May somehow escaped Ryan and moved his entire family to an undisclosed location for a period of one year. After a year had passed Ryan caught up to John May and killed him. By this point Ryan was feeling human emotion and felt bad about killing him. At John's funeral, which he inexplicably attended, Ryan touched John's step-sons face while he was crying and had a moment of understanding. That moment was observed by Valerie, thus beginning their relationship.

A relationship that may have just ended due to that locksmith's decision to let a wife into her husband's secret vault. The passports with fake names would most likely freak a spouse out. The gun that she did not know existed could cause a rift. The fact that the safe was behind a false wall that she only just discovered does not build trust. I would have to say that the ultrasound picture of the baby with the giant tail is the most damning discovery Val made. Ryan made his bed last episode with the spiked tea and now he has to sleep in it.

I would now like to pat myself on the back for calling that Tyler's dad was not Tyler's dad. Except I cannot say that I saw the parthenogenesis angle coming, that twist was new. Tyler's girlfriend is a bit of a spy and a manipulator. Why is she more important to Anna than the rest of her children?

Now to eulogize Georgie. You were responsible for getting Erica to meet Ryan. Well that about sums it up. I will say that scourge bugs were horribly nasty and I am glad you do not have to deal with them anymore.

Lost: Everybody Loves Hugo

Libby you did it! You managed to puncture the wall in Hurley's mind which separates the two realities, with a little nudging from Desmond. Speaking of Desmond apparently once the wall is perforated the holes start to open rapidly. Desmond knew that John Locke was evil on the island so he attempted to eliminate him off the island. Bold gambit considering UnLocke did the same thing to Desmond on the island, of course I'm fairly certain neither of them were successful in attempting to eliminate the other.

My initial theory about the flash sideways being some form of therapy (see my post, Lost: A Theory) still holds water only now the participants are actively fighting against it. Of course it still does not answer the question of who placed them in this therapy. Maybe it was Libby's doctor at Santa Rosa.

Illana, we barely knew you. I am a bit miffed at the creative forces behind Lost over the casual offing of Illana. She was the Artz of season six. I must admit that I was just as shocked when she blew up as I was when Artz exploded. That said, I liked Illana and took no morbid joy in her ridiculous fire ball death. It was funny when Artz exploded because he managed to be such an annoying character in such a short amount of time. I predicted that Illana may have been an immortal like Richard a few posts ago and now I have egg on my face, or Artz on my shirt, you can decided which metaphor you prefer.

The boy in the forest returned. This time I am fairly certain he was a bit older. He also upset Smokey considerably more this time around. Is it Jacob, a manifestation of the island itself, or young Smokey? Was the boy a created when Jughead exploded? Could he be the entity that powers the flash sideways?

Speaking of power on the island, the whispers were finally explained! They are the dead that are unable to move off the island because of the bad choices they made in their lives on the island. Michael finally got some redemption.

Smokey the Nemesis told Desmond that Widmore was after the power of the island and I tend to believe him considering he tried to kill Desmond a moment later, no reason to lie to a man about to die. More interestingly though was the fact that Smokey was visibly perturbed by the fact that Desmond did not fear him. Did Desmond know that Locke was actually UnLocke? If he did, does Desmond believe that a large part of John Locke still exists in Smokey? Is that why Altesmond (it's a naming convention I'm ripping off Fringe) attempted to kill John Locke?

I am going to miss this show. I refuse to even think about the television landscape without it next season.

V: Pound of Flesh

Is there actually a point to Tyler's character other than blatant opposition to his mother? It seems obvious that the man we met as Tyler's father in "Pound of Flesh" is not actually his father. So the question then, who or what is Tyler's father? Maybe Tyler is the son of John May. It would certainly explain the V's uncharacteristic interest in the otherwise dull boy.

Who is John May? How did he begin the rebellion? Is he still alive or is that just the rallying call for the Fifth Column? If V's do not have emotion why in the world has Ana not killed all the humans on the planet? Is Ana Ferdinand and Isabella or Columbus?

Ryan just dug himself a tremendous hole. I understand that emotion is a new thing for some of the V's but deciding unilaterally to put the phosphorus into his fiancee's tea without explaining the consequences of that drink was unconscionable. How will he explain the lizard child to Valerie?

Poor Georgie was captured. He is going to have a rough time of it if the the V's really do not plan on killing him. They were about to go full on Braveheart on him.

Maybe I am preemptively longing for a show to replace my weekly Lost dose but I think I love this show a little. I care about all of the characters and want to see them succeed. The fact that the V's look human give this show a bit of a Battlestar Galactica feel to it as well, which can only help a show succeed in my book.

FlashForward: Queen Sacrifice

The whole time I was watching this episode I thought to myself that it was in contention to be the best episode of FlashForward ever. They finally addressed the mole issue which had been known to exist since episode two or three. A fire was lit in Lloyd to actually decipher what he experienced in his flash. Mark was thankfully in a role that suited his sour disposition and informed all his colleagues that he was truly a two faced jerk. Bryce and Nicole shared a first kiss. Keiko gave up a life of sexism in Japan for a life of sexism in the USA, at least temporarily. Olivia and Charlie got to go to the park and have a fun day. Heck, even Dyson Frost had some interesting character bits considering he can see almost two decades into the future!

That was all welcome and good until the final reveal that Janice is the other double agent. I know it is trendy to through a twist into television shows every so often in order to keep them fresh, but Janice, really? Janice is the one character on this show that has not had a consistent flaw which I have found unbearably annoying. In fact, when Janice apprehended the rouge agent after shooting her driver off the bike I turned to my wife and said, "figures it was Janice the rest of them are idiots".

Janice's turn was not hinted at in anyway until this episode. Some people may argue that the unpredictability of this twist is what makes it awesome. However, I would counter that a good twist is one that is uncalled upon initial viewing yet obvious to the viewer upon reflection of a characters past actions revealing that he/she was up to something more. Unfortunately, this is not the case with Janice. The only hints that Janice was up to something nefarious were dropped in this episode and that is simply poor story telling.

My only hope for Janice is that she is a super cop. Perhaps she realized something with up with Simon and baited him into confessing. She never admitted that she knew anything other than the fact that she thought Simon killed his uncle. Beyond that she just talked about the importance of redundant moles.

Supernatural: 99 Problems

I loved seeing drunk Cas almost as much as I loved the recorded name on his cell phone. The actor that plays Castiel is fantastic and he portrayed an abandoned drunk angel to perfection. Castiel is hopeless and does not know what to do with himself. Is Cas fighting the influence of Michael or God at this point? Does he even know?

Dean has decided to make a deal with Michael. While logically I can see the character progression I do not feel like Dean should be at this point. Dean has been dumping God and John in the same "dead beat dad" territory and I am not sure why exactly. John was obviously far from perfect, but he cared deeply for both his children and died making a deal to save Dean's life.

I really feel like all of the tension is taken out of the fight scenes in this show. Sam and Dean can be killed and brought back to life instantly based on what we saw last episode.

This is the second time we have seen agents of evil take over a small town and turn the citizens against each other on this show. However, the Bleep of Babylon was an interesting concept. Loved her as a false prophet.

Speaking of prophets, when are we going to get more Chuck? Speaking of the future for this show, what in the world can they do after the Apocalypse? Supernatural has been on a slow burn for five seasons are we going to see Sam and Dean start families? Would that be interesting?

Speaking of families I thought it was touching that Dean made a point to go back to the woman he truly loved one more time before succumbing to Michael. Is Sam strong enough to fight the influence of Lucifer without Dean? I hope he is!

Supernatural: The Dark Side of the Moon

I loved this episode of Supernatural. Heaven was explained by Ash in a way that made perfect sense. Zachariah outed himself as heaven's pettiest angel. Sam and Dean got a glimpse of what made the other one tick.

I, like Sam and Dean, trust Joshua. He has no reason to lie because he does not have an agenda. Which brings us to God. God told our heroes to "Back Off!" Why? What is God planning? Joshua mentioned that God is on Earth, but to what end? Does God want to watch the battle between the forces of Michael and the forces of Lucifer? Is he having second thought about throwing Lucifer out of the garden?

If God really does want to be left alone, why did he zap the boys out of harms way and onto that plane? Why would he bring Cas back from the dead? Does someone have God cornered? Is anyone else reminded of the movie Dogma?

Heaven as a personal place of perfection was very cool. In the afterlife you get what you want. If you have a soul mate you get them too but heaven is for the most part single serving. If you put too many independent thinkers in the same space it does not remain heaven. Ash, due to the fact that he was a genius, who also happened to be a hunter, figured out how to move between heaven dimensions but he is the exception that proves the rule.

I find it interesting that Ellen, Jo, Mary, and John Winchester were all missing in heaven. If we go by Christian beliefs Ellen and Jo would not make it to heaven because they performed a suicide mission. John may not have made it to heaven because he chose to end his life to save Dean's. Mary might not have made it to heaven because she effectively lied to her spouse about her identity during their entire marriage. Maybe the people most important to our heroes are in some kind of post life penalty box, held as pawns to be played as needed by the powers of good and evil.

Unless the place that the boys went to was not heaven. Pamela was strongly making the case to Dean that he needed to give into Michael, which I found extremely odd. Ash seemed to be himself but even he should have had a harder time finding his way into other peoples personal heavens. Plus if he truly had a tap on the Angel's "police scanner" you would think one of them would have turned it off by now.

Fringe: Olivia. In the Lab. With the Revolver.

I thought this was a terrific episode of Fringe. Olivia had not been sleeping well because she was keeping Walter's tremendous secret about the origin of Peter. In an effort to find a cure for her insomnia she sought out Sam the bowling ally guru who helped her work out her problems earlier this season. Sam was folksy as per usual but did not give her much to work her woes and she went about her merry way.

This left Olivia to have very tense moments with Peter throughout the episode. I guess Nina was right about Olivia going to her to be talked out of informing Peter of his true identity. Olivia is very happy with her pseudo family unit and does not want to mess with it. Even though her and Peter could obviously be something more.

On a side note, when did Astrid become comic relief? Her warning Walter to "not mix up the spoons" was about the only humorous thing that happened in this entire episode. Good for Walter for wanting to come clean to Peter. I cannot wait to see what happens when Peter goes back to the alternate universe all grown up! Are both his parents dead in his dimension or will Walter get to meet Walternate and have to answer for his crimes?

I was slightly frustrated because the audience knew this was a "Cortexaphan" case well before our heroes but I was extremely happy with the resolution of our case of the week. Olivia had a "Gregory House" moment while talking to Sam the second time around which was a lot of fun. Unfortunately Sam was about to reveal something much more interesting than the "Cortexaphan" connection.

Sam said to Olivia, "I'm much older than I look, much taller too". Olivia was originally referred to Sam by Nina Sharp, William Bell's right hand. Sam and Olivia have an odd relationship which I first thought was sexual tension but now realize is something much different. Sam looks towards Olivia in the way a father would look towards a daughter and she reciprocates by seeking his advice and guidance. Olivia does not know it yet, but it is my belief that Sam is William Bell.

The biggest hint that Sam is William Bell is the title of this episode. Why would the creative forces behind this show pinpoint the "Clue" scene as the title if something extremely important was not insinuated in it?

Lost: Happily Ever After

I have often considered Desmond and Penny to be the emotional heart of this series. Where other characters have had serious relationship deficiencies, Desmond and Penny have always been the pair I cheered for. With "Happily Ever After", their love seems to be the root that supports the tree of "Lost".

Desmond, off island, has figured out, with a lot of help from his friends, that he is living in a false reality. It would seem that Widmore's plan with Desmond was to get him to break the glamor of the flash sideways. If that is the case, is Smokey the Nemesis the driving force behind this seasons off island action?

Eloise cannot help but scold Desmond. She always informs him when he is breaking the rules of his delusion/situation. He tried to seek out Penny and she pulled him away. She said that his life was perfect and that he should not mess with things. Eloise as always knows more than she is letting on, but how does she have that power in this version of the world?

I love that Charlie knew what was happening way back in the season premier. His near death experience brought him to Claire on the island and that glimpse of true love was what eventually set Desmond on a collision course with Penny. It was great to see George Minkowski again. He was a character that I felt was killed off well before we really got to know him. It made perfect sense that he would play an integral part in Desmond's flash sideways considering he was the first person we met that could mentally time travel.

Daniel Faraday, I mean Daniel Widmore, is a character I have missed a great deal. Of course he became a musician without his mother's constant prodding towards physics! It was nice to see she still bought him that journal and even better to see he is still brilliant even without the Oxford degree. Again, love is what brought Daniel out of his flash sideways coma and made him realize there was something more out there for him.

Sawyer and Kate did not knock sense into each other when they met in sideways land, nor did Jack and Kate. That must mean that Kate is not destined to find true love on this series. Will the sight of Juliet make James realize that he is missing something in this idealized version of his life? Of course Sun and Jin have been together this whole time and they have not realized there is another version of themselves out there. How does this work?

What happens when Desmond and UnLocke meet? Can Smokey hurt Desmond? Will the Man in Black even realize the value of Desmond or ignore him because his name is not on the list? What is the sacrifice that Desmond must make? Does he have to stay on the island as the new Jacob? Where would that leave Jack?

Final Fantasy 13: ...

This post may contain spoilers for some story elements though I have tried to keep it as spoiler free as possible.

Full disclosure, I played Final Fantasy 13 without a guide book. I consulted Gamefaqs.com twice during my play for two particularly tough bosses and did not find help. If you use the guide book or some other form of help, you experience may be more fun than mine.

I cannot believe I am writing this but I really do not love Final Fantasy 13. I have played every Final Fantasy game that has come my way since Final Fantasy 7 made me the geek gamer that I am today. I have been emotionally invested in the characters portrayed in the series and truly enjoyed the game play in every iteration. I bought Final Fantasy 13, without giving a thought to reviews, solely based on my love of this wonderful series. My faith in Square Enix was somewhat misplaced.

FFXIII is not a Final Fantasy game at its core. It attempted a grand story with likable characters worlds changing events yet at its conclusion I still do not know what makes the game world tick. The game tried to be the next incarnation of the Japanese RPG yet seems to have lost what made JRPG's fun to begin with. I loved maxing out my materia in FF7 yet loath upgrading weapons in FFXIII. I really enjoyed unlocking new abilities in FFX but feel cheated with the way the Crystarium slowly and painfully expands in Final Fantasy 13. I think I have spent as much time tweaking my Paradigms as I have running around Grand Pulse or Cocoon.

Speaking of Paradigms, they were a problem for me. Maybe I needed to pay closer attention to the tutorials, but I did not get the hang of using paradigms until two thirds of the way through the game. I was therefore getting my butt handed to me by enemies with alarming regularity. Never before have I died so often playing a Final Fantasy game. Even battles I won were hard fought and took a surprising amount of time and energy. I have speculated the difficulty of this game was cranked up due to the fact that characters are healed after every battle so your party goes into each new fight completely fresh.

While on the subject of frustrating aspects of this game, I need to focus on the story. The writer(s) of this saga never adequately explained the worlds of FFXIII. There are god-like beings that feed, shelter, and protect of the people of Cocoon. These beings can also turn humans into demigods. If you are a demigod of Pulse the people of Cocoon hate and fear you but you also have a mission which you must complete so you can turn into crystal. If you do not complete your mission in a timely fashion you will be transformed into a hideous monster. It took me almost 60 hours to understand that much and that part of the story was explained early on in the game.

Periphery characters show up, say a few lines, and disappear without explanation or clear motivation. One of the younger heroes in your party hates his dad, yet when you met his dad the man seems to be a paragon of fatherhood. The sons bitterness is simply glossed over.

Focusing on the good for a minute I will say that, for the most part, I enjoy the heroes of FFXIII. I found them equal parts pleasant, fun, and sufficiently cool. The visuals in this game are spectacular. The characters look amazing (rarely falling into the the uncanny valley where a game like Mass Effect 2 lives), they move, act, and emote with impressive realism. More stunning though are the two worlds created for Final Fantasy 13. Cocoon and Gran Pulse are astonishing. While most of the story takes place on Cocoon the players time on Pulse is where one truly gets a feel for the artistry involved in making this particular video game. Gran Pulse is teeming with life and truly is a thing of beauty.

My biggest problem with Final Fantasy 13 is the lack of towns. In previous Final Fantasy games a player could spend hours to explore all the nooks and crannies of a town, talk to citizens, and find ways to relax from the otherwise constant barrage of battle. Instead of talking to shop owners all items are bought and sold at save points eviscerating a good deal of personality that otherwise accompanies this series. Sadly, even Gran Pulse which is full of wild life feels empty and barren at points due to the lack of people that inhabit it.

Please do not infer that I hated this game, I spent well over 60 hours with it but I did not enjoy it as much as I had hoped I would. Personally though I am now anticipating FFXIV and hoping for a return to form.

V: Welcome to the War

V came back strong with an episode that moved at a breakneck pace. Erica and Ryan were the focus of "Welcome to the War" and Erica even got to say the title to her new paramilitary friend. While this episode was not perfect, Erica telling everyone who would listen that her son was on the ship was reminiscent of Michael screaming "Walt" on Lost, it certainly continued to build steam for a stellar series thus far.

We learned that V's and humans cannot procreate. Except for Ryan and Valerie. Obviously Val is going to have some pregnancy woes when you consider how violent V reproduction seems to be. As Ana picked her paramour it became painfully obvious that she was going to eat him. Not a bad TV troupe kind of eat him, more like a creepy are they really going to go through with Ana eating a dude after mating?

What do the V's need with Tyler? They have have evolved beyond emotions so I doubt they find him endearing. The memory chamber was interesting, I'm fairly certain they built a "Tyler 2.0" program to talk to Erica from what they learned while they had him in there.

Father Jack and Erica seem to have a real connection. Was there a priest character on the original "V" or did they include him her to mix it up? How did Georgie get Jack out of the V healing center without raising any alarms? Was the priest's dream a prophecy? Is the end game of the V's to turn people into lizards? That seems silly considering how easily Ana seems to be able to produce an army.

On a side note, I must complain to ABC for the horrendously huge hovering red "V" hue in the lower third of my screen during a pivotal episode of Lost. Do not do that ABC! You made me so mad I avoided watching "V" for three days.

FlashForward: Better Angels

This show is on the verge of becoming a terrible joke. The Somali Man who captured our heroic crew was an absolute mess of a character. He was a ruthless killer, an overly talkative exposition giving blabber mouth, a believer in God, a gum chewer, and easily persuaded by our heroine. Also, thankfully, he is dead now.

I will not even begin to complain about how ridiculous it was that our heroes went with him into the structure after he killed half their crew. I will also not complain about how stupid he was for going with them alone and without any backup. Well, I will not complain beyond those two sentences I guess!

Janice and Demetri seriously discussing baby making had me feeling a little sick inside. Demetri has seemed like a stand up, if overly guarded, guy this entire series, why would he make the "I'm about to die" pass at an obviously gay woman considering he is happily engaged? Even though Demetri and Janice recognized the fact that their discussion was out of character for both of them, it does not excuse the lazy writing.

After avoiding Charlie for the better part of a season, Olivia is able to get her to reveal her flash in a 2 minute conversation. Is squirrellio and the other weird character name a real thing or is it simply an overly annoying fake kids show created for Flashforward? Did they need to cast the character of the C.I.A. agent before they could get Charlie girl to spill the beans or are they really just figuring this out as they go along?

Mark still has not noticed that his AA sponsor/only friend outside of work has packed his bags and headed to Afghanistan. That or he simply does not care. Either explanation is likely. I would like to note that Mark is a complete dirt bag for not moving to Denver. I hope Olivia does leave him and ends up happily married to Lloyd.

I will admit that I do now enjoy the Bryce and Nicole storyline. I still am furious about the fact that he was going to kill himself at the beginning of this series but I expect the anger to subside any day now. Bryce and Nicole are the only two characters that have not done something ridiculous to annoy the viewers of this series.

Does anyone else remember when Mosaic was so important that Wedeck was playing basketball with the President? Is it not odd that a random C.I.A. operative from China now outranks Stan?

While I despise 96% of the characters on this show I am interested in the payoff of the story. I was happy that Greek tragedy was mentioned as a cautionary tale for our characters last night, however briefly. FlashForward is not "Lost" or "BSG" but it at least wants to be and for that reason I will stick with it through its first and only (hopefully) season.

Fringe: Peter

Fringe took a fairly big risk with this episode and it paid off tremendously. Instead of giving us the story of how this Peter got to our world in bits and pieces, the show devoted an entire hour to the events of 1985. We even got an alternate opening to Fringe that was more than a little reminiscent of Tron. The best part about alternate 1985 was the fact that Eric Stoltz (now of Caprica fame) was somehow the star of Back to the Future.

While this episode was called "Peter", Joshua Jackson did not appear in it at all. That said, the little boy they hired to play young Peter was possibly the best case of casting I have ever seen on television.

The "Observer" caused the incident that motivated Walter to steal Peter 2.0 from "Walternate". That has got to be significant. We still do not know why the "Observers" do what they do or where the come from. Though based on the episode where an Observer died, I think it is safe to assume they are higher beings of some kind. What does it mean when a higher being believes you are too important to die?

One has to assume that Carla will play a big role in the future of this series. She attempted to be Walter's conscience and stop him from tearing the fabric of reality, but she failed. She is a believer in God, or at least was in 1985, and has four doctorate degrees. Carla was part of William Bell's inner circle before Massive Dynamic existed, which means she is currently rich, dead, or has had her memories removed like Walter.

I loved the way this episode felt like a giant Fringe puzzle piece just snapped into place. Moments like when Nina's arm phased out of reality and Walter fell through the ice with Peter 2.0 could be felt coming, but that did not take away from the overall impact of this episode. In fact, I began to feel like the writers of this series may actually have a plan on where is is going.

Kudos to the wig people. I truly believed that Walter was 25 years younger with that 1985 hair. Sure his face did not look much different than it does now, but the hair really did the trick.