...Set: Glee 2x09 "Special Education"

What's this? It's already time for Sectionals? It seems like the our erstwhile gleeks have barely been preparing for it, unlike last year, when it was all about sectionals. Perhaps that's because they've got so much personal drama going on? In truth, they don't really have that much drama, it just likes to spin out of control. You know, teenagers, heightened emotions. Whatnot.
Last week, Kurt left McKinley High for Dalton Academy, and now he's joining up with their glee club, the Warblers. Things work a bit differently with the Warblers than New Directions. They don't have an adviser a la Mr. Schue, rather a trio of elders that oversee things and basically make all the decisions. Kurt tries to bring his requisite flare to his new supposed comrades, but soon finds out that individuality isn't so much celebrated amongst the Warblers as tolerated. Though he is invited to try out for a solo for their sectionals piece, he doesn't get it, instead singing and shimmying with the rest of the guys while his new buddy what's-his-face gets the solo instead. I literally cannot remember his character's name. There are too many characters to keep track of on this show sometimes.

Back at McKinley, Will is looking forward to spending time with Emma at sectionals, but his hopes are soon dashed when she tells him she can't go, due to the whole Carl situation. Instead, Carl whisks her off to Vegas and they apparently get hitched, which she reveals to Will after sectionals. He gets the mopey face agoing, but hey, at least he has bigger fish to fry. Because yep, they get to go to Regionals again this year!

But I'm getting ahead of myself. Not only did Emma shoot down Will romantically, she also shot holes in what he had been planning for Sectionals, which was more of the same they always do. So, he decides to change it up. Rather than featuring Rachel and Finn, he decides he's going to feature Sam and Quinn, as well as Brittany and Mike's dancing skillz. Rachel, naturally, goes into a tizzy, which somehow leads to Santana spilling the beans about her dalliance with Finn back in the day. Tensions in the group continue to rise as Tina and Artie become suspicious of Mike and Brittany spending so much time together, supposedly "rehearsing." Their suspicions were completely unfounded, though, so the Asians get to have an Asian kiss, and Artie and Brittany continue on as well.

But Rachel and Finn? Well. After the group gets a nice talking from Schue to at Sectionals after some in fighting and bands together to rock it (though they did end up tying with Warblers), Finn and Rachel look like they are going to repair things. But then Rachel confesses that while she was so mad at Finn, she took up with Puck, and they might've gone all the way if Puck hadn't stopped it, not wanting to repeat what he did to Finn in the past. Finn can't take that Rachel would do something like that, and breaks up with her. Will they stay broken up? I suppose only time will tell.

As for the music tonight, the only song I didn't like was Don't Cry For Me Argentina. That's no surprise, I am not a fan of the Broadway-type ballads. I did like that we actually got to hear Tina sing a significant amount in Dog Days Are Over. We never get to hear her voice!

Songs:

Don't Cry For Me Argentina - Rachel & Kurt
The Living Years - The Hipsters
Hey, Soul Sister - Warblers
(I've Had) the Time of My Life - New Directions, featuring Sam & Quinn
Valerie - New Directions, featuring Santana
Dog Days Are Over - Mercedes & Tina

Quotes:

"I'm paralyzed with fear. I've been here since second period. I really, really have to pee." - Brittany

"Glee needs you to be it's ambassador." - Will
"More like it's am-badass-ador." - Puck

"Where's Puck? I haven't seen him since yesterday and I need him to get me a churro." - Santana

"If we lose, we should throw opossums." - Brittany

"Buddah! Allah! Satan! Help me!" - Puck

"Have you noticed her ignoring you lately?" - Tina
"Not really, it's Shark Week." - Artie

Previous Episode -- Next Episode

...Set: Chuck 4x10 "...vs. the Leftovers"

If any of you were wondering, like me, how long the show would continue before Chuck got the Intersect back - wonder no further! Whoops, did I just give away the ending of the episode? Ah well. I don't think anyone was surprised to find that the laptop Papa B left for Ellie had an Intersect on it for Chuck. What is interesting about it is that he seemed to have the foresight that both of them would need to use it in some way before it worked out. What exactly did Ellie have to do with the brain scans? It must be something to make the Intersect work better for Chuck, I guess? Perhaps that will be addressed in the future, but I would not be surprised if it wasn't.

Anyway! Apart from that, this episode brought back Mama B and Volkhoff. It seems Volkhoff has finally found out that Chuck survived their last encounter, and is having his Frosty send some goons to take him out. Of course, she's doing all kinds of double dealing, and kills the would be assassins before they can kill Chuck. The team brings her in to Castle to try to get information out of her, but soon enough, Volkhoff is taking over the Buy More, starting with Jeff and Lester, who one of his agents knocks out.

After some back and forth, they get themselves into a standoff situation, Chuck and crew have agreed to hand over Mama B back to Volkhoff, who claims he will let them go without incident once he has his love back. Yep, he's in love with her, which was supposed to be shocking, but was sort of obvious to me. Whatever! Anyway, the standoff situation forces Mama B to out herself as Chuck's mother. And, with an ill-timed call from Ellie, Volkhoff finds out that she has two kids.

Rather than lose his head about it, Volkhoff instead insists he is great with kids and invites himself over for the Bartowski leftover dinner. It's awkward city at the dinner, as you might expect. Chuck has to secretly tell Devon what's going on and gets him to get Ellie out of there with a fake call from the hospital. After they've left, Volkhoff threatens to kill Sarah, only Mama B steps in and says that she could never love a man who would hurt her son in any way. They head off together, for now. Her motives are still tricksy, but at least she does love her kids.

Meanwhile, Morgan has been trying to devise a way to save Jeff and Lester, and also Casey, who was captured back at the Buy More during the whole standoff situation. He thinks he's devised a brilliant plan by taping a gun to his back, but of course he tapes it into a position where he can't reach it. Though if he can't reach it to get it off, then how did he tape it to get it on, hmmmmmm? It doesn't matter anyway, because Volkhoff has ordered his minions to let them all go.

And, as I already mentioned, Devon gives Chuck Papa B's old laptop, and Chuck uses it to get back the Intersect. He knows kung fu. Again.

You know what part I enjoyed the most in this episode, though? When Casey called Chuck's mom Mama B! That's what everyone online has been calling her forever. Love it. Also hilarious - how Morgan signed he and Chuck up for a training class that turned out to be strip kick or something like that. And Chuck was able to use the one move he learned in class to kick a guy.

Oh, and Chuck himself, Mr. Zachary Levi, directed this episode. Nice!

Quotes:

"Come with me if you want to live." - Mama B

"Keep talking, Commie. It's party time." - Casey

"Give me Frost, or I'll kill you all, starting with the fat man and the Indian." - Volkhoff

"Devon, I know you're the world's worst liar, but right now, I need you to be Awesome." - Chuck

"Guys, I know kung fu. Again." - Chuck

Previous Episode -- Next Episode

...Set: Glee 2x08 "Furt"

This was like a secret Bruno Mars tribute episode, yeah? Two out of four (that's half, math whizzes!) songs were from the Mars oeuvre. And let us also take a pause and revel in the fact that there were only four songs this week. No more bloated episodes, please and thanks!
Tonight's episode touched on, or rather pounced on, the bullying issue that has been playing out the past few weeks with Karofsky and Kurt. Kurt constantly feels terrified in school, and Will finally decides to take action. I suppose I shouldn't say finally, I don't think he really knew to what extent it was going on, or if he knew at all. Either way, he takes Kurt to see Sue, who is still acting as principal, to try to solve the problem, but she says her hands are tied unless he does something more than just threaten Kurt. Kurt's fellow Glee clubbers aren't okay with that, so Rachel suggests the other guys who are on the football team get in Karofsky's face about it, only Finn is skittish about the idea, not wanting to jeopardize his status in school. So, Artie, Mike and Sam go to Kurt's defense in the locker room, getting into a fight. But things don't really change until Burt sees Karofsky make some sort of gesture at Kurt, and nearly attacks the kid himself. After a joint meeting with Sue, Karofsky gets expelled. But, he is soon let back in after a school board hearing. Because he doesn't feel safe, Burt and Finn's mom Carole decide to transfer him to that all boy's school, who I have also forgotten the name of.

Speaking of Burt and Carole, they have decided to tie the knot. And rather quickly too, since they only just announce it, and it's happening at the end of the episode. Of course, with Kurt planning things, that's not too big of a surprise. I have to say, while their wedding could have turned totally saccharine, I think the actors really pulled it off without drowning in sap. I may or may not have teared up. Shut it, I cry at weddings, even fictional ones, I can't help it. The whole singing down the aisle thing was really cute and fun. And, thanks to some insightful words from both Burt and his mom (and through seeing what the other glee clubbers did for him), Finn realizes he's been acting like a jerk about the whole Kurt situation, and does a whole big song and dance number to tell Kurt that he'll be there for him from now on. Step-brothers!

Burt and Carole aren't the only ones getting married, however. Wedding bells seem to be ringing all over town. The anchors at the news station where Sue does her show announce they are getting married, which puts Sue in a tizzy. She decides she should get married, but that the only person worthy of marrying her is... herself. And she will officiate it herself. And she will walk herself down the aisle. But that will not happen before her mom, Doris, makes an appearance to, wouldn't you know it, bully her around a bit, and generally talk about Nazi hunting a lot. Through the combined experience of dealing with her mom and seeing what's been going with bullying at the school, Sue decides to step down as principal, so Figgins will be returning.

In tiny sideplot news, Sam was determined to make Quinn his girlfriend. At first he tries to win her over with a promise ring and some nice words, but it isn't until he defends Kurt and inspires Finn to come around that Quinn decides to take him up on the offer.

Songs:

Ohio - Doris & Sue
Marry You - Everyone
Sway - Will
Just the Way You Are - Finn

Quotes:

"So shine on, urban campers, you smell like adventure." - Sue

"My power rangers got married and divorced in so many combinations, they were like Fleetwood Mac." - Kurt

"Lady, this kid lays a finger on you, you come straight to me, and I'll expel him faster than a Thai place can read back your delivery order." - Sue

"When you guys fooled around, did he ever just... lie there?" - Brittany

"Besides, I miss my office. This room smells weird. I can't shake the feeling that I'm inhaling a lot of dead skin." - Sue

Previous Episode -- Next Episode

...Set: Chuck 4x09 "...vs. Phase Three"

After last week's cliffhanger, things really got kicked up a notch this week. Is it me, or has it been a while since we got to see Sarah really let loose and kick some serious ass? Because boy was she doing a lot of that tonight!

In case you don't remember, last week we ended with Chuck getting captured by the Belgian, who wants to get the Intersect. The only problem is, Chuck doesn't currently have access to said Intersect, so they are having to resort to some mind-bending methods in Chuck's subconscious to try to get him to flash. But it's not really working, because Chuck always figures out that he's dreaming every time someone in his mind starts pushing him to flash.

Meanwhile, Sarah and Casey have been searching everywhere for Chuck, but have been coming up empty. She is ready to have a breakdown (though she was apparently still able to style her hair rather well) until Morgan comes by with some intel on a Thai official dude who has connections to the Belgian. Sarah and Casey kidnap said Thai dude, from the Thai embassy, no less, and try to get the information from him. Sarah is ready to go to some extreme methods, but Casey and Morgan derail her briefly to take a rest. During that rest, Morgan accidentally reveals to Sarah Chuck's master proposal plan, which only sets her back on fire to find him.

She finally gets the info that Chuck is being held in Thailand and heads out on her own, locking Casey in one of Castle's cells so he can't come with her. Of course, Morgan breaks him out and they follow her giant, blonde she-male reign of terror across Thailand to find her doing some serious fighting with a dude to get the information on where Chuck is being held. She, of course, beats the guy, and they go after Chuck.

Only, by the time they get there, it might be too late. Because Chuck has been resistant to the methods so far, the doctor guy has said the only way they might be able to get to the Intersect is by going forward with Phase Three, which is to wipe out everything in Chuck's brain except for the Intersect. Sarah and crew arrive just as this is about to finish, and Sarah is the only one who can reach through to Chuck and get him to mentally get himself out of it, by telling him about the proposal plan and how she loves him with or without the intersect. I'm really not sure how that worked, or how her getting him out of there at that moment somehow restored all the rest of his identity at the same time. Not that I particularly wanted some kind of Intersect robot Chuck, but it seemed kind of easy and convenient at that point.

Anyway, they get Chuck out of there and come back home, where Beckman tells Chuck that despite him not having the intersect, he is still worth keeping around as a spy.

Meanwhile, Ellie has found the mysterious computer that was hiding in the back of her dad's car that she got a couple episodes ago. They can't figure out how to get it working, so while she is at work, Devon calls in Lester and Jeff to get it up and running. It takes them all day, but they finally get it to turn on. Only now there's just a page with "Knock Knock" asking for a password. Luckily, Ellie knows the password, because it was something she and her dad had when she was little ("I'm here" instead of "who's there"). All we see is some flashing lights on their faces and an "oh my god" before the show ends! Damn it! I thought it was going to be like an intersect reboot for Chuck. I suppose it still could be, but who knows. The preview for next week did not hint at what it was at all. Sigh.

Quotes:

"Who's got a screw loose?" - Lester
"That has two meanings." - Jeff

"Anyone else wanna be my boyfriend?" - Sarah

"People have been talking much about the giant blonde she-male." - Thai dude

Previous Episode -- Next Episode

...Set: Supernatural 6x09 "Clap Your Hands if You Believe"

Though you know how much I love me some brotherly angst, I have to say that I really enjoyed a trip down Ben Edlund's crazy rabbit hole of wackadoo hilarity. Also enjoyable? The nod to one of Supernatural's television predecessors - The X-Files. We would probably not have this show if not for The X-Files (and Buffy), so yes, a very fitting tribute.

All righty then, let's get down to business. The Winchesters are brought to some town that I did not write down the name of after four people go missing. The local yokels think it must be UFOs, or really, let's be correct here and say aliens. Technically, a flying object does not denote a living thing, it's just what they fly in. Splitting hairs! Though there is one lady in town who claims that aliens are not responsible for what's happened (she says it's fairies), the boys think she's even crazier than the rest of them.
Things take a turn for the truly strange, though, when Dean goes to investigate the crop circle from whence these people seem to be disappearing. And what should happen but a big bright light appears in the sky, and he's suddenly gone! Aliens? Sam moseys his way over to see what happened, but doesn't seem all that perturbed. In fact, when he goes to talk to the UFO specialist dude, he barely even questions him before going on with a young lady who said she wanted to "help." Yeah, sure you do. Sure you do. As she "helps" Sam, Dean reappears in the field, shooting his gun.

Dean shows back up at the motel only to find Sam and the girl taking care of some naughty business, which he is thoroughly disturbed to see. Mostly because the real Sam would have been searching high and low for Dean all night rather than take up with a random girl. This current Sam, however, does not see what the big deal is, which just infuriates Dean all the more. But, they must get back to the case at hand. Only then a little bright light who happens to have nipples shows up at the motel while Sam is off at the library. And now they start to figure out that this is not aliens they are dealing, but rather - fairies.

They go to have a chat with the resident fairy expert in town, the aforementioned lady, and she tells them that they go after first born sons, love cream, get hurt by silver and iron, and when you spill salt or sugar, they have to stop to count it. What a ridiculous rule, but okay! The boys end up tracking down who may be responsible when they notice the father of one of the abducted kids is hauling away a lot of cream. Sam trails him down while Dean goes to check out his place of work, which is full of little elves working on watches. Yes. It's true. He heads out, but notices this weird dude who has been following him for a while and tries to lose him. He ends up tackling a little person and gets hauled away to jail. Whoops.

Sam catches up with the guy, Brennan, who confesses he called upon the fairies, or rather, a leprechaun, for help with his business since he was getting Parkinson's Disease. But the price ended up being his son, and now they won't leave. He takes Sam back to his workshop, where all of the elves have passed out from too much cream, and retrieves the magic book he used to conjure them in the first place. But, the head leprechaun dude, who was previously known as the head UFO dude, shows up. He wants to give Sam a deal to get him back his soul, but Sam instead decides to fight him. While Sam and the leprechaun tussle, Dean gets a visit from his mysterious follower at the jail, who proceeds to beat him up, though it's not clear why exactly. Just for the fun of it, I guess!

Sam eventually gets his wits about him and drops a bunch of salt on the floor to make the leprechaun stop in his tracks. He then whips out some magic fairy book language and sends all of the fairies back to wherever it is they came from. Bada bing, bada boom.

And in our patented roadside chat of the evening (which looked quite a lot like the farmland we see a lot of in Smallville, I dare say), Dean wonders whether Sam is having second thoughts about getting his soul back, since he didn't even try to see whether the leprechaun could make good on his word. Sam claims he's not, but you know whenever they leave it at something like that, he is. Except does he have second thoughts without a soul? It's confusing. It's darn confusing.

Random thoughts:

- Jared is killing it as this robo-Sam. Dare I say, he's better at it than regular Sam? Don't shoot me. Because I rather miss regular Sam, and from what I hear, we won't be seeing him before the holiday hiatus.

- I really loved the little bit where Dean's about to sit on the bed, then realizes what was just going on in that bed and steps over to the other one.

- I kind of wish we had actually seen where Dean went, it wasn't clear from how they set it all up that he actually had spent any time there until he explained that he had. For all we saw, it could have been instantaneous for him.

- Not sure why Misha was included in the credits when there was no Castiel to be seen.

- No new episode next week with the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, and I'm not going to be able to watch the new one on 12/3 until probably the following Sunday! I'll be in Vegas, baby!

Quotes:

"What, flying saucers not insane enough for ya?" - Sam

"Okay, if you want to add glitter to that glue you're sniffing, that's fine, but don't dump your wackadoo all over us. We'd rather not step in it." - Sam

"The only thing you're missing is a couple dozen cats, sister." - Sam

"Hey, you wanna be a real boy, Pinnochio, you gotta act the part." - Dean

"So you're saying you'll be my Jiminy Crickett?"- Sam
"Shut up. But yeah, you freakin' puppet, that's exactly what I'm saying." - Dean

"You should take a shower." - Sam
"Yeah, I should take a shower. I'm gonna take a shower." - Dean

"Nipples?" - Dean

"I'm not supposed to laugh, right?" - Sam

"Smurfs?" - Dean
"Fairies." - Sam

"Do you have bigger cups?" - Sam

Previous Episode -- Next Episode

...Set: Life Unexpected 2x09 "Homecoming Crashed"

I think I can say with a certain amount of certainty (hyuck) that I really just cannot stand Lux anymore. She gets all up in arms about Cate trying to figure out what's going on and not trusting her, but HELLO. She is totally lying and keeping secrets left and right. When's the last time she told either Cate or Baze something genuine? Seriously, they'd be a whole lot more understanding if you just quit with the lying and general hypocrisy.

Okay. Now that I've got that rant out of my system. While I do find Lux ultra annoying of late, I will say that this was one of the better episodes of this second season. We didn't have to deal with constant bickering between Cate and Ryan, and we didn't have to watch too much of the stupid Lux and Mr. Daniels inappropriateness either. In fact, I rather enjoy the meatier storylines given to the newer characters - meaning Emma and her teenage son Sam. Although, is it just me, or is there some sort of rule that at least one character on every CW show must be named Sam? Sam Winchester, Sam from Reaper, now this Sam. I honestly can't say I even know that many Sams in real life!

Anyway, this week's episode had two basic plots. The first of which is everyone trying to figure out Lux's learning disability. Apparently, somewhere around 7th grade, she had some kind of stroke that caused some blood loss in the brain, which has resulted in something called, I think, disgraphia? I think that's what they called it. I suppose I should've written it down. In any event, everyone grilled her about something happening around that time to have caused such a thing, but of course Lux just LIES about it and claims nothing did. Tosh, however, tips Cate off to the fact that 7th grade was the time when Lux was living somewhat permanently with a woman and her husband, whose names I have failed to remember. So, Cate goes to investigate, only for the woman to tell her that Lux had turned out to be kind of violent and a liar, and that's why things hadn't worked out.

Meanwhile, while Baze and Emma work to schmooze a possible new client, they have entrusted Lux to watch Emma's son Sam, by taking him to the homecoming dance with her, Tosh and Jones. Sam ends up getting him and Lux in trouble by getting caught with a joint, so the school calls in Cate. Cate, already upset from the previous reveals, gets into a disagreement with Lux, who ends up storming out and taking off in Cate's car, with Tosh and Sam in tow. She rockets over to the lady's house and we find out that what really happened was that the husband had pushed Lux down the stairs and was otherwise violent. He shows up and starts getting violent again, which leads Tosh to hit him with a shovel. They take off and end up getting into a car accident (not with another car, though). And Lux still doesn't want to come clean to Cate and Baze about what happened to her. LUX, ugh. Sam ends up taking the blame for the car accident to get Lux out of being questioned. Sam is also going to be a new student at Lux's high school, and has figured out that she has something going on with Mr. Daniels.

And that's the basics. I'm just sick of Lux's constant lying and secret keeping, mostly for how it gets everyone else around her involved in it too. Just... boo. Boo boo boo.

Previous Episode -- Next Episode

...Set: Glee 2x07 "The Substitute"

Glee got a dose of movie star power tonight with guest star Gwyneth Paltrow - and it was a refreshing jolt of unexpected wacky. The episode itself was sort of all over the place, but on the whole one of the better ones of this rather uneven second season. The episode is titled "The Substitute," which has meaning for pretty much every story....

Sue puts herself in the place of ultimate school power when she inserts herself as principal when Figgins comes down with a nasty flu. She immediately tries to disband the football team, but is brought back down to earth when Beiste reminds her that her Cheerios won't have anyone to cheer for without the football team. Loved seeing Sue get taken down a peg, gotta say. She instead shifts her focus elsewhere, for some reason to fried foods. Honestly there was not a lot of connection here, and the whole fried food thing didn't have much bearing on anything else going on, except to sub into the Mercedes/Kurt storyline. Because apparently with Kurt having Blaine around, Mercedes has turned her attention to these tator tots? Random. Don't get me wrong, I love me some tots, too, but... so much of that storyline felt forced. It totally makes sense that Mercedes feels left out now that Kurt has Blaine around, but somehow Kurt turned that around to Mercedes having been using Kurt as a substitute to finding a boyfriend for herself and blah blah. Too overuse of the substitute metaphor here.

Anyway, on to other things. Not only did Figgins come down with the flu, Schue was also dosed with it. And in came this week's breath of fresh air with the substitute Spanish, and soon glee club, teacher - Holly Holliday. She's a little bit out there and likes to mix things up to get more on the kids' level when she's subbing. The kids, naturally, take to her new style like moths to the flame, and it's not long before Sue has decided she's going to fire Schue and hire Holly to replace him. Because in whatever short space of time she's been acting as principal, she claims that Figgins has been fired, and she has been offered the job. Move at light speed much, show? In any event, Will is rather devastated by this news, as you'd expect, but he's not long out of a job. Because, it turns out, Holly is great at being friendly with the kids, but not great when it comes to discipline and anything like that. She quits, and Will re-joins the fold.

While he's been sick, however, we are forced to deal with the return of Terri, who likes to pretend he's a baby when he's sick. Ew. That was just disturbing in so many ways. Also, they have sex. She thinks it means something more, but he tells her that it was a mistake and to leave for good. Is this the last we'll see of her? She didn't grate on me as much this time around as she has in the past but... as Holly said, she's kind of a bitch.

Is it me, or did there seem to be some kind of vibe between Will and Holly? In the end, he goes to her to help get the glee kids jazzed about doing an older number, so they make it a mash up between something old and new, and you know? I wouldn't mind her coming back more often. Just saying.

Songs:

Forget You - Holly
Make 'em Laugh - Will
Nowadays/Hot Honey Rag - Rachel & Holly
Umbrella/Singin' in the Rain - Holly & Will

Quotes:

"First order of business: destroy the glee club." - Sue
"I thought we were friends." - Will
"That got old." - Sue

"You smell homeless, Brett. Homeless." - Kurt

"What would you know about Cee-Lo? You're like, 40." - Santana
"Top 40, sweet cheeks." - Holly

"Humiliation! Bested by the Beiste." - Sue

"They look like deep-fried deer poop." - Brittany

"When I showed this to Brittany earlier, she began to whimper, thinking I had cut down a small tree where a family of gummy bears lived." - Sue

"I told her not to touch my tots." - Mercedes

"Her name was Cameo. She was like an attractive Biggie Smalls." - Holly

"Hi, I'm Holly Holliday." - Holly
"Are you a porn star or a drag queen?" - Terri

"Mr. Schuester taught me the second half of the alphabet. I stopped after M and N. I felt they were too similar and got frustrated." - Brittany

Previous Episode -- Next Episode

...Set: Chuck 4x08 "...vs. the Fear of Death"

After the events of the previous episode, Chuck has been left Intersect-less. But never fear, it's not gone, it's just suppressed! General Beckman brings in some of the top dudes to try to figure out what is blocking the intersect in Chuck's head, but after a whole month of getting nowhere, they decide to bring in someone else to try to get the job done. Someone a little unorthodox. That someone is Agent Rye, who decides that the way to get the intersect to work is not by slapping electrodes on Chuck's head and showing him pictures of kitties, but rather triggering responses physically. More specifically, by putting fear in him.

As general methods of fear don't seem to work because Chuck always expects Sarah or Casey to save him, Rye suggests he and Chuck go on a mission together, just the two of them, despite Sarah's protestations. This leads them to Switzerland and some fake huge diamonds that contain special microdots/chips/something of information embedded in them. Chuck and Rye get themselves into a couple hairy situations, but even as Chuck is faced with possible death by freezing, he still can't fully flash.

Back in Burbank, the rest of the crew have discovered that the information contained in the diamonds are about various agents, so they really need to get the rest of the diamonds that, for some reason, Chuck and Rye apparently left in the vault? The Belgian dude who was trying to move the diamonds, however, has figured out that someone is on to them, and is getting ready to leave. The only way to stop him is to intercept on a gondola, where Chuck will be forced to flash in the face of imminent possible death. He's ready to give it a go, but Sarah is not so sure about it, which plays right into what Rye has figured out - Sarah is the one who is somehow blocking Chuck from unleashing his inner intersect. So, despite Sarah being on her way as backup, Rye and Chuck decide to take on the Belgian and his goonies on their own.

But, things don't go so well. Because, it turns out, the Belgian knows that Chuck has the intersect, and all of this was some kind of ruse to get him rather than anything really to do with the diamonds. There is much fighting on the gondola until Chuck ends up dangling out the side, hanging on for dear life. Rye refuses to pull him up, sure the intersect will kick in, but then he ends up getting shot by the Belgian, and falls to his death in the Swiss mountains below. The Alps? Sure.

The Belgian captures Chuck, who still has not managed to flash. I honestly did not expect them to leave it a cliffhanger like they did, but hey! They did! Beckman tells Sarah to lay off while they do their thing searching for Chuck, but we all know that's not going to happen. And so do Casey and Morgan, who join her in the end to go looking for him.

Meanwhile, we had a little comic side story involving Lester and Jeff, and the new Greta (this week played by Summer Glau). They are determined to figure out what her deal is, as she seems to disappear into thin air. She would like to take care of the situation (aka take them out) before they figure out what's really going on. In the end, Casey intervenes right before she probably would kill them, which was something to do with his side story about feeling useless while the intersect was out of commission. It really didn't have a lot to do with the main storyline, but it was amusing nonetheless.

Next week it looks like we get to see a whole lot o' the ass whooping by Sarah as she searches the globe for her man.

Quotes:

"My life would be a never-ending Cialis commercial if I had her." - Jeff

"I wake up every morning with my trigger finger twitching. It's itchy. Literally, it itches." - Casey

"Listen to me, that new Greta just disappeared into thin air!" - Lester
"I've seen her do that before. I thought that it was just in my head." - Jeff
"No." - Lester
"She also has a tail." - Jeff

"...better known as The Belgian." - Rye
"Well, I bet I know how he likes his waffles." - Chuck
"Belgian! Yes! Yes! I love your humor, so disarming." - Rye

"What kind of a spy am I? I can't even be scared properly." - Chuck

"We won't be stopped, and we can't be stopped and we won't be stopped!" - Lester

Previous Episode -- Next Episode

...Set: Supernatural 6x08 "All Dogs Go To Heaven"

In all my time watching this show, and in my recent time spent recapping, I don't think I have ever seen/written down so many snarky lines from Sam, which should be reason enough for us all to agree he's not really Sam off the top. And never in this season so far has he seemed quite so alien as in this episode. Sure, he seemed kind of robotic and a little off, but whoa. Whoa. I think it was the taunting of the dude that really got to me. That was just so mean. Sammy would have felt sorry for the guy, not made fun of him. Man oh man, when he gets his soul back? He is going to have a lot of stuff to feel guilty about, I think.

Anyway, hello digression. Let's get into the recap at large, shall we? At the top of the hour, Crowley shows up to give the boys a new mission: they've got to capture some hot shot alpha in order for Crowley to give Sam his soul back. Dean tries to mouth off at him, but Crowley demonstrates some of his power, and points them in the direction of a possible werewolf alpha, which they are then forced to investigate.

Yeah Dean, we all agree this episode is stupid.

A couple dudes have ended up dead with their hearts missing, so it does seem like your typical werewolf MO. Sam, while Dean sleeps like a normal person, figures out a connection between the victims: some schmo named Cal. They call upon dear asshole Cal and follow him around a bit to try to figure out if he's the wolf in town, but then he turns up dead too. Figuring that the only connection left is Cal's embattled girlfriend, Sam wants to take her right away, but Dean talks him out of it, wanting to be sure. Good thing, too, because as an audience we have all been made privy to the fact that the one perpetrating all of these killings is actually this lady's dog, Lucky.

Lucky, it turns out, is not really a dog at all, but rather a skinwalker, which Sam soon finds out when he trails him and sees him transform. Skinwalkers are basically cousins to werewolves, in that they can do the human to dog thing, and a bite is what turns them, but they are different in that they can change whenever and are not affected by the full moon.

Sam and Dean manage to capture Lucky, who I'm not sure was ever given a human name, and he spills the beans on what's been going on. He was turned, along with about 30 other people, some time ago, and they were all sent to live with families. When they got the word, they were to then turn their families, therefore creating more of an army for whatever something or other is apparently coming, since all monsters seem to be setting up armies of some sort. But Lucky fell in love with his family, and killed those other people to protect them. They get him to agree to show them where he meets his superior.

Everything seems to be going according to plan, but then Dean can't get a clear shot on the ringleader dude, and before you know it, the pack has brought out the gal pal and her little son to make Lucky turn them right then and there since he was going so off book. Sam and Dean intervene, and some fighting ensues, during which they kill all of the skinwalkers apart from Lucky, who also worked to defend the gal pal and her little lad. I'm sorry, I never caught their names. I'm sure they had them.

In the end, Lucky tries to talk to her and apologize for what he did while also thanking her for letting him be part of the family, but she just rebuffs him and sends him on his way. I mean, was I the only one who felt sorry for that guy? Poor guy.

Meanwhile, Sam comes clean to Dean that he isn't really the same Sam, though at the top of the hour he had claimed he was. But, he confesses, he just doesn't care about anything, and in a way it's been easier, made him a better hunter, because he doesn't have to bring it home with him at the end of the day. However, he says that he thinks that he should go back to the old Sam. And I think we can all agree that we'd like the old Sam back, right? This RoboSam is just creepy!

Random thoughts:

- It's interesting how in the previously thing they mention how Sam's soul is down in the box with Lucifer and Michael.... What about Adam? Was his soul taken down there too? Michael was possessing his body, but does that mean his soul went as well? I hope there is some resolution to that at some point, but who knows if there ever will be.

- How long do we think it's going to be before Sam and soul are reunited? Before the winter hiatus? I hope it doesn't take all season. I don't think it will, but I don't think I could handle this emotionless automaton Sam for that long, no matter how many snarky lines Jared can deliver so well. Also, I shudder to think what's being done to Sam's soul down in hell. Man oh man.

- I totally had a random Supernatural dream last night featuring the season one versions of Sam (emo bangs!) and Dean. Oh shush. I can't help my dreams. The case to be worked on had to do with some kind of killer vines, as in plants. Yeah. I don't know. Dreams are weird and wonderful things.

Quotes:

"But Dean, I am still me. Same melon. Same memories. I still like the same music. I still think about Susie Eiser." - Sam
"Biology class Susie Eiser?" - Dean
"Can you blame me?" - Sam

"We're specialists. They call us in to answer questions of mouth breathing dick monkeys." - Sam

"Masterful deduction, Sherlock." - Sam

"Dogs and cats living together, mass hysteria." - Sam

"What? Soul or not, that's funny." - Sam

"Fetch this, dick." - "Lucky"

"I don't know what you are, 'cause you're not Sam. I mean, it's your gigantor body, and maybe your brain, but it's not you." - Dean

Previous Episode -- Next Episode

Life Unexpected 2x08 "Plumber Cracked"

Pretty much I've just decided to watch and write these whenever I feel like it, since I don't think many people actually read the recaps of this show anymore. Because, let's face it, it's not getting renewed. After the 13 episodes are up in a few weeks, I think it will be time to say goodbye to what could have been a promising little family dramedy, but ended up being too much soap opera with characters making constantly ridiculous decisions.
Take this episode, for example. Even though they both know it is stupid and wrong, Lux and Eric (aka Mr. Daniels) have decided to try dating each other. Even though he's her teacher and she's only sixteen. And, as a friend of mine pointed out, they look as though they could be brother and sister. Once she pointed that out, I cannot get it out of my head when I see them. They totally do! Eugh. As if it wasn't bad enough already. ANYWAY. These two have started taking advantage of poor Tosh, who is the only person who knows about their scandalous affair, and are frequently spending time at her new apartment that Cate helped her get. When they lament that they can't do anything out in public together for fear of being caught (you know it's always a good relationship choice when you can't be seen together), Eric decides to whisk Lux away to Astoria (which apparently now requires you to take a ferry? Since when? Astoria is not an island. And if people were really just going to go hang at the beach for the day, they'd go to Seaside. OREGONIAN ALERT.)

Okay, tangent aside, they go to magical mystery non-existent island Astoria, wherein they learn that Eric has mysteriously lost his wallet along the way! How often does that happen, anyway? Lux decides they should crash a wedding so they can eat, and they get so caught up in the wedding stuff that they end up missing the last ferry back. I'm sorry, I just can't get over this stupid not real ferry thing! Ridic! They end up having to stay the night there, using the credit card that Cate just gave Tosh for emergencies, figuring Cate would never find out since Eric would transfer the balance to his card in the morning. Of course that doesn't work, because Cate gets a call from the bank about the suspicious charge. Lux begs Tosh to cover for her, which she does, only putting Tosh's relationship with Cate on uncertain footing. And then Lux and Eric just keep hanging out at Tosh's anyway, like it's all grand! WTF. Appreciate your friend and don't take such advantage, stupid Lux. You and Mr. Daniels, who should know better, infuriate me to no end. U to the GH. That means UGH.

In the world of the adults, the supposed adults, relationships are becoming more flimsy by the second. Cate and Ryan head to counseling to work out their honesty issues, and are told to begin a truth-only policy with one another until their next session. Cate wants to use this honesty thing as a way to find out more about Julia, Ryan's ex, but he decides he's just going to avoid the whole thing and instead have a guy's night out with Baze, Math and Jamie, who's back. But Cate, meanwhile, has decided she's going to try to get the information on Julia out of Paige, and takes her out to a bar to get her drunk. Cate ends up being the one who gets totally wasted and starts dancing on the bar, so Paige calls up Ryan to come get her. This leads to a big fight, naturally, wherein Ryan admits to Cate that he and Julia were together for 3 years, he proposed, and she said no. And, he's not over her. They leave separately, and their counselor suggests they take some time apart. Ryan heads over to Baze's to stay. How many more people can possibly stay at Baze's place, anyway?

Baze is having his own relationship issues. Everything seems to start out great, making out in his car with Emma (but also, another relationship that requires the two to sneak around. So much sneaking around going on). But then, Emma gets a mysterious call and hoofs it out of there. Baze tries to get in touch with her later, but some guy answers her phone. He assumes she must be seeing someone else, and goes into a bit of a depressed spiral with the guys. He drinks himself to the point where he decides he has to know what's going on with Emma and goes over there, professing his love at high volume on her doorstep, which leads some teenager to open the door and wonder what the hell. Turns out, Emma has a teenaged son named Sam who has been a bit of a troublemaker, and who hasn't lived with her for some time. She and Baze end up making up and things are actually looking sort of serious for these two. I actually like the two of them together. She's much less annoying than Cate, certainly!

And... yeah. I don't even remember what the preview was for the next episode. Umm. Nope, not coming to me. Oh well.

Previous Episode -- Next Episode

...Set: Glee 2x06 "Never Been Kissed"

O.M.G. Finally an episode that is not so fully bloated with songs that there are actual stories going on! Only four songs this time, rather than seven?! Yes, yes, and a little more yes! Okay. I'll calm down now. But seriously, this is the sort of episode I expect from Glee, and I'm happy that the show did not feel the need to have a million songs this week.
Since I'm apparently such a stickler for the stories here, let's break it down, shall we?

Kurt's still gay, so the bullies say hey

Kurt seems to get a lot of the meaty storylines lately, and this week is no exception. He is still dealing with constant taunting by a particular jock at school, whose name I don't know, thanks to his status as the only out gay guy in the school. Will tries to reach out to him, but it doesn't really help since no one can really understand. He decides to go check out a competing school's glee club, the Warblers from some all boys private school, and while there meets this guy Blaine, who looks to be the lead of the club. Later, when talking to them, Blaine reveals that he's gay and part of why he goes to that school is because of the bullying he used to receive. He tells Kurt to stand up to the guy. Kurt does just that, and gets a surprise (not so much a surprise to me, I'm afraid) when the guy ends up kissing him, which we later learn was his first kiss. Though this would seem to be a sign that he would stop taunting Kurt, he just continues to do so. Kurt tries to enlist Blaine's help in talking to the dude, but it doesn't look like that guy's going to be coming to terms with his sexuality anytime soon. Unfortunately, high school is one of the worst places to be gay, even in today's society, so Kurt's plight is far from over.

Puck's back in town, but will he stick around?

Puck is out of juvie early because he said he would do community service, which to him means helping out Artie, by showing him how to make random money from classmates and how to ask out Brittany. Because apparently Artie sort of likes her, even though we've had no indication that he had any residual feelings for her since their tryst. Okay then. So Puck and Artie go on a double date with Santana and Brittany, and all the while Puck is basically bragging about his time spent in the underage clink, telling stories of waffle domination and the like. But when he finds out that helping out Artie doesn't count as his community service, and that if he doesn't choose something else instead (apparently only picking up garbage on the side of the road counts here), he'll have to go back to juvie, the truth comes out. Juvie was not so great. People kept stealing his waffles. Artie proposes that he'll help out Puck with his geometry while Puck does the community service, and Puck agrees. I kind of love these two as friends, don't you?

Beistes get the blues, and enjoy kissing too

In order to "cool off" before heading into sexy times, the guys of glee (plus Tina) have started picturing Coach Beiste in varying states of undress. Some misunderstandings come about, leading to a couple of the Glee-sters to tell Beiste to stay away from their man (or woman). Coach Beiste confronts Will about what is going on, and Will is forced to tell her the truth. Though the fact that he talks sex with these kids somewhat often is kind of disturbing to me. Anyway, Beiste is rather hurt by their imaginings, and decides to quit, which was no one's intention. Will goes to try to talk her out of it, and they actually have a nice and meaningful conversation, wherein she confesses that she's never even been kissed. Will kisses her (not as cheesy as it could have been, but let's face it, still kind of cheesy and expected) and asks her to come see what the glee guys have put together for their mash up. She is touched by their outreach, and decides to stay.

Oh, right. There was an actual assignment for the club, which was just a rehash of the boys versus girls with song mash ups from the previous year. I have to say, though, I enjoyed all of the songs this week, which has been something of a rarity this season. Clap your hands say yeah!

Songs:
One Love/People Get Ready - Puck & Artie
Teenage Dream - Blaine
Livin' on a Prayer/Start Me Up - Girls
Free Your Mind/Stop in the Name of Love - Boys

Quotes:

"I've never actually almost killed a civil servant before." - Sam

"Okay, hold up. Like a million awesome gay jokes just popped into my head." - Santana

"...who would rather be dry humping a she-hulk. Oh dear God, why did I say that? Now that's what I'm picturing." - Sue

"Yeah, you can't really put a dollar amount on talent and fear." - Puck

"With those abs, you could be my very own situation." - Tina

"Watch your tone with me, missy, you crap on my leg, and I'll cut it off!" - Beiste

Previous Episode -- Next Episode

Date Squares

So, I bought some dates. And I love dates, they are delish. But if I eat too many at once, my stomach does loop-d-loos. It's just not pretty. Also, incidentally, dates are crazy expensive. I didn't even see the price when I picked up the package, and then boom! Spendy little buggers, they are.

Anyway! So, I had all of these dates. And they don't keep forever, so I decided to find some way to use them up before they went bad. So I searched around the internet and found this easy recipe for some date squares, which are quite similar to those peach shortbread squares I made recently too. The main drawback here was that I had to cut all of them up myself by hand. They're sticky, it took a while. I stopped caring about large chunks. C'est la vie! They mostly got broken up when cooking anyway.

Date Squares

• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1 1/2 cups rolled oats
• 1 cup brown sugar, packed
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• pinch salt 

Date Filling:

• 2 packages (16 ounces) chopped dates
• 1 cup water
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or maple extract

Combine filling ingredients in saucepan; simmer for about 5 to 10 minutes, or until mixture is thick. Set aside to cool. Mix flour, oats, sugar, butter, soda, and salt; press about half of mixture in a greased and floured 9 X 13-inch pan. Spread filling over the oat layer. Add remaining oat mixture and press down lightly with hands. Bake at 350° for 20 minutes. Cool completely before cutting.

In pictures:

First up, making the filling. This is the chopped up dates ready to go with the water, sugar, and vanilla.

After 5-10 minutes simmering, it looks like this. My dates were chopped roughly and rather largely, so it's perhaps chunkier than yours might be. I chopped those babies by hand!

While the filling cools, whip up the crust stuff. This is what it should look like when all mixed together.

Add about half of the crust stuff to the buttered 9x13 pan and pat down.

Next up is the date layer. Splooge that all around. Some of the oats ended up mixing in from the bottom layer on mine. No big.

And then add the rest of the crust stuff on top. Pat it on down evenly.

And here it is, out of the oven. As you can see, it has browned a bit.

Ta-da! A date square.

Quite yummy, if you like this sort of baked thingy. I happen to enjoy them, so I have to ration myself, or I might still get sick from too many dates!

...Set: Life Unexpected 2x07 "Camp Grounded"

I apologize for the lateness of this recap (for anyone who cares!), but the show was preempted here in sunny Los Angeles for the election stuff this past Tuesday. Also, the outlook for the show does not look so great anyway, so these recaps may be coming to a screeching halt in a few episodes. In a way I wish I were more upset about it, but I have to say, I'm not going to be. Sorry, little show. You've kind of gone down the tubes.

And why? Because it's just so much of the same every single week. This week's show really did not advance any of the plotlines all that much. And by plotlines, I should just say relationships. Sure, there were fights, kissing, and sex, but in the end? Not a lot of change. But okay, let's take a quick peek at all of our regulars...

First up, we've got Baze and his lady friend Emma. Random aside: Emma is played by Emma Caulfield. Did they name her Emma because they had her in mind, or did that just happen to be a coincidence? Moving on. Baze was trying to set up an intimate date with Emma to prove to her he could, or something, but he forgot about this school camping trip (sponsored by the English department? Bzuh huh?) he had to chaperone. So, he sort of tricked Emma into thinking they were going on an intimate trip just the two of them when instead it was this big group thing. He ended up making it up to her by planning a special evening for them aboard the bus, complete with mood lighting and some sexy times. By the end of the episode, Emma decides she's just going to put her reservations aside and go with it, since she can't control her feelings.

Her decision ended up having an accidental repercussion on Lux's business, though. Because Lux's relationship issues are still revolving around Mr. Daniels, aka Eric, who also happens to be a chaperone on this trip. He's supposedly trying to keep distance between them to stamp down his feelings, but then ends up teaching Lux how to "swim" at night, alone in the lake. I think we can all discern here that "swim" = "kiss." But! Someone sees them making with the lip locking, so they have to stop quick. It turns out that it was just Tosh that some them, so she won't tell anyone, but she does tell Lux to put a stop to the whole thing. It looks like Lux is probably going to take her advice, but then Emma inadvertently basically tells her to go with her gut by explaining how that's what she's doing with Baze. So Lux tells Eric to basically either stop it altogether or just deal with the conscience and move onward and upward. He responds by "slyly" grabbing her hand on the bus on the way back. BAD NEWS.

Meanwhile, Cate and Ryan are having the mother of all fights, which only gets worse when Ryan doesn't show up to their therapy session. Cate expects him to also blow off the camping trip he had agreed to chaperone, but he ends up going. They bicker and bicker and bicker some more for ages and ages and some more ages until it all comes to a head in some break up/make up/who knows angry sex in, I guess, a cabin. Cate basically tells him that she's upset with him about lying because he's supposed to be the upstanding one in the relationship, blah blah blah. In the end, Ryan decides to go to their next therapy session, after some advice from Baze, the last person he would ever expect to get good advice from, I suspect.

And... blah. Next episode it just looks like more fighting between Cate and Ryan. I am so over the constant bickering between these two! I'm sure I'm not alone. I also get annoyed by how stupid Lux and Eric are being, especially when they have people telling them they're being stupid. Sigh.

Previous Episode -- Next Episode

...Set: Supernatural 6x07 "Family Matters"

Guys, I miss Sam. The real Sammy. This robo-Sam is just making me sad. And I kind of can't wait to see what he really feels about his time in Hell. Assuming he gets his soul back anytime soon. Oh yes, that's right. Our Sam is soul-less. Without a soul. Missing that thing that makes him feel and also, incidentally, sleep. Who knew your soul equaled sleep? The more you know!

This episode was all about the various Samuels running around the Supernatural-verse, starting, naturally, with the Samuel of the Winchester variety. Dean got Cas to come down from on high to give Sam a little hand-in-the-body examination, which told him that Sam is without his soul. The only lead they have to go on is that Sam wasn't the only one to mysteriously rise from the dead, so they bring Cas on over to take a gander into the Samuel of the Campbell variety too. It turns out, his soul is just fine, so Cas wings back off to Heaven to deal with his brewing angelic civil war, which of course Dean gets snippy about. Ah Dean, you really do think it's always about you, huh?

At the Campbell compound, there seem to be cousins roaming all over the place. Clearly something big is about to go down. Samuel informs Dean and Sam that they are about to go after the alpha vampire, but he doesn't want them involved. Or rather, he doesn't want Dean involved. But Dean manages to get them in by saying he'll do whatever Samuel asks him to do, even though he later confesses to Sam that he doesn't trust Samuel one bit, and knows he's hiding something. Obviously!

When the raid goes down, however, Dean gets pushed to the sidelines of the fight with Gwen, unable to see what's going down. Being Dean, though, he decides to take a quick look-see and manages to spy Samuel et al capturing the alpha vamp and stuffing him in their van, rather than killing him like they had said they would. Sam was also part of this deal, which Dean later confronts him about. Sam straight up lies about the whole thing, but is forced to tell the truth when Dean tells him he saw what was going on. And at this point, Dean has had it. He gives Sam the choice to either be with him 100% in this thing and tell him what's going on, or to go with Samuel and be done with it.

At first we're given a fake out scene where it looks like Sam has decided to join Samuel, but it turns out he was only doing that to try to get in on the whole alpha vamp torturing business that was about to go on. Samuel shuts him down, so he and Dean get sneaky and follow them to where they're keeping Mr. Alpha Vamp. Before the Winchesters get their turn with the alpha, they overhear Samuel grilling him, asking him where something is, though we never hear what he's asking about. But when Sam and Dean get their turn, alpha vamp spills. Samuel wants to know where Purgatory is, which, we're told, is where all of the souls of vampires and such go after they die. But the alpha doesn't know where it is, he's just as keen to find out. He also tells the boys that someone is pulling Samuel's strings, but before they can try to get him to say who, they're discovered by the Campbell clan.

It's the Campbells vs. the Winchesters in a standoff, but only a brief one, because the alpha vamp has managed to break free, as we all knew he would. He kills off a couple stragglers, and just when he's about to go medieval on the rest, suddenly a bunch of demon-y Campbells appear to whisk him away. And that is when the twist of the evening comes, in the form of Crowley, who happens to be the one pulling Samuel's strings.

It turns out that Crowley is also the one who brought both of the Samuels back, and that he has his hand squeezed all nice and tight around Sam's soul down in the cage. He's trying to find out where Purgatory is, and using Samuel to do it by gathering all of the alphas he can find. Because apparently he thinks one of them must know where Purgatory is? I guess. You'd think the King of Hell might be able to figure that one out, but whatevs! Basically he tells the boys that they have to work for him if they want to get Sam's soul back.

After he's gone, they try to get Samuel to tell them what Crowley could possibly be promising him for him to work for him, but Samuel doesn't say. Sam wants to take him out for selling them down the river, but Dean lets Samuel go. He's family, after all. And their family is surely in short supply. Both parents dead, and now Sam without a soul. Whatever shall they do?

Random thoughts:

- The soul thing gets murky for me. By what the alpha was saying, it sounded like the creatures and stuff have souls, but their souls are different, and that's why they go to purgatory rather than heaven or hell? Kind of confusing.

- How long until Sam gets his soul back? I really hope it's not too much longer. Seriously, I miss his schmoopy face. You know the one.

- What is Crowley lording over Samuel? My first guess goes to something with Mary, since they seem to all be about family.

- The alpha vamp is planning some kind of war. To what end? Did I miss that, or did he say it was something to do with the purgatory thing?

- Did we really need to see the alpha scratching at the bindings 5 million times to get the point?

Quotes:

"Hello, Newman." - Dean

"Of course. Your problems always come first." - Castiel

"He thinks velcro is big news." - Sam

"Well, if the old man's Kermit, whose hand is up his ass?" - Dean

"So, we clear? Me, Charlie. You, angels." - Crowley

Previous Episode -- Next Episode

...Set: Chuck 4x07 "...vs. the First Fight"

I don't know about everyone else, but I think this episode was by far the best one of the season (so far). The ending twist was awesome, though I started to wonder if something like that was going to happen part of the way through the episode. Still liked it!
I'm feeling a little burnt out on recapping lately, so I'm going to keep this one brief. This episode was all about figuring out whether Mama B was telling the truth about being one of the good guys. She claims that while she did go rogue from the CIA 20 years ago, it was because Volkoff had figured out that she was CIA, so she did it to keep the mission going. She then says she hooked up with the British MI6, and that her handler is coming in to town, who could thus prove her story. Chuck gets this intel from her on the downlow, so he goes to meet this MI6 dude, Tuttle (played awesomely by former 007 Timothy Dalton).

Things go terribly wrong at this meet (least of which was Morgan completely botching his part of the plan), and Chuck and Tuttle get abducted by Volkoff's crew. They manage to escape the plane they're on and get back to Los Angeles to go retrieve a special disk that will clear Mama B's name.

While they are having their adventures, Mama B says she'll help Sarah, Casey and Morgan find Chuck if they let her see Ellie. They eventually agree to this plan, and she and Ellie have a rather heartfelt reunion where they talk about this old 1968 Mustang that Papa B had back in the day. This discussion is rather convenient because Ellie had been wondering whether Papa B had left her any of their secret newspaper classified clues after he had died, but hadn't been able to figure it out. One such classified was for a 1968 Mustang with blue leather seats. Might that be the very one they used to own?

After this meeting, Mama B takes Sarah and the gang over to the same bank that Chuck and Tuttle are at retrieving the disk. Only while they are there, Volkoff's people show up to crash the party. Sarah and Chuck must break out their super spy moves, but Tuttle ends up getting shot. They leave him there for Casey and Morgan to retrieve (but - gasp - he's gone once the guys get there!) while they go off to read the disk, which is some super special disk that can only be read by this old computer Papa B kept in his super secret lair, which we also conveniently saw at the beginning of the episode.

This all turns out to be a big ole ruse, though, because once they get down to the secret lair, and Chuck and Sarah are waiting for the disk to read in the computer, it becomes quite clear that Mama B has ulterior motives. She sneaks off into the stacks and picks up some device that looks suspiciously like a PSP, and pushes it into Chuck's face. It does some kind of Intersect flashy stuff, and Chuck has barely time to register something has happened before Tuttle shows up. Only, he's not Tuttle at all! He's... Volkoff!

Volkoff and Mama B tie up Sarah and Chuck, and things are looking rather dire. All signs seem to indicate that Mama B really is a bad guy, but we do find out a couple of things. 1 - she never told Volkoff she had kids, even though she did tell him about her husband. And 2 - she gives Sarah a razor blade to cut herself and Chuck free before the place they've rigged with explosives blows up. So what are her true motivations? Hard to say. She and Volkoff take off into the night while Sarah and Chuck barely escape the exploding lair. Chuck also realizes that whatever his mom did with that PSP flashy thing appears to have turned off the Intersect.

Meanwhile, Ellie and Devon have gone to find the Mustang. Papa B has left her a note, and as they drive off, we see that there is some kind of device blinking under the seat. An Intersect device of some kind, perhaps? I bet so! And... I'm spent. Next week is a break, and then it's back to the Chuck action on Nov. 15.

Quotes:

"What are you looking at?" - Volkoff lady played by Ana Gasteyer
"Not that scar. Or that scar. Neither one of those scars. Or your mole..." - Chuck

"Oh cool, a tiny weapons stand off!" - Tuttle

"You might as well have just posted about our fight on Friendster!" - Sarah
"Friendster? Honey, people stopped using Friendster five years ago." - Chuck

"This is exhausting!" - Sarah
"Yeah, tell me about it, how do you fight these big guys all the time?" - Chuck

Song choice:

James Vincent McMorrow - We Don't Eat

(I really liked the song where Chuck was fighting on the plane, but I won't know what it was until this site is updated tomorrow!)

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