Underappreciated Gems: The Invisible Man (2000-2002)

I'm trying something a little different here today on the ole blog. Usually I limit myself to recaps and reviews of TV shows currently on air. But today I'm going to tell you about a little show that was one of the first that I could be said to have become obsessed with. An underappreciated gem that only lasted for two seasons, starting back in the year 2000. A little show called The Invisible Man.

Now, I would not be surprised if most of you have never heard of this show. It aired on the SciFi Channel before it became Syfy and was among equally great company with Farscape on SciFi Fridays. Ah, those were the days.

So why did it only last for two seasons? It was, after all, the second highest rated show on the network at the time.

One word: money. It was an expensive show to produce, and I guess the expenses did not outweigh the gains. I am still saddened by this fact any time I rewatch the show.

Why do I still have such love for this show so many years later? Because it was great. It combined many of my favorite things about television. The characters were engaging, I wanted to know more about them. The stories were usually inventive and, oftentimes, fun. It had a sense of humor about itself, and the cast's great chemistry only helped solidify what could've been a hard to balance tone. Sure, there are some episodes that I generally never watch when I've found myself sucked into marathoning it, but hey. All shows are like that. And I can still recite the monologue over the opening credits. Which is either awesome or sad or a combination of the two.

Now that I've waxed on about why it was great, I'll tell you some more details about the show itself. It was about a small time thief named Darien Fawkes (catchphrase: "Aw, crap."). He got into a spot of trouble and was facing life in prison. His brother Kevin came to the rescue with a crazy plan. He'd become a human experiment for Kevin's quicksilver gland - a gland that produces a substance called quicksilver that can bend light, therefore making Darien an invisible man.

This is Darien, played by Vincent Ventresca. Darien/Vincent always had the best hair. It eventually became kind of a running joke on the show too, that Darien was obsessed with his hair.

Fawkes and Hobbes

The thing was, there was a traitor in the midst of the quicksilver project team named Arnaud that engineered a sort of defect in the gland, making the quicksilver act as a disinhibitor of some kind that would, after a certain amount of time, make Darien go basically nutso. The more he uses the stuff, the faster he can go off the deep end. The only way to stop it is with a chemical counteragent that flushes the quicksilver out of his system. You following me? It sounds confusing, but it makes sense in context.

Darien ends up having to work for The Agency, a secret and terminally underfunded government organization, in order to get the shots and stay sane. He gets teamed up with Bobby Hobbes, and a bromance for the ages is born. These two had a great rapport that only got better with time.

Now that I've gotten you excited, or at least semi-interested, about this underappreciated show, I'm going to run down some of the best episodes, in airdate order.

Some Top Episodes:

• Pilot (1x01)
• Flowers for Hobbes (1x16)
• Money for Nothing Pt. 1 & Pt. 2 (1x21 &1x22)
• Brother's Keeper (2x06)
• Enemy of My Enemy/The New Stuff (2x21 & 2x22)

Of course, if you're just going to watch the show for the first time and only want to watch a few to see if you'd be into it, I'd recommend:

• Pilot (1x01)
• Ralph (1x03)
• Reunion (1x12)
• Flowers for Hobbes (1x16)

You can watch both seasons for free on NBC.com, and can get season one on DVD. Alas, they do not currently have the second season on DVD. But, one can hope. Maybe. Someday. If we get lucky.

I think I may make this a recurring type post. Next up on the underappreciated gems list: Dark Angel. 

Double Fudge Irish Cream Cookies

OMG. These cookies. These cookies! They are, to put it bluntly, AMAZING. I wasn't so sure when I was making them, mostly because of the little bit of instant coffee in them, but damn! Damn a lamba ding dong.

When I took my first bite of a warm and gooey one? I nearly keeled over right there out of bliss. I don't usually wax so poetic about my own baked goods, but lordy. Please make these. You will not be disappointed. Unless you're strange. And that's your own cross to bear. I can't help you become un-strange.

Sorry.

Double Fudge Irish Cream Cookies (via Tasty Kitchen)

Ingredients:

• 1 cup Butter, Softened
• 1-½ cup Sugar
• 2 whole Eggs
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
• 8 Tablespoons Bailey's Irish Cream Liqueur
• 2-⅔ cups All-purpose Flour
• ½ cups Cocoa Powder
• 1 teaspoon Instant Coffee Powder
• 1-¼ teaspoon Baking Soda
• ¼ teaspoons Salt
• 1 cup White Chocolate Chips
• ½ cups Milk Chocolate Chips

Cream butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla until fluffy. Add in Bailey’s one tablespoon at a time. Add flour, cocoa powder, instant coffee, baking soda and salt and mix until combined.

Fold in chocolate chips. Refrigerate dough for 4–6 hours.

Roll into balls and set on a baking sheet.

Bake at 350ºF for 8–10 minutes.

In pictures:

The butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla become acquainted. Get real friendly, even.

The magic starts with the addition of Bailey's. Mmmmm Bailey's...

Cocoa, flour and instant coffee, along with their nerdy cousins salt and baking soda, join the fray. The dough is super thick, if you couldn't tell.

The chips are mixed in and it's ready to be refrigerated. You'll want to skip the refrigeration step, but let me assure you, cookies are almost always better if you've refrigerated the dough first.

Marvel at the mess I made. Don't be like me.

Oh hi, dough! You're ready now? Okay! Boy, you sure are hard. Maybe that's because I had to leave you in the fridge overnight? That's my fault, you say? Psh. How rude. My other dough does not have such lip.

Delightful little cookies, ready to be gobbled. After you let them sit for a bit, though. Trust me.

They may not look like much, but hoooo boy, they are GOOD.

Seriously, are you hypnotized yet?

Make them, eat them, call them George, and love them forever and ever.

The end.

Chuck 4x19 "...vs. the Muuurder"

=Perhaps the new term for jumping the shark should be bombing the pig. Yeesh, that was sooo cheesy. Ultra extreme cheese, I can't take it. I also knew when they were hearing scuffling in those gigantic air ducts that it would be the pig. Duh. Also? If you don't want people being able to sneak around your air ducts, don't have air ducts that could fit two people next to each other. Just saying.
The pig thing was all part of the Buy More subplot this week, which revisited the long held rivalry between Buy More and Large Mart. Jeff and Lester stole the Large Mart pig, Kevin Bacon, so Large Mart retaliated by stealing Big Mike, who was dressed up in a heretofore never seen BM giant box outfit. Henceforth BM was used in a myriad number of cheeky ways without actually saying the words bowel movement. In the end, Big Mike escapes, but the Large Martians set fire to the BM anyway. Blah blah. Moving along.

Apparently this week I'm going over subplots first, so let's get straight into the other one - the case of Ellie and her dad's laptop. She's been going to town working on it after Bentley gave it to her last week, and has discovered that Papa B was trying to figure out a way for the brain to know something without having to learn it - aka, what the Intersect does. So wait, does she not know about the Intersect part of Chuck's spy life? I'm so lost as to what she knows and doesn't at this point. Devon and Chuck are concerned about her delving into all of this, and Chuck wants Devon to replace the hard drive so she can't work on it anymore. But when Devon sees how much it means to her, he tells Chuck that he's done it, even though he hasn't. But what was most interesting about this entire episode, to me, was how it ended - with the computer, turning on, scanning the room with Ellie asleep, recognizing her face, and booting up files on Agent X. Whaaaa? They sure do know how to have a cliffhanger on this show, I will say that.

But okay, what was the main plot about? After the other Intersects failed to be as good as Chuck, Beckman puts him in charge of the Intersect team, specifically to look for a new candidate. They bring in four potentials - Lewis, Jody (I think? I believe they only said her name once the entire episode), Damian, and Brody. After some testing of the subjects, Chuck is ready to choose Brody, who is virtually a carbon copy of himself. Alas, it is not meant to be. Brody gets stabbed. Dead. One of the people in Castle is a murderer!

They lock down the joint to figure out who it is. Damian ends up getting partially blown up by a bomb, which leads to further suspicions and searches and whatnot. After another bomb goes off, and Lewis suddenly goes missing, they assume it must be him. And that immediately crosses him off the likely bomber list. It's never who you think it is halfway through the episode. They split up to try to find him, only to find him dead. Which doesn't deserve a dun dun dun, because for serious - obvious. Fake outs are much too easy for me to spot anymore. Sigh.

Everyone gathers back together and starts bickering, but Chuck has figured out that the one behind it all along was actually.... Damian! He killed Brody, then bombed himself to displace the blame, etc. etc. He's got one last bomb as well, and this time Chuck doesn't have enough time to disarm the thing before it goes off. Bentley grabs it and heads for the Intersect room, the only bomb-proof room in the place. She's about to sacrifice herself, but Chuck works it out so she doesn't have to, and they all live to fight another day, the Intersect room blown to bits. Chuck's the only Intersect for now.

But who was Damian working for, you wonder? It turns out that he was working for Vivian Volkoff, who wants to get back at Chuck for putting away her father. She turned to the dark side much too easily for a person who barely saw her father at all, am I right?

Quotes:

"I haven't felt anything for years." - Jeff

"If you love something, let it go. If it comes back to you, you can eat it." - Jeff
"He lives by a strange philosophy of karma and diet, and combines the two. But it works for him." - Lester

"Just the ladies. Figures." - Casey

Previous Episode -- Next Episode

Gooey Butter Cake

First of all, I'd like to wish all of my fellow part-Irish homies a Happy Saint Patrick's Day! Slainte! I'm some percentage of Irish, who knows how much, and I just happened to study abroad there as well. Ah, Galway, I miss ya dear.

Alas, I am not bringing you an Irish dessert today. I know, a travesty. Oh well. I made this thing called Gooey Butter Cake this weekend, and I'm still not sure about it.

 

It is indeed gooey, and it does indeed have a lot of butter. I'm just not sure I am that in love with it. But I took it in to the office, and everyone seemed to like it there. There was not a piece left. That's usually a good sign. Also? I'd never even heard of this stuff before reading about it on Tasty Kitchen. Am I alone in my ignorance, or is it maybe some local thing? I don't know! 

Gooey Butter Cake

• FOR THE CRUST:
• 1 package (18.25 Oz. Box) Plain Yellow Cake Mix *
• 1 stick Unsalted Butter, melted
• 1 whole Egg
• _____
• FOR THE FILLING:
• 8 ounces, weight Cream Cheese, At Room Temperature
• 2 whole Eggs
• 1 teaspoon Pure Vanilla Extract
• 1 stick Unsalted Butter, melted
• 3-¾ cups Confectioner's Sugar

Preheat oven to 350°. Prepare crust first. In a large mixing bowl, combine the crust ingredients with a wooden spoon until moist. Transfer to a 13″x9″ ungreased baking pan and spread evenly over the bottom of the pan. Set aside.

Next, prepare the filling. In a large mixing bowl, beat cream cheese with an electric mixer until fluffy. Add the eggs, vanilla, and melted butter, and continue to mix. Next, add the confectioner’s sugar one cup at a time until all sugar is mixed in. Pour filling over the crust, and spread evenly with a spatula.

Bake gooey butter cake for 40-45 minutes until it is browned, but the center is still jiggles when the pan is shaken. Cool for 30 minutes. Sprinkle with additional confectioner’s sugar and serve.

*Much like HowSweetEats on Tasty Kitchen, I also used the My Favorite Yellow Cake from sweetebakes to replace the boxed cake mix in the original recipe. If you want to do the same, just use the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt measurements. Then add in 1/4 cup milk when the Gooey Butter Cake crust is moistened and just about ready to be transferred to the baking dish.

In pictures:

This is the stuff for the bottom crust layer all mixed together. I wished I had used a larger bowl, because I was having to be careful about side spillage.

The crust all pressed into the pan.

I think this is the cream cheese and the eggs. My cream cheese was not quite room temperature, so there ended up being tiny bits of lumps.

Butter and sugar whipped up.

 Ready to head into the oven.

It comes out, with a slight poof to the top.

Then settles down after a half hour.

A piece set out and sprinkled with powdered sugar.

A couple things. This cake is slightly reminiscent of cheesecake, due to the cream cheese. Also, it's better if you refrigerate it if you don't plan to serve it all at once. However, if you do refrigerate it, I recommend you cut the pieces first, because it becomes hard to cut. But if you don't put it in the fridge, it gets a little too gooey. It's a fine balance, see. A fine balance I did not entirely embrace. But if you like it, hey, good for you!

Glee 2x16 "Original Song"

Holy frijoles, people. That was a whole lotta singing going on tonight. If I was thinking seven songs was pushing the limit, I was clearly noodles, because tonight there were seven full length songs, plus four partial songs! One thing I will credit this episode for, however, was making me feel emotionally invested in some of these people again. I may or may not have gotten a wee tear in my eye when New Directions finally won Regionals. Because yes, they won. Obviously they would win, we're only at episode 16 of this season, and we knew from the top that their goal was to get to Nationals. And they have, so there.

What happened besides that in this episode? Seriously, not a whole lot. How could there be room for much story when so much singing was going on? Thus, I give you story bullet points:

- Kurt tells Blaine that the Warblers have become Blaine and the Pips, and after Kurt dose a heart-stirring rendition of Blackbird for the group (in honor of the passing of their bird Pavarotti), Blaine decides he and Kurt should do a duet at Regionals. Not only that, they should also be a real live duet. As in, dating. As in, kissing. As in, Kurt's wildest dreams come true. Even though they didn't win Regionals, they won each other. That is practically a direct quote, sapsters. But don't you just see Kurt eventually getting back with New Directions just in time for Nationals? I see it in my very own crystal ball.

- Quinn decides that she has to lock down Finn for prom, and the only way to do that is to befriend the enemy - namely, Rachel. So, she backs up Rachel's idea to perform original songs at Regionals, and suggests the two of them write a song together. Rachel finally starts to pick up on the fact that there is something going on with the 'inns, and confronts Quinn about it. Quinn basically tells her to grow up, which inspires Rachel's solo song, which in turn, makes Finn see what he saw in Rachel in the first place. Plan, backfired.

- After some false starts with other song attempts, New Directions pulls it together to knock it out of the park at Regionals with their original song, Loser Like Me. They take all of the crap that has been thrown their way (most noticeably by Sue... dirt in lockers, letters asking names to be changed to Loser...), and turn it into something positive, and get the ultimate reward - victory. Also victorious? Rachel, who wins the newly minted MVP award.

That's all, folks. Seriously.

Songs:
Misery - Blaine ft. Warblers
Only Child - Rachel
Blackbird - Kurt ft. Warblers
Trouty Mouth - Santana
Big Ass Heart - Puck
Hell to the No - Mercedes
Jesus is My Friend - Aural Intensity
Candles - Kurt & Blaine
Raise Your Glass - Warblers
Get It Right - Rachel
Loser Like Me - New Directions

Quotes:

"Consider this the opening salvo of World War Sue." - Sue

"All I know is, you blew me off, to be with Stubbles McCripplepants." - Santana

"I don't even remember putting that in there." - Brittany

"That Dalton Academy... is it a gay school, or is it just a school that appears gay?" - Sister Mary Constance

Previous Episode

Chuck 4x18 "...vs. the A-Team"

For the first twenty minutes of this episode, I was preeeetty bored, much like Sarah. But things picked up around the halfway mark, delightfully so. Thank goodness, because I really couldn't take those two fakeouts in the opening scenes. I can smell a fakeout coming from a mile away, and while they may have been clues to later scenes, still. I am desensitized. It comes from too much TV, I'm sure.
So what was causing Chuck and Sarah to be so bored they had to keep themselves entertained with board games? It was all thanks to Casey's new secret team, which Chuck and Sarah finally found out about when they stumbled upon the gigantic hallway that they had apparently been blind to before. They decide they've got to find out what Casey is up to, and follow him on his next mission. There, they discover that he's got two new team members in Rick and Vicky, formerly both known as Greta.

Now that there are two teams taking up residence in Castle, Chuck and Sarah are left wondering whether they are the A team or the B team. There is little doubt about their status when they are sent across the world to retrieve Jana, someone very important to a dude called The Turk (reminds me of Sarah Connor Chronicles, as does some of the 'danger' music on this show), who has information on some other guy named something like Dragan. But it turns out this Jana is not a person but, rather, a dog. Yeah, they're the B team.

Not content to be left to the sidelines, Chuck and Sarah decide they've got to get into the secret backstage area, and MacGuyver Casey's handprint. Once inside, they find out that their whole operation has been made possible thanks to Papa Bartowski's old laptop, which I entirely forgot about until they brought it up in the "previously" segment. Chuck wants to take it, because his dad would not have wanted it used in this manner, but the other team finds them, and they do some kung fu fighting. That's when they discover that Rick and Vicky aren't just good agents - they're new intersects! The director of their team, Bentley, takes back the laptop and sends Chuck and Sarah packing.

But, when the mission to capture the Dragan dude comes up, they realize that he's carrying a bomb, and it will be more than a three person job. Thus, Chuck and Sarah get to come along. And it's a good thing, too. Because once Dragan gets off the plane and they kill all of his other people, they realize the bomb he's carrying is a suitcase nuclear bomb aka very bad news. Dragan takes off with the detonator, and Sarah and Vicky go after him. Sarah corners him, and finds out that the detonator is linked up to his vitals. Thus, if he dies, the bomb gets turned on. Vicky, however, comes guns a'blazing and kills him, setting the clock ticking on the bomb. Uh oh.

Rick thinks their best option is to take the bomb and fly as far away as they can before it goes off. It'd still kill some people, but not as many. Chuck, however, is sure he can find a way to defuse the bomb before it goes off, despite the Intersect initially not knowing how. He's able to use information from the intersect about another part of the bomb to infer that if it comes into contact with salt water, it'll be turned off. Some sort of fail safe. But they're in the middle of the city! Where will they find salt water? Why, it just so happens that Casey gave Chuck an apple juice box earlier - and it has sodium! A nuclear bomb defused by apple juice! Who would've thunk?

Seeing that Team Bartowski is really the A team in this joint, Beckman puts Chuck in charge of anything intersect-related going forward. And that also means that Rick and Vicky get de-intersected, which they are both relieved to do. The original recipe team is back together again, or are they? Bentley seems to have more plans for Casey up her sleeve in relation to the secrets of the laptop.

Ellie has been going stir crazy being a stay at home mom with baby Clara. She wants to delve back into her dad's laptop to occupy her mind, but Devon gave the laptop to Chuck (and we all know where it went). They deflect her by saying that they turned it into the Buy More and blame Jeff and Lester for losing it, but by the end of the episode, Bentley gives the laptop to Ellie, in hopes that with her Bartowski mind, she can crack its secrets. I'm really not sure what other secrets are on that thing, but who knows.

Standout song:
Tricky - Murder Weapon

Quotes:

"Morgan Grimes, you are a badass. ... Oh no, I peed a little." - Morgan

"All we gotta do is get through four inches of solid steel." - Chuck
"Or we could cut off Casey's hand." - Sarah
"...Let's keep that as our backup plan, shall we?" - Chuck

"Clever girl." - Morgan (awesome Jurassic Park reference)

"These have a camera inside of them that scan for any bioresidue." - Sarah
"Ugh. Sounds like a CBS show." - Chuck

"I wonder if they have that fancy Greek yogurt in their kitchen." - Chuck

Previous Episode -- Next Episode

Supernatural Paley Festival 2011

People, I have come full circle. Back in 2006, I was one of the fans who went to the first Supernatural Paley Fest panel, which was the very first congregation of fans of the show, ever. I feel like I get my geek cred just for that alone, but now I've completed the package with a return trip today! And it was just as great as the last time, though it felt shorter. Maybe because I had a ridiculous grin on my face the entire time. It's just like you've heard, and maybe some of you have experienced. The guys? They are just as charismatic and funny in person. More so.

 Sorry, I don't have the money to be buying these images. If anyone needs me to take it down, just tell me!

Today, the guests included: Eric Kripke, Sera Gamble, Jared Padalecki, Jensen Ackles, Misha Collins, Jim Beaver and Ben Edlund. That's also the order they sat on stage, for anyone who needs to know that business.

Highlights from the panel:

- The reel Sera introduced before everyone came out. It was a great compilation of everything that has been happening in season six so far, with a couple extra treats at the end. The first treat was an extended scene from The French Mistake (the acting scene) plus some outtakes from other bits in that episode. The other treat was a brief couple of scenes for the upcoming Western episode!! Sera said she didn't want to give away what they were going to show, but that a lot of fans were pretty excited about it. I knew immediately that's what it would be. Perhaps I'm a fan, no?

- When asked if they had anything they would change, Eric and Misha both had good answers. Misha's we've heard before - he wouldn't do the Castiel gravel voice, as he's totally regretting it now and worried he may well permanently damage his throat. But Eric's was pretty great. He was saying that he has something he'd change in every episode, but one thing that he was reminded of the other day was all the way back in the pilot, when Sam and Dean are walking to the Impala and spouting all sorts of exposition. He cringes every time he hears that, because the other guy would be like "I know! Why are you telling me stuff I already know?!" Ha. I totally get that as a writer myself. Exposition is tough. Jensen then commented how he hates delivering exposition, and that he was happy once the guest stars started having to do it more often.

- When Misha was talking about the Cas voice, it segued into Jensen telling a little anecdote of when Misha first appeared on set doing the voice. Apparently everyone thought he was super weird - Jensen even asked the camera guys what he was doing. And later, on set, Jared and Jensen saw him reading or eating or something, and they were like, "He looks like he's in character." and let him be. Asking him then whether he was in character, he was like - nope! And apparently they just all thought he was strange. Haha, it was much funnier in person, trust me.

- An interesting tidbit that I've never heard before... someone asked whether Missouri would ever be back on the show again. Personally, I think it's been too long by this point, but anyway. Eric told this story of how she was originally supposed to be in the season one finale. The boys were going to go find her and do the devil's trap stuff with Meg at her place, but in the end Loretta Devine couldn't do it, so they ended up having to come up with a new character... one Bobby Singer! Just think, we never would've had Bobby!

- That story made way for another story of how Bobby got his name. As you should know, Robert Singer is one of the exec producers on the show. When they were coming up with this character, Eric wanted to name him after both Bob and Kim Manners, so he was originally supposed to be named Bobby Manners, since Eric looked up to the both of them. But, it turned out that there was a Bobby Manners who lived in South Dakota, so they couldn't do that. And because Bob wasn't in the office that day, Eric named him Bobby Singer!

- Jared making fun of Eric's bad guy voice was pretty hilarious. Eric apparently always does the same voice whenever he's acting like he's whatever bad guy is around. You really had to be there for this one, but it was super funny.

- For those wondering whether we will ever get a Castiel-centric episode similar to how Bobby got one earlier this season, wonder no longer. Ben Edlund confirmed that he had just finished directing his first episode, and it happened to be a Cas-centric one. I believe it's episode 20.

- Eric emailed the director/producers after seeing his death scene from French Mistake, thanking them for killing him in such a badass way, as that was not how it was originally written. Speaking of French Mistake, Misha really wanted the version of himself to be a total douche. Jensen commented that he laughed a lot at Misha's death scene, and then commented that that was sort of weird. Haha.

- Eric has a specific coda in mind for when the show comes to an end - where everyone would end up.

Now with a special video highlight from the Paley Center:



There was more than that, of course, but I assume they're going to have it all on DVD soon enough. I'm really glad I went, even though I was up in the nosebleed section. Oh well, they had a huge video screen. I just love that everyone seems to get along so well, they all seem to genuinely like each other. If you have any questions about the panel, feel free to ask away in the comments!!

Glee 2x15 "Sexy"

Can I confess something? I know I write these recaps every week and all, and that should mean that I'm a fan of the show I'm recapping, but... I'm kind of over Glee. I got so into it during the first season, and while there are certainly still moments now, for me the magic is pretty much gone. Poof! I know a lot of people have felt this way, but it's making me want to scrap recapping it altogether. And when nobody comments, I'm inclined to believe no one else would care either. Feel free to tell me I'm wrong in the, gasp, comments.

Until I am pushed off the proverbial ledge, let's talk about this week's episode. It was all about sex. Sort of. It was supposed to be about educating the kids on sex because they had some wacky views (for example, Brittany thought a baby would be delivered to her by a stork). Of course, much like the episode on alcohol, it mostly involved the kids (and returning guest star Gwyneth Paltrow as Holly Holiday) singing sexy songs instead.

But what did actually happen story-wise? Emma had resurrected the celibacy club, mostly because she and Carl, who have been married for four months now, still haven't done it, because she won't. She thinks this is entirely okay, but Carl gets her to sit down with Holly to figure out the problem, and it turns out that she still has feelings for Will (der). They decide to take a break for a while. Wah wah.

After hearing that the New Directions crew are going to be sexing up their image from a misinformed Sue, Blaine decides the Warblers need to do the same. So they perform for their sister school, and apparently think that a bunch of bubbles are sexy. Okay.... Blaine also comes to realize that Kurt is totally uncomfortable with the sex stuff too, and when he won't let Blaine try to help him through it, Blaine recruits Burt to talk to Kurt. They have what is quickly becoming a patented father-son chat-for-the-ages and *yawn.* What? I should still care? Pardon me.

Will has an obvious crush on Holly, and tries to act on it, but she shuts him down, not wanting to open herself up. In the end, she decides she should actually try having a real relationship, and they kiss.

The biggest and closest-as-this-show-can-come-to-heartening-anymore storyline of the night involved Santana and Brittany. Santana wants to get back to their lady loving ways, but Brittany is tired of doing that without talking about their feelings about it all. They go to Holly for some advice, and she says they should try explaining their feelings in song. Through the song she chooses, Santana basically tells Brittany that she loves her, but she's afraid to go down that road. She also tells her that point blank later on, but since Brittany is still with Artie, and loves him too, she shoots her down. For now, anyway.

In other relationship news, Lauren and Puck contemplate making a sex tape until Holly informs them it would be child pornography, so they end up both joining the celibacy club together. Quinn and Finn have been secretly spending time together, and it appears they will continue to do so at least until next week when it looks like Rachel might make a further play for him.

Oh, and next week is Regionals, with original songs. A miracle or a disaster? Only time shall tell, I guess.

Songs:

Do You Wanna Touch Me - Holly
Animal - Warblers
Kiss - Will & Holly
Landslide - Holly, Santana & Brittany
Afternoon Delight - Puck, Emma, Quinn, Rachel & Carl

Quotes:

"How about you and I pop in some Sweet Valley High this evening, get our cuddle on?" - Santana
"Look, I'd really like to get my sweet lady kisses on, but I haven't been feeling very sexy lately." - Brittany

"Mmm. That's a waste of some fine man butt." - Holly

"So, just remember, whenever you have sex with someone, you're having sex with everyone they've ever had sex with. And everybody's got a random." - Holly

"I have as much sexual appeal and knowledge as a baby penguin." - Kurt

"Let's be clear here, I'm not interested in any labels, unless it's on something I shoplift." - Santana

"I made out with a mannequin. I even had a sex dream about a shrub that was just in the shape of a person." - Santana

"Oh, I know hickeys. I'm a frickin' connoisseur. I can make them into shapes like balloon animals." - Puck

Previous Episode -- Next Episode

Pear Spice Cake with Pecan Praline Topping

Pears pears pears! I made a pear crisp only a couple weeks ago, and here I'm at it again with a pear spice cake! That's what happens when you buy a Costco-sized bag of gigantor pears and you are but one little person. Next time I should try roasting them, right? But I've used them all up for now, so this will have to sate the other pear lovers out there.

I found this recipe over at Joy the Baker, only she used walnuts instead of pecans. She also included chopped walnuts in the cake itself, which is just something I don't approve of generally speaking. That's like brownies with nuts. Gross. I'm sure a lot of you out there loooove walnuts, but you know what? Blegh. Walnuts are right up there with onions and pineapple and coconut for me. Hmm. Maybe I've said too much. You've lost all respect for my palate, haven't you?

Oh well! More for me, then! But in all seriousness, this cake is super moist and delicious, and if you don't make some kind of brown sugar amazingness topping, you will be seriously missing out.


Pear Spice Cake
Adapted from Joy the Baker

Ingredients:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground allspice
• 1 1/2 teaspoons freshly grated nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 3 large eggs, separated
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1  cups buttermilk
• 3 pears, peeled, cored and diced into roughly 1/2-inch pieces (about 1 to 1 1/4 cups of fruit)

Make cake:

Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 350°F. Butter and flour bundt pan.

Sift together flour,  baking soda, baking powder, and salt into a bowl. Beat together butter, sugar, cinnamon, allspice, and nutmeg in another bowl with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until fluffy, about 3 minutes in a standing mixer or 4 with a handheld. Add yolks 1 at a time, beating well after each addition, then beat in vanilla. Reduce speed to low, then add flour mixture and buttermilk alternately in batches, mixing well after each addition.  Fold in pear pieces.

Beat egg whites in another bowl with cleaned beaters until they just hold stiff peaks, then fold whites into batter gently but thoroughly.

Spoon batter into pan, smoothing top, and bake until a wooden pick or skewer comes out clean, 40 to 50 minutes. Cool cake in pan on a rack 10 minutes, then invert onto rack and cool completely.

Pecan Praline Topping

• 3/4 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/4 cup whipping cream
• 1 cups pecans, roughly chopped, toasted

Stir golden brown sugar, whipping cream and  1/2 cup butter in heavy medium saucepan over medium-high heat until smooth. Boil 3 minutes, stirring often. Stir in pecan pieces. Spoon warm topping over warm cake. Serve warm or at room temperature.

In pictures:

Sugar and spice and everything nice. Incidentally, I didn't have any all spice, and the cake still tasted great, but I think the all spice would've given it that extra oomph, so I recommend you use it if you have it.

Flour mixture added in. Look at how fluffy it's getting!

With the pears and egg whites mixed in. I didn't beat my egg whites as long as I should've, but I was doing it by hand and I was impatient.

It's ready to go into the oven!

Out of the oven!

 I forgot to take photos of the process of making the topping. Whoops. My topping is runny. I should've let it sit out a little bit and it would've thickened up.

Mmmm.

Delicious!

Supernatural 6x16 "And Then There Were None"

Wow. What an appropriate episode title for this one, right? I'm still a little in shock at how many people they just killed off. I had a feeling that Rufus was going to bite the big one after reading a couple of hints about upcoming episodes, but I didn't know they were also going to kill off ole Grandpa Campbell too! Spoiler alert, obviously, but if you're reading this, I assume you've already watched the episode. If not, um. Whoops?

The episode started off with a random trucker dude meeting our newest big bad - the Mother of All (Evil Creatures). She puts something in his ear that makes him go berserk and kill everyone in his path, including his family, though he has no recollection of doing any such thing. When Sam, Dean and Bobby come to investigate, they get their first look at big mama Eve, as she likes to call herself, and have no idea how they are supposed to battle her. No time to figure that out quite yet, though, because someone else has gone crazy.
Bobby heads off to investigate while the boys apparently watch some more videos instead of going with him, even though they've seen nearly everything they need to see on the video, so it makes little sense. But, in any event, when Bobby arrives at the place, he encounters Rufus, who has also arrived in town to investigate. They join forces and figure out that both the people who went crazy had some sort of goo coming out of their ears, and were both connected to the cannery. Off to the cannery!

They meet up with Dean and Sam and head inside, only to find that someone else is in town too! This is becoming a hunter party! Except that these other people in question happen to be Samuel and Gwen Campbell. And last Dean saw his Grandaddy, he told him he'd kill him. He wants to make good on his promise, but the others stall him and tell him to go cool off. Gwen gets up in Samuel's face, because she didn't know that he had tried to sell Sam and Dean down the river, and goes to ask Dean about it. And what does Dean do? He SHOOTS her! What! That was unexpected.

But not entirely, because he was infected with some kind of parasite thingy that goes in through the ears. Once they find him, he doesn't have it in him any more, but now everyone else is a suspect. It could be in anyone. Bobby suggests they all forfeit their weapons so they can't kill each other as easily, which they do for a time, until Samuel reveals himself to be the newest infected member. They re-acquire their weapons to hunt him down, only Sam gets trapped alone with him. Though Samuel tries to convince him that the parasite is no longer inside of him, guess what? Sam SHOOTS him! OMG!

Bobby, having "of course" brought his cranium drill thing along, gets to work with Rufus on sawing open Samuel's brain while Sam and Dean wait outside. He was their grandpa, after all. Bobby tries to apologize to Rufus for something bad that went down in Omaha years ago, but Rufus is not having it. And it doesn't much matter anyway, because just as the drill/saw thing hits Samuel's head, he goes nuts, because he's not entirely dead! There's some scuffling between the three while Sam and Dean struggle to get inside. Luckily, though, Samuel ends up getting electrocuted, which causes the parasite thing to vacate his body.  Only they didn't see where it went.

How do they figure out that none of them have it in them? By electrocuting each other in turn, of course. That's healthy. Dean, Sam and Rufus all pass the test, but when it's Bobby's turn, he balks. Rufus advances on him, but it turns out he shouldn't have gotten too close, because Bobby whips out a machete and STABS him! Hunter number three down. And too bad, too. Rufus was funny. Sigh.

The boys manage to subdue not-Bobby and duct tape him to a chair to interrogate the creature inside. And the creature inside is more than willing to have a chat. It tells them that the Mother is back, and she's pissed, and she's going to be creating all kinds of new creatures to take over the Earth and outnumber humans. You know, just your typical evil villain plan, really.

But now the boys are faced with a quandary. How do they kill the thing inside Bobby without killing him too? They decide they've got to electrocute him long enough to kill it, and hope that Bobby survives. We're left to wonder through a commercial break, but they tried to fake us out by having the boys standing over a fresh grave once it came back from commercial, but I knew it was just going to be Rufus' grave and that Bobby would be okay. He confesses that Rufus was the one who helped him get started in the hunting life after his wife was possessed, and that they used to be sort of like Sam and Dean until whatever he did in Omaha.

Aaaand that's it for over a month! The preview for the upcoming episodes was so all over the place, too. Oh well.

Random thoughts:

- Dean had one of the biggest smiles we've seen on him in ages when he saw Rufus. Seriously, when was the last time he had a genuine smile like that?

- Every time Dean shouted "It's not in me!" I was reminded of the season two episode Croatoan where that dude was yelling that at Dean. Anyone else?

- I for some reason really loved it when Samuel brought up the fact that Sam was named after him.

- Whoa, Jim Beaver! Super creepy as the parasite worm dude. Did they ADR his voice, or did he just make it sound weird like that?

- I knew they weren't going to actually kill Bobby, because there'd be fan mutiny, but can you imagine if they actually had? I would've been totally flabbergasted, completely taken by surprise. As it is, I'm still surprised at how many people were killed. Though it does seem to be a trend that they kill people in bunches. Ellen and Jo, anyone?

- Was it just me or was Dean a little bit preachy in this episode about family? More than once he was going on and on. Particularly at the end. It just felt a little bit overkill.

Quotes:

"He's our grandfather." - Dean
"Oh, somebody needs a hug." - Rufus

"Why don't you buy me a drink first..." - Dean
"Second date." - Rufus

"Oh yeah, we're goo positive." - Rufus

"Well, I got a dump truck full of bupkis." - Bobby

"Just 'cause you're blood, doesn't make you family." - Dean

"Why do you keep talking about Herpes?" - Sam
"What? I don't. Shut up. Shut up!" - Dean

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