Grey’s Anatomy – s05ep05 – There’s no I in team

It’s amazing how this show has managed to suck me back in after 2 years, helped in no small part to my recent fascination with Spamalot, and then learning how Sara Ramirez apparently was absolutely fantastic as Lady of the Lake. Wish I could have seen her in that role -she would have been awesome!

So, it’s all about Bailey here doing a mass kidney transplant operation, where 6 healthy people will donate their kidneys to non-related sick people…it all works weirdly. this brother gives a kidney to someone else, whose wife gives one to another person, whose son gives one to..and so forth. it works, but…yeah, it’s weird. the one non-related person ends up sleeping with one of the guys, heh….so she is connected! Of coruse, the wife finds out and pulls out and then everyone goes into a hooplah because everyone was expecting someone else to pull out but they were all fakeouts.

Bailey talks her back into it and the surgeries all happen.

Izzie and Alex are working together and sniping with each other, because he sees her as too sympathetic and emotional and soft, and she sees him as too hardball and closed off and detached. They surprise her…and then at the very end, they make out! Yay- finally a couple which make sense, and we’ve been tearing our hair out for 4 years waiting for it to happen! Mind you, she does that really irritating thing of repeating a key phrase over and over and over and voer and over…what is this show’s problem with that? Why does something have to be uttered 50 times for it to apparently have significance? It makes a much larger impact if it’s said once, plainly and simple. Gah, the soap suds are leaking.

Anyway, their patient is dying from a rejected kidney, which is how they bond, by bringing his detached son to actually prove he cares for his dying daddy. It’s sweet, in a way.

Meredith is pissed off with McDreamy for getting all the credit for their research, and dammit, he pisses me off so much when he agrees. He actually believes she doesn’t deserve any credit, and only apologises to her and tells her she’s great because he’s not getting any? And it’s what Bailey told him? My god – how can anyone like this selfish, egotistical rat’s arse? Grrrr. So Meredith, in all her holier-than-thou attitude, manages to drop a kidney on the floor. well, at lest it didn’t get kicked around the entire hospital. they’re back together by the end of it all.

Christina is no longer impressed by anyone there, finding herself unchallenged by surgery, and realising jsut how alone she is at the very end…until she sees hot renegade (also egotistical) war doctor in the bar…wow, what a surprise, he;s joining her. It’s like a pre-requisite for working at Seattle Grace, you must have slept with/made out with/be related to someone already working there. Incestuous!

George is now no longer an itnern! And could Lexie have made her feelings any clearer? Yes, he’s a doofus for not noticing, but you’re talking about a guy who so far has slept with more residents than Alex or McDreamy has, so….not exactly a lot happening in the upstairs department.  SO she runs off in a huff and he stares there, looking at her blankly, trying to remember exactly what it was he had after the jaegermeister…because man, did he look hungover in that shot.

Erika and Callie do the deed, half do the deed, but Callie wasn’t happy with her performance…and so she goes to Mark to show her? By performing on her? It’s all..w.eird, and hopefully Erika doesn’t find out or she’ll be pissed.

Chief is still proving to be a doofus, but occsionally pulling out litle pearls of wisdom.

Next week…i have no diea what happens, except it’s all about the new doctor. Whoopdeedoo. I can’t wait until Melissa George joins the show, personally!

Gossip Girl – s02ep07 – Chuck in Real Life

Ooh. After the bitch brawl of the past couple of weeks, this once came across as slightly too…cutesy. Although it did harbour the return of Eric, and introduced his cute boyfriend. Can we now somehow integrate these 2 a little deeper into the show? Because they’re cute together, and this show is nowhere near gay enough.

Right, so Serena and Blair are all made up now, even though they’re not actually speaking to each other in this episode, instead dealing with their own personal dramas. For Serena, this means her mother wanting to play happy family, and for Blair a case of never letting anyone have something on her. So Vanessa yet again proves to be the perfect candidate for home-schooling by showing her stupidity and bribing Blair into helping her. Which means Blair wants tog et her back and draws Chuck into her sordid games, promising him…well, herself if he succeeds.

He does succeed, but he also grows a pair, as well as a heart. Chuck is consistently my favourite character on his show, in that he’s the most true. He’s deeply flawed, very arrogant and snobbish, and yet he does have a heart underneath somewhere, and just dying to show it to somebody, and have someone love him for it. So he goes along with Blair’s plan, ends up really falling in love with the place Vanessa is trying to save, gets whacked down by his dad, wins Vanessa over and then also wins Blair…..except he realises he’s been a douche bag, and very calmly tells a hot and bothered Blair he’s no longer playing her games and it’s time for her to chase him.

Ooh, I do love you so, Chuck.

There’s the lovely, heartwarming storyline of how gay Dan and Nate and Dan proves it, by calling him because apparently everyone thinks he has no male friends (only fag hags? Hmm..) and even throws in a half-hearted love you as he hangs up….and then when he sees what conditions Nate is squatting in…..he decided to let him move in, so they don’t have to go cruising in Central Park but can enjoy the sanctity of Dan’s bedroom, followed by Rufus’ pancakes in the morning. Even though Nate, ashamed of what he’s become, walks out on Dan and doesn’t any of it, but Dan manages to talk him around, maybe with promises of toys, games and water-saving in the shower?

I’m just filling in the gaps here, people.

Serena…oh Serena, who finally realises she has issues with her mother for abandoning her for most of her life, and decides to take it out on her, through the guise of Bart, by breaking his rules and flaunting it. Until she realises it’s her mother screws up time and again, and then decides to reveal it at their family social party, where they come out as a happy family? Who knows. Bart comes and gets her…and I don’t know, the most heartbreaking scene in the whole show is when he sits down and joins Lily, Serena and Eric around the living room for some family bonding….but not Chuck. Wow. He must really hate Chuck for tearing away his true love. It just makes me love Chuck even more.

I’m sure there are other people on this show, but who really cares? This episode was already too sappy for my liking. I want the bitch back!

Amazing Race 13 – Leg 5

CAMBODIA! They’re going to Cambodia!

So far, this is my dream race, destination-wise. Brazil, Bolivia, New Zealand, Cambodia, they’re all countries which I love. (And SPOILER! – India is next!)

My love for Toni and Dallas continues to grow inexplicably as I become terrifi every tie they fall out of the top 3 an elated whenever they move up again. They’re sweet and caring and running their own race, and Dallas is hot. Heh, so I’m happy! They finish in 2nd, which causes me to leap about excitedly.

Another team I actually like is Nick and Starr. I have this strong affiliation with the family teams, but tht may have something to do with how no family team has ever won the race. Is that correct? I keep getting myself all confused between seasons. Anyway, when they stop paying attention to other people they do really well, so I’ all for them. They finish first, after a lot of jumping around the order.

Next up is Terence and Sarah and he’s still pissing me off. You can tell he likes being in control, because he continuously tells her off for running off ahead of them, for reaching places first..and it drives me bonkers. Grrr…But they re strong players, even if their karmic boat manages to break down. And yes, I did squeal with glee at that moment.

They also caught themselves a speeding ticket in NZ – something which hasn’t been seen on the show for awhile – the comeuppance for not following the legal rules! They’ll get a penalty on the next leg….hee……which explains why they were on the mat with my favourite team? who knows?

She of the scary eyebrows continues to get along with her husband, and they continue to do well. I wonder how they’ll cope under pressure? Tha would be kind of cool to see.

The frat boys piss me off and I want them off my show. They’r epetulant, whiny little spoilt brats who are upset the world doesn’t revolved around their shiny asses.

The divorcees also grate occasionally. Having been to Cambodia, well, yes they do live in poverty, and it’s always good to see people acknowledge it…but that’s now what it’s all about. There is so much beauty between the lines, and it’s when the teams can’t see that, it makes me want to cry. Cambodia is such an amazingly beautiful country with so many wonderful people, I would simply love to go back and live there.

I knew from the very first heartfelt lovey-dovey camera piece Aja and Ty would go home, obviously never making up that deficit. Which is such a crying shame, because if the frat boys had been stuck with them, this lovely couple would have so whooped their asses. they have a cute little moment on the mat, and this long-distance couple who spent their entire time floting in the back f the pack finally fail to come up for air.

So, this epiode they land in Siem Reap, fill diesel tanks for jeeps, then head to the harbour and jump boats for a floating restaurant, in the middle of a floating village. For some reason, Cambodians like living on the water. There are so any leader changes her eit’s not funny, as the top 4 teams keep swooping past each other. Detour time – getting wet and muddy finding fish, which proves to be slightly quicker, or the good old hunting journey, going to 3 locations, picking up an object and taking it to the harbour. seriously easy tasks!

Next stop – Angkor Wat! Oh, the memories! And I think I saw y monkey on TV!

Here they roadblock, one person goes in and ries to find, what is effectively a chamber, beat their fists over their heart and pick up a stone tablet…which ended up being surprisingly tricky! But it was lvoely seeing the teple..and they got to stay at Bayon Temple overnight?I hope they realise jsut how lucky they are.

Next stop – oooh india! WEEEE!

Heroes – s03ep06 – Dying of the Light

I so very nearly gave up on this show. Following the lacklustre introduction, the gaping plot holes, the brutal stupidity of the entire cast, I found it very difficult to actually sit down and watch the show again. Last week it pricked my interest slightly, not enough to make me watch it immediately. And this episode was actually getting back into the steam of things.

I may be slightly confused as I also just re-watched the first 3 episodes of this season (why, for the love of god, why did I put myself through such hell?)

Matt arrives back in the US and his hunt for Daphne proves to be complicated and long….ha, she’s waiting for him at the escalator. She tries to convince him to join Pinehearst, he tries to make her fall in love with him. Kind of. She tells him tow ait as she zips off, attempting to recruit Mohinder (providing a perfect opportunity to try and help Tracy and Nathan, but doesn’t), Sylar and someone else. But recruiting evil people makes her self-disillusioned  and she actually returns to Matt and it looks like there may be something there (even though I want Audrey back! Talk about dropped plot points!)

Nathan takes Tracy to see Mohinder, he injects them with something, they collapse and then he seems to be attempting to experiment on them, I guess in order to fix the superdrug or whatever it is. I hate Mohinder’s storyline and I hate him. The only good to come out of it was they finally got rid of Maya.

Tracy, obviously smarter than her dead twin, Nikki, uses her charm to kind of half freeze Mohinder, and freeze off her chains. They escape. Hoorah!

Who else appears in this episode? Adam joins forces with them and finds him at Pinehearst, enjoying a little chat with Papa Petrelli. Who grabs him, and apparently sucks up his powers forcefully, literally causing Adam to melt away into ashes. Wow. Now that’s a way to get rid of a character who can’t die! Of course I guess we can kind of understand where Peter and Sylar get their powers from, as Papa Petrelli seems capable of taking powers from people, albeit in a harsher way. Well, no hasher than Sylar. Ah, the prodigal son returns.

After Daphne’s little escape attempt, Sylar goes and wakes Peter up and they go all mano-to-mano when they realise Mama Petrelli can’t wake up, and is somehow tangled up with the double genome of Pinehearst. They have a macho showdown, which Peter wins, because he’s all hungry and angry and Sylar is all meek and wimpery, and guh, what a way to ruin 2 incredibly powerful characters. Anyway, Peter runs off to Pinehearst for a reunion with the daddy he thought was dead….who then sucks his powers out! OOH! I LOVE IT!

Who else appears? I have no idea. There’s too many characters on this show and I can’t keep track of them all, and if there’s no Elle, I’m really not interested. I believe she’s in the next episode so I may actually watch that one!

Oh Hiro! Yes, of course, Hiro didn’t kill Ando. He went back in time, got a fake sword and blood, and fake-killed Ando. This got him in with the Pineys, and theys end him off to grab the African guy, Ututu. Who is a hell of a lot smarter than Hiro, and I only watched that scene for Ututu, because Hiro? Pisses me off. I want him GONE. Bit keep Ando, please!

Oh Claire! And her mum! And her real mum! Wow….what a way to forget the pinnacle character of a show. So Claire and her mum run off to help Meredith, only to be caught themselves and then thrown into a game of Russian roulette. Of course, Claire makes her mum shoot her, knowing she can’t die, but that would still be bloody difficult, wouldn’t it? Even if she can’t die, can you imagine shooting your daughter? It would be ghastly. So, Claire plays dead and then whacks whats-his-name over the head, knocking him out. Idiot. Although with a truly creepy shadow puppet power.

Mr Bennet swoops in to save the day. Bless.

I’m still not totally back in for this show. And if they don’t fix it, I will drop it. In the meantime, I have everything else to catch up on before I fall horrendously behind!

Supernatural – s04ep06 – Yellow Fever

Well, this one has caused quite a lot of dissention in the ranks. Which shouldn’t surprise me, as many episodes which the majority seems to hate, I will love until my dying day. Yes, I was also expecting a slightly more serious episode, as it seemed to be in the same vein as Croatoan. I was definitely not expecting a funny ep, particularly following on from Monster Movie, which already seemed misplaced. I still reckon episodes 3 and 4 are around the wrong way, and maybe then it would have made some more sense?

Anyway, I liked it. Nay, I confess – I loved it. Even though it was dodgy at times, some of the character’s reactions were way off and it was yet again very Dean-centric (although as a Deangirl, am I complaining? PAH!), I laughed, or at least spluttered helplessly attempting not to laugh as I watched this in the darkness of my room at about 1am Friday night.

We start with the section I normally skip, the lead in to the episode where someone dies in a gruesome manner. Except this time, it’s Dean, running down the street in a slightly hammy way, being chased by what appears to be hellhounds? And yet turns out to be a little terrier. Hmm…I think we’ve set the mood of the episode fairly quickly which allows me slip out of serious death-defying mood and into snark.

So, our sassy, intrepid hunters are investigating some mysterious deaths, people dying of heart attacks even though there’s no damage. It starts with paranoia, freaking out over the smallest thing, steadily growing until they scare themselves to death. Basically.

And, considering the first half of this season is All About Dean (meaning when we move into proper mytharc territory, we’ll slam straight back into SamLand, where I’m afraid it’ll turn out the sole reason Dean was brought back was to save Sam, meaning the poor boy has absolutely nothing in his entire life besides Sam. Which will royally piss me off), of course Dean catches it. He has less than 48 hours before he’ll succumb to death.

There are glimpses here of greatness, obviously delving into Dean’s reaction at potentially dying again – and it’s so parallel to last season, with the doomsday clock hanging over Dean’s head again, which I find interesting. Of course, Sam is reacting totally differently, being very nonchalant over the whole ordeal, even going so far as to smirk smugly at Sam for catching it. This was a rather contentious issue with people, seeing how Sam went through agony trying to save Dean and then bring him back…so why is he so blasé about him potentially dying again?

I have a couple of theories here, as we don’t actually know to what depths Sam went through trying to save Dean (and that is probably the episode I’m on the edge of my seat for…please, please, please show us the agony! It may be he can’t allow himself to feel deeply because it tore him apart last time and he just simply can’t fall that far again. There’s the idea of him being shrouded in darkness? Although how would that work? But I think the most plausible idea is he doesn’t believe Dean can die again. After all, an angel (the last 3 episodes have been sorely missing Castiel) plucked him from the depths of hell for a reason, so surely that angel wouldn’t let him die like this? I reckon this is why he acts blasé. Although it may just be Jared’s acting – maybe he got bad directions? Although you think by now he’d know how to play Sam in these situations!

Another issue people had was with the selection. It seems to choose bullies, and so many, many people (particularly the rabid Deangirls, who are so eerily similar to the rabid Hanson fans of yonder, I believe it’s in my best interest to bow down before them and start running for my life) are angry with that. He saves lives! Sam’s more of a bully than him!

And you know what? I disagree. Dean is great with kids, particularly now, but I reckon growing up he would have been a bully. The odd kid in the class who never had a proper childhood, always protecting his brother, surly, moody and way too good with guns and knives. Anybody who ever pushed Sam around, Dean would have given them his all. While his intentions may be good, Dean has been a bully over the years. He’s really nasty to Ruby and was particularly bad towards certain characters over the years. He is a good person underneath all that, but I can definitely see a tortured ghost picking him out as a bully. After all, bullies tend to be people with low self-esteem, who pick on others in order to make themselves feel better.

So, moving swiftly along, this episode features some heavy hamming for Jensen Ackles, who makes it all look beautiful, while Jared gets to sit back, relax and play the straight man. Again. Although it’s rather nice to see Sam relaxed and vaguely happy rather than sappy and emotionally overwrought. I hope it continues, for at least a few episodes. Maybe he’s just been thrown through the ringer to often lately, what with Dean dying then coming back and now he’s relatively happy to stay sane and happy? And hopefully  no longer playing magic tricks, although who knows with this boy?

I’m digressing. Again.

I love this episode, I love the gags. Seeing Dean suddenly all paranoid about driving over the speed limit, being on the 4^th floor of the motel (do run-down motels have 4 floors?) And the girly scream when they see the cat – I had to stop the program at that stage to LMAO. Following that he digs into some Dutch courage and becomes wonderfully drunk. He seems to sober up fairly quickly. He also has a wonderful moment where Sam goes all evil and tries to strangle him…everyone really loves slamming the poor boy into walls. And Jared plays the scene well…is it a sign of things to come?

Of course, it comes right down to the wire. Sam calls in Bobby as Dean is too petrified to leave the hotel room (and nearly gets taken out by the next victim, who happens to be the sheriff) who uses his awesome Japanese skills (And what can this man NOT do?) to find another way to get rid of the ghost, deciding on a good old salt and burn. Except their dead victim is splayed up and down the road.

What, no glorious balls of fire, burning up the entire street, possibly even the entire factory? What a damn shame. Instead, they come up with a truly gruesome idea of scaring the ghost, who was a gentle soul, brutally murdered for the wrong reasons and the perpetrator never caught. So Sam decides to re-create the murder for the ghost which is just too nasty. Does this prove Sam must be evil? Because I would never be able to go through with that, I don’t care if it’s a ghost. Having that poor ghost relive such a horrific end is just plain ghastly.

Meanwhile, Dean’s been visited by a hallucination of Lilith as the little blonde girl the season finale, in a creepy way, who is ready to take him back to hell. If this is an indication of people’s biggest fears, I love how Dean’s has now become hellhounds. After actually having died as a result, I can see why that would scare the crap out of him. He actually starts going into palpitations. I’m sure mini-Lilith says something here which caught my attention, except obviously not well enough since I don’t remember it. He survives. Without any assistance from a certain angelic figure, who has been sorely missing from this show? Can’t we just have a flash of him every hour? That would keep me happy.

So as Bobby and Sam both harp on about Dean’s paranoia (as if either of them would act better….have we forgotten the twins from our second episode, Bobby?) we’re left yet again in a suspiciously gorgeous scene…even if it is bordering on an old factory mill. Thing. As Sam asks Dean if all the effects of the ghost disease is gone, Dean looks at little innocent Sammy and there! Split second! A flash of yellow. Ok, creepy, sudden and unexpected. What does it mean? Is it an after-effect? Or a sign of things to come? It’s creepy good.

And as the credits roll…suddenly, Eye of the Tiger starts blasting. And now it won’t leave me alone. As Supernatural presents Jensen Ackles, lip-synching and hamming to this iconic song all over the Impala. THIS IS GOLD, PEOPLE. Pure, unadulterated delicious gold. I can’t explain it. There is no way to explain how deliciously camp and outrageously brilliant this 90 second clip is. All I know is I have watched it way too many times and will indulge in repeat performances, particularly once I cut it out on its own turf. And that blasted song hasn’t left my head since then.

Now if only they would finish every episode off this way.

And I really need to stop writing blasted essays about this show. I could have re-watched it in that time!

Next week – our prayers have been answered. Castiel returns!

Supernatural – s04ep05 – Monster Movie

There’s been a healthy debate online regarding this episode, but I remain firmly on the “YAY!” side. I loved it. It was hilariously dorky, in the same vein as Hollywood Babylon, and managed to hit so many of the old-school horror flick veins, proving how much attention to detail there can be in this show, albeit with glaring plot-holes and inconsistencies on occasion.

This entire episode is one giant crack!fic, from the shout-outs to the liederhosen and to the unbelievably dorkable random comments to come out. This episode is AWESOME.

The coolest, and also most annoying thing, is the entire episode is shot in black and white. It’s interesting how it’s annoying at first, but then you just become accustomed to it, even adding in the colours yourself. When I think back on the episode, I have to mentally remind myself it was all black and white.

So, we start with the old-school WB logo, with old-style credits (And the boys getting equal credit – yay!) and a gorgeous long shot of the Impala. A short discussion in the car, where Dean is very excited about getting back into some straight-up black and white huntings (Hee – a whole pile of fans shouted with joy at that) and we jump right into the episode. It’s set around Oktoberfest, so a little bit late as Oktoberfest has already finished, but still, brilliant idea setting a ridiculous episode around a slightly ridiculous themed party (Because Oktoberfest in this day and age, is rather ridiculous).There’s this great exchange of Dean wanting to see the new Raiders flick, Sam saying he saw it, and when Dean becoems indignant, Sam remind shim he was kind of in hell. Dean’s frustrated for all of 20 seconds until he sees giant pretzels. Heh. And we see Sam eat! The GIANT eats!

It’s another Dean-centric episode, with Dean hitting on the local girl, Jamie, who just so happens to be a kick-ass female in the same vein as Sarah. And blonde. And Dean goes after her? Hmm. I always thought Sam was the one with the thing for the blondes.

So, we have someone bitten old-school by Dracula. And then someone ripped to pieces by a wolfman. And then a mummy comes to life. When Dean takes Jamie out, he also runs into Dracula –and rips his ear off. Guess who? Ding, ding, it’s a shapeshifter!

But who is the shapeshifter? And yes, the audience is well aware it’s Lucy, Jamie’s bar-mate, as they’ve spent way too much glossing over her lip-blotting napkins – but you know? I don’t care. No matter what happens in this episode, I will love it. There’s no cringe-worthy Godlike discussions, instead they’ve replaced it by Dean’s belief he’s been…and i quote, “re-hymenated”.

I cannot explain this scene. There is no way to possibly explain it. It’s beyond funny, and just….so ridiculous, and so…so smarmy, and really, yet again, absolute standing applause to Jensen ackles for playing this absolutely beautifully and in the perfect manner. It’s just….go find it on youtube. Seriously. Go find and prepare to laugh.

Um….Gosh, what happens after that? Sam believes it’s the creepy guy, so he goes to find him at the old cinem (now playing Phantom of the Opera), while Dean comforts Jamie in the bar. Lucy comes in, has a drink with them..roofies their drinks and Dean very brilliantly gets up with the bottle to go after Lucy…and falls flat on his face. Heh.

Sam’s in the cinema, and weird Ed is playing creepy organ music..changing it up with schmaltz. I just love all the innuendo and inside jokes here. Anyway, Sam grabs him, threatens him, tries to rip off his ear and says, “It’s supposed to come off” Ed replies with “No, it’s not” Heh, absolute brilliant.

So Dean wakes up…….tied up in liederhosen. Oh boy. FIELD DAY! Dracula wants to fry him like Frankenstein and gets stopped at the critical moment…by the pizza delivery.

Have I mentioned how brilliantly snarky this episode is? He snarks with the pizza boy about garlic, and then wants a discount. The pizza guy’s absolute boredom is just….god, I love love love this episode.

So he goes to find Jamie, blah blah blahs about how lonely he is and how it sent him to murder,e tc etc…and let’s cut back to Dean in liederhosen. And Sa sneaking in to save him. And calling him Hansel. HA! But doe sthat make Sam Gretel?

So, they all get rescued, and go after Dracula, as Sam goes flying through the moviefake wall. heh. Jamie ends up blasting Dracula with silver bullets. And Dan gets to break in his….errr..hymen. Or whatever. Hee. I frekaing love this episode. Jamie can stay over whenever she likes. I love her.

Now if only I can get through Friday so I can rush home and watch the next episode Yellow Fever. Firstly, the sneak preview with the car and the music is solid gold. Secondly….the preview? My god…I haven’t been this excited since….well, since they sent Dean to hell!

Amazing Race 13 – Leg 4

Another week, another leg and we leave South America for…Auckland! OOH! I love this city, it made me all homesick. Except I’m not actually from NZ, but across the pond. But it’s one of my favourite cities, and it was lovely seeing it again.

This also show they’re going westwards this time around, which they’ve only done once (maybe twice) before on this show, normally they head east. This could be interesting!

It’s also a terrific indicator of how long these things can take, as they start off just before sunrise, and a couple of teams don’t finish until after sunset. Yikes, that’s a long hard slog of racing for these teams.

The divorcees keep up their hatred of Starr, and it makes me hate them a little, because I don’t understand why. It’s almost as if they’re going out of their way to find reasons to hate her, even though they say they hate both Nick and Starr. Except every negative comment has been directed at Starr, which makes this seem personal. Either they’re not showing us something, or these girls have pulled out their claws.

They also prove how strong they are, by pulling out and finishing in second behind she of the scary eyebrows yet again. And what a brilliant job those scary eyebrows are doing. I haven’t seen a separated couple work this well together since the good old days of Frank and Margerita. Oh, classic TAR, how I miss you.

So, they have to untie knots on the harbour (which brings back wonderful memories of Sebastien and Petter and Eamonn….oh dear, this will be littered with rally references!) in order to get at their next clue…even if some *cough stupid blondes cough* seem to hve some difficult identifying said knots.

The clue then tells them to head out to Mt Eden, overlooking Auckland…BUT WAIT! FAST FORWARD!

There is a brief dash between Ken and scary eyebrows along with the dicky frat boys, in which the seperated couple win, and get the opportunity to do the sky tower climb, which one of my friends has actually done. They climb right up to the top of the tower, and get the fast forward. Which they do, inevitably winning their 3rd leg in a row. So they can now use this as an excuse to show how well they’re getting long, but it’s not the best way to test a relationship. For that, you need a Colin-sized meltdown. Oh, what joyful memories that brings. Maybe I’d rewatch that scene.

Everyone else drives up to Mt Eden….err….except the divorcees who decide to hike it? *eye roll*

There, they meet Maori warriors, who are brilliant, and have to match the designs on paper to the faces. Maoris run away with the painting if it’s the wrong one – and I was pelased to see they actually ran away! Hee! They also did their best to scare everyone – I love Maoris.

It also happens to be sunrise around here for a lot of teams, so I can imagine it’s a breathtaking view…particularly for Ken and Tin, who are at the top of the tower at sunrise. That is a gorgeous view.

After that, teams must now either build their own….sail-kart? and race it around the track 3 times…or crush enough kiwis to make kiwi juice. And those carts are apparently skirted with very sharp rocks, and everyone cuts their feet up. Ouch. Everyone rushes off to the kiwis, and only Terence and Sarah finish quickly enough to finish second, while pretty much everyone else except the blondes and divorcees rush off to the karting track. Toni and Dallas!! finish in rapid speed again, impress me and make me love them more, which only means absolute crushing disappointment further down the track.

Starr manages to crash and severely injure herslf, possibly breaking her arm. She resolutely (and sobbingly) finishes the track, so I absolutely have to give kudos to her, because that would take guts. She climbs back in the car, scraped, battered and bruised…and halfway to the pit stop, does her brother offer to drive. Wanker! Your sister hurt herself and is bleeding nd yet you willingly let ehr drive? You force her in the back seat and tell ehr how proud of her you are.

Ass.

Even though drum up suspense with both ja and Ty and the blondes finishing off their tasks after dark, somehow, they’ve managed to sue an entire day doing 2 tasks, inevitably it is the blondes who come ine last. Bye bye ladies, you were unimpressive, if sweet. Sadly, now representing the all-girl team would be the jealous divorcees. Ugh. Do I have to like them solely for that reason? (no)

Best, best, best bit? The greeter on the mat? Is Phil’s dad! He got his dad to greet the teams! AGH! I love this show!

Grey’s Anatomy – s05ep04 – Brave New World

I’m actually being drawn in this season, which is a vast improvement over the last 2 years, where I would sit and ask myself why I was giving away yet another hour to this show. And yet here I am, actually looking forward to each episode (although this may have something to do with a certain other show which airs on the same night on CW, starting with an “S”, ending with a “L”, starring 2 brothers who fight demons….). What surprises me more is how the ratings have dropped for this season. Could the previous 2 seasons have driven away viewers to such an extent? I was on the verge of giving up myself, and yet the show managed tod rag me back in again, to the point where I’m actually liking it again, and yet somehow numbers are falling in the US? Or is everyone over Morose Meredith and McDreamy’s swishy hair, and looking for a little bit more realism in their TV? (IN which case, they should switch over to CW…Ok,  SN is even less realistic, but hey, if you’re going for unrealistic dramadies, why go for a half-hearted medical show when you may as well get a full-blown fantasy drama about dead things and starring two very, very gorgeous gentlemen?) Actually, maybe there is an explanation for the drop in numbers….as a certain CW rival has enjoyed a spike in ratings this season. Coincidence? Well, I think not, particularly when you kill off characters and send them to hell!

So, with a title like brave new world, I’m guessing this is meant to mean everyone is moving on to unfounded territories? Or is it merely another way of explaining the dermatology department?

Because a large part of this episode takes place in the mysterious, never-before-seen dermatology department. I’m guessing this shall become the new hideout, following the coma guy’s room (which was stolen from House, but never mind that)

Anyhow, Bailey is now turning around and re-distributing the residents, by giving Meredith the good surgical case with Hahn, throwing Izzie and Alex into the pit (literally and metaphorically) and enforcing Christina to go to the clinic. Of course, everyone’s upset, but when Bailey speaks, everyone marches with a curt yes, ma’am!

So, Christina ends up with a patient with a rash, which is how she ends up in the derma section,  mesmerised by how nice and pleasant everyone is, by how nice the whole department looks, everyone gets massages and facials and everyone is oh so happy. She also manages to drag Meredith and Izzie and George in there. I don’t really get it – they’re all awestruck by the serenity of the scene, while talking about how awfully quiet and nice everyone is. So, are they in shock by the whole department, or secretly wishing they worked here while audibly trying to come up with notions for why surgery is better? As a result, Christina isn’t around when the patient gets into trouble, and the whole patient angle is such a sideline, created solely as a plot device to lure Christina into the forsaken derma department, because for some reason we need to spend time there looking at the pretty peach walls.

Yeah, I didn’t get it either.

Meredith is working on a tough case, with a scared 8 year old boy who doesn’t want surgery, and George comes to the forefront here, by explaining exactly what’s going to happen and offering himself up as a guinea pig, because “kids want to understand it, that’s what’s most important”. He decides the best way to talk the kid into surgery is for him to see a very easy one with no blood or saws….and they accidentally stumble into Izzie’s surgery, where they’ve quite literally pulled half of someone’s face off, so it’s all icky and bloody and protruding eyeballs.

And now I won’t sleep for a week. But the kid found it so amazingly cool and was totally into the surgery after that. So, go George – who also passed the test, and is no longer an intern! Yay! (And didn’t they drag that out long enough?!?)

Izzie is pissed with Alex, who manages to steal her interesting case, which happens to be the pulling of the face off and the eyebrows and it’s really icky. She complains to McDreamy who tells her to bugger off, and McSteamy tells her to be a cowboy, ie she’s too naïve and innocent for the cut-throat world of surgery (pun totally intended). So, she convinces the patient to pull Alex off the case and get her in on it. Sneaky, but nothing no one else hasn’t done before. And Alex finally opens up to her a little in the bar afterwards, and I have a feeling after all the tiptoe dancing, these 2 might finally get together, which- yay! I’ve been waiting for this couple since season 1.

The really cute story is Hahn and Callie. They plan their first date, and a little joke made by Hahn scares the crap out of Callie, who’s not sure about how she’s going to handle all the “new” stuff. She even goes to talk it over with Bailey because she needs advice…and Bailey is sooo unimpressed by personal info, it’s hilariously funny. You can tell she’s sick and tired of how everyone keeps spilling their personal lives to each other. Hahn keeps reassuring her by telling her she’s new to it all too, but that scene by the elevator either tells a different story, or Hahn just became one of my faves. She looks up and watches Callie in the elevator, and her face is simply brimming with lust, adoration and squeaky happiness. Bailey happens to be there and sees it and…her expression is priceless. She’s…I don’t know….she’s just pulling this whole…I know too much about what that face means look. She of course then confronts Callie and tells her what she should do, and the girls soothe it all over and I am loving this storyline in a big way. More Callica! More, more more!

Anything else? Oh, there’s some crap about Morose Meredith and dead mummy’s diary and please, can we let the girl move on now?

Ugly Betty – s03ep04 – Betty Suarez Land

Oooh…..I love Gio. I know other stuff happened in this episode, but I couldn’t really care less. Mainly because I’ slightly crushed, as it seems GIo is gone for a long, long time. After Betty managed to break his heart (which just tore at my own heartstrings, and I wanted to reach inside the screen, pull him out, and squeeze him to death) and he moped his waya round Italy, the dialogue in particular seems as if Betty doesn’t love him, as she’s emphatically talking about them being friends.

They’ve just finished showing season 2 here in the UK, so I took the opportuntiy to rewatch the end episodes, and I’m now seeing how Betty reacts to Gio. She is on the rebound from Henry, and obviously that takes time – but at no point does she actually seem like she may be romantically attaching herself to him. I don’t know – I think he is great for her, as she points out here, how he helped her grow and become ehr own person, but at this point in time, Betty has not romantic interest in him whatsoever. I think Gio will definitely not be around for while…maybe down the line, perhaps, but it’s not happening for now.

If they bring Jessie back, this might not crush my poor wee heart too much, because Jessie is hot and I’ve always had a thing for musicians. But we’ll see how the season pans out.

Hilda finally leaves the Coach after meeting his wife – i believe this is always the crucial factor. As long as you can distance the third party, you don’t really have to deal with it. I will admit right now I have on several occasions been the third wheel in this party – i’ve never met the girlfriend and I never wanted to. If the guy wants to cheat, that’s his decision. The problem with Hilda was she fell for him – one thing I will not do. If a guy is willing to cheat on his partner he’s not good for anything mroe than good fling. As long as you can stay in that mindframe, it’s all good. Once you start believing they’ll lave their loved one for you and you’ll live happily ever after, that’s where you screw up. So, for Hilda, meeting the other woman, coming face to face with ehr and realising the grief she’s putting her through brings her to her senses. So, Hilda is upset for the moment, but I’m hoping they’ll give her some happiness soon.

No Christina this week.

We still have Alexis around, in jail, and only with the help of WIlhemina does she get out – in exchange for half of Meade. So, now it’s Daniel vs Wilhemina…and you know what? ok, I’m happy. I was pissed off with them giving the reigns to Willy for one episode only, but now, seeing how they’re dealing with it, and realising the challenge they’ve put for the next few episodes sound slike fun, particularly since silly little Daniel has lost every single time he’s gone up against Willy.

Show? Bring it on!

Gossip Girl – s02ep06 – New Haven Can Wait

Oooh…..ooh ooh ohh.

We all know I’m a serial slasher here, but let me tell you, I never really saw Nate and Dan. But after this episode? YUM. Seriously, yum yum yum. Please, Dan, move on from Serena and discover how wonderful the oh-do-pretty-Nate would be for you.

Oh. I got distracted again.

Um, good episode. Very good episode, where Blair takes out her anger on Serena by putting her down, only for Serena to use her personal invite from the dean of Yale to get back at Blair. Of course, Serena uses her charm on everyone and basically steals Blair’s thunder…who of course realises this is solely because Serena’s the new IT girl.  They end up in a massive fight during the dean’s intimate dinner…and then making up? WHAT? So, you pull these 2 apart, make them enemies for one episode, (With Serena still trying to be nice and only turning evil once Blair’s pushed her) and then letting them make up?

Well, that’s disappointing. They’ll need to find a new antagonist, particularly now Jenny is officially becoming a home schooled weirdo making clothes. I think I’m starting to realise just how out of reality this show is – maybe a reason wy I like it?

Chuck plays the skull & bones socity beautifully – making them think they’ve got him – when in reality he’s orchestrated everything so he now has incriminating photos of the future leaders of the free world (and with future leaders like this,  immediately want to start my own dictatorship solely to escape them) and has a hold over the. Oh Chuck, so so smart.

Hmmm…who else is on this show? Oh – Nate and Dan. After Nate pretends to be Dan to get  girl, and Chuck egts back at Dan by saying he’s Nate, these two become friends ( because out of everyone on the show, they have the most common beliefs and outlooks on the world) and catch the train home. Hopefully while making out in one of the carriages……..HoYay!

ooh…….i need me some fic right now.