Are you kidding me? What am I gonna do with this episode, which literally gave me nothing to work with. Another simple inmate-of-the-week episode, which had nothing to do with the mystery of the show. In fact, I don’t even know if the writers knew during the production what the big secret will be. Or if they knew when they would release it into their scripts. When I hear Rebecca (Sarah Jones) saying that 302 bad and scary people have returned, I wonder if she’s also talking about the guards. I wonder if all the returnees are as evil as the previous two inmates. I wonder if even the little robber or innocent man (there will definitely be an episode about the smaller people) will be the evil, serial killing guys. Three episodes in, and the show still doesn’t have any kind of focus. Super-lame and disappointing.

Even the story couldn’t entertain me, though Kit Nelson (Michael Eklund) was a creepy enough character to make it worth the while. I don’t even wanna think about the possibility that the show tries to go into all the inmates and guards first, before going into the story of how they vanished and why they returned. Am I really gonna waste my time with generic standard plots, without them ever going into something of a serialized storyline, or going into the mystery of the plot? Why not bringing Lucy into the 60s plot, letting the audience realize she’s not just in danger in the present storyline, but also part of the Alcatraz history back in the 60s (and maybe even the 50s). It would have been a great opportunity to bring Lucy into that plot after last episode’s cliffhanger, but the writers didn’t. Why not? In addition, they could have somehow delivered something for the bigger picture of the show. It’s the second episode in a row, where Rebecca and Diego (Jorge Garcia) just take it that another time traveler is back, continuing where he left off before Alcatraz happened, without anybody asking any kind of question. What am I supposed to think as a viewer, who has enough of all this bullshit mystery?

I was thinking exactly that, when Diego came with “When I was eleven”, didn’t finish his story, and Rebecca ended with “You’re having an origins story by yourself”. I was vomiting right there – why not telling what happened to Diego right in that scene? Why not giving away the secret right there, right now, letting Rebecca have something she can think about. But noooo, nothing was told. Instead Diego just told his story to Dylan (Will Shadley), who we probably won’t see ever again in the show, and the heroine of the show still doesn’t know about her partner’s childhood (it also makes me ask why Emerson [Sam Neill] knows). That’s just silly writing, and I would never let the reader or the audience dance around a hot topic, which isn’t supposed to be released into the story just yet. Either say it out loud or let it be. Or bring the question marks of that little mystery into the plot, where it makes sense. But don’t just do nothing and let it stay in the room like an elephant.

I don’t even wanna ask the other questions. Most notably why Emerson canceled the Amber alert. But I fear that all those questions are just part of the mystery plot, which will never be mentioned again in this season. Like the possibility that we will have zombies at the end. Or that plan Emerson has about his old friend. Questions in a row of even more questions. And I’m tired to be asked all this crap, when the writers don’t give me any reasons, why I should continue watching this show.

The flashbacks were more interesting this time. But only because Kit was a sorry bastard with all those creepy guys. What a shame there wasn’t more about him though, since his own story was missing in the present storyline. I would have loved to see more scenes with his father (Mackenzie Gray). I would have also loved to see what happened with him in the sound-proof solitary (but hey, the writers barely give answers already, so why showing those scenes in the first place?). Unfortunately, the flashbacks always feel like filler. They seem unimportant in the first place, because they only give background to the villain of the episode. Yet the background given mostly has nothing to do with the plot of the present. So, here the writers still have to learn to connect both timelines to make the stories more compelling.

Yes, my hate for this show is speaking now and clouding my mind. But I just can’t carry a show over a span of multiple years with those kind of mystery building. When I facepalm throughout two thirds of the episode, it’s obvious I will never be a friend of the mystery. Same thing happened with TERRA NOVA just a month ago. Now it’s happening again with ALCATRAZ. I really hope mystery shows like FLASHFORWARD or THE EVENT (and now this one here) are dead now. You can build mysteries and asks questions, but don’t be so silly about it. Don’t ask those questions and forget them for the next ten (thousand) episodes. Remember Mister X from the FRINGE comic episode? Well, there you have it. That’s ALCATRAZ, only worse, because I still don’t care about the characters. 3/10

Someone is angry and someone is annoyed

Fire and crazy guy in the hole!

It was a pretty solid episode, but mostly thanks to Tommy (Henry Thomas) and Annabeth (Madison McLaughlin). Interesting that Lisbon (Robin Tunney) has a family (duh…), which was never mentioned before, and also interesting that Tommy seemed to have all kinds of problems as a “single” father with a crazy ex-wife and a pretty cool daughter, who loves her aunt. Yeah, all clichés and everything, but at least it was nicely done, since it gave Lisbon some nice moments. Not as a cop, but as a family member.

That made the case mostly uninteresting (as always), but this time I didn’t care. Not many twists turning the story around like a tornado, instead pretty much straight-forward. When you keep the Zubov (Carlo Rota) plot out of it. But even this story was kinda funny with Grace’s (Amanda Righetti) little undercover stint, and the fun she probably had in arresting Zubov. I wonder why those kind of cases can’t be the A plot of the season, and why it always has to be a murder plot.

Anyway, the investigation didn’t wow me. The writers kept it easy this time with the drugs as a reason (and before that with a simple DUI and assault), but the story should have gotten rid of Officer Price (Malcolm Barrett) early on. I just don’t believe he wanted to be involved in the case, just because he missed the clue with the trunk. That almost made me think about the possibility that he might have been the killer at the end. But that wasn’t the case, and now I don’t know what the meaning of is character was in this episode. There really is no reason why he should have stayed with the investigation.

Annabeth was cool. I hope she’s gonna be a returner, especially since she mentioned to be a cop, like her auntie. When THE MENTALIST should still be on the air in five years or so, let her return to the show, and have her investigate her own case. Also, bring Tommy back. For a brother of a major character, he wasn’t annoying, and it was fun to see him lie and cheat, while his daughter is holding a shotgun, being kick-ass. Also: Get the whole Grace/Rigsby thing out of my way. Now they are talking about Sarah (seems like it was for the first time), and Rigsby (Owain Yeoman) not knowing what love means and all. Sounds kinda ridiculous, especially when you plan to bring them back together again. 7/10

The teenager flirts with the cop who has a girlfriend

Patrick takes some rest. Oh wait, he's still working...

Finally, something happens. With the end of the FISA warrant and the end of the surveillance (interesting what you learn when you watch television), Carrie (Claire Danes) finally has to step up and do something. After the annoyance of seeing her sit on her ass for three episodes, it’s a treat to see that the warrant wasn’t expanded. And it’s more interesting to have Carrie interact with Brody (Damian Lewis), instead of just watching him. Could be interesting to see how she is talking to him without letting show she knows everything about him.

That was the only good thing about the episode though. Especially the terrorist couple seemed to be horrendous. When I think about the scene where Aileen (Marin Ireland) put the American flag out the window, showing Raqim (Omid Abtahi) he has a tail, it lets me wonder why the guy who called her didn’t call him to tell him that. Or why she didn’t call him back in an instead to tell him he has a tail. Why the suspence-fake scene with the American flag? I can’t imagine Raqim didn’t have a phone on him or in his car while he was driving. In addition, the writers could have introduced that couple a bit better, I know stuff about him thanks to the investigation with the CIA, but I don’t know anything about her. Without the IMDb I wouldn’t even know her name, and now they’re supposed to be the new terrorist couple, doing something, planning an attack? No, not for me. Something is missing, so I will not take this story for granted.

The whole Brody drama was again pretty much uninteresting. I want to care whether he has some psychotic problems and hallucinations, but the emotional side of his mind could be implemented way better into his characteristics. Does Brody even question himself and his sanity? Does Jess (Morena Baccarin) question his sanity? Does Carrie even question his sanity? The only ones who seem are the Vice President and his little wannabe-sexy aide Elizabeth (Linda Purl). At least this part of the show could be interesting for the future. Brody involved in politics, sitting in the most official office of offices… In the long run, it looks awesome to have terrorist in politics and in the office. But then again, Brody obviously has a mission. Or not. Meanwhile, his little family drama is also not really that interesting. But lightly intriguing. Brody killed the deer, and he’s pretty pissed off at Miken (Diego Klattenhoff). I can understand this, but the writers are stalling here. Brody should better tell Mike and Jess what’s going on with him. When Jess has to do it (“You can’t even fuck your wife”), something is wrong.

But it’s nice to see that Carrie has something to work with now. I liked that her theories aren’t being handled with the crazy stamp, and that her investigation against Abu Nazir is in fact an investigation within the CIA. People believe her, operations are being prepared, and the threat is being taken seriously – and all of this, despite any hard evidence coming from Carrie. Okay, David (David Harewood) still believes Carrie might be a bit crazy about the case, but at least the operations against Abu Nazir are being taken seriously. Other than that, the little spy plot with the other agent seems interesting. I just hope that story (as well as the hing with the terrorist couple) is not gonna take much longer. First off, the latter kinda reminds me of the worst of 24, and the good ideas of SLEEPER CELL; second, letting the good guys wait until they find out the truth is not always good. For storytelling reasons. 6.5/10

Not a flashback. Just hallucinations

Not a loving couple. Just UC terrorists

The episode was okay. When you watch the five-parter back to back, you probably won’t notice how this episode completely steps on the break and doesn’t even develop. The only thing happening here was that everybody learned about the birth and the engagement, that Danny (Bradley Whitford) couldn’t see the baby, and the “fateful” interview at the end. Other than that, the episode was pretty much repeating itself over and over. Noticeable in Matt’s (Matthew Perry) efforts to tell the “story” of the Jordan’s baby, and that he forgot to tell everybody about the engagement. It happened twice! One time too many.

That made the episode tiring at some points. Like, when Danny was trying to see the baby, but couldn’t because the nurse was a bitch. Or that the questions and answers about Jordan’s operation didn’t bring anything: She’s okay, she’s bleeding, but she’ll come through. Then she’s okay, but it’s hard to tell, she’ll come through anyway. This was Danny’s whole plot in the episode, and it’s basically nothing, because nothing was shown or told. Pretty lame in my opinion. At least the talking rounds went somewhere, when Matt and Harriet (Sarah Paulson) arrived at the hospital. Like Danny telling Harriet that Matt is no one she would ever meet again. Giving fake hope that the two might get back together. Or the fact that Matt knows Danny shouldn’t see the baby, because it doesn’t give him legal rights. Unfortunately, that little sub plot wasn’t even a sub tone, when Danny saw the baby. Because there was no character nearby him, who knew what Mary (Kari Matchett) told Matt. Add sub text into your story and it works better, instead Danny seeing the baby was just this: Danny seeing the baby. Him being a happy guy for a couple of seconds, while Jordan is either bleeding, dying or getting through.

Simon’s (D.L. Hughley) part of the story was also something I didn’t really understand. Maybe Simon’s distrust to the army, and what they are saying to Tom (Nathan Corddry) was written in, because Sorkin needed a reason for Simon to speak up at the end. Maybe it was just a simple ploy for generating another story for the third part in this trilogy. Because I would have never done such a foolish thing, like Simon did to the press. But he was always a hotheaded guy, which is why I never really liked him in the first place. I still don’t like Simon after numerous counts of rewatches. Instead of making Simon important at the end, Sorkin could have continued to make Tom the tragic hero of the episode. He was just sitting there, listening to Boyle (James Lesure), asking questions, getting no answers… Literally nothing happened here.

The flashback story was good though. Interesting how the story looks, when you get to 9/11. THE WEST WING and THIRD WATCH did 9/11 episodes in October 2001. Now STUDIO 60 ON THE SUNSET STRIP did one, more than five years later. I bet Sorkin wanted to say something about the topic, which is why he chose to connect the ransom kidnapping of Tom’s brother with the aftermath of 9/11 and comedy in 2001. And it was really interesting. Going on the air? Not going on the air? What sketches to write? How to write them without pissing off people and the network? It could have been a whole episode, instead just half of it. But I also like how it was connected to the eventual fact that Matt and Danny got fired from Studio 60. Neat how an important message in a flashback story gets connected to the background story of the main characters… 6/10

Sitting and waiting is the thing to do

Talking to the press in a harsh voice is also a thing to do

What an anticlimactic season finale. More than half of the episode, Dean (Jensen Ackles) is not able to do anything; more than half of the episode, Sam (Jared Padalecki) is doing something to waste time until he plans to waste Lilith (Katherine Boecher). And at the end the female characters “just” die while Lucifer “just” rises. Sorry, but that wasn’t even thrilling. I don’t know what the major problem of this episode was. Maybe the whole background story with Sam’s craving for blood, or maybe that the apocalypse wasn’t really much of an apocalypse, because nothing was coming. Lucifer is rising, and the episode ended. As if season five is all about a genius Lucifer and nothing else.

Yes, I didn’t like the episode. Though I actually liked that with Lilith breaking the last seal, the apocalypse would come. I liked the flashback scenes with the nun sacrifices, and I liked that Sam was given an even bigger background, though it totally contradicts with everything Azazel (Rob LaBelle) was saying to Sam in the first two seasons. I thought he was building himself an army Sam (or one of the other kids) would lead against whatever thing the army would fight against, but now this whole thing was just to break the final seal? Pretty inconsistent, isn’t it? Sure, it can all be about lying as well, but I just don’t believe that Eric Kripke was thinking of Sam breaking the final seal, when he connected Azazel, all the special kids and the mythology of the demon army one of the kids was supposed to lead. Also, it might be just coincidences that Sam died in “All Hell Breaks Loose”, and that Dean had to make a deal to get Sam back, which brought him to Hell, which ultimately brought him to break the first seal. Pretty convenient right there, and I really don’t believe this was all in Lucifer’s plan. Especially when Sam could have died so easily back in the season two finale.

The episode still wasn’t really good. The whole torture game with nurse Cindy (Juliana Wimbles) bored me, and didn’t even have a proper endgame. Was the demon chick still in the nurse’s subconscious mind at the end? Because she wasn’t even shown during the final scenes. Just a question which needed a bit of answering for me, since it was one of the open storylines of the episode. In addition, Ruby (Genevieve Padalecki) being the evil all along was soooo … necessary. Yeah, Kripke needed a reason for Ruby to be in the show, and her being the gal who frees Lucifer from Hell, or who has created a long-haul plan to do so, was the only way to explain her being in the show. At least she had a reason at the end, but I didn’t like it. During the season I was actually hoping that the writers could establish a love romance between a demon hunter and a demon, or that they would do more than just writing how Sam sucks out blood. But no, obviously Kripke didn’t have any great ideas for Ruby. At lest she’s dead now. I really couldn’t stand her this season.

And finally the whole anticlimactic thing. Dean hanging around in the green room, because the angels didn’t want him out there. And not even Dean was able to do anything. He just stood there, discussed, tried to talk through the phone to Sam, and was literally doing nothing. How could he? Kripke chose to jail him up, since there wasn’t much of a story here. The same goes with Sam, who rather tortured a demon for a while, instead of sucking it up and calling for help to find Lilith. I just didn’t like how the characters weren’t doing anything doing the first half of the episode.

And the ending sucked. Lilith sits there, dies, Ruby laughs, explains herself, Dean kills her – I thought this was the beginning of the apocalypse. I thought some more people would be there to either cheer for Lilith, or all the hunters to prevent the apocalypse from happening. That there would only be the two demon chicks and two hunters was … off.

No, I did not like the finale. But the fact that Lucifer has risen from Hell now, proves for an interesting fifth season. Who knows, maybe the writers can do something with this. They started great with Lilith and the 66 seals, they went over to a shitty drug-related storyline, which probably led to this shitty finale. It really was an up-and-down season, similar to the second season. Hopefully the fifth season can do anything better. 4.5/10

Mirror images - as if they were something special

Lilith is having fun in her white dress

I was expecting that the season premiere will be as “weak” as the series premiere and the miniseries premiere. Somehow I figured that it’s a bit difficult to get into that kind of story in the first place; that it takes time to establish the characters, the relationships to each other, and to build a story for the rest of the season. The series premiere had problems, because it was such a different episode from the rest of the season. The miniseries premiere had problems, because it didn’t fully go into the story like I wanted it to go. Thankfully, the “curse” of the season premiere was broken this time. Because this episode was solid. And I’m one of the few people who is NOT complaining that Liam McIntyre isn’t really warm with the role yet.

But I can give you an explanation why he wasn’t: This episode wasn’t all about Spartacus and his wish to kill Glaber (Craig Parker), it was a “team effort”. One story belonged to Crixus (Manu Bennett), another story belonged to Aurelia (Brooke Williams, she looked much older than she did back in BLOOD AND SAND), a different story completely belonged to both Glaber and Ilithyia (Viva Bianca, nerd observation: her tits seemed smaller). And then there’s still Lucretia (Lucy Lawless) in the mix, as well as the supporting cast around Spartacus and Crixus. This wasn’t a Spartacus-heavy episode, which is why McIntyre hasn’t given the opportunity to shine as well as Andy Whitfield did. Maybe it’s going to need half a season for him to fully get into the role, and I will completely excuse the rather uneventful acting from his side. Just to say something against all those McIntyre haters now.

Other than that, like I said it was a solid episode. It felt like a link between the first season and the second, even though I found it a bit difficult to get that a couple of weeks were left out after the House of Batiatus fell. It wouldn’t have been wrong to show some stuff directly after the House fell. How the gladiators and slaves settled down, how they were mostly into believing Spartacus and his ways of sending the Romans to the Afterlife. Sure, you couldn’t have filled a whole episode with it, but a few flashbacks, or one or two acts, would have fulfilled all my wishes. But that’s not the problem I had with the episode.

The biggest problem I had was that it took a whole hour for Spartacus to realize he can’t man against Glaber. That it needed Crixus for him to realize he needs a bigger army to stand against an even bigger army. That it was all about Spartacus killing Glaber. Judging from his speech in “Kill them All”, I would have figured Spartacus being a leader already, who has a plan, who isn’t so self-obsessed about killing Glaber. Who actually cares about the other slaves around him. So, I don’t really know if Steven S. DeKnight was thinking about Spartacus’ speech at the end of “Kill them All”, as well as “The Bitter End”. But even though I described this problem as “big”, it wasn’t annoying at all. It was just a little blemish in the otherwise very solid premiere, and performances of the actors.

I liked Manu Bennett. I couldn’t have imagined that he would keep up the role, and eventually go far into the drama section. Even though it was a short scene, I liked the “conversation” between Crixus and Trebius (Stephen Butterworth) was interesting, despite how it all started. It showed me that Crixus is ready to go all the way though, similar to Spartacus, which makes the two very much equal – something which didn’t happen in the first season. back then, Spartacus and Crixus were only equal in their strength in the arena. Now they have more in common, which gives the writers an opportunity to show them as friends. For the first time in the show, fighting for the same thing, side by side.

The surprising thing about the episode was Aurelia’s death. I kinda expected for something like that to happen – killing off one of the already established gladiators or slaves, so that there’s more drama in the show. And Aurelia’s death seems justified. I don’t know if her death becomes important for Spartacus though. I can imagine she just died, because some of the fugitivus had to die, to show the audience that people still can die. Which is not really that great. I fear that Agron (Daniel Feuerriegel) will die now. But since his name appears under the main cast now, I have hopes he will not die until the season finale. Same goes with Oenomaus (Peter Mensah). I know he isn’t much part of the actual history of the slave war, but I also fear that the writers will have difficulties to get him to the story. I can understand why his story is interesting, but when it doesn’t get connected with one of the bigger story arcs (either Oenomaus treats Spartacus with more information about Glaber and his army, or he gets into Glaber’s hands), it could soon become very boring. And telling two different storylines, not connected to each other at all, could kill off the pace of the season.

The Roman part of the story was also interesting. Beginning with how Lucretia was written back into the show, and the fact that Ilithyia is pregnant. What’s gonna happen, when Spartacus is the father? What is Glaber gonna do, when he finds out that Spartacus fucked his wife? I hope that revelation is going to happen, just to have another conflict between Glaber and Spartacus. For Spartacus, it’s personal, but not for Glaber at this point. It would be awesome, when the fight between the two would be on a personal level all the time. So that Glaber doesn’t shine as the hero for the public anymore, and he is being hated not just by Spartacus and the other fugitivus.

Also, the introduction of the siblings was interesting. I read an interview, where DeKnight was cutting out an incest storyline for the second season. That must have been it, because Seppius (Tom Hobbs) and Seppia (Hanna Mangan Lawrence) have some chemistry together. I wonder if the incest thing is at least going to be teased over the season, because otherwise that little game they were playing here was for nothing. Also interesting was the way Seppia talked about Seppius’ army being slaughtered by Spartacus: As if she was happy about the fact. Which makes me wonder if Spartacus is going to have allies with the Romans, or with people directly connected to Glaber.

And finally the still living Lucretia. Loved her appearance in this episode. Completely clouded, not knowing what’s going on, but scared from the world. And now with a pregnant Ilithyia, I wonder if the “steal the baby” storyline is going to happen. After all, Lucretia wanted to have a child with Batiatus, and now that he’s dead and Ilithyia is pregnant (hopefully from Spartacus), I wonder how that is holding their “friendship” together. For now it’s great to have a memory-loss Lucretia, but I hope the writers don’t keep her like that for long. I need a scheming Lucretia, who is doing anything to keep Ilithyia, the bitch, down. And Glaber. And maybe even Crixus. 7.5/10

First the shocking surprise...

... then the surprise that shocked

Interesting episode. When even the fourth special can stay that intriguing and tell a nice story about the time before you grow up, I’m confident that the rest of the show will also be as intriguing as this one. Even though I can’t connect with the story here, because I was already growing up when there was the “threat” of a step-parent in my life, it’s nice to have a reminder with a Canadian show nobody knows about outside of Canada.

The story was interesting though. Every other drama series or soap would probably make a mess out of a new step-mother in a life of a child, but this episode is just so damn straight-forward, it brings back the cuteness of Cookie’s episode. I wonder if the rest of the series is going to be straight-forward like this. Not complicating a story so much that it hurts, instead just creating a conflict within the major character of the episode. Like here: Noel (Peter Duckworth-Pilkington II) doesn’t want to wear the shirt Gayle (Charlotte Freedlander) bought, instead he wants to prove to himself that he can make decisions and that he doesn’t need a new mother in his life. The screenplay even created a nice second conflict with Gayle being part of a new family. I wish that more TV shows would be easy, straight-forward, but still conflicting like this one. I would almost say you should watch THE KIDS OF DEGRASSI STREET to learn how to craft a script easily without going overboard.

In addition, I just liked that Noel had a conflicting opinion about Gayle “taking everything away”, beginning with the work load, ending with his father (Bob Reid). When Noel said that though, I was kinda laughing about the scene when Noel and his friends were unloading the truck – I mean, that’s child labor right there on the spot. It was unintentional, but it was funny to notice that “mishap” by the crew. I wonder if there would have been more drama in the script, when it wouldn’t have been about the suit and the shirt most of the time. When Noel’s father was talking to him through the door, I was seeing some great drama here – with a deeper understanding of the characters, it could have been a crafting scene for future episodes, even when Noel doesn’t appear in them anymore. Same goes with the little “happy ending” between Noel and Gayle. Sweet to see that Noel didn’t want to hurt her feelings, so short before the wedding. It has a romantic sub-tone – as if mother and son have just found each other. Could make a good movie.

All in all, it was a great half hour. Now it’s gonna be interesting if the show stays straight-forward in a more “serial” form, as it was produced like that from the next episode on. For now I just can say I don’t regret to have picked up this show. 8/10

Suit looks perfect, let's buy it!

Gayle is happy to have a son now

Season 1, Episode 3 (3)
Date of airing: Jan 24, 2012 (MuchMusic)
Watched for review: Jan 26, 2012
Number of review in January/2012: 107/117

The episode was alright. It had a bit of difficulties to make me care about the individual storylines, and it still has loads of difficulties to connect all the characters together, making this soap something more of an ensemble soap, but other than that I’m still highly entertained about some of the stories, and how the writers don’t care how they come over. If this show is airing on US television, the Parents Television Council will have a field day with this show.

I never would have thought I’d like Raquel (Jewel Staite). Her character isn’t as bitchy and bad-ass, as I was hoping. Instead she just tries to get back into business, but gets shut out by everybody. Kind of sad, especially in her last montage, and kind of an interesting story to follow with the script, and how she tries everything to get it to an agency or producers, but is not ready to pack out the big guns yet. Sure, her talking to Gary (Rob Stewart) could be considered cocky, but after all, she has a reason why she wants to get the script made. So, in this case, the actual script of this episode made me care about a character, who could have turned out to be a real bitch at the beginning of the show.

Nick’s (Joe Dinicol) story was cool though. I didn’t even know he was still trying his comedy routine. But as long as it brought him to Meghan (Danielle Kind) and that hilarious choking thing, I was taking it. Only the ending of his story was unsatisfying. That he would still have enough confidence to bring this story onto the stage and make a stand-up bit out of it was a bit ridiculous for me. Sure, Nick seems to be the character, who can’t be stopped by anything, and I surely believe he wins the confidence, when the first people laugh about his jokes. But that he was still standing there, bringing the sex story with Meghan up, while she was laughing about him… I wouldn’t even have that much confidence in myself. Inf act, I would fake my confidence on stage. Then again, I’m not a stand-up comedian.

Meanwhile, Dead Hooker (Cassie Steele) had an acceptable storyline. I was expecting a bit more kick-ass-y from her, after her scenes were omitted, and she was only breathing in a body bag at the end. Dead Hooker took it all way too easy over the day, beginning with how she didn’t even care seeing Connor (Jonathan Patrick Moore) fucking his co-star, ending with her not knowing what Nick’s feelings are all about. In addition, isn’t Dead Hooker still an illegal immigrant? How can she work in a body bag on a Hollywood lot with an agent behind her bag? Can somebody explain to me?

Alicia’s (Chelan Simmons) story… I was laughing, when the sex tape offer came, and I could actually not believe it was that shitty at the end. It looked like the uprise of a romance between Rick (Aaron Abrams) and her – which I can’t buy, because the two don’t have the chemistry for that. They have the chemistry for some hot and steamy sex (and recording a tape), but a real romance? If the writers continue to follow that, I hope the actors are getting it in. Similar to how Connor’s story was handled. So, he can’t act. I already knew that. But I kinda like where his story is going, even though I didn’t really understand the ending. I know that being alone and left behind can suck you up big time, The ending still killed me, because I don’t know if Connor is going down a dark road with this one, or if he just needed a kick-start in his day (or night), to realize that he isn’t good enough for the job.

Tariq (Benjamin Charles Watson) and King (Andra Fuller) were boring. First, I totally expected for King to drive the hate road with Tariq in front of everybody, while he secretly loves him and breaks all the rules for him. It just isn’t exciting. And somehow, the whole shocker from last episode’s cliffhanger is gone now. I don’t know where it went, and I don’t know if the writers care enough to make a proper story out of it. Because if not, it could turn out to be sucking, since they probably don’t know how to depict a gay couple. African-American at that.

One more thing: Isn’t it a bit miserable for a band to live at the Lux? I mean, they are sitting there, playing their songs, making the tenants happy. They should be on real stages, making money, It’s a bit ridiculous that you have a band in the house, doing all the music, even though – logically speaking – they should be out making money. Like Nick. 6.5/10

Dead Hooker takes her last breather

Showering does not only mean "masturbation"

It was okay. I expected for Cookie’s episode to be the exception of the whole series. I awaited that most of the episodes will not be entertaining for me, or way too cute to be actually cute. I still like the show though, and this episode mostly for one reason: It played with the genre of horror.

Who would have thought that a childish (in a literally sense) story of Bigfoot can be suited into a HALLOWEEN or JAWS similar score, very quiet and silent, making this episode somewhat of a thriller for pre-school kids. Which was very neatly done, despite the fact that the episode didn’t survive the 1990s – let alone the 80s. But I don’t really care about that, though I kinda need something which makes me go through the rest of THE KIDS OF DEGRASSI STREET. There is no serialized plot, and I already know that none of the characters won’t be in the whole show. After all, they wouldn’t be children anymore in the 85-episodes.

The story was okay, not a burner. Since Irene (Nancy Lam) moved in (as the title suggests), it promises that she will be some sort of an important character in the next couple of episodes, and maybe even the writers took her with into the first real “season” of the show, together with the main kids. Of course the story kinda made them bad actors, especially when Ida (Zoe Newman) and Irene were fighting, followed by Irene’s lovemaking with the yellow color on her sweater and face. But the story kinda vanished for good, when the second half was all about the Bigfoot sighting. I would have wished to see more Ida and how she copes with the fact that she loses her girls to the new girl on the street. There were some good story points in the first half, but there was nothing about it in the second half. Instead just Bigfoot, who was clearly a dog, and couldn’t even surprise me anymore (as a story element).

At the end, the drama and the cuteness (emotions) weren’t really working this time. The episode is still recognizable in its effort to make a horror episode out of it. Which kinda worked (in the second half mostly), sometimes didn’t (when Irene was in the center of all attention). I believe that “Cookie Goes to the Hospital” won’t be beaten for the rest of this show. And I’m secretly awaiting DEGRASSI JUNIOR HIGH already. So much that I think about watching it simultaneously with this show. It’s hard for me to wait to begin with a new show I haven’t seen yet. 6/10

Irene has all kinds of yellow over her face

Ida does a happy face, because she just beat Bigfoot!

This episode was okay. Again, it didn’t feel like being part of a miniseries, and I’m thinking about the possibility that Global might be interested in turning BOMB GIRLS into a series. This is probably not true, but I can’t think of any other reason the writers didn’t put much focus into the stories. Instead this show is just about how Gladys (Jodi Balfour) wants to be a different woman than she is with James (Sebastian Pigott), how Kate (Charlotte Hegele) lives to be a different woman, and how Lorna (Meg Tilly) is going to be a different woman, after her experience and love romance with Marco (Antonio Cupo). There is nothing else about this show, which makes it kinda lame. At least it’s entertaining.

And now with Leon (Jim Codrington) being introduced as Kate’s possible romance for the second part of the episode, I kinda got my heart crushed with this episode. I was still thinking about the possibility of Betty (Ali Liebert) being a lesbian and having the hots for Kate. Yet nothing was teased this time here, and it all became another friendship storyline with Gladys. Which was definitely not wrong to do, but I was anticipating the lesbionic action in the second part of the miniseries. Now I’ll probably get the first relationship between a runaway and an African-Canadian in a TV show set in the 40s. Which is also not a wrong thing to do. The lesbians just get me every time.

The thief storyline with Hazel (Brittany Allen) was also okay. First I thought it could just be another “friendly fire” storyline between Gladys and the girls, but then it turned out to be an interesting storyline for the rest of the miniseries. I always wondered why the relationship between Gladys and James sucked like that, and now with Gladys’ mother (Kate Hennig) in the game, the whole engagement could literally blow up in everyone’s faces – which would be a nice little dramatic storyline in a show, which doesn’t have much drama offerings. In fact, now that Gladys knows James’ secrets, I expect for this storyline to become more available as a drama, to get more emotional and stuff. Not just dancing around the sub plot of Gladys becoming independent from her family. I also love that Gladys was hanging around with Betty and Kate. Now Kate has two friends (three with Leon). Seems like she’s gonna be the hero at the end.

Kate’s story was also okay, though her almost-rape was totally predictable. Thanks to that idiotic score coming up in that crucial scene. Wouldn’t the score have been there, the rape attempt could have been a bit surprising, but it was not like that. And with it, I knew that the real singer would turn up and save Kate’s day. I was just disappointed about Lorna’s story though. She really lets Marco kiss her? What a lame character she is all of a sudden. Two episodes ago she was hating him; this episode she pt the Italian paper in his locker, just so he disappears out of the factory and her life, and not even half an episode later they share a romantic kiss, and Lorna is open for some Italian cuisine in her life? Sorry, but I just can’t buy that Either she hates him or has a crush on him. One or the other. I know the one can result from the other, but it feels too damn forced here – as if the writers didn’t even know whether to have a spy arc with one of the factory workers, or not.

Vera’s (Anastasia Phillips) story was lame though. Didn’t care about her troubles, didn’t care whether she is taking the life in the hospital way too serious, didn’t care about collecting the pills (the suicide theme didn’t even go through properly). I was laughing about the scene, where she put the pills out of the cigarette package, into her hand, just so the audience can see that she hasn’t taken any sleeping pills. A completely ridiculous scene, which stole the “magic” from the scene, where Archie (Billy MacLellan) dropped the package and all the pills were falling out. That could have been a more dramatic scene, if you wouldn’t have had the info about Vera beforehand. Bad writing in this case. I also don’t really like she is the third character getting a romance plot here. This show is three episodes old, and has way too much love going on. Especially since it’s all about the Second World War… 6.5/10

Kate was almost raped

But instead she opted for helping Gladys in the rain