I promised free_laddicals I’d write up my thoughts once I got to the end of the first season of How I Met Your Mother. So far: continuing thumbs up! ( Wait for it... )

I’m really surprised I never saw Hardcastle and McCormick when I was a kid. I mean, lord knows I saw every episode of one of Stephen J. Cannell’s other famous shows: the A-Team. The production logo of him at the typewriter with a pipe in his mouth is seared into my brain! And I watched all those other funny action/mystery shows at the time like Simon and Simon, Magnum PI, Hart to Hart, Scarecrow and Mrs. King, &c. But somehow I missed this one. ( Now you're cookin'. )

I’ve got an hour before my “30 minute phone conversation” and I don’t want to start any real work before then. So. Another meme! I was tagged by namarie24.

A. List seven habits/quirks/facts about yourself.
B. Tag seven people to do the same.
C. Do not tag the person who tagged you or say that you tag "whoever wants to do it".

1. I love to bake sweets but don’t actually have much of a sweet tooth, preferring salty snacks.
2. I have had a total of seven piercings on my person. Only three of them are still open.
3. People like to make a big deal out of still loving their pets the same way after having kids as they did before. I love my kids more. Sorry kitties. You’re cute and fuzzy and not human.
4. I drink only water at work, with rare exceptions when caffeine is required. I use the same plastic cup I received for Admin Day back when I first started 8 years ago.
5. I have kept a list of every book I’ve read since Christmas 2002. See my other blog for details.
6. I have never owned an iPod or any other mp3 device and I don’t feel the need to.
7. I have taken lessons for four musical instruments other than voice and have kept up with none.

Looks like this particular meme has gone around one, two, three times and I haven’t repeated myself yet!

Tags, well, I don’t know. Who hasn’t done it that gives a damn? Let’s try nqllisi (though she’s in Sweden this week), opheliandreams, free_laddicals, madgebettany, scottish_vixen, darkpike, and nomadicwriter. Hopefully there aren’t any double tags there.

It’s Friday afternoon and I’m not starting anything new. Therefore: meme!

Comment on this and I'll give you three of your fandoms, then copy and paste the questions in to your journal and fill it out!! :)

aurora_novarum gave me ( Farscape, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Stargate: SG-1. )

I think I might be going into a sitcom phase. Not for current live television viewing but for catch-up viewing. I’m not entirely sure how that happened. Honestly, I never really considered sitcoms for a DVD project. ( BBT, HIMYM, F&G )

I know there are several fic writers on my flist as well as other artisans and crafts people. I wanted to let you know about the help_haiti community. Both aurora_novarum and nqllisi are participating by offering their skills to the highest bidder. All for charity of course. Please check it out and bid or make an offer of your own!

Aurora’s Offering

Fandoms (if appropriate): Stargate SG-1
Willing to also write: Stargate Universe, Stargate Atlantis, Leverage, Lois & Clark, NCIS, Farscape*, or Tenth Doctor era of Who. (hey, it's for charity)

* Farscape limited to season one (it's all I've seen to date).

nqllisi’s Offering

Fandoms (if appropriate): The Office (US)

Additional Info (optional): Any pairing, but nothing beyond a PG rating. I excel at short character studies but I'll try whatever you want.

ETA: Kaffyr's Offering

Fandoms (if appropriate): I write primarily the Ninth Doctor, but I have also done Tenth Doctor, and am willing to take on Classic Who, particularly the Third Doctor. I also love Sarah Jane and her team, and adore Captain Jack Harkness and his team, especially Gwen, Owen and Tosh.

Additional Info (optional):I will do anything from gen to *big breath* attempted pr0n to experimental. Only exclusions I can think of are rape/non-con if someone wants smut. I will also do DW-related non-fic essays of 1-3,000 words if anyone in the known universe is interested and wants to substitute that for fic.

and Namarie's Offering

Fandoms (if appropriate): I have published fic for X-Files, Doctor Who (new series), Life, and In Plain Sight. I would be willing to try Buffy, Angel, Firefly, Dollhouse, Bones, NCIS, or Numb3rs. I also do crossovers.

Additional Info (optional): I don't generally write porn, and I don't do slash. No rape or incest. My highest rating is usually PG-13. I will do fluff, angst, gen, or some combination thereof. Other than that, email me and we'll talk!

I’ve had the disc for The Plan out from Netflix since it was first released back in November. I’m not sure why I’ve been dragging my feet on watching it. But then I started seeing Skiffy’s ads for it airing this weekend and decided I couldn’t wait anymore.

Since the action is from the Cylon’s point of view, condensing the first two seasons down into not quite two hours, it’s chock full of Battlestar goodness and intensity. However, it’s also chock full of Battlestar pretension and high-handedness.

( There Are Many Copies )

I’m starting to fret about the upcoming television season schedule. It’s happened to me every year since 24 moved to a winter start – and that was what, its second season? I always have a light Fall and then Winter comes and I just get slammed with shows. It’s a combination of shows returning from their holiday hiatus, shows that start now so they can run uninterrupted the rest of the season, and mid-season replacements or moves. I feel like it’s especially bad right now and I’m not entirely sure what’s changed. Part of it must be due to all the shows I jettisoned this season. That was very liberating.

I’m used to both 24 and American Idol coming back in January. Lost has done it before, too, so that’s not a surprise. Battlestar Galactica is done so I don’t have that to worry about. I’m 90% sure I’m not going to watch Caprica – that straight to DVD pilot was so not good – so that’s still an empty berth in my schedule. Sanctuary is coming back from holiday hiatus, and so is Stargate Universe. The former I’m looking forward to, the latter I don’t think I can stomach anymore but I’ll probably continue to half-watch. I’ve got until March for both V and FlashForward so that gives me a little bit of a breather to get used to everything. Project Runway is starting up again and that’s a new one. It’s up against Burn Notice now that it’s switched networks. Thankfully I think that’s the only major timing conflict I’ll have.

I’m in love with OnDemand and that will definitely help me a little bit. It’s only NBC/Universal shows but that definitely gives me wiggle room. NBC Thursday night comedies, USA shows like Psych, hell even the Skiffy stuff will all turn up on there. I’ve already been watching the Fox and ABC dramas on Hulu a day late so that pattern won’t change and will ensure I can watch CBS comedies on in the same timeslot. It’s the reality shows that I need to remember to catch live. Maybe that’s why I’m freaking out so much? I’m not used to anything else being on during Idol season. And PR was *just on*! Not only was it just on, it was on during a Top Chef season, which was also weird. So really, it’s all Lifetime’s fault that I’m feeling crowded. But they’ve gotten me addicted to their OnDemand reruns of How I Met Your Mother (I’ve been watching that show from season one for the first time) so I guess I have to give them a pass.

And there’s also new Top Gear which, thanks to OnDemand (do you sense a pattern?) I can now see. And Demons. And Kitchen Nightmares. And…yeah. If I actually had real BBCAmerica I’d probably be even worse off.

I was going to try to figure out which new show I’d start on DVD now that I’m done with Alias. But I think I might have to just sit tight for a while. Maybe this summer? I’m still taking suggestions though!

Ah so it's "I See Dead People" where Vaughn's location was suddenly switched to Nepal from Bhutan. I thought I had missed it! I can tell that they're really not caring that much anymore and frankly, it made it hard for me to care too much about these final four episodes. I like Sloane playing games with Fred to bring Sark into the mix. Hell, I even liked Vaughn finding the soopr sekrit bunker o' Mosaic and knowing Anna wasn't really Sydney all along. I've got to say, I'm glad Anna got killed off because her presence kept taking me out of the story. I couldn't help but think it was all just an excuse for Garner to show off acting chops, though maybe less blatant than Amy Archer's Illyria.

But all throughout the episode I was plagued with an uneasy feeling about the pending explanation for Vaughn being alive. So when it was revealed in "No Hard Feelings" that both Sydney and Jack knew all along I thought it was cheap and easy. There are times when an in-show retcon works in such a sublime way you can't believe they didn't mean it all along - like Changling Bashir or Sinclair's Valen. However. This was not one of those times. It was bullshit. But I just don't care enough anymore to get worked up about it, which was for the best since then I could sit back and enjoy the ludicrous prison plot. Was the old man supposed to actually be Rambaldi himself? Are we supposed to give a damn?

"Reprisal" really felt like the beginning of a series finale to me with the individual photo gathering ops and opening focus on quiet home life. I actually liked how Carrie got involved and how she was allowed to show some bitterness about being kept from all the APO goings on all this time. I don't know that I believe Marshall would be quick enough on his feet to come up with a message for his wife but I definitely bought that she knew how thinks well enough to crack his codes so quickly.

The little failed coffee date between Tom and Rachel was a nice way to wrap up their whole auto theft caper. Honestly, all their scenes the previous two episodes just kept reminding me TOS's "Assignment: Earth" more than anything. Like, there was already an episode written for their spin-off series and they didn't want it to go to waste so they just chopped it up and started shoving the scenes in wily nily. Don't tell me they couldn't have found ways for them to be involved in the BhutaNepal and Rambaldi Rose hijinks! Anyway, I actually quite enjoyed their characters and totally would have been happy to move on to their show at this point in my DVD watch-through. I was honestly sad that Tom let his emo self get blown up at the end.

But that's where I stopped feeling any emotional attachment. They lost me on top of Mount Subasio because Oh My God those were the absolute worst "location" effects I have seen in any modern television show. Seriously. The Alpine scene in Auntie Mame when Beau falls off the Matterhorn was just as good as that - and that was intentionally a soundstage! I could literally see the line where the backdrop of the mountain footage (it wasn't even focused properly!) fell behind the stage props they were standing on. Holy crap and the ice! When Sydney started rapelling down the cliff I nearly lost it. It was so obviously just a bunch of crumpled paper. Dude. Frickin' the BBC did better with their non-existant budget in the last days of Doctor Who in the 80s. Pathetic. So I really wasn't invested at all for Sloane's Raider's moment with the amulet.

And the idiocy just continued with "All The Time In The World". I couldn't feel any concern for Vaughn reviving blue-lipped Sydney since he didn't feel any concern for, you know, hypothermia. What. Ever. OK I did like the use of flashbacks to fill in key moments in Sydney's life; it was nice to see Francie again. I think my favorite one was Jack's anguish when he learns that his daughter is working for Credit Dauphine. I wanted so much for them to be able to speak freely about it but obviously it was too soon for that point in their relationship.

Normally all the jetsetting doesn't bother me. This show at least paid lip-service to time spent in-flight by setting scenes onboard various planes and talking about flight plans and whatnot. But this just got to be excessive. It felt like a bad thriller you grab off the novel rack at the airport and don't remember anything about once you land. Again, I couldn't muster to energy to be more than vaguely annoyed as I sat back and watched the end unfold.

Sloane! Irina! Fred hates snakes! Sloane shoots Jack! Sydney shoots Sloane! Mommy/Daughter Fight to the Death! Here's the thing. I actually like that Sydney got to personally kill Sloane. She doesn't know he came back to life. It was good for her to do that. And I actually like that Jack got to doom Sloane to an enternity trapped in an underground vault. It was the most appropriate ending for them both. But if you think about it any harder than that it all falls apart. First of all, Sydney and Vaughn called for a rescue copter. So when they got there, aren't they going to look for the body they're supposed to be rescuing? Or are they going to assume that since it was Jack Bristow that he's just that awesome that he magically healed himself and galloped away and forgot to tell them he didn't need them anymore? And secondly, ignoring the fact that Vaughn survived the hail of 47 bullets and Jack isn't going to make it after 3, he could barely stand up to wave goodbye to his daughter. But we're supposed to believe that he then went and rummaged around for some explosives and hiked back down into the tomb on the off-chance that Sloane had been resurrected by the mystical nonsense he never personally believed in to begin with? And that his self-sacrifice would remain because the rescue squad wouldn't say, hey look! A bomb went off, we'd better dig through this rubble to find the survivor we've been called in to look for. Not to mention his daughter would want to know the status of her father and wouldn't take "he wasn't there anymore" for an answer. Right.

Whatever. I'm done. Sydney and Vaughn are living happily ever after with the kids on the beach and Syd freelances for Dixon from time to time and Sark is still out there making of fool of himself for profit and Isabelle can do the Project Christmas blocks just as good as her mother. Yes, it careened into crazy territory by the end. Still, a very good show. I enjoyed it.

The end.

From the illustrious monkey_pants7:
Post the first line from the first post of each month, in the order in which they appeared.

January: We rang in the New Year watching “The Time Meddler”.
February: I’ve been saving up memeage for a rainy day.
March: We finally finished watching "Remembrance of the Daleks" after making it two episodes in and then not getting back to it for, oh, like two months or so.
April: Well I can now see how easily you could blast through an entire season in a weekend.
May: So: "Second Double" and "The Telling".
June: I was delighted to learn that the first season of True Blood follows only the events in the first book, Dead Until Dark.
July: I actually really enjoyed "Conscious".
August: Mr. b just about lost it when Kirk was getting the back rub at the beginning of “Shore Leave” and thought it was a man-sage from Spock.
September: “Space Seed” is one of those episodes that I’ve seen so many times that I sort of take it for granted.
October: Well.
November: I am having a hard time remembering distinct elements from the four episodes I watched over the weekend.
December: Killing time on Friday afternoon by cleaning out my inbox.

Looks like I actually posted on the first of the month three times: May, June, and September. I posted the latest into the month in November, on the 10th. I reviewed four television series in 2009: Doctor Who, Alias, Star Trek, and True Blood. Doesn’t look like I have any particular patterns in how I begin my posts, but maybe that’s due to sample size.

Interesting that Amy Acker makes the main credits as of “Maternal Instinct” but Elodie Bloucher is demoted to guest star. For a moment I wondered if that meant Fred would be dying but then I remembered this isn’t Joss Whedon’s show. I loved all of Fred’s badass scenes, like blowing up the helicopter out the window. But it wasn’t much of a surprise to see her fingers move after Jack blew her right the fuck up.

I really enjoy Tom’s chemistry with Renee. I felt the same with about him with Rachel, too, so I guess he’s just one of those guys that works well with others.

I was so impressed with Irina delivering her grandchild when she told Sydney not to push yet and Sydney talking about how it was impossible not to push. That was such a biologically real moment and you never get those in television deliveries. But then Syd did the absolutely lamest pushing and I was disappointed again. Honestly. I mean, I know it’s not going to be like the real thing but it looked like she put barely any effort into it. And considering that Jennifer Garner had just gone through it herself… Still, second best Action Mom Birth Sequence behind the radiant Aeryn Sun.

Oh and Vaughn is alive in Bhutan? Why am I not surprised. *eyeroll*

I remember someone telling me that I’d get closure on the Anna Espinosa story line way back when I was still starting out with this show and that it would be awesome. I had totally forgotten about that until I saw Gina Torres on my screen in “There’s Only One Sydney Bristow”. And then I chuckled to myself about Fred and Jasmine working together. But honestly, perfect make-up and a bra in the soopr sekrit wimmin’s prison? Right. And then it turned out to be a Will Tippin episode? Awesome! I just saw The Hangover and was remarking to myself how smokin’ Bradley Cooper was in that movie. I didn’t remember Will being so delectable. And then seeing him here, he wasn’t. I found that dichotomy interesting.

But other than the fun Will and Syd interactions, this one was kind of lacking since it was basically just set up for the reveal of Second Sydney, which was obvious since, oh, the frickin’ title of the episode.

I didn’t understand the title “30 Seconds” until reviewing the episode synopsis and remembering Nadia had to be dead for that length of time for Sloane’s hard-earned cure to work. But I’ll come back to that.

I feel like the duplicate Syd storyline is just as much of an acting excuse for Garner as it is a legitimate storyline. It definitely feels like we’re working towards a series finale but that one element is a trifle much. Having Renee declare that she only trusts Sydney and then Anna Espinosa-as-Sydney is the one that slashes her throat was just over the top. It’s not even symbolism if it’s blatant.

The symbolism I do like is within the return to the Rambladi storyline. (And how awesome was it to have both Rachel and Tom giving their best WTF faces when dealing with the Page 47 bullshit?) Someone described the final season as having all the grey removed from the characters and revealing that they were evil all along. I was dreading fake mustache type cheap reveals but so far I really like what they’re doing. It was absolutely right and perfect to have Sloane be the instrument of his daughter’s death. Nadia was already dead. Arvin already killed her with his fanaticism. That he was able to revive her for a brief time was lovely but it was fleeting at best and unnatural at worst. (I am striving for Jacob’s ability to deconstruct the metaphysical and failing miserably.) Nadia was born of Rambaldi lust and killed by Rambaldi lust. She was then reborn by Rambaldi knowledge and destroyed by the quest for Rambaldi knowledge. Her role was to set her father upon a path, and his final steps could only be taken with her death. Rambaldi is his faith and as such, he had to make a suitable sacrifice.

I also like the knowledge that Irina made a conscious decision to be an agent for her country rather than be torn between Motherhood and Duty. That is very believable to me with what we’ve been shown of her character. She loves her daughter in her own way but is just plain not cut out of maternal cloth. Some women aren’t and I believe that she is one of them. I don’t see any retconning or revision in that but rather a fuller picture of the Irina we’ve known all this time.

Oh and one other thing: when the hell did Dixon get mini-dreads? I can’t remember when that started and if I wasn’t paying attention or if it was just piss poor continuity editing.

I suppose it’s sort of appropriate that I took a month long break from Alias since it came at the same point as the big maternity leave hiatus when it was aired. But I could barely remember what was going on so I can’t imagine what it was like after a four month break.

I really enjoyed APO breaking into the CIA during “S.O.S.”. It was filled with teamy goodness, to borrow a phrase from the ‘Gaters. And getting Weiss involved was just the cherry on top! I did wonder if he was written in before or after they knew for certain this was the final season. It felt like a “one last scene” type of appearance.

I was sort of perplexed by the two smaller plot threads. It’s weird to think of Sydney as the B Plot but she didn’t actually have that much screen time thanks to the focus on her rescuers. I know it was intentional misdirection for me the viewer to think they were trying to steal her baby. But…why? That felt fuzzy and I guess it’s setting up for the big mystery of the rest of the season/series but it also felt a little lazy. Like they weren’t really sure yet so they just left it blank and figured they would get it sussed out eventually.

I had the same but opposite reaction to Grace rummaging through the Witness Protection archives in the middle of the CIA mission. At first it seemed just tacked on to give him a dead wife that he’s going to avenge out of the blue. Like they felt they needed to give him something to do as a consolation prize since he wasn’t going to get a spin off after all. (I’m just assuming they knew by this point that wasn’t happening.) And I guess I understood that he had the opportunity to go through the records since he was already there and he just took it because when the hell else was he ever going to get that chance but it seemed cheap to me. But then he actually just wanted to get a message to some mysteriously named personage? Ooh! I’m intrigued! Good one Show, you totally got me!

Killing time on Friday afternoon by cleaning out my inbox. I discovered this old meme that I hadn’t ever finished!

Leave me a comment saying "Resistance is Futile."
I'll respond by asking you five questions so I can satisfy my curiosity.
Update your journal with the answers to the questions.
Include this explanation in the post and offer to ask other people questions.

Questions from astrogirl2:

1) If you were to suddenly become evil and decide to take over the world, how would you go about it?
Hmm. You’d have to get rid of most of the people. Since I’m evil in this thought experiment I can’t just ship them off the planet so I guess targeted plagues would have to do the trick. Obviously my evil genetic engineers will have to ensure the safety of my family and friends and chosen minions. From there it should be pretty easy to obtain obedience by offering medical assistance and the cure in exchange for my continued leadership.

2) Read any good books lately?
I’ve been loving the Anita Blake series but I guess I still haven’t hit the part where it devolves into lycantropic porn yet. Despite having read nine titles already. I’m kind of looking forward to seeing if it’s as bad as all that! On the non-genre front, I adored The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society and think everyone should read it. I made the mister read it, then gave his aunt’s copy to his brother, who passed it on to their other aunt… I also really enjoyed My Latest Grievance, which takes place on a college campus but isn’t necessarily an academic story. The characters were extremely vivid and I found myself thoroughly pleased with the outcome.

3) Seen any bad movies?
New Moon. Oh lordy it was atrocious.

4) Name your top 5 TV shows of all time.
Deep Space Nine, Babylon 5, Highlander, Firefly, the Venture Bros.

5) And since we're throwing around Star Trek quotes... If you were to be a crewmember on the Enterprise -- any version -- what would you be? And would you survive your first Romulan attack/godlike alien/starship-shaking space anomaly?
Ooh, I’d want to be the archaeologist on Picard’s Ent D! That way I’d be safe from most godlike alien issues but I’d still get to go on occasional away missions and I’d get to hang out with Jean-Luc when he wants to nerd out on dead civilizations.

I am having a hard time remembering distinct elements from the four episodes I watched over the weekend. I think it’s partly because I caught up on so much TV – so I’m getting V, FlashForward, Sarah Jane Adventures, Stargate Universe, and Sanctuary mixed in – and partly because of the frakkin busted toilet stress.

I liked the glimpse of Rachel’s family in “Solo”. Even though I’m sure we’ll never hear from them again, I’m glad to know they’re safe and sound. And as much as I appreciated Rachel’s inexperience being highlighted, the sparring with Tom was nice as was her failure in the field, I just can’t understand why she was sent on the oil rig mission. You’re telling me that Sydney Bristow is the ONLY agent in the entirety of APO that is of the right age and training to go undercover as a hooker and since she’s knocked up they have to send a computer nerd instead? Yeah. Nice try. Still, it’s fun to see Fred being so badass. Why exactly did Dixon not shoot her when she was jumping off the rig?

The set-up with Sloane standing up to Dean and then visiting Nadia segued nicely to “Fait Accompli”. I liked that Dean was both betrayed and killed in a single episode. If we’re going to move on to the next level of bad guy, I’m glad they didn’t waste any time. The scenes at the Dubai race track were fun; loved Grace’s drunk Australian. And the whole LSD thing was pretty funny.

I knew Rachel would bang Sark as soon as I saw him in “Bob”. Sark! I missed you! You’re so dumb and easy! Didn’t they already have that death ray bomb thingie be a Rambaldi device in Mexico City though? I guess it was reverse engineered or something. I liked the MI-6 broad that Jack was working with. What do I know her from?

Aww, they brought back Vaughn for “The Horizon”. When was the big hiatus during the season? I was distracted by the lack of roundness in Sydney’s face during most of the revisited flashbacks. Had Garner already given birth by the time this was filmed? She just didn’t look pregnant to me anymore. And even though I absolutely guessed that Syd was on a boat, I was completely surprised by the appearance of Irina Derevko. So I guess she’s back to being a bad guy now. Whatever. Though it was seriously creeptastic to see that nursery set up that Jack and Renee found. Possibly even creepier than when they did the same reveal on Lost.

Grabbing this from astrogirl2 because I feel like slacking off and this seems like an easy meme to do.

Take a screendump of your desktop at the moment, no cheating, no tidying up, just as it is, and post it here, and tell us what it says about you :)



Well, there's the Rani, looking adorable as she menaces the underside of the rocking chair instead of going to bed. Despite being in her jammies and sleep sack.

My desktop itself isn't too messy. I have more shortcuts and icons than I use but I have to leave them in place for corporate blah blah blah. I do have a bunch of image files I need to sort through and trash or save elsewhere. And I have two outstanding beta assignments I really need to get on. Looks like I don't have many applications going. Email and internet are standard. I guess I haven't started SAS yet for the day.

For the first time, I really liked the use of the 72 Hours Earlier device in “Mockingbird”. The opening Monte Carlo scene was a fabulous caper and then cutting directly from Sydney hanging in the car to learning Rachel’s call-sign was a great way to inject even more suspense into the proceedings. Incidentally, how many different call-signs has Syd has over the course of the series? I also enjoyed the coaching she gave to Rachel on becoming another person. It’s something I’ve noticed while watching the opening credits: yes Syd has many wigs and costumes but you can really tell the character she is playing in that situation by her posture and body movements. And that’s just on snippets taken out of context! They better not hook Rachel up with Marshall. The Dixon/Grace team was a lot of fun on the beach and during the mobile bank scene.

I’m fascinated by Sloane getting out of jail thanks to the bad guy du jour this season. It was interesting watching him maneuver during “Out of the Box”. I like that he’s been so upfront about his desire to use APO to heal Nadia but it’s also a delight to see him returning to his duplicitous ways. Blackmailing Senator Vash was fantastic! I’m not entirely sure what to make of the cryogenic man plot. Maybe I’m not forward-seeing enough to understand the point of him pretending to be Renee’s father but I really didn’t understand the point. Still, it was nice seeing Renee working with Syndey and Tom. I really like Tom’s character. He’s so understated, definitely of the less-talk-more-action school.

On the whole I’ve been very happy with this season since the premiere, which I found to be a complete mess. It seems they’ve found a nice balance with all the characters and story lines. I don’t know where they’re going but they’re doing a good job of minimizing Garner’s screentime so presumably it will be less jarring when she’s on leave.

It’s so refreshing to see a *real* pregnant belly in scenes like Sydney’s ultrasound during “…1…”. I found myself wondering if that was actual footage of Violet in utero or if they used stock footage of some sort. Sydney working with Renee was also believable to me. I do like that chick – she sort of reminds me of Rosanna Arquette – and I hope we see her again. Loved Syd’s intensity while interrogating the bad guy. Dude, don’t fuck with the pregnant spy chick. Dixon’s longer hair was very becoming. And aww, Weiss is leaving for his promotion to psychic cop on Heroes. Thinking back, I guess not much happened but it seemed more enjoyable than the season premiere while I was watching it. I think there were still some pacing issues, as I kept expecting the end title card and it would be another scene instead.

I definitely enjoyed “The Shed”, especially the split focus between Sydney’s mission and Dixon’s mission. And Fred! I guess I vaguely remember reading somewhere that Amy Acker was in the final season but I didn’t remember until she showed up on my screen. I admit it was a little weird seeing her be badass instead of super genius. Surprisingly, I didn’t mind that Rachel’s background is mirroring Sydney’s experience with SD-6 so closely – and that annoyed me completely when they did it with Nadia! The actress is also stronger than I was expecting; maybe I just have lowered expectations after the Lauren debacle? Agent Grace (I keep thinking of him as Dick Grayson in my head and then amusing myself with the idea of Jack as Bruce Wayne, but I digress) is compelling to me as well. He’s got an interesting look, vaguely like Live Schreiber, and I like the immediate connection and chemistry between him and Blondie. So I think they’re on track to cover for Garner’s maternity leave quite nicely. We’ll see how it actually plays out…

Today is the release date for the new Mercurial Rage album on Susstones titled Cascade! It's available at all the finest local indie retailers, on iTunes, Amazon, eMusic and other digital retailers, and of course, direct from The Susstones Shop!

I’m not entirely sure what to think of “Prophet Five”. I actually found it to be extremely manipulative and I watched it strangely impassively. I thought it was pretty funny how Sydney went straight into ass-kicking-mode after the car crash. Loved the cornfield chase.

“New credits! Hey wait, no Vaughn? But there’s Michael Vartan in the ‘starring’ list. I must’ve just missed him before.” So yeah, I had no clue that MV left the show. And wow, three new cast members? I knew there was one new girl, apparently referred to as Boobs McGee or some such, but looks like she’s not the only newbie for me to meet.

I liked how they worked Garner’s real-life pregnancy into the storyline. It was cute how she told Vaughn before they jumped off the cliff together. And it was cute how telling Jack just completely shut him down. I totally didn’t buy Vaughn surviving the multiple gun shots to the chest so I guess the only point to him later dying in the hospital was to pick out the baby name?

There were just so many call backs to the first season that I felt they were trying too hard. Direct references to SD-6, but Syd can’t be bothered to ask Dixon how he’s feeling after missing the whole Big Red Ball of Doom due to recovering from being shot? Syd looses yet another fiancée. Syd has to track down the bad-guys-posing-as-good-guys. I don’t know. It was overstuffed. It felt like a pilot almost. Trying so hard to set up the premise that it never got a chance to find a rhythm and flow. I kept expecting the end of the episode to come and then there would be another scene. I can understand why viewers would have tuned in for resolution to the cliffhanger and then bailed.

Navel gazing thoughts on Gater and Scaper TWoP posting habits, possibly only of interest to aurora_novarum and monkey_pants7 ( click here )