10.31.2008

Supernatural S4E7: It's the Great Pumpkin, Sam Winchester



“That guy’s so vanilla he makes vanilla seem spicy.”

As we open, a man eats Halloween candy and then retrieves a razor from the roof of his mouth. It’s been a while since Supernatural managed to gross me the fuck out, so it’s about time this happened. Blood shoots everywhere. He dies. The bros find a hex bag in his kitchen. The next day, a high-school girl at a pre-Halloween party goes bobbing for apples and boils to death. The bros find a hex bag in the couch. As Dean puts it, “Witches are so freaking skeevy.”

The brothers pick up the trail of a witch who is attempting to raise Samhain, the demon for whom Halloween was created. This is bad, because Samhain has the power to raise all manner of things that go bump in the night. They figure out that the witch is Tracy, a tiny blonde cheerleader, and are mid-plan when Castiel shows up with the angel Uriel to stop them. Sam falls all over himself in his delight to meet the angels, but is sorely disappointed once they begin to speak.

Raising Samhain is one of the 66 seals, and they cannot allow it to be broken. They are going to destroy the entire town, including hundreds of innocent people, in order to stop it. It’s the old “the good of the one vs. the good of the many” argument. A horrified Sam protests that angels are supposed to help people, not hurt them. Castiel replies, “Have faith in the plan. It comes from heaven, which makes it just.” Dean refuses to leave town, knowing that after Castiel went to all the trouble of saving him from hell, there’s no way he’ll let him die now. Castiel agrees to let the boys try. Later, when Uriel suggests they just drag ol’ Dean out of town, Castiel mysteriously references their “real orders.”

The bros discover that a high-school art teacher is involved and shoot him up after finding Tracy tied up in his basement while he holds a knife to her throat. Unfortunately, Tracy and the teacher are in it together and she manages to raise Samhain, who inhabits the teacher’s body and then breaks Tracy’s neck. While this is going on, Sam smears blood all over his face and Dean’s, thus creating “masks” that hide them from Samhain.

Samhain trots off to the cemetery and brings the dead to life. Dean makes Sammy promise not to use his abilities in this fight. At the cemetery, Dean battles a zombie horde while Sam goes after Samhain, who is shocked to find that Sam is impervious to his demonic skills. Sam tries to use Ruby’s knife, he really does, but Samhain knocks it away and he is forced to use his powers. Samhain is so powerful that he manages to struggle through Sam’s psychic onslaught, moving closer and closer to Sammy while Dean watches in horror. The fight takes so much out of poor Sammy that his head pounds and his nose bleeds, but eventually he conquers Samhain.

The next day, Uriel reprimands Sam. He was specifically told not to use his powers, and if he steps out of line again Uriel will not hesitate to kill him. The trouble-making angel’s parting words are, “Ask Dean what he remembers from hell.” Across town, Castiel tells Dean that the angels’ real orders were to let Dean do whatever he wanted in order to test his leadership capabilities. He admits that he sometimes has doubts about god’s wishes, and has no idea whether Dean has passed the test, or failed.

10.30.2008

ANTM Cycle 11: Red Light Edition



THE RUNDOWN
There isn’t much here. The girls go to Amsterdam and have to find their house through a series of clues, like a scavenger hunt. They team up in pairs, and Sam and Elina end up together. They win, and get 50 extra frames to split. That night, Annaleigh, Marjorie, and Elina share the large tub. Samantha, bigoted as usual, describes what they’re doing as “a lesbian party.” Elina comments that Amsterdam reminds her of the Ukraine, and Sheena and McKey get very irritated by that. Talk about intolerant. While I admit that Elina can be a bit whiny, the sense of “us vs. them” in this cycle is overwhelming.

THE CHALLENGE
A group of Dutch designers is taking over part of the red light district, and the girls pose in windows much like prostitutes do, in pairs. The winners get to walk in Amsterdam Fashion Week. McKey and Samantha win.

THE SHOOT
This one is pretty unoriginal. The girls pose on a ship.

McKey is editorial, breaks out of her shell, is creative.
Elina is editorial but completely ignores Jay when he talks. Like, completely.
Samantha starts weak but gets better.
Sheena looks like a can-can dancer, does lewd poses.
Marjorie does well, takes constructive criticism without crying.
Annaleigh is beautiful, Jay says “hallelujah!”

DURING PANEL
McKey is wearing a fabulous outfit, was fantastic, she really gets it.
Elina looks the most high-fashion though in general her film was stiff.
Samantha filled the frame, it’s a great shot.
Sheena has a great face but her body is terrible, the photo is dull.
Marjorie is gorgeous, passionate, and strong though she’s shy in person.
Annaleigh looks like a beautiful pirate, uses the props, they love it.

IN PRIVATE DELIBERATION
McKey has taken her best shot yet.
Elina looks the most high-fashion though she didn’t listen to Jay.
Samantha looks like a mallrat in person, her shots don’t match.
Sheena has no life, can’t balance hoochie and pretty.
Marjorie “is like Bambi” in person but transforms in front of the camera.

The first photo is McKey.
The bottom two are and Elina and Sheena.

Elina takes pretty pictures but they don’t see a model.
Sheena is full of personality but her photos are just ok.

Sheena is eliminated. Hallelujah!

10.29.2008

The Ex List S1E...



Yep. It's been canceled, effective immediately. I'm going to assume that Bella and Augie would have ended up together eventually.

90210 S1E8: There’s No Place Like Homecoming



“Homecoming is everything that’s wrong with this place in stark relief.”

Ethan tells Annie he wants to ask her to homecoming but he can’t because it will hurt Naomi. She is all giggles and batted lashes. Really? Annie’s skirts are way too short and I can’t believe Debbie would go for that. But anyway, Naomi invites Annie over to get ready for the dance and they have fun. But when she sees them dancing together later, Naomi tells Annie that she can’t be friends with her and date Ethan. Annie chooses Naomi, but then makes out with Ethan in the parking lot. Classy.

Silver has made an appointment to get her wisdom teeth out on homecoming because she could care less about the dance, cause she’s indie and all that. Dixon plays it cool and comes over to hang out with her chipmunk-cheeked, high-on-Percocet self. When she realizes he really wants to go to the dance, though, she gets all dressed up, surprises him, and tells him to never be afraid to tell her things. They are totally cute as a couple. Where’s the strife?

Adriana goes to rehab. She is distraught because Naomi won’t return her calls. Navid keeps visiting her and bringing her stuff and is obviously in love with her. She doesn’t get it, and finally he screams that he likes her. Apparently they were friends when they were younger and he’s always loved her. Whatever. This is too out-of-the-blue, and doesn’t work very well. Naomi meets a hot young thug in detention. At first he’s all, “whatever, white girl,” but then she speaks fluent Spanish and he does a second take. He attempts to woo her at Homecoming and they dance, so hopefully he’ll be back on the scene in upcoming episodes. In the end, Naomi forgives Adriana. These kids are way too nice to each other.

Ryan catches Kimberly buying drugs at the dance and throws a hissy fit until she admits she’s a cop to shut him up. Then this happens, literally:

Ryan: How old are you?
Kimberly: I’m 25, why?
Ryan: grabs her and passionately kisses her

Ew! He did have a thing for her even when he thought she was a 16-year-old. PS, I learned on IMDB that Ryan Eggold, who plays teacher Ryan, is in reality one year older than Dustin Milligan, who plays Ethan. And it shows! What kind of casting is that?!?

Finally, Debbie gets fed up with Tracy and threatens to punch her in the face if she ever touches her husband again. Cindy Walsh would never do such a thing!

10.27.2008

The Ex List S1E4: Do You Love Me, Do You Surfer…Boy?



“’The one’ isn’t going to be called ‘The Animal.’”

Although I still enjoy The Ex List, it’s getting a bit monotonous. And, from everything I’ve read, it’s going to be canceled any minute. So, I might stop blogging about it. In this ep, Bella runs into an ex. Shocking. She dumped him because all he cared about was surfing. Now, he’s become a famous surfer, and though she has fun with him she can’t believe he’s still a wild child. But, in a twist, it turns out that it’s all a marketing ploy. And for the first time, Bella doesn’t break up with him at the end. He’s not Mr. Right Now, but he is Maybe Mr. Right Someday. Plus, he’s super cute.