Scandal

"Ride Sally Ride"

Okay, let me just start by saying that Scandal is probably my favorite show at the moment. This may partly be because half of the cast was on Grey's Anatomy and/or Private Practice, two of my favorite shows of all time. Man can Shonda Rhimes write some good TV. Okay, now on to the episode.

I thought this was a really great episode. It had a fair amount of drama, and it also set up for some really interesting things we'll see play out over the rest of the season. I also really loved that it was focused on Sally. While Sally is not my favorite character on the show, I think she is one of the most dynamic right now. I love that they took a hardcore religious fanatic and made her murder her husband. We've already seen a little bit of how this is affecting Sally, but I think it will be really interesting to watch it unravel, probably over the next few seasons. This will have a lasting impact on her. I definitely see some dark and twisty times in her future.

Now let's talk about my favorite character: Cyrus. I could watch him scream at people all day long. He just does it so well. His eyes almost pop out of their sockets every time. It's fantastic. And I love the hate-filled relationship between him and James. I'm glad that James didn't just roll over and accept his new job and call things even between them. I think it's good that he's going to get his revenge, and I will love watching him do it. I can't even pick a side in this dispute because I love them both, and they are both kind of awful people. While Cyrus has obviously done worse things, I think James can also be heartless and reckless. It's going to be a good battle between the two of them.

Speaking of couples, there were some interesting new ones in this episode. I'm so happy that Olivia is dating Jake, even if it's just for show. He is really sweet, and he makes me swoon so hard. Plus I rather dislike Fitz. He uses Olivia and is just all over the place and expects to get everything he wants all the time. Kind of like a toddler. It's irritating. And then there's Mellie and this mysterious governor from California. Did they have an affair? Are they still having an affair? It looks like that will be a big focus for next week's episode, so hopefully we will find out!

Then there's Quinn. I actually like Quinn, and I was really loving the relationship between her and Huck. Now she's off playing psycho with Mr. B613, which will only lead to heartbreak (and most likely death) for her. I don't think she has what it takes to be in B613, and since she knows too much, they will eventually have to off her. What do you think?

-LC

The Vampire Diaries "No Exit"

Yay all of our shows are returning! It wasn't such a long break for

 The Vampire Diaries, but I'm still glad to have it back on. 

In this episode Katherine desperately tries to make something happen between her and 

Stefan which I found really forced and awkward and at the same time mildly entertaining. 

I didn't quite understand Katherine's plan to have Stefan kill Damon. Why does Damon 

being around have any effect on Katherine/Elena and Stefan being together? Forcing 

Stefan to kill Damon would have only made him feel guilty and pouty and he would have 

blamed Katherine/Elena for it. It was a stupid plan and I really don't get the motivation. 

The good news is that it helped the TVD gang realize that Katherine has been

 inhabiting Elena's body. I can't help but show my bias and point out that Stefan has been 

the one spending the most time with Katherine/Elena but it was Damon who first realized that something was off about her. Who knows Elena best? Just sayin'. 

Caroline and Tyler had to face each other for the first time since he learned that she slept

 with Klaus. As much as I get a sick enjoyment out of that being rubbed in Tyler's face 

and Stefan hitting him over being a jerk about it, I actually liked what Tyler had to say to 

Caroline about it. The truth is that he left her and she didn't owe anything to Tyler, but she 

can't expect him to just get over it either. 

Matt actually was pretty cunning and almost useful in this episode. I like the moments where 

Matt isn't just the pathetic human that is in the way. He tricked Nadia into thinking he was

 into her long enough to send a message to Caroline. It wasn't a complete message, but it did 

help them to finally figure out Katherine is alive. 

My prediction for next week is that Bonnie will help them get Elena back, Stefan will help 

Damon overcome his bloodlust and Matt will help Nadia find a cure for her werewolf bite 

(maybe that one's just me wanting a Joseph Morgan appearance).

The Bachelor: Weeks 7 and 8

Los Idiot

Alright, Bachelor lovers. We have quite a bit of Bachelor-ing to catch up on. I know I missed last week, life got a little bit ahead of me. So I'm mostly going to focus on the two episodes from this week, but I do want to briefly mention last week's episode. Last week's episode was really not a surprise for me at all. We pretty much knew from the previews that Sharleen was going to leave. So that wasn't shocking. Although there was a pretty heated debate at my house as to whether or not she did the right thing by leaving. I think she did. She knew that she was still having doubts and her being there was getting in the way of him potentially getting to know someone who wasn't having those doubts. I think that late in the game, if you're having doubts, it's the right thing to leave. Especially before you're getting family involved. This is a lesson that Brooks would have been very well served to learn.

But now onto this week. I feel like I have spent a good chunk of the last two nights yelling at my television about what an idiot Juan Pablo is. It's kind of infuriating. First of all, he sends Renee home just days after meeting her son. At least to me, it's been pretty obvious to me that he didn't think she was the one. And he made such a big deal about being serious with her and sending her home as soon as he knew it wasn't right since she had a son. While he definitely followed through with that with Cassandra, it just didn't happen with Renee. I think it was a really low blow for him to keep her around so long and even meet her son, then just off her. He either needed to keep her around another week just for show or get rid of her much sooner. I would go with keeping her around a week longer. That would have avoided the whole mess with Andi. Oh Andi....

I am completely with Andi on everything she said to Juan Pablo. While I obviously can't comment on anything that happened in the fantasy suite, I do think that he doesn't really care about her. At least not on a very deep level. He says in his interview that he was shocked to see her go and sad and what not, but none of that was evident in his reaction when she was talking to him. I do think that there is a language barrier, but I also think that he just doesn't like to talk about his emotions. He just brushes everything off and doesn't even care to explore why the women are feeling the way they are. Language barrier or not, he could show some compassion and interest. I don't know if he is just uncomfortable with talking about feelings or if he legitimately doesn't care, but either way, he comes off as an ass. It blew my mind that he didn't know anything real about Andi. And then he was so shocked that she knew what his religion was (which in my opinion is a pretty basic thing to know about a person). Even if he doesn't care and is just there to get his 15 minutes of fame, he needs to do a better job of at least pretending. Step up your acting skills, Juan Pablo. This is a television show.

Sending Renee home, being a jerk to Andi....all in all, Juan Pablo is an idiot.

Next week is The Women Tell All episode! I can't wait. 

Until then, Bachelor lovers!

-LC

The Bachelor: Week 6

The Birthday Blues

Surprisingly, I really don't have a lot to say about this week's episode of The Bachelor, other than that it was just really really sad that he sent Cassandra home on her birthday. That's just a little mean. Although I'm not even sure he knew it was her birthday, which wouldn't be surprising considering how clueless he is. I understand that you didn't want to wait until the rose ceremony so she could see her son, but really? On her birthday? I think that warrants waiting the extra two whole days. Which really isn't much considering they have been there for six weeks already.

I am happy that he and Clare resolved things (even though he really didn't make me feel better about that whole situation, but hey...at least he made her feel better). I'm still holding out some hope for Clare to not be crazy. Plus he obviously really likes something about her, so I don't think she's going anywhere anytime soon. If I had to call it now, I would say she will win.

Also, his date with Andi was amazing. I just love her. And them kissing under the waterfall was maybe the most romantic thing ever. It was something straight out of a Nicholas Sparks movie. I loved it. I'm hoping they will start to get closer since I would prefer her to win over Clare. We shall see though.

I was really holding out hope that Sharleen would go home this week, but the previews deceived me. I'm still holding out hope for next week though. She needs to leave! 

Well, that about sums it up for this week. I guess it's good that there wasn't much to rant about this week, but it does make for a short post.

Until next week!

-LC

The Walking Dead

"After"

So this may have just been the most depressing episode of The Walking Dead ever. See above picture of Carl for representation of how I feel after watching the episode. Basically the only positive thing in the episode was Michonne being her usual badass self and chopping off about 20 walkers heads in 30 seconds. Note to self: bring sword in case of zombie apocalypse. 

Now on to the depressing stuff....

First we start off with Hershel's decapitated walker head hanging out on the grass. As if I wasn't already depressed enough about him being killed, now they decide to "rub the wound with lemon juice" (as my roommate so eloquently put it). Seeing his walker head was really just the icing on the cake for me. I'm still not over Hershel's death, and now after that I think I've regressed in the grieving process. 

Then we have near-dead Rick. With a stab wound in his leg, the guy is limping around practically useless, having to depend on his child to protect him. It's just sad, really. For a second there when Carl was screaming at him to wake up, I thought for sure he was dead. I know they can't really kill of the main character, but I really wouldn't be too sad about it. Rick is incredibly stupid and the entire reason Hershel is dead, which again, I'm bitter about. He can go for all I care.

Then we have Carl. Barely a teenager (I think? Do we even know how old Carl is in the show?) and having to fend for himself and babysit his nimwit of a father. Seeing him eating pudding on the roof by himself and then crying with his gun pointed at what he thought was a walker just really broke my heart. Badass though he may be for his age, he's still a kid, and he needs someone to take care of him. Where is Carol when we need her?

And finally, Michonne. After her moment of superior head-chopping, she seems to reach her breaking point and collapses to the floor crying while mumbling something to someone who I presume is dead. Probably one of the men we saw in her dream at the beginning of the episode (who are those dudes anyways? Hopefully we'll find out).

Sigh....I'm glad TWD is mixing things up since the show was starting to get a little bit boring, but this is a little bit much. I feel like I'm experiencing PTSD just from watching the show. I would say hopefully next week will be better, but let's face it. We all know that's not going to happen. Especially with Glenn screaming for Maggie in the previews. Maybe we can start some kind of support group?

Until next time, fellow zombie lovers.

-LC

The Vampire Diaries "Total Eclipse of the Heart"

I will always love my Vampire Diaries and it pains me to say anything negative about it, but this season has been my least favorite. How many times have we seen someone take over someone else's body, Damon get hurt and go off the deep end, Matt get pushed around etc.? It's just the same old things in a slightly different situation. I want to see something new. I will say that the one positive thing about Katherine taking over Elena's body from a writing standpoint is that we get to see a change in the love triangle without Elena just flip flopping between the brothers. We knew that Damon and Elena couldn't stay happy for long. That just wouldn't be interesting. So I would prefer Katherine being the reason for the shift than if it were Elena just deciding she wanted Stefan back. I'm just trying to enjoy the funny aspects of Katherine-as-Elena like her outing Caroline and Klaus to Tyler and throwing herself at Stefan. I have to keep up hope that Damon will figure out what is going on, save Elena and fix their relationship. But now that he has become a vampire who feeds on vampires it might be a little more unlikely for him to be the one doing the saving. At least that is something new, so I can appreciate that.

-Chelsea

Reign "Inquisition"

I am loving Reign, if you aren't watching it you need to start! I will admit I am partial to historical fiction, being a former (and considering future) history major, but regardless of how interested you are in history you will like this show. I am also a huge sucker for love triangles.  I can't help it, I love them and I HAVE to pick a favorite. In the case of Reign I choose Francis, which has been a bummer the past two episodes because A: Mary is with Bash and B: Francis hasn't even been in the episodes!

Tonight's episode was mainly about King Henry trying to get his wife Catherine beheaded so that he could marry his mistress (Bash's mom) and legitimize Bash so that he can marry Mary and become king of France. It was interesting to see Henry and Catherine show some affection for one another and discuss what had happened in their marriage to break them apart. I actually sort of like Catherine even though most of the time she is pretty awful. I hope that they don't end up killing her off.

In the midst of all of the attempts to get Catherine killed we discovered a couple of her secrets. She had an affair with Henry's good friend many years ago, and they had a child together that Catherine thought was dead. The child is Clarissa, the disfigured girl whom Nostradamus has been taking care of and who has been helping keep Mary safe. We will be seeing more of her in the next episode it appears.

I am curious how the show will play out. It seems that King Henry is anxious to get Mary married off to one of his sons so that he can claim England for France, and if this happens soon what will happen to the other brother and Catherine if Bash is legitimized? I hope the writers have some good ideas of how to keep the story going.

-Chelsea

The Bachelor: Week 5

Aka How To Lose A Woman in 10 Minutes

Sigh. I am just going to apologize now, because this post is going to be very rant-y. Even more so than last week. I may not have been as crazy about Juan Pablo during The Bachelorette as many other girls were, but I liked him. Even more so at the beginning of The Bachelor. He was sweet and charming and was very fair in how he handled all the girls. What happened to that? Now he is just a giant hypocrite and I kind of secretly hope he ends up with one of the awful girls. That's terrible. But he's making me very angry.

Now I know that a lot of girls hate Clare. While I may not be one of them, I do think that she was being a bit ridiculous in this episode. Sneaking out at 4 AM to knock on Juan Pablo's door is not only a tad bit skank-ish, it's also not very fair to the other girls who are there. Not that the show is supposed to be entirely fair, but show some respect. But all of that aside, I think that she was completely right in how she handled this situation after the fact. While I don't think she should have "gone into the ocean" (is that what the kids are calling it these days?) with Juan Pablo, if he didn't want his daughter to see that (which she should anyways since she's not old enough to watch this show), HE SHOULD HAVE SAID NO (just like Clare pointed out). But no. Instead of doing that, he decided to go ahead and have his happy time with Clare, and then blame her for it after the fact. Then when she inevitably started crying (as any normal woman would), he made her feel dumb for crying about it. "Are you going to stop crying?" Who says that to a girl? I'm sorry, but that is just rude. If I were her, I probably would have told him that I would stop crying when he stopped being an asshole. He is just an idiot. If this was real life, he would have been dumped right then and there.

Then, he makes this huge deal about kissing Renee since he wants to respect her son and his daughter. Where was your respect for your daughter when you were going all the way with another girl on national television? Hmm? At least they finally kissed though. And she was just too adorable about it. I don't think I could love her any more right now. I really really want him to pick her since I think they are the best match, but my bets are still on Clare. 

On the plus side, Nikki wasn't as unbearable this week. I actually kind of liked her again. Let's hope she continues on that path since I think she will probably win if Clare doesn't. And it looks like Sharleen is going home next week. Too bad, I'll really miss her awkward kissing. Not.

Aaaand end rant. Until next time, fellow Bachelor lovers!

-LC