Sunday

 Revenge- "Collusion"

I would say the the tittle of this weeks episode of Revenge is very fitting. You continue to see the characters secretly conspiring against one another, the story line of each character continues to develop and grow. Which I love! Collusion starts with Emily having a hot and steamy dream of Aiden but just when you think things are about to get better, Aiden turns into Daniel... can I get a wah wah wah?! The story line between Emily and Aiden comes to a quick halt after The Initiative give Aiden proof that his sister is alive, but in order for him to reconnect with his sister he needs to kill Victoria. That's right, you heard me! Which is when things begin to get messy in this episode, it looks like the two separate conquests that the love birds were on, begin to twist and twine with one another. Which lead to the question, how far would Aiden go to see his sister? And how much does he care about Emily to not ruin her plans for revenge? 

Meanwhile another couple is going through their own levels of trust, Padma helps Nolan find his new mansion to add to his collection, but while on the house hunt she begins to subtly pry about Carrion, little does she know that she couldn't possibly try and play Nancy Drew and fool the "all seeing eye" that is Nolan. He quickly picks up on the way she refers Carrion as a program instead of as a person like she had on the previous weeks episode. And under his mentors advice, he begins to play her like she has been playing him. Which can only lead to more built up drama in the end! So excited! 

There are  few minor story lines that go on in this episode. For one, Conrad comes to the rescue and helps out the Porter clan. Convincing Kenny Ryan to sell their share of bar to him, but in the end the business man inside of him might weigh out after Nate Ryan tells Conrad his plan for the docks. While one Grayson is paving the way for his election for local government, Daniel continues to fight for the Stonehaven account against Jason Prosser and with Emily by his side he proves to ruthless and unstoppable and lands the account, but not before having it out with Victoria as she tries to undermine/protect him (whichever way you see fits best) and assists Jason Prosser. 

While Victoria is cozying up to Mr. Prosser, Aiden goes into assassin mode and attempts to take out Victoria and just as he was going to pull the trigger he was stopped by Emily. Emily convinces Aiden that they are going to get his sister back, but on their own terms. Aiden takes Emily's advice and believes for just a moment that they could play by their own rules and still succeed... which leads to my next wah wah wah moment... At the end of the episode Aiden shows Emily the final video that was sent to him of his sister, which shows that she overdosed from all the drugs they had given her, as Emily tries to comfort him he quickly turns on her and begins to blame her for what could be the death of the person he has been searching for for years. Leaving our favorite protagonist calling out his name as he walks away.

Could this episode have ended any worse?! Not only am I left wondering what this means for Aiden and Emily, but what this means for plot of revenge for her fathers death. Could Aiden go as far as ruining her plan to save his own? Will she rethink her plans to help Aiden's because she feels somewhat responsible for what happened to his sister? I guess we'll just have to see. Until next week followers!  

-Andrea

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Once Upon A Time: "In the Name of the Brother"

This week's episode of Once Upon A Time really bummed me out. First of all, Belle, my favorite fairytale character of all time, has no idea who she or her love Rumpelstiltskin are. And as if that wasn't depressing enough, the entire episode centered around Dr. Frankenstein. 

Ever since the show introduced the Frankenstein storyline, I've been really disappointed. I was really excited that David Anders was on the show at first since I loved him in The Vampire Diaries, but then they ruined my excitement by making him Dr. Frankenstein. Maybe I'm still bitter about being forced to read and pick apart that book in one of my classes last spring, but I'm not a fan of the Frankenstein story. It just doesn't seem to fit in with the fairytale theme they have going on the show. I know that he is supposed to be from another land, but I want to stay in fairytale land. I will say though that the one thing I did like about this story in this episode was how they made his brother the monster. I did think that that put a good twist on things, and it made you actually care about the monster rather than just thinking he was some creepy grunting dude. I'm excited to watch Victor search for a way (presumably one that will use magic) to bring back his brother's soul and really bring him back to life.

Something else that I did like about this episode was the stranger who came to town after hitting Hook. I think he will be a catalyst for a lot of good drama this season, and I'm excited to see what happens to Storybrooke now that someone who has no connection (or does he?) to the curse has arrived. And who is this "her" that kept calling him while he was in surgery? I can't wait to find out!

-LC

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Don't Trust the B----in Apt 23 "Mean Girls"

     

 So to be honest this is probably my least favorite of all the TV shows I watch, but that it doesn't have its moments. I do have to credit it for spurring my interest in Dawson's Creek (I hate it when I don't understand pop culture references). Dawson's Creek has now become one of my all-time favorite shows. And I do appreciate James Van Der Beek playing this bizarre version of himself, it's quite comical.

      Fun fact: this episode was supposed to be the second episode in the first season. For whatever reason they waited and aired it now. It still worked with the season two story line, so didn't bother me! 

      In this episode June decides that she wants to become BFFs with Chloe so she makes plans to hang out with her on her day off and they go on an NYC crime tour (Chloe's idea of course). And then June tells Chloe she wants to make dinner for her friend Wednesday night and Chloe says "Ok" and pencils it in. Wednesday night rolls around, Chloe shows up really late and it turns out she didn't think she was the friend June was talking about, because they are just roommates. 

      June then tries inviting Chloe along with her girlfriends and Chloe has a terrible time and admits she doesn't like hanging out with girls because "they are competitive, they back stab and they post group pictures of themselves on Facebook so they can show the world what they look like in a bikini." June later sees on the news that a girl was found dead with the same tattoo as her friend Stephanie and suspects Chloe. Chloe catches on and June realizes her friend Stephanie is alive and well. They both play a game of "murder chicken" until Chloe caves and calls June her friend. I really liked that June proved to herself and especially to Chloe that she can hold her own. 

      James acts as a celebrity mentor to a young girl who is getting picked on. He tries giving her a makeover, but she is still teased and only earns her peers respect when she shoves him against the wall and makes him the weakest one. 

    

Quotes:

June: "I actually brought my snack from home. Blueberry yogurt, my favorite.

Chloe: "Great. It's time for my snack too. I should probably do it in the bathroom though, there's a lot of cops around."

Chloe: "I'm gonna go mentor those cute buss boys over there, turn them into buss men."

Chloe: "Stephanie, stop abreviating words. You don't have a job, you have the time."

-Avalon

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Revenge: Sabatoge

Oh how the plot thickens! Just when you think that you can figure out what will happen on next weeks episode they throw you a curve ball. Not only does this episode begin with Victoria’s need to Sabotage her golden boys career (which is no surprise, of course), but you get a glimpse of a potential love conflict between Emily, Daniel, and Aiden. I can’t help but take a little bit of pleasure when it comes to the relationship that is forming between Emily and Daniel. Firstly because he is all too eager to have Emily give him the time of day again, and you can clearly show her hesitation about his advances (one can only hope that the real reason behind that is our sexy beau Aiden!) but also because a part of me really wants him to get a hard dose of reality when she turns him down. Is it just me? Or is it really starting to get annoying how he walks around with his chest puffed out ever since he became the CEO of Grayson Global. I get that he has to act a little more rough edges to live up to the expectations that come along with the new title. But I am ready for him to go back to being the boy that wanted to make a name for himself, and not hang on the coat tails of his families legacy.

This leads me to the running theme this weeks episode had, and that is the whole I’m a “man” attitude. Obviously Daniel included… but I am talking about literally every man that is part of the show felt the need to be a “mans man”.  Take a look and the Porter brothers, on one side you have Jack that continues to play martyr, sacrificing himself for his family (typical Jack), and then you have Declan that is hell bent on trying to make the Ryan brothers pay for setting them up. You also have Nolan that is trying desperately to shun Marco because he believes that he is playing on all team Grayson. Little does he know that at the end of the episode it’s really sweet little Padma (surprised? I was!). But my favorite moment was when Aiden went to Emily’s house while Daniel and Emily were having a night cap. Can you say he was trying to mark his territory? I felt like he was. Call me a hopeless romantic but that was one moment that I was happy that one of our leading actor’s let his testosterone get in the way! In case you haven’t noticed… I am all about Aiden and Emily!

At the end of this episode I felt like I had a lot of unanswered questions, or better put “what just happened moments”.  With Conrad running for public office and Ashley as his right hand man, what wicked things will they do to make sure he gets elected? And what was in that folder that made him change his mind so quickly about letting her aid in his campaign? Or what is going to happen now after Amanda threatened Nate Ryan with a gun? Will this cause more tension between the Ryan and Porter brothers? Or will Nate decide to take it a step further and try and get rid of Amanda?  And now that Victoria has set things in motion for Jason Prosser to make a move on Stonehaven before Daniel, what hoops will The Initiative make Daniel jump through to land this account? Better yet how will Padma’s alliance with The Initiative affect Nolan and NolCorp? And then there is the inevitable question that’s been on my mind ever since Aiden showed up. Is this relationship real between Aiden and Emily real? Or will he disappear in the night, leaving Emily behind again? Will they ever learn to fully trust each other? I guess we will just have to hang tight and let the season unravel before our eyes!

-A  

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Happy Endings: Kickball 2: The Kickening

It was known that that episode should have actually aired last season. Although it was still a great episode you could tell there were a few things that didn’t quite follow the current story line that plays in season 3.  But here goes a quick recap for all of you Happy Endings fans!

As a way for her to get the word out about her boutique, Alex signed the gang up to play in the annual kickball tournament. After some initial protests, everyone was on board except for Jane who had agreed to play for an auto shop. This act of betrayal brought out the worst of the Kerkovich sisters, Jane’s competitiveness and Alex’s jealousy, so it was on! The siblings faced off once and for all, and Jane’s team won after she played some mind games (typical). It looked like Team Xela was done for good, but it was revealed in a last minute swerve that the body shop’s team was disqualified for corking their shoes with steel, and they’d be going on to the finals to face a gang of Russian manicurists. Thankfully, Jane had returned to her friends (after she squealed on her old team) just in time to play in the championship game, which of course they lost!

 “Kickball 2″ was a pretty straightforward episode, it didn’t juggle too many plotlines while also cramming in an over abundance of pop culture references, and it was all the better for it. That’s not to say that it was unfunny, because it was, but it was resonating on a very different wavelength compared to some of the other outings, and this more grounded method of storytelling made for a fun and coherent episode.

My favorite quote of this episode was Brad's excuse when Alex was trying to round up the crew to play a game of Kickball. "I know it might sound stupid, But I started going to church" 

Thanks for Reading!

- Andrea

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Once Upon A Time: Brave Belle

Okay so let me just start off by saying that not only do I have a ridiculous obsession with Disney princesses, but Belle is by far my favorite. So I was thrilled to learn that this week's episode of Once Upon A Time was centered around Belle.So far in the series, I feel like we've only gotten a chance to see the softer side of her character. While this all well and good, I've been wanting to see the strong, independent side of Belle, since that is what made me love her in the first place.

 And that's exactly what I got this week. It was great to see Belle break out of her shell and take matters into her own hands by going down to the dock and breaking into Hook and Cora's ship and stealing the shawl after fighting off an angry Hook. And, in the past world of fairytale land, we got to see her defeat the beast. She truly was the heroine of this episode. That is why I was so heartbroken when Hook showed up at the end of the episode and shot her over the town line, causing her to forget everything, including her identity. 

So what is in store for her and Rumpelstiltskin now that their past has essentially been erased? I think that this issue will be a big focus for the remainder of the season. Now that Rumpelstiltskin can cross the town line and Belle has no idea what's going on, I think he will flee Storybrooke and take her with him in search for some sort of solution. Whether that solution will be magical (I know he said it can't be undone, but it seems there's always a way with magic) or he will try and build a new life with her, I think we will see. This is the one thing that actually makes me excited about this story line. I'm a sucker for bad boys gone soft (ahem, Damon) and I think this devastating situation that Rumpelstiltskin has been put in will allow us to see a lot more of his sensitive side, which I'm really looking forward to.

 It looks like the winter premiere is going to be a great jump start for the rest of the season!

-LC