The Killing S3 E9: A Doozy

RIP, Bullet. Best character this season.

This was an action-packed episode for The Killing! And a heartbreaking one. The almost mirrored images of Holder sprinting to save Linden from Mills and then Linden sprinting to save Holder from seeing Bullet's body were full of suspense and helped develop a deeper bond between the two. They rushed to save one another's physical, and then emotional, lives.

Joel Kinnaman's performance this episode was excellent; Holder's reaction to opening the trunk was perfect and devastating. As was Linden's rebuff of Holder's kiss. I like what that did for their overall dynamic -- Linden and Holder are very Benson and Stabler in that their love for one another lies more in their professional partnership than in romantic potential. Though even the hint of a romantic relationship is enough to add depth to their interactions, and the the show. In going outwardly for the kiss in a moment of extreme emotional stress, it gets that moment out of the way with the least repercussions for their partnership. (Benson and Stabler, being stronger people and on network television, always kept it mostly together. Linden and Holder play by different rules, opening up more possibilities for their romantic tension.)

Not to mention, MILLS IS THE KILLER?! Didn't we rule him out back in the first episode? This is why I focus on the relationships between the characters and the actors' performances on this show -- getting too caught up in the actual plausibility of the plot ruins the enjoyment. Like the magical glow in the dark stars that still glow after 3 years in a dark closet.

The scene with Lyric and her boyfriend in the new apartment was really sweet and sad at the end of the shot as I imagine Lyric's thoughts turned to Bullet.

In the next two episodes, we will hopefully locate Kallie and we will see what happens with Ray. Linden appears to be ignoring him, so his chances for a pardon seem to be gone. Two developments in this episode seemed really random to me, and may set up the conclusion of Ray's story line. I'm not sure I've been paying close enough attention to the jail scenes, because I barely recognized the preacher inmate who apparently has been taunting the other inmates into untimely deaths. And the head prison guard's son killed his mom's "the other man*?" That's what happens when you show your son an under-construction gallows?

I watched the first two seasons of The Killing in about a week on Netflix, so this has been my first experience of watching the show one episode at a time, without the knowledge that I could find out the answers to the cliffhangers right away, if I wanted to. Knowing S2 E1 was just a click away kept me from being as wildly pissed off as I've read most viewers were at the end of S1. I hope that The Killing learned its lesson from S1 and we get some kind of closure at the end of this season!

*I just googled "male version of mistress" thinking that I was having a brain cramp and couldn't remember the word. Turns out, there is no male version of mistress. Urban dictionary offers "manstress" -- and a few old-timey words include "lover" and "paramour," but there really is no dedicated word for the object of a woman's extramarital affair. That's a whole separate blog post.

Pretty Little Liars Season 4, Eps 1 & 2

Episode 1:

A pig?! The resolution of the cliffhanger from Season 3 -- the girls opening the trunk of Wilden's car and gasping -- was pretty disappointing. It would have been a better payoff if it had just been Wilden, whose body was found later, anyway. 

There are new plotlines materializing for Season 4 after last season had us trying to figure out who dug up Alli's body last season (without ever solving it other than "Red Coat"):

The girls and Mona are now sort of on the same team because Red Coat/"Alli" is trying to kill them all(?) plot line:  I wish the Mona spill session had been more gratifying to me, but I didn't remember all of the things she was explaining the answers to. 

The new Toby's mom, what really happened? plotline: This is interesting because it involves A and also because I love Toby and his ever-changing hair. 

The creepy Alli's mom plotline: I get the feeling that this is going nowhere and Alli's mom is just creepy. 

Ezra and Aria:  Good riddance. I wish that Aria's daydream was real. Was that the first time that the show really recognized that A&E were sleeping together and that it was illegal? This relationship never has anything to do with A except to give A reasons to manipulate Aria, anyway. It's fun that Larisa Oleynik is E's baby-mama, but I wish that she wasn't rocking an unfortunate mom haircut.

The college plotlines: Spencer's UPenn rejection better tie in with A somehow or it will become boring, fast. Emily is clearly not actually on board for Stanford with Paige. This situation is a ticking time bomb. 

The New Cop: Someone has to fill Wilden's shoes! (Where is that actor from? He kind of looks like the guy from Heroes.) But who will make out with him first?

Hanging Threads: Jenna's burn! The veil lady! Spencer's sister on the video! Will there be better music on the show this season?

Best outfit: 

The funeral outfits, obviously. These girls rock a funeral. 

Best quote: "Yeah, I have my own set." -Mona, referring to keys to Emily's car.

Episode 2:

First of all, did Hannah get major extensions since last episode? Second, Hanna gets outfit of the ep for her second pair of metallic leggings in two episodes: 

Things are moving right along in episode 2:

The girls and Mona are now sort of on the same team because Red Coat/"Alli" is trying to kill them all(?) plot line: A legit tries to kill Mona! And Hanna tries to play her for the video from Wilden's car, but she knows and gives up the only(?) copy anyway. 

The new Toby's mom, what really happened? plotline: Toby lies to Spencer (at first) about A, again. This does not bode well. But his mother's apparent suicide is very mysterious. Maybe she was saying she was happy, but her face looked miserable, like the wife on Lie to Me. 

The creepy Alli's mom plotline: A talking parrot, seriously? And the A tag at the end feeding it poultry was just too much. 

Ezra Jake and Aria: Ha! Aria takes self defense and kisses her (young, attractive) instructor, and he likes it. What's the deal with his accent?

The college plotlines: Emily pulls a Jessi Spanno with painkillers at the swim meet and kills her Stanford chances (that was fast). Ezra helps Spencer with her college essay. Snore. 

The New Cop: Absent this week! 

Hanna's mom as Wilden's killer plotline: This just seems like another "Toby is the killer" or "Paige is a stalker" plotline, where a character acts very creepily but it turns out to be nothing. And Hanna and her mom have a very open, calm-sounding conversation where Hanna basically accuses her mom of actual murder, and her mom answers very normally, as if that is a standard conversation to be engaged in with her teenaged daughter. 

Hanging threads: The parrot song phone number!

Best quote: "Which freaky woman? There's a couple." -Aria, on their lives. 

Pretty Little Liars: Why I Watch

The promo imagery offers a fair
 portrayal of the show.

Primarily, I blame my sister. I think she stumbled upon PLL during a Tuscan heat wave. Streaming American TV offered her an activity that required minimal sweating during a period of under-employment. I remember her telling me about it jokingly, at first, but by the end of the first season, her recommendation was, "You should seriously watch this." So I did. 

The best description I have for PLL is that it's like an ABC Family cross between Gossip Girl and Bones. The plot surrounds four teenaged girls (Gossip Girl) who are trying to solve the murder of their best friend/ring leader Alli while also being tormented by "A" who is possibly the murderer (Bones). It's super soapy with just enough of a driving mystery to keep me hooked in between the relationship drama, other blackmail fodder subplots, and the insane wardrobe. 

The main characters (in order of my preference) are: Hanna, the "fashionista" former fat kid who has great one liners and an adorable boyfriend; Spencer, the Type-A overachiever; Emily (played by one of the most beautiful humans ever to live), the star swimmer, lesbian, and 'vulnerable one'; and, Aria, whose obnoxious name pretty much says it all. Whatever A, or any of the other nefarious characters of Rosewood, PA, might put them through, and whatever might pit them against one another in the short term, the PLLs are bound by a friend love that keeps them together and keeps them answering one another's "SOS" texts. 

Season 3 was all over the place with plots involving insane asylums, secret societies, AMNESIA, illegitimate children, and of course, murder. The season ended with both Toby and Spencer double-agenting for A, the girls trapping Mona, but "Red Coat" trying to maybe kill them all, but saving them, with several of them hallucinating(?) that it was Alli. 

Overall, PLL is a ridiculous, and ridiculously entertaining, show. Some might call it a guilty pleasure, but I'm not even really that guilty about it. 

Resurrecting the TV Blog?

The miraculous Benedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock

It must be something about Emmy nominations season, because it was three years ago to the week that I wrote my first post here. I just had fun looking back at what I was watching three years ago during that 6 months or so of posting and seeing what was happening on those shows at that time. 


Well, I still watch TV, and I still have plenty of thoughts about the shows that I watch, so I'll give it another go! 

Summer shows that I am currently watching include The Killing, True Blood (still), and I am about to dive into Pretty Little Liars season 4. I'll address that show later. 

Shows' returns that I look forward to this fall: Parks & Rec, The Mindy Project, SCANDAL, Downton, Girls 

Current shows that I am saving for a rainy day: Breaking Bad, Homeland, Veep 

Crazy good Netflix shows that I look forward to the next season of, whenever they are: House of Cards, Sherlock

Three years ago, I was watching most shows on Hulu on my old laptop and some shows on an actual (crappy) TV hooked up to actual channels. I now watch all shows via a newer laptop through various online sources, and now I can also hook up my computer to my new (to me) nice TV, so the quality is a bit better!