Thursday Night Mid-Season Finale

SPOILERS: Bones, Big Bang Theory, and a hell-of-a-lot-of Sanctuary

All I can say is, this is the most daunting post ever. Bones, ok. BBT, ok. FOUR episodes of Sanctuary in one post?! I'm almost glad I didn't take notes cause if I did my usual play-by-play this would be way too freakishly long. Thank goodness one of them is Breach which, while a good episode, doesn't require much commenting.

However, this is a lot of stuff to cover, in Bones as well, so if any of your burning questions or fond memories are not covered, let me know. I'll either add in another section or bump up your chosen episode to a separate review (which means me re-watching it and taking notes).

Hobey ho, let's go.

(Twenty points to anyone who gets that reference - and in advance, you are awesome)

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Friday November 26, 2010
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Sanctuary "Breach": Thank goodness there isn't much to say about this episode. Not that it was bad, but if you watched it, you know what I mean. It was 48 minutes of action (mostly Magnus running and fighting) and 3 minutes of dialouge. The action was fantastic, props to Amanda Tapping and her fight choreographers, especially their wide variety of weapons. The set was excellent - gloomy, varied, and leaky. The dialouge was a little less awesome; unfortunately combining action with incredibly character-revealing dialouge left us with some rather melodramatic sequences. However, the new Adam Worth character does snarky rage well, and the episode ended with me excited to get him back to the Sanctuary. Plus I watched this in HD and it was GORGEOUS [below].

Normally, I post my favorite quotes, but this monologue by Worth was by far my favorite moment.

Worth: "Helen … One thing I never really got was you and Johnny Druitt... Helen? What in God's name did you ever see in that bullet-headed misogynist? I did like Tesla, though. At least he was honest, always knew where you stood with him. Watson was the only one who really gave me a fair shake, besides you. You were my favorite, until you killed me … which, as you may have guessed, left me with some emotional scars … You could have saved her. You could have saved my daughter. Instead, you left us with nothing. I heard about Ashley. Tragic, isn't it, losing a child?"

This episode definitely gets an A-.


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Thursday/Friday December 2 and 3, 2010
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Bones, "The Twisted Bone in the Melted Truck": Meh, don't really remember this episode except for the wife was sleeping with her students and buying basically Pokemon cards as a way of funneling money. And Daisy being really obnoxious and trying to cheat on a psych eval. It's a psych eval. Really? Hodgins got shot by an experiment. And Hannah bonding with Parker. Which ended up being the most interesting and dramatic part, since I wasn't sure how they would spin their meeting scene.

And you know what this episode told me? Daisy is turning into a caricature, which is a bummer because I previously really liked the character. And Hannah is really a nice, wonderful character, but she's doomed to something horrible because she's getting in the way of all the Bones/Booth [above] shippers.

So you know what? I'm calling it, just to be contrary. I'm a Hannah/Booth fan. Because rooting for a dying cause is the only thing that can really make Bones interesting anymore.

I give the episode a C.

Sanctuary, "For King & Country": This is the only Sanctuary episode this season that actually disappointed me. Don't get me wrong, it was good, but I was promised massive dark character changing information about Helen's past as well as the historic reveal of Nigel Griffin. And honestly? Helen didn't really do anything too bad and Peter Wingfield's return as Watson totally upstaged Griffin's rather plain moments.

And that isn't a crime either. There was a lot to pack into the episode, including several golden conversations and quips, the return of Druitt, the reveal of Worth's past, Tesla and Henry playing with tech, Magnus finds out she's dying, and Tesla get's her deposed and puts Will in charge. Phew. So you can see how I'm willing to be a bit understanding that a few of those weren't as spectacular as I would've liked.

Pros: Tesla. Druitt. Watson. Need I say more? Ok, I will. Tesla (who is Serbian, btw, in case you didn't pick that up the 5 times he mentioned it in this episode) was humbled, flustered, worried about Magnus and rather terrified of Druitt, all emotions we've never really seen on him before [above]. The Five flashbacks were great, super chummy with that bit of tension that comes from hanging around with Jack the Ripper. Will had some excellent conversations with Worth as well.

Cons: Will's anger at Magnus [above]. Maybe this is me, but I don't think there is too much insanely wrong about what she did. Accepting government funding in return for hunting down a very dangerous, unstable criminal may not be the typical high-level classy good we're used to, but it certainly isn't evil or even questionably neutral or mercenary-esque. Also, Griffin didn't really stand out of the crowd.

Favorite Quips:

• "Score one for the concubine!" (my favorite by far) also "Please help me, concubine *pout* "
• "Look, Johnny and I may detest each other, it's true, but with me no longer being a vampire and him still being a stone-cold killer, well, I really wasn't in a position to negotiate."
• "I find it rather humbling, and I don't do humble."
• " Man, that is so James Bond. Except it's before there was a James Bond, so it's … cooler."

Final tally? I give it a A-.

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Thursday/Friday December 9 and 10, 2010

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Bones, "The Doctor in the Photo": Wow. This episode crushed any other episode this season, by far. The drama, the tension, the doubt it created in my own mind absolutely surprised me. That being said, this wasn't a perfect episode either. But it was definitely a step in the right direction.

The best part of this episode was how strong our Brennan perspective was. We never saw the woman's picture until the end, we never follow any other character during the episode, and we get insight into Brennan's life that we've never seen before and weren't even that relevant to the case. Plus, who else thought that the friendly security guard might be a hallucination? Yet even with all the similarities, it was made clear that the doctor and her unrequited love [below] were separate characters, and not just parodies of Booth and Brennan.

The worst part of this episode was the end. Cue the boos from Booth/Bones fans. Don't get me wrong, Bones' breakdown in the car was great, and a long time coming. And G-d I felt bad for Booth having to reject her. So really, it wasn't that bad because overall it was a rather good episode. What bothered me was that it'll feed whatever plot-line they use to get rid of Hannah because it's inevitable. And I wish it wasn't so.

Still, give props where props are due. I give the episode an A.

Big Bang Theory, "The Alien Parasite Hypothesis": This is the only BBT episode my sister has ever quoted to me. She's not a nerd. And that sums up this episode. This was the kind of BBT episode that can be enjoyed by anyone, and I think it might have finally convinced some people about how good a character Amy Farrah Fowler is. She may have been accused of being a female Sheldon, but this episode showed her as someone much more different. Whereas Sheldon is asexual, Amy is merely aromantic.

Plus, it was absolutely hilarious watching Amy "hoo" over Zack [above] and make the attempt at the hand hold with Sheldon. No luck either way, sorry Amy.

As for Raj and Wollawitz fighting over super hero rights? All I remember was having to look away because there was a totally predictable tarantula climbing out of a  box.

I give the episode an A-.

Sanctuary, "Vigilante": So, this episode title puzzled me for a very long time. I'm still not totally sure, but I think it's named after Father Clark's misguided attempts. Correct me if I'm wrong, please.

There were three plotlines going on here, all interwoven beautifully: Magnus and Druitt look for the Keystone, Will has to be boss for the day, and the wrapping up of the Father Clark storyline. I especially adored the "Will as Magnus" storyline - I've mentioned this before, but I really love seeing the day-to-day workings. There was no sense of forced drama with Magnus' illness and we got to enjoy Worth's snarky comments for one more week. The Father Clark plot-line actually turned out much more different than I thought; not only was I surprised that he turned out to be an Abnormal-wielding serial killer, I was sure Abigail would mistakingly shoot the Big Guy.

Plus Tesla and Will meeting a certain gorgeous and absent-minded agent was absolutely hilarious...

Solid episode again, I give it an A.

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Thursday/Friday December 16 and 17, 2010
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Big Bang Theory, "The Justice League Recombination": This episode was soooo cute. Reverse bullying is actually a rather common trait of nerds (I say this as a nerd) so the intro plot to this episode wasn't actually very absurd. Plus Zack makes an adorable Superman [below] And there's Penny/Leonard tension at the time of the New Year's Eve kiss. Great way to wrap up the season.

I give it an A for "adorably awesome".

Sanctuary, "Hollow Men": Does Sanctuary know how to do a cliffhanger? HELL YES. The entire team is zapped. And the thing is? Ashley died. We can't be totally confident just because Magnus was there that they're all going to come out ok.

The even better thing about the end of this episode? Tesla might have to come to the rescue. I want to see Tesla and Gregory Magnus team up to take down Worth, save Druitt, and go on to rescue the team guns blazing. Just picture that awesomeness right there. Nice, right? [below]

"Wait, it's up to Tesla? Crud." 

Cliffhangers and fantasies aside, this was a really well done episode. I love Sanctuary's take on the basilisk (don't think of yellow rhinos) and we still don't know too much about Hollow Earth except that it's not all peachy and it's ruled by a cold-as-liquid-nitrogen woman (read as "ice bitch") with way too much power. There was action, great dialouge, and another poorly named device from Tesla (the vampire shield). 

And no matter how much mystery or unanswered questions there were, the fact is, I thoroughly enjoyed that episode. I didn't feel cheated or anxious at the end. I just sat back and thought "Wow. That was great.....When are they coming back again?" Of course, then I found out not until April and I used some pretty strong expletives...just kidding, I actually just quoted. "Son. Of. A. BITCH."

No question, stellar episode, gets an A+ even with all the unanswered questions.

~ Sarah