Big Bang Theory/Vampire Diaries/Grey's Anatomy/Private Practice/The Mentalist/Fringe

The Big Bang Theory – The Apology Insufficiency

     Eliza Dushku guest starred as a FBI agent doing a background check on Howard, to get security clearance to work on a new project.  Raj eats rum cake to talk to her, and ends up throwing up on her shoes (thankfully, off camera), while Leonard hits on her while trying his new approach of exuding confidence while talking to women.  Both of them blamed themselves for Howard not getting his clearance, but in reality it was Sheldon’s fault, since during his interview he mentioned the time Howard crashed the Mars Rover while trying to impress a woman.

     Sheldon attempted to apologize to Howard, but Howard didn’t accept.  After talking about the situation with Penny, Sheldon went to Howard and offered to give Howard his beloved spot on the couch.  Because that spot was so important to Sheldon, it was obvious to everyone, including Howard, just how badly Sheldon felt and wanted to be forgiven.  So Howard forgave him. 

     After 94 seconds in his new spot, Sheldon wanted his spot back, and Howard gave it back to him.

     This episode was highly anticipated in some circles, because Eliza Dushku is well liked in some of the circles of fans of the show.  I thought it was a fine episode, but far from one of their best.  My favorite part of the ep was Chuck Lorre’s vanity card at the end, which doesn’t say a lot about the episode.

The Vampire Diaries – Rose

     Elena was kidnapped at the end of the last episode and a good deal of this episode is about many of our people trying to find her.  Rose, Trevor, and Elijah are the new, old vampires on the scene, and Rose and Trevor presented Elena to Elijah as Catherine’s doppelganger.  He gave Rose absolution, for an old wrong, but kills Trevor, by beheading him with his bare hand.  Elijah is one of the “originals”; one of the oldest vampires of all time and his power is immense.  Eventually Stefan and Damon showed up, rescued Elena, and staked Elijah to a door.  Elena went home, Stefan apologized to Damon for turning him 145 years ago, and Damon took his apology to heart.  Damon then went to Elena and returned her vervain necklace, which Elijah had torn off her, but before he returned it to her, he told her the truth.  Damon told her that he is in love with her, but he didn’t deserve her, Stefan did.  He wished he didn’t have to make her forget this moment, but he did compel her to forget, and disappeared.

     At the same time, Caroline lied to Tyler and said she really doesn’t know what was going on with him, because Damon told her he can’t find out about the vampire population.  Tyler knew something was going on with Caroline, but he thought she was also a werewolf.  Eventually he provoked her enough that she turned, and he discovered she is a vampire.  She told him she was the only one though, so he still doesn’t know about Stefan, Damon, and whatever other vamps wander into town.  It definitely seems they are setting these two up to also be a couple.

     Also, Bonnie and Jeremy bonded when she did some spells and became so overwhelmed she passed out.  It scared Jeremy, and the two of them talked about how alone each of them feels most of the time.  Bonnie had no one to talk to about her witchy ways, and Jeremy felt like he’s the only person he knew that knows about all the supernatural people around him, but isn’t supernatural himself, aside from Elena, who’s in love with a vampire.  I think Bonnie and Jeremy are a couple in the making as well, and while I don’t know how much I like everyone coupling up, they are teenagers and it’s bound to happen.

     I wonder if they are going to keep Rose around for a bit.  She said she had a thing for bad boys, which leads me to believe maybe Damon with hook up with her.  If that means we get to see him shirtless, I say:  go.for.it!

Grey’s Anatomy – That’s Me Trying

     It was Trauma Certification day at Seattle Grace for the 4^th year residents and Hunt was running it, as part of the trauma grant he received a couple of episodes ago.  They worked on 9 dummies for the day, in the parking lot and in the rain.  Dummy after dummy died while they waited for the imaginary helicopter to arrive.  Eventually Avery got so frustrated that he quit, while April and Alex kept going until April snapped, and took matters into her own hands, changing the scenario.  She kicked butt in the certification, and even Hunt had to admit she has the makings of a great trauma surgeon.  He also got Avery to come back and finish, giving him the lecture he really should have been giving to Cristina, that just because you’re having a hard time dealing with things, you don’t get to just quit.  Oh, and it seems as if April has developed a bit of a crush on Alex after today.

     Bailey participated in the autopsy of Mary Portman, the patient who survived the shooting, but died last week after not waking up from her routine surgery.  She is angry, frustrated, and mortified by what she feels is the caviler attitude of the pathologist.  She is also very angry that the science of the autopsy was failing her, and that the autopsy was inconclusive. 

     Callie and Arizona spent the episode preparing to board a plan to Africa for three years.  Callie decided to go with Arizona, because she loves her, but she acted unhappy, angry, resentful, and passive-aggressive throughout the ep.  Finally, at the airport, Arizona called her on her attitude, and said Callie was ruining this for her.  Arizona told her she didn’t want Callie to go with her; Callie said if she got on the plane without her they were over; Arizona said they were standing in an airport screaming at each other, they were obviously already done.

     Cristina was dealing with the lung transplant patient, Roy, from a couple of weeks ago.  While Teddy was off getting the lungs for transplant, Roy developed a heart problem, and Cristina had to deal with that on her own.  She admitted to Meredith that she was scared all the time, even just walking through the lobby.  She also told Meredith that she (Cristina) didn’t understand how Meredith could just be okay, after everything they went through on the day of the shooting.  Cristina said she is broken, dead, wrecked, and she didn’t understand why Mer seems okay.  Cristina also blamed Mer for what is going on within herself, because if it had been anyone else begging Cristina to save her husband that day, she would have had the option to walk away, but because it was Meredith she didn’t have that option and now she is broken.  I don’t think that was fair of Cristina, but what’s happened to her isn’t fair either, and she is just in a terrible mental state right now.  So bad, in fact, that at the end of the episode, she quits the hospital.  Hunt was shocked, but she took a deep breath and seemed to be better than she had been since the day of the gunman.

Private Practice – Did You Hear What Happened to Charlotte King?

          KaDee Strickland knocked this episode out of the park.  Her character, Charlotte, was brutally attacked and raped in her office at the hospital.  This episode was the immediate aftermath of the attack, and how she and our doctors dealt with it.  Sadly, Charlotte refused to tell the police she was raped and refused a rape kit, although she did tell Addison she was raped, and allowed her to do a pelvic exam and give her all the necessary tests and drugs for after a rape.  In addition, Charlotte is allergic to local anesthetic and can’t take any pain medication due to a prior addiction, so when she was getting her stitches she just had to endure the pain.  She wants to be strong, to continue to be in control, and by the end of the night, she just wanted to go home, away from the eyes of her hospital staff.

     I understand Paul Adelstein, who plays Cooper, didn’t see KaDee in full prosthetics and makeup until this scene, so his reactions were real.  I though it was pretty intense when he turned his back to her, to try and gather his wits and not be in tears when he turned back to her.  I was upset with Cooper though when he went to Charlotte and laid his head on her leg and she had to comfort him, and tell him she was okay.  I do understand it, but I think if I was Charlotte I would be a bit resentful of that.  He should be comforting her, but she is always the strong one in their relationship and that didn’t change because she was attacked.  At least not yet.

     Everyone came together to support and help Charlotte starting with Pete, who found her after the attack.  After she hid both her underwear and her wallet in her desk drawer, locked it, and hid the key, she left her office.  She went down the hall to try and clean herself up, and Pete found her, took her to a room, and started the exam.  She then called Addison, who came immediately to help, while Pete tried to call Cooper.  He didn’t answer his phone, because he was out with Sam and Amelia, so Pete called Violet, who then went and found the others, which is how everyone knew. 

     The only one who didn’t know about all of this was Sheldon, who was called to the police department to handle a 5150 (involuntary psych hold) evaluation on someone they had in custody.  The person in question is Lee, the man who attacked Charlotte.  He basically admitted to raping someone, but there was nothing on file to tie him to Charlotte, because she didn’t report the rape.  Sheldon may have put two and two together, if he had known about Charlotte’s attack. 

     This is the first of many episodes to come that will deal with the aftermath of this attack.  I think they are going to do a good job exploring how a brutal rape and assault affects the person who is attacked specifically, as well as the people in her circle.  As Charlotte walked out of the hospital, her place of work, her safe place, they showed flashbacks of her rape.  It wasn’t clear to me if this was for the audience, or if she was having the flashbacks, but I think they were in her mind, because they are going to have to explore how her workplace is now a frightening place for her.

The Mentalist – Red Hot

     One of my favorite guest stars was back tonight:  Currie Graham, who used to be on NYPD Blue.  He was a guest star last year, and his character Walter returned tonight.  Walter is VERY wealthy, and in this episode Jane and Lisbon are trying to find out if someone is trying to kill him, or if he is trying to kill someone else.  He ended up being the target, a potential victim, and they captured the perpetrator.

     The best part of this episode was that Walter had a bit of a crush on Lisbon.  When she didn’t just fall into his bed, I believe he was surprised, because he is used to getting whatever he wants when he wants it.  Also, he could be very charming and expected to be able charm her immediately.  She was attracted and intrigued, and by the end of the episode, she actually did sleep with him.  He said he is going out of town on business for two months, and couldn’t believe he was HER one night stand.  It was nice to see Lisbon get some, and smile for a change.

Fringe – Amber 31422

     Back in the alternate universe this week, where our Olivia still thought she is their Olivia.  She was, however, still having visions of Peter, who only exists in our universe.  Peter is our Olivia’s subconscious mind, trying to keep her alive inside her brain.  She went into a sensory deprivation tank, as an experiment run by Walternate, and she was able to jump to our universe.  Her subconscious Peter told her things about our universe, things she could only know if she had been here, and she went back into the deprivation tank, jumped again, and put a couple of those things to the test.  She was proven correct, so when she slid back into the alternate universe, she lied to Walternate, and said the experiment didn’t work and all she saw was black.  It was very hard to tell if he believed her and was just disappointed in the results, or if he doubted her.