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

The Big Bang Theory – The 21-Second Excitation

     21 seconds of unaired Raiders of the Lost Ark is at the center of this episode.  The guys go out to dinner before a special airing of Raiders with the extra 21 seconds of footage, and he told them they needed to go.  They didn’t listen, and got to the theater when there was a huge line.  As they stood in line, Evil Wil Wheaton shows up with three friends, and they were immediately let in without standing in line.  When those in line were finally allowed in, the theater was full JUST as the guys got to the front of the line.  So if Evil Wil Wheaton and his friends hadn’t gotten special treatment, they would have gotten in.

     The guys were getting ready to go home when an employee came out a side door, so they snuck in.  Instead of doing the expected and sneaking into the theater to sit in the aisle and see the movie, Sheldon stole the entire film, both canisters, and they ran, quickly followed by Evil Wil Wheaton and the rest of the moviegoers, much like something out of the movie itself.

     While the guys were at the movie, fighting off Evil Wil Wheaton, the ladies (Penny, Bernadette, and Amy) have a girls’ night.  It’s very awkward, because Amy has never participated in one before, and she has no idea how to behave.  It was funny in an uncomfortable way, but I definitely prefer the boy storyline.

     I won’t lie; I will love Wil Wheaton and will love every episode of Big Bang that he is in.  He is such a fun foil for Sheldon, and I think it’s great that while Sheldon almost always come out on top with his friends (at least in his own mind) he has yet to best Evil Wil Wheaton.

The Vampire Diaries – Katerina

     We got a lot of backstory on Katherine, and some information on the Originals, and the big-bad, Klaus.  Elena and Katherine spent a great deal of this episode talking, and I actually believed what Katherine told her.  She seemed to be telling Elena the truth about both her past and what brought her back to Mystic Falls and what she was going to do and how she was going to break the curse.

     I am not going to go into the whole Katherine backstory.  It’s very detailed and intense, but the two important things are that she had a child out wedlock, which is how Elena came to exist and Klaus wanted Katherine and now Elena to break the curse.

     Elijah was not killed by Damon shoving a stake through his heart last week, and he can walk in the daylight.  He does wear a ring, so I imagine it is the same type of ring that Damon and Stefan have, which allows him to walk in daylight.  As for surviving the stake, I think as an Original he has more power than most vamps, and staking just isn’t going to be enough to kill him.  My guess is that if they get another opportunity to kill him, they are going to have to cut off his head.

     Katherine did detail what is needed to lift the curse that holds vampires to walking in darkness and werewolves to turning at the full moon.  Katherine was planning to give Elena over to Klaus, along with everything else needed to break the curse: the moonstone, the doppelganger (Elena), a werewolf (first Mason, now Tyler), a vampire (Caroline) and a witch (first the witch she brought to the masquerade ball, now Bonnie).  We also found out through Rose and her friend Slater that if a vampire breaks the curse, werewolves will be forever stuck with the curse of the moon, and if a werewolf breaks it vampires will be stuck with the curse of never being able to walk in the daytime (unless of course they have a daywalker ring!).

     Damon and Rose had sex, and while we only saw the kissing and the aftermath, we did at least get to see Damon shirtless.  That’s always a plus.

     There were two new witches (well, warlocks) in town this week.  Lukas and his father, and Lukas spent this episode flirting with Bonnie, and then he told her that he and his father are warlocks.  Lukas’ father is working with Elijah, which I thought meant that Elijah is also trying to find a way to break the curse.  We did find out that Elijah also has the power to compel other vampires, something else that makes him special.  He compelled Slater to tell Rose they need the moonstone and a witch, and then also compelled him to drive a stake into his own heart, thereby killing himself.

Grey’s Anatomy – Something’s Gotta Give

     Some of these doctors need some pretty serious therapy.  I wish the psychiatrist that was there to deal with the immediate aftermath of the shooting had stayed, because after this episode it’s pretty clear that Alex, Avery, and Cristina could definitely benefit from talking to a professional.

     I am not going to recap this ep.  I just want to say that Alex needs to get a handle on his family issues as soon as possible.  I think that they are setting something up here, perhaps his 16 year old sister is going to need to come and live with him for a time, and we will get to see Alex actually grow up outside of his profession, as he has in his career.  I loved that regardless of all the drama going on with his family, he was still able to find a solution to the baby’s issue with the transplanted liver being too big/heavy.  Then he turned around and was a complete ass to April, bordering very closely to abusing her.  He deserved the beating Avery gave him, and I think even he realized it.

     Avery seemed frustrated that he can’t seem to get himself together, and he was afraid no attendings wanted to work with him, because he has blown it with so many of them lately.  He really needs someone to talk to, someone who is outside of the situation, that he can be really honest with, because his friends weren’t really helping him.  They were trying to be supportive, but it seemed like he needs something more than support.  I think he beat on Alex as much because of the way Alex treated April as because he just really needed to vent some of his anger and frustration, and this was a convenient excuse.

     Then there is Cristina, who is absolutely floundering.  Her dancing around the new place was a great callback to when she and Meredith would try to dance out their problems, but even this didn’t help.  It was great to see Cristina and Callie together, because the show often neglects their friendship, but they ARE friends and were roommates, and sometimes I forget that.  It was great seeing them together, actually having a bit of fun, but Callie was also indulging Cristina’s moods.  I think Cristina is definitely deep in PTSD and may even be a bit manic-depressive at this point.  I can’t understand why Owen hasn’t been more forceful and pushed her into therapy.  She did it to him when he was suffering, and he is a better man for it.  She needs to talk to someone who wasn’t there the day of the shooting, who won’t coddle her, but also won’t be judgmental of her.  It’s frustrating to see her continuing to deteriorate.  I hope she gets help soon.

     The housewarming/intervention would have been a bad idea though, and I am glad Derek kept her from it.  The two of them have actually started to develop a friendship apart from their respective relationships with Meredith, and I like seeing it.  I think if Cristina doesn’t go to therapy, Derek may eventually be the one person who can help her find her way back.

Private Practice – What Happens Next

     Charlotte went back to work and this episode dealt mainly with that.  There were a couple of medical cases, but they were pretty insignificant compared to Charlotte’s storyline, so I am not going waste space here on them.  Charlotte still didn’t want to admit to anyone she had been raped, and didn’t even want to deal with Addison because she is the one person who knows the truth about what happened.

     All of the doctors, except Cooper, came to the conclusion on their own that they think Charlotte was raped.  Addison actually told Sam, because in addition to being alone with the knowledge of the rape, she also did an unauthorized rape kit on Charlotte and was trying to figure out what to do.  Legally she was supposed to report the rape and have the scrapings processed, but she had promised Charlotte she wouldn’t even do a rape kit.  She didn’t know what to do and the conflicting emotions were too hard for her to deal with on her own.  She finally called the police to process the pelvic washings.

     Sheldon was doing his best to do nothing for Charlotte, to leave her alone as she had asked.  She appreciated it, but even he couldn’t just walk away when he thought he might know who raped her.  Violet didn’t come right out and tell Sheldon she thought Charlotte had been raped, but based on their conversation he came to it on his own.  Then he went to the police and told them he thought he knew who Lee McHenry raped.

     Sam went to Violet and asked her to talk to Charlotte.  He didn’t tell her anything else, but just asked her to really talk to her.  Violet saw the signs, and talked to Pete, who was the first one to see Charlotte the night of the attack.  While Pete didn’t know for sure, when Violet asked him if he though she had been raped, he said he thought she was.  Violet went to see Charlotte, and told her about the fact that she was raped in college, and she understands what Charlotte is going through.  While she remained stoic while Violet was talking to her, after Violet left, Charlotte went into a rage and trashed her office.  She was scared, angry, and upset, and vented the only way she knew how.  I think she knew that people were starting to draw conclusions, and that upset her as well.

     Charlotte at least knew herself well enough to know her limitations.  She went to Amelia and asked her to take her to a NA meeting.  Amelia had offered earlier, but Charlotte shut her down.  After the day Charlotte had, and her coming to realize her secret wasn’t so secret, Charlotte needed the support.

 

The Mentalist – Balls of Fire

     Patrick was kidnapped by a hired gun, who was shot in the process, and then was finished off by the actual kidnapper, a young woman named Rachel.  CBI conducted a joint investigation with the FBI to try and find him.  Rachel posed as a witness at the initial crime scene to misdirect the investigation, but they eventually figured out who she was.  In the meantime, Rachel used a cattle prod on Jane, and wanted to torture him before she killed him.  Her torture however, saved Patrick’s life, since if she had just killed him when she got him they wouldn’t have found them in time.

     Eventually Lisbon got close, Rachel caught her and took her to Patrick, and they got close to escape.  However, just before they escaped she figured out what was going on, and almost shot them.  Of course, the CBI arrived just in time, Patrick and Lisbon were rescued, and Rachel was shot and killed.

Fringe – 6995 kHz

     In our universe this week and Fauxliva had seduced and slept with Peter.  He is going to be SO upset when he finds out she isn’t really Olivia!

     Several numbers were transmitted over short wave radio, and the fifteen people that we know of that were listening went unconscious for a brief time.  When they woke up, they didn’t know who they were or who anyone around them was either.  Walter finds a second wavelength, under the numbers, that they believe was used to wipe these people’s memories, and they believe it was done because these people were close to solving the question of what the numbers were.

     Eventually the Fringe team found out that the numbers are coordinates on the world map, latitude and longitude markers.  When the team went to one of those locations and they dug, they found another part of the machine from the alt-universe, which they believe could cause the destruction of one of the universes, with Peter at the helm.  They decided they need to dig up the remaining pieces, 37 in all, and see what they create.

     There were some cracks in Fauxliva’s façade this week.  Nina called her out on the fact that it wasn’t like Olivia not to talk to Walter directly about his concerns.  Also, Fauxliva failed to recognize a name on a list Peter found, a name of a man that Olivia and Peter have spoken to more than once.  Peter seems to have blinders on regarding all these little out of place things, but Nina seemed a bit more curious.  I wonder if she will figure out Fauxlivia is not our Olivia.