1/3/11 - How I Met Your Mother/Mike & Molly/Castle/Hawaii Five-0/Men of a Certain Age

How I Met Your Mother – Bad News

     I love me some Sandy Rivers!  I was happy to see him back on the show, and since Robin is working there now, there are chances for him to return in the future.  I really love Alexis Denisof and it’s always fun when he shows up on my television unexpectedly.                                                                               

     I knew the title was “Bad News”…  I typed it right up there ^ before the episode started.  Still, I got so caught up in Sandy Rivers, and Robin’s bad video history, and Barney’s doppelganger being a fertility specialist, I forgot the title.  I got so caught up in Lily being ok, and Marshall having great sperm (high motility-high five!), and Sandy Rivers wearing a toupee, I forgot the title.  I got so excited for Marshall to tell his dad, then to tell Lily when he didn’t reach his dad, I forgot the title.  Then I realized Marshall couldn’t reach his dad.  And Lily was crying when she got out of the cab.  And then, BAD NEWS struck, and Marshall’s father is dead.  It was devastating.  I cried.  HARD.  I have no doubt there will be a lot more about this next week.
     I've read some commentary since writing this that there was a countdown clock on the episode.  I have to be completely honest, I never saw it, never noticed it.  I don't even know if it was just coming back from the commercials or if it was somewhere on screen through the whole episode.  Since I didn't notice it, I have no comment on it.

Mike & Molly – Mike Goes to the Opera

     Mike is gross.  Is it not possible for a man of size to be depicted on television as being clean and neat, even if sick?  I was so disgusted when he sneezed in the car, I almost turned the channel.  Mike has never come across this way before, and being sick shouldn’t turn him into a pig.

     I don’t really understand why Molly wanted to take care of Mike so badly.  If it were me, I would have been thrilled to let his mother handle it.  I get that she wanted to be the hero, to be the “go to” person in his life, but seeing how completely incapable he was of taking care of himself, I would have been happy to push him off on his mother.

Castle – Nikki Heat

    I like Laura Prepon, I always have, but WHAT did she do to her eyes?  I found it very distracting.  Maybe it’s just the dark makeup, because I don’t remember noticing her eyes when she did How I Met Your Mother, but it looks like she may have had some work done.  She is barely 30, it’s too early to start nipping/tucking/injecting.

     It made me laugh that Castle obviously didn’t enjoy having someone more famous than he is circling around Beckett and the team.  He didn’t like her to begin with, and the subtle lack of acknowledgement of his skill and writing didn’t help.  He eventually warmed to her at least enough for him to allow her to jamb her tongue down his throat, but I don’t see them ever being best friends.

     I was pleasantly startled to see Melody Thomas Scott as one of the suspects.  It’s not often she breaks away from Young and the Restless to do a guest spot on a prime time show, especially one on a different network.

     It was great the way Beckett went from loving attention and having a famous actress follow her around to hating it.  She got creeped out and concerned that Natalie was going to “single white female” her.  Natalie never went that far, but she would have slept with Castle if he had been game, which he wasn’t.

     Ryan’s proposal to his girlfriend Jennifer was sweet and just about perfect.  It made me tear up.  Some of that might have been left over emotions from HIMYM, but it was just a perfect proposal.  I also love the fact that Jenny is actually played by Seamus Dever’s (Ryan’s) wife.  It made the whole proposal resonate just a little bit more for me.

Hawaii Five-0 – Ke Kinohi

     Of course the bad guy, who’s been a bad guy for years and years, and who has oodles of money is well-connected.

     I want one of those gadget tables.  It would be cool to set my phone down and be able to see everything on it or plug in a memory stick and have it all pop up easily on screen.

     Steve and the team have gotten closer to solving and proving who killed his mother.  I am glad they showed Mary again, and showed Steve putting her on the plane back to LA.  I guess if you are a former Navy seal with a pass from the governor, you can still walk your little sister right to the gate.

Men of a Certain Age – And Then the Bill Comes

     It was nice to see Owen bringing the sales and service departments together with a new incentive.  It totally sucks that he had to back down and take it all back when his father told him the truth about the business taxes and property.  I feel badly for Owen because even when he gets it right something happens that sets him back.  His father really set him up for a huge fall by not telling him everything.  I am interest to see what he is going to do with that land.

     Poor Terry is trying to act like a grown-up, but his family and friends don’t seem ready for him to do so.  No one seems to believe he is ready to give up the acting for a more steady income as a car salesman.

     I am glad Joe went to see Manfro.  I like Manfro, and hope he doesn’t die, but I have a feeling next year Joe may inherit a dog and the bookmaking business.  I also have concerns about whatever is going on with Joe’s eye.  I don’t think it’s a hair he kept seeing; I think it is the beginning of something degenerative.

     I can’t believe next week is already the season finale.  It goes too fast.

How I Met Your Mother/Mike & Molly/Castle/Hawaii Five-0/Men of a Certain Age

How I Met Your Mother – The Mermaid Theory

     Kyle MacLachlan’s character The Captain made me laugh a bit.  I like him because I am not sure if he is a good guy or a scary guy.  Obviously the characters had the same difficult time figuring it out, since the bottom of his face is good guy, but the eyes and brow is scary guy.

     I also liked that Ted was really confused about the Lily/Barney story this week.  It’s always been kind of a weird plot point that he would remember these stories so well when relaying them to his children in the future, so it’s always fun when he gets confused.  I didn’t like that the Lily/Barney story is a “future story” where Lily is all pregnant and emotional.  I get that she and Marshall are trying to have a baby, and that it was probably an inevitability, but that doesn’t mean I want to see it happen.  I hate when babies are born into shows and the entire chemistry of the show changes.

Mike & Molly – Carl Gets a Girl

     I laughed during the teaser, which is usually a good sign.

     The whole scene between Victoria and Mike, talking about aliens and big foot really made me laugh.  It was one of the first times Victoria has really made me laugh, and I think it was more because of Mike’s reaction to her than because of anything she said.  Although the line about camping without weed being just sleeping outside did make me laugh.  I know a few people who probably feel the same way.

     It was nice to see Mike bond with Joyce (Molly’s mom) as well.  I don’t like Vince, I think he is a nice guy and I do think Joyce could do better.

     I really liked Mike giving a key to his apartment to Molly.  When she said she wasn’t ready to give him a key to her place, I was shocked:  I didn’t see the joke coming at all.  Well done, show.  Molly is absolutely, positively my hero.

Castle – Last Call

     This show just makes me happy.  I loved seeing how excited Castle got when they went to the bar, and how much he loved the old, neighborhood, backroom bar.  He loved it enough to buy it, so I would guess we will start seeing the cast out of the office and away from work a bit more often, which should be fun. 

     I always enjoy when the team thinks they have proven Castle wrong, only to themselves be proven wrong.  Castle’s reaction to being right is always fun to see, with a look that says “I knew it” while somehow trying to downplay his being right. 

     My favorite part of this episode was the end, when all five of the main cast members decided to take some time for themselves together, and walked out of the precinct arm and arm, on the way to Castle’s new bar, singing Billy Joel’s “Piano Man.”  It made me very happy and, since I am a sap, a bit teary. 

Hawaii Five-0 – Palekaiko

     Ehh.  This was a fine episode for what it was, but it didn’t really hold my attention, and I didn’t particularly enjoy it.  Having just been on a cruise, all cruise ship happenings seemed a bit unrealistic.  If I could afford a single cabin like the serial killer had, if such a single cabin even exists, I would be REALLY happy.  This guy must have had money to be able to take these extended cruises in luxurious cabins once a year. 

     I was pleased that Steve told Chin about what his father left for him, and that Chin was able to find some information in that regard.  I am not pleased that it leads to the suspicion that Steve’s mother’s death was not an accident, but murder.  It feels like so many cop shows have done this before:  it’s tired, and lazy. 

     Speaking of lazy writing, did we ever see Steve’s sister again after the one episode she was in, and did they ever say she had gone back to the mainland?  She doesn’t appear to still be at Steve’s, waiting for him to come home, since he was there with Chin in tonight’s episode.  Maybe they did say where she is at some point, but because this show really doesn’t hold my attention, maybe I missed it.

Men of a Certain Age – If I Could, I Surely Would

     I really enjoyed this show last year, and am glad it’s back.  Let’s see how long that lasts.  I had the opportunity to meet Scott Bakula (who I am about 90% sure was driving behind me in Santa Monica today) and Andre Braugher at an event last year, and they were two of the most gracious, sincere, pleasant people I have been lucky enough to encounter at an event like this.  That goes a LONG way for me, and even if this show has a weak season I will continue to watch because I want to support a couple of guys who were really nice to me, and to all the other fans that attended the even last year.

     This was a good second season opener.  It picked up right where last season left off, and treated the audience like we already know these characters.  We got enough background to remember what was going on last year, without having so much exposition that we felt like it we could have just watched this episode instead of season 1 and known everything we needed to know.

     I like that all three of our guys are in positions in which they aren’t comfortable.  Owen is the boss now, Terry is actually trying to work in a real job AND working for Owen, and Joe (it’s still hard from me not to call him Ray) is in a new home and trying to become a pro golfer on the senior circuit, a dream he gave up on when he was younger.  It’s all going to lead to a fun season, I think.