StarBrand

When people talk about "toxic masculinity", the situation with Junior's Dad is a perfect example of it. Your daughter died in a tragic accident, that's hard to deal with, yes. Did Dad ever attempt therapy? Probably not, because stiff-upper-lip tough guy Dad "didn't need it". Instead, he takes out his grief and anger on his son, first for Junior deciding to enlist, then getting mad because Junior took the high road and decided forgiveness was the best course of action. Dad's inability to deal with his grief destroyed his family. Junior's five times the "man" his supposedly is. If he were my Dad, I'd have told him to go to hell.

This series keeps getting better each episode. It's tricky to pull off the "events lived out of order" storyline, but it certainly did stick the landing. I liked how the episode began and ending with Lily falling. First, we think it's because she's fallen to some sort of purgatory that The Teen sent her to, which initially turns out to be true, but at the end, we know she's falling towards certain death. And I believe it's permanent, because Lily achieved some sort of peace being able to put the timeline of her life together at last, after fighting it most of her life, which lead to it being a very lonely and miserable one-that's what the journey of the Witches' Road gave to her, in the same way that other witch (forget her name) found some newfound (but brief) peace after being able to lift the family curse, and not feeling anger anymore. So the theme appears to be the witches getting what they need the most, (release from pain, loneliness, anger), rather than what they think they want (power). Agatha chose power, but at a huge cost-her son, once before. Is that going to happen yet again? Of course, I could be just talking outta my ass...

I think last week's ep was burdened with re-arranging the gameboard for the final few weeks, and felt rushed. I had no such feeling with this one, which felt like a more typical "Evil" ep. I didn't see the judge beheading the witness coming, although I probably should have. Why is it some see the demon lawyer, and others do not? Any week that features Sister Andrea is usually a good sign. I must have missed it somewhere that the love she left for the church took his own life. That's a hell of a burden to carry. I liked the last scene of Andrea assuring David of God's presence by playing the Holy Chord, and the both of them disappearing into the light. Everyone's life is seemingly falling apart, except for Ben, who is surprisingly skittish of financial success. I liked the doppelganger versions of the gang, complete with Katja signing in her native Dutch; Each one seemed to see something in the other that made them think they "other" was much happier than them. Well, David's was only seen by Kristen, who certainly made her happy in her dreams.....

Wow, two eps in a row that haven't had a minute of the Bouchard children. Odd, considering what happned two weeks ago... Ah, Sheryl, you did have one up on Leyland for a second there. Too bad you underestimated how batshit crazy he is. Kristen can protest all she wants she didn't like DavidBot's sexting, I don't believe a word of it, although I'm sure she's prefer the read David doing so. Watching her reaction to the whole IT team playing back the conversation made me both wince and laugh....

This has to be the high point of the season for me, so far. Cheryl, for all her faults, comes off as more than sympathetic here-she's clearly given up on herself, and to see her reject David's offer of forgiveness, was rather sad. Lahti was excellent in this episode. She did strike a severe blow to Leyland's plans, (although whether that sticks remains to be seen) I found it hilarious Leyland was more annoyed/scared of "happy" Tim than the crying, projectile-vomiting creature he's dealt with before. Good thing Sister Andrea was available for the baptism, because she could actually tell Cheryl was dead serious about the baby being the antichrist. David was also great this episode. I liked the way he stood up to both Dominic and Sister Andrea and insisted that looking into the guy planning a murder-suicide was the MOST important thing-"THIS is EVIL!". The fact that the guy lived right below Leyland, of course, wasn't a coincidence.. Although it seems that he wasn't quite able to prevent.....something from happening with the 60, although what just occurred, I dunno...

No, she's not, but she gave Leland very clear instructions NOT to harm any of her grandchildren, ever. I'm pretty sure she told him "harm any of my grandchildren, and I'll cut your balls off".

Yeah, that bit about the "muse" was left wide open. The fact it visited Boggs and "inspired" him to start writing like a maniac seems to indicate she/it will be back....that, along with the little grief demon that's been hanging around...

I'm delighted by the return of the pop-up books. I don't think that was used last season, was it? Kristen laughing manically at Leyland was absolutely hilarious. You can tell he never thought for a second what it would mean actually raising a baby. Haha.

I'm sorry, I laughed out loud when Kristen starting singing the song from "Hair". I'm wondering how much longer Kristen will keep it together. It was really said how she tried to reassure the kids that Dad would be OK, then immediately fell apart when alone at home. They know he's not OK. Children are smart. They know when parents are feeding them bullshit.

Oh, Leland, it's really not a great idea to piss Sheryl off, and this time you've really done it. The girls have very weird imaginations. So, they did this video, or whatever, and the shink is getting credit for it? Huh? I suppose we'll find out more about the "muse" entity later on. Gotta say Kristen and dancer lady had amazing chemistry together. So, David compelled the dictator to kill himself? So not is he only inhabiting others' bodies, his emotions are influencing them? That's a big one. Can't blame David for feeling upset about it

An episode without Elias, which was kind of a relief, I think...although I'm not sure what to think about the rest of it, with the nonsense with Prentiss and her neighbour, the site being all about JJ, (God knows what she's looking at). Just...not sure. Maybe the rest of the season will make things look clearer, hopefully.

Well, at least they had the good sense (unlike NCIS Hawaii) to edit out a cliffhanger. Paula Newsome held her own as the woman in charge. But the show's calling card was allowing us to see several original CSI characters again, whether that made any sense or not. If the show had simply put forth a new cast from the start, it would never have been burdened by its own history. But I don't blame the actors. The writing kept failing to present compelling cases. How many can you remember from the original? How many can you recall from this version? There's no contest. I'm sad to see it go, but it's definitely not a show of the highest calibre that never got its due..

I haven't read any news that Katrina Law is not returning. You have to remember Gibbs "retired" the end of season three, and was back on the team three episodes into the next season. Perhaps she's on the fence, and the writers are just covering their asses, considering how they'd been caught flat-footed with Cote's departure. This was more interesting that I'd thought it would be, considering it was essentially Parker and Knight stuck in a ship-the actual crime was almost an afterthought. When Knight said she could hold her breath a long time, my brain immediately thought of Leslie Neilson in "Creepshow".

One thing that was alright about COVID shortened seasons in 2020, was that most shows simply stopped production, and often just stopped on a good episode, with no time to incorporate any cliffhangers- (the original NCIS had a doozy)...which was what TV shows used to do before Dallas and "Who Shot JR?". Now everyone feels compelled to end every season with one, whether it's any good or not. It doesn't have to happen. If I like a show, I'll probably come back when a new season starts without any character in peril. It's especially foolhardy to try and do when you don't have a guarantee your show will come back. Especially when quite often the writers don't know exactly how they will resolve things anyway at the time. I'm writing this without having seen the episode. I've been struggling to complete watching this season, as short as it is. The whole Sam Hanna thing is dragging things down like an anchor. Bringing him in could have been a good thing, but they've turned him into an unwelcome distraction. And of all things, seems to end on a loose thread I wished the show had given up on. Like I said, I wish more shows would simply concentrate on producing a nice finale. If they want to set up a new arc at the beginning of the following season, that's all good. But it's not the way TV is made these days, unfortunately. That's correct, yes. The backdoor pilot featured a main character being shot about seventeen times, and survived. so that tells you all you need to know about their invulnerability.

So that's it for these guys. I have to say I could see it coming, especially considering the NCIS Origins and the as-yet-unnamed Ziva and Tony series coming up. If those shows hadn't been picked up, I imagine this would have. This show has been a pleasant diversion, and fairly entertaining, but it was far from a masterpiece of drama that was axed before it's time.