sinkwriter

I know! Of all the things they could "borrow" from Bones, I was sure hoping that would be the plot point they'd use. I mean, the use of Pelant as a villain was brilliant.* *end of enormous bucketsful of sarcasm

I would think it had to have been years ago, because it was a "Storm" novel (as in his former main character, Derek Storm), not a "Heat" novel (as in Nikki Heat). Since he killed off his Storm character back at the start of season 1, there would have been no reason for him to write another Storm novel in these current Castle years. If it was new research, it would have been "Tropical Heat," not "Tropical Storm."

Side note: I did think it was a bit adorable to see a 4-year-old Derek dancing to "Singin' in the Rain." And I like how Derek started laughing and critiquing himself: "Did you see me get my umbrella caught on that girl?" Heeee.

I love that song. Love, love, love it. I don't care how cheesy that movie is; that song is so beautiful and fun. If that happens, I'm going to be very mad. There's no way he should stick around while Lea or Jonathan or any of the others get kicked out. I know sometimes it's a popularity contest over who actually has the better dance skills, but when it's so obvious that someone has no rhythm or grace whatsoever, they should not stay above those who can dance. My votes for the next to leave are Michael, Michael, Michael, and then Antonio.

I was in a production of West Side Story, and we did some of the exact same moves and if not from the Broadway production they were at least from the film. Not just the skirt tossing part, but certain leg kicks, foot steps, and arm movements.

That's how I felt watching her tonight too. It was a sweet dance and had some terrific parts, but at times it seemed like she was all gangly limbs and a bit like she was bowed or squatting a bit. It threw me off, watching them. I don't understand the comment about Val and Janel not being allowed to use the choreography from West Side Story, because I sure saw some elements from the choreography anyway. Maybe not as much as they had originally planned, but I recognized some moves. I cannot believe Michael was safe tonight. I thought he should at least be in jeopardy. That he wasn't really pissed me off. He's not good, and he can't seem to feel the music or the beat or move gracefully at all. He must have some fan base to keep him out of jeopardy. I have no other explanation for it. Sorry to see Randy go before Michael. I think that's bullshit. He's not a strong dancer either, but Michael and Antonio seem just as stiff and awkward if not more so. And I can't believe Julianne gave Betsey a 6! That was an insult. She might not have deserved Kevin's very generous 9, but a 6 was way too low. Especially when she's then heaping praise on Michael when he had barely a sliver of Betsey's grace and smoothness. Such bullshit.

"Checked out" is an excellent way to describe what I felt as the episode went along, Tripp. Well said. The more they focused on the investigative angles instead of the emotional ones, the less connected I felt to the episode, the characters and what was going on. The more I felt like, okay, fine, just find the answers and be done with it. I could have been on the edge of my seat from start to finish, if they'd delved more into the emotions of it all for Kate, Martha and Alexis. Instead I felt a bit like Castle in this episode: confused, disconnected, and at a loss.

Seriously. Espo was SO sure Castle was behind it all, and all I could think was, "Seriously, Esposito? You've never heard of someone being held at gunpoint under threat of his family being killed? You've never heard of someone being coerced for very good reasons and not being able to do anything but comply?" I could understand Castle being kind of out of it in this episode, especially after everything he'd been through and given that he'd been unconscious. But if they don't have him lose it at least a little bit in an upcoming episode, after everything he's been through and all the question marks that must make him feel confused and a little freaked out, then I'm really going to be pissed at the showrunners and writers. Castle's cool, but he's not that cool, nor does he need to be. It makes me feel more for him as the lead character when he falls apart and shows his humanity and vulnerabilities. There better be something coming up or I will be very disappointed.

A big YES in agreement to this. It seems like every time Castle gets accused of something, Esposito is right on the "blame Castle" bandwagon. I did appreciate that Ryan was Castle's cheerleader, but Espo pissed me off. I know he's more of a hardened cop than Ryan is, but at some point he has to realize this is all very strange and it's not like Castle's never been used and framed before. I thought the episode was interesting, and I have NO idea what's going on, which I do like. I enjoy mysteries. But I feel like an emotional element is missing from the way they presented this episode. It started out well, with Kate, Martha and Alexis all clearly very distraught at the thought that Castle might be in that fiery car. But then I felt everything flagged. I wish we'd seen some sort of scene between Kate and Martha, or Kate and Alexis, or Martha and Alexis. It just feels like the more they focus on the "missing person" and then "Castle possibly running the whole scam" angle, the less connected to it I felt emotionally. It felt too clinical. Follow the evidence, interview the suspects, find Castle, blah blah blah. I liked seeing Beckett's struggle, but I'm tired of Castle's family being an afterthought. They need to have a bigger role in stuff like this! I think it would have made the episode much more effective.

They'd certainly have gotten my respect (and potential future clothes money) if they'd even tried to design for someone outside the "model" box. I was really disappointed that not one of them challenged themselves.

I didn't see him as disrespecting Abbie in that moment. I saw it as him finally letting out what he'd been holding in. (Even though it turns out the whole thing wasn't real) she kept trying to get him to talk about it and he refused, trying to be all stalwart, but in that moment he finally exploded with this terrible thing that had been torturing him. The way I saw the moment, Crane looked surprised at himself, like he'd never raised his voice in such a way (and certainly not to a woman) about anything like that, it's not dignified. He seemed surprised at the depth of emotion that had come out of himself, like he'd never tapped into expressing his most gut-wrenching pain before. I thought it was fascinating.

I thought that emerald necklace had been magicked so that it would turn Katrina evil. But no, apparently not. Well, the jury's still out, right? Here's hoping for evil. It could make her actually interesting, give her something to do.

I'm a little bummed about the Katrina reveal from the beginning. I knew it was probably some sort of flash forward or hallucination that they had escaped their "prisons" but a little part of me perked up when Crane screamed, "HE KILLED MY WIFE!" I thought, Really??!? I don't hate the Katrina character, nor do I want her out of the way so that Crane and Abbie can be together; I just find her kind of dull and I feel her role seems to slow down the action and the focus where I want it (on Crane and Abbie as the main relationship/partnership/friendship of the show). So I was kind of glad to hear she was dead. I thought, Great, they've skipped on to get to bigger and better, more interesting avenues! Skipping over the potential emotional suckage that Crane mourning his wife might create. To find that she's actually alive was a bit of a disappointment in the end. Very glad that Jenny's okay, though! She's a bad-ass and I like her character. I would have been ticked if she'd been killed off off-screen.

I'm hoping it's a sign that he's got character growth coming up. Like when he never used to hug Leonard, but after Professor Proton's death, he wanted to show Leonard that he was important to Sheldon. (And he did so again in the first episode of this season, without reservation, when he could have just stood up from where he'd been sitting at the cop's desk and say, "It's about time" or "Finally" or "I'm glad you're here" without the hug.) In this episode, Sheldon was obnoxious, wanting to keep the "smartest in the room" title for himself, but what Leonard talked with him about, the psychology of it, how it might be out of an underlying fear, I think that might have planted a seed. Perhaps eventually we'll see some character growth in which Sheldon will be able to admit that others can be smarter than him about certain topics or are able to do things that he cannot do. I hope so, anyway.

And lots of tourists, I'd imagine. Especially in the summer. Tourists who are only in NYC for a short period of time, already have plans for sightseeing and other pursuits and whose schedules wouldn't permit taking (wasting) two or three days being a guinea pig for Project Runway.

No one is ever ready for change. That's why we need brave networks willing to step outside the box. Nothing will ever change unless someone's willing to take that first step. Some people will always bitch about it, some people will threaten to never watch again, some people will get all up in arms and want the show to be cancelled for being "gross" or "immoral," but in great contrast there will also be people whose eyes and minds may be opened a little more because they got to see something amazing that happened to be performed by same sex dancers. And then there are those who are LGBTQ who may have been waiting and wanting to see better representation on TV... they might appreciate those baby steps taken toward equality. I'm talking in general in this paragraph, not to anyone specifically here, but I really and truly don't understand homophobia. Seeing same sex dancers dance doesn't change anything about the viewer's own personal or sexual interests. It won't destroy the definition of marriage, or of anything else for that matter. If it is a tastefully done dance between two men or two women, with gorgeous movement? It could be remarkably powerful. I would love to see that.

I wasn't fond of the Mary Kay makeup "makeovers" at all. Most of the lip colors used seemed really dark (too dark), which just seemed so unflattering. Especially on Alexander's model, but she wasn't the only one. I would have preferred some softer looks, especially for those wearing such bold colors. It was too much. I did like the haircut that Amanda's model got. Her hair was so long; the new cut seemed to flatter her face. Not too short, but gave it some bounce and curl.

Can I just say... I hated Korina's outfit. I can appreciate that she made a jacket in 2 days, I'm sure it was well-made, but I really didn't like the color. That blue ruined the entire look for me. I don't know why, but I can't stand the look of colored leather (or faux leather, whatever that material was). I might have loved it if she'd made something in black, or even dark brown, I think those might have looked bad-ass, but bright blue like that? Just makes me think I'm looking at some sort of ugly 80's throwback. I couldn't believe she won the challenge.

I imagine sometimes the editors find one designer and give them the villain or villainess edit, to stir things up for drama. But I still wonder about Korina as a person, because I noticed her smile when Tim slaughtered Alexander's first design. If that was actually a smile for something else happening in the day, then she's not getting a very good or fair edit. The editors were really pushing her to look and sound cocky and nasty and ego-centric this episode (even the poll was all, "Is Korina too cocky?"). But if she was really smiling over Alexander's struggle, then I think she's cruel and I hope she doesn't make it to the final four. And I did think she was being way too cocky this time around. Her design wasn't that brilliant. *eyeroll*

I'm not sure I agree with that. I thought that Tim did the right thing in waiting to talk about it after the runway. That way, the outfits were all judged on their own merits (or lack of merits, as the case may be) as seen coming down the runway, with no prejudgments or obsessions about "is that the outfit whose zipper broke, making us all wait?" No one could complain afterward that they'd been judged unfairly or express concern that Tim telling the judges ahead of time might have negatively affected the judges' opinions of their outfit.

I feel like Mychael Knight from Season 3 used to make a lot of short shorts outfits (like Char), but his fit much better. It's been a long time since I've seen that season but I can recall him doing something very Pam Grier / Foxy Brown-like that I think was a big hit with the judges. This outfit by Char, however, was regrettably not that sophisticated.

I feel bad for Alexander, but that outfit really didn't fit her well. The skirt seemed too short and too high-waisted, and the top didn't fit her well. Made me sad, because how heartbreaking to hear Tim Gunn say such terrible things about his first outfit, and I hoped he might be able to come up with something to make it to the next round, it seemed like he had an idea that would work, but in the end it didn't look good. I think he chose terrible (way too heavy) fabrics and that's what killed him and his vision. I thought maybe they'd send Char packing because of the whole zipper fiasco, but Zac was surprisingly kind about it: "Zippers break, it happens." I thought that was decent and understanding of him to say. And I imagine it's true. I wonder how many designers have had fashion emergencies on runway day and had to do some quick fixes because something happens to break?

There's a difference between someone getting their comeuppance, and someone being humiliated and violated on a deeply personal and vulnerable level. I enjoyed Howard showing up Sheldon when it came to intelligence, and I'd love to see more of that kind of thing. But seeing something like this was not funny to me, and I wish it weren't played by the showrunners and writers as if it is or should be.

The show has always made the joke that Howard is somehow less smart than the other guys because he doesn't have his doctorate, and that can be relatively funny, but it was getting old so I loved Howard showing how smart he actually is. He might not be as smart as Sheldon (or, more specifically, might not have that eidetic memory that Sheldon has about everything), but he IS a very smart man and can hold his own. I liked finally seeing him stand up for himself AND challenge Sheldon about that. And I liked that the other guys were rooting for him to stump Sheldon, because let's face it, Sheldon is obnoxious about how much of a brilliant genius he is. I also echo what someone else said about how their favorite part was seeing the original gang having fun together, being nerdy, at the end of the episode. Quizzing each other for candy? Sounds fun to me! (I just need a different topic because a physicist I am definitely not. LOL.)

One thing I didn't like AT ALL was the opening sequence. Seeing Sheldon vulnerable, half-naked, scared, upset and begging for help was not funny to me. Not at all. It was disturbing that not one person would help him, or (if they were too freaked out by him) at the very least offer to get security to help him. I also wish he was gone longer. A little over a month doesn't give him much time to learn anything, especially with the revelation that he didn't leave the train station at any location he landed. (Though that was at least very believably Sheldon, loving trains as he does.) I suppose he did learn something, that he may not be cut out for venturing far on his own, that he's not smart/capable in that way, but I guess I was hoping he would have a bigger revelation or change in his life given how distraught he was at the end of last season. Instead it feels like they just brought him home and he's back to his usual self, the end. Where's the character development in that? What's interesting about that? I also didn't like the way he treated Amy. I expect he would trust Leonard more under the difficult and embarrassing circumstances (and I loved how he immediately hugged Leonard, something he ordinarily struggles with), but I also expected he'd at least tell Amy he did somehow miss her, in his own "special" (rude) Sheldon way. For him to say nothing "I missed you"-related at all makes me again think that his absence wasn't long enough apart from her for him to get it into his thick skull that he missed her presence. Or maybe the bigger reveal would have been that he found he didn't miss her presence and truly thinks it would be best for both their sakes if he breaks up with her. I did think it was funny when Sheldon used the "I want to have coitus with Amy" as a test to make sure she couldn't hear him with her fingers in her ears. She definitely wouldn't have been able to keep a poker face at that point if she truly had been able to hear him. But the beat of seriousness between the statement and Sheldon's "Good, she can't hear me" was spot on. Heeee.