It was a pretty big week in entertainment – at least as far as television goes.
From ‘Mad Men’ continuing its story dominance, to the return of AMC’s ‘The Killing’ and HBO’s ‘Game of Thrones’ – fans had a lot to be thankful for in the run-up to the Easter holiday.
While a lot of shows took the week off, there were still plenty that unleashed new episodes on the unsuspecting public.
For cable news junkies, Keith Olbermann’s meltdown, apology for his meltdown and then his second meltdown proved to be high entertainment. On one side, you have Olbermann claiming he’s a victim of breach of contract and on the other you have Current TV saying he’s essentially a deadbeat employee who never shows up for work. This one will probably be fun to watch play out.
On FOX’s Bones, we had a baby born in a barn (because there was no room at the inn) – and you can’t help but wonder if perhaps they’re going to go the “immaculate conception,” aka invitro fertilization, route with this one. After all, we never did seen Brennan and Booth do anything that would actually create a baby.
So, without further ado, the top entertainment moments of the week are:
5. Game of Thrones: “His daughters are his wives and he marries his daughters.” I love this show, but the focus on incest is getting to be just a little too much. When Jon Snow and the rest of the Night’s Watch go beyond the wall, they come across a homestead that is run entirely by women. It is explained that the women are not only the daughters of the individual living there – but his wives as well. The question then becomes “what happens to the sons?” – because there obviously aren’t any other men running around. Things – on that front at least – look to be coming to a head this week when one of the daughter wives approaches Jon. In other Westeros happenings, Cersei slaps the crap out of Joffrey physically, while Tyrion does it verbally. News of Joffrey’s true parentage (more incest) starts to become common knowledge and in an effort to solidify his place on the throne, Joffrey orders the murder of all of his “father’s” living bastards – including an infant that has its throat slit in a brothel. Anyone else hoping Joffrey gets what is coming to him soon? Only one bastard survives, and he just so happens to be traveling with a disguised Arya. Oh, and ever since Daenerys hatched her baby dragons, there’s been a red comet in the sky. That can only be a good omen right?
4. Desperate Housewives – With only a handful of episodes left, Lynette and Tom are running out of time to reunite (and I firmly believe they’re going to reunite). In this outing, Lynette is baking Tom his “favorite” cake as a way to remind him of their past together. Instead, she’s served divorce papers by his current girlfriend who ends up a little green when Lynette smears the green batter she’s using on her rival’s white pant suit. While that scene was powerful, it was Lynette confronting Tom and then signing the papers when she resigns herself that he’s moved on that anchored the show. Hope is rekindled, though, when an angry Tom unleashes his fury on Jane for serving Lynette with the divorce papers. He lets her know – in no uncertain terms – that he will always care for Lynette. Am I wrong to believe these two are going to reunite? Of course, I still have hope that Mike is somehow in the witness protection program until the final episode – so I may be just slightly delusional.
3. One Tree Hill – After nine seasons, the show left the airwaves with a weak finale (last year’s was so much better). I didn’t expect there to be great drama, but I was promised a few character returns and the only one I saw was Bevin. Where were Fergie and Junk? How about Mia or Alex for Chase? How about Whitey? All in all, the finale was a disappointing love fest that saw Nathan, Hayley, Brooke, Julian, Mouth and Millie get everything they want. Even the wooden Quinn and Clay (who forgets their kid? Seriously!) get a happy ending and a quickie wedding. ‘One Tree Hill’ should have been about the core group in the finale (including at least mentions of Lucas and Peyton) – just like last season’s finale was. Of course, to be fair, this whole final season was a great big mess that elevated Chris Keller to a status he should never have achieved on the show – a regular. Goodbye Tree Hill – you really should have let go last year.
2. The Killing: The two-hour opener had a lot of “aha” moments. The two big ones being that Holder was being misled into doing the underhanded things he was doing (I knew he couldn’t be bad!) and that some of the local cops may not only be involved in framing Richmond but they may also be involved in the cover-up of Rosie Larsen’s murder. As always, Mireille Enos was the picture of perfection in her portrayal of a woman who feels like she’s being betrayed by everyone she knows. Billy Campbell also made a sharp turn with his character, when fans found out he couldn’t have killed Rosie because he was actually trying to commit suicide due to grief over his dead wife at the time. The two episodes were plagued, though, by some slow plotting – and will someone please tell me when Mitch Larsen will be returning to the fold and what is up with her creepy sister?
1. Justified: Things haven’t been going well for Raylan Givens of late. He lost his pregnant ex-wife (has she left the show? Because she’s still listed in the credits), he can’t find Mags’ money and now Dickie is back out on the street. Well, two of those things get solved in this episode. First, a dastardly Limehouse tries to set everyone after Mags’ three million dollars after each other, essentially turning Boyd, the police and Quarles into human time bombs. Not only does Raylan figure out exactly who has the money (well done Loretta), but he shoots Dickie (just like he promised in court) when he breaks into the house and tries to take the money from Loretta (I will miss Jeremy Davies). Raylan lets Loretta keep the money, makes a tenuous peace with Limehouse and even revels in his Dickie victory before Officer Tom is caught in the crossfire between Boyd and Quarles. Anyone else think Raylan isn’t going to take Tom’s death very well? If I were Quarles, I’d run.
Honorable mentions go to:
Supernatural – Technically, this belonged in last week’s column but since I didn’t get to watch it until this week and there was no new episode this week – I’m counting it. While the episode itself was one of the stronger efforts this season – it was nice to see a straight ghost story for a change – it was the angst Dean and Sam are still feeling over Bobby’s death that centered the episode. When things started happening that made the brothers think that Bobby might be haunting them, it was the reactions of the brothers that was startling. It was the always cynical Dean that held on to hope that Bobby was trying to contact them while the ever hopeful Sam shot down the idea. In the final seconds, though, we do see that it is indeed Bobby’s ghost trying to make contact with the boys. I, for one, am thankful that we get to see Bobby in some shape or form. I have hope he gets resurrected in physical form by the end of the season. Hey, no one ever stays dead on ‘Supernatural.’
Grey’s Anatomy – A lion is on the loose, Callie is on the warpath and Alex is trying to create space. Just another typical day at Seattle Grace. Owen owns up to his affair with an unknowing Meredith, who informs him that the reason Christina didn’t tell her is because she’s trying to forgive him and didn’t want Meredith to hate Owen. In the best scene of the night, though, Christina finally lets loose her anger regarding Owen’s affair when she tosses a bowl of cereal in his face. Who doesn’t think he had that coming?
Bones – Brennan gives birth and this show essentially jumps the shark. Babies and law enforcement never work. They should have just hid her behind big plants and purses instead of saddling fans with an unneeded kid. Anyone remember what happened when they introduced a baby between the two main characters on ‘The X-Files’?
Criminal Minds – The season quality seesaw swings the other way with a ridiculously boring (and odd) episode that dealt with mental illness and drowning witches in the same hour. While the episode was weak, fun guest turns by Robert Englund and Juliet Landau (Drusilla, Buffy the Vampire Slayer) manage to save a ho-hum outing.
Psych – This hasn’t been the show’s greatest season and, quite frankly, this wasn’t the show’s best episode. However, the scene of Henry driving a pickup truck to pick up migrant workers and Shawn’s “I knew you didn’t build that deck by yourself” were funny enough to carry the entire episode. Plus, who didn’t love ‘Psych’s’ take on the adage that “all black men look alike”?
What do you think? What were the top moments in entertainment this week?
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