Posted by Dustin on 01.06.2012 at 1:56 pm

“The Secret Circle” returned this week, with Cassie exploring the source of her dark magic. Her grandma went off to a healing retreat, so she stayed with Diana.

Diana’s grandma, Charles’ mother, came to visit. She was stunned to learn Charles was dating Dawn, but admitted he always liked her in high school. However she didn’t trust Dawn, and with good reason. Dawn wanted to get rid of her just like the other Elders, paranoid she’d stop her plan to get her powers back. Charles once again put his foot down, and had finally had it with Dawn’s thirst for power at the expense of others. I’m liking Charles more and more and I see an inevitable face off between him and Dawn with only one surviving.

Diana’s grandma claimed to Cassie that she knew a spell that would draw her dark magic out, she could sense her struggling with it much as her father did. She said it consumed her father, but she could be saved. Cassie idiotically agreed to go off in the woods with her alone. Hello has this girl learned nothing so far? Diana’s grandma of course tried to kill her, but failed. Cassie’s magic was too strong, and she broke free of the box the woman buried her in to draw out the dark magic.

At the end of the show Diana’s grandma was planning to flee when Charles confronted her about what she did. She said she had to test Cassie, to see how strong she was. She said Cassie is “the one” they had been waiting for, the one who has the power to tip the scales forever between good and evil. Charles said the council must be told. However she told Charles she would do it, as she knew what he’d been up to . . . she could smell his magical trace all over Henry’s death and Cassie’s grandmas disappearance.

At the very end Cassie mentioned to Diana that while her dark powers scare her, the feeling of power excited her. Earlier in the show she cast a spell to bring Jake back, and at the very end we saw him standing outside her window looking in! I knew they would have to get him back somehow to complete the circle.

The other storyline had Faye seeking a spell to give her the ability to do her own magic without the circle. She found one and went to some kid voodoo practitioner for help. He conned her at first, but in the end agreed to really help her. But the previews for next week indicate it will be at a price. While her powers grow, she’ll be feeding off the other circle members. Uh oh!

I really liked meeting Diana’s grandma, and I hope we get to see more of the elders soon. I like the story lines with the adults as much as I do the kids. I really wanna see some flashbacks to their parents and what really happened long ago.

Posted by Dustin on 01.04.2012 at 8:44 pm

“Parenthood” returned last night with Zeke pressuring all the families to take a road trip to see his 86 year old mother. Zeke was feeling a little guilty not having seen her in awhile, and she hurt her hip recently, so he was fearing time wasn’t on his side. It was her birthday, so he orchestrated a caravan of Bravermans to see her. Nobody understood what it was really about though . . .

Unfortunately right before they were to leave, Max blew up at Kristina and called her a bitch when she turned off his videogame as it was time to go. Her punishment was that he couldn’t go on the trip, which meant she couldn’t go, and neither could Nora. Adam wanted to figure out some other punishment, knowing it would freak Zeke out, which it did. However Kristina said she never follows through with Max’s punishments, so this time she was. Good for her! Of course it didn’t last that long. Max eventually apologized and made nice, so she decided to fly them all down to Grandma’s to meet the others there. Do we think Max has really learned anything? I fear Max has just learned if he sucks it up and apologizes when he does something wrong . . . he’ll get out of his next few punishments. Well at least she made the small steps in actually sticking to her guns for awhile.

The road trip, of course, was almost a disaster. None of the kids really wanted to go, they were only doing it for Zeke. They didn’t understand why it was such a big deal to their dad, as none of them seemed to have fond memories of their grandma. Their mom had to explain to them how much this meant to him, because Zeke has never in his life been able to please his mom. She’s basically always found fault with him. At one point the kids decided to turn around and go home, but they did end up at Grandma’s house in the end.

I loved the parts of the road trip featuring Crosby in the back seat of Julia and Joel’s car with the kids. He was such a big kid and having so much fun with them, and clearly annoying the hell out of Julia who was trying to write a legal brief. It was great because every time he cracked a joke and annoyed Julia, we saw that Joel was holding in his laughter!

It wouldn’t be an episode of “Parenthood” without something awkward happening. Drew walked in on his mom and Mark having adult alone time at the very beginning of the show. They didn’t see him, and he had to endure a lengthy car trip with his mom and picturing her doing the nasty all the way. When she found out she was of course horrified.

The previews for next week have Sarah confronting Mark about how he mentioned having a baby with her, but then never spoke of it again. I have a bad feeling of what is to come! Jason Ritter was only supposed to be on for part of the season, so I see his being written off fairly soon with this episode being the catalyst. Of course perhaps things behind the scenes have changed and NBC plans to keep him? I don’t know, I haven’t read anything about if as of late. He was supposedly having a new show at NBC developed for him when he signed on to do another stint on “Parenthood.”

Posted by Dustin on 01.03.2012 at 7:18 pm

So “Pretty Little Liars” FINALLY returned, it’s been so long! I’m glad they included a recap at the beginning, as I hadn’t tuned into the marathon leading up to the premier.

Sadly I never did finish the books, and the reveal of “A” has been promised by the end of this season. I do know enough about the books thought that other “As” pop-up and have kept the series going.

The show picked up a month after the girl’s arrest after the whole thing with their doctor and their being framed to be found with the shovel that supposedly killed Alison. They weren’t in jail, but had been given community service. I guess I missed out on why. I mean they weren’t in jail because clearly the cops didn’t have the evidence to pin the crime on them, so what was the service for? I remember Emily mentioning Spencer’s mom got them a “plea bargain” or something. Again, I kept thinking you go to jail or you go free . . . what was the community service for?

The girls had all turned on Emily, who had been ousted from the group. Emily had gotten the all clear to swim again, but the coach said because of her legal problems, it was up to the principal as to whether she would be allowed back on the team.

Ezra and Aria were still split-up, thanks to his ex threatening Aria. Ezra however learned what she had been up to and why Aria dumped him, so he finally decided to tell Aria’s parents the truth. That didn’t go over well at all, which clearly we were not expecting it to. Ezra did tell off his ex at the end. I just hope Aria turns her in with the plagiarism evidence she had on her. As “ew” as their relationship is, that ex needs to be taken down.

In the end, we found out that the girls had all been setting up “A.” They had not turned on Emily, they just made everyone, even their family members and their boyfriends think they had. They knew they couldn’t trust anyone with this, it had to look real. “A” took the bait and lured Emily into giving him/her the evidence he/she believed the girls had. It was a trap “A” fell into. Unfortunately “A” got away from them. I was screaming at the TV for the girls, who had cornered “A” and were armed with shovels and sticks, to beat the crap out of them! They didn’t, and “A” got away. However in their escape . . . they dropped their phone! Ooooooh! Juicy! Not that we expect “A” to be stupid enough to have a phone that can be traced to them. But here is hoping the girls will find a way to track “A” through it.

Other side-stories were explored. Hannah’s boyfriend Caleb returned, which seemed to upset her constant love-sick puppy Lucas. I thought he got himself a girlfriend? Now he was back to following her around. After the Halloween episode and this episode, he definitely could be “A.”

We also learned that Hannah’s dad did get married after all, and he, his new wife and the evil step-sister are all moving to Rosewood. Something tells me this will set up the new “A” storyline for next year.

Posted by Dustin on 01.03.2012 at 6:35 pm

Here are the official spoiler releases for NBC’s “Grimm” and “Parenthood” for next week.

On another note, I’m probably gunna give the network’s new show “Smash” a try.

January 10th – Just Smile
ADAM UNEXPECTEDLY STEALS THE SPOTLIGHT FROM CROSBY; AMBER IS THROWN INTO A NEW JOB AND SARAH’S THOUGHTS TURN TO A BABY – Crosby (Dax Shepard) is frustrated when Adam (Peter Krause) becomes the focus for a local newspaper’s piece on the Luncheonette. Meanwhile, Amber (Mae Whitman) struggles to find her place in a new job and Sarah (Lauren Graham) becomes overwhelmed with thoughts of having a baby. Also, Julia (Erika Christensen) and Joel (Sam Jaeger) try to resist interfering in Zoe’s personal life.

January 13th – Game Ogre
AN ESCAPED FUGITIVE’S MURDEROUS RAMPAGE LANDS AT NICK’S FRONT DOOR — An escapee returns to Portland seeking revenge against those who put him behind bars. His unusual strength and high tolerance for pain makes Nick (David Giuntoli) take notice. As the case escalates Nick and Juliette (Bitsie Tulloch) are put in danger, and Monroe (Silas Weir Mitchell) is called into action to help put an end to the convict’s deadly rampage. Russell Hornsby, Reggie Lee and Sasha Roiz also star.

Posted by Dustin on 01.03.2012 at 6:11 pm

Just a few ABC spoilers for Mid-To-Late January. In this batch . . .

On “Castle,” a murder could bring down Castle’s buddy the Mayor.
On “Body of Proof,” a sensational murder trial has the public up in arms when an accused mother goes free . . . . sounds familiar!
On “Revenge,” see how Daniel proposed to Emily/Amanda.
On “Once Upon A Time,” we meet the dwarves when Snow’s heart breaks over Charming’s upcoming wedding.
On “Desperate Housewives,” a potential new suspect in Alejandro’s murder?

Also of note, I am probably going to be giving ABC’s “Good Christian Belles” and “The River” a try when they start up in February.

Read on for the full releases!

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