Supernatural – Route 666

And after a couple of decent episodes, Supernatural returns to a ho-hum one. This time, we get a blast from Dean’s past when his old girlfriend calls him up about her father’s suspicious murder. It should have been a great episode, but it was hampered by the fact that there wasn’t much chemistry between Dean and Cassie.

The best part of the episode was Sam’s facial expressions. He played the teasing younger brother role to a T. And I loved Dean’s reaction to Sam’s confession that his plan (which involved using Dean as bait) was only a theory he thought would maybe work.

The title of this episode didn’t have much to do with a series of racially-motivated murders committed by a ghost truck. While three of the murders took place off of Route 6, the location didn’t have anything to do with them. They turned out to be all tied to a murder/cover-up from the 1960s.

While there were a few intense moments when vehicles or people were being chased down by the truck, in all the episode didn’t have a creepy feel to it. It also seemed pretty standalone, with no references to the traumatic events of the previous episode. And since it looks like Cassie never shows up again on the show, there won’t be much if any impact on future episodes.

I’ve gotten far enough into the show that one episode like this isn’t going to make me put the show on the back burner, but after the past two episodes I was hoping for something better. Only nine more episodes left until season two (which I’ve heard really improves the show)!

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Grimm – La Llorona

Monroe: “Halloween for us? Come on, that’s, like, bigger than Christmas. There’s a long Wesen tradition of an All Hallows’ Eve midnight Woge – running through the woods, scaring the crap out of villagers. Literally, sometimes.”

This episode of Grimm gets a Hispanic twist as a child abduction points to the legend of “La Llorona” – the woman in white. Valentina Espinosa joins the team as an expert on these serial kidnappings.

Full review here: Billie Doux: Grimm: La Llorona.

Continue reading Grimm – La Llorona

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Supernatural – Faith

Great episode! It kind of reminded me of early Angel episodes, which I’m sure was helped by the guest star appearance of Julie Benz, who played Darla on both Buffy and Angel.

This episode starts out with the brothers taking out a baddie that needs to be electrocuted. Only problem – when Dean zaps him, they’re both standing in the same puddle of water. The shock causes Dean to have a heart-damaging cardiac arrest, and the doctors only give him weeks to live.

Dean’s actually pretty resigned about the diagnosis (I guess with his choice of occupation, he has to figure something will get him sooner or later), but Sam is determined to find a cure for his brother. He tries to contact their dad (I’m liking the guy less and less – not even coming when your son is dying?) and calls up all the contacts in their dad’s journal. One of them points the boys to a faith healer. Dean is skeptical, but Sam convinces him to go, and Dean is healed by the blind pastor.

But Dean sees a shadowy creepy old man as he is healed, and when he finds out a local man died of a heart attack around the same time as the healing, he begins to question whether the “miracles” are something darker. After matching up other healings to other deaths, Dean and Sam figure out that a Reaper is at work here, possibly bound by the pastor to do his bidding.

They do some investigating and find out it’s the pastor’s wife who is meddling in black arts and choosing victims based on their immorality. Dean’s snooping around puts him on her hit list, but Sam is able to save the day by destroying her talisman, and the Reaper takes the person who has bound him for so long.

What could have been just an episode about hypocritical church people gets a different spin by the presence of Julie Benz’s character, Layla. Dean is initially attracted to her, but is thrown for a loop when he finds out she has an inoperable brain tumor. (She’s there with her mom, so it was easy to assume the mom was the one who needed healing.) Stopping the Reaper means that Layla will die in a few months. I loved her and Dean’s conversation at the end of the episode, where she tells him that if you’re going to have faith, you can’t just have it when the miracles happen, but when they don’t, too. And Dean admits he’s not the praying type, but he’ll pray for her.

The episode differed from the previous creepy episodes, in that it was more of a mystery with few spooky moments. I would have enjoyed a few more twists, but all in all, this was an excellent episode.

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Supernatural – Scarecrow

Well, the people who mentioned this was one of the better episodes of season one were right – I enjoyed this episode more than any of the previous ones. Interestingly, it was the first episode after the midseason break, which fits well for change to the holding pattern we’d been stuck in (Sam wanting to find their dad, Dean wanting to carry on their dad’s mission).

“Scarecrow” picks up with the duo right where the last episode left off – the call from their father, John Winchester. He wants the guys to stop looking for him, and he gives them info on another job. But Sam has finally had enough. The call came from a payphone in California, and that’s where he wants to head, not a small town in Indiana where road-tripping couples disappear yearly. He gets out of the car, grabs his gear, and starts walking. Surprisingly, Dean lets him go and drives away, leading to a refreshing change of format for this episode.

Sam comes across a fellow hitchhiker named Meg, and the two later meet up at a bus station and share “not wanting to live up to family expectations” stories as they wait for their bus. She seemed like more than a random one-episode character and I thought I’d seen the name come up before on Supernatural sites.

Dean arrives at the town in Indiana, but his direct approach in asking about the previous year’s couple leads to the sheriff escorting him out of town. He comes back and rescues this year’s couple from a creepy animated hook-handed scarecrow made out of last year’s victim (recognizable by an arm tattoo). Dean realizes how much easier this would be with Sam along, and he and his brother talk on the phone and make up, though Sam still plans to go after their dad. Dean even admits he respects the fact that Sam is willing to buck his father’s orders. (Yay for a well-acted scene! Interesting that the actors had a better connection in two separate places during one call than they had in some previous entire episodes.)

They figure out that the deaths are likely a ritual sacrifice to some sort of pagan god, and Dean finds a nearby professor to help him with determining which one. Only the professor is in on the ritual, and since the other couple is gone, Dean and a niece of one of the townspeople are kidnapped to be the sacrifice. Sam gets worried when Dean isn’t picking up his phone, and instead of getting on a bus with Meg, heads to make sure his brother is okay. He arrives just in time to rescue Dean and the niece, but the scarecrow grabs her aunt and uncle instead. The three burn the sacred tree fueling the god, preventing future animated scarecrows.

Sam tells Dean he doesn’t want to chase revenge for their mom and Jess, or go after their absentee father. He’s going to stick with the person he cares about who is right in front of him – finally moving from a begrudging/reluctant companion to one who will stick with Dean through thick and thin (hopefully!). I’m glad they finally brought that part of the show to a rest – the push-pull of leaving/staying was getting annoying.

And they started a far more intriguing story arc, as the final scene has Meg having the guy who picked her up pull over, then slitting his throat and collecting the blood in a chalice, which she uses to “call” her “father.” Yep, Sam was the safer choice of hitchhiker to pick up. We only hear Meg’s side of the conversation, but she’s unhappy at not being able to dispatch both Dean and Sam on her timetable.

So this episode had a lot of things going for it – change in format, start of new story arcs, and an interesting local bogeyman of the week. After “Asylum” seemed to have an endless amount of “wander in a creepy area and wait for something to jump out at you” moments, it was nice that this episode kept them collectively under 5 minutes, even with 3 separate scenes. This is the kind of episode I was looking for when I started the show. No, it’s not perfect, and I’m still longing for more of a Scooby Gang a la Buffy, but I genuinely enjoyed it and am actually looking forward to the next episode.

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Supernatural – Asylum

Okay, when I was making the photo collage for this week’s poll (favorite scary show), I had no idea the random freaky-looking Supernatural image I grabbed would turn out to be from the very episode I ended up watching the same evening! And it was one of Supernatural’s more creepy episodes, which made me regret deciding to watch it so late at night. Ah, well, onto the review!

I bookended watching the episode with two other shows I’m having a hard time getting into (but people/buzz keep telling me I should like), Doctor Who and Arrested Development. I figured perhaps an iffy episode of Doctor Who would make Supernatural seem better by comparison, but I happened to watch one of the most heartfelt episodes – at least so far – of the British show (“Father’s Day”). So it didn’t do Supernatural any favors, but I still thought “Asylum” was pretty decent.

It’s a fairly simple “evil spirits, find the body, salt and burn” episode, set in a creepy asylum. Far too much of the episode seemed to be characters wandering around the place, waiting for ghosts to pop out of any corner (or having them dart around behind the characters’ backs). Both the two cops that visit the place at the beginning of the episode and the two teens caught inside with the brothers later on seemed pretty cardboard – though I did like that the girlfriend knew how to use a shotgun.

As usual, this show rests on the relationship between Dean and Sam, and I am seeing signs of improvement in that area. The scene where Dean pretends to be an annoying reporter, and Sam makes him leave so he can bond with the cop and get answers was humorous. I also liked that Dean knew not to give the spirit-addled Sam a loaded gun – no tearful “I knew you wouldn’t shoot me” moments here.

The good son/rebel son dynamic is getting a bit old, though. As is the tug-of-war between looking for their father and hunting creatures (especially since creatures always win). At least there seems to be some movement on the father end (now that we know he’s just avoiding them) with the phone call at the end of the episode.

Watching this right after an episode of Doctor Who really helped me see the parallels between the two shows and why I’m having trouble getting hooked on both of them. Both have two characters traveling around in a specific vehicle putting their lives in danger saving people from otherworldly attacks. Doctor Who has more reoccurring characters so far, though Supernatural will eventually have more. The visual effects are better on Supernatural, but the storylines are more varied on Doctor Who. I like Dean and Sam better (though only marginally) than the ninth Doctor and Rose, but I know the British dynamic will change in later seasons, while I’m “stuck” with Dean and Sam for the duration of the American show.

My favorite shows, however, tend to have five or more main characters and be set in the same location. Everything from Community to Buffy to How I Met Your Mother to NCIS to The Vampire Diaries fits that mold. Maybe that’s why I never really got into Tru Calling (not enough main characters) or Revolution (characters scattered and on the move).

Anyhow, this was a decent episode of Supernatural, one of the better ones I’ve seen so far. I just hope it doesn’t give me nightmares (remember to not watch future episodes late in the evening!).

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Favorite Scary Show (Poll)

It’s nearly Halloween, and while we’ve recently had a poll on favorite Halloween episodes, this week we’re going to look at  scary shows! Whether the shows are all-out horror, or just have select creepy elements, you get to vote on which ones are your favorites, from the classic Twilight Zone to the brand new 666 Park Avenue!

You might have noticed we’re launching the poll on Tuesday instead of our normal Monday Madness slot. I’m doing this as an experiment. Since poll voting seems to go down on weekends, I thought it might be better for polls to end on Monday nights instead of Sunday nights, to give fans a final weekday to promote their show. We’ll see how that goes, and if you have any ideas for a catchy phrase to use for our polls if we decide to make that move permanent, please mention it in the comments!

This poll will be open for one week, and you can choose up to 10 of your favorite spooky shows! Be sure to spread the word so your favorites will make it into the top 10! Fans have used Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, forums, Reddit, blogs, and chatboxes to get the word out about past polls. Get creative!

I know there are shows missing from the list, so please nominate shows I’ve overlooked! I’m being pretty loose with the term “scary” in this poll, but everyone has different levels of tolerance for suspense, gore, creatures, and surprises. If you’re not sure a show would fit, nominate it anyway!

Want more of a say in which shows make it onto the poll each week? (Shows on the initial list do have better odds to make it into the top 10.) Be sure to follow me on Twitter or like TV Breakroom on Facebook, since I usually ask for nominations before the new poll. Please help out with nominations! There are only so many shows I can watch personally, so I’m counting on you to fill me in!

Without further ado, here’s the poll! Voting ends around 1AM October 30th.

Which is your favorite scary TV show? (Choose up to 10!)

  • Supernatural (17%, 99 Votes)
  • Buffy the Vampire Slayer (7%, 44 Votes)
  • Grimm (6%, 38 Votes)
  • The Walking Dead (6%, 36 Votes)
  • Angel (5%, 31 Votes)
  • The X-Files (5%, 27 Votes)
  • The Vampire Diaries (5%, 27 Votes)
  • Dexter (4%, 25 Votes)
  • American Horror Story (4%, 24 Votes)
  • Fringe (4%, 23 Votes)
  • Doctor Who (4%, 23 Votes)
  • Charmed (4%, 23 Votes)
  • True Blood (4%, 21 Votes)
  • Twin Peaks (3%, 16 Votes)
  • The Twilight Zone (3%, 15 Votes)
  • Being Human (UK) (2%, 13 Votes)
  • Merlin (2%, 11 Votes)
  • American Gothic (2%, 11 Votes)
  • Tales from the Crypt (2%, 11 Votes)
  • Teen Wolf (2%, 10 Votes)
  • 666 Park Avenue (2%, 9 Votes)
  • Criminal Minds (2%, 9 Votes)
  • The Outer Limits (2%, 9 Votes)
  • Carnivale (1%, 8 Votes)
  • Being Human (Syfy) (1%, 8 Votes)
  • Battlestar Galactica (1%, 8 Votes)
  • The Secret Circle (1%, 6 Votes)
  • The River (1%, 3 Votes)

Total Voters: 133

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Monday Madness: Favorite Characters Over 50

This week, Monday Madness returns with a look at those TV characters who buck the 18-49 demographic trend and prove that interesting characters make for great TV, no matter their age!

One important note: this poll does not include characters who have lived for many decades (or even centuries), but through supernatural means still look and act like 20somethings. So no vampires, Alphas who never age, or characters frozen in time for 28 years, unless they were 50+ beforehand. I tried to find actual ages for characters closer to the cut-off point, but when in doubt, I went by the portraying actor’s age when the show came out. And for long-running shows, some characters may have been under 50 at the beginning, but aren’t now.

This poll will be open for one week, and you can choose up to 10 of your favorite TV characters over 50. Be sure to spread the word so your favorites will make it into the top 10! Fans have used Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, forums, Reddit, blogs, and chatboxes to get the word out about past polls. Get creative!

Important: I know there are dozens of TV characters over 50 who are missing from this list. You can nominate characters I missed in the comments until Thursday night, and I may add them to the poll (characters from live-action scripted shows only, please, and the character must be a main cast member or appear in at least 10 episodes of the show).

Want more of a say in who makes it onto the poll each week? Be sure to follow me on Twitter or like TV Breakroom on Facebook, since I usually ask for nominations for the next Monday Madness the weekend before the new poll. Please help out with nominations! There are only so many shows I can watch personally, so I’m counting on you to fill me in!

Without further ado, here’s the poll for this week’s Monday Madness! Voting ends around 1AM October 23rd.

Who is your favorite TV character over 50? (Choose up to 10!)

  • Bobby Singer - Supernatural (20%, 183 Votes)
  • Gibbs - NCIS (11%, 98 Votes)
  • Ducky - NCIS (10%, 95 Votes)
  • Henry Spencer - Psych (6%, 53 Votes)
  • Rumpelstiltskin - Once Upon a Time (5%, 50 Votes)
  • Walter Bishop - Fringe (5%, 45 Votes)
  • Hetty Lange - NCIS: Los Angeles (5%, 43 Votes)
  • Martha - Castle (5%, 43 Votes)
  • Shepherd Book - Firefly (4%, 41 Votes)
  • Madeline Westen - Burn Notice (4%, 39 Votes)
  • Artie - Warehouse 13 (4%, 38 Votes)
  • Cliff Huxtable - The Cosby Show (4%, 34 Votes)
  • Clair Huxtable - The Cosby Show (3%, 30 Votes)
  • Jay Pritchett - Modern Family (3%, 24 Votes)
  • Dr. Lee Rosen - Alphas (2%, 21 Votes)
  • Gaius - Merlin (2%, 18 Votes)
  • Uther Pendragaon - Merlin (2%, 18 Votes)
  • Earl - 2 Broke Girls (2%, 14 Votes)
  • Frank Reagan - Blue Bloods (2%, 14 Votes)
  • Pierce Hawthorne - Community (1%, 13 Votes)
  • Creed - The Office (1%, 8 Votes)
  • Violet Crawley - Downton Abbey (1%, 8 Votes)
  • Sheriff of Nottingham - Robin Hood (0%, 3 Votes)
  • Jack McCoy - Law & Order (0%, 0 Votes)

Total Voters: 290

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Arrow – Pilot

This isn’t going to be a full review – just some initial impressions and comments on one of the most anticipated premieres of the fall season – Arrow!

For starters, if the numbers hold, this is going to be the CW’s most watched airing of any show, on any night, in nearly three years, best rated telecast of any CW show in 2 years, and most watched premiere since The Vampire Diaries in 2009. It even gave Supernatural a ratings boost for its second episode (ratings tend to go down after a series/season premiere, with Arrow as a lead-in, Supernatural actually went up two tenths!). Update: the numbers did hold – 1.3 18-49 rating, 4.14 million viewers.

My expectations were high for this show. I enjoyed the pilot, but I wasn’t blown away. It’s partly because so much of the plot had been revealed in promos and sneak peeks. I’d seen most of the kidnapping scene (though I thought it was pretty neat that they’d hidden the fact that his friend Tommy, played by Colin Donnell, had been taken with him), and heard rumors about who was behind it. Similarly, Oliver Queen’s skills as Arrow and the plan to take down a corrupt businessman had been fully revealed by previews for the show.

I wasn’t expecting Tommy to be dating Oliver’s ex-girlfriend, Laurel (Katie Cassidy) – but I felt like I should have seen that coming. I wasn’t expecting Oliver’s father to sacrifice himself for his son in such a violent way. I wasn’t expecting Tommy to figure out things so quickly.

I liked the dynamic between Oliver and his new “bodyguard,” John Diggle (David Ramsey). One of my favorite scenes of the pilot was Oliver jumping out of the moving car and Dig being flummoxed at where he went. Oliver’s sister Thea (Willa Holland) being into drugs seemed a little cliché, but I think the show can do interesting things with it, especially with Oliver having to keep up his playboy persona – he can’t set a good example for little sis even though he wants to. I wish Quentin Lance (Laurel’s father and a police detective) got a little more screen time – Paul Blackthorne seems to fit the role very well.

In some comments on other sites, I’ve read some complaints that there isn’t much chemistry between Oliver and Laurel, but after seeing joint interviews with Stephen Amell and Katie Cassidy, I think that will be quickly remedied in future episodes.

Out of the drama pilots I’ve seen this fall, I rank Arrow third – not quite as good as Elementary, but far better than Revolution.

Did you watch Arrow? What do you think of it?

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TV Duos Bracket – Round Three, Day 30

In round three of our TV duos bracket, two evil-fighting duos, one in present-day US, one in medieval England, now face each other. Which are you rooting for, brothers Dean and Sam of Supernatural, or legendary Merlin and Arthur of Merlin?

Our third matchup from round three (Brenda & Fritz vs. Leonard & Sheldon) just finished – be sure to check out the results and all our current matchups here! The winning duos will advance to the next round. (P.S. Be sure to stop by our new show poll as well!)

You can find a full list of upcoming TV duos matchups here (edited to show most of our round two eliminations!). Round three matchups are in green. Each of the round three matchups will be open for 72 hours (3 days), so spread the word quickly so your favorite pair will make it into the next round! Fans have used Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, forums, Reddit, blogs, and chatboxes to get the word out about past polls. Our toolbar at the bottom of the page has lots of quick links to help you share this post, or you can mouse over the image above!

Which is your favorite TV duo? Round 3.6

  • Merlin and Arthur - Merlin (51%, 1,517 Votes)
  • Dean and Sam - Supernatural (50%, 1,487 Votes)

Total Voters: 2,955

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TV Duos Bracket – Round Two, Day 22

On day 22 of our TV duos bracket, classic America faces British legend as Andy and Barney from The Andy Griffith Show go up against Merlin and Arthur. Also, evil-hunting brothers Dean and Sam from Supernatural battle crime-fighting partners Cagney and Lacey.

Our third matchup of round two just finished – be sure to check out the results and all our current matchups here! The winning duos will advance to the next round.

You can find a full list of upcoming TV duos matchups here (edited to show all our round one eliminations!). Round two matchups are in burgundy. Each of the round two matchups will be open for 72 hours (3 days), so spread the word quickly so your favorite pairs will make it into the next round! Fans have used Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, forums, Reddit, blogs, and chatboxes to get the word out about past polls. Our toolbar at the bottom of the page has lots of quick links to help you share this post, or you can mouse over the image above!

Which is your favorite TV duo? Round 2.11

  • Merlin and Arthur - Merlin (88%, 491 Votes)
  • Andy and Barney - The Andy Griffith Show (13%, 71 Votes)

Total Voters: 560

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Which is your favorite TV duo? Round 2.12

  • Dean and Sam - Supernatural (84%, 369 Votes)
  • Cagney and Lacey - Cagney & Lacey (16%, 68 Votes)

Total Voters: 437

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Grimm – Bad Moon Rising

Grimm (and Nick) finally let Hank in on the secret in this episode – Wesen exist. Why Hank can see them is still a mystery, but with Monroe spending more time with Rosalee, it’s nice that Nick has someone else who understands (at least a bit) about what’s going on.

Full review here: Billie Doux: Grimm: Bad Moon Rising.

Continue reading Grimm – Bad Moon Rising

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TV Duos Bracket – Round One, Day 14

In our fourteenth day of competition (only two more days remain for round one!), two classic shows square off as Klink and Schultz from Hogan’s Heroes face Cagney and Lacey! But I suspect the latter matchup will attract more voters as two enormous fandoms clash. Supernatural’s Dean and Sam versus Sherlock and Watson is a battle that could have easily taken place in this bracket’s finals, but fate/Random.org determined the duos would face each other in round one.

Our day 11 matchups just ended – be sure to check out the results and all our current matchups here! The winning duos will advance to the next round (which will launch in three days!).

You can find a full list of upcoming TV duos matchups here (edited to show our first half of round one eliminations!). Round one matchups are in teal. Each of the round one matchups will be open for 72 hours (3 days), so spread the word quickly so your favorite pairs will make it into the next round! Fans have used Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, forums, Reddit, blogs, and chatboxes to get the word out about past polls. Our toolbar at the bottom of the page has lots of quick links to help you share this post!

Which is your favorite TV duo? Round 1.27

  • Cagney and Lacey - Cagney & Lacey (59%, 61 Votes)
  • Klink and Schultz - Hogan's Heroes (41%, 43 Votes)

Total Voters: 104

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Which is your favorite TV duo? Round 1.28

  • Dean and Sam - Supernatural (58%, 164 Votes)
  • Sherlock and Watson - Sherlock (42%, 119 Votes)

Total Voters: 283

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2012 TV Olympics Results

The results are in and the votes have been tallied! Tied for the most medals in our 2012 TV Olympics are Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Supernatural, with 9 medals each! But since Supernatural got 6 gold medals to Buffy’s 4, Supernatural is the winner!

In all, 31 shows went home with medals! Bones received the most medals without taking home a gold, 6. Angel, NCIS, and Psych each took home 5 medals. Once Upon a Time earned 4 medals. The remaining 24 shows took home 3 or less medals, with 20 of those shows only garnering one medal. Castle and Doctor Who took home 3 medals, while NCIS: Los Angeles and Fringe earned 2 each.

See below for the final medal count per show and individual winners for each event, with links to each of our 21 completed mini-polls.

 

Medal Count

[table id=1 /]

 

Poll Medalists

Cutest Couple Name

Gold – Tiva (NCIS)

Silver – Densi (NCIS: Los Angeles)

Bronze – Caskett (Castle)

 

Best Married Couple

Gold – John and Mary Winchester (Supernatural)

Silver – Snow and Charming (Once Upon a Time)

Bronze – Angela and Hodgins (Bones)

 

Favorite Newborn to Five-Year-Old Character

Gold – Hope (Raising Hope)

Silver – Christine (Bones)

Bronze – Michael (Bones)

 

Favorite Elementary-Aged Character

Gold – Henry (Once Upon a Time)

Silver – Young Shawn (Psych)

Bronze – Young Gus (Psych)

 

Favorite Musical Episode

Gold – “Once More With Feeling” (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

Silver – “My Musical” (Scrubs)

Bronze – “Song Beneath the Song” (Grey’s Anatomy)

 

Favorite Animated/Alternate Media Episode

Gold – “Smile Time” (Angel)

Silver – “Lysergic Acid Diethylamide” (Fringe)

Bronze – “Digital Estate Planning” (Community)

 

Most Annoying Teen Character

Tied for Gold – Connor (Angel) and Dawn (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

Bronze – Harmony (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

 

Favorite Crossover Episode

Gold – Doctor Who (Torchwood, The Sarah Jane Adventures) – The Stolen Earth and Journey’s End

Silver – NCIS: Los Angeles (NCIS) – Random on Purpose

Bronze – The Finder (Bones) – Little Green Men

 

Favorite Halloween Episode

Gold – It’s the Great Pumpkin, Sam Winchester (Supernatural)

Silver – Code of Conduct (NCIS)

Bronze – Mummy in the Maze (Bones)

 

Favorite Thanksgiving Episode

Tied for Gold – Child’s Play (NCIS) and Pangs (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

Bronze – Slapsgiving (How I Met Your Mother)

 

Best Vampire Effects and Rules

Gold – Supernatural

Silver – Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel

Bronze – True Blood

 

Best Werewolf Effects and Rules

Gold – The Vampire Diaries

Silver – Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Angel

Bronze – Teen Wolf

 

Favorite Dual Role

Gold – Angel/Angelus (David Boreanaz) – Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel

Silver – Willow/Vampire Willow (Alyson Hannigan) – Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Bronze – Snow White/Mary Margaret (Ginnifer Goodwin) – Once Upon a Time

 

Favorite Switched-Body Performance

Gold – Jared Padalecki as Lucifer – Supernatural

Silver – Matt Cohen as Michael – Supernatural

Bronze – Joanne Kelly as Pete and Eddie McClintock as Myka – Warehouse 13

 

Favorite TV Animal

Gold – Dragon (Merlin)

Silver – Satchmo (White Collar)

Bronze – Marcel (Friends)

 

Favorite Dad/Daughter Duo

Gold – Castle and Alexis (Castle)

Silver – Eli and Ziva (NCIS)

Bronze – Max and Temperance (Bones)

 

Favorite Mother/Son Duo

Gold – Martha and Castle (Castle)

Silver – Emma and Henry (Once Upon a Time)

Bronze – Madeline and Michael (Burn Notice)

 

Favorite Father/Son Duo/Trio

Gold – John and Dean/Sam (Supernatural)

Silver – Henry and Shawn (Psych)

Bronze – Walter and Peter (Fringe)

 

Favorite Mother/Daughter Duo

Gold – Ellen and Jo (Supernatural)

Silver – Jackie and Rose (Doctor Who)

Bronze – Amy and River (Doctor Who)

 

Favorite Hero/Villain on Different Shows

Gold – Timothy Omundson: Carlton Lassiter (hero) on Psych, Phil Constantino (villain) on Jericho

Silver – Jensen Ackles: Dean Winchester (hero) on Supernatural, Ben/X5-493 (villain) on Dark Angel

Bronze – Nathan Fillion: Malcolm Reynolds (hero) on Firefly, Caleb (villain) on Buffy the Vampire Slayer

 

Favorite Cast-Performed Song

Gold – “Shout” sung by Shawn and Gus (Psych)

Silver – “Thinking of You” sung by Eliot (Leverage)

Bronze – “Dead or Alive” sung by Dean and Sam (Supernatural)

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Supernatural – Home

Okay, I’d heard this was a good episode, and it was one of the better ones I’ve seen so far, but as it ended I felt rather ambivalent. What, really, has changed?

This episode, thanks to one of Sam’s prescient dreams, takes the brothers back to Kansas, where a mother and her two young children have just moved into the boys’ childhood home. Early creepy indications include scratching noises and the sighting of a figure wreathed in flames.

Dean and Sam make some inquiries around town and finally meet with a no-nonsense female psychic who knew their father. Missouri’s presence in the episode shows again how hard it is to connect to a show when there are only two main characters. She made a good addition to the team for the episode, and made me wish for a consistent third character to liven up the relationship dynamics.

Okay, after watching this episode and the Heroes pilot, I am going to have a lifelong fear of garbage disposals. The monkey with the cymbals was pretty clichéd, though.

I figured out early on that flame-figure was Mary Winchester, thanks to coming across spoilers while verifying facts for polls. So that part of the episode didn’t have the impact on me that it could have. And seeing Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s name in the credits let me know that good ol’ dad would be showing up at some point – unfortunately it was in a closing scene with Missouri, so no family reunion just yet. Plus his excuse for not seeing his sons seems incredibly lame. There’d better be a good reason for why seeking this “truth” is keeping him apart from his sons when it didn’t for the first 20 years after the fire. Especially after Dean’s phone call to him, which was some of the best acting I’ve seen on this show so far, by Jensen Ackles or anyone else.

And so Dean and Sam faced their fears, went back home, and saved the day – but what do they have to show for it? Yeah, it was cool that they saw their mom, but a) they already knew she was dead, and b) they already were pretty sure she loved them. It’s interesting that we as viewers now know that John Winchester isn’t locked in some hell dimension, but his sons don’t know. So as far as I can see, nothing changes. Maybe I’m just too used to Joss Whedon shows, but after a pivotal episode like that, isn’t something (even if it’s a tiny shift in a relationship or a new fear a character will have to overcome) supposed to be different?

Well, there is the fact that now Dean knows about Sam’s dreams. Would have been nice to touch on that near the end. But I guess I’ll have to see if this episode has much of an impact on later ones.

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Supernatural – Bugs

I went into watching this episode expecting it to be terrible (perhaps remembering Smallville’s cringe-worthy bug episode of its first season), but to my surprise it wasn’t half bad. I even laughed a few times, including when Dean stuck his towel-wrapped head out of the bathroom.

One of the things that made me enjoy the episode was getting some backstory on Sam’s relationship with his dad. Even though it was presented awkwardly (come on, writers, this isn’t the 80s), it really gave me a better idea of how the brothers relate.

Since the description gave away that a Native American burial ground had something to do with the bug attacks, I had the Buffy episode “Pangs” in my head the entire time, but the two didn’t have all that much in common. I did think the much more specific curse on “Bugs” made an interesting difference. (And now I have an arrow-riddled Spike yelling, “A bear! You made a bear! Undo it, undo it!” going on a constant loop in my head.)

I really disliked how the final attack was supposed to be 6 hours long (a little after midnight until dawn), and yet the way it was shot it seemed like a half hour at most. It made the sunrise seem like a cop-out.

All in all, while “Bugs” was a little corny in places, it was much better than the last episode, and is giving me a little hope for the show.

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