Category Archives: zombies

February 28, 2016 — The Dead & Nothing But the Dead

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What I Watched Today
(rambling, random thoughts & recaps from today’s real time TV watching)

The only show with enough guts to air a new episode opposite The Who-Cares-What-Number-It-Is Academy Awards. AMC’s Walking Dead, we salute you!

The Walking Dead

Abe is telling camel stories to Sasha, while they check out the perimeter of Alexandria. They talk about Maggie having a baby. I’m thinking maybe Abe wants to have one with Sasha. When he says he’ll see her tomorrow, she says she’s taking a new shift. She says Eugene wants to help more, so he’s going to be walking with Abe. He changes it to see you around.

Abe is in bed with Rosita. I’m confused. Was he dreaming or was that a memory? Rosita tosses him a necklace that she made for him. He tells her she’s damn near perfection. Why not total perfection? Something in the necklace makes him think of giving the victory sign to Sasha.

Maggie and Glenn are doing something with the garden. Someone is sneaking around and they follow.

Paul is in Rick’s house and Carl draws a gun on him. Paul (introducing himself as Jesus, so I guess we’ll go with that now) says he’s waiting for Carl And Michonne. Two seconds later, everyone is there for a meeting. Jesus gives them a scorecard of Alexandria and what they’ve got going on as far as supplies and other assets. He says they got off to a bad start, but they’re on the same side. He says he’s from a place like Alexandria and he scouts for others. He admits he misjudged them, thinking they weren’t good people and he wants to make amends now. He talks about the settlement where he’s from, Hilltop, and says they’ve started breeding livestock.

Maggie asks if they’ve thrown in with other groups, and Jesus says their world is about to get a whole lot bigger. Cool! I’m excited to see new people.

Rick and the gang are going with Jesus to Hilltop. Denise gives Daryl an oatcake for the road. Carl wonders what’s up with Rick and Michonne. Rick says he was going to tell him, but it just happened. Carl says it’s cool. Carl is staying behind this time and says he’ll keep an eye on Baby Judith.

Abe asks Glenn something about Bisquick and pancakes. What he’s really asking about is Maggie’s pregnancy. Abe tells Glenn that if he sees rain coming, he wears galoshes. Can’t this guy speak English? Dr. Phil would probably understand him.

Rick sees a crashed RV. It’s some of Jesus’s group. There’s blood everywhere and the crash victims have turned into zombies. At first, Rick thinks Jesus set them up, but Jesus says they don’t have many fighters in their group and whoever else was in the RV is in trouble. Rick says he’ll look for them, but Jesus is staying behind with Maggie, who has orders to shoot him if he gets weird.

Rick and company go into a totally dark building where you can hear zombies lurking about. They tell the live people to hang tight. Abe nearly kills one of them because it’s really hard to tells who’s who in the dark.

Back in the RV, one of the rescued guys introduces himself as Harlan. It turns out he’s an obstetrician, which is good news for Maggie and Glenn. Jesus’s friend Freddy, the guy Abe almost killed, is still freaked out. His wife had been killed and she came back as a zombie.

Uh-oh, the RV is stuck in the mud. Jesus is like, it’s okay, we’re close enough. They get out and see the compound on the hilltop. Apparently, they’re not too original with names.

Jesus tells the lookout to open the gates. The lookout says to drop the weapons, but Jesus tells him the group saved them and he trusts them. He asks Rick to trust his group in return. Lookout guy opens the gates.

Harlan says see you on the flipside and takes Freddy for a look-see. Ha-ha! Jesus says a lot of people came from a FEMA camp. I’ll bet that was scarier than the zombie apocalypse. At the center of the settlement is a Colonial mansion. Jesus says it was a historical site that kids visited on field trips back in the day. It’s some house.

Ha-ha! again. When they go inside, a guy comes out and says “Jesus, you’re back,” a sentence you could take more then one way. His name is Gregory and he says he’s the boss. He suggests Rick and friends tidy up and they’ll meet after.

Abe asks Daryl how long Rick and Michonne have been together (5 minutes?) and if he’s thought of settling down.

Rick sends Maggie to Gregory’s office to negotiate. Gregory says he had visited the place when it was a museum and little did he know one day it would be his. Well, sort of. He thanks her for saving the doctor. She asks how they’ve survived at Hilltop. He says they’re good at it and they don’t sweat the details. They talk about gardens and Maggie brings up a trade. Gregory says he’s happy to help, but he can’t give things away for free. He says they can work there for their share.

Um…I think he’s making a pass at her. Yes he is. Maggie tells him to knock it off. She says hilltop is low on medication and their communities can help each other.

Jesus tells Rick and Daryl that Gregory is going to want the best deal possible. Rick says they need food and they didn’t come all this way not to get it. Jesus says he’ll talk to Gregory. He says right now Hilltop is going well, but tomorrow it could be Alexandria. He asks for a few days.

Some guy comes in and says “they’re back.” A negotiation with Negan has gone wrong with people getting killed and being held hostage. A hostage’s brother (who is wearing a man bun — no, just no) has been returned along with a message from Negan in the form of said brother stabbing Gregory in the stomach. Everything goes nuts, Abe is being strangled, Daryl breaks the guy’s arm, man bun holds a knife to Rick’s throat. Rick turns the tables on him though, slicing man bun’s jugular vein.

Some woman knocks Rick in the head and Michonee knocks her down. Jesus says Negan was their friend, but now he’s nothing except a coward attacking them. Gregory is still just lying there bleeding. Geez. Jesus tells Rick things aren’t as simple as they seem and to give him some time.

The doctor is able to patch Gregory up. Negan is head of a group called The Saviors. They made demands and threats to Hilltop, and beat one of the children to death in front of everyone because Negan wanted them to understand where he was coming from. Gregory isn’t the best at confrontation and agreed to give Negan half of everything in exchange for Hilltop not being slaughtered. Daryl asks how many people Negan has. Jesus says they don’t know, but they’ve seen groups with as many as twenty. Daryl says they can take him out, but he wants an exchange. Jesus says he’ll take it to Gregory.

Rick says Gregory’s people have food, they don’t, and they need to trade their services in exchange. Jesus says Gregory wants to talk to Maggie.

Maggie goes to Gregory’s room where he’s recuperating. She says he’s lucky they were there. She asks if Jesus told him about the deal and says in exchange for supplies, they’ll get rid of Negan and The Saviors. Will work for food. Gregory says Jesus will make the arrangements. He also says it’s fun and exciting because he doesn’t get out much. Maggie says if they continue with Negan, pretty soon they won’t have anything. She wants half of what he has right now or the deal is off.

Gregory tells her she has a deal. He asks if she wants anything else and she says yes. She wants some of the Hilltop people to go with them.

Rick loads the RV with supplies. He asks one of the Hilltoppers (Hilltopites?) to come with them because he needs someone who knows Negan’s layout. Jesus is coming along too, just for the hell of it.

Maggie gets an ultrasound.

The RV leaves the compound. Glenn passes around the sonogram photo.

Next week, Rick decides on a strategy to come for The Saviors before The Saviors come for them.

February 21, 2016 — The Dead Walk & the Wives Throw Shade

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What I Watched Today
(rambling, random thoughts & recaps from today’s real time TV watching)

The Walking Dead

Carl certainly seems to have recovered well from his eyeball mishap. All seems to be copacetic in Alexandria as well.

Denise gives Daryl a list of things needed as he’s going on a supply run with Rick. She also wants some soda and candy for a couple of the others. Ha-ha-ha! She calls soda “pop” and has to explain that to Daryl, saying she’s from Ohio. Me too, and it took me forever to start calling it “soda.”

Eugene gives Daryl a list of agricultural needs. Daryl and Rick drive off. Rick thinks today is the day they’ll find food and people. They haven’t seen anyone for weeks. Rick puts in a CD, while Daryl begs him not to. I assume they have different musical tastes.

Michonne is on guard duty. She sees Spencer going into the woods with a shovel.

Maggie asks Enid where she’s been. She says nowhere and Maggie thinks there are better places for her to be. Maggie tells her if she needs to talk to come to her.

Daryl and Rick find a feed store out in the middle of nowhere. (Is that where Enid has been?) No zombies inside, so they’re good. They find a truck and Rick suggests using it for the rest of their trip. They take the truck to a filling station, which I would doubt has any gas. They use the truck to flip over a vending machine, but instead of soda, a guy with a bandana over his nose and mouth pops out.

Dude says he was just running from the dead. Daryl asks how many and where. He says more than 10 and they probably have about 10 minutes to get out of there. He says his name is Paul, but his friends used to call him Jesus. Rick starts to ask him the three questions, but Paul-Jesus says he’s in a hurry and runs off.

Rick tells Daryl he noticed that Paul was clean with a trimmed beard, which means he’s been doing okay, and is contemplating picking him up later. They hear some gun shots and run around the other side of the station. It’s only firecrackers. Firecrackers put there by Paul who steals the truck. What would Jesus do? I’m not sure, but what he wouldn’t do is steal your truck.

Michonne follows Spencer. He’s about to whack a zombie and she does it for him. She asks why he’s there and he says he walks in between his shifts, but she’s the first one who’s noticed. She wants to walk with him, but he wants to go it alone. She says his mom told her to figure out what she wants for her life, but right now she’s trying to figure out why he’s walking around in the woods with a shovel.

Carl and Enid are also on a walk in the woods. They find a note in a plastic bag, but it’s wet, so they can’t read it. She says it doesn’t look very old and that means they’re not alone. Enid asks why they’re walking and Carl says that’s what kids do. Enid says she’s not a kid.

Rick and Daryl try chasing after the truck on foot, and come across the vending machine in the road, totally perplexing me. Daryl takes out a couple of cans for Denise. They have a drink and keep running.

Commercial break. Hey, it’s GH’s Obrecht back with Fear 462. And it looks like she’s been bitten. Or scratched. Or something.

Enid and Carl are sitting under a tree, having a snack and reading, when they see Michonne and Spencer. They don’t notice Carl and Enid. Enid says she doesn’t want to come out there anymore. Carl says okay and starts walking away, leaving her to carry everything. Nice.

They see a zombie and while Enid wants to ignore it, Carl is concerned about Michonne. He makes a sound so the zombie changes course. For whatever reason, he isn’t killing it and Enid wants to either kill it or leave. Carl knocks the zombie down and tells her if she doesn’t want to be there, to go home. So she leaves. I would too. He’s getting a little kooky.

Daryl and Rick continue to follow the truck’s trail until they finally see Paul. The truck is stopped and he’s messing around in the back. Rick grabs him from behind, but apparently Paul knows martial arts. Paul slips though and they draw their guns. Rick tells him he wants the keys. Paul says he’s not a bad guy and Rick says Paul doesn’t know what they are.

Rick gets the keys and they tie Paul up. Daryl says the knots aren’t that tight and he should be able to get loose when they’re gone. He throws Paul a can of soda and they take off, Daryl saying good-by with his middle finger.

Rick tells Daryl today is still the day. Well, they did see one person. They realize something is on the roof and stop short. Paul drops to the ground. Daryl jumps out of the moving truck and chases him. Rick stupidly stops the truck to help, which allows Paul to get back in the cab while Rick is dealing with the surrounding zombies. Paul grabs Daryl’s gun and tells Daryl to duck. He shoots a zombie coming up behind Daryl and Daryl knocks Paul out with a punch. All that has resulted from this is the truck sliding backwards and sinking into the nearby lake.

Daryl tells Rick they should go look at cars. Rick says what about unconscious Paul, since he did help Daryl. Daryl says fine, they’ll put him in a tree.

Michonne continues to follow Spencer. He tells her he’s fine, but he needs to take care of something. Or at least try. Michonne asks him to let her help, but he says she can’t. They see Carl in the distance being followed by a zombie.

Spencer says he thought he “saw her that night.” It’s Deanna. I thought they shot her that night. Spencer and Michonne put a hold on her and Spencer puts her out of her misery. So that’s why he was trolling the woods. The scene is brief, but sad.

Spencer and Michonne bury Deanna. He says she left him a note saying he knows his way, but he doesn’t think he does. Michonne says he loved his family and he still has a home in Alexandria. They head back.

Rick and Daryl have still unconscious Paul in the new truck. Rick says Paul must have a hard head, but Denise needs to take a look at him when they get back.

Carl is rocking Baby Judith on the porch. Michonne tells him she saw him with Deanna and that he should have left her or killed her. He says that’s stupid. She says what’s stupid is him being out there and Carl says he couldn’t leave her out there like that and he couldn’t kill her. She asks him if he was playing some kind of game. He says he thought someone who loved her should be the one to end her existence and Michonne would have done the same thing.

Daryl and Carl get back to Alexandria. Paul is still out and they carry him to Denise’s house. Or office. Whatever. They leave Paul on a mattress with a glass of water and a note. We don’t see what the note says.

Rick tries to get some shut-eye on the couch and Michonne tells him to move over. They watch Judith on a monitor. Michonne asks where Daryl is and Rick says he’s watching over a guy. Michonne is like, a guy? and asks him if he wants to talk about it. He says no, but what about her day? She says same thing and Rick asks if she found a guy too. He gives her some mints and says he had toothpaste per her request, but it’s at the bottom of the lake now.

All of a sudden, they realize they’re holding hands. They kiss. Dammit! I want her with Daryl. They move on to more than kissing.

We don’t see what happens next (nor do I want to), but in the next scene they’re nakey and in bed sleeping. Someone tells Rick to wake up. Paul is there. Now I’m wondering where Daryl is.

Next week, I have no idea what happens. Either they didn’t show it or I missed it somehow.

The Real Housewives of Atlanta

The ladies are talking about Sheree having Googled Kim’s husband and tell Kim what had been discussed about him, throwing Kenya under the bus. Kenya says when Kim isn’t around, they all have something to say about Chris, but now it’s a different story. I agree. Kenya was not the only one talking about him in a negative way, but now he’s the most wonderful guy ever.

When Kim leaves, Kenya says what’s up with them not saying to her face what they said behind her back. Kenya says the rumors about Chris being gay have been around for years, so it’s not like she’s talking out of turn.

Kim and Nene meet for brunch. Nene feels badly about what happened in regard to Chris. Kim says she’s felt like a target and Nene says she should address it and not be passive.

Phaedra joins them and Nene fills her in. Both Nene and Phaedra say they’ve been Kenya’s targets in the past. Kim says she’s not going to lower herself. Nene says she has to do something, and Phaedra says it’s not necessary to lower herself. They role play to give Kim a reading lesson. They totally make fun of Kenya, which I guess is okay with Kim who finds it hysterically funny. Oddly enough, I think she just did lower herself.

Kandi and Todd go to meet with a potential chef for their restaurant. Todd says everyone is on board with it except Aunt Bertha. The aunts and Mama Joyce have been invited to check out the tasting menu. The chef comes out with the food and says if they don’t like it, he didn’t make it. Ha-ha!

The food looks phenomenal and everyone loves it except Aunt Bertha. She’s only okay with the ribs, which she says are off the chain. Everyone is also good with the restaurant idea except Aunt Bertha. Apparently, Aunt Bertha is a real pita.

Kim says while she appreciates Nene and Phaedra’s advice, reading isn’t her style. She calls Chris and tells him about the ladies Googling his sexual preferences. Chris isn’t bothered, but he mentions that there’s plenty on Google about all of them, like mug shots. Kim says she’d rather play grown than play dirty. Um, Kim, you weren’t playing grown in that restaurant.

Peter takes the group on the river walk that he calls the Jamaican Six Flags. The place is beautiful, but right away Nene is all I can’t do it. She waits while the others go. Kenya and Matt are at the top before anyone else. Cynthia says everything isn’t a competition and it could have been a bonding experience. Nene says she doesn’t like how Kenya is isolating herself. At least she did the activity and didn’t sit it out on the side.

Afterward, the group goes to a jerk place. I don’t mean the people are jerks, appropriate though it may be for this group; I mean the way the meat is smoked. Phaedra makes a face like she smelled something bad while she’s eating. The guys start bugging Matt about the age difference between him and Kenya, which I guess is also okay.

Nene talks about the brunch with Phaedra and Kim, and says they talked about Kenya. She says Kim doesn’t understand what the problem between them is, and suggests they discuss it. Kim says she feels Kenya crossed a line and disrespected her. She wants either no conversation or cordial conversation, but no more talk about her family. Kenya congratulates her on speaking for herself. Cynthia interrupts and says that Kim wasn’t throwing shade and Kenya was disrespectful. Kenya asks not to be interrupted, since she didn’t interrupt Kim. She says she doesn’t hate Kim but she’s indifferent.

Cynthia brings up how Kenya pulled Kim’s chair during an altercation. She says things like that can make an argument turn physical and she owes Kim an apology. Kenya thanks her for her honesty. Kim says it should hae been handled a different way. Kenya apologizes for the chair thing. Kim says if there’s mutual respect, they can get along and agree to disagree.

Cynthia thinks there’s a deeper issue than Kim and Kenya, and that she and Kenya need to address some things. Nene leaves and Peter suggests they have a shot. Frankly, I think that often leads to problems with these people too.

Sheree, Nene and Cynthia go to some ice cream place where I want one of everything. Cynthia seems to think the conversation with Kenya was productive. She also says Nene has come a long way. Really? Cynthia brought a list of things she wants to go over with Kenya and goes over it with the other two. Because it’s okay to throw shade when it’s you.

It’s the last night and Cynthia says despite the problems, she thinks everyone had a good time. They gather for cocktails at a gazebo near the water. Phaedra says Peter looks good enough to bury and Porsha asks if he’s “casket sharp.” Phaedra says when you look good enough to meet Jesus, you’re looking pretty good. She means the real Jesus, not the new Walking Dead guy. Cynthia says that this is the Peter she fell in love with.

It’s dinner time and Kenya still hasn’t shown up. Peter starts talking about how great the trip was, going over everything they’ve done so we can see flashbacks. Kenya and Matt arrive. Sheree’s ex, Bob, who came on the trip is hoping to get back together with her. They all make funny comments about Kenya and Matt. Matt used the word “love” in his conversation with the guys, so that gets some attention.

They talk about the commercial and Cynthia says the only thing missing for her was Kenya. Kenya says she wasn’t given the opportunity to present her concepts and it was hurtful. We flash back to all that mess. Cynthia says even though she chose Kim to direct, she’d wanted Kenya to play opposite her as the best friend. Kenya jokes that was before Nene came back. Nene says she’s always going to be around. Interesting, since the last season we heard from her, she couldn’t stand working with any of them. I guess the big world of acting wasn’t as easy as she thought.

Peter says Kenya was her first choice. Kenya says that when she felt everyone was against her, Cynthia was the one who stood up for her. She says she was in her feelings and behaved like a jerk (this time meaning as in a person). She says she’s sorry she let Cynthia down. Cynthia says it was important to her and sometimes friends have to do what they don’t feel like doing. She accepts the apology, but I think that was an unnecessary comment.

Phaedra, being the cretin she is, says that she thinks it’s just more bad acting form Kenya. I like this woman less and less every episode.

They have a final toast.

Next week, the ladies have a lingerie photo shoot, Matt wants a wife, and Phaedra’s kids visit their dad in prison.

The Real Housewives of Potomac

Is the season over yet?

I notice Ashley’s voice goes up a notch when she gets excited. This isn’t a good look when doing business.

Karen and her daughter, Raven, are taking a self-defense class. Karen wants her daughter to learn to defend herself since she’s going off to college. About a year prior, Karen was mugged and had her diamond necklace stolen. She says she kept her ring though, since she took it off and slid it into “Never Never Land.” I don’t even want to think about what that means, but I am wondering how she accomplished that during the mugging.

Karen says the job of a parent is never done, so she also bought Raven a hot pink stun gun.

Ashley and Michael are opening a restaurant geared toward Australian fare. She’s looking for an assistant and conducting interviews. When they get to asking the candidates about their knowledge of Australia, it’s pretty much a blank slate across the board. After the interviews, Ashley and Michael discuss the interviewees and they both are leaning toward Jasmine.

Robyn comes to visit Charrisse. Since Charrisse gets “NBA life” (whatever that means), Robyn says she shares a bond with her that she doesn’t with the others. They have some food and wine. Robyn tells Charrisse that her ex-husband might have to take out-of-state work. Charrisse asks if she’s still in love with him. Even though she lives with him, they share a bed and have sex, Robyn says they’re not in a relationship. Okay. Robyn says she thinks she’s going to stay in Potomac if he goes, but if she misses him, that might change.

Charrisse says she’s on the fence about her marriage. She says her husband is a great father, but a lousy husband. She’s feeling she’s at the point where something drastic has to happen. She basically blew him off in a text to which he never responded. She says wants a divorce, and Robyn tells her if he won’t do it, she’ll have to.

Gizelle is having a girls’ night with Karen, who’s hoping to gossip with her instead of about her. Is this the level of etiquette she’s so proud of? They talk about how Ashley had a cash bar at her birthday party, which I have to admit is a bit crass. Gizelle said she walked out without paying because she didn’t know. I’ll have to remember that one for next time. Karen says she wants to school Ashley in how to entertain.

Karen is having a couples dinner. She says it’s BYOM — Bring Your Own Man. Gizelle wonders about the ladies whose husbands work away from home. They discuss Katie making out like crazy with her boyfriend at the birthday party and seem to think she’s “on something.” They sound like my grandmother or Archie Bunker. A storm starts outside and thunder happens every time they try to talk shade. I think God is trying to tell them something.

Ashley’s mom and brother come over. They play a game of pool and she tells them about the other Potomac ladies. Ashley’s mom was a single mother and they’re very close. She recently had to file bankruptcy and I wonder why Ashley didn’t help her out. Oh, okay, it seems like her mother doesn’t want her helping out.

Katie is waiting for Karen at a restaurant and talking to her boyfriend on the phone. She’s nervous because she wants to get her on the host committee for her foundation.

Karen arrives. Karen says something about the PDA at Ashley’s event and Katie apologizes. She asks what Karen thought about the cat theme and Karen says she’s a little old for all that nonsense, and calls it a teeny-bopper party. Karen approaches her about the Rost Foundation. She says she has a month to get a casino night together and needs Karen’s help. She’s looking for donations in the amount of 100K, and asks Karen if she’ll be on the committee, but Karen says she’s booked. And she won’t give up her Rolodex either. Do people still use those? Probably only people who use phrases like teeny-bopper.

Gizelle meets her date, Herman. She’s getting back into the dating pool, and I’m thinking she can do better than this. It’s her second date and I guess his credentials are impressive. They make a toast with water and he gets a little forward. The raw oysters come and Herman made the mistake of thinking they were fried. Although I like them now, I made this same mistake in a restaurant when I was 12. I was totally grossed out once I put the oyster in my mouth. I didn’t want to swallow it, but I didn’t want to spit it out in a restaurant full of people, so I just sat there with it in my mouth until I couldn’t deal anymore and chugged it down.

Gizelle thinks Herman needs a little more pizzazz. I could have told her that. She invites him to the couple’s dinner. He starts talking about it being a third date, but she says it doesn’t count. On top of it he makes the horrible mistake of calling the oysters “clams.” I’m not saying it’s horrible — I do it all the time — but Gizelle seems put off by it.

Katie and Andrew meet Ashley and her husband for a round of golf. Katie says she doesn’t really like the game, but she likes the outfits and driving the cart. Ashley hits the dirt the first time out, but manages to hit the ball on the second try.

The girls have a drink while the guys continue on with the game. Katie tells Ashley about Karen not being able to be on the committee. She tells Ashley that Karen thought the birthday party was for a younger crowd and Ashley says that was kind of ageist. Katie says she likes hanging out with Ashley rather than the old biddies, who aren’t really that old, but act like it.

Karen had matriarchs of the community to help her when she first was getting the hang of big society, and she feels responsible to help Ashley the same way.

Robyn is playing a game of basketball with her ex, Juan, and their kids. She says they’re technically not a couple (seriously, I’d like to know just what they are), so she doesn’t think she wants to bring him to the dinner because they have enough pressure.

Ashley and Michael arrive first for the dinner, then Gizelle with Herman. The rest trickle in. They’re on a docked yacht. Say that three times real fast.

Karen’s husband Ray makes a toast. Michael suggests they go swimming and Ray is all for it, but Karen puts the kibosh on that idea. There’s a lot of cocktail chatter, none of it interesting. Katie tells Gizelle about Karen calling her out about the PDA. Gizelle says it really wasn’t cool, and Katie says she’s sorry and that she’d had too much to drink. I’d be drinking a lot too, if I was around these people. Gizelle says she’ll help with the casino night.

Michael wants to go swimming, and begins to take his shoes and pants off, and Gizelle discourages it. Karen is all like, “we” don’t do this. Is that the royal “we” or is she pregnant? She says she loves what he’s trying to do, but not here. Ashley invites all the ladies to their beach house for a girls’ weekend.

Next week, Gizelle doesn’t have a bed at the beach house, Katie is called out again because no one can drop it, the ladies turn it out at a gay club, and Karen is done with Ashley.

February 14, 2016 — Potomac, Atlanta & Alexandria

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What I Watched Today
(rambling, random thoughts & recaps from today’s real time TV watching)

The Real Housewives of Potomac

I started this and I’m going to see the season through if it kills me.

Karen has an appointment to look at planes for flight lessons and Gizelle is along for the meeting. Karen and Gizelle talk about Ashley. Karen thinks she needs guidance and Karen is just the one to give it to her.

Ashley meets Katie at the park. She wants to spend time with Katie’s kids to get used to having her own. Ashley tells Katie how the whiskey tasting party went.

Karen picks out a plane and prays over it.

Ashley and Katie push the kids on the swings. Ashley tells Katie about a birthday party she’s having for herself. She’s going to be 27 and says she wants a baby yesterday. Katie wants to have a baby with boyfriend Andrew, but says not being married first isn’t a good look.

Ashley tells Katie about how she googled everyone and tells her that Robyn and her ex-husband only have 25 bucks in their bank account and are declaring bankruptcy. in her individual interview, Ashley says she googles everyone because today you don’t know what people are up to. Just ask Teresa Giudice about that one. I’m actually kind of surprised that she needs to google other members of a reality show she’s on.

Charrisse is entertaining a friend and talks about how difficult life is because her husband is married to his job and she seems like the mistress. She longs for the good old days when they were poor. I’m sure it sounds good, but I’ll bet she’d be crying if she lost all that money. She’s actually crying now, but she’d be crying a lot harder if she couldn’t pay for that Louis Vuitton.

Her friend asks if she wants to keep fighting for her marriage. Charrisse says that she wants to keep her family together, but she’ll see.

Gizelle and her daughters are meeting her ex-husband, Jamal. Gizelle says they’re still family despite his cheating ways and the divorce. He’s been on TV, being a well-known pastor in the Baltimore area who’s active in civil disobedience. Gizelle isn’t interested in getting back together, but they seem to have worked things out pretty well as far as the kids are concerned.

Karen shows up for her first flight lesson and is a little freaked that they’re changing planes on her. That prayer doesn’t count now. Her husband and daughter are there for moral support. Karen gets the plane off the ground, although I’m sure the real pilot does most of the driving the first time out. Karen says the next thing on her bucket list is the mile high club. I don’t suggest she join it while piloting the plane though.

Katie says that during her divorce, she was overwhelmed and Andrew helped make peace with all the parties involved. Katie’s nanny, Mae, is a lesbian and she says she loves that because she loves her energy. What? What does that mean? They’ve all recently moved into Andrew’s house. Some design changes were needed, so Katie took charge. Boy, is he going to be surprised when he gets home and finds out his old bedroom is a walk-in closet.

Robyn is giving her kids dinner. She has to get to work and they’re all, eww! and I hate this food, like typical kids. The sitter comes and she dashes to some PR event.

Karen calls Charrisse whose kids are in New Jersey with their dad. Karen offers to come over to keep her company since she hates being alone. While they’re having champagne, Gizelle and Katie decide to surprise them. Charrisse says Gizelle is welcome as long as she doesn’t act like she did at her crab boil. If I hear the words “crab boil” one more time, I’m going to scream. Especially since they don’t evoke anything close to what Charrisse had.

The girls compare shoes and talk about Ashley’s upcoming birthday party. Gizelle tells them about how one of the first things Ashley talked about to her was how big her man’s doodad was. Then they get into a conversation about doodads. Katie tells them about Ashley googling everybody. For once I agree with Karen when she wonders what anyone needs to do that for.

Katie tells them about how Ashley brought up people’s finances. Karen says maybe Ashley doesn’t know any better, that she’s a diamond in the rough that needs buffing. This leeds Charrisse to start talking about how she’s having a difficult time in her marriage. Gizelle asks how she’s feeling about it, but Charrisse is on the fence. Charrisse starts to cry. Gizelle says not to be afraid to share because they’re all in her corner. She’s pretty nice for someone who was on the wrong side of this hard-on just five minutes ago.

Ashley is having her birthday party in the same place where she used to bartend, and her husband is part owner. The party’s them is “Big Kitty Bash.” I guess everyone is dressing up as a cat?

Andrew comes home to his newly designed place, including a new room added for the nanny. Katie says if he’s going on trips where he doesn’t invite her, he’s going to have to get used to this kind of thing. My husband used to say every time he went away, he came back to a different furniture arrangement, so I can identify with this. Andrew is pretty startled. He says he’s not a fan, and maybe they could have discussed it first, but he’ll accept it.

Everyone is getting ready for Ashley’s party. Gizelle has Robyn on the phone and tells her about Ashley’s googling. She tells Robyn how Ashley gossiped about Robyn’s financial situation. Robyn wonders if she should go to the party. Gizelle says of course, since she wants Robyn to stir the pot.

Karen thinks Ashley needs to be schooled in he etiquette of googling. Charrisse is under the mistaken impression that someone might hit on her at the party. I don’t see cat outfits, but there’s a lot of animal prints, and there are some kind of nakey servers wearing only cat body paint.

Robyn says happy birthday or not, she’s going to deal with this googling business. Katie and Andrew are making out. How old are these two? OMG — it’s a cash bar! Gizelle tells Robyn to question Ashley on her googleability and I laugh, even though I’m still stuck on the fact there is a cash bar at a rich person’s birthday party. the worst wedding I ever went to had a cash bar.

Hey here’s a first. I think Katie is wearing a Betsey Johnson leopard print dress that I have. If it’s not that same dress, it’s awfully close. One time, a General Hospital character wore the same sweater I own. Unfortunately, I hadn’t worn it yet and then I was afraid that I would be seen as copying them when it was really the other way around.

Robyn approaches Ashley. Ashley says Robyn seemed standoffish, so she thought something might be going on in Robyn’s life. When she googled Robyn, stuff about Juan’s bankruptcy came up. Ashley says maybe it has something to do with that, maybe Robyn just does’t like her. Robyn says it’s neither — which Ashley would know if she’d actually asked Robyn rather than going to the internet for answers. Robyn says that because of past experiences, she proceeds with caution when it comes to new people. I’m sure this didn’t help her trust issues any. Ashley has the nerve to say Robyn should have gotten to know her before making any decisions because Ashley isn’t out to hurt her.

Gizelle is like how can she say that when she’s out there googling stuff and talking about it to other people? Ashley says again that she didn’t mean anything by it. Everything is suddenly cool, which seems to be how it works with this group, but Robyn is still miffed. I would be too. Not that Ashley checked Robyn out, but hat she said something to Katie. She had no business gossiping about Robyn’s financial situation.

Katie and Andrew won’t stop making out and Gizelle says it’s like he just came back from war. Ashley says 27 is a big year for some stupid reason and gets a Porshe as a gift. It has one of those big bows on it. Ho-hum.

Next time. Gizelle’s date feeds her oysters, Ashley’ mother has a problem and Ashley’s husband is lookin’ like a fool with his pants on the ground.

The Real Housewives of Atlanta

Honestly, these are some of the worst Housewives taglines ever. I cringe every time I hear them.

Peter is taking everyone on a bus tour to Kingston. Jamaica is his homeland and he wants everyone to see everything. Malorie shows up on the bus, but Kenya has decided to go to a spa with Matt instead, so it’s like an in and out item.

Cynthia tells everyone that someone told Kenya that Cynthia denied their friendship. Sheree says it was her and that’s not what she said. Cynthia says that it got heated before she could explain how she felt. Cynthia starts weeping about friendship and Nene and I don’t know what. Sheree suggests she and Kenya have a talk when things have calmed down. Kim starts yelling about how she got left off of the friend list and to stop the bus immediately. It’s pretty funny and breaks the tension.

While they’re in the bubble bath (!), Kenya tells Matt her side of the Cynthia friendship. Like I’m sure he cares.

Nene says when they get back, she’ll invite Kenya for a cocktail and try to straighten things out. Peter is taking the group to some barbecue place and Phaedra gets overly excited about eating barbecued goat, which gives me a picture of her on a spit with an apple in her mouth. She’s really gotten obnoxious in the past couple of seasons.

Peter’s relatives meet them at the restaurant. This is the first time Cynthia is meeting the ones who live in Jamaica. The food looks fantastic and it’s all farm/sea to table. Peter tells a pointless story. Kim announces the call time for the commercial as 10 am. She seems pretty organized. It’s time to say good-by to the relatives.

The girls are back at the hotel and there’s a buffet by the swimming pool. I’m gaining weight just watching this trip. The guys go to a nearby martini bar.

Nene knocks on Kenya’s door. Kenya says she ordered a chicken sandwich, but Nene doesn’t look like one. Ha-ha, Kenya! Nene asks Kenya to come down for a nightcap. Kenya says Cynthia hurt her feelings. Nene says Cynthia never bashed her and that Cynthia was crying about it. Kenya relents and joins the group.

Cynthia say she cherishes Kenya’s friendship and loves her, and she’s sorry if it didn’t come off that way. Nene asks if Kenya is going to come to the commercial shoot and she says she’ll be supportive.

Peter asks Matt what he does. He’s a personal trainer and also a veteran. The guys make fun of Matt’s age — which is 28, so he’s not a baby and he certainly doesn’t act as immature as these idiots — and then Peter wonders why he’s not super sociable. Peter continues to act like a jerk and Matt finally gets up and walks away. Peter says something about him walking a girl walk and makes fun of him. I hate Peter.

Kim isn’t with the ladies and they start talking about her husband. They all agree he has a lot of personality. Kenya brings up that there are rumors that he’s gay and he’s called Chrissie behind the scenes, and they’re also called Tootie and Fruitie. Cynthia wants no part of this and I don’t blame her. Nene says, well he does tap dance. So I guess that must mean he’s gay. Another what? I’m in agreement with Sheree (another first) when she says they shouldn’t be talking about Kim and her husband when neither one of them is there to defend themselves. Geez. I don’t know which group is more childish, the men or the women.

Chris has left Jamaica because he has to get back to work, so Kim leaves the kids with their nanny. All of the pre-production has been done, so all they have to do is shoot. Kim gets to the location first. Everyone marvels at what a beautiful day it is and they’re right. The water and the sky are incredibly blue. Cynthia is wearing a blue flowing caftan and looks amazing in the shots.

On the bus to the shoot, Phaedra asks about Matt and Kenya’s spa date. It was some kind of couples thing, so of course Phaedra has to talk nasty. She tries to put Matt on the spot. Why?

Cynthia and Malorie are doing some shots of putting on and taking off the glasses. The premise is that life is better with the glasses on. Totally unoriginal and I’d rather watch John Carpenter’s They Live. Rain clouds start to come up. They get the shot before it starts to get dark.

Kim says it’s going to pass. The bus arrives with the rest of the girls. There are some kind of little paddle boats and Kenya goes out on one with Matt. Nene passes out a bunch of accessories to the girls that are going to be in the commercial. I guess Kenya took a pass. Kim directs everyone in a scene where they pretend to be fans of Cynthia. Lightening starts to happen way out on the water.

Kenya and Matt come back. Cynthia is annoyed because Kenya isn’t acting like much of a friend for all her whining. Matt tells Kenya about Peter and the others causing him grief.

Peter says let’s have a wrap party. A rainbow happens and everyone takes it as a sign.

Porsha’s whatever, Oliver, shows up. They’d met on the Miami trip, but she hasn’t seen him since. He pretends to be interested in what she has to say. He asks what the plans are and she tells him about the wrap party. She shows him his room and they flirt.

Porsha introduces Oliver at the party, which is in some bar. They have champagne and appetizers. Kenya shows up, and she and Matt order drinks at the bar. Peter talks smack about Matt’s age. Phaedra acts like being by herself is tough. Kenya joins the ladies.

Phaedra asks why Matt is sitting alone and Kenya says the guys kind of hazed him the night before and it got old quickly. Suddenly, Matt is playing pool with the guys and all is good. It’s like Potomac deja vu.

Cynthia thanks everyone and says she wishes Chris could have been there. Everyone talks about how cool, talented and hilarious Chris is until Sheree puts the kibosh on that and tells Kim the girls were talking gay talk about Chris.

Next time, gay rumors continue, Aunt Bertha is back and the girls climb a waterfall.

The Walking Dead

When we last left, the church tower had fallen, the zombies had busted in and Alexandria was a mess.

Daryl is driving back to Alexandria with Abe and Sasha in the back seat. They’re waylayed by a motorcycle gang. The leader tells them to drop their weapons because their weapons are Negan’s weapons. They’re outnumbered and turn over the guns.

Sasha asks who they are. The leader (is he Negan?) says they have questions too and they’ll be asking them when they drive Daryl and crew back where they belong. First, he wants to know about what else they have, since there’s always more. Abe asks who Negan is. The leader gets defensive and weird, and says they’ll drive them back to where they came from, but don’t ask questions in the meantime.

The leader cocks his gun and Sasha tells him he doesn’t have to shoot them. He says he’s not going to kill them, then says he is, then everything blows up. It’s Daryl with a serious weapon and he’s just blown the whole lot of the motorcycle guys away. Daryl gets back in the truck with Abe and Sasha. It looks like those motorcycle guys are dead, but I have the feeling we haven’t seen the last of them.

Alexandria is total chaos.. The core group led by Rick has put entrails and blood on themselves so they can wander among the zombies.

Rick gathers the group and gives them instructions on splitting up and reconvening. Jessie doesn’t think they can make it with Judith, but Father Gabriel promises to keep her safe. Oh yeah, that’s just the guy I’d leave my baby with. Jessie tries to palm Sam off on Gabriel too, but Sam swears he can deal. Gabriel goes off to the church with Judith and Jessie reassures Rick that it will be okay.

Carol, Morgan, Eugene and Rosita are holed up in a brownstone. The Wolf and Denise watch the zombies from behind a wrought iron fence in a stairwell. Glenn is looking for guns and ammo at the church. Enid tells him that he’d said if you run, that’s how you lose people, even the ones who are already gone and asks him what it means. He says the people you love are always inside of you, and if you lose yourself, you lose them. They tell each other who the important people in their lives were and waste valuable time.

The Wolf tells Denise he needs her. She says she’ll just slow him down.

Enid says she wants to help Glenn get Maggie over the wall to safety. She finds the gun that Glenn has been looking for.

The Wolf says Denise was right, he wasn’t born this way, he changed. Lady Gaga’s song plays in my head. He says he wants to help her change. He says she’ll see one day that they’ve been given a gift.

It’s nighttime. Rick and company are still wandering about with the zombies. The worst thing about all of it is how I have to try and remember the minor characters names again. Sam isn’t being as cool as he thought he was going to be and starts to freak. Jessie tells him to come on. Great. He’s frozen and starting to cry and he’s going to get everyone killed. Nope, he just got himself killed. Good riddance. You were just a hindrance anyway. Carl pulls Jessie away, but it doesn’t work and she gets eaten too. Good. That will teach you to slow everyone down. She’s still hanging onto Carl and Rick hacks her arm off. Okay. That was a good one.

He and Carl get the blip out of there. That other crummy kid (Ron?) holds a gun on them but Michonne machetes him from behind. Are all the losers gone now. Carl keels over. Geez. Michonne hacks their way to safety.

Eugene ponders a very large knife. He says sooner or later, they’re fighting their way out. Rosita basically calls him a chicken and says they will, but he won’t.

The Wolf gives hindsight suggestions about fighting the zombies. He tells Denise they’re going to find a gap and go over the wall. He says it’s safer out there than where they are and to start moving and not stop. The go. The Wolf does some excellent head stabbing. Denise tells him if they can get to the infirmary, she can save his life. They change direction.

Morgan asks Carol about her child and husband. He says he had to stop her and she says she should have killed him. He says she can’t, but I dunno, I’ve seen her do it.

Denise and the Wolf book it to the infirmary. They don’t make it though, since Carol shoots the Wolf from a rooftop. Great timing, Carol. Denise goes running into the brownstone. Rick comes in next with Carl in his arms and Michonne following. I think Carl has lost an eye. Denise yells for supplies.

Rick parts the curtain and sees the place is surrounded by zombies. Since he’s out of his mind, he takes an ax and goes outside.

Commercial break. 10 Cloverfield Lane looks well worth seeing. It looks like John Goodman does some good work in it.

Rick is going crazy on the zombies. This is really going to help Carl tremendously if Rick gets himself killed. Good thing these zombies only come after you one at a time. Michonne goes out and starts machete-ing zombies. Others who are holed up in various places come out and start killing zombies too.

Father Gabriel, who is with a small band of people at the church, says God will save Alexandria because God has given them the courage to save it themselves.

Carol and company head out. Rosita tells Eugene he doesn’t have to go, and he makes a mini-speech about how no one gets to clock out today and this is the story people are going to tell.

Everyone gets to zombie killing, even Morgan.

Maggie is still stuck up in that cage, but the base is getting shaky from the zombies screwing with it. Glenn fights off the zombies while Enid goes up to get Maggie. Oops! Glenn is overpowered and both girls are stuck. Abe and Sasha come to the rescue with machine guns. Miraculously, all the bullets miss Glenn.

Glenn gets into the gasoline truck with Daryl. Daryl gets out of the truck and starts pouring the gas out. I hope he gives the live people a heads up before he sets that on fire. He sets a pond ablaze and the zombies seems drawn to it, although why is a good question, since as far as I know, this has never happened before.

Everyone is beating the crap out of the zombies, including Eugene, while other zombies walk into the flaming water.

The streets of Alexandria are full of the dead walking dead. The live survivors survey the damage, while Denise tends to their wounds. Rick says, “that was rough,” and I literally lol.

Rick is all proud of what they can do if they work together. He says they’ll rebuild the walls and expand them. He gives unconscious Carl a big speech about having a feeling of being able to make a new world. He begs Carl to come back.

Carl’s fingers close over Rick’s hand.

Next time, more zombie trouble with some Negan on the side.

December 18, 2015 — GH, No GH, Mini Chefs & Friday Night Zombies

Standard

What I Watched Today

(random, rambling thoughts on today’s TV)

 

General Hospital — Thursday

Alexis asks Molly to try and be nice to Julian when they’re at the Nutcracker Gala. Molly tries to get out of going by saying she needs to look after Sam. Alexis says Sam can look after herself just fine.  Mystery occasional daughter Christina arrives.

There’s something wrong with the mic system at the gala. Tracy is worried that no one will hear Paul’s speech. Little hearts pop out of her eyes like in the Pepe LePew cartoons.

Franco sees Elizabeth at the hospital and he ducks. Then he asks if she’d go to the gala with him.

Robin tells nice dude Henrico that he’s the first guard who’s ever been nice to her and maybe she can return the favor. Wet blanket Jerry Jax comes in the room.

Anna tells Patrick that they might be on a wild goose chase. He says he doesn’t think so because of the necklace. She says maybe the Cassadines planted it on purpose just to throw them off.

Tracy asks Nina if she’s seen Dillon. Nina says no, but he’s supposed to be working the gala for Crimson.

Dillon sees Maxie outside. They start reminiscing about Georgie.

Elizabeth says she’s not going to the gala with or without Franco. He says he’s not asking her out on a date. He needs to be there for work. He asks if she’s afraid she’ll run into Jason and she says he’d hardly be at a function like that.

Carly checks Jason into the hotel and says let’s get a drink.

Robert says that the WSB has been monitoring the Cassadines. Patrick asks what they know and who has Robin. Anna asks if it’s Jerry Jax.

Henrico tells Jerry he was just about to kill her and Jerry says hurry up then. Jerry also says both Patrick and Anna aren’t far away. Jerry tells Henrico to execute the plan and Robin and don’t make a mess. Robin tries to get Jerry to change his mind to no avail.

Henrico says there’s nothing he can do, so don’t ask. Robin says he’s wrong. There is one last thing.

Christina asks Sam prying questions about her love life. Christina says exams ended early and Alexis says good, she can go to the gala too. Sam gets her jacket on and says she has a quick errand to run, but hopes everyone has a good time.

Christina asks Molly about their mother’s password. She says she doesn’t want to, but she has to hack into Alexis’s account.

Maxie and Dillon think about Georgie as they look up at the stars. Dillon gives Maxie and envelope. We don’t see it, but I assume a picture of Georgie is inside.

Franco tells Elizabeth that he knows she’s feeling all alone in the world right now and does she have a dress?

Carly asks if Jason wants a martini, but he says scotch will do the trick. She says she thinks she’ll join him. They drink to friendship. Jason tells her to go ahead and say she told him so. She says she had no idea Elizabeth knew all that time. He asks if she thinks it’s for the best, and she says Elizabeth always tried to turn him into the person she needed and he’s not that person. Jason says he wasn’t ready to listen before, but who’s he supposed to be? Carly says he has to figure it out for himself.

Henrico is listening to opera and Robin makes chitchat about it. She says her family traveled all the way to Pars and she can’t bear for them not to know what happened. Henrico says there’s nothing he can do. She asks if he was named for the guy in the opera who was a hero and tells him he needs to do the right thing.

Patrick says the last time Emma and Robin talked, it wasn’t their regular time and he thinks Robin was trying to tell them something.

Christina is working the laptop like a boss and thinks up a password I never would have. She looks at Alexis’s email and Molly reads something about disciplinary action with Christina at school. Christina deletes it before she can finish and says why ruin Christmas?

Maxie says she was going to visit Georgie’s memorial stone, but this is better. She asks if Dillon ever talks to Georgie. She says she does and it helps and hurts at the same time. Dillon says he thinks of both the high and low points of their relationship and it was everything. Maxie says she used to love the holidays, but now, not so much. Dillon identifies and so do I. Maxie says this year she has to work and they’d better get going before Nina sends out a search party.

Sam wants to leave something for Patrick at the hospital, but is told he’s on a leave of absence. Elizabeth pops out asking what does she expect, since she turned everyone’s lives upside down. Boo! Hiss!

Carly says normally she likes to interfere, but Jason should trust himself and that he has good instincts. Jason balks and Carly points out instances in the past seven months when he’s used them.

Patrick’s phone rings and it’s Robin. She says her neighbor told her he was looking for her. She finds out that Emma is there too. Robin says good-by and says she’s off to Elysium.

Alexis asks what’s going on and Christina says something about needing the computer for school work. When she goes back upstairs, Molly asks what kind of trouble Christina is in. Christina avoids the question.

Carly asks Jason to come to the gala. She says neither Elizabeth nor Sam will be there. She says he and Sonny can be miserable together. He says he only has a duffel bag of jeans and T-shirts, but Carly says she can set him up with one phone call.

Elizabeth, who apparently has no idea why Patrick is away, gives Sam a humongous lecture on how it’s her fault. Sam says for 7 months, she kept Jason’s identity while everyone else suffered. Elizabeth says that Sam is worse, pretending to love Patrick while really wanting Jason.

Robin tells Patrick she loves him and Henrico takes the phone. Impatient Jerry pops in again and says if you want a job done right, do it yourself. Henrico says he doesn’t know what to do about the lab. Jerry says he’ll do that part and Henrico takes Robin out of the lab. She says now they can escape and he needs to live up to his name as a hero. He says endings aren’t always happy and grabs her arm to take her down the hallway.

Patrick asks if Elysium is code for something. Robert says maybe, but Anna says it means “heaven.”

Sam goes home to Alexis’s, who looks absolutely amazing in a navy blue formal gown. Alexis says Sam looks like she wants to punch something and Sam tells her about running into Elizabeth. She also tells Alexis about Patrick and says she can’t figure it out. The ladies all leave for the gala.  Sam sees that Alexis forgot her check, but it’s too late, she’s gone. Fastest pulling out of a driveway ever.

Nina explains how she wants the guests’ pictures taken (in a bower of white branches) to Dillon. She chastises Dillon and Maxie for being late. Maxie says they’re here now and has Dillon take Nina’s photo.

Carly shows up at the gala with Jason. Monica says it’s great to see them. Carly says she left her phone at the bar and Jason goes back to get it. Monica thanks Carly for getting him there.

Franco and Elizabeth arrive. Franco says he’s proud of her for facing her challenges. He rambles and she tells him to stop talking.

Anna wonders if Robin knows they’re here. Robert says she isn’t in the compound anymore but is on the island and they’re going to have to hurry. Patrick wants to go with them. Robert says it’s dangerous, but there really isn’t much argument. Oh, yay, a hero moment for the lip gloss king.

Monica asks where Paul is and Tracy says he must have gotten tied up, but he’ll be there. Monica says she has to admit, the artwork from Ava is top-notch, but she still didn’t invite her. Alexis gets there and realizes she forgot the check. While she runs out, Christina makes sure her phone doesn’t have the message from the school

Maxie says Nina is really getting the hang of things. Franco shows up and says that Nina looks more beautiful every time he sees her. He says he brought a colleague.

Sam shows up with the check and sees Elizabeth. Jason sees the both of them. Soap opera faces all around.

The Scorpios get their old moves back and bust into the lab. With Anna and Robert’s guns drawn on Jerry, Patrick backs him up against the wall. Jerry says they’re too late, Robin is dead.

Monday – the Nutcracker Gala and more Scorpio fun!

General Hospital — Friday

I started typing until I realized they’re repeating the Thanksgiving episode. What ? Why? My only guess is that they got scared. When I turned it on, George Stephanopoulos was talking. I have no idea about what, since I was cursing him and my life at that moment, but then he went away. Whatever it was must have scared ABC into showing a repeat because they feared the viewers’ wrath should there have been  a total preemption. Better to just put the show off totally.

Master Chef Junior

I always preface this with how I don’t say much about this show because I’m snarky and mocking children isn’t my thing. I do love this show though, and Gordon Ramsey rocks. It’s nice to see his kinder, gentler side.

Tonight, the kids have to recreate a dish that they’ll be tasting while blindfolded. This is tough when the adults do it, never mind someone whose palate hasn’t been around the world yet. Oh, and they have 60 minutes to do it.

The team challenge, with the captains being the winners of the taste challenge, is to run a restaurant. Again this is similar to the adult version of either Master Chef or Hell’s Kitchen. They both blend in together after a while.  One team has ingredients from New England and the other, New Mexico.  I always feel bad for whoever’s picked last when it’s a team challenge.

A whole bunch of grandmas – and I mean that literally – are the judges, so I’m thinking maybe they’ll go easy on the kids, but then again, maybe not. It all looks good to me.

Speaking of Hell’s Kitchen, it’s premiering January 15.

The blue team wins, with Addy heading them once again. I predict her for the win.

Don’t worry kids who went home – one of whom was a surprise to me – I can barely get a buffet for 15 catered, never mind cook for an entire restaurant. Job more than well done!

Next week, Graham dresses like a chicken  and eggs are involved.

Z Nation

Citizen Z is trying to contact Addy. Or anybody for that matter. He’s down to his last battery. He’s desperate to tell them to abort the mission because the location has been compromised. The battery runs out and he throws the laptop away.

Vasquez and Roberta have gone inside the renegade diner. Roberta takes some tea from the woman behind the counter. Vasquez passes, but they signal for the others to come in. The counter lady talks about the diner and asks what it’s like out there.

Doc says all Zs. She asks if there’s anywhere safe, and Roberta says a few places, but not many. A car pulls up and it’s nothing good. It’s a bunch of guys from Deliverance and they ask for liquor. They ask if the woman’s name is Annie and when she says yes, the head guy says she’s the one who knows about The Murphy. They want the bounty.

Main dude buys a round of drinks for everyone. (Does anyone use money? What do they use?) The guy says they have The Murphy sedated and show them a zombie on a leash. Obviously not Murphy. Murphy is dressed like a woman with a scarf over his face. When head dude asks for a dance he pretends to be shy. Head dude throws something at Murphy and all the guns come out.

He says he’s noticed the real Murphy and his Murphy move at the same time. He’s getting suspicious about Murphy and while he’s talking his own zombie takes a bite out of him. There’s a mini shoot out and Annie stops it with her own gun. She sees that Muphy is the real deal

10K has been shot. Annie goes outside and fires a flare to contact Dr. Merch and what’s left of the CDC lab. 10K is losing a lot of blood. Murphy asks questions about where Dr. Merch has been hiding, but Annie says it’s classified.

Citizen Z packs up a sled, along with Pup, and says they’re not coming back.

A military team approaches the diner. Roberta asks Murphy if he’s ready. He says no, but when has that ever mattered? Roberta tells the lieutenant that Murphy is there. The Lt calls him “The Murphy” and Murphy says he doesn’t know where the “The” came in.  10K is taken out on a stretcher. Roberta tells the lieutenant to treat Murphy humanely. He say’s they’ll treat him like the celebrity he’s about to become. Addy says don’t forget the little people. Doc wants to go with 10K, but there isn’t enough room.

I don’t like this one bit.

Murphy tells Vasquez he’s sorry about Vasquez’s family. Doc says no good-by? Murphy holds out his hand, but Doc hugs him. Murphy gives Doc an Ace playing card and Doc gives Murphy a z-weed joint.  Murphy says good-by to Roberta. He says who knows, maybe he’ll actually do something good and she says they’re counting on him.

The caravan leaves. They start to clean up, but as Doc is removing a body, a shot hits it. Operation Bite Mark duck for cover. It’s the Zeros shooting up the place. We hear La Reina calling Roberta to come and get some mercy.

She’s looking pretty jacked up, hair all crazy and fire in her eyes. A gun battle ensues and La Reina tells her troops to advance. Annie, who’s pretty mean with a gun herself, calls everyone inside. La Reina has Dr. Kurian’s head in a box. When he starts being annoying, she closes the box. She looks through the site of her gun for Roberta.

Annie shows OBM her arsenal. She says she’s low on ammo, but they can give them hell in the meantime. It’s suddenly quiet, which Roberta says worries her more.

Murphy is on a submarine along with 10K, who is wheeled into surgery. They tell Murphy 10K is in good hands and he continues with Dr. Merch and the lieutenant. The doctor asks if Murphy has had any side effects, and Murphy says he is a walking side effect. The lieutenant talks about the development of a whole new world and tells Murphy that Zona (a reference to another episode) is not only real, it’s the future. At the beginning of the apocalypse, some businessmen and scientists created a new world on a zombie free island. Murphy notices that some of the crew have funny eyes. He says if they’re going to save the human race, they’d better get to it.

La Reina says she just wants Murphy. Roberta says too late, he’s gone. Vasquez tries to shoot La Reina, but misses. The back row of troops runs swords through the front row and uses them as shields like Uma Thurman in whichever Kill Bill movie that was.

Annie  gets shot and turns into a zombie. After a small tussle, Doc gives her mercy.

The Zeros are getting in.

Back at the sub, the doctor is preparing Murphy for giving some blood samples for tests. He asks her what the deal is with the crews’ eyes. She said it was a side effect of one of the early vaccines given to people on Zona . She says that some of the earliest people are losing their immunity and turning. She says that’s why they need him, especially the founder of Zona. He says he thought the vaccine was for everybody, and the doctor is a little vague in that it sounds like maybe when they get around to it, the peons will get a turn. Dr. Merch asks questions about childhood diseases and the usual medical background. When she asks id he has children, Murphy says that’s kind of personal and doesn’t answer.

Murphy asks for privacy, and Dr. Merch asks the guards to leave. When they’re gone, Murphy turns on her. He says he doesn’t want to be a blood bag for some billionaires when he traveled all that way and went through so much to save all of humanity.

It doesn’t look good for OBM. A big Zero dude is swinging around a mean looking weapon. Roberta shoots, but she’s out of bullets and the gun just makes that clicking sound. We both say, oh sh*t. Addy tries to fight him, but he breaks her weapon and hits her with his. While she’s down, she still has enough strength to hit him where it counts. In the meantime Roberta has reloaded and shoots him.

La Reina come drags her sorry self over to Roberta. She says it’s good to see her and can they talk like sisters. She says she’s unarmed and it’s not too late for Roberta to  be her right hand. She asks Roberta to help her find Murphy. Roberta says the CDC has him. La Reina says that was a big mistake.  They go head to head and it’s a pretty good fight scene. Again very Tarantino.

Finally Roberta is down and La Reina is standing over her, but Escorpion runs her through with a sword. What?

Citizen Z is pulling the sled with Pup in it through the snow. He doesn’t look too good. I’m always worried about him and Pup.

Roberta comes too and can’t believe Escorpion is there. Vasquez knocks him in the head and Roberta says he saved her life. Addy is surprised he’d kill his queen. He says she wasn’t human anymore. He says he won’t rob Vasquez of his revenge and he’s not afraid to die. He apologizes for killing Vasquez’s family and says he realized it was the worst thing he ever did and he wanted to die too. The rest of OBM leave the room so Vasquez can make his decision. They hear a gunshot and Escorpion comes out. They run in and Vasquez is sitting at the bar. He says he couldn’t do it and Roberta says she’s glad for him.

He’s looking at a picture of his wife and daughter. He says his mission is over. Roberta says it’s time to say good-by. Oh come on. Say something. She leaves and tells the others that Vasquez is alive, but he’s not coming with them. Doc asks what they’re doing now and Roberta says she doesn’t know.

An alarm is sounding on the sub. 10K is alone and gets off of the examining table.

Escorpion pulls up alongside OBM he asks if they need a ride. He says he’s got enough food, ammo and z-weed for a month. Addy tells Roberta they can always kill him and steal the truck. She’s kidding. I hope.

Vasquez is just sitting by himself looking at the picture. He rolls his bandana and puts it around his head. He leaves the diner to face a crowd of zombies and begins shooting and running.

Doc says he hates to admit it but he misses Murphy. Escorpion says he didn’t know him long, but Murphy seemed like kind of a dick.

They get to a cliff and look out to the ocean. The sub is burning. A small boat is jetting across the water from it. Doc looks through binoculars, and sees Murphy, but not 10K. The sub blows up. Addy starts to freak.

Some military planes fly overhead and Doc says they don’t look American. Roberta says, they’re not, and a bunch of military guys with guns pop out of the woods.

We get closer to the boat. Murphy is controlling it, as he’s bitten the lieutenant and Dr. Merch. 10K is playing the part of a soldier in a helmet.

Nooo! Citizen Z is conscious, but frozen in his tracks. He sees someone coming toward him, but does he really?

In the final reel, we see Murphy’s daughter who, no surprise, is growing like a weed. She’s controlling her foster parents who have now been turned into hybrid zombies.

While Z Nation will be back next year (they didn’t exactly say when), why must we have these hiatuses? I wish we could just go back to normal TV seasons where we were on a school year schedule and we had the summer off.

December 11, 2015 — GH, Little Chefs & Zombies

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What I Watched Today

(random, rambling thoughts on today’s TV)

 

General Hospital – Thursday

Dillon finds Johnny behind the bar. He says he’s going to call the cops, but Lulu tells him to chill.

Olivia asks where Dante is. Valerie says he’s out getting baby aspirin.

Bad dude tells Robin that Helena is dead. He says she has explanations to make. She says to who? And Jerry Jax pops in.

Patrick tells Sam it’s over. She says her love for him hasn’t changed.

As our early Christmas gift, Elizabeth tells Jason she lied to everyone. Woohoo! He asks how long she’s known who he is and she says since the Nurses Ball in May.

Olivia says she resents Valerie sabotaging Dante and Lulu’s marriage. She says that Valerie’s presence is making things worse and she obviously doesn’t care that she’s breaking up a family. Dante walks in and asks what’s going on.

Johnny says technically Lulu is an accessory to his fugitiveness. Lulu suggests Dillon act like he never saw Johnny.

Jason says he felt wonderful that Elizabeth was willing to take a chance on him when there were so many unknowns, but it turns out that she knew everything. He asks if Nicholas was the one who told her and she says yes. She says she had every intention of saying something at the Nurses Ball, but when she saw how happy Sam and Patrick were, she couldn’t. Jason finally has a clue and says she didn’t do it for them, she did it for herself.

Patrick says that Sam wants to prove Elizabeth is lying because she wants him to choose between them. He asks who she loves more. She doesn’t want to answer, and he says Jason is the love of her life, and it’s not fair to anyone if they stay together. Sam asks if he can’t give her more time to adjust to things.

Jerry says now that Helena has passed, he has to take up where she left off, and Robin is his first priority. She says she’s making progress. Jerry says she’s not moving fast enough. She was supposed to keep Helena alive. Apparently, he thinks science can be rushed.

Lulu says Johnny helped her through difficult times and she wants to help him now. Dillon runs down the list of all his crimes, but Johnny has an answer for everything.

Olivia says Valerie is trying to take Lulu’s place. Dante says that’s not true and Lulu said it was over. Dante says Olivia is taking Sonny’s cheating out on Valerie.

Jason asks if Elizabeth was going to lie to him for the rest of his life. He asks if she was going to keep him from Danny and Sam. And what about poor confused Jake? Elizabeth said she knew everything would be okay, because she lives in a dream world and thinks words can fix this.

Emma is on her way home. Patrick says it will be better if they don’t drag things out. He wishes they could go back to when things were easier, but it’s not going to happen. He says Jason coming back has changed everything, including what they meant to each other. He doesn’t want things to turn bitter. Sam tells him she loves him, but she understands that he deserves more than just part of her heart. She gives him back the ring. Patrick says he doesn’t blame her and she shouldn’t blame herself.

Jerry says imagine the profit margin on immortality. He says Robin’s research has hit a dead end and ergo she has too. Robin says she’s developing something new, but she needs Helena’s body. Hmmm…is she going to bring Helena back to life? Remember Stavros?

Emma pops in the door and asks when Patrick and Sam are getting married. Um…never?

Olivia says Dante and Lulu owe it to Rocco to put their differences aside. She raised Dante as a single mother and doesn’t want Rocco to have the same upbringing.

Dillon asks why he should cover for Johnny since he doesn’t owe him any favors. Lulu says he owes her a favor though.

Elizabeth says she’s sorry and Jason says she’s sorry she got caught. Ha-ha! She says she didn’t want any of this to happen, but he says oh yes she did. He says she got in between him and anyone who wanted to tell him the truth. He says she had him kick the mother of his child out. Elizabeth says she’s also the mother of his child, and Jason says that doesn’t give her the right to dictate who else is in his life.

Jerry says if he can’t shoot it, fight it or make money off of it, it’s of no interest.  It’s good to have a credo.

Emma says she stayed away for as long as possible so they could be romantic and when’s the wedding date? Sam tells her that it’s not going to happen. She says they decided it would be best if they split up. Emma starts to cry and says no it’s not. Patrick tries to explain that what Sam and Jason have is too strong, even though they tried. Sam says it’s better for Emma and Patrick if she and Danny leave. Emma begs her to stay. Geez, this is almost making me cry, even though I couldn’t care less about Patrick.

Lulu says Dillon wanted her to find out about Dante so she’d turn to him. She says he can redeem himself by keeping his mouth shut. He says it’s emotional blackmail and she asks if it’s working. He says he’ll stay quiet, but if anything happens to Lulu, all bets are off.

Dante brings up the separation papers. Olivia says Lulu was hurt and just lashing out. Olivia says if Valerie really cares about Dante, she’ll back off. Dante says that’s not her call. Olivia says if he continues down this path, he’ll be throwing his life away and eventually regret it. She leaves.

Emma gets a little hysterical and tells Sam if she’s going to leave, get out now. She starts crying that she misses her mommy and I tear up.

Robin says Jerry doesn’t have to kill her, and she won’t say anything if he just sends her home. Sure, that will work. He says he needs to eliminate the uncertainty by eliminating her. She says if he can’t let her go, at least let her keep working.

Elizabeth says she was afraid if she told Jason the truth, he would leave her. Jason says, so she took away his choices. She says she was afraid if Sam knew the truth, she would take him away. Jason says all he’s done is push Sam away since he found out who he was. Elizabeth says he must know she did the wrong things for the right reasons and they can still be together. What an ass.

Lulu tells Johnny as much as she would like him to remove Valerie from her life, too much could go wrong. She says it’s a shame it can’t be retroactive, but what’s done is done. Johnny is leaving in the morning. I like Johnny and wish Lulu would run off with him. He goes to bed and Olivia shows up. She says she knows how hurt Lulu is and that she needs time, but…and she doesn’t finish.

Lulu says that Olivia is clearly upset by something with Dante. Olivia says she found Valerie looking after Rocco and she’s afraid if someone doesn’t take action, things will get out of hand. I think maybe it’s too late for that.

Dante tells Valerie that none of it is her fault. She asks if Dante would rather be alone.

Robin’s phone rings. It’s Emma and Robin asks to talk to her since Jerry is going to kill her anyway. Emma begs her to come home. She says she doesn’t understand why people who love each other don’t stay together. Robin says one day she’ll understand that Emma kept her alive and she loves her. Emma asks why she can’t come home then. Robin says she just can’t, but remember she loves her and says good-by. Emma is killing me here.

Elizabeth says Jason doesn’t remember his past, but he remembers the love they’ve recently shared and they can work it out. He says she didn’t trust him enough to tell him the truth and manipulated him; therefore, she doesn’t really love him. He says admitting everything now is too late.

Johnny finds Lulu drinking and asks if he can join her. He asks what happened to going home and she says Olivia stopped by, so there was a change of plans. She says she wants him to make Valerie go away. Me too.

Valerie leaves Dante’s. He asks himself what the hell he’s doing.

Jerry says he’s more or less inherited Robin and has to bring things to a satisfactory close. She says he has nothing to lose and everything to gain by letting her continue working. He says she has 48 hours. Where is Eddie Murphy when you need him?

I’m going to need some aspirin before this episode is over. Emma is crying her eyes out and Sam tells Patrick it is for the best, and he deserves to be loved the way he loved her. Patrick hopes that things work out with Jason. It’s okay, Sam, Patrick would only hog the mirror. When Sam leaves, Emma tells Patrick she wants her mommy and collapses in his arms crying. Honestly, this kid should get an award. Patrick says they’ll find mommy.

Elizabeth says she and Jason can be happy. He says living a lie isn’t his idea of happiness. He says it turned out the woman he loved is no more real than Jake Doe and that she broke his heart. He leaves on his motorcycle, leaving Elizabeth going wah-wah-wah, and me saying, good.

Tomorrow, will Jason seek Sam out?

Commercial break during The Big – It’s about time Sheldon and Amy got back together – Bang Theory. Angel from Hell will be premiering in January. It’s been so long since they announced the new shows, I’d forgotten all about it. September to May television seasons are now nothing but a dim memory.

General Hospital – Friday

Curtis meets Hayden at The Floating Rib. He says he found the stray bullet at the garage.

Carly is being a helicopter mom to Morgan. He says he know she and Sonny are worried, but he’s taking his meds and they don’t need to be. Kiki is now waitressing and thanks Carly for dropping the charges and giving her a job. Kiki asks the lady at the next table what she can get for her and it’s Ava who says, a conversation with her mother.

Sam is staying in the guest room at Alexis’s house. She tells Alexis and Julian that she and Patrick aren’t together anymore.

Elizabeth is sniffing Jason’s jacket when Nicholas shows up. I’m not kidding. She was really sniffing his jacket.

Sonny is working the punching bag at the gym. Jason comes in and asks what the bag ever did to him. Ha-ha! Sonny says he wasn’t expecting to see Jason and Jason replies that he wasn’t expecting a lot of things. Well, sorry, but he should have seen them coming. Sonny asks how Jason got in because he had the doors locked. Jason says he told the guard that he was Sonny’s best friend and Sonny says, fair enough. Jason says he wants to punch something out.

Elizabeth tells Nicholas that Jason is gone and not coming back. She says that Sam told him that Elizabeth knew who he really was and when confronted, she confessed. More like he had to drag it out of her.

Sam tells Alexis and Julian what happened.

Kiki asks if Ava wants coffee. Ava says she doesn’t have to treat her like a stranger and Kiki says that’s what she is. Ava asks for two minutes.

Carly says every day they’re making advances in drug therapy. She says that both Morgan and Sonny are bi-polar, but experience it differently, and that being healthy doesn’t have to mean life is boring, although Morgan isn’t so sure about that. She asks if he’s taking his meds. He says he already told her he was, but he doesn’t like the way they’re making him feel.

Hayden tells Curtis she’s impressed, especially since he doesn’t have a car. He gives her a bill for an SUV rental. She asks why he couldn’t have gotten a sub-compact. He says the garage is a front and most criminals drive SUVs. You learn something new every day.

Morgan says he just feels different and that maybe he isn’t used to the meds yet. Carly tells him that Sonny would be a good sounding board, but Morgan says Sonny has enough going on and that he needs some trust right now.

Kiki screams at Ava to leave her alone and breaks a glass.

Jason asks Sonny if there’s been any change in his condition. Sonny says not yet, but if Jason hadn’t stepped in, he wouldn’t have made it. Jason starts punching the crap out of the bag. He tells Sonny about Elizabeth lying to him.

Elizabeth says Laura predicted correctly. She tells Nicholas about Jason kicking Sam out, but then going to her. She says she told him Sam was just jealous, but Jason kept hammering at her until she confessed. She says it ended up costing her everything just like Nicholas had said it would. I’ll bet Nicholas isn’t too happy about this on a couple of levels.

Curtis says he can’t prove the bullet did or didn’t come from Shawn’s gun without the gun, which is in possession of the PCPD. HE says he has friends in high places though.

Carly tells Ava blindsiding Kiki on her first day is no way to build a relationship. She tells Ava it’s her restaurant and to get out. Ava asks what she thinks family court will feel about that. Carly leaves. Kiki asks Ava what she wants and Ava says for the arctic chill between them to end. She asks Kiki to give her a chance to fix things, but Kiki says that will never happen.

Elizabeth says it’s her own fault and blah-blah-blah sorry she’ll be taking Nicholas down with her because Jason is mighty pissed. She says she not only wrecked her life, she’ll be wrecking his too. Despite my loathing Elizabeth, I give a nod to both the black and grey sweater she’s rocking and her hair color.

Alexis says Sam should try explaining things to Patrick. Julian says Elizabeth’s lies have nothing to do with her, but Sam says they do.

Jason tells Sonny the whole story and how Elizabeth knew since May. He says Carly was also telling him the truth, even though she didn’t know everything. Sonny says Carly’s instincts are usually spot on. Jason says everyone thought he was dead and Elizabeth just let them continue grieving.

Ava tells Kiki she’s breaking her heart. Kiki says look on the bright side, at least she isn’t screwing Ava’s boyfriend. She tells Ava that as a mother, she was supposed to protect her. Ava says she just wants to be sure Kiki is okay and Kiki says she’s fine and leaves the table. Carly tells Ava time’s up. Ava says that if she wants visitation, she’ll let her stay and take her order. Morgan tells her to get lost.

Alexis tells Sam she made a mature decision, but Sam says it was really Patrick. Julian says she and Jason can get back together now, but Sam says that’s up to Jason.

Sonny and Jason are passing a bottle of whiskey back and forth. Sonny tells Jason about how he and Carly always found their way back to each other, and that when they used to fight, Jason would always play middleman. He says in the end, he always forgave Carly because he’d rather accept what she did than live without her. Jason asks if that’s what Sonny thinks he should do with Elizabeth. Hell to the no on that one.

Ava says she’ll leave, but Carly can’t tell her when she can and can’t see Kiki. On the other hand, she has control over when Carly and Sonny can see Avery. Carly says she’d better not violate the court order. Morgan says blah-blah-blah and Ava leaves.  Kiki and Morgan chat about their respective mothers while picking up the glass. Kiki asks how he’s doing and he says fine for someone whose mental health revolves around a prescription bottle. He says he feels flattened out, like a balloon with the air taken out.

Curtis tells Hayden that if she wants him to continue, he needs a little more time and a lot more money. He asks if she wants to prove someone other than Shawn wanted her dead.

Nicholas says that maybe Jason will realize Elizabeth did what she did for love. She thanks Nicholas for standing by her. He says all the people lining up to judge her don’t walk in her shoes and she doesn’t owe anybody any explanations. She says sooner or later Jason is going to be knocking on his door and to be careful.

Sonny tells Jason that a lot of people tried to talk him out of working for Sonny, but he made his own decisions. Sonny says that Elizabeth wanted him for herself and didn’t care how anyone else suffered. He wouldn’t forgive her, but he says Jason isn’t him. Carly comes in. Jason says he has something to do. He tells her she was right and that she really knew him better than he knew himself.

Sam asks if she and Danny can spend Christmas with Alexis and Julian. They both say, of course, and Alexis adds that they’re her parents and will support her no matter what. Sam reminisces about the previous Christmas with Patrick. She leaves the room and Julian tells Alexis that he feels Sam with Jason is a bad idea because of how often he put her in danger.

Hayden says of course she wants proof, that’s why she’s going broke paying him. Nicholas comes into the restaurant and sees them talking.

Sonny tells Carly about Elizabeth lying. She says thank God, and he says that’s not exactly the reaction he expected. Carly says she didn’t mean it that way, but she’s glad she wasn’t wrong. She says the best part is that Elizabeth did it to herself and Carly had nothing to do with it. He says Jason can probably forgive Elizabeth for what she did to him, but not what she did to everyone else. Sonny advises Carly not to talk to Jason about it right now. He asks about Morgan and Carly says they had a good talk and Morgan is taking his meds.

Morgan shows Kiki his pills. Why isn’t he taking them? Kiki says he seems good, but he still has to adjust. Morgan says he wants to be friends. Kiki says seeing her mom brought back a lot of stuff and she thinks they should stay only friends, and is that what he wants. He says no and I laugh. He says that he’s okay with it though. He gets a call from Darby, who I guess is only on the show when needed for Morgan’s rebounds.

Julian asks if there’s a chance that Sam will get back with Jason. Sam comes down the stairs and she says don’t worry, they’re just friends. She says she’ll have to accept it if he goes back to Elizabeth.

Elizabeth sees Jason on the porch. He’s getting a call from Sam. Elizabeth comes outside and asks if he’s home. He looks at the phone.

Lulu and Johnny plot about Valerie and hopefully Elizabeth gets bad news.

Master Chef Junior

Tonight, the kids have to make the perfect lemonade. In the Nickelodeon moment of the night, the losing team gets drenched in the stuff. Luckily, Christina’s team wins, so she gets her wish not to get her hair wet.

In the challenge segment, each judge is dressed from the decade they were born. Gordon is dressed like a hippie (60s), Graham looks like he’s from Saturday Night Fever (70s), and Christina is a roller girl in workout wear (80s). While the lemonade winners don’t have to do the challenge, the others have to prepare signature dishes of each decade. Duck a l’Orange for the 60s (something I have never eaten, nor do I want to); Chicken Kiev for the 70s; and for the 80s, surf & turf, which I would have thought was also from the 70s, but okay.

Tip for tonight from Gordon – put a little flower on a metal pot/pan handle so you’ll know not to touch it when it’s hot.

Observation for tonight from me — vegetarians have it rough in these competitions.

Uh-oh, Gordon tells one kid he’d fire him. My father would have too. He put a mayo sriraccha sauce over the lobster and filet mignon.

These kids are probably just as cutthroat as the adults, but they genuinely cheer each other on and I imagine must have real sadness when one of their friends leaves.

It’s okay, kids who went home, I wouldn’t have made it past the lemonade.

Z Nation

Washington DC pre-Z – Citizen Z (Simon in this segment) has been arrested. His lawyer says he won’t take a plea bargain. The DA says if he loses they’ll peruse espionage charges and he’ll spend his life in prison. He says he’s a citizen, not a spy. An NSA officer, the leader of the team that hunted him down, says he has a best and final offer. He says if CZ comes to work for the NSA, they’ll drop all the charges. He says he needs an answer immediately and CZ will be stationed at the Camp Northern Light in the North Pole.

The agent gives him a paper and says he can’t even show it to his lawyer. CZ looks at it and laughs. He asks if it’s code for something. It says “zombies.” The agent isn’t laughing.

Flash forward to CZ right now. (And Pup!) His laptop says file locked and password denied. He’s been hacked.

Operation Bite Mark’s El Camino is dead. Roberta says they’ll have to travel on foot. No surprise Murphy isn’t thrilled.

Vasquez says everything looks the same and Doc says 4 years of a zombie apocalypse will do that. Robert asks how it came to this.

Pre-Z Roberta is back at her military training base. There’s been a change in deployment. She tells the soldiers they have to scratch Philly and they’re going to Trenton. She says she doesn’t ask questions, her job is to move vehicles. An ambulance siren is going off and she goes outside to investigate. She turns it off and sees a trail of blood. She opens the back of the ambulance to see someone under a sheet. She removes the sheet and it’s a zombie, but she thinks it’s just someone who’s really sick. Luckily he’s tied down. She goes to get help.

Everyone has disappeared and the phone line isn’t working. A TV announcement says to wait for important information. Suddenly, one of the soldiers who is zombified runs out and attacks Roberta. She shoots him in the head. Others follow and she continues to shoot while the TV announcer says not to panic.

OBM trudges forward. Murphy says he’s not feeling so good and wonders how much further. Addy finds a plaque and realizes they’re in Disneyland. “It’s a world of laughter; it’s a word of tears,” Doc says.

Pre-Z Doc is a therapist in his office talking to his patient, Larry. They’re both recovering addicts – Doc five years, and Larry 6 days. Doc asks if Larry is going to meetings and Larry says nobody is, it’s hard to get through the roadblocks. Doc says he has 15 more minutes. They hear something out in the hall and Doc goes to investigate. Another therapist is being attacked by patient Bernie who just found out his wife is leaving him. Doc tells Bernie he has the best therapist and it will be okay. Doc talks him down and they hug it out.

This is way cool seeing OBM pre-Z.

Doc opens the door to his office and thinks he sees Larry with “his gay lover” on the couch. He suddenly realizes it’s a zombie and pulls him off of Larry. Too late though. Larry’s been turned and that’s not a gay reference. Doc shoves Larry out the door and locks the office. He hears a scream, takes a golf club, and goes out into the hall. There’s a bloody zombie mess and Doc gets sick. He tries the exit door and sees panic in the streets. He downs a couple of oxys, says “here we go,” and goes outside.

Citizen Z says the servers have been powered down since the nuclear blast, and he can’t figure out how he was hacked. He sees something plugged into the server, says “well played,” and gets back online to see who’s been “sleeping in [his] bed.”

Pre-Z Addy is at a hockey game.  (I was at a fight once and a hockey game broke out. Ha-ha!) All of a sudden, there’s a zombie in the stands and everyone goes running. A couple of the players use their skates to crack zombies in the head in the hallway, but they become outnumbered. Addy is trying to get out and comes into the room where the players are fighting the zombies. One of the players saves her from getting bitten. She runs toward the rink with the player left standing and they get to another hallway. There are zombies pretty much everywhere and they have to fight them off as they go.

Addy says she has to get home because her mom and brother are alone. The two go out the exit to the street.

Murphy says, “Even for us, this sucks.”

Pre-Z 10K is watching as a flock of birds goes by. He’s fishing in a creek.  He takes his catch and is going through the woods. He sees the back of someone and asks if they’re okay. It’s a female ranger zombie with arrows stuck in her. 10K thinks she’s just hurt until she tries to attack him. More zombies come toward him and he runs. Whoa, they’re close. Now a crowd is after him and he slams into a tree. Luckily, he tumbles down a hill, but the zombies keep going

When he comes to, he calls for his dad. A zombie is coming toward him and it’s suddenly shot in the head. His father comes out with a gun and we learn 10K’s name is Tommy. His dad tells him sh*t’s going down and to grab a weapon and run.

Citizen Z hears an alarm from the computer. He’s following the path back to the hacker.

Pre-Z Vasquez is in a funeral parlor. The funeral director comes in and tells him he’s sorry for Vasquez’s loss. Vasquez approaches the coffins of his wife and daughter. The caskets are closed and he begins to cry looking at their pictures. He hears a scratching noise and asks if the funeral home has rats. Then he realizes the noises are coming from the coffin. The funeral director comes back in – as a zombie.

Vasquez is like wtf? and the director attacks him. Vasquez pulls a gun out of his sock, but because he’s not shooting the zombie in the head, his efforts are futile. Finally, Vasquez beats his head to a pulp with the butt of the gun. He hears more noise and runs to find the coffins overturned and his wife and child crawling around on the floor zombiefied. Wow. Tense scene. And a little depressing.

Commercial break. Oooh, The Forest looks good!

OBM are holed up in an underground building while zombies go past them above. Murphy asks himself what they want and does he care. He does but doesn’t know why. He says he doesn’t want to be the savior of the human race or the zombie messiah. He just wants to curl up and die. He wants to know where his mercy is.

Pre-Z Murphy is in the prison yard, where he and some other inmates are playing cards for cigarettes. Murphy folds. The guy next to him asks why he folded and wants to see his cards. There’s a fight, and an inmate gets stabbed. He turns into a zombie and attacks a guard. Murphy runs out and locks the gate behind him, leaving the card player who questioned him to fend for himself and get bitten.

Roberta asks Murphy if he can’t sleep. He says he can’t dream either. He says he doesn’t think he can do this. He asks Roberta to just take some pints of his blood and let him slip out. He says if she was his friend, she would help him. She says she’s not his friend, and she promised to get him to California. He’s afraid they’re going to hurt him and she says she won’t let that happen. Murphy says she can’t do that if she’s not there. She says there isn’t going to be a happy ending for any of them, but he has the chance to save them. Murphy says the zombies will be gone soon and she should wake the others.

Citizen Z traces the hacker. The final connection is in Hawaii. He hacks into the hacker’s computer. He looks into the files to find out they’ve been using him to track Murphy. He destroys the server.

OBM are hiking up a hill. Murphy asks, “Are we there yet?” Addy says they’re close, like just past the trees. The come out of the forest and see the Pacific Ocean. They also see what looks like a rest stop with cars in the parking lot, but it could be an underground lab. Roberta says she doesn’t want them walking into a trap, so she and Vasquez will check things out first. Roberta says if they’re not out in ten minutes, GTFO.

Roberta and Vasquez proceed with caution. Music is coming from the diner. They enter, guns drawn, and there’s an old lady behind the counter. She asks if they’d like tea and ginger sandwiches. I’m wondering if she means sandwiches made out of real fingers. Vasquez tells her to put her weapon on the counter. She does, but under the counter, there’s something that looks like a bazooka. And I don’t mean the bubblegum.

This was an awesome show! The explained each character’s backstory, but also showed the progression of the apocalypse.

Next week is the finale <SOB!>. The Zeros are back along with La Riena, and what’s left of the CDC.

 

November 29, 2015 — The Dead Walk, the Wives Squawk & Dark Clouds Stalk

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What I Watched Today

(random, rambling thoughts on today’s TV)

 

The Walking Dead

Ok, it’s creepy already. We’re going down a hallway while Tiny Tim’s Tiptoe Through the Tulips plays in the background. Jessie’s son, Sam, is drawing weird pictures in crayon. A bunch of ants crawl down the frame of his window to the plate of uneaten food next to the bed. WTF?

Moving on. Last week, the church tower fell, opening the walls of Alexandria to the zombie horde. This is not good news. The zombies are getting pretty gross too. Rick gets it together quickly and tells everyone to get inside.  Very intense stuff.  Deanna comes out shooting, but she’s a bad shot so not much help.

This really sucks. Even Carol is falling all over the place, she’s so startled. Rick drags Deanna’s ass inside. Maggie is having a tough time of it, but manages to climb a ladder. Since she’s climbing for two, she’s pretty motivated. The ladder falls out from under her, but she pulls herself up there. Geez, I’m tired now.

The green balloons are still floating in the sky. Eugene is somehow remaining unobtrusive, but is still outside, and Tara and the girl whose name I don’t know, save him. I’m sure someone must have gotten eaten here, but all the main characters get to safety, such as it is, while the zombie horde roams the streets of Alexandria.

Commercial break. Dammit! Why does Krampus have to be PG-13? It looks so good, but I can’t deal with a room full of kids and their cell phones.

From a distance, Glenn and Enid can see what’s going on at Alexandria. Glenn says people are still alive, but Enid says this is how it happens and it always happens. Glenn says they’re still alive and why lose people before they’re even gone? Very good point.

Jessie’s son is acting very freaky. Jessie comes busting in with Rick and a bunch of people and this kid is on his last nerve. Jessie tells him to pretend like it’s all good, but he’s petrified and not functioning. He needs to turn off that music.

Carol and Morgan are stuck together. Carol says she doesn’t trust him, but she doesn’t think he’s a liar either. She asks how it is outside and he says they’re still in the streets. Did they think the zombies would be gone by now? Carol is hurt and Morgan tells her she needs to sit down before she falls down.

Somehow Denise got stuck with the Wolf that Morgan captured. He’s like, it’s cool to talk, and she says she should be out helping people. She says he’s killed people, and he says they were freed. Denise says Morgan doesn’t want to let him go until he knows he won’t kill again. The Wolf says he has an infection from cutting himself on a rusty bumper. Denise takes a look at it and tells him he can change. Let’s hope that wound is what he’s saying it is and he doesn’t change into a zombie. He looks at Denise like he has a crush on her. Or maybe he wants to eat her. I’ve looked at cakes that way.

Michonne is checking out Deanna’s would. Are those teeth marks?

Yep, I guess so. Rick says she doesn’t have much time. He says he’s going to try and get a vehicle and get the zombies out of there.

Michonne tries to distract Deanna by discussing the plans she gave them for the new Alexandria. Deanna says that she got to do what she wanted up until the end and asks Michonne what she wants for herself. Michonne says she doesn’t know and Deanna says she’d better. She probably knows she doesn’t want to turn into a zombie.

Ron whines to Carl that they’re all dead and tells him his dad’s a killer. Carl says so is his, and that gives Ron pause for thought. Ron locks the door and attacks Carl. Then he busts open a window like a freakin’ jerk. The zombies are all focused on getting in now. Idiot! They should throw Ron out there with them.

Now everyone has to run like crazy to get away and they can barely hold the door shut with a couch. Rick asks Carl what the blip happened. This probably isn’t the time to have some big discussion. Ron goes upstairs and Carol follows. Carl draws his gun and tells Ron to give him his gun. Carl takes the gun from him. Carl says he gets that his dad killed Ron’s dad, but Ron needs to get that his dad was an a-hole. His word, although I concur.

Commercial break. Episode of Fear 462. The first passenger turns into a zombie.

Great. Baby Judith is crying and attracting zombies. Uh-oh. Deanna is gone. Rick opens the door and finds her over the crib and almost chops her in the head with an ax, but she’s like, hold on there, I’m still alive. Rick says from now on someone needs to be with her. And it can’t be Judith. Oh wow. Rick made a funny. She gives him something from Spencer to Maggie and Rick says he’ll make sure she gets it. Deanna tells him she didn’t run out to help him because she liked him, or a bunch of other reasons, but because he’s one of them. They are all his people.

Girl whose name I don’t know asks Tara if she thinks it’s curtains for Alexandria. Tara says no. For some reason Girlfriend says she thinks Abraham is dead. Tara is like, is not. Girlfriend wants to spread out from the area of the building they’re in, and Eugene says lock picking is within his skill set.

Morgan asks Carol if she’s all right and she says she’s just resting her eyes. That’s what my dad used to say when he was falling asleep in the recliner. Morgan is looking around and doesn’t see Carol. She pops out and grabs some keys from him and takes off. What?

Rick and company are having a hell of a time and the zombies have gotten totally into the house. Damn! They block the staircase with the couch.

Denise is tending to the Wolf’s wound and Carol comes in with a knife saying get away from him. Denise says he’s tied up, but she moves. I would too if Carol had a knife in my face. Morgan is right behind her with his stick. WTF, Carol?

Rick and Michonne pick off a couple of zombies and drag them upstairs. The plan is to gut the zombies, put the guts on bed sheets, and get to the armory. Rick says anyone who stays will die. Will someone please turn that record off?

Morgan says they can be better than the Wolfs; they don’t have to kill. Carol says she doesn’t want to have to kill Morgan too. I have a bad feeling about this, Beavis.

Deanna asks Michonne what’s going on. She’s not looking too good. She says it’s her life from start to finish. She has a gun and says she’s not ready yet, but she will be. She tells Michonne to go. Michonne thanks her for believing in them. Deanna tells her to figure out what she wants. Probably surviving is at the top of the list.

DAMMIT! TURN THAT RECORD OFF! Jessie tells Sam that he has to pretend to be brave and they have to go.

Carol says she’s going to kill Morgan to kill the Wolf because she doesn’t want anyone else to die. This makes perfect sense, said no one ever.The Wolf says they should kill him, but they’re all going to die anyway. Morgan knocks the knife (scissors, whatever it is) out of her hand with the stick, and they tussle. Carol gets knocked out and the Wolf gets free and grabs the knife.

Rick and company put the gut covered sheets on. Stupid Father Gabriel claims that he won’t turn back no matter what happens. We’ll see.

Denise begs the Wolf not to kill them. She says he claimed they were dead anyway. He frees himself, and comes after her with the knife and she tells him he’s full of sh*t. Eugene, Tara and Girlfriend come in, but the Wolf puts the knife to Denise’s throat, so they lower their weapons.  He takes one of the guns and walks past them, holding the gun to Denise’s head. Why he wants to leave is beyond me.

Rick and the others are ready to leave the house. Hopefully, it doesn’t rain this time. This looks so disgusting, I can almost smell it. The crowd of zombies in the house reminds me of some NYC parties I’ve been to. Glenn and Enid see them come out of the house from a tree.

Deanna is about to shoot herself, but shoots a few zombies first. You go, girl!

I can understand not moving fast, but this group should probably get off the porch. That stupid freaking kid! He starts going, “Mom…mom…mom…” Shut the blip up!

Next week, Daryl and company can’t catch a break.

Oh, and thanks for the earworm, Walking Dead.

The Real Housewives of Atlanta

Kenya “stops by” Sheree’s house. It does look like kind of a mess, but really just a work in progress. Kenya says it’s at least 15 to 20,000 square feet. Yep, it’s big. Kenya talks about how she had her entire house gutted and it sounds like a headache. Kenya invites Sheree to a party on a yacht. She wants to give Cynthia a good time since she got stuck with that cretin, Peter, as a partner in life.

Phaedra is out shopping with Porsha, who’s looking for some cute, trashy close for Facetime with her boyfriend.

Peter is in Charlotte (good, stay there) and Cynthia invites Kandi over. Kandi tells her that she has some pregnancy issues, but she feels she’s taking it easy enough. She talks about the restaurant she and Todd want to open. Cynthia makes excuses for Peter like she usually does, but she also admits their relationship isn’t working. Please, get rid of him already.

Kim is talking to Phaedra about an event she went to with “too much boobage” and Phaedra says that she might be in with the wrong crowd here. She says she doesn’t really have a huge social life, it mostly revolves around her husband and kids.  She tears up, realizing she’s lost herself somewhere in there.

Porsha dresses up like a porn star for her chat with her boyfriend. She keeps checking herself in the mirror while eons go by and she can’t get ahold of him. An hour goes by. She calls Phaedra to complain about having to wait on Duke. Phaedra says the thrill is gone and it’s run its course. Geez, it didn’t take much.

Kenya picks up Cynthia and her friend, Tammy. Kandi picks up Kim in what looks like an airport limousine. She says she needs a lot of room because of the pregnancy. Kim says she admires Kandi’s entrepreneurship. They talk about sex toys, as Kandi has a line of them. Kim says this is very different from her normal carpool experience.

Oh this should be good. Tammy’s best friend is Sheree’s ex-husband. She let’s fly that Sheree was a gold digger.

Kandi picks up Porsha and some friend of hers that we don’t get introduced to. Kim expresses concern that Kenya will bedriving the boat, but they have a legitimate captain. And some hunky bartenders. Kenya greets the rest of the guests, indicating that she didn’t invite Shemia, who is the tagalong friend. She was also at Kenya’s launch party. Kenya has to explain to Porsha that not all parties include a plus one.

Tammy acts all fangirl with Kandi having been in Xscape.  Kenya makes an announcement that the party is all about Cynthia. Sheree comes on board and they shove off.

Tammy talks to Kandi about her son’s rap song and says she wants to get him in the studio with Kandi. Tammy says Sheree’s ex is producing him. Kandi is evasive and rightly so. This is no place to be bugging her about work stuff and Kandi says in her individual interview that she doesn’t want to hear about anything without a budget. Tammy says her husband is “Nazi white.” What is this girl on?

Kim pulls out a book, which is probably what I would do, and Kenya throws it overboard. Everyone is drinking heavily, except for Kandi and Kim. Now they’re going to get in the water. Brilliant. They’re wearing life jackets, but still.

Kenya says thanks to everybody for being supportive at her event despite the heat. She says the only one who threw shade was Shemia, and next thing we know, Kenya is looking to have this uninvited guest escorted off the boat. Portia uses the term “bitch” in reference to Cynthia and even though they’ve been using this word toward each other all day, Cynthia isn’t liking it. In her individual interview.  Porsha says she didn’t mean it in an insulting way and suggests that the last shot must have turned her into Peter.

Kenya has to explain that Porsha should just apologize and let it go. Porsha goes to find Cynthia, who has gone to the other side of the boat with Kim. Cynthia claims that Porsha was being disrespectful. Porsha says she’s sorry, but she doesn’t feel like she did anything wrong, which isn’t exactly an apology. They get into a finger-in-your-face shouting match that ends (at least for tonight) with Porsha jumping up and onto Cynthia. I flashback to when she did the same thing to Kenya on the reunion. This girl has no self-control. They tend to throw the term “ghetto” around too, but I think this is actually it.

Next week – the fight continues and Porsha ends up flailing about on the floor again.

Once Upon A Time

I’m putting this show last, even though I watched it first. I thought if somebody new reads this and it’s the first thing they read, they’ll think I’m high or something. It’s not me, it’s the show. I’m sure my writing is as hard to follow as it is for me to follow the program. If this was the 80s, I’d swear the writers are on crack.

Hook throws the dreamcatcher in Dark Emma’s face and those black stringy things go all over, roping him in. He remembers coming to the dark side and emerges out of the forest sewer cap in the hoodie required to be in the dark one club. Rumpel is waiting for him.

Rumpel says he can get his revenge for him.  And then he’ll be capable of doing what he’s always wanted to do – killing Rumpel.

Regina tells Dark Emma thanks a lot for turning Hook dark. Snow tells Dark Emma to give back their memories. David says the dreamcatchers are gone.

Hook goes to Mr. Gold’s shop and says he wants to savor killing him. He reminds Gold/Rumpel of how he came to be dark in the first place. Hook says all Rumpel has to do is get Excalibur from him and asks if they should finish what they started.

Rumpel says they have to find out more about the first dark one to stop Hook. Dark Emma says she can help, but she needs the cuff that’s holding her back to be taken off. She pleads with Henry to believe she’ll behave herself, but Henry is like, oh no, you’ve lied one too many times and you just want your dark magic back so you can be bad all over the place. Emma is bummed because they don’t trust her, but what did she expect? Trust has to be earned, dark one.

Everyone goes to the forest sewer cap, but it’s shut and they can’t get down there.  Snow thinks Lancelot’s mother, the Lady of the Lake, can help. Lancelot leaves to find her. Hook asks why dark ones must dress like monks. Ha-ha! Rumpel finds him wandering about the forest whining about how he’s stuck in Camelot. Dark Emma joins the both of them. She says she wants a future with Hook, and he has to want it too. He says he does and Rumpel disappears. Emma says they can get rid of the darkness in themselves by bonding with their loved ones, and I’d swear it was Iowa from all the corn.

Mr. Gold tells Belle that if he survives the duel with Hook, he’s going to be the man she wants him to be. He’s run from battles his whole life and isn’t running from this one.

Zelena tries to come into the hospital to get her baby, but her daughter is gone. Regina says they needed to protect the child from her. Regina says the only reason she has the baby is because she killed Marion and deceived Robin.

Merida is guarding Dark Storybrooke Emma. Hook startles her and she almost shoots him. Dark Emma says the reason Hook is there is because he still has feelings for her. Hook says he’s free now, and no one can stop him. Dark Emma says the darkness is just using him; it doesn’t care about what he wants. He says she’s so afraid of losing the people she loves, she pushes them away. He says she doesn’t need the darkness, she does fine on her own. He says he wants to hurt her like she hurt him. Even when you’re a dark one, you can’t escape middle school.

In Camelot, however, Dark Emma and Hook are making out in the woods. Hook goes to get water (can’t he just conjure some up?) and he gets a headache. Rumpel appears and says it’s the sound of the dagger. He says Dark Emma must have it and she’s lying to him. Dark Emma comes looking for Hook and he asks if she knows where Excalibur is. She says something unrelated like, “How about them Mets?” to deflect the question. He asks if she used its magic on him. He’s pretty pissed that she turned him dark. He says he stopped Regina from using it on her because she should make her own decisions and she should have let him make his. Then he’s gone, poof! in a puff of red smoke. Burgundy really.

Rumpel is in the shop practicing with the sword and gets interrupted by Dark Emma. She wants Hook to last long enough in the duel for her to steal back the dreamcatchers and suggests he use magic. Rumpel says he wants to win with honor. She’s like, good luck with that.

Regina brings Zelina to her house where Robin and the baby are, reminding Zelena that she has her powers back too. Zelena says,  “Once you go green, you never go queen,” referring to her tryst with Robin. Regina says she’s spent years doing terrible things beyond Zelena’s imagination, but having a child changed things. She hopes that kind of love does the Jessiee for Zelena. Robin says although he and Zelena can never be a family, she can have supervised visits with the baby. Does this baby have a name yet?

Belle, David, Henry & Snow are at the library doing research. How come they’re not using a computer? Dark Emma ambushes Henry. She asks for help with the dreamcatchers and Henry agrees.

Dark Emma searches for Hook with no luck. She summons him with Excalibur. He says it wasn’t cool for her to make him feel out of control. She says she called him because she does believe he should control his own fate. She gives him Excalibur and says let’s do this together. She says she loves him. He returns the sentiment and they make out in a field of flowers.

Mr. Gold shows up at Hook’s ship. Hook says it has to be a fair fight (that’s good of him) and heals Rumpel’s leg. They duel with swords.

Commercial break. Galavan is coming back! I liked that show & I also forgot about it. It was so weird, I didn’t think it would come back. Certainly not after all this time.

Hook and Dark Emma hook (ha-ha!) back up with the others. Merlin is staring into a bubbling caldron. Hook walks in on him and steals his heart. Rumpel says be careful, it’s pretty old. Nimue also pops in. (Every time I hear her name, that song The Lion Sleeps Tonight plays in my head.) She says she’s always loved Merlin. Hook says she lives in all dark ones, so when he crushes Merlin’s heart, so will she.

Hook and Rumpel continue to fight. Rumpel loses his sword and Hook has him at a disadvantage.

Henry, who has brought stuff to make a new dreamcatcher, takes the cuff off of Dark Emma.

Dark Emma finds Hook with Merlin’s heart. She’s pretty pissed because he tricked her. She asks Nimue what she wants and she says Dark Emma wants it too. Dark Emma gets the feels and tells Hook revenge isn’t his happy ending and if he destroys Merlin’s heart, he’ll destroy his happy ending. He says the happy ending died when she turned him into a dark one and he crushes Merlin’s heart.  Whoa. That’s cold.

Hook prattles on and magic forest Rumpel pops in asking what’s the delay. When Hook looks at him, Mr. Gold/Rumpel turns the tables. I don’t think he kills him though. Belle meets Rumpel in the woods, but they don’t make out. She tells him he’s broken her heart too many times. He says, but wait a minute, I won the battle, my heart is pure now, so let’s make out. Belle basically says she has to go find herself and needs to protect her heart. There you go. After all that.

Dark Emma makes Merlin’s body go poof! in a cloud of grey smoke. She tells Hook she’ll never abandon him, not even now, makes a hand gesture (not that one) and he keels over. She brings out a dreamcatcher. She makes everyone go to sleep. She uses the dreamcatcher to erase the memories of her turning Hook dark.

Rumpel tells her no good is going to come of this. Lots and lots and lots of blue smoke envelops everything.

All of a sudden, Excalibur is back at Camelot and Arthur’s eyes bug out of his head. From the tower window, Arthur and Guinevere see the humongous cloud of smoke coming their way too. Arthur tells Guinevere that it’s dark magic coming.

Everyone gets dreamcatchers like they’re party favors. Emma says she remembers and she knows what they’re doing, meaning Hook and Rumpel.

Hook and Rumpel are at some creepy pond. Hook dips his hook into the pond. A ghost ship appears! Well, more like a gondola. There are a bunch of hooded dudes in it and one comes across the pond, walking on the water. It’s Nimue and she says she’s hear to do what dark ones do best, snuff out the light. Hook says welcome to Storybrooke. And I thought those snuffers all lived in my town.

The winter finale – whatever that is – an excuse to take a break – is next week.