BONES: The Foot in the Foreclosure

Before we get into a discussion of last night’s episode, I have a special announcement.

Mark your calendars! Set a reminder on your iPhone! On December 10th, we’re going to host another LIVE BONES CHAT. I thought it would be nice if we could watch the BONES Christmas episode together. The episode features Zooey Deschanel, Ryan O’Neal and Booth in his boxers. Hello! Are you in? RSVP in the comments.

Hey there, BONES fans! How are things? Did you like this episode? I don’t know if it caught me on a bad day or what (actually, it did), but it felt a little forced to me. I guess I could have handled a two or three episode arc with Pops, and getting all of that storyline across in one episode seemed like too much. I will say that once again like last week, while Booth was centric to the episode, it was really more of a commentary of Brennan’s character development. Loved that.

THE CASE:

A pretty good case, I thought. Booth and Brennan are called to a home for sale, and in the bedroom is a body (or two, as we find out) completely incinerated with the exception of a foot. Also a hand is somewhat salvageable. Booth and Brennan are cute at the crime scene. Never thought I would say that, but I’m not complaining. There are a few suspects in the deaths of Meg and Hugo. Meg’s roommate; the capitalizing real estate agent; the home owner, etc.

BONES managed to gain justice and sympathy in the end when it was revealed that Howard, the original home owner was the murderer. On the advice of the realtor, he’d moved out of the house. But he just wanted to sleep in the bed he’d carved for himself and his late wife. Seeing Meg and Hugo in the bed was enough to incite him to murder, ironically using the handmade bedpost toppers as weapons.

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THE VAMPIRE DIARIES: The Turning Point

Alright, so last night was our last episode before TVD goes on its break until January 14, which feels like forever away, right? I was actually kind of bummed out while I was watching this episode, because I decided to watch Supernatural first (BIG mistake) and because I had the hiatus information in the back of my head.

Still, there was a lot to love about this episode, not the least of which was Stefan and Elena. (Caution: If you haven’t seen the episode, just stop now. You’ll want to be surprised.) YOU GUYS. These two are such drama queens but I love them together and I can’t help it. They just have really nice chemistry, and I know people complain that Stefan is boring and a buzzkill, and you know, I see it, but at the same time, I stand by my opinion that whatever emotion we see out of him seems way more legit as a result. When Elena told him she loved him and he just stopped dead, I swear my heart about stopped. And then when he turned around and came at her to kiss her … WHOA. It was super hot. I had been kind of bummed also that I wasn’t able to get midnight New Moon tickets because I waited too long, but then I saw all this go down and I was like … yeah, I’m happy to be on my couch in my pj’s right now.
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TOP CHEF: Culinary Olympics

[GMMR: Before we get into SB's review of last night's TOP CHEF, I just wanted to make sure that all of you have entered our TOP CHEF: The Quickfire Challenge Giveaway. The contest ends next week so be sure to enter soon.]

Alright, NOW it’s a competition. There were definitely a lot of times, especially recently, where I thought my original top four might not remain in tact (thanks for the heart attacks, Jennifer), but I think that the top shook out exactly how it should have and I’m happy with how things went.

This episode seemed extremely challenging, maybe one of the hardest challenges I’ve seen on Top Chef. I’d never heard of the Bocuse D’or before, but everyone seemed to treat it with great respect and Michael describing it as like being chosen to represent your country in the Olympics was a good description. So thanks, Michael, I guess I can’t say you never did anything for me.

Speaking of Michael (UGH, do we HAVE to?) I like how he’s now trash-talking everyone. Well, okay, not everyone. I don’t think he takes Eli seriously enough to trash-talk him, and trash-talking Bryan would reflect badly on him, since they do such similar stuff. But he’s still carrying on about Kevin cooking the way Michael cooks on his day off (eye roll), and he’s started in on Jen and how she started off strong but has nowhere to go now. Which, naturally, made me EXTRA proud when Jen won the Quickfire. You go girl! She really needed that. Also, meats inside meats inside meats kind of grosses me out. Turducken? Barf. I know lots of people enjoy that sort of thing, but I am not one of them. Also, food on mirrors? Sort of weird. Apparently this week is, for me, all about NOT wanting to expand my horizons.

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THE VAMPIRE DIARIES: History Repeating

So much happened last night on The Vampire Diaries that I almost don’t know where to start, but as when you find out you are dating a vampire, it all may be a little overwhelming but you’re already committed so you might as well just dive in head first, right?

Let’s start with Alaric, because that seems easiest. I really wasn’t sure I’d be able to like him because I thought I might just look at his face and see Werner from Legally Blonde, but not so—he was actually really cute and charming, and I like that he both shared and tossed the jackass folder. I think I might need to keep a jackass folder. See? When Mr. Tanner wasn’t busy teaching, coaching, chaperoning, and generally being the only adult in town, he had a couple of good ideas!

It made sense to put him and Jenna together, since they are of about the same age and hotness (although I think she might be just a tiiiiiny bit hotter), and so we could find out more about his back story. What did you guys think about that part at the end where he was waiting to be invited in? Billy thinks it’s a red herring, but I just don’t know—it’s almost like a red herring is too obvious so maybe he IS a vampire. But then, I’m getting into a Dwight Schrute-like circle of logic.

However … LOGAN showing up? Definitely a vampire, because he was totally dead. But this begs the question, WTF? Who brought him back and why and what is he doing at Jenna’s? INSANITY. Are vampires just starting to descend on this town or what?

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TOP CHEF: Strip Around the World

Man, I feel like Top Chef has been gone FOREVER, even though it reality it was only one week (for the reunion dinner, which OnDemand decided wasn’t part of the season and I didn’t need to see, EYE ROLL). But we jumped right back into familiar territory with the Quickfire, which was the old “make Padma breakfast” challenge. This one, however, was breakfast in bed and included Nigella Lawson, who is apparently famous, but whose name only vaguely rang my bell. It barely even rang. It like … tinkled.

Eli won the Quickfire, which I actually thought was a good choice, based on pretty much everything besides tasting the food. But it certainly looked good, and I thought that it was easily the most conceptual dish, which I always enjoy. Eli didn’t win immunity, or even a real prize, but the “honor” of being the only chef from the season with a recipe in the Top Chef Quickfire Cookbook. That prize is lamesauce, which yes, you can smear over the bottom of a plate before plunking a tiny pile of food on it, thank you for asking.

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THE VAMPIRE DIARIES: 162 Candles

Now y’all, I don’t want to get too carried away here, but last night was a little epic! And we can pretty much attribute it all to Lexi, who is my favorite female vampire since Pam on True Blood. And I think I even liked her MORE than Pam, so suck on that for awhile. Also, vampire/bloodsucking pun!

Her arrival was perfectly timed, because needed someone to seriously lighten Stefan up, which she did, and to force the Stefan and Elena storyline out of its standoff, which she also did. And ladies, can I get a big “hell yeah” (Dixie Chicks-style) for having an awesome, strong, funny female character who isn’t just around to cause drama and steal boyfriends? Lexi was perfect, and I was really hoping we’d get to see her again.

Obviously, that won’t be happening because Damon enacted his diabolical plan, gained the trust of the sheriff by loading her up with vervain for her, her family, the council, AND all her deputies, and then set Lexi up so that he could stake her. You all know how much I love Damon, how hot and funny I think he is and how absolutely essential to the show, but I swear at that moment, I wanted to stake him myself, and I was minorly disappointed when Stefan didn’t FINISH HIM! (Mortal Kombat-style), although I did manage to get a grip on myself before it was all over. I don’t really want you dead, Damon!

Although, you know, I really don’t think that was the only thing. Damon was also a HUGE jerk to Caroline, and making girls cry and feel bad about themselves isn’t going to win any points with me. He was HARSH. And it just grosses me out how he can be so secretly nice to Elena and so positively revolting with Caroline. Thankfully Matt stepped in to carry drunk Caroline home, and can I just say that I kind of love that pairing? I wasn’t sure I would when she stumbled into his booth, but it makes total sense. They’re very different people, but they’re going through similar issues of feeling abandoned and unloved and rejected, and Matt does love playing hero to the damaged girl types. And I really think he might be able to bring out a better side of Caroline, and I really like both of them and would like to see both of them happy, so at this point, I’m pretty much all for it.

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THE VAMPIRE DIARIES: Haunted

I know it was only one week without The Vampire Diaries, but it was starting to feel like forever and I resorted to forcing my friend against her will to watch Lost Girls online with me, so needless to say, I was definitely ready for this episode. Plus, I love Halloween episodes of TV shows.

I’ve heard people describing this one as “the best one yet” and I liked it, but I’m not so sure I’d go that far. I think I got more sheer enjoyment and shock out of Lost Girls (even if it was disappointingly light on the Caroline, as was this one), but I had some issues with Haunted. For me, the best part of the show didn’t come until right at the end (that’s what she said), but we’ll get to that.

First of all, it cannot be said enough that Katerina Graham (Bonnie) seems like a lovely girl—she’s beautiful, and she is INCREDIBLE at interacting with fans on a level that is at minimum on par with how much The Office actors embraced fans in the early years. On a personal level, I think she’s bomb. However. Her storyline is boring the CRAP out of me. I’m going to need less talking, and more action. And hanging out with your grandma isn’t exactly what I’m picturing here, and similarly, lighting candles at a party with your mind does not constitute “action”. Lighting the mean girl’s car on fire? THAT is action—more of that, please. And there was that one good scene with Damon, although any scene with Damon is pretty okay by me. But I did love the shocked looks they gave each other, and I’m excited to see where that goes. I just hope the payoff is worth this very slow build with her.

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