LOST- The Right Man For the Job

Michael Dawson- "I'm here to stop you from getting everyone killed."

Are there really only six hours of LOST left in my life? Extremely disappointing. If last week's Happily Ever After was game-changing, this week's Everybody Loves Hugo was just a championship level performance of said changed game. Hurley has always been a character I've enjoyed. His humor and sincerity shine through and that is why his sideways story was another intriguing romp through the bizzaro alternate universe (Hugo's words, not mine).

This week in sideways world we watch Hugo Reyes, who is not unlucky with money but an extremely successful businessman who shares his wealth with the unfortunate. His one downfall? He has not found a lady friend to have by his side. That is until one Libby Smith sits down to chat with the big man at Spanish Johnny's. As we move forward from what we learned last week with Desmond, and how the two worlds are somehow becoming one, Libby claims to have known Hugo in another life. Huges doesn't share the memories and blows it off that Libby is as crazy as a road lizard. Thankfully she's hot so Hurley goes on a date with her anyway. On said date, Libby kisses the owner of Mr. Clucks and a lot of his Island memories come flowing back. Awesome.

Also awesome? Desmond running around sideways world getting the band back together. First he finds Hugo to make sure he stays with the Libby thing and now he is running Locke over with his car. Why is he doing this? Because he knows that he is dead in the Island universe? Does the sideways Desmond have that memory? And if he does, what good will killing this Locke do in his plan?

Meanwhile back on The Island, Hugo is met by a ghost of Michael. Here is where I am confused. He comes right after all of the whispers. The whispers represent Smokey right? So is this a true ghost of Michael or just Smokey doing what he does? Have any of Hugo's ghosts been ghosts? Or just Smokey planting his seed to get Hurley to do what he wants when he wants? Michael doesn't want Hugo to blow up the plane. Obviously...because Smokey needs it to leave The Island (with everyone including Sun, Jack and Hugo).

Back in camp Smokey we get UnLocke going on a trip with the new Desmond that will go along with anything anyone says because he has no reason for being afraid. Before the two guys get to the "very old" well they have a run in with the young boy in the woods. The one who has been mentioned as anyone from a young Jacob, a young Sawyer, an old Aaron, an overseer of Jacob and Man In Black, and just a persona of The Island. This time he looked older and looked even more like Jacob. All he did was smile at UnLocke. What's this kid's deal?

After UnLocke throws Desmond down the "very old" well (yeah that was anticlimactic), team Hugo finds themselves face to face with the Man In Black and the rest of his crew at Camp Smokey. Before Hugo and his furry friends make this move we get a very poignant quote from one Jack Shephard.

Ever since Juliet died. Ever since I got her killed. All I've wanted is to fix it...but I can't. I can't ever fix it. You have no idea how hard it is for me to sit back and listen to other people tell me what I should do...but, I think, maybe, that's the point. Maybe, maybe I'm supposed to let go.

Great words from a man who has made his way back into my good graces. If that didn't sound like a foreshadowing for the guy who will be taking Jacob's place as the protector of The Island, I don't know what it is. He's so calm in taking a back seat to others this season. Just as Jacob does. The protector must let others do what they will, without forcing them to do what he wants. Jack wasn't the very opposite of this throughout the first five seasons. Maybe him finding this new way is why he is the right man for the job. What do you think?

American Idol- Little Less Conversation, Little More Singing

Aaron Kelly- "I don't necessarily know that this song fits me. It's probably wrong in every possible way, but I'm gonna go out there and have a good time with this performance."

This is the first blog post in almost a week. This is my first day back from my vacation. And this...is American Idol. What a way to get back in the swing of things. Ms. Lambert as the mentor less than a year after his run on Idol? Great to see. And actual great mentoring to many of the Idols this week. Of course there are some train wrecks (cough Aaron Kelly cough) that just can't be mentored.

For the first week since the semifinals began, Crystal Bowersox was not my favorite performance. She is still my favorite contestant, and I think her Saved was the second best of the night, but Lee DeWyze killed it tonight in a big way. It wasn't just that he sand the theme song to one of my favorite bad tv shows of all time (Las Vegas), he actually performed extremely well. Immediately after he finished his stellar take on A Little Less Conversation, I wrote that he really took Adam's advice to heart and stepped his performing game up. 30 seconds later Lee made the same observation, going out of his way to thank last year's champion runner-up.

Siobhan Magnus was enjoyable to me for the second straight week with Suspicious Minds. Her scream in the middle had a certain Lambert-like musicality to it that could have only come from the help of Adam himself. She finished the song off with both a great falsetto and a fantastic glory note that wasn't cringe worthy like something she did early in the competition. The judges, like always, were completely wrong in my opinion. Simon's "you lost who you were two or three weeks ago" comment was absurd because everyone knows her performances of two and three weeks ago were God awful. The past two weeks have been her best in a long while.

Going into watching last night's episode I had heard from multiple sources that Tim Urban was one of, if not the best of the night. I was very disappointed. I wanted to really like his Can't Help Falling In Love. I enjoyed it. But it was just another decent to good attempt at a very easy to sing song. The highlight of Tim's session was Kara taking her love for the phrase singer-songwriter to a whole new level as this week she used it as a straight up adjective. Tim's performance was "singer-songwriter" to Kara.

Mike "Will Kieffer" Lynche performed yet another soft and sincere performance, but his slightly sleepy In the Ghetto was stuck as a middling performance for me. Katie Stevens continues to show that she has the pipes, but her Baby What Do You Want Me To Do kept getting annoying for me. Once someone points out that there is something annoying about a certain person, it's hard to ignore. I wanted to throw up every time she moved her head back and forth as if she had some swagger--Thanks Slezak.

My Bottom Three. Casey James's vibrato is getting worse and worse. He didn't sound like a hungry goat during the semifinals. Last week and during this week's Lawdy Miss Clawdy, he did. Andrew Garcia was really bad once again. He needed to either speed up Hound Dog a lot, or slow it down a lot and bring out his acoustic (broken record). As Lambert said during their session together, it was boring. For the second week in a row, my least favorite of the night was Aaron Kelly. He did Blue Suede Shoes and just like the quote at the top said, it was completely wrong for him. Unlike what the rest of the quote said, it didn't look like he was having a single bit of fun up on that stage. Pack your bags Aaron, because you and Andrew are going home tonight.

My Performance Rankings
1. Lee DeWyze
2. Crystal Bowersox
3. Siobhan Magnus
4. Tim Urban
5. Michael Lynche
6. Katie Stevens
7. Casey James
8. Andrew Garcia
9. Aaron Kelly

Survivor Week 8- Slay or be Slayed

I can't believe Russell continues to go far in this game, and eliminate all of my favorite players in the process. Coach had this coming to him though. After being one of the two people that could've helped keep Boston Rob last week, he did nothing but complain about how hard it is to play without his best friends Tyson and Boston Rob.

This fantasy season is still anybody's game, well except for Larry who is seemingly done with only Courtney left. Jaydon still holds onto the lead but these people get their act together and get rid of Russell, he could take a drop as we move forward. I like that momentum that my Candice was making over in Heroes camp. She's right on the money with having to get rid of JT. The guy has been controlling everything over there since day one.

Fantasy Results

Punch Face Champions

Russell (Villains)- W8 (29)= 29
Danielle (Villains)- W8 (29)= 29
Sandra (Villains)- W8 (29)= 29
JT (Heroes)- W8 (29), Reward (4), Im (8)= 41
Tom (Heroes)
Week 8= 128 Total= 529

Redwood Original

Boston Rob (Villains)
Parvati (Villains)- W8 (29)= 29
Colby (Heroes)- W8 (29), Reward (4), Im (8)= 41
Sugar (Heroes)
Candice (Heroes)- W8 (29), Reward (4), Im (8)= 41
Week 8= 111 Total= 431

DJ Roomba

Tyson (Villains)
Randy (Villains)
Jerri (Villains)- W8 (29)= 29
Rupert (Heroes)- W8 (29), Reward (4), Im (8)= 41
Amanda (Heroes)- W8 (29), Reward (4), Im (8)= 41
Week 8= 111 Total= 392

Kick Puncher III

Coach (Villains)- Votes (-16)= -16
Courtney (Villains)- W8 (29), Votes (-12)= 17
James (Heroes)
Stephenie (Heroes)
Cirie (Heroes)
Week 8= 1 Total= 180

Fantasy Idol Results- A Save and a Slap

During my vacation I don't feel like complaining about how much I hate Kara DioGuardi or the fact that she was all excited/shocked when Michael Lynche was saved. Kara, you realize it was your decision as the judges to save him so wipe that smug surprised smile off of your face before I do it for you.

Fantasy Scores

The Rock Bodega
Casey James- Safe (22)= 22
Janell Wheeler
Tim Urban- Safe (22)= 22
Lee DeWyze- Safe (22)= 22
Week 7= 66 Total= 172

You're Coming With Me Leather
Andrew Garcia- Bottom 3 (-7), Safe (22)= 15
Paige Miles
Aaron Kelly- Bottom 3 (-7), Safe (22)= 15
John Park
Week 7= 30 Total= 104

The Curlgar
Ashley Rodriguez
Joe Muñoz
Haley Vaughn
Siobhan Magnus- Safe (22)= 22
Week 7= 22 Total= 56

Splash Downs All Around
Todrick Hall
Crystal Bowersox- Safe (22)= 22
Tyler Grady
Michelle Delamor
Week 7= 22 Total= 55

Diabolical Haters
Didi Benami
Lilly Scott
Lacey Brown
Michael Lynch- Bottom 3 (-7), Safe (22)= 15
Week 7= 15 Total= 55

HashTag Katie Stevens Is Only 16
Katie Stevens- Safe (22)= 22
Jermaine Sellers
Katelyn Epperly
Alex Lambert
Week 7= 22 Total= 43

LOST- Desmond Game Changer

Desmond Hume- "You told me you brought me here to The Island to do something very important...when do we start?"

Well as Audrey Griswold screamed in Vegas Vacation while dancing on top of a gigantic neon sign, "I'm starting my vacation!!!!" I just finished watching last night's mammouth episode of LOST while on a flight from Baltimore to Jacksonville. Yes sir head to the Happiest Place on Earth for a couple days before spending the rest of the week in Savannah.

This probably won't be my finest post (are any of them decent?) but I'll give it my best shot before I need to turn all my electronic devices off before landing. As Lindelof said, Happily Ever After sure was a game-changer. Desmond is the root of all awesomeness. It's that simple.

This sideways story was so intriguing and enlightening that I didn't even realize that we were off The Island from the 8:30 mark to the 37:20 mark until Widmore and the gang opened the garage door to the electromagnetic room to a wakening Desmond.

With all that is going around me (wind, turbulence, switching planes) I'm not sure if I truly grasped what the heck is actually going right now, but I do know that I love every second of it. When Charlie drives the car into the water and Des tries to save him, he has his first flash of something from The Island, Charlie's hand that said "Not Penny's Boat."

Okay. Okay. That didn't have to be major. But then we get Charlie telling him there's something major going on with love at first sight with him and Claire and he thinks Des and Penny (later on we also get Daniel and Charlotte). And then we meet Eloise and Daniel as part of Widmore's family and everything takes a turn.

Eloise obvsiously knows more about what in the f is going on and doesn't want Desmond to know about it. Faraday also knows something huge is at play, because he wrote a whole bunch of physics equations even though he is just an aspiring musician. Daniel claims that he thinks he set off an atomic bomb that created this whole sideways universe. Sure this is what we all assumed, but what does it have to do with the two seperate worlds and how we're going to get anything out of it?

Here's how. Desmond goes to find his beloved Penny and after shaking hands with the beauty he faints. During this faint we get cut to him waking up in the electromagnetic room. The hostiles claim he's been out for only a few seconds, but by the look on his face it seems that this Island Desmond was experiencing everything in the Sideways world (or at least can remember it).

That's when he buys into the fact that he truly is meant for greatness. He is needed to help the whole situation and tells Widmore, "You told me you brought me here to The Island to do something very important...when do we start?" Does it get much better than this dude?

After Sayid takes care of the hostiles and captures Desmond, he's completely fine with it. He's ready to go along with whatever ride comes his way. But then we get back to his Sideways (did he faint in the jungle at that moment?) where he is waking up from his fainting with Penny. She is really likening to Des and they agree to go get coffee.

Once he gets back into the limo driven by a bearded Daniel Negreanu, he has come up with an idea. What idea? To get the manifest from his Oceanic Flight 815. He just needs to show the passengers something. What in the world is he going to show everyone. How is his strange, maybe unctrollable, ability to switch back and forth between worlds going to be shown to others? And how will they then be able to do the same? Will the two worlds still be able to be combined or will all of the people he shows be able to come and go between the two worlds? Game-changer.

American Idol- No Tim! Good Performance

Randy Jackson- "It was a good Tim performance."

While Simon is one of the meanest people in television history, Randy's treatment of Tim Urban last night might have been more cruel than anything the cranky Brit has ever done. At least Simon makes sense with his criticism. Randy saying that he is not judging Tim in a comparison to any other contestant is just wrong and unfair to the contestants and the audience. Figure it out dawg and learn how to judge or I'm gonna be forced to fast forward through you.

Speaking of this "good Tim performance" I actually agreed with Simon that it was decent. The thing about Urban is that half of the time he's a pleasant listen. You know he's never going to try to hard with the vocals, so it never sounds strained (unlike his young teenybopping partner). I'd rather listen to this performance by Urban any day of the week than sit through another Aaron Kelly hatchet job.

Aaron is always straining and it just gets worse and worse every week I have to sit through his performance. Whichever judge said it last night was right on the money with the fact that it was "a long and winding song." It was both annoying and boring. When is this youngster going to realize you can't just put a country voice on any song without rearranging it to give it a country feel. It's just felt like a mutant cousin of The Long and Winding Road.

While we're on the topic of performances I really couldn't stand...Andrew Garcia aka President Omar Hassan went back to his other identity this week as he just butchered Can't Buy Me Love. I was bored throughout and it is a very upbeat song. Not usually the combination you think of.

My favorite this week was once again Crystal Bowersox. MamaSox has proven she can do anything, even smile while hugging a didgeridoo player. I really don't like Come Together, but like Adam Lambert used to do last year, she made me a fan of it with her performance.

I also really liked Siobhan Magnus and Katie Stevens last night. The Glass Blower really stepped with a Lambert/Tracks of My Tears moment in her rendition of Across the Universe. Now it wasn't as enjoyable as Michael Johns's rock out a couple years ago, but it was so tender and controlled that it was a pleasant change from her normal garbage. Ms. Stevens just flat out sang and performed well. I know Rizzo thinks she's the best every single week, but for me this is different. She made Let It Be seem real current.

Casey James, Le DeWyze and Michael Lynche were all subpar for me this week. I think Big Mike was my favorite of the group because he didn't something interesting that fit his style. I wanted to write that his Eleanor Rigby didn't even compare to Larry's Eleanor and CJ version but I think he was okay here. Casey, on the other hand, was not good at all. He was loving the vibrato this week as every time he went into a long note I thought I was getting shot at by a machine gun "eheheheheheheh". Oh Lee DeWyze. I wanted to really like you this week, but you brought a crazy bagpipe player on stage in the middle of your performance and I just couldn't concentrate. It was like Lee was the opening act and the Bagpipe Guy was the main attraction.

My prediction is the Tim Urban finally leaves us tonight.

Performance Rankings

1. Crystal Bowersox
2. Siobhan Magnus
3. Katie Stevens
4. Michael Lynche
5. Lee DeWyze
6. Tim Urban
7. Casey James
8. Andrew Garcia
9. Aaron Kelly

Chuck- To Paris With Love

Sarah Walker- "Once we get back, it's all gonna happen. You and me."

Wow. We're all kidding ourselves if we think that television gets better than that episode right there. It was so fantastic that I almost wish that there weren't six more episodes this season. Needless to say, Schwartz and Fedak knew what they were doing when they originally planned out this 13 episode season. Chuck vs. the Other Guy had it all and then some.

I really don't like the full episode recap as a post, but I feel that everything that happened during this 42 minute journey was worth talking about, so I might hate myself after seeing how long this post gets.

As the title portrays, this week's ep was a battle between the lead Nerd Herder and Special Agent Daniel Shaw. We start out with Shawsy and Sarah going into a deserted warehouse where it is assumed by Chuck and me that he is going to kill her for killing his wife. After getting a gigantic strike force together, thanks to Colonel Sanders, Chuck's mission ends abruptly as Shaw in no way attempts to end Sarah's life. Was anyone fooled by this? I wrote at the time, 'he's really dragging this thing along.'

After everyone is informed on the goodness of Shaw, he heads up another mission to get the Ring Leader. This time Chuck tags along. Once inside the fortress, Chuck and Sarah find a way to get the Ring Leader in the grasp and have everything under control. That is until the elevator they are holding him in continues to open with more and more Ring agents joining the hostage situation. It soon elevates to where the spies are completely outnumbered and don't stand a chance. Who comes to the rescue? Not John Casey, but Daniel Shaw. Again I said to myself, 'very nice setup.' And what happened next? Yes all of the Ring members that Shaw just fake killed got up, while the Leader announced, "Good work Daniel...I think they bought it."

Yes they might have but I and my little bearded friend didn't. It took Morgan Grimes one watch to realize that the footage of Shaw beating up the Ring operatives was fake. The man knows his action movies. All of these CIA and NSA people on the scene and it took a lolely Buy More assistant Manager to figure out that Shawsy was working with the Ring. What does that mean for Morgan? Yes an actual spot on Team Bartowski. Although he won't play a major role in the action I'm sure, Morgan will be a part of the spy stuff from here on out I'm assuming.

So now yet a third mission to get the Ring Leader is under way. This time just Shaw and Sarah again. On their way to Paris. After Morgan let's Chuck in on the little secret about Shaw, he convinces Casey (through a fantastic motivational speech) to go and help out Mr. Bartowski. Once in "The Land of France", as I call it to a friend of mine, things continued to heat up.

Shawsy brings Sarah to the exact spot she killed his wife and he plans to return the favor. He drugs her and brings in the Ring Leader to hand over important intelligence on the Intersect. Boy things are going down hill fast. But no Chuck shows up as a waiter and gets down to business with Shaw. For the first time though, a flashed Chuck can not win in a fight as Shaw takes him out and takes Sarah with him to throw over a bridge.

Chuck makes his final attempt to save the love of his life. He draws his gun and threatens to kill the double agent. Casey calls his bluff, but it is too late as Chuck shoots Shawsy in the chest a couple times. In a last ditch effort to get revenge for his fallen wife, Shaw grabs Sarah to pull her over the bridge with him, but Chuck steps in and grabs her as Shaw falls to his death. Wow. Doesn't get much better than that.

Actually it does. It's called Sarah waking up in a Paris hotel room with the words, "You saved me" spraying out of her mouth before she commits one of the greatest "WHAT A KISS!!!" moments in the history of pop culture smooches. And they all lived happily ever after...well until they come back in a few weeks with a whole new mess on their hands.

Other Points

- Even though Chuck's first attempt to save Sarah was unnecessary she was still thankful for his extensive rescue mission, "Thank you for saving me. I appreciate the tank."

- We didn't get much of Jeffster this week, but the little we did was great, especially them accepting Casey into their crew.

- After a drunk Chuck ties up Morgan and starts singing Morgan gets me slapping my knee with, "You are misquoting the line and you are ruining Pretty in Pink for me."

- We got a couple more great mushy Sarah lines that we've all been waiting for. "You're still Chuck.  You're still my Chuck" and at the top of the post, "Once we get back, it's all gonna happen. You and me."

- Before Casey convince Beckman to let Morgan on Team Bartowski we got this gem from the saddened Buy Morian, "My time as a spy was pretty exciting...a bit brief."

Breaking Bad- An Honesty Bomb

Walter White- "Honesty is good...don't you think?"

That honesty bomb that Walter dropped on Skyler at the beginning of this season has done wonders to his personality. I loved watching him go from manic to depressive throughout this episode. Sure the depressing Walt moments aren't all that great, like being frustrated that Skyler won't let him in the bedroom so he pees in the sink. But the highest of highs are such a joy to witness, like when Skyler gets home and Walter has an ear to ear grin claiming that he's cooking dinner. Yes the meth cook was once again wearing his apron, only this time instead of drugs it was a big ole pot roast.

Walt also finally got a chance to explain himself to his wife this week. His long plea for why he started cooking in the first place was so heartfelt that I definitely would've taken the man back. "The things I've had to do, I've got to live with them." I mean come on Sky, have a heart. No instead of welcoming him back with open arms, she went to work and got her some Ted. "Honesty is good" Walt said. So the cold hearted b*tch let Walter know what she had been up to with her boss. And roll credits. Can everyone admit that Skyler is the absolute worst?

And now a word to the Albuquerque phone department. Thank you for disconnecting Jane's number. If I had to watch Jesse Pinkman call that voicemail one more time I was going to throw a fit! Why don't you take one of my favorite characters on tv and turn him into a complete waste? I get that his gf just died, but man has this dude been a buzzkill the first few eps of this season. Cutting off that cellphone was the best thing that could've happened to Jesse. Let's get down to business with some meth cookin'.

It was nice to see more development on the Gus Chiggins situation with the Cartel. Obviously they have some deal worked out with Gus controlling his area. The fact that Walt is a part of his plan is the only thing keeping the cook alive at this point, but as the Cartel boss told Gus those Two Suits aren't like the rest of them. They will do whatever they want to get revenge for their fallen cousin, Tuco. The fact that Tuco was their cousin makes the Two Suits that much sweeter. P.S. are either one of them going to say a word this entire season?

Hank's partner at the DEA, Steven Gomez, and T-time would get along really well..."We shoulda went to Chilis."

Update: This from Todd VanDerWerff at HitFix.com

I can get rooting for Walter over, say, the cousins, who are simply forces of a dark and implacable evil that cannot be stopped (whereas Walter remains at least somewhat human), but I have trouble seeing why anyone would call Skyler "whiny." She's a woman who's just had everything she ever worked toward or hoped for yanked out from under her, and she's reacting like any of us would if we found out that our spouses were meth kingpins. Hell, she's probably acting BETTER than any of us would.

This guy has to be kidding. She is "whiny." Isn't one of the fun parts about watching tv hating on the terrible "whiny" characters? I could care less if she's acting in a better fashion than I would given the situation. What she's doing, and how she's acting, is the epitome of someone that no one would ever want to hang out with. She's lame and that's what makes her fun to watch. I can't stand her and its truly engaging.