Justified 313 Review- It Wasn't Me, It Was The Two-Armed Man

Boyd- "Well I guess we best both sleep with one eye open."

Limehouse- "I always do."

Justified certainly knows how to pull off a good tragedy. Between the downward spiral and eventual horrific death of Robert Quarles, and the somewhat sad quasi father-son triangle that led to Arlo blatantly choosing Boyd over Raylan, "Slaughterhouse" was a fitting end to the third season of Justified.

Robert Quarles should go down as one of the most interesting and entertaining villains in TV history, and Neal McDonough should receive any and all accolades that are up for grabs this year. His portrayal of the Detroit mobster was riveting all season long, and that was no different in the season finale.

Quarles almost looked content seconds before his arm was chopped off.
The last we had seen Bobby, we thought he had killed Trooper Tom, but we later found out that wasn't true at all. After fleeing the scene at Boyd's bar, Quarles just wanted to get out of Kentucky alive, and make it home to Detroit without a target on his back. That was going to take $500,000 for Theo Tonin, and I doubt that would have even stopped the boss from shooting Quarles when he made it back up north.

McDonough was fantastic throughout Bobby's adventure in attaining the money. First in his hopped up twitchy moments with the Christian family in the van, and then with how his cool customer attitude when seeing Raylan made me die laughing, this was a nice final run for the character. I mean the subtlety in which Quarles asked for Raylan's gun and phone after being turned down ibuprofen was pure genius.

To read the rest of my review of last night's Justified season finale, head over to TV Fanatic.

Justified 313 - "Slaughterhouse"
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The Voice Top 24 (Part 2) Review- Walk Like Er-in-Mar-tin

Blake- "I almost pitched my panties."

The Voice returned for part two of the Top 24, treating the audience to a couple of outstanding performances, a few horrendous ones, a one-way ticket to Bonertown courtesy of Adam Levine, and a cheap shot like none other from Christina Aguilera to Tony Lucca.

Let's get right to the action...

Team Adam - Katrina Parker - "Tonight Tonight"

Adam wanted her to get away from sounding like Adele.  Well, no one was going to confuse her voice with Adele's here.  This was a solid performance, but nothing I would write home about for the first performance of the night.

Xtina said Katrina's voice really captivated her, but wanted her to rock out more and said there were a few pitchy notes.  Cee Lo loved the staging, and then rambled on about the Smashing Pumpkins. Adam thought she killed it.
Grade: B-

To read the rest of my review of last night's The Voice, head over to TV Fanatic.

Mad Men 504 Review- Mystery Halluci-date

Don- "I married you, and I'm gonna be with you until I die...which could be this afternoon."

The good news is that Don didn't actually cheat on Megan in "Mystery Date." The bad news is that he was so sick that he hallucinated, and said hallucination had him cheating on Megan with a former lover and then strangling her to death.

I'm definitely not one to dissect what somebody's extreme fever hallucinations say about their true desires, so I will discuss Don's affinity to cheat without bringing his faux experience with Andrea into the conversation.

That is basically what the entirety of Don's story was about on this week's Mad Men. Is Don going to act differently now that he's married to Megan? While with Betty, the man was a serial cheater, so when Megan and Don ran into a former partner of his, she obviously got upset.

She's worried that it wasn't Betty that drove him to cheating, but rather that it is just a part of who he is. Like the past couple of episodes, I liked the way that Megan dealt with the difficult situation. She faced it head on, bringing the conflict to Don's attention and making him aware of the way she felt.

To read the rest of my review of last night's Mad Men, head over to TV Fanatic.

Mad Men 504 - "Mystery Date"
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The Borgias 201 Review- Sibling Rivalry

Juan- "A cleric prays. He doesn't fight."

Cesare- "Well this cleric does both."

It may not have had as much pomp and circumstance, or as much energy, as the first season premiere, but "The Borgia Bull" may have been a more promising beginning for The Borgias.

The second season premiere set up a number of new situations, and began to develop in more depth the important relationships we got to know over the course of the first season.

Jeremy Irons may be the name used in promoting the series, but Francois Arnaud proved to be the star of the show throughout last season and in this year's opener. His Cesare Borgia is all kinds of engaging, a master of deception with a number of intriguing relationships.

The way that Cesare and Lucrezia act together is interesting for all the wrong reasons. I mean, they are a bit too close for brother and sister, right? The way he is treated by his father continues raise questions about where their relationship may lead in the future.

To read the rest of my review of last night's season two premiere of The Borgias, head over to TV Fanatic.

The Borgias 201 - "The Borgia Bull"
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American Idol Top 8- Brackensick to My Stomach

Scores...

Fantasy Idol

Larry
Phillip Phillips: Safe (+15)
Skylar Laine: Safe (+15)
Erika Van Pelt
Adam Brock
Brielle Von Hugel
Top 8: +30, Team Total: 104

Rizzo
Jessica Sanchez: Safe (+15)
Shannon Magrane
Elise Testone: Bottom 3 (-7), Safe (+15)
Aaron Marcellus
Johnny Keyser
Top 8: +23, Team Total: 95

Jack
Deandre Brackensick: Eliminated (-14)
Baylie Brown
Joshua Ladet: Safe (+15)
Chelsea Sorrell
Creighton Fraker
Top 8: +1, Team Total: 60

Tyson
Heejun Han
Hollie Cavanaugh: Bottom 3 (-7), Safe (+15)
Jeremy Rosado
Hallie Day
Chase Likens
Top 8: +8, Team Total: 58

Me
Colton Dixon: Safe (+15)
Reed Grimm
Eben Franckewitz
Haley Johnson
Jen Hirsh
Top 8: +15, Team Total: 55

30 Rock 616 Review- Liz-Daddy Issues

Tracy- "You're still here! You didn't go to the store for milk and heroin and then never come back."

To all comedy writers out there, contrast is funny. Sure, it was aided by the hilarity of his love for the half father/half boss that was Liz Lemon, but an on the ball, eager-to-succeed Tracy Jordan was good for nothing but laughs in "Nothing Left to Lose."

We are used to the Tracy that purposefully wants to screw up, or the one that is too lazy to leave his dressing room to get to rehearsal. On this week's 30 Rock, the star of TGS was finished memorizing his lines before LL-Dad even got to the set, worked out a perfect Jimmy Fallon impression and began writing a comedy sketch based on political commentary.

The change of pace for Tracy was welcomed, and I have no doubt that his return to form in the next episode will also make regular Tracy funnier than before. Tracy's increased level work ethic was brought about because of Liz, and her new scent that was reminiscent of TJ's absentee father.

How great were those "I want to please you" moments from Tracy? No matter what clearly not clever nickname he used for his boss/father hybrid - Liz Dad, Smell or the ever popular LL Dad Liz Dad - I laughed every time. His childhood exuberance was only matched by the return of Dr. Spaceman!

To read the rest of my review of last night's 30 Rock, head over to TV Fanatic.

30 Rock 616 - "Nothing Left to Lose"
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Survivor Week 8- Girls Rule?

I'm comin' for ya Larry.  If Kat and Tarzan make it further in this game than Jay and Chelsea, we should all give up watching.  Jay still has some catching up to do in order to stay out of the Developmental League next year, but he still has two Survivors left, so anything can happen at this point.

Meanwhile, Mags is passing Tippy and coming for Marsh down in the D League.  There is a lot of good competition this season.

Champions League

Larry

Michael +7:  Reward (+4), Votes (-28)= -17
Kat +21: W8 (+29)= +50
Jonas +9
Tarzan +79: Votes (-8), W8 (+29)= +100

Last Week +116: Team Total= +142

Me

Jay +38: Immunity (+20), W8 (+29)= +87
Chelsea -21: W8 (+29)= +8
Monica -5
Colton +25

Last Week +37: Team Total= +115

Jack

Troyzan +98: W8 (+29)= +127
Christina +22: Reward (+4), Votes (-8), W8 (+29)= +47
Kourtney -45
Bill -45

Last Week +30: Team Total= +84

Jaydon

Matt -100
Kim +5: Reward (+4), W8 (+29)= +38
Alicia +86: W8 (+29)= +115
Nina -24

Last Week -33: Team Total= +29




Free Agents
Leif +92: Reward (+4), W8 (+29)= +125
Sabrina +115: Reward (+4), W8 (+29)= +148

Developmental League

Marsh

Jay: Immunity (+20), W8 (+29)= +49
Chelsea: W8 (+29)= +29
Bill
Christina: Reward (+4), Votes (-8), W8 (+29)= +25

Week 8= +103, Team Total= +417

Mags

Matt
Kim: Reward (+4), W8 (+29)= +33
Alicia: W8 (+29)= +29
Tarzan: Votes (-8), W8 (+29)= +21

Week 8= +83, Team Total= +364

Tippy

Troyzan: W8 (+29)= +29
Kat: W8 (+29)= +29
Colton
Monica

Week 8= +58, Team Total= +343



Rizzo

Michael: Reward (+4), Votes (-28)= -24
Jonas
Kourtney
Nina

Week 8= -24, Team Total= +49

Free Agents
Leif: Reward (+4), W8 (+29)= +33
Sabrina: Reward (+4), W8 (+29)= +33

One Tree Hill Series Finale Review- There Is Only One...

Even after the 45 minutes of interviews and clips highlighting the best moments of all nine seasons, the aptly titled "One Tree Hill" took us all down memory lane once again with callbacks to moments, locations, and characters of the past in last-ever episode of this classic drama.

Everything wrapped up in a tight little bow in the series finale of One Tree Hill, and I'm perfectly fine with that. It is certainly better than the adverse, where the audience is left in the balance, not having any idea what is going to happen to the characters it fell in love with.

That definitely wasn't the case with this ending, as we know exactly what Brooke, Nathan, Haley, Mouth, and the rest of the gang will be up to for the rest of their adult lives.  They will be living out the happy and the sad moments in this town... this place that they still look at ever so fondly.

Things have come full circle on One Tree Hill. It all began with a majority of these characters living in this town as kids. Those that have stuck around are now grown, and have kids of their own. The difference – and one of the best takeaways from the series in general – is that they have all learned from not only their own mistakes, but the mistakes of their parents.

To read the rest of my review of last night's One Tree Hill series finale, head over to TV Fanatic.

One Tree Hill 913 - "One Tree Hill"
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