You know, for a crazy homeless person ... he's pretty cut.

Thor is getting rave reviews, so we thought we would check it out. After all the hype, we were a little disappointed. Why? Because of the lightweight plot and lightweight characters. It was formulaic to the max. This means that any sequel will probably be too complicated. They always do that with movies. The most interesting character probably won’t be present too. Maybe a sequel will bring us more amusing Kat Dennings scenes?

However, there were some funny bits, great fight scenes, it wasn’t too long, and the special effects were incredible. It’s worth seeing in theaters to see Thor’s heavenly planet in all its designed glory. It was entertaining superhero froth. People are saying that it’s “pretty good,” and that’s about the most accurate thing you can say about this movie. We liked the Iron Man reference. Nerd points to those who caught it.

If you are interested, it’s not bad at all. If you are not interested, we’re not going to try to convince you to rush to the theater. And religious people: relax, he's not God in the movie. He's more like an alien with superpowers and lots of responsibility.

Leeard liked the movie more than Ern did; it's a nice addition to the Avengers movie universe.

Movie Grade: B

The Ern and Leeard Season Awards-

This post is for Charvi.

Seasons/Shows Overall
Best season, overall: Leeard’s pick- The Vampire Diaries. Ern’s pick- Parks and Recreation

-Runner up: Leeard’s pick- The Chicago Code. Ern’s pick- Fringe

Worst season: Leeard’s pick- The Office. Ern’s pick- V

Best drama season: Pretty Little Liars

Worst drama season: Undercovers

Best comedy season: Community

Worst comedy season besides 2.5 Men: South Park

Guiltiest pleasure this year: Leeard- The Secret Life of the American Teenager. Ern- America's Next Top Model

Most overrated show this season: The Good Wife
Best reality show: American Idol (the pickings were slim, because So You Think You Can Dance airs in the summer)

Worst reality show: Bridalplasty

Best comeback season (after a lame season last year): How I Met Your Mother

Finales
Best finale, overall: The Vampire Diaries
Worst finale, overall: Gossip Girl
Best Comedy Finale: The paintball episodes of Community.

Individual episodes
Best episode: “As I Lay Dying,” The Vampire Diaries (are you surprised?)
Worst episode: “Night of Neglect,” Glee
Best Pilot: Lone Star
Worst Pilot: Nikita
Saddest episode: “Taking the Plunge,” The Big C. (When the son finds all his presents.)
-Runner-up: Any episode of The Killing where we see those parents cry for their daughter.
Most entertaining episode that wasn’t very good: "Song Beneath the Song", Grey’s Anatomy (the singing one)

Romance
Best steady couple: Angela and Hodgins, Bones
Worst steady couple: Jim and Pam, The Office
Best couple getting together/execution of that plot: Blaine and Kurt, Glee
Worst couple getting together/execution of that plot: Arthur and Guinevere, Camelot
Best wedding: April and Andy, Parks and Recreation
Best proposal: Matt Saracen, Friday Night Lights
Nicest breakup: Dexter and Lumen, Dexter
Nastiest breakup: Owen and Cristina, Grey’s Anatomy
Best Kiss: Ben kisses Leslie, Parks and Recreation
Best sex: Mina Minard and Tommy, Off the Map
Most unrealistic couple pairing that we hate: Eli and Miranda, Grey’s Anatomy
Most unrealistic couple pairing that we like: Puck and Lauren, Glee
Couple pairing we wanted to happen all season: Travis and Laurie, Cougar Town

Individual characters and actors
Best character, overall: Santana, Glee
Worst character, overall: Maddie, Better with You
Hottest guy: Neal Caffrey, White Collar (mainly because we couldn't pick just one guy from The Vampire Diaries )
Least hot guy: Arthur, Camelot
Best actor: John Noble, Fringe
Best actress: Alison Brie, Community
Worst actor not on Secret Life: Ed Westwick, Gossip Girl
Worst actress not on Secret Life: Lucy Hale, Pretty Little Liars (but it might be the part she has)
Best Dad: Burt Hummel, Glee

Best Mom: Kim Keeler, Make It or Break It
Worst Dad: Frank Gallagher, Shameless
Worst Mom: Anna, V
Nicest character, male: Sasha Belov, Make It or Break It
Nicest character, female: Tammi Taylor, Friday Night Lights
Most evil character: Lauren Tanner, Make It or Break It. She'll probably win this category until the show goes off the air.
Biggest slut, female: Kalinda, The Good Wife
Biggest slut, male: Chuck Bass, Gossip Girl
Most overrated character: Kalinda on The Good Wife. The way the media talks about her and her secrets and sexuality, you would think she was the most fascinating thing ever. We find Alicia more interesting.
Best reality star: Tie - Haley Reinhart and Casey Abrams, American Idol
Worst reality star: Randy Jackson, American Idol
Cutest Baby: Zola, Grey’s Anatomy

Writing, directing, and plotlines
Best writing: Parenthood
Worst writing: No Ordinary Family
Best cliffhanger: The Vampire Diaries (No hesitation on this one. Absolutely no contest.)
Most intense season: Make It Or Break It (That's what happens when you cancel 24)
Most boring season: Bones
Best twist: Caroline gets turned into a vampire, The Vampire Diaries
Stupidest twist: anything that happened on The Event
Most predictable season: Make It or Break It
Best use of gay characters: Callie and Arizona, Grey’s Anatomy.
Worst use of gay characters: Marshall, his jerk boyfriend with the white hair, and the boy Marshall cheated on blondie with, The United States of Tara.
Best plotline: Cristina loses her mind for half a season on Grey’s Anatomy. Although we wish it had led to the expected growth for the character, it gave Sandra Oh great material.
Worst plotline: Cate and Ryan’s marriage on Life Unexpected. Cate’s material that season probably killed the show.

-runner up: Emily Kmetko gets pregnant on Make It or Break It. Also, Sasha blames himself for everything that happens (irrationally) and takes off to Romania.
Most unrealistic show: Harry’s Law

Events
Best fight: The Jim and Dwight snowball war, The Office.
Most disturbing image: Will and Beiste kiss, Glee

-runner up: the stuffed last supper, The Borgias
Best death: that surprise Southland death. Never has the demise of a main character been that unexpected.
Stupidest death: Jean, Glee
Most-hyped event that turned out to be not a big deal: someone getting sniped, Bones
Best removal of an unpopular character: Vanessa’s exit from Gossip Girl
Wisest moment: Kurt’s dad giving him “The Talk” on Glee.

Goodbyes and renewals
Show that shouldn’t have been cancelled: The Chicago Code
Show that should have been cancelled: House
Show that lost us as viewers this season: Gossip Girl
Ending that angered us: Off the Map (it ended on a bunch of cliffhangers and is not coming back. Rude)
Show we will miss that had a good run: Tie - Big Love and Friday Night Lights

New show awards
Best New Drama: Ern- The Walking Dead, Leeard- The Chicago Code

-Runner up: Being Human
Worst New Drama: Skins, US remake
Best New Comedy: Happy Endings
Worst New Comedy: $#*! My Dad Says
Best remake: Hawaii Five-O
Most disappointing new show: Boardwalk Empire

Miscellaneous
Show that’s getting old, even though it’s still good: Modern Family
Best wardrobes: Glee
Best hair: Quinn Fabray, Glee finale
Funniest piece of art: Jerry’s painting on Parks and Recreation, where Leslie was a centaur.

Parks and Recreation, Modern Family, Cougar Town, and Happy Endings

The end of Parks and Rec season three came too quickly (it was last week). This show is never dull or slow, and every episode was funny. This was a hilarious, flawless season. It ended with sort of a cliffhanger, but love has to win out over politics, right? Although it would be great to see Leslie be mayor. Think of the material that would bring. We’ve never seen a comedy that loves its characters and has such a sweet spirit. We are laughing with these people, not at them, but we are laughing extra hard. Also, fans of this show need to check this out. Seriously, check it out. http://catstvmusings.blogspot.com/2011/05/rewarding-parks-and-recreation-fans.html

Finale Grade: B+
Season Grade: A

Modern Family has been really repetitive. It’s amusing, but not the comedy revelation it was in its first season. We don’t like when shows change or try too hard, but they shouldn’t just cover the same areas and jokes. We really like everything with Phil and Claire, like when they tried to change roles or when their kids walked in on them doing the deed. But the show is getting tired for us.

Finale Grade: B+
Season Grade: B-

Cougar Town just had its first solid season where Courtney Cox never, ever acts like a cougar. The rocky beginning this show had turned off a lot of people, but those tuning in now will find zany humor watching the group of wine-drinking buddies. They “pound grape.” If this show is your sense of humor (and it isn’t everyone’s), this season was pretty good. We like that the main relationship stayed throughout the whole season, leaving the group dynamic and Travis’ love stories to pick up the plot slack. This show doesn’t even need plot. It’s like hanging out and drinking in your living room with buddies.

Finale Grade: B+
Season Grade: B+

Happy Endings hasn’t been on for a very long time, and it aired a lot of back-to-back episodes, just chugging them out one right after another. Most of them are up on hulu. But this show made Ern stop hating Elisha Cuthbert, and that’s a hard task, because Ern watched 24. We’re glad it’s getting another season so that it can become more popular, because it really is pretty funny.

Finale Grade: B+
Season Grade: B+

Glee Season Two - Highs and Lows

Glee just had one of the most uneven seasons we’ve seen in our lives. It was almost as uneven as Grey’s Anatomy season 5 (one of the best and stupidest seasons of the show). Half of the Glee episodes were heartless, confusing, and flashy. The other half of the season would have earned the show an A. Let’s hope the show learns not to try so hard and just goes back to being a good show with heart. Glee is getting a few new writers for season three, so hopefully that will bring some restraint and coherence.

Let’s look back at the high and low points of the season.

High: Our first introduction to the Warblers with their great rendition of "Teenage Dream". Also, their versions of "When I Get You Alone" and "Somewhere Only We Know". Also, Blaine. Mainly Blaine.

Low: Their other covers. Did we really need to hear "Misery"? Who isn’t sick of that song? And "Raise Your Glass" and "Candles" made us want to cover our ears. The group that was capable of a cappella heaven stayed in top 40, overproduced hell most of the time. We feel robbed.

High: Quinn and Sam. He was a loveable dork, and she was a girl trying to take it slow after last year’s drama. And they had some great chemistry. Just watch their duet of "Lucky".

Low: Quinn most of the time. She started cheating again, got back with Finn, slapped Rachel, chose the Cheerios over Glee for a second, and had that stupid meltdown at Nationals. Plus, the prom queen obsession. That character regressed and has become almost completely unlikeable, and it makes no sense.

High: Rachel’s rendition of "What I Did For Love" in the first episode.

Low: Rachel’s bangs, her dramatic weight loss, and most of the other songs she sang. "Firework" and "The Only Exception" were completely unnecessary.

High: Gwyneth Paltrow’s first guest appearance, where she sang Cee Lo and played a fun part well.

Low: Gwyneth Paltrow’s other guest appearances, where she was uninspired, butchered ADELE, acted like a slut, and just wasted our time.

High: Burt’s sex talk with Kurt. We’re still crying and muttering, “Amen.”

Low: Too much focus on Kurt. As one blogger put it, “He works better in an ensemble. He’s just been the moral of every story, rather than a character.” A little Kurt goes a long way. Half of his storyline this season was touching and awesome. The other half was heavy-handed and preachy.

High: Jesse coming back

Low: Jesse not getting great material, just being a straight douche, and not singing enough.

High: That they gave us more Brittany and Santana.

Low: Too much Artie

High: Brittany’s dancing.

Low: Theme episodes, as a whole.

High: How fair the religion episode was.

Low: How safe and dull the religion episode was.

High: Sam forming “The Justin Beiber Experience,” which was hilarious, however you feel about “The Beebs”.

Low: The episode where Kurt and Finn’s parents got married, the vows and reception were all about Kurt, Sue married herself, and Carol Burnett wasn’t that great (for once in her life).

High: Finn and Rachel being such a nice, healthy couple for the first half of the season.

All-time Low: THE BEISTE KISS

High: The first two original songs, "Loser Like Me" and "Get it Right".

Low: The Christmas episode, which was just an excuse to sell us a Christmas album.

High: John Stamos

Low: The Will/Emma relationship

High: The Rachel/Blaine duet and drunk Rachel.

Low: The way Sue was used this season. Especially when she was mean to Becky and nice to the Glee club. What?

High: All the Fleetwood Mac covers.

Low: All the songs they sang at prom. (Leeard VEHEMENTLY disagrees with this one, but Ern insisted on putting it here).

High: No Mr. Schue rapping.

Low: Artie rapping, too much autotune, and too many top 40 hits. We already have those songs, show. Introduce us to lesser-known stuff and classic stuff.

Leeard's season grade: C

Ern's season grade: B-

Average: C+

Glee - New York review

Last night’s finale was mostly about Rachel, story-wise. Except for the Finchel advancements and the glee club, predictably, losing at Nationals, not much really happened. What was good about this episode was that it resisted the urge to be too flashy. There was only one celebrity sighting to be found! It wasn’t one of those over-the-top episodes that most people have come to hate.

First things first: Quinn’s hair. We are so jealous that our hair won’t do that. Ern has had it that length forever and it just looks like a homeless woman’s hair. Her haircut made her ten times cuter.

Shortly after their arrival, the cast sang a mash-up of “I Love New York” and “New York New York,” which neither of us loved. We felt like they had to do a big tribute to New York number, but no one was going to like it. And Leeard doesn’t feel that way about New York. We both thought the song was “meh,” and just an excuse to show off their cute outfits and hair as they pranced around the city.

The best thing about Rachel and Finn’s date was Patti LuPone. She’s on our iPods, and we liked that she was so sweet to Rachel. We also liked that she didn’t completely take over the episode like some guest stars this season. “Bella Notte” was cute, but it’s not something we would put on our iPods. Ditto to “My Cup.” It was well into the episode, and we were feeling bummed over the lack of good music so far.

We loved Kurt in this episode. When he and Rachel are friends, it feels natural and sweet. We hope that continues and grows. Breakfast at Tiffany’s was a good way to further that relationship. Their version of Wicked’s “For Good” earns the award for best song of the episode, even though one of us hates Kurt’s voice (usually) and wished it had been Kristen Chenoweth reprising her role. The other one of us thought that would have broken the illusion that the Glee world is a fictional world.

Will was supposed to go on Broadway, but he decided to stay with the kids. No one is surprised, right? But wouldn’t it have been interesting if he left for a season and left the Glee club to be coached by now-ally Sue Sylvester? Or Emma? Or someone new? Sadly, he did not. He was content to sing one of Matthew Morrison’s lame adult contemporary songs. Dear Matthew, you are better at singing Broadway stuff, not adult pop. Your songs are lame, and that’s why no one bought them. It’s also annoying that Glee is trying to force his music career on us in such an important episode. Charice also sang a lame and boring song, but she sang it well. And how cute were her team’s dresses?

Onto the original songs. Way to procrastinate, kids. If we were in New York, about to perform songs we hadn’t yet written, we would freaking out, not sight-seeing and breaking into the Broadway show Wicked. Good show, by the way. It made Ern long for that trip to New York a couple of years ago where she got to see Wicked. So fun. Anyway, “Light Up the World” was catchy, energetic, and cheesy. “Pretending” was a little dull and unoriginal. It ended with a Finn/Rachel kiss that one of us thought was unprofessional and one of us thought was awesome and in-the-moment.

Jesse saw and was upset. We both love Jonathan Groff and one of us prefers Jesse to Finn, even when Jesse is being a jerk. At least when Jesse is a jerk, he’s aware of it and it looks intentional, unlike when Finn is a jerk. We think it’s unrealistic that Sam and Mercedes are dating, but we like it. We are sad the season didn’t end with Brittany and Santana getting together, but we are happy that Blaine said, “I love you.” Love Blaine. But we love his music with The Warblers more. Oh, why does he have to transfer to New Directions, show?

We’re glad the club didn’t win at Nationals, because they need something to shoot for in subsequent seasons. And it was realistic. The episode could have been funnier, had better songs, and had more happen though.

Episode Grade: B

Later today we will post a Best and Worst Moments of the Glee Season 2 entry. And this summer, we will cover the Glee reality show.

Why We Both Like "Make It Or Break It"

Sometimes, Ern likes to binge on a show that she has never seen right before the finale, in order to be caught up for the big day. Living up to our blog title, Ern watched two seasons of Make It or Break It in three days, and she was thoroughly entertained the whole time. Leeard was surprised. Leeard’s most trusted channels are AMC and ABC Family, so she’s been watching the gymnastics show for a while. But that kind of thing isn’t really up Ern’s alley. But it’s made the list of faves.

Here’s why we like the teen gymnastics show:

1) Make It Or Break It has actual substance and life lessons. We would seriously make our teenage girls watch this show, if we had them. There are lots of good, but not cheesy, plotlines about perseverance, honor, honesty, loyalty, leading, the obsession with success, the struggle for perfection, and self-respect. Example: Payson realizing that there is more to life than gymnastics and that she should keep trying and dreaming, even without her sports career.

2) On this show, as soon as someone does something wrong or has a secret, our first thought is, “It will be interesting when that comes out.” Because it always does on this show, more often than on other shows. But this “truth always comes out” mentality that the show fosters in its viewers is realistic. It is best to fess up, in your own time, rather than have someone like Lauren Tanner tell someone first…and make it sound worse than it is.

3) The tension can be horrifyingly thick for a teen soap. You really care, and during competitions, you are on the edge of your seat.

4) The villains. Lauren Tanner, a gymnast, is the most infuriating villain we have ever seen. She’s more evil than just about anyone we’ve ever seen on TV, followed closely by gymnastics big shot Ellen Beals. But sometimes the baddies are sympathetic. Within two episodes, you will be screaming at the screen at Lauren, desiring her slow death, but the next episode will have you tearing up on her behalf. Most shows with sympathetic villains don’t let them do truly unforgivable things. Not so with Lauren. She goes too far, all the time. And we love to hate her. You understand why she does what she does, but what she does is SO bad. We really can’t think of many characters more horrible and backstabbing than this girl…and it creates a lot of drama.

5) Like most teen shows these days, the show gave one of the girls a crush on her teacher. When looking at the fan sites, we saw that the teen girls, after watching the episode where the young gymnast kissed her coach (that ended on that cliffhanger), just assumed that the romantic relationship was on. They started debating the two as a couple. Rather than having him reciprocate and make the audience root for an abuse of power, the show had him react correctly and he even smoothed over the awkwardness with the student, restoring their working relationship. Aaaand that’s how it’s done, LUX and Pretty Little Liars.

6) Let’s get real here: Most Christians on TV or in movies are either simple, childlike, African-American angels or white, holier-than-thou monsters. We think that’s a little weird and racist toward both groups, but it goes overlooked most of the time. And those who practice abstinence are mocked and painted as having unrealistic views of how things work. We don’t think that’s fair. So it’s refreshing to see this show has an abstinent, white, kind, Christian adult woman. We kept waiting for her to turn into a two-faced stereotype, but she never did.

7) The gymnastics is fun to watch.

8) Cute boys, good parents, and lots of the men who are really good guys who respect the women on the show and act unselfishly, killing off yet another stereotype for young viewers.

9) The show’s tone is fast-paced, but its relationships aren’t. This isn’t like Glee where Finn breaks up with someone eight times a season. The couples stay together a while and take a while to get together.

Is this show immune to mockery? Absolutely not. In fact, we look forward to mocking it next season when we start covering it more often. Is it a work of art? No. Is it soapy? Oh yes. For instance, we both HATED the pregnancy storyline and we hope it ends soon. The best way to handle that on a show like this is to just have the girl miscarry. Can’t that happen, already? Leeard is upset that the show had her, a Catholic, kind of rooting for an abortion. Also, a lot of the twists and lines are incredibly predictable. And too many bad things happen on the show. If something can go wrong, it will, and it’s a little like watching that movie The Pursuit of Happyness. It’s mostly pursuit with little happiness. But it makes the happy moments all the more rewarding. In short, we recommend this show to teens, gymnasts, and young women, and maybe even their moms if they want to watch it with them. It’s a fun show, with more genuine drama than Gossip Girl and 90210 combined.

Finale Grade: B

Season Two Grade: B+

Season One Grade: A

One Year Later, We're Still Blown Away By The Originality That Was LOST

Today is the one-year anniversary of the LOST series finale, and boy do we miss that show. One year ago, Leeard, Ern, and two of our best friends went to a LOST party at someone’s house. We lived far away from each other, so a few had to travel, but it was worth it. One of our friends printed out “Dharma Initiative” labels and put them on all the food and drinks at the party. We were so obsessed. There was perfect silence during the show and loud arguing during the commercial breaks. Perfect. That was a good night. This post is a reminiscent one for all LOST lovers. Spoilers follow.

Were we mad that the finale didn’t answer all the questions? Do we still wonder how that bird was able to say Hurley’s name? Did we want something besides a good vs. evil redemption story? Not really. We think that everything the show didn’t explicitly answer can be figured out through thought and subsequent viewings of the series. Or they were questions that didn’t matter that much. Seriously, present us with a legitimate question about LOST that you are hopping mad that the show didn’t ever answer, and we will try to answer it. We are satisfied with what we know.

The greatest thing about the island was its mystery. Once you dissect that and lay all its guts out on the table, it loses its mystery. There are people who want answers to every question, but there are other people who just enjoy the ride and get that there are things, not just on TV but in life, that we don’t get spelled out for us. Grey areas are fun. They are playgrounds for the mind.

Plus, the finale was a wonderful emotional ending that was true to the show’s (sometimes cheesy) big heart. And it added a dose of spirituality that the show was famous for. We think the element of mystery and the spirituality and philosophy is what made it great. Because that’s what creeped us out and reached us on a deeper level than most shows. Hurley got the island, and the show gave hints as to what the characters did after the finale/before death, but didn’t explicitly tell us, leaving us full of hope.

Over time, we got attached to our favorite characters, but LOST’s themes were what really brought the heart. Leeard didn’t even realize she was emotionally attached to any LOST characters until Jin and Sun died together. It wasn’t the characters that made this show stand out (even though they were complicated and interesting and sympathetic). It was the themes. None of the other LOST copycats (Flashforward, V, The Event) GOT that. They just thought people wanted a sci-fi serial with some action and mythology. Not so. We want universal themes, well-articulated, that resonate with most people.

The characters had such rich journeys. Locke had never accepted who he really was. He wanted to be the hunter, the warrior, and the athlete. He wrongly picked the knife when he was a boy, he didn’t want to go to science camp, etc. He didn’t know how to embrace the kind of special that he was. The island gave him purpose...but, shockingly, that didn’t end too well for Locke. We were shocked that the show went there. It gave us this character that we hated, felt for, and were fascinated with. The show gave him so much to do and built him up. Then it killed him and his last thoughts were that he was confused? For a while. Jack’s journey from control freak to humble savior was annoying at times, but it paid off. Most of the characters could have carried a TV show all on their own, with just their own stories.

The way the show played with time was also a huge plus. The flashbacks that tied everything together and got us off that island. The flashforwards and sideways. Desmond’s mind hopping around his life. Who DOESN’T love time travel when it’s done well. It’s nerd heaven.

Let’s look at a few of our favorite things, characters, and moments from LOST.

1) That moment in the season three finale where Jack says, “We have to go back!” and we realize that we had just seen the future and they got off the island. Mind. Blown.

2) That moment when we realized that Locke had been in a wheelchair after that guy (rightly) told him that he couldn’t go on a Walkabout.

3) The episode “The Constant” where Desmond time travels and ends with a phone call to Penny. You know you cried, and if you didn’t, check your pulse, because you’re a zombie. For the most part, LOST could have done its romantic stuff better. We weren't exactly wanting to rip our bodices off watching this show. Desmond and Penny got to us, though, and so did Juliet and Sawyer.

4) Ern’s favorite scene in the whole series? The whole scene where Ben talks Locke out of killing himself only to strangle him. We don’t think we breathed through that.

5) Hurley. Just Hurley.

6) And Ben. Whoever thought we could care about a genocidal, jealous, lying, creepy, bug-eyed, cold, kidnapping dictator like Ben? But we did. Ben and Locke had the best material, as characters, and the actors delivered.

7) Those creepy numbers that we still know by heart.

8) All the daddy issues.

9) The episode where Michael kept trying to kill himself, but he couldn’t.

10) That some of them actually got off the island for good.

11) Feral Claire.

12) The episode “Greatest Hits” where the show actually managed to convince us that Charlie was a beloved hero rather than an annoyance.

13) The fact that Echo died (even though his death was really lame), because we found him boring, and he knew jack about Catholicism.

14) Every Locke back-story episode.

15) Every mention or sight of Sawyer loving reading or Little House on the Prairie. And all of his nicknames.

16) Creepy episode titles.

17) One of us also thought the pilot was extra good.

18) In the finale, when Ben asked Locke for forgiveness and they made up. So sweet.

And some things we didn’t like:

Walt (well, one of us thought he was useless), Charlotte and Miles, Nikki and Paulo, the Kate love triangle, the Bai Ling episode (obviously), Juliet’s sad death, that whole part of the finale where the goal was to unplug the drain and get the light back or whatever (we loved the finale, but that made no sense), the episode with young Jacob and his young brother, that they pulled a Sixth Sense on us for a whole season (they could have just created the final concert meeting place for the emotional ending. The sideways world could have collided with the island world in a different way, and that would have been more satisfying.), that manipulative episode where Sun had her baby, and the fact that The Others could have served a bigger purpose.

Overall, LOST didn't go with the regular TV formula, and for those looking for more than just quick entertainment after work, it was one of the greatest shows of all time. And we defend that finale.

A Look Back At Our American Idol Prediction Post

Hey, we picked the top two! We were so wrong about Thia and Haley though...and we are glad we were wrong, in hindsight. Haley turned out to be one of our favorites.

http://becausewewatchtoomuchtv.blogspot.com/2011/03/better-lock-them-doors-and-turn-lights.html

Game of Thrones About to Pick Up, Shock You, and Get Awesome

Raise your hand if you think it takes too long for things to happen on HBO's Game of Thrones? They talk, eat, occasionally kill an animal, and conspire. The atmosphere is often dim, dank, and dull. The show is so far lacking the spiritual, magical, and creepy elements that usually make fantasy interesting.

But we are shocked at how quickly the show is going. The books are very long and detailed, and the series is currently nearing the last 100 pages of the first book. We swear, it's about to get good. The series has even pulled things from the second book into the first book plot line already.

This is us: "NED ALREADY GOT STABBED IN THE LEG?!! VISERYS IS ALREADY DEAD?!!" It feels slow, because you don't know where it's all going, but rest assured, it's all happening. This isn't like Boardwalk Empire, another HBO show that kept us waiting, because this show follows the books closely, so we know what's coming and when. In Game of Thrones, anything can and will happen. There are surprises coming up. They will go there. And we can't wait until you see where "there" is.

Wasn't the death of Viserys satisfying? Also, we've decided that we like the TV series better than the books. It's fun to see it live, and it goes a heck of a lot faster. You think the TV series is slow? Try reading 500 pages of what has happened thus far. Zzzzzz. But the second and third books are much more eventful, and we want you to watch the show so that it has a chance to get further along in the story, because once it does, we think it's gonna be worth the time.

The Office, America's Next Top Model, and The United States of Tara

Photo credit: jeffedoe
Last week, two of these shows ended their seasons, each with decent, but not amazing, finales.

The Office gave us a string of possible bosses. When we first heard that Steve Carell was leaving, our first reaction was that Dwight or Creed should replace him, if the replacement was in-house. We are glad the show agreed enough to let us see those two in action, but Dwight’s stint as boss was too short-lived. This show needed to drag that out for about three episodes. We get that they can’t stay bosses forever though and we like the idea of adding some fresh meat.

But the parade of bosses we got in the season finale didn’t give us much hope. No one really stood out to us as a funny, memorable option, except for maybe James Spader’s really confident guy who thinks that everyone is just after sex. We can see that. We loved his showdown with Dwight. We think that the recipe for a good character is the ability to have a good showdown with Dwight. But this might not be the final boss shortlist. Maybe a totally new option will present itself this fall.

As for America’s Next Top Model, after one of the most entertaining cycle in a long time, the wrong girl won again. This cycle wasn’t great because of the photo shoots, prizes, or anything the show threw at them, it was great because the girls were catty messes who could model, for the most part. There was no one who was a terrible model. Every elimination felt too soon. Alexandria led hundreds of people to this blog, because people were so obsessed with her that they kept searching for her name on Google.

Between Brittani and Molly, we were Team Molly. We had supported Brittani for a long time, but when it became clear that Molly was a top contender, we started looking at her more closely. This girl could take great pictures, we really sympathized with her struggle with being adopted, and she had the model look. This girl could actually have a career as America’s next top model, rather than some eccentricity on Tyra’s shelf of misfits that she is trying to make happen.

Brittani, on the other hand, clearly has anxiety issues and her face is not symmetrical. Tyra praised her unconventional angles and said, “The modeling world is obsessed with symmetry, but Brittani proves that you don’t have to have that.” Umm, you don’t prove things to the modeling industry 99% of the time. Every once in a while, a girl breaks a barrier, starts a new trend, and gets by with a new look. But we doubt it is going to come from a reality show, which wouldn’t have the cool, elitism factor that the modeling industry would respect enough to make an exception for. But good luck to both of them.

Also, how mean of the show to cut both their hair man-short before sending one packing. New haircuts just for panel? No photo? Rude.

Lastly, for those of you who have not yet heard, Showtime canceled The United States of Tara today. We chalk it up to the show’s insistence on focusing on boring things such as Kate’s search for meaning in her life (at 18, this is really NOT a crisis yet) and Charmaine’s nasty men and her baby. Heads up to storytellers: While a baby is very exciting in real life, in fiction, it usually makes your story grind to a halt, unless the mother births some kind of mutant/monster or you grow it up quickly, like on soaps.

The reason we watched the show and stayed with it was Toni Collette’s acting, the alters, her relationship with her husband, and the craziness and hilarity that was the whole mental illness thing. By depriving people of what’s unique about the show and focusing on Kate and Charmaine, the show made people lose interest. Besides, Kate and Charmaine have lame attitudes most of the time. That said, we like Kate’s new flight attendant job. It has pulled her out of her useless funk. There is no saving Charmaine. Or, it seems, this show.

Hopefully, the show ends with some closure.

The Office Finale Grade: B

The Office Season Grade: C+, as opposed to the season before that, which would have gotten a D were we blogging then. We loved this season's Christmas episodes and Michael's goodbye.

ANTM Finale Grade: B-

ANTM Cycle Grade: B+

Community Ended Its Second Season Last Week

We just wanted to quickly comment on Community ending. The two paintball episodes that closed the season were perfect. We only wished that we had watched them back-to-back. We are getting a major girl crush on Annie, and it was great to see Josh Holloway from LOST again.

We’re interested to see the group with Chang in and Pierce out. We kind of wish that Chang was a teacher again. Pierce makes a great villain, so we can keep him that way. Britta and Jeff are secretly doing it, but the beauty of this show is that very few people care.

Because this show does not completely hinge on love stories. It probably hinges on pop culture references. But it’s funny and consistently watchable. The first half of season one was pretty rough, but starting at season one’s Halloween episode, this show has been one our favorite Thursday night comedy, and that’s saying a lot.

Finale Grade: A (for both paintball episodes combined)
Season 2 Grade: A

Grey's Anatomy Season 7 Finale

Well, that was depressing. More depressing than the shooting finale of last season. This gets us thinking: With the exception of season four, there has never been a Grey’s Anatomy finale with a silver lining. We should have been prepared for the doom and gloom, but we actually weren’t.

We are going to take a guess and say that Meredith and Derek are not over. He’s just mad and sleeping away from her for one night. That means they will bicker next season and get right back together. They will raise their Zola, and they may even get pregnant on their own as well.

Because what does Derek REALLY have to be mad about that is break-up worthy after all these years? That Meredith has a different view of morality than he does? Because she broke a hospital rule? Yeah, she was wrong, but it’s not relationship-shattering. We’re a little annoyed at the show for trying to make us think it is that big of a deal. But hey, at least Meredith has a plotline with some tension. It still heavily involves the chief, but we take what we can get.

Now Owen and Cristina? Before we discuss this, we feel like we should show you where our bias lies. This is a personal issue, but for the viewers at home, it's also a political and spiritual one. Just so you know what to take with a grain of salt, the blogger writing this is pro-life. But this blogger would ALSO not make it illegal in the U.S. to have an abortion. It can't be illegal. At this point, it just wouldn't work. And it's not the government's business (libertarians unite!). Back to Grey's: We don’t see how they can ever fix this, unless one of them caves. The sad thing about this plotline is that neither of them should cave. They are both right, in our opinions. She's brain right and he's heart right. Does that make sense? Cristina didn’t want children and Owen knew that when he married her. Cristina doesn’t want to be a mom. Love these hilarious lines, “I'm not a beautiful vessel for all that's good about the future. Are you getting all life-y on me?" She didn’t need to be thrown out of the house for not procreating though. We get that he was crushed, but he married Cristina, knowing about the no-kids rule, so he should have to keep her.

And as for Owen side, it’s a tad heartbreaking to see a husband begging his wife not to abort his baby. Just sayin’. And he even offered to be the stay-at-home parent. It's one thing to decide not to get pregnant. It's another thing to abort a baby the other spouse wants. Maybe scientifically, technically, or politically correctly, it shouldn't be different, but emotionally, it is. She also made the decision without him. We really believed his anger at the end of the episode. When she was walking away and he got up from his desk, a part of us thought he was going to punch her in the back of the head. Obviously, he didn’t, but he had to be thinking about it (if he weren’t fictional, obvs). This whole plotline was sadder than all of Meredith’s Alzheimer’s patients combined. It would help the show to have Cristina single and on the prowl again, but one of us really liked this relationship, especially in season five before Teddy came around to make one of the lamest love triangles in TV history. Owen softened Cristina.

But is there any way they can get past this? Is there any chance that Cristina keeps the baby but doesn't go back to Owen? Because it’s rare that a show that is so popular with so many grandmothers would have a character get an abortion. It’s not a common prime-time thing. One thing that might be interesting is seeing Cristina with a broken heart. As much as people liked Burke before he was thrown off, Cristina could only say “I love you” to that guy when he was asleep. She fell much harder for Owen. Except for the baby issue, Owen was very supportive and they went through a lot. We want Meredith to march down to Owen’s apartment and give him a piece of her mind, best friend style.

Onto Alex: He was genuinely sad that Meredith might get into that much trouble. It’s sad that he’s not living in the big, fun house anymore. He only meant to get chief resident, plus he was really drunk. We are happy about the departure of Lucy though. We didn’t like her much. But isn’t it about time that Alex got a woman who didn’t leave and who wasn’t crazy? Throw the guy a bone, show. Not that kind of bone. We’re talking long-term (at least a season) and healthy.

We’re happy for Henry (that Teddy kissed him), but does anyone like Teddy at this point? Or any point? Teddy shipped off to Germany with Andrew (rahhh) is just fine with us. But we guess that's not happening. We are happy that April got chief resident. We liked her this season, and she needs something to do. Lexie and Jackson walked off into the sunset, and we are happy to let them. Miranda and Eli went home together too. Unrealistic.

Lots to worry about over the summer, if you love this show. This has been a pretty great season, as far as soapy prime-time drama goes.

Episode Grade: B+

Season Grade: A-

Hellcats Was Cancelled!!!!!

No more Hellcats. We can continue to not write about it now. We saw this announced yesterday, but we just now decided to post about it, because we just remembered that some of you readers watch that show.

One of us actually really enjoyed this show, and is kind of bummed to see it go. Other than The Vampire Diaries, America's Next Top Model (and Gossip Girl), Hellcats was the only show on The CW that either of us watched.

Glee - Funeral review

Why would Mr. Schue hire Jesse as the Glee Club’s “show choir consultant” when the poor boy clearly needs to go out and get a real job? That job can’t pay too well. Still, we aren’t complaining much, since we like him and his voice. His cracks were true and funny. Dear American Idol: Hire Jonathan Groff as a judge instead of Randy, and have him judge as the character of Jesse St. James.

We loved how the audition idea just turned the episode into an excuse to just have one amazing solo after another. Our favorites were Santana’s and Rachel’s. One of us hates the song “My Man,” but Rachel just made her love it. If only all of her expressions during the song didn’t make her look like she was doing The Ugly Cry, because she looked like a troll during the whole number. Nice emotion, but can’t she practice looking pained AND attractive at the same time?

Mr. Schue totally ruined the plan of having Rachel sing every song at Nationals (yes, please!!!) by propounding his togetherness philosophy. No fun. We’ve already heard the original group songs they will be debuting next week. They are ok. Not as good as the last two. The group number is loud and annoying, shrill and twee. It’s called “Light Up the World” for heaven’s sake. Groan. The duet number between Finn and Rachel sounds like something that could grow on us, but we didn’t love it right away.

As for Sue dealing with the death of her sister: Ern TOTALLY called that death as soon as Sue kicked Becky off of the squad. It helped to know that there was going to be a death, but still. Let the record show: Ern rules. We think the show making Sue a good guy and friend of the Glee club is a mistake every time it does it. Part of what makes Glee great is its villain. But she saved the Glee club and NOW she claims to not be interested in terrorizing it anymore. We love that she has a soft side, but that side should be reserved for her sister, Jean.

Most of the Sue stuff this week WAS touching, but Sue’s letter that she and Will read at the funeral ruined an otherwise sob-worthy scene by being completely lame. The Willy Wonka theme was adorbs though. And one of us LOVES the song Pure Imagination. That might be our favorite cover. The best one we’ve heard is Maroon 5’s, but unfortunately they spliced several lines from an Obama speech into the beginning, middle, and the end. Whether we like Obama or not makes no difference. We don’t want a speech interrupting a perfectly nice song. Release a music-only version, Maroon 5!

Sue promised to embark upon a political career and join the House of Representatives, running for the Sue Sylvester American Liberty Party so that she can change the health care system because Jean didn’t get the free health care she deserves. That just doesn’t sound like Sue (the last part). Sue is all over the place and, this season, she hasn’t had much to do. We miss the Sue from the first half of the first season. Pure evil, out to take down the Glee club, full of one-liners, and with only a soft spot for people with Down Syndrome. Because those people are sweethearts, and no one could hate them and be tolerable. Terri moved away to Miami and said a sweet goodbye to Will. We will miss her, but it was a nice departure.

Finn and Quinn SO needed to break up. We know that there are actually people who want them together, but they are not us. Quinn needs to grow as a person, and we are starting to think that Finn should just go away. Maybe one of our readers is rubbing off on us, but he’s starting to be a bore. And Jesse is right: His singing is not up-to-par with the other guys’. It looks like Rachel is going back to Jesse for a second (which is how long Glee relationships last), even though he is clearly a douchelord and the show is gunning for her to end up with Finn. Finchel is a couple we are over, even though we were so into him in season one.

The other songs were “Try a Little Tenderness” by Mercedes, which was loud and straightforward, and “Some People” by Kurt. While we like Kurt’s drama and one of us think his singing has improved a LOT in season two, Jesse was right again. Linda Eder, Bernadette Peters, and so many more have killed this song, and this male version was the equivalent of those demo people on karaoke tracks. It’s time to retire the Gypsy songs, Kurt.

Episode Grade: B-

Glee - Prom Queen, a belated review

We don’t do weekly reviews of every show. Just when we feel like it. But we’ve never missed a Glee before last week. People were not pleased. Now we know which show is the most important to cover on this blog, haha.

So, for the first time ever, we will do a make-up post, even though it’s really late.

Let’s see…it’s been a while. Oh! We remember Kurt won prom queen (and Karofsky won king). We knew because of the spoiling extra, obviously. Kurt won as a joke though, and he stormed out and cried to Blaine. Then he went back in to make a statement, with the perfect line, “Kate Middleton, eat your heart out.” He should have done that in the first place! Sucked it up, done that, danced with Blaine (SO nice how he stepped up when Karofsky fled), and then gone out and cried. But we guess it’s more realistic that he didn’t handle it perfectly.

The Glee Club played at prom, and there were so many songs released to iTunes. Sadly, we didn’t like too many of them enough to download them. The choices were odd. What’s with this "Jar of Hearts" business? A boring, depressing, self-indulgent song that they played once on So You Think You Can Dance has been slowly taking over the world for a year now. They give us a Rachel solo and it was THAT one? Who wants that played at their prom?

Much more typical was “Dancing Queen,” which was nice, but we’ve heard that song and its covers too much. Unnecessary and uncreative. There was also Rebecca Black’s "Friday". One of us loves that song and one of us is ready for it to go away. We guess doing a Glee cover was fun, and making it all-guy was a good idea. Blaine sang, “I’m Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How to Dance with You.” We don’t like that song. Glee was working with little to begin with, so it was no surprise that the song didn’t make us want to…dance. Sorry. Couldn’t help that, haha.

Artie sang “Isn’t She Lovely” to Brittany in class, which was sweet, in theory. But after he called her stupid and after Artie has BEEN stupid for-frickin-ever, we were glad she turned him down for prom. Plus, that song IS about a baby. Ugh. Listen to lyrics, people. Rachel and Jesse sang a stripped-down version of ADELE’s "Rolling in the Deep". At first, we didn’t like it. We like ADELE’s big version. But then the song sat on our iPods for a week, and now we like the Glee version. Glee needs to get off of ADELE though and go back to some classic rock or lesser-known stuff.

Loved Rachel and Mercedes asking Sam to the prom together. We got to hear that Blaine had been beaten up at prom at his last school for going with a guy. Ok, we wish we went to that old school so we could beat the crap out of whoever did that. Seriously, Blaine is our favorite gay fella and we will cut a bitch who hurts him. So wrong. In fact, we will extend that ire to people who beat up gay people everywhere. Just let us know, and we will become vigilantes. Well, we will at least call the cops and recommend a lawyer to sue the guys for battery. We liked Kurt’s outfit. His dad and Blaine were spoilsports on that one. It was gay Braveheart and it was awesome.

Oh, also, we forgive Karofsky. His genuine, tear-filled apology to Kurt got to us. We can’t wait for him to come out of the closet, love himself, and do a Lady Gaga number with the rest of the gang. Jesse and Finn got into a fight over Rachel and were kicked out of prom. Quinn slapped Rachel and Rachel simply appreciated the drama of it. Didn’t Quinn look great by the way? That was nice of Rachel to just let it go, but wouldn’t it have been MORE drama for her to run more drama? And after they made it look like there were going to be consequences in the promo…poo.

Decent prom episode though. With more good songs, it would have been great.

Episode Grade: B

Gossip Girl Season Four Finale Review

You call THAT a finale?

Boring season. Boring plots. Next to no tension. The last character we care about (Blair) cheated on her man AGAIN. Chuck and Blair are such pervs. They did it at some stranger’s Bar Mitzvah. There was a time when we would have forgiven her because it was Chuck, but now we don’t even care about Chuck and Blair being together anymore. The show is right: He did bring out the darkness and depression in her. And then he had to go and get violent near her, on a window. Was he aiming for her? We’ve watched that several times and we aren’t sure. But we are officially over that couple.

And that’s bad, because that couple is what carried the show through many a rough, Vanessa-filled time. The relationship between Blair and her prince is bland and unbelievable. That was an opportunity for the show to give Blair a beau we could really root for. Put her in a triangle where we feel for both guys! And what happened to Dan/Blair? We loved that a lot more than anything else this season. In fact, the Dan and Blair romance was the highlight of season four.

The finale tried to pull out all the stops for the finale. Russell threatened Blair’s life! And then that fizzled. Georgina showed up! And she was boring. Looking good though. Raina is going back to Chicago and Russell is going to jail. Well, they were a complete waste of time. Serena had to talk her fake cousin off of a ledge. Meh. Chuck and Nate are single, so they decided to travel around the world during the summer. Either Blair or Serena is preggers. It’s probably Blair since she slept with Chuck. That’s gonna ruin her wedding to the prince. Watching Blair and Chuck try to raise a child together might be entertaining…. Serena got what looks like the beginning of a career in making movies out of books. Nice. Our dream career.

One thing we DID like was Vanessa finding Dan’s manuscript tell-all about the Upper East Side, getting it anonymously published, and then taking off to Spain. Vanessa is gone!!! Gone Gone Gone. Because this show can’t write a lame character so that she’s interesting enough to save. The actress is appealing. Why can’t the show write a woman that other women can relate to? Why are all the show’s “good” characters so boring? The bad ones are getting boring too.

Also, we know that everyone hated Jenny. We hated Jenny. But the seasons where Jenny was on the show and the episodes where she came back were the best of the show’s history. We think the show needs her. We love to hate her. We NEED to hate her. We don’t care if Taylor Momsen is a brat on set, dumping her as a series regular was a mistake.

After the finales of years’ past, we were expecting some action. Even the season three finale had us on the edge of our seats! The season four finale didn’t end with a bang, but it set up a lot of interesting-looking plots for next year (like fake cousin Charlie/Ivy and Georgina conspiring). Too bad we probably won’t be watching. Plus, this show has proven that it knows how to dangle good plots in front of our eyes, get us interested, and then completely fail to deliver and come through on its promise to make things exciting. The show is not the emotional, fast-paced, addictive fun it used to be. It’s Boring with a capital B. We aren’t emotionally invested in a single character or couple anymore. They could all die in a fiery mess and we wouldn’t care.

Episode Grade: B
Season Grade: D+

How I Met Your Mother Season Finale Review

We are not sure that we like the idea of Barney marrying anyone, let alone Nora. She’s pretty cool and all, but we liked Barney and Robin. We KNOW that fizzled and we KNOW they seemed to wrap up their romance in this finale. But we still love them as a couple and we don’t want to believe it. If Barney gets married, that might take all the zing out of his character. We like growth and everything, but we would hate to see what happened to Jim and Pam on The Office happen to Barney too. He is a suit-wearing ladies man. Don’t change that, show! But if Barney has to get married, it had better be Robin.

Zoey is gone, and we don’t think any viewer who isn’t a huge House or Jennifer Morrison fan is upset about that. We thought that crack about Zoey having new drug-dealing roommates was funny. DUH she wanted to get back to Ted. Except for the occasional sandwich, Ted is drug-free.

As for the “this is the Mother, just kidding” fake-out, we are not amused. It is about time we met the mother. Also, that would have been such a cute way to meet her. Ern got really excited that it was her and was so mad when it wasn’t the Mother. Ern was also shocked when Lily was pregnant. As you can see, Ern is really gullible when it comes to TV, so much so that if Ern guesses something ahead of time, it’s way too obvious to the point of being bad TV.

Anyway, Lily being pregnant at the end was adorable and that ending was so sweet. It was a good way to find out too. Leave it to this show to announce big things with jokes about vomit and poop. But seriously, stop eating at that restaurant, Ericksons. Morons. We hope Marshall gets the job, but he’d deserve to not get it for eating that soup. Sidenote: We love jalepeno poppers too, Marshall.

Pretty funny. At least things happened.

Finale Grade: B-
Season Grade: B-

All the Cancelled Shows So Far

We are mostly pleased with the cancellations.

http://tv.yahoo.com/slideshow/715/photos/1

Bridesmaids - Don't Go In Expecting The Hangover. It's Different

Bridesmaids is getting rave reviews and being called “a female version of The Hangover.” We want to correct this assertion, at least a little bit, so that blog readers won’t be disappointed at the theater. Sometimes having different expectations of a movie can ruin an otherwise enjoyable movie. Guys, don’t expect to go into Bridesmaids and see the wolf pack. With the way it's being advertised and the critics' blurbs, you might go in expecting the laugh-fest of your life. What you get is a good movie about friends that’s occasionally really funny. It's not fair to compare it to The Hangover, because it's trying to do something different here. It's trying to be a genuine, funny chick flick that actual women can relate to.

The most important point. 1) Bridesmaids is funny, but it also has relationship stuff, friendship stuff, life stuff, depressing stuff, awkward stuff, and serious moments. Like most Judd Apatow comedies, Bridesmaids sometimes hits the snooze on the comedy in order to inject heart and maturity. We like this sometimes, but that’s definitely a difference from The Hangover. It’s like if The Hangover and a chick flick had a baby. But that baby didn’t exactly make it to Vegas. That’s right. Don’t go in expecting a Vegas vacation movie. Ninety percent of the action takes place in the bride’s hometown of Milwaukee.

2) The sex scene at the beginning is reminiscent of something you would see on Sex and the City: Explicit and absolutely hilarious. There’s a pretty funny gross-out scene too. But this early sex scene makes you think you are going to see a movie like that the entire time. You're not. It calms down. It chills out. Some people won't like that.

3) It’s long and sometimes it feels long. Remember Funny People? Partly funny, but mostly long and grown-up? Bridesmaids is funnier than that movie, but it’s a movie like that.

4) Do you hate awkward humor where you just feel really bad for the people being embarrassed? Then a few scenes will be hellish for you, like they were for Leeard.

5) Lots of people thought the overweight, weird woman who farts or burps in the trailer would be overused and annoying. This is not the case. While not as funny or memorable as The Hangover’s Alan, she is really funny. And only used a little. We could have stood two more scenes with her, easily. We didn’t think Gilmore Girls’ Sookie could be that wonderfully weird and gross, but we were proven wrong.

6) Kristen Wiig is really good in it. And girls who aren’t, shall we say, the typical sorority girl will relate to her.

We recommend this movie, but only after you read these caveats so you don’t go in expecting an immature, raucous, shocking good time with no slow, serious parts.

Movie Grade: A-

The Vampire Diaries Season Two Finale

Photo credit biddi2.

Ern was not blown away by the season one finale like just about everyone else. They killed off the people it was convenient to kill off, plus Anna, even though she had a huge fan following and she was a great character. The cliffhanger was pretty cool, but the build-up to it was all action and few memorable moments. Leeard respectfully disagrees and thinks the season one finale is one of the best hours ever on the CW. But we're not here to talk about last year. We both agree - this season finale had it all. Closure, set-up for next season, and the coolest cliffhanger we never could have predicted. This show is making mincemeat out of oversexed True Blood AND Amish Twilight, and it doesn’t even have to try as hard as either of those things. We will recap in paragraphs and give you our reactions regarding those events by copy/pasting chat portions out of our aim logs.

Right into the discussion then: Damon got bit by Tyler, a werewolf, so he’s dying. He tried to get Elena’s forgiveness for last week’s events, but she (rightfully) pretty much told him to go pound sand. The show plays a beautiful song with lots of piano while he tries to kill himself by standing in a window, sans magic ring. There’s no reason to suffer, right? But Stefan ruined that plan by tackling him and locking him into that room they always lock each other in at the Salvatore mansion. Bonnie found out from Emily Bennett that the cure for a werewolf bite is the blood of Klaus. Stefan told Elena that Damon was bitten. She looked mildly concerned.

Leeard (8:01:53 PM): <3 Damon
ern (8:02:18 PM): He. Is. Wonderful.
Leeard (8:02:27 PM): Mmmmmmmmmmhmm. As is every other guy on this show. Basically. I still can’t believe that last week wasn’t the season finale. I mean, I’m GLAD it wasn’t, but last week was crazy. WTF Damon?
ern (8:04:13 PM): He didn't want to suffer
Leeard (8:04:27 PM): Um, that would still be suffering. Well, hellooooooo Klaus
ern (8:05:00 PM): Your TV is like five seconds ahead of mine
Leeard (8:05:05 PM): Good
ern (8:05:33 PM): Klaus has my pet peeve in actors :-(
Leeard (8:05:43 PM): Looking sexy?
ern (8:05:51 PM): Obviously not. My pet peeve is whispering in a normal conversation. I don’t mind when Damon does it much. It fits him.
Leeard (8:06:00 PM): Um everyone on this show does that. I’ve actually heard Paul Wesley talk about that in an interview with Ryan Seacrest
ern (8:06:38 PM): Nina Dobrev doesn’t do it. What did Paul say about it? GONE WITH THE WIND
Leeard (8:07:50 PM): http://ryanseacrest.com/2011/05/09/you-will-see-more-bad-stefan-says-vampire-diaries-star-paul-wesley-audio/ If you had told me a year ago that Caroline would be one of my favorite characters, I would've had you committed
ern (8:08:09 PM): She is quite possibly my number one fave.
Leeard (8:08:18 PM): I honestly think that's in my top 5 for things that have happened on this show (changing Caroline)
ern (8:08:27 PM): I'm starting to like Bonnie again. Not like her. But not hate her
Leeard (8:08:34 PM): Finally
ern (8:08:50 PM): Her willingness to try to kill Klaus to save Elena is admirable, as is her taste in hotties (Jeremy). Elena is NOT upset enough that Damon is dying.
ern (8:14:56 PM): Elena is NOT upset enough
Leeard (8:15:25 PM): I agree

The town event in the background of this is a big excuse to get people in hoop skirts, reminding a delusional Damon of when he used to live in the hoop skirt days. It was a Gone with the Wind event, and they were playing the movie on a big screen outside. While everyone was distracted by this event, Sheriff Momma took the opportunity to stop by the Salvatore house to try to get rid of Damon. This is how he escapes. While the movie was playing, Damon wandered the town, hallucinating both Elena and Katherine. Elena goes looking for him, finds him, and helps him. He bites her neck, thinking she’s Katherine, but then he comes to his senses. He goes to the Grill. Sheriff Momma finds him at the Grill and tries to shoot him, but she hits Jeremy. Caroline and Bonnie rush in and Caroline tries to feed him her blood to save him. It’s too late. He’s really dead.

Leeard (8:33:06 PM): IHRGFOIHAEHG'FIFIOEHJG JGIKJ FG JRNBG
ern (8:33:23 PM): I just stopped breathing
Leeard (8:33:32 PM): I SCARED MY MOM. What the ****? JEREMY. YOU CAN’T DIE. NO. NO. NO. NO.. I seriously screamed, and my mom came out from her room to see if something was wrong.
ern (8:34:12 PM): nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
Leeard (8:34:19 PM): He HAS to be fine
ern (8:34:33 PM): I screamed too, but no one cares if something's wrong with me, so it got no reaction. I think he’s dead.
Leeard (8:35:09 PM): No, he can’t be dead. I refuse to believe it.
ern (8:35:54 PM): He just got hot this season too!
Leeard (8:36:04 PM): I disagree with THAT. He got HOT at the beginning of this season, but he's always been good looking. I refuse to accept his death.
ern (8:37:30 PM): I’ve accepted it. He looked really dead, and vamp blood couldn’t bring him back.

Klaus killed Elijah with that special dagger, keeping his promise to unite Elijah with their family. Stefan makes a deal with Klaus to save Damon. Klaus offered a vial of his blood for Damon in exchange for Stefan becoming his new right-hand man. Of course, he had to evil Stefan up a bit first. The way to do that, as we know, is to get him on human blood. Klaus fed Stefan many bags of blood presumably stolen from the blood bank, and the mighty vampire who could kill whole villages without blinking emerged. Katherine broke this news to Elena, saying that this means that Stefan sacrificed his goodness and his relationship with Elena to save Damon, thus choosing Damon over her. Near the end of the episode, we see Stefan chow down on an innocent woman offered by Klaus. Katherine brought the bottle of Klaus’s blood to Damon and caught him cuddling with Elena in bed. Because Damon was dying and confessing his love to here, Elena had given him a kiss. Damon was cured, and Katherine left with these parting words to Elena: “It’s ok to love them both. I did.”

ern (8:18:06 PM): Noooooo. I liked Elijah.
Leeard (8:17:39 PM): GASP. Me too. I thought a vampire couldn't stake an original with a dagger?
ern (8:18:31 PM): But he's part were
Leeard (8:18:40 PM): But he's also part vamp. I mean, he's also an Original, and there seem to be a ****ton of special rules for Originals. But still.
Leeard (8:39:40 PM): mmhmm. Stefan!
ern (8:40:16 PM): Bad boy Stefan? yessss
Leeard (8:40:34 PM): awwwwww stefan! Poor thing. No, Stefan! Actually, yes Stefan. Because then Damon and Elena can be together. I can’t wait until they pull the dagger out of Elijah and he kills the hell out of Klaus.
ern (8:54:01 PM): “I like you just the way you are.” This show is so lame and yet so awesome.
Leeard (8:54:14 PM): And I'm crying again. KISS HIM. YESSSSSSSSSSS
ern (8:55:00 PM): I screamed
Leeard (8:55:04 PM): I didn't. I knew it was coming.
ern (8:55:29 PM): Katherine you wonderful b****.
Leeard (8:55:32 PM): Aw, yay Katherine. She brought him the blood.

Bonnie channeled the witches to save Jeremy, crying out to them. The witches warned that there would be consequences if they gave her the power to bring him back. Bonnie didn’t care and the show had its very first un-undead resurrection. Caroline let her mom know that Jeremy was alive, that she was still Sheriff Momma’s little girl, and then she and her mom hugged. Leeard cried. At night, sitting on his bed, Jeremy thought he saw something. He got up and wandered around the house and was followed by….Vicki. And then he saw Anna. Consequences.

Leeard (8:37:34 PM): This commercial break needs to die. Someone better kill Sheriff Momma if she killed him. He can’t be permanently dead. Man, I love Elena. Girl does NOT stay sitting down.
ern (8:39:33 PM): She's too awesome to only be 17.
Leeard (8:41:38 PM): They have to save him
ern (8:41:57 PM): Yeah, or they wouldn't be dragging it on like this. You were right, he’s coming back.
Leeard (8:42:00 PM): Power through it, Bonnie!!! I love Alaric. “He’s just a kid, tell them to shut up.” Come on old witches!
ern (8:42:40 PM): Bonnie is getting a nosebleed. YES SHOW, kill Bonnie and not Jeremy
Leeard (8:42:48 PM): I’d be okay with that. Elena can’t lose everyone in her family.
ern (8:43:07 PM): Ok, I love Bonnie now. This is really sweet.
Leeard (8:43:15 PM): YES. Thank goodness
ern (8:43:35 PM): Your instantaneous reactions are ruining my life. My TV is FIVE SECONDS BEHIND.
Leeard (8:43:44 PM): Then don't look at it
ern (8:43:54 PM): I can’t not look
Leeard (8:44:02 PM): Wipe your nose, Bonnie.
ern (8:44:06 PM): There has to be a death. This is a TVD finale.
Leeard (8:44:14 PM): There were FOUR last week. And Elijah died. If there is one, it had better be the sheriff or Mama Lockwood or both.
ern (8:44:23 PM): I don't accept that. It needs to be someone we will grieve. I need an ending that shocks me.
Leeard (8:44:33 PM): Maybe Katherine.
Leeard (8:59:17 PM): !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
WHAT?!?!?!?!?!?!
ern (8:59:54 PM): A+
Leeard (8:59:55 PM): UM NO. A++++++++++++++++++