Top 5 TV Episodes, August 12th-18th

That was one heck of a week, so let’s get down to the quick reviews right away!

#5 – True Blood: S06E10 – Radioactive

 Out of all the possible ways to end the season, they chose the worst — fast forwarding things to 6 months in advance and showing completely new settings in the town of Bon Temps. After all the vampires drank away Bill’s blood, he has returned to his normal self — but with Lilith no longer being part of him, he is also mortal again (well, as mortal as a vampire can be, the thought is he is no longer a god). Warlow tells Sookie the painful truth (that’s she’s a danger whore who believes she can achieve anything because she thinks she is special) and is decided to marry her at all costs, but there comes Bill again to save her. Granted, I’d say the episode had a good start, but when the fast forward of 6 months came in after the first half of the episode, I knew this was not headed in any good direction. Some weird reunion between Tara and her mother, Sookie leading a life with Alcide as her husband, Jason satisfying Violet and the mention that she hasn’t let him have sex with her during those 6 months, a Church meeting where the folks of Bon Temps are told to keep together as well as asked to be checked for Hep V and all negative, all those negative for Hep V being asked to make a deal with a vampire to feed them and in return receive protection, and many more weird scenes crammed together with no specific link is what was delivered to us in this flash part of the episode. Overall, the episode was nothing fitting for a season finale.

#4 – Dexter: S08E08 – Are We There Yet?

The episode’s title seems to describe my feeling with this Dexter season perfectly. We’re just four episodes away from the grand finale, yet it seems like the series is progressing like any previous season. Filler in scenes, lots of distractions from the main plot, and too much hopping from one place to another. The high-point of this episode was the dinner at Dr. Vogel’s with Dexter, Hannah, and Zach. So much psycho in the same room! Poor Zach’s purpose in the series ended with this episode as Dexter found him at home with half his head cut off and missing a specific brain part — it would seem the brain surgeon is alive and operating again, as we saw a glimpse of Dr. Vogel looking at a container of water and what seemed to be like the missing brain part. Another gift left at her house, but by who, who could the brain surgeon be? A bit obvious at this point that it is Cassie’s boyfriend. He showed almost no compassion for her death, and he saw Zach with Dexter. There was also Dr. Vogel refusing to say why she’s so interested into serial killers at the previously mentioned dinner, so we can assume that Cassie’s boyfriend is actually her psycho son. Wrong or not? Only one way to find out.

#3 – Suits: S03E05 – Shadow of a Doubt

Business continues as usual at Pearson Darby, except it might actually turn into Pearson Darby Specter. In the final moments of the episode we see Jessica in Harvey’s office, offering to make him a name partner because now that she saw how Darby is treating her she understands she’s been treating him the same way and would prefer if they’re on the same side. Will the two of them be reunited or will Harvey take Darby’s side? Louis is having a bromance with Nigel’s cat after agreeing to take care of her while Nigel’s on a work trip. Rachel and Mike’s days of romance might be turning short as the number of their fights increases. We see Mike at dinner with Rachel and her parents, and though he’ll pass that with flying colors, the truth he learns will sting him quite a bit. Donna and Huntley’s relationship started out great, but things took the wrong turn when Harvey poked his nose in there. All in all, a pleasant episode, despite the ongoing romances and whatnot.

#2 – Under the Dome: S01E08 – Thicker Than Water

That was one blast of an episode. If Under the Dome ever make it to the right path, it would be this episode. Norrie’s grieving for her month and blames Joe for her death because he took her to the center of the dome. Meanwhile, Joe takes Julia to see the black egg as she ponders over the idea of life and death happening under the dome, in one house, at the same time. Except, when she touches the egg’s mini-dome it does not show her Norrie’s mother, it shows her a double of Joe who also has a message for her “The Monarch will be crowned.” Ollie Dinsmore wants to be the sheriff in town or so-to-speak, but Big Jim has help on his side as well, and apparently Barbie’s good with home-made explosives as well because we see him blowing up the well at Ollie’s house. By doing that, Barbie let the water back into town through the other underground sources and thus helped the town of Chester’s Mill once again. Big Jim was not pleased that Barbie did not follow his command though, as Barbie was not pleased that his advice was not heard. Junior, after being verbally slapped by both his father and the sheriff, joins Ollie’s side and almost kills his father after learning that his mother committed suicide because of him. In the ending scene we see Angie having a monarch tattoo on her back, but we’re not sure what that means yet.

#1 – Breaking Bad: S05E10 – Blood Money

Two weeks since the TV show’s final episodes started airing, and two weeks on the top spot. Obviously Breaking Bad directors and cast know what they’re doing. The episode starts with an old man seeing some of the cash that Jesse threw away, and after following the trail of money, he finds Jesse. By the fact that Jesse’s later in the police station and being questioned, we can assume he was reported. To make matters worse, in the ending scene we see Hank walking in the questioning room where Jesse is. Before that, we have Hank getting a hold of Skyler before Walt does. But, it would appear Skyler stays true to Walt and does not agree to cooperate — not then, and certainly not after Walt visits her at home with Marie. Her advice to Walt is because it seems to her that Hank has no case, to stay quiet for the time being. On the other hand, Marie tells Hank that she should take whatever he has to the office so he isn’t flagged for cooperation if his team finds out about Walt on their own. We do see Hank asking Gomez to set up a conference call with Ramey. Lydia had her own role to play in this episode, visiting Declan’s meth operation and ordering (through her cell phone) for Declan’s men to be killed after Declan refused to return Todd as the cook even though he made better-quality meth (apparently trust beats work quality in Declan’s head, which sounds like the most reasonable thinking in this meth business so far). I’ll skip all the theories of what might come in the final episodes as obviously their place is not here. If you’re interested, visit this article:

http://www.uproxx.com/tv/2013/08/breaking-bad-blood-money-rewatch-color-schemes-theories-and-foreshadowing/

Breaking Bad S05E10: Buried