The 5 Most Underrated Jobs

All of these obviously being chosen in my opinion. Do feel free to leave a comment saying which one(s) you believe is the most underrated job, even if it is not listed below.

Professional Referee

The salary might be nice and all, depending on which sports and on what occasions you are refereeing, but the job entails too much work and professionalism on a high level while receiving almost no credit. A referee gets to follow a whole match up-close and must be concentrated enough to not leave out a single game detail. Decision making is supposed to be lightning fast, on the spot, and fully correct. You need the game knowledge better than that one of a player, but unlike players who can make mistakes in gameplay, a referee cannot.A player can redeem their bad gameplay simply by improving in their next match, while a single mistake from a referee’s side and it will haunt them for the rest of their career. Players get all the fame and recognition, and there is no one to pat referees on the back for a job well done. While following the Eurobasket 2013 Championship, it felt rather obvious to me that it pretty much sucks to be in a referee’s shoes, regardless of what they get paid.

Mathematical Technician

Say what?! If you do a worldwide poll on what is the most evil thing in human kind’s creation, mathematics will definitely be somewhere at the top of that list, if not on the top itself. So it comes as no surprise that even though this job would seem like rocket science to the average man and it takes a genius to do it, you’d be marked a fool by the majority of Earth’s population when they hear what your job is. It might as well be one of the hardest jobs, yet it is the least wanted one. Chances are, there aren’t even enough openings for positions in this field so there is no need for additional people hunting the position, but simply logic points out what is hard to achieve should be praised. Math obviously breaks all laws of logic — you’d be getting worried looks rather than congratulations for your job position!

Astronomer

If you had a wish to become and Astronaut but flying scared you, yet mathematics didn’t, it’s likely you’d end up specializing in the field of Astronomy. It takes immense brainpower to do the studying of celestial bodies, including stars, planets and whole galaxies. More so when the job requires researching, observing, measuring, and developing and interpreting theories to explain extraterrestrial activity with the use of intricate mathematics. It sounds like a lovely job, gazing at stars. Except that’s what you do when you’re still a child, here you’re doing extensive studies that rarely one can understand. Very high on the list of unappreciated and hard-to-get jobs.

Geographer

Say what?! again. Very small number of positions (and mainly very badly paid ones too) for cartographers, ecology, climatology, and various other specializations that come from Geography. It might not be the hardest job one can have, but it still requires brainpower and extensive study. One has to identify, analyze and interpret the features on earth’s surface along with their arrangement and distribution; and if that isn’t enough the job includes the identification, analyzing, and interpreting of various climate and ecological patterns in those same areas on Earth. But to most people saying you’ve got a job as a Geographer sounds like you’re saying you can point on a geography map with precision.

Newspaper Reporter

It takes no special qualifications to get the job, but it is definitely more of a burden rather than a joyful experience. No one really reads the name of the reporters, the headline is what we notice and what leads us to read the article — only after the article as a whole leaves an impression does one check who the reporter is. Yet these news are not fiction, they’re actual happenings. A reporter has to go beyond their way to get a story, and then go beyond to make that story appealing to the audience. Extensive research and charisma are really small words to capture what is needed to stand out in this job. Stress seems like the more suitable word to describe it. Ridiculously tiny number of positions, working with deadlines, bad payment, and drastically lowering paper audience are just some of the reasons this job gets at the top of the underrated jobs list.

What is the most underrated job in your opinion? Disagree or agree with any of the above listed?

Top 5 TV Episodes, August 19th-1st

Due to the fact that I’ve been busy and will remain busy for about two more weeks, I decided to head for the impossible and try to combine two weeks worth of TV Show Episodes in two consecutive posts. By that, I mean instead of doing 4 posts, one for each week of a month’s time, I’d instead do just 2 posts and they would each cover two weeks of that same time period. By impossible, I mean placing TV Episodes of the same Show against each other. This post covers the TV Episodes I’ve seen during the period of August 19th and the 1st of September. On my cut-off position I’d like to place Dexter’s S08E09 Make Your Own Kind of Music episode. With a single episode during this 2-weeks period, it was definitely the weakest link in the pile. Now just 3 more episodes left till the Show’s end, and no sign of a big  finish.

#5 – Under the Dome: S01E10 – Let the Games Begin

This episode was full of revelations and general information discovery in many directions. Linda finding a key in Duke’s sheriff hat that leads to a safety-deposit box in Chester Mill’s bank, which reveals quite a bit of the bad work in the city to both her and Julia, who additionally opens a safety-deposit box of her own which tells her of the whereabouts of her husband. Maxine opens a bar where people gamble possessions on bare-knuckled fights and the star of the fight is the town’s new hero. Big Jim pays a visit to a lake house in hope to find information regarding Maxine and Barbie’s relationship, but might find a bit more than he’s hoping for. Dodee sets on a mission to discover what Joe and Norrie are up to and comes across the mini-dome which apparently is a character of its own now. Meanwhile, Angie realizes she knows the identity of the person whom the mini-dome’s fourth handprint belongs to.

#4 – Breaking Bad: S05E12 – Rabid Dog

This was not a weak episode for Breaking Bad, not at all, the only reason it’s placed lower than the preceding episode is because this one has less action. It was obviously there to get things rolling for the next episode. We see Jesse’s loyalties changing now that he realized Walter poisoned Brock, and we see Skyler that she’s no longer the whiny witch from the previous seasons, she’s ready to ride in Heisenberg’s car (in fact, she’d prefer to drive!). It was a good episode, I cannot imagine Breaking Bad having a weak episode at this point, but an obvious slightly slowing down with so the plot can get ready for the final race.

#3 – Suits: S03E07 – She’s Mine

Slightly behind its preceding episode, but only because I greatly missed the flashbacks we had in that one. This was a fun and witty episode, as always. I enjoyed the mock trial between Louis and Nigel as to who should get custody over Nigel’s cat. While they are very few, I’m definitely a fan of the mock trials in this TV Show. Mike heading head to head with Jessica, I think it’s safe to say he feels part of the family (Pearson Specter) when we see him just walking in Jessica’s office as he does in Harvey’s office. Then we have Donna standing up against Huntley because he screwed up Harvey, obviously proving she still loves him. And finally, that was that ending scene where Harvey delivered the beating up he promised to Huntley. Might just be one of Suits’ best endings so far.

#2 – Suits: S03E06 – The Other Time

A fantastic episode spiced up with flashbacks from 10 years ago! Suits could not have had a better scenario than this one. There is not much left to discuss here, seeing the early days of Donna, Harvey, Donna & Harvey, Jessica, Trevor, etc. The present and 10 years ago versions were mixed up together in a great fashion, capturing messages that still haunt our characters even 10 years after. We also finally found out why Mike couldn’t have went to Harvard after coming to work with Harvey (it always bugged me why no one even mentioned this, so thank goodness that possible plot hole has been filled). A look back on its own would have been great for Suits, but to add to the level of quality, it was executed brilliantly. A must-watch.

#1 – Breaking Bad: S05E11 – Confessions

Skyler, Walter, Marie, and Hank, are out for dinner which turns out to be one of the several unbearably tense dinners the show has seen in its existence. Obviously telling someone “Just kill yourself” is a bad thing to do at dinner, Marie. Could have at least waited after you finished eating. The waiter offering margaritas and tableside guacamole did not help at all. But, Heisenberg is Heisenberg and he will not let some crazy Marie who cannot differentiate between rocks and minerals have the last word. He had videotaped his confessions as a meth cook, which he made sure Marie and Hank had a copy of before leaving dinner. Your reaction was probably close to mine – WHAT?! But, as it happens, the confessions are false and point toward Hank as the muscle behind the whole operation, obviously putting the Schrader family in a tight position. Jesse on the other hand, has no idea what he’s doing but on Walter’s suggestion he decides to leave town. Except just as he’s about to pop in the getaway car, he realizes the truth behind poor little Brock’s death.

Breaking Bad S05E11: Confessions

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

Top 5 TV Episodes, August 5th-11th

 Another week, another ones of these short TV episode reviews. This time, surprisingly enough, I’m on time. Go me! Once again Skins finds itself here with its Season 7 finale (E06, Rise: Part 2), which ends Cook’s story. I don’t see how “rise” fits in this as he managed to get the loveliest girl ever killed along with her family, ends up separated with the girl he got in all that trouble for, and he’ still the same old douche he always was. Maybe because he decides to not kill Louie? Not good enough for me, sorry.

#5 – Under the Dome: S01E07 – Imperfect Circles

 I’m a little disappointed that all we got from Norrie and Joe touching the mysterious black egg who has its mini-dome and is located at the center of the Chester’s Mill Dome was a flash/hallucination of Norrie’s mother. Yet on the other hand, she (gasp) dies in that same episode. Could the two things be related? We also see a medium-pregnant (it’s not like we got to know which month she was in so we’re going with that measurement, yep) woman seeing her own husband at the other side of the dome (hallucination). Additionally, when she touches the dome the hallucinations stop, her water brakes, and Norrie’s mother gets to give birth (Barbie helps too, as he does with everything else in the city?) to the baby even though it’s early. One life lost, one life given. In general, not UtD’s best episode, but since I already watched the one from last night as well, I can tell you they’re gonna blow up the place next week. Pun intended, for those who saw last week’s episode as well.

#4 – True Blood: S06E09 – Life Matters

 And we finally get to see how all the vampires that met the true death in the compounds in Bill’s vision are saved. Obviously fairy blood is involved, which Bill has excess of so he lets everyone feed off him. A small puzzle is how Eric who had a huge head-start arrived later than Bill who was there to save them first. Not a puzzle but the most annoying this is that Sara got away, but I guess we wanted to see Jason let her go rather than kill her? I’m not sure about you, but I wanted her dead, just like Newlin died. So, now we have these vampires who are free and can walk under daylight and are also pissed off at humankind. Do I sense a blood-thirsty season finale next week?

#3 – Dexter: S08E07 – Dress Code

 A drop of two positions for our former two weeks crown-wearer. While I liked Hannah’s previous appearance on the show, this time around it seemed like too much of a soap opera. She comes back to Dexter with a husband who’s treating her bad, and she cannot get rid of him because his family will be suspicious, but Dexter can get rid of him for her and they won’t be suspicious? Sort of a hole in the plot there, as I don’t see how a person disappearing vs. dying will make the family less suspicious if Hannah gave them off bad vibes in the first place. But, all that aside, I do like the feel of domestic chaos around Dexter that seems to be this season’s point so far. He’s this cold blooded serial killer yet there’s his sister, the doctor who helped create him, the lovely neighbor, a new psycho he might be able to turn into a mini-Dexter, and his son follow in his footsteps (not the killing part, but the lying and the not being very social parts). I’m actually quite curious as to how it all wraps up seeing how the end is getting nearer and the plot seems to be getting bigger.

#2 – Suits: S03E04 – Conflict of Interest

 Firmly placed at spot #2, Suits just does not want to let go. The episode title gives it all away, I think this episode was mostly showing how people at Pearson-Darby have different interests and they’re all ready to do everything in their power to ensure theirs and not another party’s interests win. It’s also refreshing to not just have Harvey & Mike, but see some interaction between Donna & Rachel, Donna & Huntley, Louis & Jessica, Jessica & Darby, etc. In fact, Jessica vs. Darby I believe delivered the best parts of this episode. Classy and witty as always stays Suits.

#1 – Breaking Bad: S05E09 – Blood Money

A new episode for Breaking Bad, and it steals the crown right away. In fact the episode was perfectly done as a way to bring back Season 5 of the show with its additional and last eight episodes that the only thing I would change is its name. Whatever the current name is, from now on this will be known as The Tread Lightly Episode. For those who have not yet watched the episode (who hasn’t?!) that is from Walter’s reply to Hank after he tells him he no longer knows who he is — “If that’s true, if you don’t know who I am, then maybe your best course would be to tread lightly.” There are no means to describe the fierceness of this episode. There was very little of Walt Jr., Holly, and Marie (which is good). Jesse no longer trusts Walt. There was also Hank’s powerful realization scene of who Heisenberg is which was stronger than Linden’s realization of who the Pied Piper is in The Killing, yet they were of similar nature. And let’s not forget that final scene where Walt confronts Hank in his garage about the tracking device he found on his car and Hank’s reaction involves no movement at all, but simply closing the garage door. One just knows sh*t is going to hit the fan at that point!

Breaking Bad S05E09: Blood Money

Top 5 TV Episodes, 29th-4th of August

And with this, I should be caught up till this point. As intended, my weekly reviews should continue coming up on Tuesday. Consider this Saturday as a double Tuesday of some sort for now. Heh. On my cut off position once again Skins, this time around with their S07E05, Rise: Part 1 episode. This is most probably because Cook was never one of my favorite Skins characters.

#5 – The Killing: S03E11E12 – From Up Here / The Road to Hamelin

I might be ruining my experience with several shows when I set my expectations for them too high, BUT, in all honesty, how bad can you turn a two-episodes finale? Well, the Killing made it quite bad. Not the worst episodes the show has seen, but sadly they did not work well enough as season finale and left both disappointment and a huge list of question marks all around the pied piper case. In fact, if they crammed the two episodes into a single one, it would have been a decent ending, but not as it stands now. Linden realizing who the murderer is after seeing the ring on his daughter’s finger was the most powerful scene present in the hour and half we saw of the Killing last Sunday. But, more on that later in my review of the whole season (along with a 1-10 rating).

#4 – True Blood: S06E08 – Dead Meat

True Blood’s plot is all over the place, sort of like a vampire’s parts after they meet the true death. This does not mean that the show has gone bad though. Quite the contrary, True Blood’s one of the rarest TV Shows I’ve seen running with so many parallel plots but doing it fantastically. A drop of two positions this week due to no drastic changes, and Newlin and Sara being as annoying as Sookie.

#3 – Under the Dome: S01E06 – The Endless Thirst

As we already established, Under the Dome had a barely decent / kind of bad start, but as the episodes kept rolling it gradually became better and better. It is still improving, actually. This episode we saw the town’s water tower being damaged and all the water leaking out, while the town’s lake was found polluted. Quite the town crises, if it wasn’t for Big Jim finding a new water source, though it cost him dearly in the form of propane (we see how much he cares about the city). Angie’s out, thank goodness, and she’s less annoying when she’s not with Junior for some reason (but we’re glad about that reason, whatever it is). Joe is helping Norrie to find insulin for one of her mothers, while Julia and Doddee are trying to locate the power source that is causing transmission issues. Guess what the power source is? Joe and Norrie! Oh and let’s not forget Barbie being the town hero, saving Angie and generally preventing chaos around the place.

#2 – Suits: S03E03 – Unfinished Business

Two positions up this week for the glamorous drama that is Suits. Donna being half of this episode’s center was definitely a huge plus. Her flirting with Huntley was really fantastic and while it is obvious it will be a temporary thing, here’s me hoping we’ll get to see more of it. Huntley seems like a mystery factor here but as soon as he helps with the Eva case we know he’s got Harvey/Mike’s back. Harvey sticking out for Mike with Katrina seemed silly — it’s not like Mike cannot handle his battles. In fact, it only proved that Katrina’s videos where Mike is presented as Harvey’s baby, hold some truth in them. I shall not linger on that thought though, especially because I’m not sure what bigger part will Katrina play sometime in the future. Or, at least I expect her to, as otherwise she’s not really adding much to the story with her drama at this point (well, some “use” from her in this week’s episode but that one goes in my next top 5).

#1 – Dexter: S08E06 – A Little Reflection

 For the first time since I started writing these top 5 lists, we have a TV Show keeping the crown. That’s right, Dexter manages to place itself at #1 two weeks in a row. The previous week it was due to the whole “happy tree friends” feeling and how great they pulled out from the whole fiasco of Deb trying to murder both Dexter and herself with him. This time around, it is due to the whole “trouble at home” feeling. Well that, and Deb and Elway’s chemistry. Now that Dr. Vogel has helped Dexter and brought him back with Debra, maybe she feels she needs to take on another project? Zach Hamilton is her new target, who she hopes to be her new Dexter (teach him the code, yada yada). But, as it happens so, Zach might also be Dexter’s new target, except he’s not interested in teaching him in code, he’s interested in teaching him a lesson on his table while wrapped in plastic. Actually, I could rant on for quite a while on how good the episode was, but I shall only add this — it was so good I forgot I read that Hannah is supposed to return this episode so I was caught off guard when Debra started feeling bad, fell on the ground, Dexter was following her in the same position, and then she shows up all “Hi Dexter. Remember me?”

Dexter S08E06: A Little Reflection

Top 5 TV Episodes, July 22nd-28th

Alas, this is horribly late, but as the old saying goes — better late than never. This post covers the episodes that premiered during the Monday-Sunday week of July 22nd to July 28th. That week on my cut-off position can be found Skins’ S07E04, Pure: Part 2. Quite a pity that Cassie’s (Hannah Murray) story came out weak and weird and very badly handled. She was my favorite in the early seasons of the show, but this episode did not use its full potential and didn’t do justice to Hannah Murray’s charm. Though those modeling photos of her we saw in the episode were simply breath-taking.

#5 – Under the Dome: S01E05 – Blue on Blue

A drop of four positions for Under the Dome, not because it was a bad episode but because its improvement was the smallest in comparison to the other episodes I watched. In fact, this episode was better than last week’s for Under the Dome, but most shows made a huge jump.  The missile hitting the Dome was a great plus here, and especially Joe and Norrie kissing while it happens and with no resulting seizures from the touching. Oh and there was Big Jim pushing Coggins’ (the priest) head against the Dome, which kills him due to his hearing aid in the ear that touches the Dome. If it wasn’t for this annoying  person called Junior and his story with Angie I think it would have been even better. The puzzles I’m most intrigued by are Barbie’s past and Joe and Norrie.

#4 – Suits: S03E02 – I Want You to Want Me

This might have been one of my favorites non-finale episodes of Suits. It was brilliant and witty and great in every aspect, until the ending came. While a frustrated Louis seeing Mike, who had just agreed to be on his team, and Harvey reuniting their team in his office might be fun to watch, it was the obvious choice and the most predictable move ever. This might be my own wishes interfering with my judgement, but I believe if the Mike/Louis partnership idea continued at least for one more episode, it would have been a better plot twist. Nothing to add beside this, a fantastic episode overall and I think Louis has never been greater than now but alas that ending was far from my liking.

#3 – The Killing: S03E10 – Six Minutes

If there’s one thing this episode wasn’t, it is six minutes.  While the idea of Linden still trying to save Seward just 12 hours before his execution sounds like something one would want to see, going back and forth on whether he actually killed his wife or not made the whole 40+ minutes painful to watch. The high-point of the episode was definitely the ending itself, Seward being hanged and Linden sitting there waiting for the execution to end (which felt like the longest execution I’ve seen on TV, though that might be because they usually involve faster methods). Overall, I do not feel this needed a full episode as it felt super slow and made me gag quite a lot — kind of like the execution itself was. But I did like that execution and Seward made the episode watchable, plus it was better than the previous episode so two spots up for The Killing.

#2 – True Blood: S06E07 – In the Evening

One spot up for the great pile of chaos that is True Blood nowadays. There’s no way my short one-two paragraph reviews can cover up everything that happened in this episode, so we’ll go the short route of simply mentioning the best points and what made the episode so good.  Eric and Norra escaping the compound; Terry knowing about his death — so hyped to find out about this; Sara’s scene when she finds Burrell dead; Pam’s bromance with the therapist; Norra’s death. If there’s one thing that made True Blood step up the ladder this week it’s Norra’s noble death, accompanied with flashbacks from Eric’s early days of Vampirehood, and lots of prayers, requests, and tears, that fortunately do not help Norra at all. Yes, fortunately, I am glad she’s out of the picture.

#1 – Dexter: S08E05 – This Little Piggy

I take back everything I said about the ending from the previous week. It is true what they say, do not judge a book by its cover, and in this case definitely do not judge a show by a single episode. Last week ended in the worst and weirdest fashion, but all of that was forgotten because the starting scene for this week was as fantastic as it can be. Dexter and Debra sitting down in front of Dr. Vogel and discussing the fact that Debra tried to kill Dexter even if that meant she’ll die as well. Yet, as Vogel points out, she did go back to save him from the drowning car. According to her, this was Debra hitting rock bottom and as soon as that happened, she became ready to accept Dexter as he is, hence the saving. At first Dexter has lost all trust in Deb and refuses to accept her back, but once Vogel has been kidnapped by a serial killer, Yates, they’re united once again. Not only do they reunite, they become a team, sort of, and eventually the episode ends in the calmest, strongest, most psycho-moment so far. Dex, Deb, and Vogel sitting on Dexter’s Yacht after throwing Yates’ body in the water. All that’s missing is Harrison, right?

Dexter S08E05: The Little Piggy

P.S. Masuka and his daughter are a great addition to the show, but the fact that we’re nearing the end of Dexter’s days and everyone is focused on his story, kinda puts a shadow over Masuka’s story.

Top 5 TV Episodes, July 15th-21st

Since I am a bit of a TV addict and follow quite the vast amount of TV Shows, I figured what I’d do every Tuesday (because Monday is too soon and Wednesday is too far away) is do a short review of my top 5 TV episodes for the previous week. This is my first time trying this out so feel free to leave your critics and directions so I can improve these for the future weeks. And, while a highly good episode and was going to place here, Dexter’s Sunday episode had such an awful ending I decided they’ll get their shot another time. Therefore that episode is officially on my cut-off position for this week.

#5 – The Killing: S03E09 – Reckoning

I was hoping they would go with 10 episodes rather than 12 with this season. Don’t get me wrong, the show has been fantastic with the money they’ve invested, probably the best with its budget. The thing is, we already went through this whole case where they keep tagging the wrong guy all the time and obviously in the last episode the right guy will be someone who has been under our nose during the whole season but we just couldn’t see it. A lot of repetition from the first two season with this new case, otherwise The Killing seems to be reaching its highest points this season as it gets closer and closer to the season finale. Quite a shock that they killed Bullet, I would have bet she’d just be kidnapped and then Holder and Linden would rescue her at the end. Guess they aren’t going the Disney path. Does this mean that Seward will probably meet Death Row? With only 24 hours left, his time is definitely ticking away.

#4 – Skins: S07:E03 – Pure: Part 1

While this season’s episode are highly different from what we were used to with the old Skins seasons, they’ve been more than entertaining and powerful from the three episodes we’ve had so far. Cassie’s story seems slightly weaker than Effy’s, but not to take it for granted we’ve only seen the first part (for the review, anyway, part 2 aired last night). You have to love Hannah Murray though, and it is definitely all in her spirit — you can almost feel how they’ve got to this point in their lives based on where they started and what we saw in the previous seasons. I’ll have to do some digging on this but I believe Effy, Cassie, and Cook are the only 3 characters getting their own story told with these episodes (obviously we see some of the other characters, but not from their point-of-view)? Pity, that looks like it will be a short, though fantastic, season.

#3 – True Blood: S06E06 – Don’t You Feel Me

While Sookie somehow still manages to get on my nerves in every darn episode, the show itself is like wine, getting better with each passing episode. I can honestly say after last season’s finale, I knew I was either gonna love it or hate it from that point on. The finale was a huge turning point for the show’s plot with a lot of drastic changes and quite a few new characters (and some old characters with new characters inside their body). I was partially expecting it to turn into a complete fiasco of a soap opera where you have no idea what’s going on. Yet somehow, they’ve managed to stay on top and improve as they go.  While they will still need to wrap up this whole mess without screwing up the show, I think the great first half of the season proved they can definitely do that. Now if they iron out things with Warlow, the Governor, and Lilith (through Bill), this will definitely be their best season so far.

#2 – Suits: S03E01 – The Arrangement

I’ve been waiting for this for quite a while, and based on the trailers that were posted, I knew it was going to place somewhere high. Suits returns with a blast — wittier and funnier than ever before, while still keeping it classy and dazzling. New cases, new drama, new twists in the now-know-as Pearson-Darby family. The first episode in this season definitely promises a lot for the rest of the season, and its looking like it’ll be even better than the second season (which was better than the first season). Suits keep going up, but how long can they go before Mike Ross’ secret is exposed? And with the Harvey-Jessica war that seems to be stirring up, will Mike be able to regain Harvey’s trust on time to aid him in it? Only one way to found out.

#1 – Under the Dome: S01E04 – The Outbreak

Yes this is still new to TV with only 4 episodes so far and definitely would not make the top of any list yet, please bear with me as I explain my reasoning behind it. There was a lot of hype whether this show will be a masterpiece of a masterful screw up. Based on the works of Stephen King promises a lot, but were the cast and the directors ready to deliver something fantastic? I’ve been following up user comments on IMDB ever since the show started, and there were a lot of mixed comments. But, what caught my eye was the comments on why the show sucks so far were pretty much valid. No trouble in paradise even when they’re stuck under this gigantic extraterrestrial dome and are cut off from the rest of our planet while no one can explain it? No issues whatsoever or panicking or questions being asked by the population under the dome? Those were all good questions, up till this episode as it answered them all. If I hadn’t known that they film the seasons in advance, I’d think they filmed the episode to answer all the user criticizing it. Come back next week to see if they’ll keep #1 based on their episode last night!

Under the Dome S01E04: The Outbreak