What's my Line? pt 2

Hey Laurel here...So we just wrapped the second part of a 2 part episode where we find out there are 2 Slayers!

In this part Buffy and the other slayer Kendra become pals.  At first Buffy is a little jealous of Kendra because she is a super good slayer technically, and has a lot to nerd out about with Giles, but then she realizes she has her strengths too that Kendra is lacking.  Like a personality for example.

Also in this part Spike and Drusilla execute their plan to cure Drusilla by abducting Angel and tying him up with her so she can drain his life force or something.  It gets a little sexy between the 3 of them but I will let Mark tell you about that part.  Anyway their party gets busted up by the whole gang...Buffy, Kendra, Giles, Willow, Zander, and the 2 remaining bounty hunters.  Kendra and Buffy succeed in rescuing Angel together, and everyone gets out of the burning church except Spike and Drusilla.  But as we find out in the end Drusilla's cure was effective even though they were interrupted...and it seems as though she is going to be able to save Spike too.

Mark here... yeah so we find out that Buffy's drowning at the end of season 1 resulted in Kendra being "called".  So for the first time in Buffy's universe there are 2 slayers.  Kendra is presented as the "good" slayer while Buffy is the unconventional one.  It's interesting but unfortunately Kendra's accent is too distracting to take her seriously.  It's too bad, as Laurel said before, the actress never really had a chance.

We also see the first sparks of romance in this episode...specifically between Xander and Cordelia, and Willow and Oz.  Oz is amazing in every scene.  He is only briefly in the episode but has a subtle charm.  Xander and Cordelia are cornered by one of the bounty hunters and the desperation fires up some passion between them.  It's pretty amusing.

The Spike-Drusilla-Angel dynamic has some sexual tension.  Drusilla tortures Angel and then Angel taunts Spike in a way that has a strong menage a trois vibe.  Anyway, By the end of the episode, Drusilla has recovered but Spike has been weakened.  Burning in a church will do that.  As far as the gang knows, Spike and Dru have bought the farm and Kendra ships out for now, and she and Buffy make amends.

We give this episode 4 stakes.  It was definitely really entertaining and pushed the plot forward, with a second slayer, 2 potential romances and a renewed Drusilla...

Necessity is a Mother

Mark here... This episode was a bit of a slog too.  It's called "Necessity is a Mother" and the mother is Dylan's who breezes back into town.  The show tries to have it both ways, telling us she means well but she's also been a terrible mother.

Dylan is going crazy living with his mom again.  Now that his Dad is in jail, his mom is back in his life, after abandoning him at age 6.  His mom, Iris, is a bit of a hippie/new age lady.  At first we see her bonding with Cindy, but her presence in Dylan's life is driving him to drink...literally.  So Dylan is falling off the wagon and Brenda, being the supportive girlfriend, turns the bitchy up to 10. It's insane!  Every line is delivered with the bitchiest tone!!  I never understood the whole "I Hate Brenda" phenomenon before but watching episodes back to back, believe me, I get it! Although as Laurel said, Andrea is way worse and she never earned a hate club.

Anyway, by the end Dylan's mom decides to go back to Hawaii...what?!?  We're supposed to think she is making this decision with the best intentions Because she was originally paid off by Dylan's father but she never touched the money and now is leaving Dylan with a trust fund.  Great, you just found out your son has a drinking problem and you're leaving him a ton of cash...bravo!!  Of course, we also see Dylan going to AA, but come on!!  As she's leaving, Iris even says to the Walshes, "Take good care of my son"  WHAT?!?

Hey Laurel here...Not much to add except I can really relate to Dylan on this one.  I also have a hippie mom who is, well, a little out of touch with reality.  If she moved in with me I would spend all of my time down at the seedy pool hall too!  Oh, we forgot to tell you about that part, Dylan spends all his time this episode at some seedy pool hall (must be south of Sunset) where he drinks and gambles on pool all day.  In the end he loses a bunch of money and gets beat up.  Wah wah.

Anyway, I sometimes wish my mom would pack up her crystals and move to Hawaii but at the end of the day I'm guess I'm glad she doesn't.  I think Dylan probably would feel the same if his mom would stick around.  Hey Iris, how about if you stay in LA but just get your own place to read tarot cards in?

Style award this episode goes to...Iris!  For her flowy jumpsuit/white boots ensemble.  Way to go Iris!

Cocktail moment is anytime somebody mentions something new-agey.  That Iris is such a kook!  She even takes Cindy to a "Mind Gym" where they sit in massage chairs, wear some kind of sensory lsd trip sunglasses, and drink garlic smoothies.  Oh, and Iris thinks Brenda has a "negative aura".  Really Iris?  We had no idea!?  You are so intuitive.

Pegasus

Mark here... we're watching episode 10 of Season 2 of Battlestar Galactica, "Pegasus".  This episode aired as sort of a finale of season 2.5 of the show and so this episode was a cliffhanger until 6 months later when the next episode aired.  With that in mind, we are going to end this round of Battlestar Galatica  reviews on the cliffhanger...

On to the episode...this one was a doozy, one of my favorite as it harks back to the original series.  In this episode the Battlestar Pegasus shows up.  All the other Battlestars were assumed destroyed when the Cylons attacked but apparently the Pegasus survived.  Not only that, but when we meet the crew, Admiral Cain, who commands Pegasus, outranks Adama.  I had Laurel take note of the point when everyone meets because Cain shakes hands with Adama and clearly takes the overhand dominant role, however when she meets Roslin they shake hands as equals...Roslin being unwilling to submit and Cain not knowing her/Roslin's role.

In any case, the episode is really an exciting look at the road not taken, had Adama not had Roslin.  Cain is a military commander at war.  She takes control of the fleet and ignores the civilians.  She has a Cylon prisoner who is tortured (a 6 model), clearly as an allegory to the effectiveness of torture (she's recovered no useful intelligence). Pegasus' version of Col Tigh, the XO tells awful stories of Cain's command.  Adama, to his credit, dismisses this, saying they also had to make tough decisions aboard Galactica in uncertain times.

The episode ends on a cliffhanger after Helo and Chief stop Pegasus' interrogation officer from raping Sharon, by accident killing him in the process.  Cain decides they deserve to die for this and Adama launches fighters against the Pegasus to get them back....

Laurel here...I just wanted to emphasize Mark's point about the road not taken...Both fleets have been under duress for a long time, and you can see the context of how both fleets have gotten to where they are, but they have ended up in such different places.  Adama, who would have gone the purely military practical route has ended up in a more humanitarian place because he has had Roslin's opinion to consider the whole time, which I feel like has tempered his decisions (rightly so) to be a little more compassionate than an unchecked military commander would have chosen normally.  Cain's decisions have gone unchecked for months so her ship has been run like a military state.  The humanitarian concerns have been ignored.  I don't blame her because there is a context to why she has gotten to this place...but hence the decision to torture the Cylon prisoner, and execute the two Galactica offers who killed her officer by accident.

Artichoke and Red Pepper Salad

This recipe again comes from Ina Garten.  I tweaked it a little because I didn't want to make as much.  I made about the same amount of dressing but didn't use it all.

Ingredients:

2 red peppers
2 boxes of frozen artichokes (defrosted)
Extra virgin olive oil
salt
pepper
1 shallot
dijon mustard
lemon juice
champagne vinegar
1/2 cup fresh basil leaves
capers
red onion
parsley

First to roast the red peppers, coat with olive oil and place on a sheet pan and roast at 500F for about 35 minutes.  Be careful to line the pan with foil.   When done, let the peppers cool, then peel and set aside

Lay the artichokes out an a sheet pan and roast at 375.  Toss with a bit of olive oil and salt and pepper.  Roast about 15 to 20 minutes, tossing them occasionally. Separa

To make the dressing, chop the shallot and put in a food processor ( I cheated and gave it a few pulses in the food processor).  Add 3 tablespoons lemon juice, 1 tablespoon dijon, 1 tablespoon vinegar and a teaspoon of salt and pepper.  Pulse, then add the basil and while the processor is going, slowly add 1/2 cup olive oil.

Put the artichokes in a bowl and coat with dressing.  Add 2 tablespoons of capers and half a chopped red onion.  Cut up the red pepper and add.  Roughly chop a handful of fresh parsley and add. Toss and serve.

It's Different For Girls

Mark here...Laurel and I are watching the next episode of Friday Night Lights.  This one is called, "It's Different For Girls".  I've made us some sausages with sauteed peppers and onions and a potato salad (keeping with the Texas football theme).  Laurel made us some cocktails (called "the Derby") to go along with.

The episode title is fitting for what happens. Lyla is facing the fallout from her affair with Tim Riggins. Sure, Tim got his car bashed in last episode but Lyla bears the brunt of things.  She's marked a la "Scarlet Letter" as a school slut and another girl even creates a website dedicated to calling her out as a whore.  I mean who but a teenager has that much time on their hands?  Lyla really gets beat up on this episode, but it gives us a chance to see a deeper side of her personality.  It also shows us a softer side of her father, Bud Garrity, which is nice. We saw a bit of his sensitive side last episode, but it's nice to see the writers following through with it.  Lyla's two men also show a bit of sympathy...Jason is tortured and a bit of a jerk, but definitely shows a bit of heart towards her.  Tim shows he may have stronger feelings for her (called out by Tyra).

The second plotline is Matt Saracen trying to work out dating Julie, Coach Taylor's son.  It plays out a bit comically as Coach tries to impede things wherever he can.  Tami Taylor is awesome once again in calling out Coach's ideas "worst idea ever" and such.  Tami's not thrilled about her daughter dating either but clearly knows to stay out of it as much as she can, to avoid fanning the flames.  The coach however can't resist attempts to break them up, unsuccessfully.

We also see a bit more of Smash as he tries to date the Reverend's daughter.  She has been away in Africa supposedly.  We later gets hints that that may not have been the case.  She also clues in that Smash didn't use his money from church for SAT classes.  Also, Smash's steroid use is catching up with him, in the form of nose bleeds...

Hi Laurel here...this is such a good episode!  This is one of those where the amazing writing on this show really comes into play.  All of there characters are so complete...we see the good side of all the "villains" and some of the flaws int he saintly characters.  Until now there has been no reason at all to like Buddy Garrity.  The father of the girl who starts the website comes to the dealership to apologize to Buddy and let him know about what's on the internet.  Buddy really takes it to heart..it really effects him and he is so supportive of Lyla after.  Who knew?  Buddy actually is a good guy, it's just that his methods are usually all wrong.  We see a new side of Lyla too.  She seems like kind of a bitchy priss with a silver spoon in her mouth, but with the fallout from the cheating thing we see her really taking her medicine, and do so with grace.

On the flip side we see more of the chinks in Coach Taylor's armor.  Since he's such a good Coach we ususally see him making the right choices all the time (the Voodoo incident being an exception), but in this episode we see him succumb to his emotions and do all of the wrong things.  All of his silly dad attempts to squelch Matt and Julie just backfire and bring them closer together.  He sends Matt home for the weekend with a bunch of game tapes to study so that Julie and him wont have time to hang out, but Julie ends up spending even more time with Matt because she decides to help him study the tapes.  In your face Coach!

It's also interesting to see Smash take a real interest in a girl that's not just about putting another notch in his bedpost.

I can't wait for the next episode!  I really want to see if his girl is in fact laying about going to Africa, and if so what did she REALLY go away for?

Nicoise Sandwich

• • 
    
    
    Hi  Laurel here...
    
    
    These sandwiches turned out really good!  They are a little messy which I don't mind, but if you wanted to make them for a picnic or something I think if you put a little less filling per sandwich they would be more manageable.  
    
    
    The recipe I worked off of was from Epicurious, you can find it here.  Although I did take a few liberties...
    
    
    I ended up not using any white onion (there's already red onion and scallions I didn't see any need to turn this into a triple onion party), also I didn't add any additional olive oil.  I'm not sure about other brands but the tuna I used (Ortiz) had plenty of oil in the can to complete the dressing for my taste.  In order to let the onions do their thing I just put everything for the dressing and the tuna with oil together and let it sit for a little.
    
    
    I couldn't find good kaiser rolls so I tried an olive bread and a regular baguette.  The flavor of the olive bread with the sandwich was great, but the bread had really big air pockets in it, so I thought the baguette version turned out a little better because the baguette was better at soaking up the awesome juices of the filling.
    
    
    I also used a little less anchovy, and what I did use i chopped into quarters so you didn't end up with a big ol' mouthful of anchovy.
    
    
    I chose romaine lettuce which I thought added a nice crunch.
    
    
    Other recipes that I saw recommended using an olive tapenade instead of nicoise olives which I think would be great, also some recommended wrapping the sandwiches in plastic wrap, and squeezing them in the fridge overnight with a cast iron skillet.   I didn't try it this time but I'm intrigued to try it another time.  the only thing I would be wary about is refrigerating the tomatoes overnight but maybe those could be added the day of, or you could leave them out like in this recipe from martha stewart
    

    
    
    
    
    1/4 of white onion, thinly sliced
    1/8 of a small red onion, thinly sliced
    2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus additional for drizzling
    1 tablespoon red-wine vinegar, plus additional to taste
    1/4 teaspoon salt, plus additional to taste
    black pepper to taste
    1 6-ounce can tuna packed in olive oil (see above) including olive oil
    lemon juice to taste
    
    2 kaiser rolls, plain
    lettuce leaves, combination of Boston, green-leaf, or other green leafy lettuce
    8 tomato slices
    6-8 hard-boiled eggs slices
    4 anchovy fillets, drained
    Niçoise olives
    scallions, chopped
    radishes, slices
    
    
    
    
    Combine the red and white onion with 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil,1 tablespoon red-wine vinegar, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and several grinds of black pepper in a bowl.

    Using your hands, mix and squeeze everything together for 5 minutes. (Don't rush through this part; the onions need time to release their juices and mellow.)

    Work in can of tuna in olive oil, including the oil. Season with fresh lemon juice, red-wine vinegar, and salt, then add pepper to taste.

    Cut kaiser rolls in half crosswise and spread each bottom half with lettuce leaves. Use a couple of varieties—whatever looks good—for the difference in texture.

    On top of each lettuce layer, arrange 4 tomato slices (skip this step if you don't have good—really good—tomatoes on hand). Then add about half the tuna mixture and 3 to 4 slices of hard-boiled egg.

    Crisscross each sandwich with 2 drained anchovy fillets and strew with Niçoise olives (pit them if desired), chopped scallion greens, and sliced radishes. Then drizzle generously with more olive oil and top with the remaining kaiser halves, pressing gently but firmly.
    
    

Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms

Hi!

I made these for dinner when Kristen was our guest blogger.  Mark and I tend to really go for it with these blog meals since it's not an every day thing (we get together for dinner a few times a month) which I love...but for this meal I was looking for something delicious but a little lighter, these really fit the bill.  They are super healthy and super delicious.   These are fine as a main course if you have a filling side (we had baked sweet potatoes) but if you are serving these on their own I would make 2 caps per person.

Also I had some leftovers of the filling fixin's and I cooked them up and topped with a poached egg for breakfast.  yum!  The recipe is from Epicurious.

Yield: Serves 2 2 portobello mushrooms 1 teaspoon olive oil 1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar Salt and black pepper 1 leek, thinly sliced and rinsed clean (white and light green parts only) 2 cups spinach leaves 1/2 cup canned white kidney or cannellini beans, drained and rinsed 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese Preheat the oven to 450°F. Set the mushrooms gill side up on a rimmed baking sheet. Drizzle with the oil and vinegar and season with salt and pepper. Bake for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, coat a large nonstick skillet with cooking spray; place over medium heat. Add the leek; cook for 5 minutes, stirring. Add the spinach a handful at a time, stirring constantly, until it cooks down. Stir in the beans and salt and pepper to taste; cook for 1 minute to combine the flavors. Fill the mushroom cavities with the spinach mixture. Sprinkle with the cheese. Bake for 10 minutes, until the mushrooms are warmed through and the cheese is melted. Serve.

Long Weekend

Laurel here...Mark and I just sat down for a dinner of Spaghetti Carbonara (Cooks Illustrated), Garlic bread, and an Artichoke and Roasted red pepper salad (Ina), and another episode of Mad Men.  This one was sort of a sad episode, but interesting...

It's labor day weekend and everyone at Sterling Copper is looking forward to 3 days off.  Roger wants to celebrate by hitting on young twins that are in casting for a commercial for "double sided aluminum" while his wife and daughter are away in the hamptons or something, and insists that Don joins him.  They pick up a pair of the double sided aluminum twins and set out for a night of fun.  Unfortunately for Roger, he has a heart attack during the middle of getting busy with one of the girl and is forced to face his own mortality.  Luckily his wife and daughter rush to his side, which I think gives him a need found appreciation for the value of family.  Don's reaction to witnessing this is to run to Rebecca Menkin's apartment and start a new affair.

Also in this episode Joan's roommate confesses her love for Joan (romantic love) which Joan sweeps under the rug and insists the 2 of them go out to pick up some bachelors (not so dazzling bachelors at that) to avoid any awkwardness of being home with her roommate alone that night.  Is there anyone who is not in love with Joan?  I kind of am too.  Maybe Mark's not.

Also Pete is a total dick to Peggy this episode, surprise surprise.  Peggy tells him she doesn't know what he wants, or how to be around him since they had sex on his couch last episode.  In her words she is just trying to get along with him and she doesn't know whether any given moment he is going to be kind or be cruel.  and I don't blame her.  He is such a dick, and while Peggy is a smart girl she is also naive in many ways.  I feel bad for her that she got mixed up with an asshole like Pete.  Thankfully she was out of earshot at the time but he actually refers to her as "Howdy Dowdy" to Don.

Mark here...I agree with Laurel's analysis.  This episode was a bit of a downer for me, although interesting in terms of character development.  That said, it's still a bit slow.  Roger's heart attack is a bit startling, though it shouldn't be...as he said, "he ate the butter, he ate the cream".  It does show that he has a little more depth then we have been lead to believe so far.  The irony there, is that, seeing Roger in this state, one might think Don might re-assess his choices? But no, instead of going home to Betty he goes to Rebecca Menkin in a drunken state in the middle of the night.  A bad decision for everyone, given that this is one of his major clients.  SIde Note: we find out earlier in the episode he just lost major client Dr. Scholl's! Which Pete was quite happy to tell Don.

The side plot with Joan was unexpected.  I do like Joan, but I'm always unsure of her motives or how she's going to act.  In this case when her roommate comes on to her, she goes into total denial mode...but I guess, given the times and peoples knowledge of homosexuality, maybe that classifies as a good reaction?  Joan just passes it off as her roommate having had a rough day (she lost her job) and moves on.  She does make sure they both bring home bachelors that night.  As laurel said, neither of them were winners either.

I also totally agree with Laurel about Pete, though I have to say his presence stirs the pot and creates some drama...even if he is a dick.  I'm glad in a previous episode, we found out why the firm keeps him around.  At least we know why he doesn't get fired....

Nightmares

Mark here...Laurel has made us dinner and we are sitting down to watch the next episode of Buffy, "Nightmares".  Laurel has made us a dinner of stuffed portobello mushrooms, sweet potatoes and an arugula salad.  All turned out delicious.  We also have a special guest blogger with us tonight, our friend Kristen!

On to the episode.  This was a good one.  The episode starts with some odd events, tarantulas showing up in the middle of class and Buffy randomly having a test in history she had no idea about.  As it turns out, everyones nightmares appear to be coming true.  These range from the generic, like Xander ending up in class without clothes, to character-specific, like Giles losing his ability to read, to the comical, Cordelia having a bad hair day.  Through it all a little boy is showing up every time one of these nightmares occurs.  The end of the episode is a bit quick and predictable, but overall the theme of the episode is fun. We also get a reminder of the season's overall arc when the Master shows up in Buffy's nightmare.

Laurel here...I thought this episode was really thoughtful and effective.  Like Mark said, the nightmares ranged from universal (spiders, naked in class) that we can all relate to, to the specific, especially Buffy.  Her nightmares included her father telling her that her parents' divorce was because of her (he just couldn't stand another day in the house with Buffy!), to her fear that the master got out of his cave, and her turning into a vampire herself!

I thought that another noteworthy nightmare was Willow's, part of which was getting stuck as a Geisha, a nod to her role on the show (despite her mild mannered nature) as the resident feminist.

KP here...Wonderful healthy meal brought to us by Laurel. After 5 days of only raspberries and yogurt this meal was not only delicious but totally on the health plan.

Overall this was a great episode, everyone's worst nightmare coming true culminating in an apocalyptic end until Buffy quickly saves the day.But I will say it was rather dark, (Buffy's father rebuking her and the little boy getting beat up by his coach). On a lighter note I have to mention Buffy's nails. long, robins egg blue rounded to a point, a very 90's nail look. I mean, how can she really slay all those vampires without breaking one of those bad boys.

The Hand of God

Mark here... Laurel and I are watching the next episode, called "The Hand of God".  Laurel made us a delicious nicoise sandwich with tuna and an arugula and corn salad. This episode finds the fleet running out of fuel, so they are searching the galaxy for a source of tylium (fuel).  When they find some, of course its on an asteroid with a cylon base.  They craft a plan of destroying the cylon base.  There are a few twists in the episode...first the original plan is a fake out.  More importantly, the key pilot is not Starbuck but Apollo.  Starbuck is still recovering from a leg injury which renders her benched for the attack.  It's a nice action episode which shows us Apollo is a good pilot as well.  Starbuck is left to helping plan the attack.  As it's a tv show with limited budget, the space scenes are few but awesome.

Separately, Roslin is starting to have visions as a side effect of the kamala extract she is taking to treat her cancer. We've already been told this is a side effect of this alternative treatment, hallucinations.  Her visions, however, tie in to the predictions from the scriptures of the twelve colonies, adding a bit of mystery to them.  The scriptures predict a dying leader who leads them to a new home...and we know Roslin has untreatable cancer...

Back on Caprica, Helo and the cylon-Sharon he is with are still on the run from the cylons.  Cylon-Sharon has not checked in so the search is on...and so is the romance between them...

Laurel here...this episode is sort of like a mini-movie in an awesome way.  They have a clear dangerous mission, which at one point you are sure is going to fail, then...plot twist!  They overcome and are triumphant.

One of the things I really like about this one is that we see another side of Apollo.  He is normally super straight laced, by the book...but in this episode we see that he can also make the tough choices and take risks when necessary.  During the attack against the Cylons he does a super sketchy move and flies through a Cylon tunnel in order to get to their fuel supply and bomb it, and in turn the whole Cylon base blows up. Way to go Appollo!  Anyway it was refreshing to another side of him, to see that he is not always such a goodie goodie and can take risks when necessary.

Isn't It Romantic?

Laurel here...time for some nine-o! For dinner tonight I made a fontina, spinach, and herb pesto lasagne with a pea purée on the side. Mark made a whisky cocktail called "twin hills" which seemed appropriate to enjoy with the Walsh twins.

Mark here...this episode is called "Isn't It Romantic?" and the romance in question is the budding one between Brenda and Dylan, finally! We've seen a few sparks up til now and references to Dylan being a ladies man, but this episode opens with Dylan helping Brandon with his car. Of course this gets him all oily and sweaty so he needs a shower, which Brenda walks in on, and the rest is history! Well, not really...the first time out Brandon is with them...to the movies and then back to Dylan's hotel room, where he puts on the sultry smooth jazz of, "Lily Was Here" (look it up). Brenda and Brandon marvel over Dylan's subwoofers...uh-huh, me too. Anyway, turns out Dylan has a complicated family life and on date 2, throws a hissy fit after a fight with Dad, causing Brenda to break out in tear...of course he's sorry, but she's fallen for his damaged psyche. Of course suddenly she's worried about sex (date 3 has yet to happen mind you). Her dad Jim forbids her from dating Dylan because of his white collar criminal dad, which of course only tempts Brenda more!

Eventually, with the aid of Patrick Swayze's "She's Like the Wind" and a guest high school speaker with AIDS (ever the walking after school special, Andrea shows up at this point), everyone calms down and Brenda and Dylan begin dating.

Laurel here...it's interesting to see how the show deals with the AIDS issue. We think about it so differently now, it's sort of surreal to watch this episode outside the context of the 90s. A guest sexpert speaker comes to the school to presumably talk about doin' the deed, and everyone is giddy and excited. But it turns out the guest ends up sharing her story of how she caught AIDS, and basically scares the kids into taking safe sex seriously. What they don't talk about is the difference between HIV and AIDS, ways to get it and not get it...sort of weird that they just brought it up and sort of scared everyone shitless then walked away. I guess at the time everyone still thought it was a death sentence, but I still think they could have done a better job of addressing it. If you're gonna go there then really go there, you can't just spend a few minutes talking about it and call it a day.

Style award for this episode goes to ...Dylan again!!! For this crazy trench coat number. With shoulder pads, extra long cut, and a grey acid wash style print this coat really has it all. Well played, Dylan. Also the pink shirt really makes it pop!

Scare!!

Next episode..."Scare"...this episode is clearly supposed to be a halloweeny episode. All the characters end up at Dawson's for a Seance on Friday the 13th.  Back tracking a little, Jen has brought her date, Cliff and Pacey and Dawson bring a random woman they meet at a convenience store who is clearly in an abusive relationship.  The whole episode has the feel of "tinkering" from either staff writers or producers who wish to remind us of plot lines. Otherwise, it works well as a scary episode.  The woman from the convenience store is being stalked by her boyfriend and this would have worked better if she was a teenager, but that would involve a teenager in an abusive relationship.  As it plays out, its ends up written for laughs and all works out well in the end, even though the cops probably should have been involved! There's a number of scares throughout and the segways to the characters relationships with each other come across as disjointed and out of place.  Then at the end everyone acts like nothing has happened in a sitcom-y way which seems forced.

Laurel here...again I am left wondering, where are the parents?  Dawson brings a bunch of his friends and a older lady who they pick up at a gas station back to his house at nighttime, and the parents are not around?  with no explanation?  I mean they still live there right?  Then the psycho abusive boyfriend comes over and breaks a bunch of windows...who wants to take bets that this will never be explained or even mentioned in the next episode?  Is Jen's grandma the only responsible adult in this crazy town?

Mark here...Also, I'd like to add that Jen's Grams likes this guy and claims he's from "good stock", yet from what we know about Jen's Grams, I think the nerdier guy would be more appealing than the hometown jock, no?