Ted

Mark here... we're watching the next episode of Buffy season 2, "Ted".  Boy they really nailed it with this one! John Ritter guest stars as Ted, the guy who Buffy's mom Joyce has been dating.  He is perfectly cast and plays it with an appropriate degree of campiness and creepiness.  Basically, we meet Ted, and Buffy is instantly creeped out by him. Her friends however are impressed by him.  He bakes them cookies and clearly Joyce is taken with him.

Ted is a very "perfect" guy.  He cooks for Joyce and is  a great boyfriend..seemingly.  He shows a dark side initially, but just to Buffy.  Ina game of miniature golf, he threatens Buffy after she cheats at the game. Later Buffy comes to blows with him and he apparently dies after Buffy knocks him down the stairs.  This is a bit of a first for the series, Buffy apparently killing a human.  The writing is a bit weak in that regard. Giles sort of has nothing to say about the matter, except that he will do vampire patrol for a while?  At the same time he makes up with Jenny "Melrose Place" Calendar.

Anyhow, Ted is turns out to be a robot who kills women. It's a simple concept but the show plays it, and John Ritter, perfectly.  In the end, Joyce remembers him as just a bad boyfriend.

Hey Laurel here...this episode was so good!  John Ritter is amazing as the creepy too perfect guy.  Then when he turns on Buffy he amazing as the creepy super creepy guy.

This episode also shows how the gang sticks together and supports each other.  Buffy's mom doesn't believe her when she tries to warn her that Ted is two-faced.  But when Buffy ends up killing Ted, the gang of course whole heartedly believes that there must be something wrong with Ted for Buffy to have killed him, even if it was by accident.

The gang does some digging while Buffy and her mom are feeling guilty/mourning, and discover that he has had 4 marriages but no divorces.  Then when they figure out where he lives they discover all of the wives in the closet!  Gross! But way to go gang!

So Mark and me both agree this is a really good one.  Drumroll please...our first award of 5 stakes!  Check this one out people.

Leading from the Heart

Hey Laurel here...so this is another very special episode.  We are getting killed here people.  Although this one is not as bad as the racism one.

In this one Brenda and Brandon's cousin Bobby (the Bobster) comes to visit from Minnesota.  He's coming to check out UCLA, he's thinking of applying to college there.  But there's something you should know about Bobby.  He's in a wheelchair.  Apparently he got into some sort of skiing accident, and Brandon was with him.

Kelly likes Bobby and tries to take him on a date to a party with the gang, but there's some difficulty at the party, i.e. there's a bunch of stairs out front, there's dancing which Bobby apparently can't do (hasn't anyone ever heard of chair dancing?  I do it all the time!) and theres no booze which is really the biggest problem.  If the gang could have knocked back a few the party would have been great!

Anyway similar to the racism episode the show tries so hard to make a point that someone in a wheelchair is just the same as the rest of us that it only shows the opposite.  Look guys!  The Bobster can make breakfast?!  Omg, he can ride horses.  Wait, look, he can play basketball!  Fucking grueling.

Mark here... there's not much to add here to what Laurel said.  This episode is embarrassingly bad.  One thing we talked about was how much better a show like Friday Night Lights deals with disability.  That may not be fair as Friday Night Lights came years later and wouldn't have been possible without Beverly Hills 90210 proving there was an audience for teen drama.  Still, we will never see the Bobster again and the writing is so awkward!!

Anyway...the quote for this episode is definitely,  Brenda says to Kelly "There's something you should know about Bobby"...really because he's from Mars!!!

The cocktail moment is anytime someone not-so-subtely refers to Bobby's disability...because it's such a plot point!! Good Grief!!!

No style award this episode because nothing really stood out...

Laurel here.  Sorry for the boring blog entry but the episode is so boring!  Nothing happens except for that dang wheelchair.  Onward!

Nevermind

Mark here...Laurel and I are watching the next episode of Friday Night Lights.  This on is called "Nevermind" and Laurel has made us some delicious BBQ pork sandwiches (using part of the leftovers from the Pot Roast dinner with some homemade BBQ sauce), Blue Cheese Coleslaw and Corn Pudding.  This episode opens with Jason Street rummaging through his house to find his Nirvana CD.  When he can't find it he chooses to wheel down to the record shop to purchase a new copy.  WHile there he runs into Lyla and one thing leads to another.  Soon the two are back at his house trying to get it on, which doesn't go so well.  Apparently, he's physically not capable.  The rest of the episode finds the two of them trying to work this out (and figure out if they can actually work things out between the two of them).  Lyla comes across as a bit too over eager to fix things, at one point suggesting they watch a video on sex with spinal injuries.  This is too much for Jason, who after talking to his friend, realizes that there is no quick fix and that it may take quite a while before he can have a healthy sex life again.  For Lyla's part it seems like she may be trying to get over her guilt by "supporting" Jason, but again she comes across as a bit too eager.

There is another plot line with Matt Saracen's dad coming home for leave for 2 weeks.  At first this seems like a godsend.  He will come home and take care of everything.  It quickly becomes clear that the dad isn't equipped to deal with what's going on at home.  His mother, Matt's grandmother is suffering from alzheimers and the dad has no idea how to cope.  At the same time he offers Matt little support, leading Matt to blow a football game and blow up at his dad afterwards.  The impetus for this is his dad's idea of sending Matt away to live with an aunt in Oklahoma and putting the grandmother in a home.  By the end of the episode, things are still unresolved.

One last plot line is that Tim Riggins has apparently been skirting by his studies by getting others to write his school reports.  Tami Taylor picks up on this right away and lets him know he won't be cruising through anymore.  To her credit she sees Tim is smarter than he lets on, but he's never challenged himself.  He also seems to realize people expect little of him.  Tami assigns Landry to work with him.  At first Tim is reluctant to do anything, but as the episode goes on he starts to pull through.  By the end of the episode, he thanks Landry for his help (showing up to see Landry's band, Crucifictorious, who sound as band as their name!)

Hi Laurel here..I agree with Mark on all points.  I feel sort of bad for Lyla because she's a teenager and your partner having a traumatic spinal injury is a lot for anyone to deal with, but she is handling the situation all wrong.  She keeps trying to fix things and this situation is just unfixable.  She needs to start empathizing with Jason instead of trying to make everything OK.  Everything is not OK.

Poor Matt Saracen!  He thinks his Dad coming home is going to be a blessing, and he's finally going to get some help with his tough situation but the Dad is just trying to delegate all of his responsibilities so he doesn't have to deal with anything.  It's really disappointing.  Also Matt has really become a man while his Dad has been away but his Dad still treats him like a kid.  It's really disrespectful considering what Matt has been going through.

Tami is totally right about Tim Riggins, he really hasn't been living up to his potential, and is way smarter than he or anyone else gives him credit for.  Side note Tami and Eric have a fight about Tim's academics and how to proceed...they are so good at fighting!  They both get heated but the whole time they are really communicating and hearing what the other has to say.  It was very constructive.  I wish I was so good at fighting.

Indian Summer

Mark here... We're on to the next episode of "Mad Men", called "Indian Summer".  It's called this because there's a heat wave.  We get to see Roger returning to the office after his heart attack the previous episode, a bit prematurely it ends up.  He has an episode in front of a client.  This works out in the positive for Don, who ends up being promoted to partner, to assure clients that its business as usual. Pete is obviously unhappy with this turn of events, and by the end of the episode takes action.  In the beginning we see Don's secret brother sending him a package.  At the end of the episode Pete goes into Don's office and intercepts its delivery, we'll see where that leads...

Separately, Peggy is moving ahead in her career when the boys in the office choose to give her another product to write copy for.  It's a device which is supposed to help women lose weight, however, when Peggy uses it, its clear it has more sexual benefits.  Peggy comes up with some cheeky copy and is rewarded for it.  But clearly, the reason they gave Peggy the job has to do with her weight gain...suddenly Peggy is looking a bit rounder....  Given the times, it's easy to understand why she might think she's just put on some weight.  She goes on a date with a working class guy and it's clear she has her sights set on fast-paced Manhattan and wants a man from that world.

As a subplot, which touches on the weightless/masturbator device, Betty is left at home clearly unfulfilled.  She has a tempting visit from an air conditioning salesman, but sends him away...though she is clearly tempted with an affair.  Later we see her grinding up against a washing machine during spin cycle! Driving home the message that Betty is young, sexual and not getting what she needs! Of course Don is too tired when he gets home! He's still fooling around with Rebecca Menkin, who herself is imagining a future with Don.  Don is getting exactly what he needs, he has no intention of settling down with Rebecca, he has his family picture life and doesn't need another...

Laurel here..I agree with Mark on all points.  Peggy is a genius!  We see her discover that the "rejuvenator" device is not really about weight loss, but about ladies having some, um, personal time.  She comes up with the name, and copy that makes it sound like you can make women feel invigorated whenever they want, without saying what that really means.  Now women have a lot of means for sexual fulfillment on their own but at the time women weren't educated about that kind of stuff and Peggy handles this obstacle perfectly.

I think it's also important to note that when Betty is grinding against the washing machine she is fantasizing about the air conditioning guy, not Don.  He needs to stop spreading his sexuality around elsewhere so much and start spreading some of it around at home.

Out of Mind, Out of Sight

Mark here...this episode was called, "Out of Mind, Out of Sight" and it was a fun one.  At first it appears that a ghost is terrorizing Sunnydale High, but as the episode reveals, there's a bit more going on.  One fun crossover appearance is the actress who plays Mrs Teasley on 90210 shows up as a teacher here too.

The premise is that a ghost is showing up wreaking havoc with certain students, one of whom is Cordelia.  It turns out its not a ghost, but actually a student who's been ignored for so long that she has turned invisible, and now she's out for revenge against those who ignored her.  One thing that now is hard to ignore (now that KP pointed it out) is Buffy's nails...they are way too long and totally impractical!  It becomes distracting.  By the end of the episode, we also realize that the government is aware of the strange happenings in Sunnydale.

Laurel here...not much to add except I love the continuation of the high school theme of being made to feel invisible by the popular girls.  Literally this villain was created by bitches like cordelia who made her invisible.  It's unfortunate that she needs to find her revenge by terrorizing normal students but it is of note that at the end of the episode we are lead to believe that it's an x-file-ish situation where the "invisible kids" are appropriated by the FBI as spies...

KP here....loved this episode. Guest star,Clea DuVal never disappoints, even though she was mostly invisible. Love the X-Files/Men in Black theme at the end. Also, I was excited to see Angel making his very small mark in this one.

Colonial Day

Mark here...so this episode, "Colonial Day" was a switch, from being sort of an action episode to an episode where the action was more political.  The fleet decides to reconstitute the Quorum of the Twelve, essentially the Senate/Congress, which has been missing since the cylon attack.  In doing so Tom Zarek from a previous episode shows up again.  He is a former terrorist/political radical and his first move is to become nominated for Vice President. Roslin switches into political mode and refuses to allow him a role in her administration.  First she nominates her aide as a nominee.  When he proves to be not popular enough she promptly dumps him.  This shows us her political savvy, as does her new nominee, Baltar.  He ends up winning the role in a tight vote.  Clearly, this is a writing device to once again give Baltar a role in the show.  While it makes sense he's popular, this gives a reason for why Roslin and Adama put up with him.  As Roslin says, "the devil you know."

On Caprica, Helo starts to figure out the Cylons can take human form and in a cliffhanger finds out Sharon is a Cylon...

Laurel here...not much to add except to elaborate on a point that Mark explained to me...  We already know Roslin is a capable leader.  She's fair, just, moral, and capable of making hard choices.  But in this episode we find out that she is a super good politician too.  Hopefully her gamble of picking a vice president to hitch her wagon to who she knows is a sketchy character will pay off politically so she can be in a position to do more good for the people in the long run.  We also are lead to suspect that colonel Tigh's wife is quite the politician, and that she may be in league with Zarak in some way.  Some heavy looks are exchanged.

OMG!  The way Helo finds out that Sharon is a cylon is that he witnesses her killing one of her replicas!!  I was hoping this would make him realize that this robot he is in love with is rejecting her program but when he realizes what's up runs away from her...

Side note, there is a political ball where we see many of the main characters dressed up in civilian party clothes.  Starbuck by her own claim is supposed to "clean up well" and when Apollo encounters her in a dress and makeup at the ball he seems stunned by how awesome she supposedly looks.  In reality she looks like an inexperienced drag queen.  I feel like this may be the only time during the whole series that we will see her in civilian clothes, and she is in the most unflattering dress and the most unflattering hairstyle possible.  Boo on the wardrobe department!  Boo on hair and makeup!  She is a perfectly good looking woman and they could have actually made her look stunning instead of just making Apollo act like she looked stunning.  Poor thing.

Double Date!

So I guess, according to Wikipedia, we watched this episode out of order, but it was the next on the DVD.  It makes sense though because it seems like it came first, because Dawson starts out complaining about Jen not seeing him and Dawson's parents are back to worrying about their relationship.
In any case this episode involves Jen and Cliff going on a date and Dawson deciding to make it a double date with a random girl who looks like she was plucked from the cast of Law & Order. Seriously, her wardrobe is sensible pantsuit...totally appropriate for high school.  I was expecting her to have a gun under her blazer. Dawson behaves like a little bitch, and I think he is the Brenda Walsh of the series..and I am generally a fan of Brenda, Dawson, not so much.
By far the more interesting plot line of the episode is Joey being stuck working on a science project with Pacey. Clearly there is much more chemistry between these two. Pacey manages to make Joey much more likeable.  Her bitchiness comes across as more fun.  It doesn't pan out at the end, but I think there's a future there...

Laurel here...this episode was pretty watchable, mainly because of the Joey/Pacey chemistry developing.  I hope they get together!  I personally don't get it why these gals are hemming and hawing over Dawson, Pacey is way better.  Also I could not believe what a jerk Dawson was to his poor SVU lady cop date in this episode.  He asks her out, but then takes her on a double date with his ex girlfriend that just broke up with him 2 weeks ago without giving her a heads up?  BOO!

Mark here... I would also like to note one more thing...we've seen "poor" Joey's house several times, and see it again this episode.  As far as I can tell, Joey's house is a huge property burdened with mismatched flower pots and patchwork sofas on the porch, as opposed to Dawson's perfect wicker deck furniture!