Tattoos are permanent; TV Shows are not #Blindspot #3WeekRoundUp #PremiereWeek

Tattoos are permanent; TV Shows are not #Blindspot #3WeekRoundUp #PremiereWeek

All pictures courtesy of NBC 

Is my opening line indicative of how much I hate this show? Whoa, reader, not so fast. Who said I hate the show? Quite to the contrary. It has its flaws but my grade is--wait. Sorry, I'm getting ahead of myself. I don't want to move too fast, so much so that I leave your head spinning about what's really happening and then I somehow end up repeating myself by doing or saying the same thing over and over and over again. Let's start at the beginning like we usually do.

As with all three-week roundup posts, I will remind you that if you want my unmolested thoughts on why I looked forward to this show in the first place, I suggest you click on the #Premiere Week link up top and scroll down to the NBC section until you see the picture. As a little recap, I'll say that I find it an intriguing concept made even more intriguing by the inclusion of Lady Sif herself Jaimie Alexander. We once went out on a date. It was in a dream I had but still, it counts... sorta.

If you don't know, NBC's Blindspot (#Blindspot) is about an excessively tattooed young woman winding up naked in a duffelbag in the middle of Times Square. Originally thought to be a bomb, the entire square is cleared as the bag is unzipped and she groggily fumbles out with fear and innocence seeping from her pores in equal measure. What's even stranger is that one of the biggest, most easily decipherable tattoos on her body is a large print of an FBI agent's name that happens to work in the field office just a few blocks over. And that is where the mystery begins.

As the FBI take her into custody, get her cleaned up, examined, questioned, fed, clothed and etc., they discover that she doesn't have many other identifiable markers about her outside of the tattoos. Just like her counter-part Jason Bourne, she doesn't even know her name, let alone how she got into the bag, why she was placed in Time Square and why she has an FBI agent's name tattooed on her back. The biggest mystery lies with who actually did this? The tattoos look fresh (as in just a few weeks old) and also seem to have been done all at the same time (ouch!), yet she has no memory of anything before crawling out of the bag. Now, the FBI agent, Agent Kurt Weller, and his team have to figure out who she is and what their connection is before releasing her back into normal life. That is the thrust of the show.

But wait, there's more. The team discovers the tattoos aren't just random etchings on a skin canvass but clues to other possible crimes or criminal organizations. In discovering that she has a date tatted just behind her ear, they are able to track down a man who was set to detonate a bomb at the Statue of Liberty. Their original plan was to chase after this man simply to ask if he knew Jane Doe's identity, was involved with the tattooing or if he knew why someone would do this to her. What they ended up discovering was that the man planned the terrorist attack because of his mother and the immigration laws between this country and China (I believe it was China. My memory isn't as sharp on that detail). His family member was sent back to China where she was then killed and he has a grudge against the US. What better way to enact revenge than to take out the biggest symbol of immigration in the country.

While chasing after him, it's also revealed that Jane Doe has phenomenal fighting and tactical weapons skills. There are a plethora of flashbacks which reveal that some bearded guy helped to train her in a forest somewhere where she honed her close-quarters combat techniques as well as her shooting prowess. Digital scanning and cataloging her tattoos in the FBI database back at headquarters, they also discover that she has one large block of black ink where a previous tattoo already existed. The tattoo of an Eagle carrying a trident--Navy SEAL sign--was covered supposedly so it wouldn't be confused with the rest of the new tattoos that actually mean something. This, however, is called into question for me on the third episode which I will get to further down. Just remember she has the navy seal tattoo--an interesting fact in itself as she is believed to be special or black ops and no woman on record has ever been a SEAL.

Well, being an inquisitive and petulant crime victim, she disobeys Weller's orders nearly every time he gives them and winds up saving his life on multiple occasions, including at the end of the first case when they catch the irate immigrant. A dead-eye, she shoots him precisely where she needs to in order to get him off of Weller's back and free the FBI hostage. After that heroism, she's congratulated with a safe house and a few large guards to stand outside at all hours of the day. Weller comes to thank her and tell her that she'll be working with the FBI now as they figure out her mystery. While there, he sees a scar on the back of her neck and is reminded of a young girl he used to know when little.

Hold on to your seats because this next fact is key but it's going to blow your mind. When Weller was young--we're talkin' ten years old here--he and a female friend were climbing a tree to play. An accident, he caused her to fall and cut the back of her neck, leaving a nasty scar. Shortly after that, she disappeared. It was believed that his father killed the girl which is why the man is in jail at the moment and Weller hasn't forgiven him for that. Again, that was at least 20 years ago. Suddenly a woman with the same kind of scar, same eyes, and similar look to that young girl appears and Weller thinks it is the girl probably because of a guilty conscience more than anything. But guess what? It is her as revealed by a DNA test on the third episode! What? So you mean to tell me some powerful group not only knows people who are about to commit crimes on the date and time they're going to commit them, but they also knew that this young boy would grow up to become an FBI special agent as opposed to some desk jockey, and would be in the perfect position to stop these crimes? Stop. It. N. B. C.

You heard right--or, I mean read right in that last paragraph. Each tattoo is linked to a future crime which makes this into a procedural crime-solving show with a twist: every crime is linked to the female protagonist. The FBI has to figure out which tattoo means what and connects to a strand of events that will take place that episode. You losin' your crap yet? Yes, I know. The very concept that these skin inks are linked to a crime or criminal who is ready to perpetrate such an act around the exact time the analysts decipher what the tattoo means has a huge amount of flaws to it. Don't wanna get all science-y on you, but there's things like predictive analytics, behavioral sciences, probability algorithms and etc. that the person or persons behind the tattooing would have to take into account and master (are Dash and his siblings from Minority Report behind this?). Not to mention, every clue she gets while tagging along in the field must align so perfectly with what's going on concerning the tattoos, that even if one thing is out of place and they get a date or time or reference wrong, seemingly the entire Jenga tower comes tumbling down. Still with me.

The second case shown in episode two helped to stop a drone bombing on US soil from a disgruntled drone pilot who got fed up with his duties involving surveying US citizens. He, like the man before, was ready to carry out his attack but only did so after Weller and Jane Doe AKA Taylor Shaw came knocking on his door to ask him if he knew her. That then led me to believe that Jane's appearance at these places or to these people is what actually prompted their attacks, however, the third episode dispels this theory and also calls into question the meaning of the covered Navy SEAL tattoo. In it, a group of International jewelry thieves botch a smash and grab at a high-end store, leaving one of their men behind suffering through gunshot wounds. He would survive long enough to breathe his last few breaths to Jane Doe in a hospital but what's important is how they found him. He had the exact same SEAL tattoo, something they wouldn't have known were it not for him being shot. This hints at them belonging or receiving training from the same group. Then again, maybe whoever tattooed them was behind the robberies in the first place. As an aside, I'd like to note how ridiculous it felt to me to have an internationally known, never caught jewelry heist group do a simple smash and grab with a van. I generally expect something closer to Ocean's Eleven, but got something closer to Hank and Seamus knocking over the 7/11 on the corner.

Then there was the mysterious bearded guy from Taylor's flashbacks. In the first episode he killed the Asian guy after inferring that the man had failed at some task presumably given to him by the tattooing group. He just appears in the second episode to stare from afar with the longing eyes of Romeo. Come the opening minutes of the third episode he is shot dead after she kicks his butt. He tries telling her something but dies before he can say it. As another aside, how in the hell did this show think they could get away with two men whispering dying words about the truth to Jane Doe? That was one dramatic deathbed confession scene too many and you know it Blindspot. Talk about repetition and repeating yourself--you know, when you do the same thing over and over again.

And as if all that mystery isn't enough, they throw one more at you with a mystery concerning Weller's boss. One of the tattoos is of a case file number that she worked on some time ago. While the file has mostly been redacted, it contained something very dubious as she meets with some guy at the end of the third episode who asks if Jane Doe knows what the tattoo means, and if she does why she isn't already dead.

What's my grade of the series so far? I give it a solid B. While I enjoy this show quite a bit, the flaws I mentioned in logic may become distracting as time goes on but for now they play well. But just the fact that whoever put these tattoos on her has power akin to God (maybe God did this to her. What if God was one of us a tattoo artist) is mind-blowing in itself. They remind me of the Provocateurs but I digress. The fact that there is so much mystery going on is also cause for future concern as I still haven't a clue as to where to start for possible suspects. The only suspect I really had was the bearded guy and he is dead now, plus I never thought he was the boss behind it all, but another pawn or rook. Also, the fact that these events happen the way they do in a sequential order of most easily deciphered to least (some are in completely different languages, though Jane Doe seems to know said languages) calls into question the validity of the tension in the show. What if they figure out the wrong clue at the wrong time? Will that ever happen?

And then there are the characters. While I like the character played by Ms. Alexander, I can see some viewers growing weary of her constant eyebrow-raised look of doe-ish befuddlement on why this is happening to her. If not wearing that look, she's got on a bad ass scowl as she's kicking butt. Weller, played by Sullivan Stapleton is no better as he has only one setting which is also a bad ass, mad at the world scowl. Thank goodness they're single, old friends and have a palpable tension building between them because they clearly each need to get, uh... you know. They need a little stress relief in their lives.

Should you be watching? I'm going to venture out on a limb and say yes. While the coughs and leaps in logic might make you cringe, and there aren't any visible suspects to the overall mystery as of yet, there is a hypnotic draw to this show. The crimes are more complex than the ones you'll see on Minority Report and you do feel the confusion of the characters. For a Monday show on NBC at 10pm, it might be precisely what you need after a long work day when your mind wants to slow down before you drift off to sleep. It also has good enough pacing to make every episode feel like a heart-stopping thriller similar to 24. And while all the tattoos connect to her, you can skip an episode or two and not miss much which makes it perfect for those times when you forget to set your DVR or get busy with something else.

What do you think? Have you been watching Blindspot and think it's insanely intelligent and involved? Do you have a theory about who tattooed Jane/Taylor? How do you see the relationship between Jane and Weller evolving? And do you think this series has lasting potential past the first season? Let me know in the comments below (hint: click the no comments button to comment).

As always, check out my books on Amazon (if you’re looking for Halloween scares check  #AFuriousWind,  #DARKER, #BrandNewHome or #ThePowerOfTen). For those interested in something a little more dramatic, check out #TheWriter. The final episode of season one of The Writer is OUT NOW. Ahh! That’s right, all 15 episodes are out now available exclusively on Amazon. Join us on Goodreads to talk about books and TV, and subscribe to and follow my blog with that Google+ button to the right side.

Until next time, “It's nice. It's a little hard to find but ya think I could rent a scooter?”

P.S. OK, don't freak when I say this but I actually could never get into Jason Bourne. I know, that sounds terrible especially with this show being so similar in tone. I did watch the Dominic Purcell show but that quickly got canceled so Blindspot has quite a bit working against it. We'll see if it lasts.

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I see the future and it looks rather... muted #MinorityReport #3WeekRoundup #PremiereWeek

I see the future and it looks rather... muted #MinorityReport #3WeekRoundup #PremiereWeek

All pictures courtesy of FOX 

So much to say, yet few words to say it with. FOX's Minority Report (#MinorityReport) is a difficult show to pin down. On the one hand, it has all the cool futuristic sci-fi tech that many of us hope to have come 50 years from now. That alone can draw a geek in for a few episodes. On the other hand, it has a plodding mystery so glacial-like in its movement that its hard to see it as a mystery or half care about it. But I'm getting ahead of myself here. Let's begin at the beginning.

Again, I mention that for those of you not in the know, I wait to watch the first three episodes of a new show before making my ultimate judgment on if I'll continue watching that show. That means I will be having a ton of work to do blog-wise this week as this is the third official week for the new fall season. You can expect a review of Blindspot later on today and Limitless even later. For now, we focus on Minority Report. Also, as a refresher on why I looked forward to this show just click the #PremiereWeek link up top and scroll down to FOX (the first section I believe). But in short, I liked it because it was based on a Spielberg movie and had him as an executive producer behind it.

To begin, the show is a sequel to the Tom Cruise movie as I previously mentioned (if you haven't seen it then you should rent or buy that from somewhere because it is definitely worth a watch). While the movie trailed a future cop on the run with an unusually gifted young girl, the show pairs her youngest brother with a cop bent on solving crimes in part because of her father's death--he also was a cop.

The series began with Dash--the precog who can see crimes happening in the future--receiving the vision of a woman being thrust out of her apartment window and plummeting to her death. Though he tries to stop this crime, he's too late when he darts into the wrong apartment building and finds a Tai Chi or Yoga class going on in the room number where the woman is supposed to live. Hoping to be of some help, he scopes the crime scene, discovers who the woman is working the case, tracks her down and gives her information on what he knows while staying as disconnected from her as possible. No introduction, no exchanging of phone numbers, not even a proper handshake, he instead injects her with some kind of local muscle relaxant to paralyze her from chasing him--the same drug he used on his facial muscles to disguise himself. She can't let this go.

The detective, played by Meagan Good, is name Vega. Not a slouch, she works very closely with her lieutenant/captain boss and ex-lover played by Wilmer Valderrama (yeah, he's back on TV and it's kinda cool). One of the lead detectives in her department, she uses the high-tech facilities to find the identity of the guy who gave her useful information on the crime. She is helped by her female geek/nerd tech girl who seems to work in that department completely alone but it's the future so I can understand fewer people needed to do the work of a machine. And while FOX does get brownie points here for hitting the minority trifecta--Latino, Black woman, and Asian woman--some of those points are taken away because of the fact that they made the Asian woman the smart geeky tech.

With her small team, she manages to track Dash down, though she keeps his identity a secret. He confesses to being precisely what she theorized, a precog, and gives her more info on another crime soon to happen. While Vega manages to track down the first criminal, he dies from a falling beam right after saying something big is about to happen. At first I thought he was referring to a bigger mystery to run through the show, but in hindsight I'm not sure he wasn't just talking about the infecting of birds with a viral strain that would kill a crowd of people at the outside launch of a new technology called Hawk-eye. A new computer program, it comes into effect on the third episode and is essentially Big Brother and the Patriot Act on steroids, able to monitor and flag your every behavior and predict future actions based on a probability rating. It can also do things such as shut down your car and restrict your driving, and have your doctor-patient confidentiality waived if you end up on the restrictions list, but I am getting too ahead of myself again.

Back to the first mystery, the birds attack was choreographed by a past precrime worker upset at the fact that he lost everything after the division shuttered. One of the men that was in charge of the entire operation has moved on to greener pastures and is the brain (or money or both) behind the new Hawk-eye system which does a similar job to the precogs. He is the villains target.

Dash and Vega find the bad guy and stop him but not without some help from Dash's twin brother--older by a few minutes. Originally slated to be an identical twin and to be played by the same actor as Dash, the brother looks insanely different. He looks more mature, has a boxier face and exudes suaveness. After his time spent in the "milk bath" that enhanced the three siblings powers to have the visions, he spent his life trying to monetize his gift, accomplishing that both in legal and illegal ways. Why does Dash need to contact him? Because unlike their older sister Agatha, Dash and his brother Arthur are a team. Dash gets the visions while Arthur gets details like names, addresses, times, etc. Embittered towards the police for his and his siblings time spent locked in the cellar of precrime, he only helps after his brother makes a promise to do something for him.

The crime is quickly solved and the man and his accomplice daughter are both brought to justice; however, Dash accidentally kills the man by pushing him from a height while trying to save Vega's life. Though the show tries to display some moral gravitas here, the writers throw up their hands and pretty much conclude that, "eh, he was a bad guy," before moving on their merry way. That was the first episode.

Sticking to what I thought it'd be, Minority Report does become a weekly procedural where they are given a case of the week to solve before the hour is over. And while that may be what dominates the show, producers hope you come back for the secondary mystery involving what the twins' sister Agatha sees. As the most powerful of the three siblings clinically born brain-dead to drug addicts, she receives not only the visions like her youngest brother, but the details like her oldest brother. Unique to her, she also sees multiple possibilities of what could happen depending on environmental variables. In other words, she knows that the future can change which is what the movie was about and the reason why precrime was outlawed. As of late, her visions have shown her and her brothers being re-submerged in the milk bath in the dungeon of precrime at D.C.'s HQ. The vision also suggests Vega has something to do with this new round of punishment as they see it. Unfortunately she lives out in the country somewhere on what she's termed "the island," and only interacts with her brother through hologram calls.

Is the mystery of how they get back into the vats of psychic juice great enough to keep me on the edge of my seat in anticipation for even the smallest clues? Not really. It doesn't hint at a greater catastrophe and hasn't really done much to enhance or impair the show. Honestly, it seems like filler similar to the first chapter of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo or the last few chapters of the book--it's a nice side-story but you can take it away and the show loses nothing. In fact, I didn't even know they would show the sister after spending the entire movie dwelling on her. Funny thing, they didn't get the original actress to reprise her role though I thought she was quite good and is actually the same age as the current actress. She is set to appear in the Harry Potter spin-off film Fantastic Beasts...

The only connective strand they do have left over from the film is Wally the Caretaker who was the only person to see the faces of the siblings before the events of the film. A brilliant but frustrated scientist, he

recreated some of the precrime tech used on the siblings so Vega can see the visions within Dash's mind. It's a nice nod to the film and gives the show a legitimate way to continue the same vein of precognition work.

My grade for the series so far? I give it a B- to a C+. While I enjoy the future tech (funny, the profile compatibility thing was what I wrote about in my serial novel Unrequited near five years ago. It'll be out 2016), the overall aesthetic of the show and the producers bravery in trying to turn this concept film (based off a story by Philip K. Dick), I think they've missed the mark on many fronts.

First, the film explored the moral complexity of what precrime was and how to deal with it. The fact that things could change and be willfully altered both by the perpetrator on a personal level and on a machine level was where the movie got its namesake. A minority report was explained as the random times in which not all the siblings saw or experienced the same thing concerning a crime, thereby clouding the precognition process. In the show, not only is the moral weight seemingly absent but there's also a strange duality of spirit coming from Vega who willfully uses the abilities of Dash illegally but is skeptical of the Hawk-eye program which does essentially the same thing but through a behavioral predictive algorithm.

Then there's the characters which are not very rich or interesting to me, at least not as much as I thought they'd be. Dash is someone who has lived on the fringes of society ever since he and his siblings were released. While he shows some signs of ill adjustment, he isn't a Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Asperger's savant or Rain Man genius or whimsically charming fish-out-of-water character like Ichabod on Sleepy Hollow, but more of a quiet guy who can be awkward every so often and sees visions of people getting murdered. Everything about him screams that he should be more maladjusted but isn't, which sometimes allows him to blend into the background and not on purpose from what I can gather.

Meagan Good's character of Vega I also find to be a little bland. She doesn't have the hard-nosed sex appeal of Kate Beckett on Castle nor the playful and witty banter of Booth on Bones nor the ability to diffuse a tense situation possessed by Abbie Mills on Sleepy Hollow. She, too, plays the straight man on a show that I'm not sure wants to be a straight crime show like CSI or Law and Order. And while I'd be perfectly fine with a crime show that doesn't focus heavily on the two main characters, the stories and crimes must then be the draw. Minority Report doesn't grab based on the crimes.

Should you be watching? Well, that's a hard one to say. While my first instinct is to say yes because of the B- score I gave it, I have a strong urge to say this is a take it or leave it show. If you enjoy the case of the week such as on the Mentalist, Castle, Bones etc., then you might like this but don't count on the crimes being anywhere near a level of sophistication. And while the science may draw you in, I doubt it'll keep you after the novelty wears thin. Though the Hawk-eye program and its possible failure and over-monitoring of the citizens looks to be a promising story-line to follow, I'm not convinced it, along with how the precogs end up in the goo again, can sustain a viewers interest when so much other stuff is on. 

The best thing about this show currently is that it comes on at 9pm on Mondays only on FOX which is perfect placement because it doesn't have much competition from other scripted shows (ABC and NBC both have reality shows and CBS has Scorpion), though the reality comps have proven themselves worthy juggernauts. If, however, this came on at 10 or 8, I think it might get killed and become a one season show. I haven't checked the ratings of any show yet so I don't know what is and isn't doing well but I can only hope the show picks up soon.

What do you think? Am I wrong and you're absolutely loving this show from start to finish? Have you tuned in to watch it or are you too busy with other things to be bothered? If you are watching, what is your take on the characters and the story about the siblings going back into the milk? Let me know in the comments below (hint: click the no comments button to comment).

As always, check out my books on Amazon (if you’re looking for Halloween scares check  #AFuriousWind,  #DARKER, #BrandNewHome or #ThePowerOfTen). For those interested in something a little more dramatic, check out #TheWriter. The final episode of season one of The Writer is OUT NOW. Ahh! That’s right, all 15 episodes are out now available exclusively on Amazon. Join us on Goodreads to talk about books and TV, and subscribe to and follow my blog with that Google+ button to the right side.

Until next time, “do you remember what you forgot tomorrow?”

P.S. Yeah, I confused the hell outta you, didn't I? It's like that cell phone commercial where the guy builds a time machine so he doesn't have to wait to get the newest phone six months from now. You haven't seen that? Oh, you don't watch commercials anymore. I understand. Man, my main character in my latest book Yep, I'm Totally Stalking My Ex-boyfriend Cass Clinton might not like you.  

Hero overload can be... a good thing! #HeroesReborn #3WeekRoundUp #PremiereWeek

Hero overload can be... a good thing! #HeroesReborn #3WeekRoundUp #PremiereWeek

All pictures courtesy of NBC 

Coming to you once again with another new show’s review and recap of the first three episodes, today I present NBC’s Heroes Reborn (#Heroes Reborn). Again, that three week round up post is coming soon on why I do the first three episodes all as one, but until then just know that I have my reasons and you won’t be too far behind if you haven’t yet watched it.

To start, we ask why the heck these Heroes need rebirthing in the first place. Good question. For more on why and why I was originally intrigued by this show click on #PremiereWeek up top and scroll down to the NBC section. But for a quick overview, Heroes was an NBC show from five years ago (that was it’s final season. It premiered in 2006 I believe). It was the first attempt to bring superheroes to TV in non-comedic fashion a la 1960s Batman or Lois and Clark or the first incarnation of the Flash. While audiences loved the first two seasons, by the third most fans thought it had petered out, turning from its original glory and group storytelling akin to Lost, and replacing that instead with story-lines that went nowhere, produced more questions than answers and just plan old sucked. So they rushed toward the series finale and the cheerleader everyone was trying to save actually got saved (not by Jesus but by revealing her powers to the world). NBC axed the show and it was never heard from again... until now (don’t act like you didn’t see me writing that cheesy line).

Now, NBC brings a revival/sequel to the original series that is supposed to be a limited run/miniseries 13-episode event. What does that mean? Brace yourselves past Lost fans because it means you’re supposed to get actual answers to pretty much all of your questions by the time it has a finale sometime in January I believe. Yeah! A series that’s actually got answers to its big questions. That’s, like... inconceivable, right? Right? Anyway, it also means you can treat this like a one-off, enjoy the entire season and not have to worry about shifting your schedule around in the future to see where the characters have gone. While the show does have a to-series option for more seasons and NBC is eyeing those ratings very closely to see if they’d want to invest in more of the show, both the creators and TV execs have made it clear that this is supposed to stay an island to itself (man, I am full of the Lost references today, aren’t I). With all that out of the way, let’s get to plot deets.

First it should be noted that while this is a sequel/continuing series of Heroes, the story is told in a way which requires very little background for the viewer. For Heroes virgins you don’t need to know about every aspect of the show and all its characters to watch and enjoy this show. In fact, I was not a huge fan of the original show and dropped it after I did my 3 episode judgment. What you do need to know is why these people are like this. There was a strange eclipse event (Super Blood Moon, where are you?) that awakened a strange mutated gene inside a bunch of people at random giving them superpowers. Humans being the creatures we are, some of the non-effected people start hating those termed as Evos, short for Evolveds. This fear is both irrational and perfectly reasonable as not every person given powers is on their way to sainthood, and some even enjoy killing other Evos. However, some people believe these Evos were given powers for a higher calling, a higher purpose, and that they are here to save the world.

That’s it. That’s about all the background you need, and the thrust of both shows. What they’re here to save the world from and how they’ll do that is currently unknown and was, to my understanding, muddied in the original Heroes. However, Heroes Reborn does provide us with a strange Aurora Boealis mystery that seems to be controlled or manipulated by a young girl way up in the arctic somewhere, who talks to her invisible friend. No, really. It looks cooler than I make it sound.

The story focuses on five main groups or people. The first is Mr. Noah Bennet. A holdover from the original series, he is a man who wears glasses. That may be a character-defining trait or not. All I do know is that there was a semi-big deal made about him putting the glasses back on after visiting an old friend. The man with the shiftiest of intentions, his journey starts when the unity fair for Evos and Humans to live in peace is bombed and his daughter (the cheerleader and protagonist from the original series) is killed in the blast. A year later, he not only misses his daughter but is getting married again and works as a car salesman. His life his flipped upside down when he runs into a conspiracy theorist who insists the bombing didn’t happen like the news reports.

Suddenly, Noah embarks on an odyssey that reunites him with an old friend with the power to wipe his mind that he subsequently kills, learns that his memories of what actually happened that day don’t align with mounting evidence of the opposite, revisits a facility that used to experiment and manipulate the Evos for their own gain and has the conspiracy nut tag along with him. What’s interesting is that he appears to have no powers on his own but is at the center of the Heroes mythos. While long-standing fans will know of his background and true intentions, newcomers are treated with a very ambiguous mystery surrounding whether he is a good or bad guy. For now, he’s just a man trying to figure out life.

Then there’s Tommy. A young high school boy, he has the power of teleportation and, like all adolescents, is still figuring out himself including how to use his powers. Son to a single mother, his mom has kept them nomadic sense his powers began to manifest. He currently finds himself in Illinois seeking help in controlling his gifts from a secret support group of Evos. One of the lucky ones, he is called away just before a rampaging, Evo-killing couple massacres the others in the group.Outside of a brief reintroduction to the couple and them plotting to kill him before he transports them to a secret facility down in Texas where Evos used to be experimented on (the same company Bennet once worked for), he deals with the basic teen problems: school bullies, first loves, first jobs, angst, parents that just don’t understand, etc. (didn’t think I’d fit in a Will Smith reference today, did you? Did you know he has new music out? He’s on a remix of fiesta. Yeah. New music. Craziness!).

The couple who chased after him is led by Zachary Levi and some black woman who are married and lost their son in the unity festival explosion a year prior. Why do I point out they’re a married couple? Because so far they have very little chemistry. I understand they’re going through a grieving period and from how the

show plays out the only thing still keeping them together in holy matrimony is their desire to kill as many Evos as possible—they blame them for their son’s death—but they just don’t fit. Also, I’m going to say a controversial thing because I think the actress is beautiful, however, the kinky afro puffs she has on the show I don’t think do her any service in the way of appearance. In fact, they make her look overly lanky and oddly shaped, not to mention accentuate her sunken eyes. Maybe that’s the look the art department is going for in order to enhance her aura as a “villain” but if not, it just doesn’t look good (one of the few black women I’ve ever said doesn’t look good with natural hair).

Anyway, their story is simple. They get transported to a room and have to break out, succeeding and gaining tons of details on cataloged Evos. And so their cross country trip begins. But the twist from the previous episode? Zachary Levi’s character is turning into a flame Evo himself. How his wife will handle that will be interesting to see play out through the rest of the season.

Next, Molly Walker who has the power to locate any Evo just by thinking about them. Bennet is looking for her as he knows her power will be used to locate, capture and kill as many Evos as possible by a new company taking over his old company’s work. Her story hasn’t been explored much yet as it will undoubtedly intertwine more with Bennet’s but she’ll clearly be important in uniting all the main characters at some point.

There is Carlos Gutierrez who lives in LA and was hailed as a war hero after saving some of his squad buddies in battle. His brother was a masked hero of the city who helped Evos escape on an underground railroad to Canada as well as helped normal people from becoming victims to horrible crimes. Carlos’ brother is killed in the first episode urging him to don the costume and find his brother’s crooked-cop killers. What’s unclear so far is if he has powers. I haven’t been able to tell but he does know a priest that can turn into a mist/cloud/smoke thing, so... there’s that.

And finally there’s the Asian video game girl Miko. Staying true to her plot, she speaks Japanese (they supply the subtitles big enough and long-lasting enough to read). Probably the strangest, most discard-able part of the story so far, she has a power(?) brought on by a sword left to her by her father.

Very Tron-like, when she unsheathes the sword she digitizes into one of the most popular online RPG video games in Japan entitled Evernow. Her mission: rescue her father from a supreme overlord in a giant tower. What’s interesting about her story is that when she re-sheathes the sword she winds up in a real life place, the headquarters of a global conglomerate—the same company taking over the work of Bennet’s old firm. While little is understood about her story or how it connects to everything else, I’m interested to see how she will connect to the Americans and if she is actually an Evo as she seems to know absolutely nothing and only has had meaningful contact with a famous Japanese gamer.

My grade for the series so far? I give it a solid B+. Remember, this is network TV so you’re not getting Breaking Bad or something like that. This is fun mystery and moderately deep character study. Rather than the costumed comedy of things like The Flash, Supergirl, almost anything Marvel and ABC are doing, this is closer to Gotham or the Netflix version of Daredevil, or even M. Night’s Unbreakable. These are people struggling to figure out how to live with their powers, why they have them, and what it means to even be a hero let alone if they want to be one.

Should you be watching? If you go for the multiple stories across multiple times motif such as in the Walking Dead, Lost and 24, and if you enjoy superheroes but need a break from the well-established save-the-world-at-any-cost heroism of Marvel and DC, and if you enjoy a good but simple mystery that gets you involved enough to want to know more, I say that you should definitely tune in to Heroes Reborn. Again, you don’t have to know much about the story but if you do you’ll be treated to plenty of Easter eggs placed in it for past Heroes fans. While I think the video game samurai girl’s story is still lacking and possibly the weakest part of the show, I think the writers’ handling of the Noah Bennet character is genius for newcomers as it is left open for the viewer to decide his true intentions as human hero or villain. As I said before, right now he’s just a man trying to find answers. Luckily for the viewer, the show supplies you with a few each week while continuing to pose new questions for the coming episode.

What do you think? Have you been watching Heroes Reborn as a newcomer or a long fan? If neither, do you think you’ll tune in and give it the three episode try? What mystery intrigues you the most: what really happened during the bombing, what’s going on with the Aurora Borealis or how does Miko’s story align with everything else? And who the hell is that penny guy? I’d pay a penny for your thoughts down below (hint: click the no comments section to comment).

As always, check out my books on Amazon (if you’re looking for Halloween scares check  #AFuriousWind, #DARKER, #BrandNewHome or #ThePowerOfTen). For those interested in something a little more dramatic, check out #TheWriter. The final episode of season one of The Writer is OUT NOW. Ahh! That’s right, all 15 episodes are out now available exclusively on Amazon. Join us on Goodreads to talk about books and TV, and subscribe to and follow my blog with that Google+ button to the right side.

Until next time, “we gotta go back, Kate. We gotta go back! ”

P.S. I know, some of you longtime fans are freaking and saying, “this is nothing like Lost.” That may be true but looking at the facts: there are lots of questions that still need to be answered, the original Heroes had a terrible ending, there are two Asians that actually speak their native language, there is a guy made of some kind of smoke/mist thing and this is five years after the original. Think about it.

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Liz is on the run, Red is back from playing Ultron and the black guy is branching out! #TheBlacklist #NBC #PremiereWeek

Liz is on the run, Red is back from playing Ultron and the black guy is branching out! #TheBlacklist #NBC #PremiereWeek #DVRRewind

All pictures courtesy of NBC 

Boy was Thursday a crowded night for TV. If you weren’t watching something spectacular amongst the offerings, then you missed out on a hell of a lot of good programming. In the nine o’clock hour alone we had Scandal, The Blacklist (#TheBlacklist) and Sleepy Hollow, not to mention CBS’s Thursday night gridiron showdown between the Ravens and the Steelers. But if you don’t like football, don’t like a good romance, don’t like political drama, hate the paranormal and otherworldly and just plain old despise TV, chances are you might be dead. That’s OK. There’s a show called Walking Dead that I heard helps dead people rehabilitate their legs and basic motor functions. If you do like TV, then keep reading for my recap of The Blacklist.

When last we left off Elizabeth Keen had shot and killed one of the powerful white men who not only lied to her boss about him being deathly ill but concocted a plan that had her looking like a Russian spy because of who her mother was--a Russian spy. Forget the fact that she grew up in America her entire life and barely remembered her mother from her youth, according to him she had somehow been trained and placed within this secret division on purpose. This was further backed by the fact that Red asked to speak only with her when first turning himself in as he was fingered as an accomplice to her spying. For Red it didn’t much matter as he was already deemed a traitor long ago but for Elizabeth the accusation, coupled with the fact that she knew her ex-husband was alive and kept him prisoner on a boat where an innocent man died and underwent a trial because of it, threw her entire life out of order. Now, she had to go on the run. 

Picking up with her and Red in mid-flee, he used his long list of contacts to procure them a safe exit from the city. The plan: find a good hiding place, stay there for two or three weeks, visit a man that could safely get them out after such a duration and escape out of the country. That plan was ruined.

With old by-the-book Ressler getting the promotion from her partner to the temporary mobilized head of this secret task force, he went after her with gusto. Why he wanted to find her so bad is partially explored as he was also one of the people complicit in letting her escape hours prior. His so-so change of heart only came after she actually killed the evil Attorney General, a crime which doesn’t seem too bad since her old boss also let her escape (even telling her to run), her hacker coworker hates the manhunt put out on her and even her other Middle Eastern coworker (I swear I’m going to learn her name one day) isn’t thrilled about searching for her. Nevertheless, with Ressler at the helm they plan on finding her.

And find her they do. Venturing to a safe house of a man he thought he could trust, Red’s weeks of safety he planned to spend with Liz turned into minutes when the guy’s sister called the FBI on them. They ran to the Troll Farmer—the guy who is supposed to get them out—to have him create a social media buzz of tip-line sightings and location tweets all across the city. He even had a woman and man dress like Liz and Red and roam the city so traffic cams could take pictures of them in various places. The city harboring a Russian spy on the run, D.C. naturally goes into lock-down until her capture.

While Red makes it past the last checkpoint, Liz just misses it when Ressler solves their ruse and catches her transport vehicle. A traitor until the end, Red gives Ressler the name of the Troll Farmer as the guy says he doesn’t ever want to work for Red again after the difficult rush job. The name is gifted to Ressler as a sign of good faith to treat Liz with respect because both men know she’s not what people are saying she is. In a genius move, Liz adopts the accusatory story of her espionage against the US, runs to the Russian embassy and scales the fence to beg for diplomatic protection as a Russian spy.

Mufasa AKA Demba

Doing a good job at setting up two hot story arcs for the season, the second one involved African Black guy and long time Red collaborator Mufasa (not his actual character name but I like to call him that) dealing with a kidnapping of his granddaughter by another sinister evil black guy. The man returns the baby when Mufasa agrees to meet him but he says Mufasa has to breathe in a strange vapor before the mysterious group the evil guy works for gives the baby the antidote to the slow-acting poison they gave her. The big twist? The evil black guy belongs to the same organization that set Lizzy up and outranks the head of the FBI in this secret society. What mischief will he bring to the show? Only time will tell.

Mr. Solomon

For a show competing with Scandal for viewers, Blacklist gave us a strong initial showing for its season premiere and set up so many story strands that can change the entire outlook of the show that viewers have to be salivating to learn what happens next?

What do you think? Did you find the episode just as good as Scandal’s “Yes”? Are you excited to see what the heck will happen to Liz next? And where do you think that side-story with the black guy is going? Let me know what you think in the comments below.

As always, check out my books on Amazon (if you’re looking for Halloween scares check  #AFuriousWind,  #DARKER, #BrandNewHome or #ThePowerOfTen). For those interested in something a little more dramatic, check out #TheWriter. The final episode of season one of The Writer is OUT NOW. Ahh! That’s right, all 15 episodes are out now available exclusively on Amazon. Join us on Goodreads to talk about books and TV, and subscribe to and follow my blog with that Google+ button to the right side.

Until next time, “there are no strings on me. ”

P.S. OK, seriously I know probably half of you thought about Pinnochio first, which, seeing as how Ultron was completely obsessed with the character, I can see your reasoning. But was anyone else a little disappointed in how they used James Spader? He was so cheesy in that movie.

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Am I Captivated by the Red Devils? Uh... well #ScreamQueens #3WeekRoundUp #PremiereWeek #FOX

Am I Captivated by the Red Devils? Uh... well #ScreamQueens #3WeekRoundUp #PremiereWeek #FOX

All pictures courtesy of FOX

Oh boy. Scream Queens. Fox’s Scream Queens (#ScreamQueens) is... quite the show. Honestly, I don’t really know where the heck to begin with this. There is so much right and wrong with this show that it’s hard to piece out the difference between either. It both appears as a complete mess at times while also knowing what it is doing. Its brand of satire of the horror genre can sometimes be right on while at other times drifts into a far too over-the-top melodrama that even Liberace or Lady Gaga or Bjork or any other outlandishly dressed musical artist would sit back and go, “whoa! Too much.” But before I begin deconstructing the show, let’s back track a little and breakdown what to expect in this review/recap.

As was stated in a previous post, this will be a three week round up post (the same goes for all new shows). Why? Because I believe in giving a show three episodes to prove itself and decide whether I’ll continue with it or not. Since Scream Queens as well as Heroes Reborn gave us a two-hour season premiere, they have already covered three episodes of the series come the end of this week. I’ll go more into depth on why I have this three week rule in a later post but for now just know that I don’t think most people can adequately judge something in just one episode, as a TV series (or my episodic novella series) is meant to change over time. With that in mind, writing a series off that you were initially interested in after just one episode can be foolish as plenty of things start slow.

Now that that business is out of the way, back to Scream Queens. My initial excitement for this show was based on the fact that this came from the same creator of American Horror Story and Nip/Tuck and that it would be a comedy (for a recap of that click #PremiereWeek to go back to that article). Comedy it is. A little too silly? Definitely.

The story follows a brand new year at a university that still allows for Sororities and Fraternities. The best and most popular sorority on campus is the KKT (because the KKK would have been too obvious? Not likely for this show, but OK). The president of the KKT happens to be a young white girl by the name of Chanel played by Emma Roberts. So self-obsessed and cartoonish in her ego this girl is that she has no time or just lacks the brain cells to remember and call her fellow sisters by their proper names, instead naming them Chanel numbers 2-5 (as if that perfume needed any more free advertising). Far too into the worship culture of Chanel, the only thing missing from these other girls (one of which left before the season began) is the yellow Minion color and strange goggles. I’m surprised they can even speak English rather than having formulated their own language of Kissass-ese or some other gobblety-gook. Two of these girls are recognizable as Ariana Grande and Abigail Breslin (Chanel no. 5 and the first suspect due to her name alone). Ariana’s time as a TV star is short-lived as she tweets about her death in the first episode but I’m getting ahead of myself.

Jamie Lee Curtis as the dean of the college, she concludes that KKT reflects poorly on college culture and the university as a whole. This comes after an accident last year when Chanel was a prime suspect in loading a spray tan machine with acid, which then sprayed down the president of KKT at that time. Now that Chanel has moseyed her way into such a position, the dean makes a decree that any and all people wanting to join KKT must be permitted to do so—this only after a meeting with a past sorority sister serving as the lawyer for that branch who is stuck in the 90s for whatever reason. That’s what’s going on all in episode one to set up the future shenanigans on the actual college side.

As for the would-be sisters, we have Grace—a legacy whose overprotective father actually comes to teach at the college after the murders start. Her mother apparently died a long while ago but her father regaled her with stories about how much the woman loved being a KKT sister and the celebration of womanhood and blah blah blah! Naturally, she wants to follow in her deceased mother’s footsteps. Her initial roommate, played by Keke Palmer (excuse me as some people I know by their character’s name and others just by their real name) is the only black girl to pledge and really doesn’t want to do it save for it looking good on a resume one day as she has lofty aspirations.

Filling out the trifecta of pledges that matter is Lea Michele’s character or neck brace girl named so because... well, it’s obvious. Outside of her over-creepy nerd knowledge about death, she calls Chanel mom in some strange idolatry fetishism that I’m partially convinced the show made up (apparently young girls without female figures in their lives call a girl near the same age that they admire and look up to their mom? What?). There’s a few other pledges—deaf Taylor Swift (she gets her head run over by a lawnmower toward the end of the second episode), other strange nerd girl and Asian lesbian chick but they’re really there just to fill out the cast and to raise the body count before getting rid of characters you really love. They all move into the house just as the murders start.

Surprisingly, the first real murder comes when Chanel dips their house maid’s (since when do sororities have maids? Don’t they make the pledges do all the gruntwork?), White Mamie (yeah, you read that right. And as the most awkward and cringe-laugh-inducing scenes in the opening minutes of the show tell you, she also don’t know nothin’ ‘bout birthin’ no babies) into a deep fryer that was on in the sorority house kitchen (since when does a sorority have a deep fryer? Aren’t the girls always looking out for their weight? I’ve seen those recruitment videos online and not a single girl is over 150, tops). Instead of calling the police, all the girls go along with throwing her body into the freezer from where she subsequently disappears. This, in turn, bonds the girls in secret which also leads to Ariana Grande’s death as she tweets and a hazing situation where all the pledges are buried up to their heads in soil in the backyard and the red devil—the school mascot—runs over the deaf girl’s head on a riding mower. Ka-boom! We got a murder mystery on our hands.

So, outside of the fact that Chanel has a typical douche, jock, frathouse boyfriend with grades so bad he has

to sleep with the dean to stay in school—her choice, though he thinks he’s madly in love with her—the only

other suspect in the first episode is his gay best friend played by Nick Jonas. Yes, that Nick Jonas... from the Jonas Brothers and now with his own solo career. In a completely expected twist akin to Scream, it’s revealed at the end of the second episode that not only did Nick fake his death in his own frat but that he is most certainly one of the two killers stalking the campus. Yes, two killers because murder is only fun if you have a partner. It’s like Scattergory or sex. Side note: I predict with the ridiculousness of this show that there will end up actually being three to five killers.

Because the murder happened solely on KKT property the dean declares that they need to have extra protection, ending them up with Niecy Nash as the security guard in her Reno 9-1-1 callback days. She is hilarious for what she brings and as the Deputy Dewey of the show she gets an old friend killed and manages to accuse the only other black character of being the murderer as only good cops would do, right? Right (Eyeroll, sigh, double sigh!)?

To top it all off there’s a secondary mystery about the death of a sorority sister from twenty years earlier who died during a house party in which she gave birth in an upstairs bathroom and supposedly bled to death. Though her sisters knew of this birth, she died anyway because they had to go dance to TLC’s Waterfalls, which, to be fair that was also my Jimmy-jam back in the day. Hey, sometimes we all need to just listen to the rivers and the lakes like we used to. Not to move to fast away from this second mystery, the girls, along with the help of White Mamie (damn, she was working for them way back then too?) and the dean (not the dean at the time) covered it up somehow and made the young girl disappear. The mystery remains.

Coffee Shop Creeper/Reporter

Because of this continuing question mark, Grace and her new non-boyfriend boyfriend who stalked Chanel the previous year (they probably had a thing before she became uber-popular) is investigating this along with the murders as he considers himself a future journalist/current school newspaper editor... and part-time mascot. Whaaaaaa..! That’s right, he has a red devils costume, but is he the killer?

In my estimation, no. In fact, along with Nick Jonas, I think the person most likely to be the killer is Grace’s overprotective father, played by Oliver Hudson who had a steady gig on Nashville last year and a little father drama of his own over the summer. Why? Because I think either the dead girl from 20 years ago or the second girl who took the dead girl’s baby has something to do with him: Grace’s mother (making the baby grace), a good friend of his, or maybe his sister, etc. I also think Nick Jonas’ character is somehow related to Grace (maybe older brother) and is doing the killings for the hell of it/father-son bonding. Crazy, but right up this show’s alley.

So, my diagnosis of this show? Meh! I rate it around a C or C+ at the moment. While it hits its mark on many things including the actual mystery, well-defined characters and plenty of blood-lust, I think the exaggerated slapstick-ish humor of the show can wear on the viewer over the season. Even for an audience much younger than, say, the AHS crowd, this seems like it could get old fast (probably why this is only a short run 13-episode season). Emma is great at playing the “B” as she has been for the past few years (I’d like to see her stretch and play a nice girl again even in just one thing), Niecy Nash is Niecy Nash,

Keke Palmer has a little too much sister-girl going on (a hyper-attitude that some young girls give off reminiscent of the movie BAPS and falls into the stereotypical black sidekick role), Abigail Breslin and the others haven’t had their proper time to shine yet (it’s only the third episode) and Jamie Lee Curtis feels partially wasted here. Honestly, I would have preferred she do a role on AHS first, maybe fill in the vacancy left by Jessica Lange as the horror godmother of sorts, but I understand how she seems to only want to do comedy nowadays. Will I keep watching? Probably, but this might be a DVR spacer—a show I leave on the DVR for a really long time until I get enough free time to binge nearly the entire season and then be done with it. Should you watch if you haven’t been doing so already? Not if you want real horror or don’t find teenage and young adult drama/comedy funny. If, however, you enjoy things similar to Evil Dead 2 and Dale and Tucker vs. Evil, and can stand a lot of humor in your horror. This is right up your alley.

What do you think? Am I being too harsh on this show? Is it only average or do you drop everything to watch it because it’s your jam, jelly, and secret sauce? Or are you patiently waiting for American Horror Story to come back October 7^th? And what about the mystery for those that do enjoy it? Who do you think the killers are? Let me know what you think in the comments below. Scream Queens airs Tuesdays at 9pm eastern only on FOX.

As always, check out my books on Amazon (if you’re looking for Halloween scares check #AFuriousWind, #DARKER, #BrandNewHome or #ThePowerOfTen). For those interested in something a little more dramatic, check out #TheWriter. The final episode of season one of The Writer is OUT NOW. Ahh! That’s right, all 15 episodes are out now available exclusively on Amazon. And coming in just one week, check for my new comedy book “Yep, I’m Totally Stalking My Ex-Boyfriend” (#AhStalking). Join us on Goodreads to talk about books and TV, and subscribe to my blog.

Until next time, “This is not a cheerocracy. This is a cheer-tatorship.”

P.S. Look, if this show doesn’t remind you of Bring It On at least a little, then I don’t even know who you are. I probably don’t know you anyway, but you know... whatever. I'll keep thinking of something else as a sign-off.

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Nothing’s Impossible on Bailey’s first day, but is anybody going to cut that cake? #GreysAnatomy #ABC #TGIT

Nothing’s Impossible on Bailey’s first day, but is anybody going to cut that cake? #GreysAnatomy #ABC #TGIT

All pictures courtesy of ABC

After my post last week about the changes to Grey’s and my disdain for Ellen Pompeo’s defense of the way they treated the character of Derek Shepherd, the show has come back as strong as it could with loyal viewers still tuning in for lack of anything else really to watch (although Heroes Reborn is looking interesting. Stay tuned for my three week roundup of that show later). While it feels the same, it also feels quite different as the writers and crew have run with the female empowerment angle of the show, completely abandoning the romance that once drew viewers in—I still think that’s a mistake and has thusly numbered Grey’s remaining days but power to them. Shooing away all of that, Grey’s Anatomy (#GreysAnatomy) is back and with a new chief.

The first day of Bailey’s run as Chief of surgery started with a bang. Not only has she drawn a line in the sand about just how strict of a chief she plans to be, she also chastised a gathering of the old familiar surgeons as they planned a congratulatory party. And her first case as chief: a giant woman with a pituitary gland tumor. The tumor has caused the young lady—a philanthropist seeking to bring the internet to remote places of Africa for the first time ever—to grow to a height of seven feet two inches and counting. She’s growing so fast that her body is having a difficult time keeping up.

To display her power, Bailey pulls a few heads of departments from their already busy surgery schedule to work on her general surgery case. Not only does she prioritize that case but just about all of her own cases, delegating the work to the underlings who don’t know what they’re doing. Will they solve this woman’s problem and perform brain surgery on her before she dies? Of course, but that’s not without a few near casualties as she collapses in the foyer of the hospital, crushing Alex’s old lady.

Meanwhile, because Arizona sees strange markings, pimples, bumps and bruises on April’s back, and she just came back from overseas in a third world country, she is put into quarantine until they can figure out what she has. At first it looks like chickenpox or poison ivy but it turns out to be a skin irritation.

The funniest thing is that Bailey pushes her people so hard it re-conjures her nickname from the first season “The Nazi” in a scene amongst the heads of surgery that is so bizarre that it reminds the audience of just how new the show purports to be. Looking at the cast, the standards we once loved are either dead (on the show) or moved on to other things. What we’re left with is the new crop of doctors which, though they’ve been around for a few seasons now, aren’t the journey we originally signed up for. The love, romance and adult coming-of-age story Grey’s once gave us is all but gone save for the relationship between April and Avery (who reaches the same conclusion I did a few seasons ago about his relationship with April), and the “it’s complicated” new budding romance between Owen and Shepherd (Derek’s sister). Weber is all pissed that Bailey didn’t come to him for advice and apparently Callie has a new love interest.

With the giant lady surgery not going well, Weber gives Bailey just the pep talk she needs when she wants to quit the first day and things turn around. That doesn’t mean her patient gets better as the giant philanthropist lady ends up in a brief coma before finally awaking. A little more kissy-face between Owen and Shepherd, an appointment to chief of general surgery for Meredith and another non-original, slow remix of a popular song (Taylor Swift’s “Shake it Off”) and we arrived at the end.

It was a good episode but didn’t feel focused on anything. The surgery was brief. Bailey was everywhere and nowhere at the same time. And the main focus which was supposed to be on Bailey’s first day as chief and her shortcomings and over-eagerness at times got lost. Of course, my question almost the entire episode arose from my life as a rather husky (read fat) boy. They had a congratulatory cake at the beginning that they just left out. What the hell happened to that cake? I’m so serious right now, literally asking this as I am forking through a broiled chicken salad. Sigh!

What do you think? Are you an absolute fan of Avery and April? Did you think Bailey rocked out her first day as chief? Is Owen and Shepherd’s “complicated” driving you crazy? Do you also want to know about what the heck happened to that cake? Let me know what you think in the comments below.

As always, check out my books on Amazon (if you’re looking for Halloween scares check  #AFuriousWind,  #DARKER, #BrandNewHome or #ThePowerOfTen). For those interested in something a little more dramatic, check out #TheWriter. The final episode of season one of The Writer is OUT NOW. Ahh! That’s right, all 15 episodes are out now available exclusively on Amazon. Join us on Goodreads to talk about books and TV, and subscribe to and follow my blog with that Google+ button to the right side.

Until next time, “I just wanna shake, shake, shake, shake, shake. Shake it off! Shake it off!”

P.S. Listen, I’m all for the slow-it-down and then it’s cooler remixes of popular songs, but I remember when Grey’s featured new music from new artists just coming into the spotlight. It added to the charm. How about a return to that? Still, love me some Taylor Swift.

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