Pages

▼

Thursday, November 20, 2014

'Elementary' 3x2, 3x3 'The Five Orange Pipz'/'Just a Regular Irregular' Gif-Tweet-Cap Double Header

Life and home remodeling got in the way of my recap last week, so here's a two-episode-in-one-recap gif-tweet-cap. Wow, that's a lot of dashes! I am also cohost of the Baker Street Podcast this season, so you could call it a gif-tweet-pod-cap, what with the embedded podcasts for each episode. All the gifs are also available on this Tumblr post.

"The Five Orange Pipz" begins with Sherlock being snarky with Bell, then solving a case that Bell hadn't been able to solve (and which Sherlock found by rifling through Bell's desk). Consequently, Bell has trouble accepting Sherlock's presence. It's OK though... snark is their thing.


Next, we have murder and Pipz (those children's toy beads that pop together). One of the two murdered men is actually murdered while he's on the phone with Gregson, after having called the other murder victim whom the police are already studying!
Watson is immediately put in the case, and still seems annoyed that Sherlock wants to be involved with anything that she already feels she can handle herself. But he already knows what's going on... the dead guy was Openshaw, who sold Pipz knowing they contained a dangerous substance that metabolizes as GHB. The other dead guy was his attorney, Fordham.
Meanwhile, Sherlock sends Kitty off to take some photos, but she freaks out when Bell grabs her lightly to ensure she doesn't step on some evidence. Obviously, something very bad happened to her at some point.
After finding key piece of evidence that points to a new lead, she is very upset when Sherlock visits the new suspect with Joan, leaving Kitty out of it. This causes Kitty to have a mini-tantrum that involves listening to loud music while stabbing her shelves with a brush.
The new suspect, Gabe Coleman (Zak Orth, from "Revolution," a dearly missed sci-fi show), soon confesses to the crime because the Pipz killed his daughter. Sherlock believes he didn't do it, however, and he seems to confirm that he is only confessing because he wants his ex-wife to believe that he finally avenged his daughter's death.
The case takes a turn when the gang learns that a witness saw an assistant U.S. attorney running into one of the victims on the street. He's more than a little freaked out, thinking the cops are trying to entrap him, since a big-name attorney is involved.

The attorney, who had thought of the victim as her version of Bin Laden, makes a good case for not being the culprit (only a jerk). Enter FBI Agent Bowden, who had inserted himself into the case right before evidence in the case against the victim had been stolen. But why would he steal the evidence?

Kitty accidentally solves the case by barging in and grabbing the photo of the Pipz, although they haven't yet realized that the Pipz are the key.
Because he hasn't yet realized that he is about to solve the case, Sherlock does his version of becoming speechless over Kitty's actions.
Then Kitty makes a drug reference involving the popping of a few Pipz in order to take a nice nap, causing Sherlock to show his disgusted face for several seconds.
But this is the key they needed... the Pipz can be used as street drugs, so Agent Bowden stole the shipment of Pipz, then killed the two people who were causing the case to drag on in court. With the court proceedings finished, he could have at those Pipz.
Earlier, Sherlock had given a folder detailing what Kitty has been through. Joan attempts to return the folder to Kitty, but Kitty wants her to to read it so she can get a sense of who she is. Joan does so later that evening, over some fine wine.
"Just a Regular Irregular" opens with Kitty doing her best Sherlock impression: yelling "OPEN!!" at a door knock, and practicing the hitting of a dummy with her big stick. Watson is at the door, and she's wondering who on Earth is arguing with Sherlock in the other room.

It's Phil Simms, whom the viewers are apparently supposed to recognize as a football player, and they are arguing about some old circus murder involving a knife-thrower.  Apparently, Phil Simms is the best knife-thrower in the world (as himself). Not really, but it's fun to pretend, right?
Later, we see Harlan (remember "Solve for X," last season?) doing his shirtless math routine, and coming up with a big revelation, which leads him to a dead body.
Harlan says he and the dead guy were doing the same math puzzle hunt, which is supposed to lead to a big money prize. He knows some of the other people involved, which leads Sherlock and Harlan to their first suspect. She says she doesn't know the dead guy, but her dog treats prove otherwise. Sherlock takes a nibble of her rancid-cheese-flavored dog treats to prove that the woman they are questioning knows the victim, because the victim had crumbs of those nasty things in his pocket (which Sherlock had tasted, of course). She's innocent, but knows of a few more puzzle hunters.
Sherlock and Bell go off to speak with the most likely suspect, but he realllly doesn't want to talk. Sherlock then saves Bell from the man's ginormous bullet, finally resolving their issues from last season.
Turns out the psycho-math-gun-nerd was also on the puzzle hunt, but far enough behind the others that he was given a new clue, leading to a new death trap. Harlan gets to work solving the new puzzle, giving Kitty a front row seat to her first nerd-stripper show.
Finally, a man named Paul throws a nerd party, and tells Sherlock that a blogger named Mo Shellshocker is the killer. Seeing as how that is an anagram of Sherlock Holmes, Harlan is outed as the blogger. Everyone knows that he didn't do it though, so Sherlock discusses the case with Watson over Skype by sitting there, staring blankly at the screen while thinking.
Kitty once again solves the case indirectly by pointing out that Harlan is smarter than Sherlock gives him credit for, and points out some of the interesting things on his blog. Sherlock then has the revelation that it's Paul himself, who was searching for the owner of the blog. Harlan had shown how some lottery tickets could win 80% of the time using math, and Paul wanted to kill Harlan so he could keep hacking the lottery.
Meanwhile, Sherlock sees Joan's new apartment, and meets her new boyfriend. He is utterly unimpressed by the ordinary sights and sounds he encounters there.
We also learn that Kitty had been sexually abused, and Joan doesn't think Sherlock's use of her will be good for her in the long run. She insists that Kitty go to a support group. Kitty surprisingly agrees, and asks Joan for help. At the end of the episode, Joan is there for her, sitting right next to her at the meeting.
at No comments:

Friday, November 7, 2014

'Grimm' Season 3 Finale/Season 4 Premiere/Second Part Gif-Tweet-Cap: Three In One!

I decided to combine three recaps in one this time, since I've been busy with life, remodeling, and work. This way, everyone gets a chance to have their tweets quoted, even if they stopped watching the show last year. So, here's the finale-premiere-second-part recap! I've made the following gifs available on this Tumblr post.

The Season 3 finale, "Blond Ambition," was wedding time for Monrosalee, but not until Rosalee's sister destroyed Rosalee's dress.
It's OK, Rosalee hated the dress anyway. It gave her a way to get a beautiful one.
Later, the royals made a deal with Adalind to let her see the baby they don't have in exchange for stealing Nick's powers by sleeping with him while wearing Juliette's face using a spell. Here is Nick's reaction to being raped-after-the-fact:
Meanwhile, the ex-FBI douchebag wanted Nick dead, and had no idea that he was busy going to a wedding, or that another Grimm was staying at the house. Renard figured it all out, but got nearly shot to death while trying to give Nick the cure. He was able to convey the info to Trubel before being shot, so Trubel cut off the FBI-Wesen's head with a machete, and brought the cure to Nick.
Unfortunately, Trubel didn't realize that Nick was being very careful to not be exposed as a Grimm at the Wesen wedding, and Monrosalee's family and friends came after her when she walked in, knocking the cure out of her hands. At least Nick was safe from them, what with losing his Grimm powers and all.
For the Season 4 premiere, "Thanks for the Memories," we were introduced to an octopus-head Wesen, who stole memories and left his victims with none. His first victim looked terrified:
Meanwhile, Nick forced Trubel to tell the authorities the truth of how she decapitated the ex-FBI douche, leaving out the Wesen part. The truth set her free, because they could verify everything she said, and it was self defense.
The house was still a bloody mess, however, so Juliette and Nick had to clean it all up. Now, Nick is not my favorite character, but somehow seeing him cleaning on all fours was pretty hot:
At the end of the premiere, Renard died... NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!
Whew! Renard was saved in the second part, "Octopus Head," by his mother (who somehow looks younger than him... how is it that Hexenbiests always have the best looking human faces, while they have the ugliest Wesen faces?). She used her handy double-sided Hexen-snake.
Later, Trubel ignored Nick's orders to wait for help, and followed the Octo-Man on her own. Of course, he captured her and tied her hands behind her back while working on his next victim. She beat him up anyway, saving the victim.
He got the upper hand again, but stealing Trubel's memories did not go the way he expected it to go. Her memories drove him mad, and she got to keep her memories. She still got a pretty bad headache though, probably because he did the same thing to her as he did to his first victim:
So, yay! Everything was fine... except that the very end of the episode saw Nick writhing in pain as he switched brains with Adalind (who was imprisoned by the royals because she somehow thought that her baby was being well cared for in a dark dungeon), and Trubel being abducted by the royals.
at No comments:

Thursday, November 6, 2014

'Elementary' 3x1 'Enough Nemesis to Go Around' Gif-Tweet-Cap: Watson Shines

Elementary is back for its Season 3 premiere with "Enough Nemesis to Go Around." Gina Gershon guest stars as Elana March, proving that she can play a truly evil villain, while Joan proves that she is actually better off -- emotionally -- without Sherlock. Yes, it is all very female-centric, which is a nice change of pace. But of course, nothing within the main case can be solved until Sherlock arrives. I've made the following gifs available on this Tumblr post, and you can also check out my Baker Street Podcast review and "clue-cap" of the episode below, with host Zachary Hare:

The episode begins with a nice conversation between friends... or not. Despite their friendly posture, Joan and her "friend" are actually enjoying a nice meal over a dose of snide remarks from Elana and sarcastic wit from Joan. Elana is actually a drug cartel queenpin, whom Joan plans to put away with testimony from her sole witness, Karen Lloyd.
Meanwhile, Joan has many other cases that she is solving on her own. She seems happy and stable. She's even taking care of Clyde the turtle, who pays her back for the wonderful treatment by helping her to find a boyfriend. Yes, she helps a man searching for his brother's bearded dragon by using her knowledge of reptiles. And then they stroke his lizard together.
Later, Watson reassures Karen (the star witness against Elana) into leaving for the courthouse and getting on an elevator. A few seconds later, Karen and her escort, Det. Palmer, are dead in the elevator. There is no sign that anyone broke in or out.
Two months later, Watson still has no credible leads. She's at a dead-end, until she receives a tip from someone named Montcliffe Ekuban, a name Joan remembers from books Sherlock had her read by authors with those names. Naturally, she goes to the Brownstone to see if Sherlock is around. Sure enough, he's sitting in his empty home, looking ridiculous.
Later, Watson spots a young woman who had been following her for several days, and Watson out-single-sticks her. The poor thing never had a chance.
While searching for clues, Sherlock informs Watson that he had instructed Kitty (The Other Single Stick Woman) to follow Joan for the past week in order to find out whether she was wasting away without him (he was working for MI6 for the past either months, before being fired). He also brings out the arrogance in telling his dear Watson that he realized that he never needed her in the first place, and that Kitty is a fine replacement (even though he continuously begs Joan to work with him). He also asks Gregson for his old job back, but requires him to get permission from Joan, which she eventually gives.
Almost immediately after his arrival, and searching for a few clues, Sherlock solves the case. Elana hired a hit man to kill Karen and Palmer by sneaking a large magnet into the hotel room adjacent to the elevator, and using it to pull the murder bullets he had stashed in the other side of the elevator right through the victims. Sherlock demonstrates with a not-to-scale model of the elevator-death-trap.
The only problem is that they can't prove that the hit man did it, because the evidence is gone. Watson snarkily tells Elana what she knows anyway, over one of their drinks-and-murder-talk meetings. Elana is unfazed, giving Joan the evil eye as she informs her that she plans to kill her, without actually saying it in those words.
Soon after, however, Watson finds the final clues. The hit man had brought the magnet into the hotel in pieces, in his luggage. After the job was finished, he had no way to get the magnet back out, so he stashed it in the shower bench in his hotel room. Watson had noticed the new grout in the pictures she had taken of the room while searching for clues with Sherlock.
The hitman goes into witness protection so he can testify against Elana without being murdered, and Watson finally gets the satisfaction of watching Elana being taken away in handcuffs.
At the end, Kitty makes amends with Watson, asking her what to expect with Sherlock. Hopefully, the cat fight is over with!
at No comments: