Season's Greetings

Merry Christmas!!

From Your Friends at PTR

As 'Cold' as Ice

About halfway through this week's episode, I suddenly realized who killed Tommy.  It's not that I'm some sort of crime-solving whiz, but I did discern a pattern this season: people kill people who get ahead in life and leave them in the dust.  We've seen it several times this season, so I began to realize that Dwight was the most likely suspect.  He had encouraged Tommy to try out for the team and then Tommy started doing well.  He played with heart and the coach took notice.  Suddenly, Tommy was in line to possibly get a scholarship and go off to college.  Meanwhile, Dwight was stuck in Philly with his date rape plan and a baby he didn't want on the way.  But, would the show surprise us and go a different route?

LillyKat's Open Letter to PTR Followers

By LillyKat
PTR Senior Staff Writer

So it's come down to this.

A Dear John letter (of sorts) to the loyal followers of PTR.

Call it my own personal Idaho feeling of not wanting to leave y'all wondering WTF happened to me.

And my shows.

'Fringe' Opens a Door

This show has managed to make me enjoy a mythology-laden episode as much as one of the case-of-the-week outings.  And this is going to sound even crazier, but the whole bad-guys-from-the-alternate-universe-stole-pieces-of-Walter's-brain-from-the-people-someone-implanted-them-in-and-then-reconnected-the-pieces-with-Walter made perfect sense and I LOVED every minute of it!  It had been so long since we'd seen Frozen Head Guy I had forgotten about him.  And then there was the miraculously healed mental patients (to which I thought, how bad can Frozen Head Guy be?  Huh!), Olivia's pressure-filled decision and the BIG revelation about Walter.  What a way to end things until 2010.

Family 'Bones'

The Bones Christmas episodes have become the stuff of TV legends in my house (the Christmas Episode of '07, a.k.a. "The Santa in the Sludge," still holds the crown).  We love to unwrap the latest episode each season, and we usually laugh and laugh throughout the hour.  This year's offering was supposed to shine even brighter because it contained the long-awaited moment when real-life sisters Emily and Zooey Deschanel shared the screen.  And there was also a little scene hinted at in the previews that showed Brennan unwrapping an evidence-laden Booth down to his boxers!  One of these surpassed expectations and the other fell flat.  But which is which?  Well, it boils down to what I expected and what the episode actually delivered.

Dillon in the Rear View

If I had to find fault with the amazing Friday Night Lights, it would be the show's penchant for saying goodbye to its wonderful characters. Last season, I had to watch Street and Smash leave and then we lost Lyla and Tyra in the finale when they went off to college. I know... such is life, but I don't have to like it. This week, we welcomed back an old friend only to bid her adieu once again, and we might have said an emotional goodbye to a beloved member of the Dillon family for good. Yes, sometimes life's curveballs are hard to take.

'Glee'-mance

The only bad thing about this week's "Fall Finale" of Glee is the depressing fact that the show isn't returning until freakin' APRIL!! I'm so thankful they wrapped up a few loose ends before it signed off for four months, but there were some developments that I can't wait to see explored further next year. Mainly, the end of one tired story line and the beginning of another more captivating one. I've lamented the Will/Terri/Emma love triangle saga from the start primarily because I felt like the show was better than it. Add in Terri's fake pregnancy story (which the show mercifully put out if its misery last week), and you get the weakest scenes. But, out with the old and in with the new because Will took two major steps this week that should make Terri's faux baby bump and that silly love triangle part of the show's past.

The Great Debater

I'm going to give Cold Case some props this week.  They managed to surprise me and make the doer believable!  This is a rare occasion (we all know my dislike for the show's penchant to "surprise" us with the doer by making him/her the least likely person in the story).  Part of my surprise was fueled by the fact that the debate coach seemed too obvious and he had too many reasons to kill Luke making him an "instant cross-off" on the suspect list for CC.  The other part dealt with a clever red herring that had me believing Luke's father was involved.

Cheaters Never Win

One of the things that I really like about this show is its ability to provide side stories and undertones that allow the actual case of the week to not have to hold my interest in order for me to enjoy the episode.  Such was the situation this week when Booth and Bones investigated the murder of a local gaming champ.  I'm really not familiar with the world of gamers or any of the games they compete in for bragging rights.  I couldn't even tell you if the game in the story is real.  I've heard of things like "Dungeons and Dragons," "World of Warcraft," "Halo," and "Doom," but I have little to no idea what any of them are or how they're played.  But, it didn't matter with this one because I was busy focusing on the other stories that held my interest more than the case.

One of those other things was a hilarious plot line that involved the new movie Avatar, some really interesting tattoos and pitching a tent on the sidewalk in the middle of D.C.

'Fringe' Parasites

Anyone with pets is a little too familiar with parasites: hooks, whips, rounds and so on.  Thankfully, those parasites aren't quite as large as the one infecting the victims of human trafficking in this week's episode of Fringe.  Those parasitic worms did provide something good (a super immune booster that could help with many medical conditions), but the whole incubation part is a bit of a b!tch.  When we first saw one of those things coming out of the smuggled immigrant's mouth, I thought it was some sort of mutant squid.  It wasn't until that lovely scene at the shipyard that I realized that they were more worm-like complete with long slimy bodies.  Yum!  And poor Peter had to hold one without gloves!  Seriously, sometimes I wonder about Walter.  Handing Peter the over-grown parasitic worm when he wasn't wearing gloves wasn't even the craziest thing he did this week.  For that, we have to jump ahead a bit.

'Friday Night' Sadness

This episode of Friday Night Lights was raw, emotional and tough to watch.  It was one of the show's finest hours (which is saying a lot for a series that's full of amazing outings).  I'll admit that I thought the death was going to be Matt's grandma, so learning that it was his father last week was shocking.  Of course, his father's job in the armed forces and his deployment meant that his life was always at risk, but I still wasn't expecting his tragic death.  And quite frankly, Matt wasn't either.  When he got the news, he didn't seem to process it or how it would change everything right away (who does?).  Watching him work through that process was heart-wrenching, painful and difficult.  And it was all done with the show's usual realism.

Losing someone we love is hard enough, but watching someone else go through it as authentically as Matt did this week was almost as tough.  There were so many heartbreaking moments.

Once Upon a Mattress Ad

This week's episode was sorta destined to fall short after last week's awesome outing, and yet, it had moments that made me very happy.  It's no secret that I enjoy the episodes that center around the glee kids and steer away from the Will/Terri/Emma triangle, so things were on shaky ground from the get-go.  But then, something great happened!  Will discovered the truth about Terri's fake pregnancy!  I was so frickin' excited.  That story line played itself out weeks ago and I was so over it.  I'm so glad he knows that she's a faker.  I have to say, though, that moment was bittersweet.  It was vindicating and heart-wrenching to see Will discover the truth and to then watch that truth play out on his face.  I can't even imagine the disappointment and anger he had to have been feeling in that scene.  And yes, Emma had a point (and I kinda hated that she did), but the fact is that faking a pregnancy isn't Terri's only fault and it isn't the only thing that makes her a bad match for Will.  She's incredibly selfish.  I hope Will takes the time to really evaluate his relationship with her before he goes running back to her prematurely.

Remember how I was saying last week that I (heart) Quinn more and more with each passing episode?  Well, this week filled me with Quinn-love.  Talk about gumption!