Review: Game of Thrones "The North Remembers"

Non Spoiler Review:

Game of Thrones' second season gets off to a solid start, returning us to the wonderful world of Westeros, where paternity can be determined by hair colour, and ravens deliver messages faster than the post office. The North Remembers is a compelling new chapter addressing the crumbling political situation in the seven kingdoms. War continues between the Starks and Lannisters. Renly has his own claim, while brother Stannis is about to enter the fray given he is privy to Ned's revelation of Joffrey's paternity. 

The North Remembers expands the epic feel that made for a groundbreaking first season. The world has changed and it looks as though King's Landing is one of the few places that is trying to keep an illusion of calm (though Cersei and Joffrey are bound to end that soon enough). More ominous, it's confirmed that the long summer is over, and this is likely the worst possible time for a long winter to fall over the kingdoms.

This is a dense and busy episode to catch up on where everyone is at, but it succeeds very well—much better than the premiere, given we're at least familiar with these characters now. There are plenty of new and intriguing additions, particularly Stannis Baratheon and his mysterious high priestess. Tyrion continues to steal the show given his more important role as Hand of the King and his scenes with Cersei are memorable ones. All in all, a solid return for one of the best series on television.

Spoilers Now!

Joffrey presides over a contest on his name day, as Sansa endures his company. In typical Joffrey fashion, he has late coming fighter Dontos nearly tortured to death for showing up drunk, but Sansa warns him (and is backed up by the Hound) bad luck would follow if he killed someone on his name day. Then she (cleverly) convinces Joffrey to make Dontos his fool and saves his life.

Tyrion shows up, greeting Joffrey's sister and younger brother and sending all sorts of insincere compliments his nephew's way. He tells Sansa he's sorry for her loss, but she coldly explains her family are traitors and she's loyal to her Joffrey. Joffrey heard he was dead, but Tyrion happily replies he must be off as he has work to do.

At the king's council, Cersei is advised by Pycelle that messages throughout Westeros confirm the long summer is ending, which means a longer winter. They have supplies for five years, and that's it, and peasant refugees are already making their way to King's Landing. She orders them to shut the city gates to them—a longer winter means fewer peasants, after all. Tyrion arrives to everyone's surprise to announce he's Hand of the King in their father's absence.

A furious Cersei speaks to him in private. He informs her she failed to stop Ned's death and now Robb is winning the war. She warns him he's only there to advise Joffrey. Tyrion then learns that Arya is missing and angrily reminds his sister they once had three Starks to trade for Jaime—she's killed one and let one disappear. She's fast becoming the disappointing child, he muses.

At Winterfell, Bran and Luwin are listening to the petition of a minor lord. All their young men are sent off to fight, so there are few left to prepare for winter. Luwin advises Bran that listening to people he'd rather not listen to is one of his new jobs as the acting lord of Winterfell.

Bran later dreams of a comet and seeing through the eyes of his wolf, Summer, looking into the pool around the godswood. Later, on a walk with Osha, he muses about what the comet (which is actually appearing above Westeros) may mean. Rumor is it's an omen of victory, but she says it means only one thing—dragons. He peers into the pool from his dreams and reminds her the dragons are all dead.

The comet can be seen over the Red Wastes as Daenerys and her followers march across the desert. The horse Drogo gave her drops dead from starvation. They're further east than Jorah has ever been, and suggests they're too weak to fight should they encounter other Dothraki or any other of the many dangers they could find. She sends three of her men to ride in different directions to find out what lies ahead. 

North of the Wall, the Night's Watch arrives at a lodge belonging to Craster (an old man who marries his daughters and likely kills his sons). They learn nothing of Benjen's whereabouts. Jon speaks out of turn and is berated by Mormont for annoying Craster, who must be appeased for his hospitality. They discuss the Wildings leaving and the old man suggests they've gone north to join Mance Rayder, who broke his vows to the Watch and is gathering an army with plans to march south. Craster agrees to allow them to stay the night, but warns them all (particularly Jon) about touching his wives. Later, an angry Mormont tells Jon not to forget his place. One day he'll lead, but right now he has to learn to follow.

At Dragonstone, a priestess named Melisandre is addressing a crowd as she burns statues of the seven gods in favor of a one true god. Among them is Stannis Baratheon, newly converted to her beliefs. His councillor, Cressen, is furious they are betraying the gods of their fathers by listening to her. She explains the prophecy of a warrior drawing forth a burning sword that will be a light bringer, and tells Stannis that sword awaits him. He pulls it out as everyone bows to him and he declares their intent to take the throne of Westeros. Everyone returns to the city, except for Cressen and Stannis' advisor Davos.

Cressen laments that Stannis will lead them into a devastating war. He's surrounded by fools and fanatics and needs someone to tell him the truth. Davos, however, doesn't know what the truth is.

Stannis presides over his council as they compose his claim to the throne—he's a stickler for details, but the letter he writes denounces Cersei's children and reveals that they are the incestuous product of her and her brother, making Stannis the only rightful king. Ned told him alone, so he won't make the same mistake and sends that letter to all the lords throughout the kingdoms. Davos interjects and suggests he make peace with Renly, as some have already declared for him. If not Renly, then Robb Stark. Stannis sees no difference between any of them, naming them all thieves who will bend their knee to him.

Cressen takes that opportunity to propose a toast to honor the one true god. He offers a chalice to Melisandre after he first takes a drink. She watches his nose start to bleed, realizes it's poisoned, but still drinks herself as he collapses. She remains unharmed.

At the Stark camp, Robb visits his captive Jaime. He lets him know that Stannis has sent letters to all the high lords and everyone knows Joffrey is his bastard son. Ned knew the truth and that's why he had him executed, and pushed Bran from a window because he saw him with the queen. Jaime just mocks him for thinking himself a conqueror after winning just three battles, though Robb counters it's better than losing three.

Robb lays out some egregious peace terms to one of the Lannister cousins acting as emmisary to King's Landing—the Lannisters release his sisters, with his father's bones and those of all the dead returned to the north, Joffrey and the queen renounce all claims to the North and it becomes a free and independent kingdom, forbidden for any Lannister to enter. The Lannister boy reminds Robb that Joffrey is a Baratheon before leaving with the unacceptable terms.

Theon doesn't have to tell Robb the Lannisters will never agree to his peace. If they hope to take King's Landing they will need ships—and his father has them. Robb doesn't want to go to Balon Greyjoy, given his past rebellion, but Theon points out he's his only living son now and he'll listen to him. Ned raised him to be an honorable man and they can avenge him together.

Catelyn doesn't want Balon Greyjoy as an ally either, and encourages Robb against it. She's more concerned about getting the girls back by trading Jaime, but Robb knows that his banner men would string him up if he were to do that. She decides it's time for her to go back to Winterfell, but he tells her she can't—he wants her to ride south and negotiate with Renly who has an army of 100,000. If he sides with them, they'll outnumber the Lannisters and they'll get the girls back.

Back in King's Landing, Shae loves being in the city with Tyrion. He warns her no one can know she's there and not to trust anyone. Except him, of course, who is a slave to truth. 

Cersei is on a mission to find Arya, so goes to Baelish and asks him to put his resources behind it. He suggests Winterfell would be the logical destination but there are no reports she's there yet. Then she taunts him with vague references to his low upbringing and losing Catelyn to Ned. He (unwisely) counters about her own relationship with her brother that is now the talk of the kingdoms. Knowledge is power, he explains. She decides to prove him wrong and orders the guards to sieze him and cut his throat. Then immediately jokes and changes her mind. The guards, of course, obey. She explains power is power and advises him to locate Arya for her.

Joffrey is having the throne room redone in the more conquering style of the Targaryens. Cersei tells him they can't find Arya and need to locate her in order to secure their negotiating power. Joffrey comments that his grandfather's stupidity in battle is why they're in that bind in the first place, then mentions the lie he heard about her and Jaime. He has no claim to the throne, as he's the rightful king, he declares. But Robert had other children when he grew tired of his mother, and Joffrey wants to know how many bastards he has running around. Cersei slaps him. Furious, he tells her that was punishable by death. And she will never do it again. 

Baelish's brothel is raided by the City Watch Commander Janos Slynt, who drags out the woman who recently bore one of Robert's bastards and kills the baby in front of her. That begins a purge throughout the city of all of Robert's illegitimate children, but when it comes to the final one, Gendry, the boy's former employer tells them he's on the Kingsroad to Castle Black. That caravan is heading north, with Arya.

The Verdict:

The premiere does a handy job getting every player a bit of screen time to catch everyone up. Like last season, some the new, secondary characters get rather vague introductions (prompting look-ups of names online afterwards). The big introduction was Stannis and the cast at Dragonstone. Given he's such a major character we've only heard about until now, he gets a lot of focus. He seems to live up to his belligerent reputation. Though I'm questioning the wisdom of Cressen poisoning himself in order to kill Melisandre. It really played out as an ill-thought out scheme.

Cersei got some great scenes with Joffrey and her brother. It's clear she's terrified events have gotten so out of her control and her power is quickly slipping from her. How far will she go to protect her children at the expense of her family? She's easily become one of the villains I love to hate, and her treatment of Baelish (after what he did to Ned) was quite satisfying.

Of course, with Ned's death, Tyrion has become one of the pivotal stars of the series and one of the noblest characters at the moment (on par with Robb and Jon) but where will his priorities lie when faced with the greater good of the kingdom and loyalty to his father and the Lannisters? Will he sacrifice them if it means saving the kingdoms?

Having not read the books, I have no idea how long Joffrey lasts on the Iron Throne, but I'm suspecting he won't last the season. Unfortunately, Stannis does not appear to be a capable leader either. I'm left wondering why he wants to claim the crown now, and not back when his younger brother first took it from the mad king. It's Renly who appears to be the best choice (and seems to have a large army at his disposal) but would he be willing to let the North live free to appease Robb? Then there's Gendry, who has managed to escape the purge, but how important is he really to the succession?

The most ominous element I found was the seemingly minor plot point at the beginning—the announcement that winter was coming. With the kingdoms in absolute chaos, and Cersei sealing the city from refugees, this is the worst possible time for such a long term catastrophe to hit. Everyone seems pretty naive about it all. I'm guessing Joffrey has not yet been presented with the zombie head from the Wall, either.

There's a clear divide between the powers that be who chart the destiny of Westeros, and the average man on the street who is subject to their whims. It's effectively shown in a couple of instances with the street cleaner privy to Baelish's near execution, and the palace workers seeing Cersei slap the king (which left me wondering if Joffrey might just have them killed for that). 

It's a testament to the writing, casting and direction that all the subplots are equally interesting. Quite the achievement given the vast number of characters on this series. Season two is bound to be quite a roller coaster ride—civil war among multiple king contenders, Daenerys seeking to raise her own army, and events beyond the Wall, with not only the White Walkers, but Mance Rayder gathering his forces for some unknown end, all set against the coming of what is promised to be a devastating winter.

Review: Being Human (USA) "Partial Eclipse of the Heart"

Non Spoiler Review:

Josh struggles with the potential cure (involving killing his maker) and revealing the truth to Julia as their relationship continues to grow. Aidan, on the run with Suren, attempts to secure a safe refuge for them both. Sally struggles to make peace with Zoe. It all goes crazy when an unexpected plot device phenomenon appears out of left field.

As boring as I found Josh and Julia's drama, it was actually the stronger part of this particular episode, but it fell victim to yet another outrageous paranormal fix the writers bring out of their bag of tricks. That derailed it all for me, and diminished a potentially powerful ending that could have made this one of the stronger episodes this season.

Spoilers Now!

Henry's arrival is all a ploy, as he's there to rescue Aidan and kills the attackers. He suggests they run away together and leave behind Suren. But Aidan refuses because he's in looooove, then wounds Henry so it looks like he put up a good fight (and will be welcomed back in among the vampires. Because Mother is young and niave enough that she's probably never encountered that particular ruse before). He hopes he doesn't have to wait another eighty years to see him again. We feel the same way, as he's more interesting than most of the cast.

Julia and Josh are pretty much back together, but he warns her he has some issues to work out first, but she's okay with that, and he even passes the test of meeting up again with her former maid of honor, who really resented Josh for abandoning her. It all looks like things will end just awesome for Josh and Julia.

Sally manages to track down Zoe, who no longer cares about taking care of the babies and protecting them from ghosts. Being a medium is a curse and kept her alone all her life (which is very true given Sally basically torments her for half the episode until she talks to her).

Josh spies on Ray, debating if he can kill him, but sees he has a wife and son. Ray catches him creeping, so Josh apologizes for leaving things the way he did. Ray is very happy to see him again, and told him one day he'd come looking for him and gives him a big hug. He got his wife and kid back through telling the secret, and advises Josh to tell his girl the truth too.

Suren is tired of hiding at the hotel, but Aidan just needs her to be patient a little while longer as he goes to the Dutch for protection. He reminds the ginger vampire guy that Aidan brought justice for Haggeman, not Mother. Ginger V, ever the coward, is reluctant to hide them, but suggests Aidan bring food for the rest of the Dutch, as they will be up soon, and it will be a good overture.

Sally succeeds in making peace with Zoe, but in the park the two are privy to an unexpected eclipse, and the old man that Sally shredded abruptly appears dazed and confused. In one of the more ridiculous moments of exposition, Zoe muses the eclipse confuses the planes of paranormal existence (it's all a moon/sun kind of thing). If she shredded the old man in the park, then the others will be appearing back at her house. Sally heads there immediately, finding a very frightened Nick—and Danny.

Nick explains that shredding him sent him to some kind of limbo—everything ended but just for a moment. He still knew he existed but in another place. Zoe arrives to console him, while a shaken Danny tells Sally the place she sent him is so bad.

Josh is about to tell Julia about his secret when the eclipse prompts a change, so he goes running out of the restaurant. Julia tries to chase after him but he comes to a dead end in an alley. He has no choice but to show his fangy face to her. She backs away...and gets hit by a car. But he can't do anything as everyone is taking photos of him, so he runs off.

Aidan returns to the hotel to find Suren gone. She's returned to the hotel, and Mother, telling her she was right and she belongs there. Was there ever any doubt?

The eclipse ends and the ghosts fade away. Zoe feels she's okay now. Josh reverts back to normal and runs back to the accident scene to find Julia (a little worse for the wear) but she's in shock. He admits he's a werewolf. He comes clean but she confesses it's too late—because her body is on a stretcher, and he's been talking to her ghost. And her door shows up, so Josh explains what it is. They say their good-byes and she walks through

The Verdict:

Aidan and Suren's on-the-run plot doesn't hold much interest for me. She's still too new a character to feel any sense of bond between them (aside from what the writers try to hammer home to us through flashbacks). Maybe this could have worked a few seasons down the road, but I detect a stronger bond between Henry and Aidan than I do with Suren, yet he readily tosses him aside for her.

Another character, Zoe, hasn't endeared herself to me either, so we get Sally trying to make amends for all the damage she's done—by hounding her. That says so much about Sally. Has she really learned anything from her reaper period? And why is Zoe so important, anyway? Couldn't a tenacious ghost who wanted reincarnation just go to another hospital—anywhere?

Josh and Julia were actually kind of cute, so that means death awaits. Sure enough, it provided one of the best shocks of the episode, and I admit I was even taken in by the fake out that she was still alive. But all of this was kicked in the pants by the awful deux ex machina—the eclipse. Because these things just happen out of the blue with no one knowing they're coming. And Zoe's casual explanation of how they affect the supernatural side of things was laughable. All it did was give both of them an opportunity to say good-bye to the shredded—which are apparently going back to this horrible limbo? It's unclear just what was happening to them on their second fade out.

It's been such a dull and directionless season, I'm going to be happy when it's over. The series swings between the episodic and serialized. It needs to decide what it's going to do, and stop the continued time jumps between full moons.

Review: Mad Men "Tea Leaves"

Non Spoiler Review:

Mad Men brings us up to date with Betty and Henry, who face an unexpected crisis that eventually gets Don involved. Meanwhile, Don is having difficulty understanding all these crazy young people (not to mention his wife), when he has to try to get the Rolling Stones to do a commercial jingle. With the return of Mohawk Airlines, SCDP needs an additional copywriter, and it falls to Peggy to find a suitable prospect.

Generational themes played heavily this week, and it's a clear line between Roger and Don's perspective and their inability to relate to anyone in their twenties anymore. There's also some job-related concerns, as Roger and Peggy both wonder if they could be replaced by their own proteges. 

Betty's reappearance stole the show and was an unexpected way to deal with January Jones' real life pregnancy. It will be interesting to see how this plot fits in with the season as a whole. But it was a pretty good episode overall, aside from some unusually erratic pacing in how the scenes cut back and forth. 

Spoilers Now!

Betty has changed—a lot. She decides not to attend a political function with Henry given she can't fit into her dress. That prompts a visit the next day from her obese and icky mother-in-law, who suggests she get control of her weight through diet pills. Betty goes to a doctor to get a prescription, but he insists on an exam to rule out other causes, then finds a lump on her thyroid. So she phones Don in a panic and he manages to calm her down somewhat. Henry gets her in to the specialist sooner with his connections, and at the hospital she runs into an old acquaintance there for treatment herself, and they have lunch. With discussions turning towards cancer, Betty laments the mess she'll leave behind. A psychic walks by and offers to read their tea leaves. She tells Betty she means so much to the people around her, which only upsets her.  

Mohawk has returned to SCDP and Pete thinks Roger should handle the day-to-day matters of the account. They'll need a dedicated copywriter (male). Peggy reviews portfolios and is impressed with a Michael Ginsberg (also a Jew, which Roger says is the in thing at the moment), but Stan hopes she likes him as he'll likely be her boss someday. 

He's brought in for an interview, but really only wants to meet Don. His erratic attitude fails to impress her and she warns him he can't act like that with Don. Roger pops in to see Peggy after drinks with Mohawk and tells her to hire him given he's already told the client and the man's a Jew. Roger assures her no one will replace her, and he'll handle Don if there's any problem.

Megan and Don have dinner with Heinz, who has a bright idea to try to get the Rolling Stones to do a jingle. Harry manages to arrange a meeting when the Stones play in New York. Backstage, Harry and Don have to wait for the band, so Harry chats up some young girls, who get him in to see them. Her friend is doubtful Don can get them to do a TV ad, and while they wait Don tries to analyze why she likes the Rolling Stones, but it just cements how difficult it is for Don to relate to young people anymore. Harry comes running back, saying he got the deal. Except the Stones come down another hall and he realizes he was talking to some other group, the Tradewinds.

Don fills Megan in that Betty could be very sick, and he balks at her more optimistic attitude about them dealing with whatever comes their way (more generational divide).

Don meets with Peggy and Michael. He's more subdued than his initial interview, and has admired Don since the letter. Don seems impressed and tells Peggy good work. She's still unsure about the hire, but gets him set up. Michael returns home to let his father know he got the job.

Betty and Henry wait at home for the test results and learn the tumour is benign. Henry is elated, but Betty just gets snippy about being fat. Don calls Henry to ask about the tests, and is told (curtly) that she's fine, and Henry is not happy that he's aware of their crisis.

Pete gathers the staff to announce Mohawk's return, but uses it as a sideways insult to Roger, passing the account off to him to look after now that he's done all the initial work. Roger remarks to Peggy to forget everything he just said about Michael, given Pete is the last guy he hired. Roger vents to Don and is tired of having to prove he has any value. 

Betty and Sally seem to be getting along much better, sharing some ice cream. As her daughter leaves to watch TV, Betty finishes hers, as well.

The Verdict:

Following last week's civil rights storyline, we now find Don with a new black secretary, Dawn, and the source of many Don/Dawn jokes. Hopefully she gets some airtime next week so we can get to know her better.

Don has never come across as young at heart, but he's certainly showing his age these days. If the Rolling Stones didn't prove it, then his odd adversarial tone with Megan says he's really finding it hard to adapt to the world of the late 60's. Both socially and in the work world (with Roger being usurped by Pete) it's evident that his generation is losing ground and can't accept the new reality. Even younger Harry doesn't recognize he's not even talking to the Rolling Stones.

Betty's obesity was quite a surprise, but perfect for her vain character. After just six months, that's quite a weight gain, and I imagine it has a little to do with Don marrying a younger wife. I wonder what Don thinks of all that. They do seem to have eased into a more relaxed relationship with the divorce finally out of the way (much to Henry's chagrin).

I admit I was expecting cancer, but it remains to be seen how this might play out over the season. In fact, I believe Betty was almost hoping it was cancer, because having that be responsible for her weight gain would get her off the hook for letting herself go (especially given her angry reaction at the news the tumor was benign).

Like Peggy, I didn't like Michael at first, but I think he'll grow on me as Stan did. Though I do hope that Peggy isn't shoved to the background like she fears. There was a lot of teasing about a potential boyfriend, so it could easily go in that direction, too.

My only real criticism was the pacing—especially the numerous cuts back and forth between Betty and Don's stories. There were just too many short scenes. It was a shift from what we're usually used to, but this was also Jon Hamm's directorial debut.

Review: Being Human (USA) "Don't Fear the Scott"

Non Spoiler Review:

Sally has to come to terms with all the damage she's done to ghost and human alike, while Josh is making the attempt to move forward with Julia—enter Nora to cause problems. But why not have a dinner party in the meantime with Suren and Julia? Sounds like a great idea.

A lot of decent ideas were thrown into this week, but the pay off is not there. The characters continue to respond to what the writers throw at them rather than have events evolve naturally out of their lives, amounting to contrived scenes and plot devices. So often we're told how we should be reacting to these people (the usual musical montage and flashbacks to fill in the gaps of story that we should have gotten long ago). It's driven home by having just watched the final episode of the UK season four, which has about twenty times the emotional investment of this version. 

Spoilers Now!

Mother is visiting again, so Henry and Aidan make preparations. Josh wants Julia to stay over, but she has issues with how Aidan treated her. Sally is still being tormented by her reaper persona and tries to ignore him, while lamenting about the lives and ghosts she's ruined. To make matters worse, Aidan fills her in that the doctor's girlfriend, Janet (whom Sally possessed) was brought in to the psychiatric ward.

Josh convinces Aidan to make peace with Julia so he can get on with his relationship, so Aidan suggests dinner (with Suren as well). At the dinner party, Julia is the only human present and Sally just watches making annoying commentary. It starts out awkward but Suren behaves quite well and treats Julia rather decently, and is okay with the fact that Julia was with Aidan before. 

But afterwards, Suren isn't sure she fits in with Aidan's human life now. However, Julia is comfortable enough with the situation that she will come back to Josh's place again. Except they run into Nora. She's come back to try to fix things, but Josh says she's too late. She was confused when she left and admits it was a mistake. Julia's worried Josh will leave her again.

Sally wants to possess Janet so she'll at least know she's not insane. The boys don't think that's a good idea, but she crosses paths with Nora at the hospital (failing to get her job back) and they commiserate about what's happened. She wants to help, so Nora visits Janet and tells her she knows who Sally is too, and explains why she has her memories. Janet decides Nora's just a mental patient like her, and tells her to prove it by reciting a poem Sally wrote when she was nine. She does. Janet believes her and they ultimately get her out of the hospital. 

Mother applauds her daughter's success and says she will remain in charge in Boston (much to Suren's chagrin, who just wants to go somewhere better, like the coast). She's yet to make up for eight centuries of disappointment, though. Mother does keep up her bargain with Aidan and grants him freedom, sealing off the vampire world from him, and anyone who does contact him will be put to death. That's not exactly what he meant by getting set free, so he lunges for her and is thrown out. 

Josh is elated Aidan is free. But Aidan explains he's banished, and that's not the same thing. He's in love with Suren and freedom means nothing to him now. So Aidan calls Henry in to help. He wants Suren to run away with him and announces to Sally and Josh he's leaving. So it's a final (cough cough) goodbye as there can be no communication (ever). They say their good-byes, and there's even a montage of all their happy times in the house which lasts all of three seconds.

Nora comes to see Josh again, apologizing for all she's done. She learned Brinn was the violent one, not Conner, and she got tired of it. But she's brought an interesting tidbit about werewolves she learned. He can get back everything he wanted and lift the curse—finding the man who turned him. If he finds Ray and kills him while he's still a man, he's free. 

Aidan and Suren go into temporary hiding in a hotel, but he has to run out to get Suren some food because she's being a bitch and turning into Sally. He's confronted by Henry and a few vampires with stakes who tell him they won't let him run.

The Verdict:

There's zero tension with Aidan's decision to abandon his friends in favor of Suren. The whole season has shown he's looking out for himself and not Sally and Josh. Why not ditch them for the crazy vampire princess? Why not ditch his own protege, as well, which he's fine to leave behind in Mother's company? Add in Aidan's send off that was a bit much...queue the lame music and (brief) montage. This season has obviously spanned a large amount of time (due to Josh's regular full moon transformations), so the three of them haven't been spending an enormous amount of time together. At least that we've seen, which is the whole point of seeing them interacting rather than just assuming.

Nora plays plot device in several ways—disrupting Josh's happiness, and providing an extra supernatural revelation that offers Josh the promise of a cure. He just has to become a murderer. Her whole scene with Sally and Janet was just ridiculous—oh my god, I can't remember that poem, but wait, oh ya I can. And the whole ordeal from last week really didn't accomplish much if Sally is still seeing the reaper. What was the point of all that, aside from filler?

Would Josh really let Aidan bring Suren in the house to meet his girlfriend and put them in the same room together given their history? I can't see it. But the writers seemed to feel it would make for some lighthearted Josh and Aidan moments. This American version has too many episodes and slashing it in half would make the writers hopefully come up with a concise and taught script absent of unnecessary scenes like Sally lying on tables (which they seem to love).