The X-Files: Firewalker

Case: A team of scientists studying volcanos may have found a silicone based life-form.

Destination: Cascade Mountain Range, Washington

I have good news and bad news. The good news is that Scully has miraculously recovered from her coma and is able to accompany Mulder to solve cases again. The bad news is that the case this week is almost a complete re-tread of last season’s “Ice” and, to a lesser degree, “Darkness Falls.”

Scandal: YOLO

It's okay, Liv. I could barely watch either.

“What’s that stupid thing you kids say? YOLO?”

There is no way around the fact that “YOLO” is my least favorite episode of Scandal.

Vampire Diaries: The Cell

The Theme of the Week is confinement, and how confinement can act as a crucible in which characters reveal their true selves. The parallel stories of Damon’s and Stefan’s confinement—in different times and different contexts—reveal the fundamental difference between these two brothers:

Once...in Wonderland: Bad Blood

“I do not want to take another thing away from you, dear Alice.”

I’m glad that there’s very little that Wonderland will have up in the air when it inevitably ends in a few months. This episode definitely made that much clear, with a remarkable sense of closure between two characters in particular.

Mr. Darcy's Diary

In all of literature, few heroes are as well known and well loved as Fitzwilliam Darcy. He was the first in what has become a long line of proud, disagreeable fellows who turn out to be much more than they originally appear. He is almost perfect. He is tall; he is handsome; he is rich; and, he falls in love with one of the most well known and well loved heroines in all of literature, Elizabeth Bennet.

The Wire: Hard Cases

“Homicide? Who got killed?” – Frank Sobotka

I love the episodes with titles like this one, which refer to the people, the city and the cases all in one clever phrase. We are indeed dealing with hard cases here. The murders for which there are no witnesses, no evidence, no apparent connections and a wall of silence from the only place that might shed even a little light on the whole thing. We have the Sobotka investigation, a trumped up nothing to satisfy a feud assigned to a Lieutenant with no future. Then we have the people, stubborn and determined to do what they want like Rawls and Valchek and Frank Sobotka and Avon Barksdale, and desperate or completely lost like Nick and McNulty (I will leave out terminally stupid like Ziggy), or simply unable to overcome their own natures like Daniels, Greggs and D’Angelo. Even the City itself seems to be a hard case, without solutions but just too damn tough to stop and give up.

Arrow: The Scientist

Felicity: "Why couldn't you have been marooned on Aruba?"

The Arrow universe has taken a big step towards joining the greater pantheon of the DC Universe, and I'm happy to say they did it fairly well. Especially in the casting of a major, major character.

Doux News: December 8, 2013

This Week: Veronica Mars – The Dark Side of Selfies – Riot Grrrl Resurrected – This Week in Casts – Television is Still Dying – Random Recommendation – New from Dan Harmon – Letters to Santa – This Week in Cats

Once Upon a Time: Save Henry

“The best thing for Henry is to stay with a mother who will never let go of him.”

Despite what last week promised, ‘Save Henry’ was less of a major conclusion, and a lot more character driven than I thought it would be. I think Regina’s feelings for Henry were always a bit of a mystery, even though we saw how strongly she felt about him over the course of the series. ‘Save Henry’ was exactly what we needed to understand where those feelings came from, and how they made her throw her evil past behind her and start again for her son.

New Shows (2013): December 1 - 7

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens
Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens
Brown paper packages tied up with strings
These are a few of my favorite things.

Holiday Treats: Crème de Menthe Bars

We’ve been informally referring to our holiday cookie recipe exchange as “inappropriate starches,” but the nice thing about this recipe is that it would be, I think, easy to make gluten-free (or at least wheatless).

The Originals: Reigning Pain in New Orleans

Klaus: "Go ahead. Have fun. Kill them all."

This was really the Klaus and Marcel show, with all their subtle hostility and false smile politics.