Top 10 Reasons Why I Like ‘Chuck’

Last night Chuck returned for its first episode since January, launching its sophomore season with “Chuck vs. the First Date” and I’m instantly reminded of what attracted me to the series last year.

For newbies, the show worked in a nice recap into the first 10 minutes.  Normal guy Chuck is going about his everyday business when a former friend from college, now turned spy, emails him with a file encrypted in pictures containing government secrets known as the Intersect.  The only other version of the Intersect is destroyed and Chuck is inadvertently drafted into the CIA and assigned Sarah (CIA) and Casey (NSA) to protect him.

This show is a nice break from all the question-filled dramas that I normally watch.  Chuck is a fun show that makes me laugh and sit back and relax.

Here are the Top 10 Reasons why I love this show.

1.  Adam Baldwin

Baldwin stars as Casey, the gung ho NSA agent always ready to shoot now and ask questions later.  The intimidating tough guy, who poses as a Buy More employee to keep tabs on Chuck, has a delightful dry humor.  For instance, in this episode, Casey crashes into a restaurant to save Sarah and Chuck, asking “Someone order drive thru?”

Casey is a simple man dedicated to serving his country.  He loves his gun, his Crown Vic and Ronald Regan.  But despite his devotion to the job, Casey has developed a soft spot for Chuck as we saw when he hesitated to terminate Chuck.

2.  Pop Culture References

I love it when a show can work in pop culture references.  It’s like a conversation with friends.  And Chuck is full of these references – most of them involving Chuck’s inner geek.  Last night references included a Comic Con poster, a subtle reference to Back to the Future with Chuck waking up to Huey Lewis songs and a Godfather impersonation.

But my favorite of the night was when Chuck was talking about his future with his sister Ellie and she asks what he wants to do and then says please don’t tell me you want to “pilot the Millennium Falcon.”

3. Chuck

Chuck is anything but James Bond.  But the reluctant spy is finally starting to embrace his alter ego, Charles Carmichael.  He has knack for getting into trouble all on his own, but add the fact that he has government secrets in his head, a best pal who majors in mayhem and a gift for never staying in the car when told and you can see how pandemonium rules Chuck’s humdrum life.

Oh didn’t I mention, Chuck’s track record with women.  He never got over the girl he lost to the same so-called friend who sent him the Intersect – at least until he met Sarah.  But their working relationship keeps his puppy crush sidelined.

4.  The Best Friend

Chuck’s life is complimented – or is that complicated – by the devotion of his slacker best friend Morgan.  The “little bearded man” has made a science out of doing nothing.

But Morgan doesn’t know about Chuck’s secret spy life and often complicates Chuck’s ability to save the world – and score with Sarah – with a scheme or two of his own.  Add Morgan’s creepy crush on Ellie and Chuck’s got a friend that’s just too weird to be true.

5.  The Buy More Staff

Chuck works at Buy More, a big electronics company that might remind you of someplace you might have shopped, as a member of the Nerd Herd described as “Geek Chic – In Overdrive.”  Chuck, Morgan and Casey work for “Big” Mike who is equal parts babysitter and ringmaster.

But the real heart of the store lies in its employees who – led by the master of chaos, Morgan – manage to never do any work because they are always too busy with some crazy scheme.  In last night’s episode Morgan conducted a cage match between Lester and Jeff to see who would get the assistant manager position.  Don’t you wish that’s how promotions worked at your job?

6.  Guest Stars

This series has some great guest stars.  Last year Rachel Bilson played a potential love interest for Chuck.  In the Season 2 premiere, Michael Clarke Duncan starred as this week’s nemesis, Mr. Colt, who told Chuck “I assume you find me imposing.”  I found him imposing and a great adversary for our top spies.

Next week it looks like John Larroquette and Melinda Clarke are up for guest spots.

7.  Captain Awesome

Awesome is Ellie’s jock boyfriend who response to everything is “awesome.”  You just got to like a character with depth like that!

8.  The Over Protective Sister

Ellie has been taking care of Chuck since their parents died.  She’s great as the over protective sister eagerly wanting the best for her brother, but hesitant to meddle in his life – too much.

9.  Cool Episode Titles

Each weekly episode is titled Chuck vs. something.  It’s consistent and descriptive.  I think my favorite had to be “Chuck vs. the Imported Salami.”  It says it all!

10.  The sets

There’s, of course, the Buy More filled with every electronic gadget needed and more, including all the latest spy equipment.  Then there’s the great restaurants that serve as Sarah cover – first Wienerliciouse, now Orange Orange.

But my favorite is the apartment complex where Chuck lives with Ellie and Awesome.  Look familiar?  It’s the old Melrose Place set.  You’ve got to like a show that recycles a piece of television history.

Honorable Mention

I’m adding this reason in just for my husband, since he seems to enjoy these scenes so much.  This show seems to find every reason possible to have a scene where Sarah gets dressed.

Seriously, all kidding aside, Chuck is a great show when you need a little fun in your day.  If you haven’t seen it, check it out.  If you have, tell me why you like Chuck.

Heroes’ Sylar Goes to Work for Mommy in ‘One of Us’

Paternity seems to be the key to the shockers on the third season of Heroes.  Last week we learned that Angela is Sylar’s mom and this week in “One of Us, One of Them” we find another one of our heroes questioning their origins.

Working with HRG, Sylar poses as an FBI agent, complete with Irish accent.

After a tender bonding moment (as if Angela knows anything about maternal nurturing) in which Mama Petrelli tells Sylar – excuse me “Gabriel” – that she’s sorry she gave him up for adoption and promises to provide him with inspiration, guidance and comfort, Angela serves Sylar lunch – I mean a new power. 

Why does she give him the power to read the history of any object?  Is she expecting him to need that particular power in her plans for him?  Or was she just offering him a power as a peace offering?

Next Angela partners Sylar with the one man who hates him most – HRG.  She believes that Noah – who insists he hasn’t reenlisted but simply wants to return the escapes – can provide Sylar with the structure he needs.

Despite protesting that Sylar is a killer, Noah agrees to take Sylar to rein in Jesse/Present Peter, Knox, The German and Flint.  Looks like HRG will play mentor to Sylar . . . at least until he finds Sylar’s weakness.

Meanwhile Angela’s youngest son (at least of the ones we know about) is still trapped in Jesse’s body.  Jesse is originally from Las Vegas.  Anyone else think that’s more than just a coincidence?  It seems like everyone on this show is either from New York, Las Vegas, Texas or California.  Could Jesse be related to one of our other Vegas residents or former residents?  Maybe he’s Linderman’s son?

Either way, Jesse is jonesing for revenge against HRG and has masterminded the current plan to rob this bank and draw out HRG.  However, Peter’s resistance to the plan make it easy for the others to figure out he’s not the real Jesse.

After a little fear – or maybe its adrenaline – Peter discovers – and uses – Jesse’s Black Canary-like power before Future Peter shows up to free him.  But the whole “possession” leaves a few questions.

Did Peter have access to his own powers while he was hijacked?  Now that he’s come in contact with Jesse’s power has he acquired it?  Where was the real Jesse during Peter inhabitation?  Was he also in there?  And where did the two Peter’s go?

When Future Peter rescues his present self (anyone confused yet), he leaves HRG at the mercy of Jesse and his flunkies – until Sylar saves the day, but not without acquiring a new power.  Guess Sylar’s reformation isn’t complete.

HRG and Sylar return to Level 5 in Hartsdale, NY with Flint.  The German and Jesse are dead — those stories were short-lived. And Knox is still on the loose. 

Daphne comes between Hiro and Ando.

Also in Level 5 are Hiro and Ando.  Seems they tried to relieve the Haitian of Angela’s half of the doomsday formula in Berlin only to have it stolen by Daphne while they argued between themselves over Ando’s “sidekick” status.

Meanwhile, Matt continues his “spirit walk” with Usutu in Africa, discovering a series of paintings Usutu has done of Parkman’s life beginning with his encounter with Molly.  All the paintings have come to be except one – of Matt with a woman holding a baby.  Did anyone think the woman looked like Daphne?

But Usutu tells him the future has changed, then goes all white eyes and paints over it.  In the new picture, Matt is carrying a woman that is injured/dead.  I still think it could be Daphne.  Matt asks if he can change the future and Usutu helps him meditate.

Claire is trying to do some changing of her own.  Tired of being a victim, she asks Meredith to help her learn to fight using her powers.  Instead Meredith tries to scare her into giving up her vengeance plan and focus on being a teenager.

Claire says sure, pretends to be the good cheerleader and heads out on her own mission with a Primatech box in tow.

Back in DC, Nathan – sans any visits from the mysterious Linderman vision – gets swore in.  But it’s Tracy that’s the real story of the night.  When Nathan visits her she is clearly struggling to grasp the apparently newly revealed power to freeze and continues to deny any knowledge of Niki Saunders.

Tracy goes to Micah for answers about Niki.

After a visit with Micah at a funeral home in New Orleans, Tracy discovers that she and Niki share a birth date and a birth place, but not a body.  Tracy is a separate person from Niki, not a separate personality.  And Tracy – and presumably Niki – were created by one Dr. Zimmerman.  Big questions here.

Who is Dr. Zimmerman?  Exactly how did he create Tracy?  Did he create Niki too?  Or was she the model from which Tracy was created?  And who did he think Tracy was when he answered the door?  Did he call her Bobba?

What is Zimmerman’s relationship to The Company?  There’s no way someone was creating people with powers and The Company not know about it.  What does this mean for the other people with powers?  Has he had a hand it that?  Could he be Sylar’s papa/creator too?

What are your thoughts on this week’s episode?

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Should Children’s Books Have a Rating System?

A recent article has me wondering if we should be taking a closer look at what we qualify as “children’s books.”

A recent article said that a bookstore in Shanghai is pulling the children’s book “Book of Bunny Suicides:  Little Fluffy Rabbits Who Just Don’t Want to Live Anymore’ after a rash of suicides by children and teens.

I had mixed emotions when I read this article.  In general, I’m against book banning.  Authors should be free to express their opinions.

And I don’t really believe that a normal, healthy kid read this book and then suddenly wanted to commit suicide.  I’m not even sure it even really gives a kid ideas for how to commit suicide since some of these illustrations are unrealistic — head in a DVD player for instance.

But what I am wondering is how this book got classified as a children’s book.  It’s definitely not age appropriate for young kids.

Suicide is a very sensitive subject that kids – and many adults, myself included – don’t entirely understand.  I can understand why there might be a book in the children’s section explaining to a child how to deal with it when a friend, family member or other loved one commits suicide.

But why would a book mocking suicide be considered a children’s book?  Because it has cute little bunnies in it?  If that’s the qualification, then we really need to look at how a book gets classified as a children’s book.

I recently read The Golden Compass.  When I went to buy the book, I found it in the children’s section.  Sure the story deals with the adventure of a little girl, but the book itself is a fantasy that deals with some pretty dark themes. 

While I wouldn’t call the book scary, I did have some very gloomy dreams when I read it.  And I wondered how it would affect a young reader.

After reading this book, I wouldn’t let my child read this book until they were well into their teens.  How did this book get classified in the children’s section?

So my question is do we need to be more diligently in accurately classifying books (i.e just because it had cute little bunnies in it doesn’t mean it’s meant for children) or do we need to take it a step further? Do we need a rating system (like we have for movies, video games, music) for children’s books?

Supernatural’s Dean Grapples with his Mission from God in “Are You There, God”

Apparently I’m not the only one reeling from Supernatural’s revelation that Dean was pulled from Hell by Castiel, the Angel of Thursday, on orders from God.  Dean himself is still grappling with the fact in “Are You There, God? It’s Me . . .  Dean Winchester.”

Castiel

In fact, Dean is struggling to believe that angels exist despite the angelic handprints on his shoulders.  But can you really blame the guy?

I mean think of the things this guy has seen over the years – including his own mother’s fiery death.  It’s got to be easier to believe that there is no God then to believe that he lets these kinds of things happen.

But I think that what’s even harder for Dean to handle that the existence of God and angels is that he might be an instrument in God’s plan – that he’s significant enough for God to not only notice him, but have him pulled from the depths of Hell.  After all he thinks of himself as just a regular guy.

Dean’s never done the hunting thing because it was the right thing to do or that it was his ticket to Heaven.  It was just how he was raised.  And he always wants to stick it to the bastards – and those like them – that hurt the ones he loved.  Family is very important to Dean.

But as much as Dean’s unwilling to take the leap of faith that there is a higher power, despite – as Sam puts it – actual proof, the idea that the apocalypse is on the horizon blows him away.

When ghosts of souls hunters have been unable to save start reappearing and taking vengeance on the hunters in a ritual know as the Rising of the Witness, Bobby finds information on the ritual from a book whose “widely distributed version is just for tourists” and is known as Revelations.

The boys defeat these ghosts and return their souls to rest.  And then Dean gets another visit from Castiel.

We learn when Dean says that he thought angels were suppose to be like “Michael Landon, not dicks” that angels aren’t guardians who perch on shoulders – they are warriors of God.  And while Dean and company were battling the witnesses, these soldiers were fighting other battles.

Anyone else think this Army of God sounds like another level of hunter?

So why is God’s army suddenly on Earth?  Castiel and others are trying to prevent Lilith from breaking the 66 seals that would release Lucifer to walk the Earth.

This revelation blows Dean away – Lucifer is more than just “a story they told at demon Sunday school.”

I can totally understand why Dean doesn’t believe in God, but I was shocked to believe that he didn’t believe in Lucifer after all the evil he’s seen.  Guess the two go hand in hand.

It’s going to be interesting to see how Dean handles his mission from God.  He’s never been one to follow orders and I can tell he’s not real thrilled with the meet and greets with Castiel.

But what exactly does Castiel want from Dean?  He’s not asked him for anything.  He’s just slowly dishing out information.  Is he going to want Dean to join forces with the angels?  Is Dean meant to fight battles the angels don’t have the manpower for?  Is Dean to become the angel’s hit man, going after certain demons?  And just how are Sam and the powers he’s been using going to fit in this picture?  Where is Ruby going to figure in?

This season has to be one of the most exciting ones yet.

Anyone else waiting for the Dean to embrace his new destiny, jump in the impala with Sam wearing sunglasses and say, “We’re on a mission from God.  It’s 106 miles to Chicago, we got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it’s dark, and we’re wearing sunglasses.” And have Sam reply “Hit it.”

Next week we get to learn a bit about the boys’ past in “In the Beginning.”

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Zack is Back on Bones in ‘Perfect Pieces’

Since last season’s Bones finale, Zack has been missing from the series, presumably cooling his heels in a mental hospital after killing a man and aiding Gormogon.

BONES: Zack (Eric Millegan, R) returns to help Brennan (Emily Deschanel, C) and Booth (David Boreanaz, L) find the murderer of a writer found in a pond in the BONES episode

But tonight in “The Perfect Pieces in the Purple Pond” we learn that Zak has not been very far from the hearts of his former coworkers.

Apparently, Hodgins visits his “best friend” regularly bringing him puzzles to challenge him.  When Zack solves the one Hodgins brought him this time he names himself “King of the Loony Bin.”  Hodgins then talks about the current case with Zack, leaving him the file to review

Angela visits too.  It’s unclear whether Brennen and Cam stop by too, but they both have Zack on the brain.

Brennan tells Wendell Bray (Michael Terry), the latest Zack fill in and Brennan’s brightest scholarship student to not be distracted by the standard standards set by Zach.  Unfortunately, that’s not what distracts him.

Meanwhile, Cam tries to get Hodgins to move into Zack’s space because she thinks it would be easiest on Zack.  But Hodgins can’t.  He wishes that Zack was back.

But Booth tells him that Zack isn’t coming back.  Just then Zack walks into the lab with the key to solving the case.

When asked out he got out, Zack replies that Sweets helped him.  It seems that on one of Sweets’ counseling sessions with Zack, Zack stole the strip from his access card and put it on his “loony bin library card.”  He then later used that card to escape.

But back to the case.  A body cut in exactly 12 pieces and missing its head is found.  The body belongs to Jared Addison, an author that lives with his mother (Lisa Kaminir), collects action figures, suffers from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and has excessively small feet as a result of some disease I can’t spell.

Jared was having an affair with a woman (Debra Christofferson) 28 years his senior and was trying to overcome his OCD in order to get back in the good graces of his publisher (Matt Doherty) when he died.

Wendell proves to be a pretty astute assistant coming up with a couple key pieces of information, but not before he misinterprets Brennen’s questions about relationships with older women.

In the end, it turns out the location of Jared’s missing head is key to finding his killer and Zack discovers that location.

While Booth and Bones go to retrieve the head and arrest the killer, Zack stops in at the diner with the rest of the crew.

But then he must return to the mental institute.  Booth drops Zack off with Sweets so it can look like Sweets checked him out.  But Sweets is clearly uncomfortable with being alone without security with Zack.

Booth makes Zack promise not to kill Sweets, but it’s what Zack tells Sweets after Booth leaves that really eases his mind.

Zach’s comment “I was wrong, not delusional” from the counseling session at the beginning of the show makes a lot more sense now.

What did you think of Zack’s return?  Should the team seek his help in the future even if he’s in the mental hospital?  Should they continue to try to find a replacement for Zack?

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What is the Mystery Behind Fringe’s Peter Bishop?

On the outside Fringe’s Peter Bishop seems like a nice guy pitching in to help solve the mystery behind The Pattern.  But there’s a lot about him that we don’t know and I think he’s hiding a mystery of his own – or maybe two.

 

Let’s start with what we know about Peter.

 

He didn’t have the best of childhoods.  When his father Walter was playing “mad scientist” his moods were erratic at best and after Walter was institutionalize, Peter severed all ties with his father.

 

In fact, he wanted to separate himself from his father so much that he dropped out of school.  But with an IQ as high as Peter’s, picking up skills is pretty easy.  He even posed as a college chemistry professor once.

 

Peter is a jack of all trades with a healthy dose of common sense too.  He’s the only one who “speaks Walter.”  And after last night’s episode, we know that Peter can play the piano and can read people (a skill acquired at the poker table).

 

When Olivia finds Peter, he’s in Bagdad setting up another temporary job and hiding from the gambling debts he’s acquired.

 

It takes blackmail to get him to help at first, but Peter willingly stays to babysit his father and help Olivia pursue The Pattern.  Is Peter really all that altruistic or does he have another motivation?

 

In “The Ghost Network” we saw Peter confront a guy in the diner that had been following Peter and Walter and taking pictures.  The man tells Peter “You were supposed to check in when you got home.”

 

Check in?  With whom?  Why?

 

Peter asks if the others know he’s there and threatens the guy.

 

Just who is Peter hiding from?  Is it the mob over his gambling debts or is it someone else?  Speaking of his gambling debts, just how did a street-wise math wiz lose that badly at the casinos?  And didn’t he just tell us in this episode how well he could read people?

 

I think Peter is hiding something and it has absolutely nothing to do with poker.  I don’t know what Peter’s gotten himself into, but I’m wondering if it is somehow (probably unbeknownst to him) going to turn out to be connected to The Pattern.

 

Then there’s Peter’s other mystery – the one I’m not even sure he knows about himself.

 

In the pilot, when Olivia first came to see Walter he knew that Peter had come with her and requested to see him.  Walter immediately inquired about Peter’s health and how he was doing.  I had originally chalked these questions up to some deeply buried fatherly concerned.  Now I’m not so sure.

 

Maybe it is fatherly concern, but not in the way you think.  In “The Same Old Story,” an episode about human cloning, Walter corners Olivia, asks her about Peter’s health and then asks her to keep what she read in Peter’s file about his medical history a secret.  A very confused Olivia tells Walter that the only thing in Peter’s file is his birth date.  Walter is relieved and then refuses to tell her anymore.

 

While I think that part of this scene is misdirection to let us think that maybe Peter is a clone, I think it does have some key clues.  I do not think Peter is a clone.  But once again, Walter is concerned about Peter’s health.  And there is something about that birth date that is going to come back again.  I wish they had given us the date.

 

Also, notice that we know absolutely nothing about Peter’s mom – not even her name.  And when Olivia asks Peter about her in “The Ghost Network” he tells Olivia “that’s a story for a different time” and quickly redirects the conversation.  It makes you really wonder who she is.

 

While I don’t think Peter is a clone, I do think that in some way Walter has experimented on him.  I’m just not sure how and why yet.  But I’m very sure it’s going to come into play at some time.

 

Also I can’t figure out if Walter’s inquiries are genuine concern about Peter because of his experiments or if it’s curiosity about the success/progress of the experiment.

 

So what do you think?  Is Peter hiding from someone?  Who?  Why is Walter so concerned about Peter’s health?  What did Walter think was in Peter’s file?

 

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House Tries to Replace Wilson in ‘Not Cancer’

This week’s House, leaves Dr. House still reeling from the news that Wilson has left Princeton-Plainsboro to get away from him.  In “Not Cancer” House must deal with the lost of his only friend.

House and Lucas. Can Lucas fill Wilson's shoes?

“What did Wilson do for me?” is the question House asks his team when transplant recipients start dropping like flies from illnesses not associated with their transplanted organ.

House is talking about the diagnosis of cancer, but the question becomes a theme throughout the show to emphasis how much he misses Wilson.

First, the case of the week – as we open four recipients of transplants from one donor are dead, one is dying and 13 brings in the last one who shows no symptoms yet.  Each person has died/is dying from a different cause and none of the causes are affiliated with the transplanted organs.

House insists its cancer.  The rest of team believes it anything but cancer.  Foreman tells House, “You need it to be cancer, so you have an excuse to talk to Wilson.”

House doesn’t accept that answer.  In fact, he even goes as far as hiring a private investigator, Lucas (Michael Weston), to do backgrounds on all the recipients and the donor.  Lucas, posing as a coffee machine repairman, buts into the team’s discussion on the patients with tidbits he’s learned.  House continues to believe its cancer and sends the team to do more tests.

“Does that PI mean we don’t have to break in to people’s houses anymore,” Kutner asks.

Meanwhile, Frank (Eric Kaldor) – the one dying case – expires while his wife and Apple (Felicia Day) – the living case – argue over whose life is more valuable.  The autopsy of Frank’s brain reveals nothing.

“We’ve gone from no sense to making less sense and then taking a step backwards,” 13 complains of House’s continual insistence that it’s cancer.

But it turns out House is right – sort of.  It’s cancer that the donor had and passed on to the recipients where it attached itself to organs and caused failure.

While the team is busy with the patients, House is recruiting for a Wilson replacement.  He corners Dr. O’Shea in the cafeteria where he gets him to buy lunch.  House tries to talk to O’Shea about monster trucks (something he had in common with Wilson) and invites him over to watch TV.

Then House hires Lucas to spy on O’Shea adding that he wants to know if he lends money interest free.

But Lucas calls House on this lie adding that House really wants to be spying on Wilson to find out if he’s pining for House.

So House sets Lucas on Wilson and finds out that Wilson isn’t trying to move on from life at Princeton-Plainsbor, just from House.  Wilson has been in contact with Cameron, Cuddy and Foreman.

But when House shows up at Wilson’s doorstep, Wilson won’t even talk to him.  But guess who’s there to help House talk it out and find the diagnosis he needs when Wilson turns him away – Lucas.

And when Cuddy refuses the treatment House wants – opening the woman’s head – and places security around the patient’s room, House sends in Lucas to do his dirty work.  Even better, Lucas shows up during the surgery to say what House wants to hear.

Anyone else think House has found a replacement for Wilson?  Even House thinks so.  He puts Lucas on retainer.

I’m definitely sad to see Wilson playing a smaller role (I’ve not heard that the actor is leaving), but I like Lucas.  He calls it like he sees it.  He adds a touch a humor.  And then there’s the argyle socks.

Guess we have to wait until next week to find out if his paying for a friend works out for House.

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What Movie is Your Soul Mate Deal Breaker?

Last night on the Season 4 premiere of How I Met Your Mother, we find out that a recently engaged Ted spent the entire summer mooning over his fiancé only to discover that he really doesn’t know anything about Stella.

How I Met Your Mother - Season 4 - "Do I Know You?" - Sarah Chalke as Stella and Josh Radnor as Ted. Courtesy Eric McCandless/Fox

He doesn’t know the color of her eyes, the foods she is allergic to, her favorite color and most importantly what she thinks of his favorite movie.

In Ted’s quest to determine if Stella really is the woman he can spend the rest of his life with, he stages a movie watching session to determine how she reacts to Star Wars, his all time favorite movie.

Hilarity ensues as he watches her watch the movie.  In the end, Stella hates the movie, but tells Ted she loves it and in an ahhhhh moment confesses to Marshall that she’s comfortable with pretending to like Star Wars for the rest of her life if it means she can be with Ted.

But the scene immediately generated a conversation in our household.  What movie is so important to you that your significant other must like it if you two are to spend the rest of your lives together?

My husband immediately agreed with the Star Wars choice and added his favorite John Wayne movie, The Searchers – both of which, fortunately, I happen to like.

Then after a moment, he decides that it really is a wonder that he married me because his deal breaker movie is The Christmas Story. 

I quickly explain – you know my marriage is on the line here – that I do like that movie.  I just don’t feel the need to watch it for 24 hours straight.

My deal breaker is a little harder to define.  I know right off that any chick flick is out when talking to a guy.  If I go with my sick day movie, the movie I fall back on when I need cheering up or time to zone out, then I’d have to say The Lost Boys.

My husband will never watch the movie as often as I do.  And I can’t call it his favorite, but at least he didn’t boo at it.

I guess the morale of the story is that you don’t have to share the same favorite movies, but you do have to at least be able tolerate each other’s favorites.

So then, what movie is a deal breaker for you if your significant other doesn’t like it?  (Please say I’m not causing any divorces or break ups by asking this!)

Heroes Returns with Double Feature Season 3 Premiere

Tonight Heroes returned with a two-hour premiere – “The Second Coming” and “The Butterfly Effect” – opening Volume 3:  Villains with a literal barrage of plot twists.

Hayden Panettiere as Claire Bennet and Milo Ventimiglia as Peter Petrelli. Courtesy Adam Taylor/NBC

I know that NBC is trying to gain back some of the momentum the series had in the first season, but sometimes less is more.  I think that they threw a little too much at us to even start to digest.

After the disjointed Volume 2, I was left with a whole series of questions about the plot and one major question of whether the show was still worthy of my play list.

After tonight, I have even more questions and I’m still not sure if Heroes has recaptured the magic from Volume 1.

Let’s start with what tonight’s episode answered.

A future Peter shot his own brother during Nathan’s press conference in Odessa where Nathan planned to expose his powers. 

Apparently four years in the future, Peter – who has the ability to teleport – feels the need to run before traveling back in time, but not before he has a run-in with a dark-haired future Claire.  It seems not all is well for our heroes in the future with the masses knowing about their powers.

But once in the present, future Peter finds out that changing history isn’t as easy as it sounds.  While he might have prevented Nathan from revealing their secret, he did not actually kill his brother.

A miraculously recovered Nathan believes that he was “touched by God” while at the same time believing that he was healed by Linderman – a Linderman who we believe is dead and apparently only Nathan can see.

This tidbit then begs the question – who healed Nathan?  Is Linderman alive and invisible?  Is he a figment of Nathan’s imagination?  Or is someone cloaking themself to appear as Linderman while not being seeing by others?

Either way, the revived Nathan gets noticed by New York’s Governor (Bruce Boxleitner) and his staffer/lover Tracie Strauss – formerly known as Niki Saunders to viewers (and Nathan) – and is tapped to fill a senate seat.

It seems that Niki survived the fire in New Orleans, but has assumed another alter ego.  This one has the power to freeze nasty little reporters that might expose skeletons in the closet.  Poor William Katt.  What an end for the Greatest American Hero!

Meanwhile, future Peter sends Matt to an African desert when Matt discovers he’s not the present Peter.  While in Africa, Matt meets Usutu (N’Tare Mwine) who tells him he must go on a spirit walk.  Why doesn’t Matt just read his mind to get the answers he wants?

Nevertheless we learn the Usutu paints the future – I’m assuming he meant literally, but I guess it could me figuratively too.  It’s easy to guess that the rock painting that Matt saw in the desert is Usutu’s work, but what about the painting Mohinder saw?  How did Usutu get to New York?

Heroes - Season 3 - "The Second Coming" - Sendhil Ramamurthy as Mohinder Suresh. Courtesy Adam Taylor/NBC

Speaking of Mohinder, he’s been busy playing mad scientist after sending Molly somewhere to be safe.  He uses Maya’s adrenaline to develop a serum that will give anyone injected with it special powers.  Maya, however, is still left without an antidote for her deadly power.

Mohinder – apparently coming up short in the common sense department – decides to inject himself resulting in heighted senses including super strength and super lust for Maya.  But no good deed goes unpunished and Mohinder starts to lose his skin. 

In another act of stupidity disguised vaguely as wisdom, future Peter tells Claire not to rush to the injured Nathan’s side, leaving her to continue hiding in Santa Cruz, CA where Sylar easily finds her.

After a chase scene right out of a teen horror flick, Sylar finally takes Claire’s power.  But he doesn’t kill her.  Instead he leaves her with a gift – he takes away the pain.  He also tells her she’s special and that neither of them can ever die.  But we know differently – if the brain stem is severed (like it was to Peter is Volume 1), death can happen.

With his new found power, Sylar heads to Section 5 where the biggest and baddest villains The Company has captured are imprisoned.  The same place where future Peter imprisons present Peter (anyone confused yet?) is the body of a prisoner named Jesse (Francis Capra).

Sylar starts off by killing Bob and acquiring his power to turn medal to gold, but Elle short circuits the rest of his plans.  While she’s able to capture Sylar, her power surge inadvertently released the rest of the prisoners which included HRG, Jesse, Knox (Jamie Hector) who absorbs fear and uses it as a weapon, Flint (Blake Shields) the flame thrower and The German (Ken Lally).

But never fear, there’s someone to step up and fill Bob’s shoes – Angela Petrelli, who promptly fires Elle.  Angela confirms that her power is premonitions – that’s how she knew who future Peter was. 

She also had a premonition in which Matt, Hiro, Peter, Claire and others are left dead while the likes of Adam, Tracey, a black guy I didn’t recognized and what looked like Governor Malden face off against Angela and Sylar.

Seems Angela has taken a liking to Sylar.  He’s her new project – and judging from the previews for next week, HRG’s new partner.  But the big reveal is when Angela tells Sylar that she is his mother. 

Is she speaking literally or figuratively?  Just how many people has Angela slept with?  There’s Peter and Nathan’s dad, Kaito, and apparently Sylar’s dad (whose identity remains a mystery).  There is even speculation that she’s Matt’s mama too – but I have no proof to back that one up.  This woman really gets around.

Lastly, we have Hiro and Ando who find out that Kaito left Hiro in charge of half of a dangerous formula whose only cure is the purity of blood.  Hiro immediately loses his half of the formula to speedster Daphne (Brea Grant).

In the quest to find her and retrieve the formula, Hiro travels to the future where he sees a super charged Ando kill him.  Of course, now Hiro treats Ando differently and that is going to be the exact reason Ando turns on Hiro in the future.

More interesting, I’d rather know who Daphne is working for?  And who has the other half of the formula – at least until Daphne steals it.

Micah, Monica and Molly are all missing this episode.  Jessalyn Gilsig reprises her role as Meredith Gordon, Claire’s biological mom.

I felt like I was running through this entire episode trying to keep up.  Didn’t the creators learn anything from last season?  I can only hope that the show finds its groove soon and settles in.

What did you think was the most interesting twist?  What was the biggest surprise of the night?

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How to Build a Better Mouse Trap – I Mean Pirate Ship

Saturday my three-year-old twins were in a community parade with their preschool.  But to be in the parade you needed a float.  Here’s where mom duty becomes real challenging.

Before: The red wagon before we started.

My kids are very, very into pirates.  Last year they took a pirate class (think art class with pirate theme).  My son even likes to talk like a pirate.  I’ll ask him to do something and he’ll respond with “aye, aye captain.”  When he flushes the toilet he hollers “fire in the hole.”

The twins even pretend to be pirates when they play.  One day they lined up all their chairs in the living room to make a pirate ship.  My son used his sister’s princess keys to “start” the ship and when she asked to get in, he said sure, but make sure you put your seat belt on!  What can I say, at least they are safe pirates.

Needless to say when it came time to come up with ideas for a float, one idea stood out – Pirates!  But then the real dilemma started – how to turn a red wagon into a pirate ship?

Well this mommy’s no dummy.  The first thing I did was recruit help from my mother and her two foster daughters.

After: The wagon transformed.

So the Saturday before the parade we set out to work.  My twins were on hand to supervise.  Three trips to the craft store and 10 hours later, we finally had a pirate ship.

We used cardboard boxes for the aft and bow.  We spray painted Styrofoam brown and then wrapped it in burlap to create wooded sides. 

We topped the boxes with Styrofoam wrapped in brown duct tape to create front and rear decks.

We added cannons with cannon balls, an anchor and a mast and voila!

And now I can add pirate ship builder to my resume.