Castle: "Disciple"

Castle: Season 6, Episode 9

ABC, Mondays 10pm

By Nicole Sandoli

This episode, “Disciple,” is the BEST episode of the season thus far. Although I loved the The Da Vinci Code and National Treasure-esque episode, this one takes the series to a whole different level. We are left with more questions than answers, something that rarely happens in these episodes.  What makes this episode so great is that a second plot line has been introduced – or so it seems.  When Kate was investigating her mother’s murder, parts of that investigation were intertwined with the regular cases we saw each week. In this episode, we are basically left standing on a cliff.

            When the show starts, we see a marina security guard discover a young woman hung by fishing wire.  At Castle’s house, Castle and Beckett are discussing wedding and honeymoon plans.  This gets you excited right from the start because we haven’t heard them talk about actual wedding plans in a while.  As they talk in the kitchen, Castle organizes a bunch of fruit in a smiley face for Beckett –another thing to get excited about. Has Pi, Alexis’ healthy boyfriend, started to rub off on Castle?

            Castle and Beckett arrive at the scene and realize that Lanie is a bit shaken up, and she has a right to be.  When Ryan shows them the body, the victim looks IDENTICAL to Lanie. Lanie doesn’t have a sister, so immediately we’re wonder who this woman is and why she is a clone of her.   Lanie examines the body back at the lab, and she calls Beckett to come down to the lab – alone.  She tells her that the victim, Pam Hodges, got cheek implants to get the same facial structure as Lanie. What continues to shock us is the identical tattoo on the victim’s hip, which is the same location that Lanie has her new tattoo.

            Castle and Beckett question Pam’s uncle and learn that she used to work the streets. He says that she had recently gotten a good job offer and has turned her life around.  When Castle and Beckett go to her apartment, they find it to be huge.  She has expensive coats hanging in the center of the room, which leads them to believe she was someone’s mistress.  When they find out that rent is being paid for by “Greg’s Baker,” an untraceable account, it furthers their theory.

            They trace the serial number on the cheek implants to a Dr. Kelly Nieman. Castle and Beckett pay her a visit, and she says that Pam brought her a picture of who she wanted to look like. Back at the precinct, Esposito questions Lanie about the tattoo. This is also a confirming moment because we find out that Espo and Lanie are still seeing each other. He tells her you could only see her tattoo if she is naked and asks her if she has been with anyone else.  She says she hasn’t shown anyone except him, but says she doesn’t remember getting home one night after going to a bar.  This leads them to thinking she could have been drugged.

            In a deleted picture found on Pam’s camera, they see it’s taken in front of a boat at the marina.  They trace the boat and the owner, and Ryan and Espo head to the location.  When they storm the boat, they find a man with his back turned.  He’s hung in the same way that Pam was, and Ryan goes to see his face.  Pale as a ghost, Ryan tells Espo to stay back because the man is IDENTICAL to Espo.

            Daniel Santos, our new victim, moved to NY from Georgia and used to be a stripper.  Exactly like Pam, he told friends and family he had a new and better job.  The team also found out he was going to a speech therapist.  Castle and Beckett meet with the therapist who has a recording of what Daniel wanted to sound like.  He plays the recording, and to no surprise it’s Espo’s voice.

            Ryan and Espo go to Daniel’s apartment, and a neighbor tells them that a limo would pick him up occasionally.  We then find out that he’s been visiting Dr. Nieman. When brought in for questioning, she tells us they had a “strictly physical” relationship that Daniel referred Pam to her.  With no substantial evidence against Dr. Nieman, she tells them it’s clear she is being set up and gives Kate her card as she walks out of the room.

            They trace the security cam outside of Dr. Nieman’s apartment the night of Daniel’s death, and he is seen getting into a red car. They trace a parking pass on the rearview windshield to Carl Matthews – the security guard who found Pam Hodge’s body. The team thinks they have their killer, but naturally, Castle takes it one step further.  He thinks Carl has a partner and that it could possibly be Jerry Tyson, an escaped criminal from a previous season. Castle goes with his hunch and gets Beckett to let him sign out the “3XK” files. The files had been signed out three days earlier… by Esposito.   The real Esposito gets defensive when accused, and Beckett gets a call that all the DNA samples from those cases were signed out too… by Lanie. It looks like it was the work of Lanie and Esposito’s doppelgängers.

            They locate Matthews at a motel, and he’s checked in to room #47.  This is also odd because it’s the same room number that Tyson was checked into when he was being investigated.  Castle waits outside as the team goes to his room, but Castle sees Matthews and tackles him. He’s brought in for questioning, and confesses to the murders too easily.  Castle and Beckett know he is working for Tyson. The suspense of this episode is high throughout, but the ending truly reaches the climax. Ryan brings the team records from the prison where Tyson was kept, and they find out that Dr. Nieman was the nurse that was treating him. Immediately connecting the two, they speed to Nieman’s office, except it is completely empty.  There are no traces that a business even existed.  The only thing left is a pen and note saying “Better luck next time.”

            At Castle’s house, he plays with the pen and discovers it is a USB drive.  He plugs in into the computer, and a song starts to play.  The singer starts “We will meet again” and Kate’s face is spooked and filled with emotion.  Castle and walk slowly towards each other in silence. Now, we have no idea what this song triggered.  It seems to affect Beckett more than Castle, but we don’t know why.  The murders or the doppelgangers are left unsolved, and we are left confused after the rollercoaster ride we have just been on.  It’s brilliant to bring a past criminal back, and I think this plot line will spark interest in some audience members who are getting bored with the series.  This was one of the more serious episodes because it was heavier on content. This whole episode just screams “PLOT TWIST!”

How I Met Your Mother

Season 9, Episode 12

Starring Josh Randor, Jason Segal, Alyson Hannigan, Cobie Smulders & Neil Patrick Harris
CBS, Mondays 8pm

By Nick Palumbo

With 22 hours left before the wedding, we are brought in to see that Barney is handcuffed to a pipe in a security office. However instead of panicking he is asking the guard to push the button on a monkey toy on his desk. Robin tells the guard not to hit the button in an angry tone. She is furious at Barney because their rehearsal dinner started 10 minutes ago, and instead of being there they were waiting for the cops to come get Barney from the laser tag office he was in. Knowing Robin is mad, Barney tries to plead his case to the security guard explaining how he was suppose to have a surprise laser tag rehearsal dinner.

A few months earlier, Barney had one of his genius ideas to have a laser tag rehearsal dinner. The gang immediately jumps on him and tells him that it is one of his dumbest ideas yet, and that was saying something. Robin also reminds Barney that their marriage is about compromise, because she agreed to have the wedding in New York when she wanted to have it in Canada. Barney finally agrees to have a normal rehearsal dinner, but he doesn’t seem to want to let the idea go just yet. Ted begins to talk wedding ideas for the rehearsal dinner and says he would like the play the piano as their wedding gift. Both Barney and Robin say no, but then Ted offers to dress up as Liberace. Immediately Barney and Robin agree to allow it. A few days after Robin pulls off Barneys surprise bachelor party, Barney declares the wedding is off and that he thinks Robin should move out. Seeing how serious he was Robin went to grab her suitcase, only for it to be filled with puppies. It was a total prank on Robin to get her back for the surprise bachelor party.  Because of this prank, Robin now told Barney to stop pulling pranks. The gang then agreed with Robin, but Barney insisted that she was doing an even bigger prank on him.

With the rehearsal dinner about to start, Barney was still convinced that Robin was trying to pull off a surprise laser tag rehearsal dinner. When the ice machine breaks and Robin needs more ice, Barney volunteers to go get more ice believing that it is all apart of the plan. Robin says no to him and makes him promise he is not going anywhere. Barney, even after he promises to stay, immediately leaves as soon as Robin leaves the room.  

 Meanwhile, Lily is distraught that she is in the dark about the rehearsal dinner because of her inability to keep secrets. Ted agreeing she cant keep secrets, Lily reminds him that she has been able to keep her mouth shut about his move to Chicago and points out that he has broken his promise to play piano at the wedding rehearsal dinner dressed as Liberace as his piano lessons had not gone well. Lily then tells Ted and Robin about her plan to Italy being in shambles because Marshall took up a judgeship without asking her. Ted is angry with Marshall for his selfishness, but Lily knows that her husband would never intentionally hurt her. But then Robin receives a phone call and must deal with Barney after learning that he went to the laser tag arena and is currently awaiting arrest after threatening one of the staff after realizing there was no surprise rehearsal dinner. When Robin leaves, Ted comforts Lily and says he knows she is good at keeping secrets. He then offers to tell her one more, and he leans in to whisper. Lily then stands up to announce to the guests that there is going to be a change in venue.

Back in the security office, Barney is still convinced that there is one massive surprise and just wants to go to his surprise dinner. Robin however keeps telling him there isn’t one and that their marriage isn’t about playing pranks on each other. Barney then breaks out of his handcuffs and hands her a pair of ice skates. Barney then goes into telling Robin he may lie to her once in awhile, but only if it means an amazing surprise. Snow begins to fall and then the office walls lifted up, for us to see them standing in the center of an ice rink with all their friends and family. Barney tells Robin that if they couldn’t be in Canada for the wedding, he wanted to bring Canada here for her.

Alan Thicke and James begin to sing, and Lily turns to Ted and thanks him for letting her know the secret even though it was almost done. Ted then admits he didn’t take piano lessons but instead took ice skating lessons for this. He jumps on the ice only to fall flat on his face. Robin tells Barney how much she loves him, and promises to get him back for this.

            Overall this episode, even though not moving the plot foreword with meeting "The Mother", really solidified Barney and Robin’s relationship. Throughout the entire season, both Barney and Robin have been finding out many things that could possibly make their wedding not work. However at the conclusion of each episode them seem to find a way to make it work. This episode shows something a little different. This shows how Barney and Robin are actually meant for each other. Barney confesses that he might not always tell the truth, but that his lies are for the greater good and possibly something truly LEGEN-WAIT FOR IT-DARY. Even though as a fan, I still am waiting for "The Mother" to make her appearances I couldn’t help but love this episode. But tune in on December 16^th for the episode called, “Bass Player Wanted”. Maybe we will see "The Mother", remember she is a bass player!

Modern Family: ClosetCon '13

Modern Family Season 5, Episode 8

ABC, Wednesdays 9:00pm

By Nicole Sandoli

            This episode is called ClosetCon ’13 for a number of ingenious reasons.  ClosetCon is the name of the convention that Claire and Jay are attending to do some networking. Cam, Mitch, and Lily are visiting Cam’s farm and family in Missouri, where Cam still has yet to tell his grandma, “Gram Gram,” he is gay. Back at Jay’s house, Phil gains access to Jay’s closet that is usually locked with all his keepsakes.  This week, we are back to the mockumentary tv formula with multiple plot lines happening at once.

            At ClosetCon, Jay is less than enthused to be there, while Claire is excited for the experience. Jay runs into an old colleague named Rita, who gets Claire to thinking Jay has had an affair with. She is only given this idea because of what the bartender says to her moments before, “Let’s just say when the name tags come on, the wedding rings come off.” Jay mingles with some old friends, but him and Rita seem to be closer than the rest.

            Cam and Mitch being in Missouri is hilarious in itself.  Mitch is clearly out of place, while Cam thrives as a farm-body. Cam’s over-touchy mother continues to make Mitch uncomfortable, and Lily starts to use Cam’s southern lingo.  Perhaps the best part in this story is when Mitch tells the camera, “Missouri…misery, huh?” This line could not be more perfect to describe exactly how he feels about Cam’s ridiculous farm life and chores.

            Back at the Pritchett's, Phil, Luke, Gloria, Manny, Alex, and Haley have plans to go out for dinner.  Haley and Alex fight over the pizza delivery boy and who likes him more. Phil gets sidetracked before their reservation, and starts to play with Jay’s collectibles that are in a closet in the kitchen.  He has a blast going through Jay’s stuff because that door is usually locked.  In there, he finds a plethora of airplanes and baseballs, but is specifically infatuated with a replica of the Apollo 13 aircraft. What happens next is predictable Phil – he knocks it on the floor and it shatters into a hundred pieces. As they all panic, Phil makes Gloria cancel the reservation, which is ironically at a place called Houston’s.

            At ClosetCon, Claire happily attends all the sessions and meets up with her father before dinner.  She finds him with Rita outside their door, and her suspicion continues. What she doesn’t know, is that Rita and Jay have a tradition of hanging a skeleton in the closet to scare someone they know, which in this case is Claire. When Jay blows Claire off for dinner, and she asks him about his situation with Rita before they both go to bed.  He explains that he only used Rita once to try and get Phil to move away and break-up with Claire.  Naturally, this wasn’t what Claire was referring to, so more information is revealed – coming out of another “closet.”  She corrects him and meant about the affair, but is now angry that he tried to split them up and goes for her coat in the closet to leave the room  She sees the skeleton and is not amused as she heads for the front door. Jay fires back that he received a call from immigration when he was dating Gloria, which shuts Claire right up and puts her back in bed.

            Mitch has had a change of heart and decides to embrace Cam’s upbringing, emerging in overalls and a plaid shirt.  In the meantime, Cam’s grandma showed up unexpectedly, and still doesn’t know that Cam has a partner and a child.  Cam pretends that Mitch is their helper named Bud, which causes a tiff between them and discussing acceptance. When they are locked in the basement because of a tornado warning, Mitch agrees to pretend he is the help and Lily is his daughter. Right before Mitch can elaborate too much, Cam stops him to break the news to his grandmother. Naturally she isn’t happy when he says he has a child with a man and she comments, “Now I know why God gave us this storm.”

            Phil and the boys have his dad on Skype, in hopes of him helping them glue the plane back together.  Alex and Haley get stuck to the same airplane propeller, and they fight over who will answer the door for the pizza boy. They continue to bicker, and apologize to each other right before Gloria threatens to cut their hair. Phil orders the boys to leave the garage so he can add the finishing touches, and the rest of the family watches from the new security system Gloria had installed. It is humorous to see everyone gathered around the screen barely breathing, as if it were an important surgery.  He glues the final piece together, and they all let out a huge sigh and celebrate with Phil's favorite gesture - hugging.

            Overall, this episode was pretty so-so. The laughs were there, but I wasn’t hysterical the whole time.  The title of the episode was great for tying in the three separate stories, though. It was important they tied the themes together, as it unified the episode.  Claire acts like Phil at some points in this episode, which is interesting to see his characteristics rubbing off on her. Jay runs as the dominant male out of the three families, and it’s nice to see him as powerful at the conference – knowing and mingling with everyone. Mitch and Cam always end on a happy note, being strong for Lily and showing their love for each other. Phil somehow always manages to pull through, despite his clumsiness. Alex and Haley make up…until their next fight. It was a typical Modern Family episode, but hopefully the next episode will hold my attention better.

How I Met Your Mother

Season 9, Episode 9

Starring Josh Randor, Jason Segal, Alyson Hannigan, Cobie Smulders & Neil Patrick Harris
CBS, Mondays 8pm

By Nick Palumbo

            With only 27 hours left before the wedding, Barney and Robin are still searching for someone who can officiate their wedding due to the death of their previous minister. When it seems like all hope is lost, James (Wayne Brady) Barney’s brother, comes to save the day. James’ father, Sam Gibbs (Ben Vereen), is a minister and agrees to perform the entire ceremony. Upon this good news, Barney’s father Jerome (John Lithgow) arrives at the wedding with his wife. After not seeing each other for many years, Barney begins to wonder how his parents will react to seeing one another. Barney, excited after seeing that Jerome and Loretta still get along well after all these years, thinks there is a possibility of the two actually getting back together.

         After careful thought, Barney put a plan into to action to get his mom and dad back together. The plan consisted of sending his stepmother in a limo ride with Ranjit (Marshall Manesh), and getting Jerome and Loretta trapped on an elevator together. Once Barney had trapped his parents in the elevator he provides them with a champagne dinner and also drenches them in water in an effort to get them to disrobe. Realizing what Barney is trying to do, both his parents refuse to go any further with the game he is playing. Finally, James comes to the rescue and takes Loretta and Jerome out of the elevator. James tells Barney what he is doing is wrong because he is trying to get Sam and Loretta back together. Both Barney and James begin to argue who is better for their mother and only seem to think their own father is better. Soon both James and Barney learn that Loretta and Sam had actually resumed their relationship from when the gang originally found Sam in Long Island. Even though Barney is initially upset with the news, Robin convinces him that James needs his parents to get together after all he is personally going through. After realizing that and the happiness of his mother, Barney agrees and gives Sam and Loretta his blessing.

            As all of that is going on, Barney has entrusted Ted with an autographed photo of Wayne Gretzky, which is to be a gift to Robin at their wedding. Ted leaves it in his room, only to come back to it covered in his calligraphy ink. The ink has covered the entire photo and it must be fixed. Ted not convinced this was an accident, begins his investigation on who spilt his ink. The three main suspects are, Billy Zabka, Robin’s one cousin, and a waiter at the hotel. The number one suspect in Ted’s eyes is Billy Zabka, who he believes did this in order to reclaim the best man position. However we learn that Zabka was getting a massage at the time, and when the other two suspects are discounted, Lily convinces Ted that he is being paranoid and that his own carelessness caused the accident. However, both Ted and Lily discover new information. Lily finds out that the photo covered in ink is actually a picture of Zabka and Ted finds out that Jerome was actually getting a massage in Zabka’s name. They both go to confront Zabka where he confesses that the "bad guy" roles he played in the 1980s led to widespread hate, and being temporarily promoted as best man was a rare affirmation of his character. Zabka intended to be the 'good guy' by finding a replacement for the photo in hopes to regain the best man position. However, even though his intentions were good Zabka realizes that he allowed himself to truly become a bad guy and he apologizes for that. Feeling sympathetic, Ted tells Barney Zabka’s version of the story, however Barney doesn’t reassign the best man duties.

            Now away from the wedding, Daphne and Marshall seem to finally get along well together. However things change when Daphne’s daughter tells her not to attend her Model UN speech upon hearing her mother might not make it anyway. Daphne explains that her daughter, who lives with her ex-husband, doesn't understand that Daphne spends time away to support the family. Marshall insists that they go to speech because if her daughter sees her she will forgive her. Daphne however, thinks differently and says it would just upset her more now because she asked me not to come. Eventually Marshall drives to the school that Daphne’s daughter’s speech is at and tells Daphne she made it and has to go in. When they get inside they see Daphne’s daughter about to give her speech. Daphne is proud when her daughter gives an aggressive speech that praises oil and denounces environmentalism. Marshall, feeling uneasy, says farewell to Daphne and excuses himself and Marvin to continue their journey to Farhampton.

            Overall this episode is one of many “filler” episodes in the last two seasons. Of course you get your typical comedy and things you love out of the show but moving forward this episode only told you two major things. One that Barney wants Ted to be his best man no matter what and two Marshall is that much closer to the wedding. Personally I thought the episode was just ok. I really looked forward to Season Nine having a bigger story with “The Mother”, but only three episodes have actually had her in it. I think that eventually “The Mother” will become a bigger part of the season but until then we might have to see some “fillers” till then. 

How I Met Your Mother

Season 9, Episode 9

Starring Josh Randor, Jason Segal, Alyson Hannigan, Cobie Smulders & Neil Patrick Harris
CBS, Mondays 8pm

By Nick Palumbo

With 31 hours left before the wedding, things haven’t looked too good for Robin. With the news, from last episode, of her mother not coming to the wedding Robin just can’t stop crying. Barney, Ted and Lily try to comfort her and make her feel better, only for Barney to take on the challenge of making Robin stop crying. Robin, being how she is, tells Barney that she has to get through this on her own. However, according to Barney once he has accepted a challenge he has to complete it.  Lily then claims that Barney never finished a challenge to pick up diapers and samosas in the fall 

of 2012, a challenge we later find out was given to him by Robin and herself. Hearing this Barney then recounts the story of why he never finished that challenge.

The story opens up with the Barney discussing to the gang that there is no male/female relationship that is platonic. A platonic relationship, for those of you who don’t know, is that of a male and female who have no chance of “hooking up”. However Barney then retracts his statement to say that he knows only one relationship that is like that, the one between Marshall and Lily. Barney points out that Marshall would never hook up with Robin even if all their lives were at stake. Barney still running his plays on women, continuously keeps saying “challenge accepted” to picking up different women. Lily, finally fed up with Barney's own creative plays to pick up women, dares him to take up challenges that she and Robin will choose. First on the list was getting a woman's number while speaking like a dolphin. Once completed a second challenge was given. This one was getting a girls number while wearing a garbage bag and not using any word that has the letter E. Seeing that Barney has passed all their challenges, Lily and Robin decide to make him do an errand for them, he had to buy Lily a pack of diapers for Marvin and samosas for Robin. Barney quickly realizes that this is an errand not a challenge and to make him do it Lily added in picking up a girl while getting these items. Barney once again was off to complete his challenge. 

Barney buys the items and then attempts to pick up a woman. As he approaches this random girl and she turns around, we see that it is “The Mother”. Barney tries to make his move on her only to get turned down. “The Mother” sees through the little game Barney is playing and calls his bluff. She tells him that “everything is going to be ok” and walks away. As she walks away Barney tries to pick up another woman only to return to “The Mother”. Eventually Barney opens up to her and tells her the entire story about him and Robin. Eventually he realizes that he his just a short time away from possibly getting Robin back. However, “The Mother” tells him something different. She says, “This will take all your time, all your effort and all our resources.” Realizing this Barney goes home to write his last and final play, “The Robin”.

While this is going on Marshall and Ted are at a Harlem Globetrotters game versus the Washington Generals. While at the game they discuss Ted’s true feelings for Robin and if he will do anything about it. Ted tells Marshall that he isn’t interested in Robin and will not pursue her again. Marshall disagrees of course and tells Ted that people change and that Robin could have feelings for Ted now, that she may have changed her mind. During the game Ted receives a hone call from his old boss Hammond Druthers (Bryan Cranston). Druthers is calling because he wants to offer Ted a job in Chicago with all the success he has had over his GNB building.  Ted initially refuses the job, but then tells Druthers he would consider it. When Marshall and Ted return home from the game, Ted sees Robin eating olives. Surprised by this, because in the pilot episode we know Robin hates olives, Ted calls Robin out on it only for her to say, “I guess I changed my mind.” Thinking about the conversation that Marshall and him had earlier, Ted calls Druthers back to tell him he can’t take the job. Ted now thinks he has another shot with Robin, but he has no intention to pursue her immediately, that he wants to let fate bring them together.

We then flash-forward back to present day where Barney finishes telling the story of he quest to get Robin. He says that he didn’t know who that woman was, but that she set him straight. He had only one goal from that day on, and it was to make Robin fall in love with him. Upon the completion of the story Robin kisses Barney telling him his challenge is completed.

            What makes this episode special is there is a lot of foreshadowing towards the future since it was a flashback. We already know a majority of things that happen but we never truly knew how they came to be. This episode clears all of that up.  We see why Ted is moving to Chicago and we see how Barney began his quest to write his final “play”. Along with that fellow QU Bobcat, George Sloan class of ’04, wrote the episode. Overall this episode gives us great background of things we already know.