heroes: End of Volume 2

The Heroes fall season ended Monday night by fulfilling its promise of two heroes falling. Were they who you expected?

In New York, Sylar reigns over Mohinder, Molly and Maya as he attempts to regain his powers. After Maya learns her brother is dead, she lashes out at Sylar, who shoots her (bringing cheers in the Lady Penguin household). Alas, it's too good to be true, and Sylar orders Mohinder to test out his cure on Maya to make sure it works. Meanwhile, Mohinder had been hoping that The Company, who he knows have hidden camera in his lab, will see Sylar and come stop him. Unfortunately, Elle (dealing with her daddy issues and trying desperately to impress her father) spots the video first and decides to stop him herself. She manages to chase him away without hurting anyone else, but he takes off with the cure--Claire's blood. After injecting himself, his powers return.

Mohinder's concerns over losing the blood for Nikki seem to be unnecessary, however, since she's caught in an exploding building while rescuing Monica. What on earth are they doing to poor Michah, who's now lost both of his parents this season?

In California, Claire works on her plan to expose The Company and her own powers. But the company makes a deal with her still alive father, who shows up convince her not to do it. What's Noah/HRG going to have to do now?

Unfortunately, Claire's not the only one ready to out The Company. In Texas, while Hiro battles Peter and Adam over possession of the virus, Nathan and Matt show up as well. Hiro couldn't convince Peter than Adam was the bad guy, nor could Matt with his mind controlling ways. But a speech from big brother Nathan did the trick, and after Hiro whisks Adam away to be buried alive for all eternity, they decided to take their knowledge public at a press conference. Nathan goes on and on about his woes at the podium (probably making no sense to anyone) and before he can get to the important stuff, he's shot and killed. His mother, receiving the news on the phone, coldly accepts it and acknowledges that it was the only option.

What did you think? Were you happy with the choice of the two fallen heroes? Who shot Nathan? Do you think Adam is gone for good?

pushing daisies: The secret's out

In last night's episode of Pushing Daises, "Bitter Sweets," Ned blurts out his biggest secret to Chuck, after finally deciding never to tell her.

First, we got two crimes to solve this episode. First, the gang proves a man was killed not by the hands of his own girlfriend, but by those of the girlfriend doll of his delusional friend. The solved this crime so quickly it left me wondering what the rest of the episode would focus on.

But never fear, we had another crime coming our way. The brother and sister owners of the new candy shop across the street from The Pie Hole decide to play dirty, scheming ways to put our friends out of business in order to claim their prime retail location. Chuck and Olive, frustrated by Ned's laid back attitude, decide to fight back. But when Ned discovers the brother dead in a vat of taffy while cleaning up their mess, attention shift: they need to the pie maker's innocence.

With Ned locked up, Emerson can't rely on his wake the dead approach to crime solving, and the team must work to outsmart sister Dilly (perhaps a subtle nod to Dylan's Candy Bar?), who they suspect is the killer. But once she clears her name, she agrees to let them find the real killer: a rogue food safety inspector who wants to bribe them for the surprise inspection that shut down The Pie Hole.

In prison, Ned's cellmate in none other than the delusional doll lover from the night's first crime. Listening him talk about his love for his "girlfriend," Ned realizes there is more than one meaning to truth, and decides he's better off keeping his truth from Chuck.

But that night, as he and Chuck lie in their beds across the room, Ned is filled with love and closeness for his own girlfriend. Without thinking, he blurts out the truth: "I killed your father."

This issue has been dancing over us the entire season, so it will be nice to see it resolved in future episodes. Plus, it should add some more depth to Ned and Chuck's relationship. With touching out of the picture, their relationship relies on a deep, emotional connection, and they'll have to work hard to get through this.

heroes: Setting Up The Season Finale

And in today's new character category, we have: Victoria Pratt. The biological engineer who originally recovered the virus from Mohinder's sister, Shanti, and spent years testing it and developing new strains. Including a strain that will be released and kill 93 percent of the population.

Unless Peter and Adam can get to it first. Or maybe it's when Peter and Adam get to it first. Because Victoria certainly seemed to believe that Adam's real goal was to release it, even though we see him both in the present and the past claiming he wants to save the world. And Victoria Pratt is now dead (I think).

Hiro's also trying to get to virus before Adam. He teleported back to the scene when Adam originally tried to get the virus in the 70s, and since he know Adam pushed his father off the building, is convinced who the bad guy is.

But who can be sure? Last night's episode really had me reeling once again about who the good guys are, and who the bad guys are.

And that's something Elle seems to be questioning as well, as her "dad" ordered her to keep an eye on Claire. You could see it in her eyes that she was losing faith in her father and The Company. Now she and Claire are set up for their own blond-on-blond showdown.

In Sylar's world, he continued to manipulate Maya into trusting him (this guy is evil and powerful without his powers) and convinced the whiny little brat that her brother needed to go back to Mexico. He didn't convince her brother though, and Alejandro came back to fight it out with Sylar, who of course killed him (again, I think. One can never be sure).

I know Sylar wants Maya's powers, but doesn't Alejandro have powers too? He was the only one immune to Maya's black eyes, and even if she can learn to control them on her own, it seems like he must have some sort of power that Sylar could take. And did anyone else notice that he threw out some English before Sylar killed him? Is it possible that he can understand the language after all (like Sun in Lost)?

Now Sylar and Maya have made it to Mohinder's apartment, where they're all alone with a sleeping Molly. Anyone remember where Parkman's at right now? I completely forget. And down in New Orleans, Michah and Monica ignore Nikki's warning about being a hero, and Monica ends up getting caught by the thugs who stole her cousin's book bag.

The season finale (the "fall season" finale) has been set up, and the preview promises two fallen heroes. Thank goodness. The show needs less storylines to follow, and I can only pray that the don't add more characters to the mix.

Any guesses as to who will die? I'm pinning my hopes on Maya.

how i met your mother: The Anti-Barney

Monday's episode of How I Met Your Mother focused on Barney's case of "The Yips." He lost his ability to hit on women, a power he originally gained, we learn, after his first sexual encounter with an older woman. After running into this woman at the gym, he discovers that her praises of his sexual ability were fake; that she had been put up to it by his then "straight" brother.

His confidence broken, Barney loses control of his actions around women and embarrasses himself at the Victoria's Secret party with all of the models. Luckily, Hedi Klum lends a sympathetic ear. Barney eventually convinces his "Mrs. Robinson"to sleep with him again, and this time he really does "rock her world."

This episode was okay, but it really didn't rock my world. I find most episodes to be laugh out loud funny, but this one didn't connect with me at all. The rest of the gang spent their first and only week at the gym, which was humorous but not exceptionally so. I hope the next one's better!

grey's anatomy: Uh Oh Lexie

Thanksgiving Thursday's Grey's Anatomy episode, "Crash Into Me Part One" ended with what you had to know was going to happen from the start of the episode: Lexie's patient (played by Seth Green) blew his carotid artery, spewing blood all over the room. . .and Lexie. Despite the predictability of that happening, I'm looking forward to an intern having to solve a major medical crisis again. I know our original interns are now residents, but it seems like they never let their own interns do anything. The show was always about them learning medicine the hard way.

Elsewhere in the episode, "Ava" showed up again at Seattle Grace and convinced Alex to sneak her into the gallery to watch him operate. I'm really starting to wonder what's going on with her character--she seems to just randomly show up (by herself too. . .why is she leaving her baby?) and disappear. I like Ava and Alex together, but she either needs to be a part of the show or she doesn't. Of course, her appearance tonight signaled the start of a strife between Lexie and Alex, who have their own blossoming relationship of some sort.

We also got our first glimpse at Bailey's struggling home life, which has been hinted in previous episodes. I'm sure we;'ll learn more soon, but her husband seems on the verge of calling it quits as a stay-at-home dad. I'm glad that the show is finally giving us some Bailey outside of the hospital--we get enough of the personal drama with the other doctors; she deserves some too.

Those were the story lines that interested me the most. Meredith and the Chief's efforts to save the ambulance victims, as well as Cristina and Bailey's run-in with a white supremacist, didn't really interest me too much tonight. Now we have to wait two weeks for part two of this story. . .nothing like a bloody cliffhanger to keep you on the edge of your seat.

how i met your mother: And a Slappy Thanksgiving to You!

On Monday's episode of How I Met Your Mother, Lily and Marshall hosted Thanksgiving at their new home for the first time, Marshall kept Barney on his toes with the promise of a slap bet fulfillment, Robin dated on older guy and Ted learned how to be friends with his ex.

Things I loved from this episode:

• Robin celebrating Canadian Thanksgiving, aka "Real Thanksgiving." As a lover of all things Canadian, I love it when they throw a little bit into the show--and I learned a little bit about the Canadian version of the holiday!
  
• Hip Bob, Robin's date. Since we see the show through Ted's memories, grandfatherly Bob played the part of the young 41-year-old he actually was. So much funnier than if we had seen an actual hunky older guy!
  
• Countdown to slap bet. Remember a few episodes ago when we saw Marshall taunt Barney with his Web site, counting down the seconds to his next slap? Well, the countdown led us to 3:01 p.m. Thanksgiving Day. Lily temporarily put an end to Slapsgiving, but gave Marshall slapping permission with a couple seconds to go to catch Barney off guard and end the episode with a Slapsgiving carol.

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