• THE X-FILES Season Finale Photos: Everything’s Going to Hell
• For Canadian Eyes Only: Big changes coming to Canada’s Cable Packages this March.
• Netflix’s Love: A Dark Romance About Terrible People
• The Business of Show: ABC’s Channing Dungey Is the First Black President of a Major Network
• The 100: Marie Avgeropoulos Talks Octavia’s War with Bellamy
• Funny Business: ‘Gotham’s Ben McKenzie Tries On A Fancy Commissioner Gordon Mustache
• Casting Coup: ‘Walking Dead’ Governor David Morrissey Stars In Season 2 Of Starz/BBC Drama ‘The Missing’
• RIP: Mob Wives star Big Ang has died
• Sad But True: Paul Lee’s Exit and What Went Wrong at ABC This Season
• As Paul Lee Era Ends at ABC, Channing Dungey Steps Into a No-Win Job
• Behind-the-Scenes: ‘The People v. O.J. Simpson’ Director Anthony Hemingway Talks Dream Team
• Late Night Wars: Donald Trump Is a Conundrum for Political Comedy
• CBS Is Ready to Cash In on James Corden’s Carpool Karaoke: Late Late Show’s viral videos broke the Internet
• Hottie Alert: ABC’s ‘Time After Time’ Pilot Casts Josh Bowman, Freddie Stroma as Jack the Ripper & H.G. Wells
• Defending the Kardashians: Why showing the kids is crucial to The People v. O.J. Simpson
• Exit: Julianne Hough Not Returning as Dancing with the Stars Judge as Len Goodman Returns
• Sutton Foster on Gilmore Girls Revival Role: ‘I’m Going to Lose My S–t’
• Cable Ace: Joe Manganiello To Co-Star In History’s Military Drama Series ‘Six’
• Brilliant Casting: Lauren Ambrose To Star In Amazon Drama Pilot ‘The Interestings’
• Girl Power: Broad City and the Triumph of the Platonic Rom-Com
• Shonda Rhimes: My year of saying yes to everything
• Mark Your Calendars: Flight of the Conchords will reunite to perform at 2016 Newport Folk Festival
Archives for February 2016
THE ORIGINALS Teasers and Photos: THE VAMPIRE DIARIES Crossover and an Old Vendetta
Stefan Salvatore will be making a trip to New Orleans in an upcoming episode of THE ORIGINALS in part 2 of an ORIGINALS/VAMPIRE DIARIES crossover. Meanwhile, Davina will be continuing her plan to be reunited with Kol and a vamp with an old vendetta against Klaus will be coming to town in upcoming episodes of the show.
Episode 3.14 “A Streetcar Named Desire” (February 26): With the threat of the prophecy looming over their heads, Klaus (Joseph Morgan) and Elijah (Daniel Gillies) find themselves rendered useless inside a magical trap, while Aya (guest star Tracy Ifeachor) and The Strix’s coven of witches move forward with a risky spell that could take one of them down for good. Elsewhere, Freya (Riley Voelkel) leads the charge to get her brothers back and enlists the help of Marcel (Charles Michael Davis), Hayley (Phoebe Tonkin) and Stefan Salvatore (guest star Paul Wesley), an old friend of Klaus’, whose unexpected arrival may be the key to their survival. Finally, Davina (Danielle Campbell) moves forward with a dangerous plan that brings her one step closer to reuniting with Kol.
Episode 3.15 “An Old Friend Calls” (March 4): When Klaus (Joseph Morgan) learns that Cortez (guest star Matt Cedeno), an old vampire with a vendetta against him, has arrived in New Orleans, he finds himself forced to deal with this new threat. Meanwhile, when Cortez begins threatening the lives of innocent residents, Vincent (Yusuf Gatewood) has no choice but to help the vengeful vampire in his plan to take down Klaus. Elsewhere, Marcel (Charles Michael Davis) turns to Davina (Danielle Campbell) for her help after several Strix members turn up missing, and Elijah (Daniel Gillies) confronts Hayley (Phoebe Tonkin) after learning that she’s been dealing with Jackson’s death in a destructive way.
Browse through photos below for the February 26 and March 4 episodes of THE ORIGINALS airing at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT on The CW.
Episode 3.14 “A Streetcar Named Desire”
Episode 3.15 “An Old Friend Calls”
SUITS Recap: Who’s Really On Trial Here?
From the airing of the very first SUITS episode, it was inevitable: Mike Ross, fraud that he was, would eventually go on trial. It took us to the fourteenth episode of the fifth season — the seventy-fourth overall — to get here, but after a dry run that could have damaged Mike’ relationship with Harvey Specter, the trial has begun. With lawyers on both sides of the issue playing dirty, as SUITS lawyers are wont to do, and US Attorney Anita Gibbs openly admitting to wanting to drive a wedge, though, the question of who (or maybe what) is really on trial here remains. Is it actually just about Mike breaking the law by pretending to be a lawyer? Is it about destroying Harvey? Jessica? Donna? The entire firm?
Or maybe it’s just about destroying anyone who’s ever cared about these characters. Like me.
Maybe the relationships are on trial. SUITS has, in spite of being a legal drama, always been a series featuring a wide variety of complex relationships. With Mike Ross’ secret out and the possibility of prison time looming over every major player’s head, tensions have been running high since the second Mike was arrested. The potential for a slew of break-ups, for lack of a better description, was a big player in “Self Defense.”
Perhaps the biggest relationship that could have been ruined was the one between Mike and Harvey, as they spent much of the episode trying to get the best of one other in a mock trial.
Out of concern for Mike, Harvey didn’t want him acting as his own lawyer, and it caused increasingly nasty arguments between the two of them as the episode moved toward showing the real thing. Mike consistently had the mistaken idea that it was all about winning for Harvey, especially since they’d agreed that the winner would be his defense attorney. Harvey, for his part, seemed genuinely concerned. Because of that, though, his behavior in the firm’s dry run became increasingly cutthroat to the point where he crossed the line.
Tensions were so high in the fake courtroom that I often found myself wondering how it was going to be remotely possible to survive the real thing, especially when Harvey called Rachel as a witness. Harvey and Mike had already spent so much time bickering and tossing insults back and forth that Harvey lashed out at Mike, telling him that his fabricated marriage certificate was “a fake. Just like you,” and then he stopped at nothing to prove exactly that.
Harvey asked Rachel to describe her supposed Vegas wedding. Listening to her very detailed story, the impression that I got was that Rachel made herself extremely vulnerable as she shared her dream ceremony with the firm. It was the type of moment where one might expect to take a breather to appreciate what she stands to lose in all of this, seeing as how there’s no chance for that kind of setting when Mike gets thrown into prison if found guilty. Harvey, on the other hand, after not getting Rachel to slip up with a weak story, went in for the kill.
Remember that time Rachel cheated on Mike? Well, so does Harvey. He wasn’t above using it to prove Rachel was a liar, even though it meant humiliating her and making her hate him. Anything to win, right?
So, to be clear: Harvey and Mike were at each others’ throats; and Harvey attacked Rachel…and this was only during a fake trial. The real deal hadn’t even started.
Ultimately, Rachel broke up the men’s final post-practice-hearing shouting match to say that Harvey should be the one to take first seat in court. She didn’t decide it for any reason other than that it would be best to make the witnesses all hate Harvey the way that she had when he’d interrogated her. This is why you don’t let someone, who is neither a lawyer nor someone with a super brain for memorizing everything he could’ve learned in law school and more, make potentially life-altering decisions about lawsuits. They don’t always make them for the right reasons, especially if they’re kind of emotional wrecks after being verbally abused in “court.”
Score zero for the professional and personal connection that Harvey and Rachel have built up over five seasons. Seeing as how Harvey did go on the warpath when the time came and did have Mike over to let him down gently after the first day battling Gibbs didn’t go well enough, I’m pretty sure he and his protege are going to be fine.
Maybe Jessica’s loyalty and/or commitment to her firm was on trial. While all of that was going on, Jessica and Louis had increasingly tense conversations about Louis’ fear of being prosecuted for witness tampering with Sheila. The situation became so bad that Louis accused Jessica of being quick to ask him to put himself on the line to keep herself safe but ultimately unwilling to put herself in danger by lying on the stand to protect everyone else.
Louis and Jessica, bickering just like in the terrible old days. That always ends so well.
When Gibbs came to proclaim her victory in getting Mike’s trial moved up to the next day, giving the firm practically no time to prepare, Jessica Pearson proved (for at least the millionth time) that she was a formidable opponent. She didn’t flinch in the face of the woman who was trying to take away everything she’d built. Instead, she stood taller than ever. Jessica told the US Attorney that she was going to get on the stand and tell everyone Mike Ross was the best Harvard-educated lawyer she’d ever hired, forcing every remaining witness after her would follow suit.
And she did it with complete confidence, strength, and conviction. If anybody needed proof that Jessica Pearson was as loyal as ever to her people, that case is closed. Jessica wins.
Mike’s trial, Donna’s defeat, my heartache. Gibb’s first witness against was good ol’ Trevor. Welcome back to being the ever-sleazy former best friend, Trevor. (Verdict in the relationships on trial case: You’re kidding me, right? This one’s been dead for years.)
Trevor wasn’t willing to face time in jail for Mike. That much was obvious from the moment he was announced as Gibbs’ witness, but what he was willing to do to save his own hide was as despicable as ever. Trevor didn’t just say that Mike had never gone to Harvard. He gave up every bit of dirt regarding his supposed friend’s failed college career, time spent taking the LSATs for cash, and even their days spent too high to function. Yes, he had to answer the prosecution’s questions, but did he have to actually go that far? Probably not.
It was pretty telling when, in the flashback following his swearing in, Trevor actually had to ask why Mike wouldn’t just turn on Harvey. Mike’s answer? “Because unlike you, I would never do that to a friend.” Good boy.
Mike’s good friend Harvey was able to discount Trevor as a witness by ruthlessly bringing up personal information that caught him in a lie. His practice with using a similar technique on Rachel just the day before paid off, but it wasn’t enough. Mike still didn’t have any classmates from law school to prove he’d actually been there — because he hadn’t.
Harold Gunderson had come to Mike, offering to share stories about their non-existent law school days, but Harold wasn’t the type of guy that Mike could count on to keep his cool during a cross-examination. Instead, Mike begged Jimmy for help. But Jimmy didn’t see the guy who’d helped him rebuild his career after taking a shortcut as worth jail time. Forget about the part where Mike had also helped Jimmy’s aunt with a settlement, too.
Jimmy finally came around, but it was only as a rebuttal witness after SUITS did the unthinkable and went to the deep, dark place of showing Donna Paulsen in a weak moment. Donna always seems to know everything, have an answer to everything, and take everything that’s thrown at her in stride. Not so when she was called as a witness.
Before taking the stand, Donna asked Jessica what to do and was told that Gibbs would never outright ask whether or not Mike had gone to Harvard. In a moment of perhaps too much confidence — bordering on cockiness — Jessica also told Donna that, if she lied, nobody would ever know anyway. Unfortunately for everyone involved, Gibbs still found a way to shake the usually unflappable mega-secretary.
Donna’s testimony started off brilliantly enough. The prosecution had found the same thing she’d revealed earlier: Mike Ross didn’t appear anywhere in the Harvard class rankings. Gibbs demanded to know why that had never bothered Donna. Her answer? “Because I’ve never been on any class ranking, and I’m the best legal secretary in the city.” Where’s the lie?
Well.
In the end, Donna’s inability to lie was the problem. She made the mistake of saying that Mike had talked his way into his interview. When asked to explain, she said Mike pretended to be someone else. Once she realized she’d messed up, Donna was visibly nervous; and the deeper Gibbs forced her to dig that hole, the more hurt she seemed.
Donna’s time on the stand was incredibly difficult to stomach. Not only was Sarah Rafferty as brilliant as ever, but there’s just something to be said for seeing one of SUITS’ most beloved characters defeated so quickly and easily. Besides, Donna wasn’t supposed to be the one on trial, so how could she lose so spectacularly? Donna’s participation in the crime only ever existed because she cared about Harvey, Mike, and the others at the firm; in some ways, she could be considered an innocent bystander.
Even worse than watching Donna shredded by Gibbs (maybe Harvey and Mike should’ve spent their practice time prepping her instead of trying to outdo each other) was watching her beat herself up over it after the fact: “You know, I always talk like nothing can get to me. Well, it did today. I crumbled up there. And I hurt Mike’s case. And I’m ashamed of myself. And I don’t know what to do.”
Verdict in the trial of my emotional well-being after seeing Donna hurt, Harvey and Mike coming to blows, Jessica and Louis back to arguing after one of their strongest moments together in the series after SUITS 5×13, and everything else that happened in this episode? Non-existent.
Verdict in the trial against Mike? To be continued, but it’s not looking good. See also: A crestfallen Harvey called Mike to his condo to tell him that things were not going well, and he should actually move to change his representation. As Mike had said all along, it was best for him to be his own lawyer so he could essentially testify without being cross-examined.
Louis Litt’s loyalty? Yeah…back on trial. Adding injury to injury, Gibbs went to have a little chat with Louis after the trial’s first day. She had already driven a wedge between him and Sheila. She had already discovered that Louis sent Sheila to Argentina, threatened him with charges, and sent someone to rattle Sheila. She had also already been served with a court order to not have any contact with Louis without his lawyer (Jessica) present, but for someone so hellbent on punishing Mike for breaking the law, she doesn’t seem to care about following the law herself.
Apparently, Gibbs had already done to Louis was good enough…yet. Miss I’ll Be Dirtier Than Harvey To Get To Harvey Through Mike (really, what’s her obsession with this firm’s lawyers?) did some digging and, with just the right amount of conjecture, managed to figure out that his name partnership had only come about when he found out about Mike’s secret. She baited him with the whole tale — I think Anita Gibbs watches SUITS — and the chance at striking a deal if he turned on everyone else.
Louis, with tears in his eyes, swore that he wouldn’t turn on his partners. The more Gibbs kept talking, though, the more possible it seemed that he might do just that.
Will Louis stab everyone in the back to keep himself safe? Tune in to SUITS on Wednesday, February 24 at 10/9c on USA to find out.
On TV Tonight: Thursday February 18, 2016
NET | 8PM | 8:30PM | 9PM | 9:30PM | 10PM | 10:30PM |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
ABC | Grey’s Anatomy | Scandal | How to Get Away with Murder | |||
CBS | The Big Bang Theory | Life in Pieces | Mom | 2 Broke Girls | Elementary | |
CW | DC’s Legends of Tomorrow | The 100 | ||||
FOX | American Idol | Baskets (FX) | ||||
NBC | You, Me and the Apocalypse | The Blacklist | Shades of Blue | |||
MISC | Project Runway All Stars (Lifetime) | Top Chef (Bravo) | Vikings (History) Colony (USA) Portlandia (IFC) London Spy (BBC America) Lip Sync Battle (Spike) |
Orange denotes what the TV Addict is watching and/or recording tonight!
ARROW Recap: The Truth is Out Th… Oops, Wrong Show. It’s Not.
There are so many things I loved about this episode. Curtis is my new hero, for one. Serious, badass Donna Smoak is probably my favorite kind of Donna Smoak. Felicity being awesome. You know, the usual things that make me love this show and not throw something at the TV.
Because tonight, ARROW proved that its title hero simply cannot learn a lesson, even if we hit him over the head with it. And it doesn’t stop there. Oliver is not the only Queen who endorses lies, because Thea’s first reaction to finding out her brother has a secret son is to tell him he is doing the right thing. I mean, what?! No. Just… no.
But let’s all take a deep breath and recap what happened in tonight’s most apropriately titled “Code of Silence”.
Oliver’s mayoral campaign is underway and, now that he has Damien Dahrk’s wife running against him, there is going to be a debate. Thea is the one running the whole thing and the girl is the boss when it comes to organizing a campaign. She has Oliver at the right place, at the right time, saying the right things. That’s how she finds out that, once upon a time, Moira Queen wrote a million-dollar check to a Samantha Clayton; but the funny thing is, that check was never cashed. Oliver denies knowing anything about it, but of course Thea is not going to let it go. But more about that in a second.
Meanwhile, Malcolm is now officially working for Dahrk and we get to see him sitting in a conference call of some kind, in which a member asks Damien what he is going to do about Captain Lance, now that they know he is working for the vigilante. Dahrk assures everyone that it’s all under control and that Lance’s loose end is being dealt with – which skyrockets his chances of being the one in the grave. Or Laurel, if what happened next is any indication.
Quentin gets a bogus call about a B&E and Laurel, luckily, decides to tag along. When he goes into the building to investigate, it becomes crystal clear he has just walked into a trap and the whole place starts falling apart. Laurel manages to find him and get him out of there just in time, before the whole building collapses.
So, Felicity being her awesome, badass self, tracks down where the call came from and identifies one of HIVE’s bases of operation. Team Arrow storms the place, but the ghosts implement the same protocol they used on Lance and the whole thing collapses, with Thea barely making outside with HIVE’s laptop.
Felicity asks Curtis to try to recover the banged up device (one of the ghosts went a little trigger happy with a nail gun) and that’s when she finds out he is planning a surprise engagement gift for her. And what a gift that was, as we later found out. So the plan for the debate continues as planned, but Curtis gets back to Felicity about the laptop and says he recovered blueprints of some sort and sends it over to her. Turns out the ghosts were going to take down the building the debate was going to happen, but Team Arrow manages to stop them and everything goes well and Oliver does fantastic and everyone is happy.
However, no one is happier than Felicity because Curtis Holt is our new hero. The surprise he has for her is a bio-stimulant that can be implanted in her spine. So she can walk again. And then walk down the aisle on her wedding day.
Curtis. Curtis, you sweet, sweet man. You made me cry. This has got to be the best present in the history of television ever.
But let’s talk about what really matters is this episode, shall we?
Oliver Queen is a lying bastard and Thea is completely stupid to encourage him in this ridiculous notion that he is doing the right thing. “Code of Silence” could not be any more obvious in the foreshadowing if they tried, because they were basically hitting us over the head with it. The theme of the episode was secrets – from Lance keeping a secret from Donna to Oliver’s completely delusional idea that everything is going to be okay.
For a moment there, I thought he was finally going to see the light, but then… Seriously, I just want to shake Thea really hard and yell at her, what the hell were you thinking?! Because, when Oliver finally comes clean to her about William and explains the contrived and convoluted situation, she says she completely understands and that he is doing it out of love. I mean, what? NO.
I don’t care if this was TPTB trying to force down our throats that this stupid storyline has a point, because it doesn’t. It sucked in the crossover and now it’s even worse, because they raised the stakes so high and the fallout is going to be so big, that I don’t know how they are going to crawl out of that hole they have dug themselves into. Now they are engaged, Oliver has kept this a secret for months and he wouldn’t even tell her if Dahrk hadn’t kidnapped William.
Oh yeah, Damien Dahrk has William. We all saw that coming, right? And now Oliver’s big, ugly secret is going to come out in the worst possible way next week. Sigh.
Why, why are you doing this to us, TPTB? Why?
Don’t miss the next episode of ARROW on Wednesday, February 24 at 8/7c on The CW.
SUPERNATURAL Preview: Getting Into the Ring
Dean and Sam got a lead on a weapon they could use against Amara in this week’s SUPERNATURAL. Unfortunately, the “Hand of God” had been sunk on a submarine during WWII en route to the U.S. and the Men of Letters. So the Winchesters decided to call on Cas (or Casifer, as we know him to be) for some help. He agreed to send Dean back into the past to retrieve the weapon before the sub sunk. While Dean tried to locate the Woman of Letters on the ship and convince her he was from the future, Cas remained behind with Sam after being unable to accompany Dean due to the warding on the ship.
As Dean retrieved the weapon (which turned out to be a piece of the Ark of the Covenant), Sam found a spell that could help bring Dean back and get around the warding. As the Germans attacked the sub, Lucifer decided to reveal himself to Sam and used the power of his soul to help bring Dean back. But Castiel stopped Lucifer before he could kill Sam. Dean managed to make his way back to the present and Dean immediately discovered that Lucifer was loose. Unfortunately for the Winchesters, the artifact’s power was depleted and was rendered useless to them.
In the next episode, Sam and Dean decide to take a little break from their search for Amara when Dean reads an obituary for a wrestler from their childhood. The brothers head to the funeral to pay their respects and come across a few interesting wrestling personalities, including Shawn Harley (guest star Mike “The Miz” Mizanin), a hot shot new wrestler with a fiery temper who pushes everyone’s buttons, and veteran wrestler Gunner Lawless (guest star Aleks Paunovic). They decide to attend the next match so they can re-live their childhood memories but another wrestler soon turns up dead, leading the Winchesters to believe they have a case on their hands.
Don’t miss an all new episode of SUPERNATURAL on February 24 at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT on The CW.
THE X-FILES Season Finale Photos: Everything’s Going to Hell
THE X-FILES fans have enjoyed a mix of stand-alone episodes with some heavy original series throwbacks and now it’s time for the short revival season to come to an end. And it’s time to put the focus squarely back on the mytharc.
Guest stars Lauren Ambrose and Robbie Amell — who both appeared in the last episode — will be returning for the season finale, titled “My Struggle II”. As will Annabeth Gise, who played Agent Monica Reyes in the original series. Here is what’s to come in the finale: “The investigations that Mulder and Scully previously began with conspiracy theorist and web-TV show host Tad O’Malley (guest star Joel McHale) seem to have awakened powerful enemies. A widespread panic begins as people all over the country suddenly start falling gravely ill, and Scully must look within to try and find a cure. Meanwhile, Mulder confronts the man whom he believes to be behind it all, but another figure from Mulder and Scully’s past may prove to be the key to their salvation.”
Browse through photos and watch a preview below for the season finale of THE X-FILES on Monday, February 22 at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT on Fox (U.S.) and CTV (Canada).
AWKWARD Season 5B Trailer: Times Are Changing
When we last saw Jenna and the gang in the midseason finale of AWKWARD, everyone was heading their separate ways for college. Jenna and Matty were still together, but the show hinted that would no longer be the case when it returned.
And that seems to be true. Season 5B of AWKWARD “kicks off at the beginning of summer, a year after we last saw Jenna and her friends. She returns with a new-found confidence as she starts an exciting summer fellowship at an internet startup. As she reconnects with her high school friends, it’s clear that there has been a lot she has missed. It’s a summer of friends, self-discovery, romance and mystery that will forever impact everyone’s lives.”
AWKWARD returns with all new episodes on Tuesday, March 15 at 10/9c on MTV.
WAYWARD PINES: Djimon Hounsou Joins the Cast for Season 2
Djimon Hounsou (BLOOD DIAMOND) will be joining WAYWARD PINES in season 2, according to Fox.
“Hounsou will portray CJ MITCHUM, an original resident of Wayward Pines and a historian for the town with extensive knowledge of its complex origins, and the one person who can provide a unique bridge between the current world of Wayward Pines and the previous world that humans inhabited.”
Hounsou joins Jason Patric, who was previously announced in a starring role for the new season of WAYWARD PINES.
WAYWARD PINES will return for a new season this summer on Fox.
SUPERNATURAL Sneak Peek: A Super Weapon
Sam and Dean Winchester know that the majority of beings who first locked Amara away are currently MIA on SUPERNATURAL. Michael and Lucifer are trapped in Hell’s cage (at least, that’s what Sam thinks — but the rest of us know Lucifer is freely roaming the earth now thanks to Castiel), God has been missing for a while and the other archangels are dead.
So what’s a Winchester to do when faced with defeating a nearly un-killable foe? Find a tool they can use. And Sam may have found one. In a sneak peek below, we see the younger Winchester ask his older (and caffeine-deprived) brother if he’s aware that the Nazis had a division dedicated to finding archaeological and historical relics. Dean seems somewhat surprised (I guess he didn’t believe two of the three original Indiana Jones films which spelled that out), but Sam may have found one such weapon that they can use: the Hand of God.
Related: Browse through photos for the February 17 episode of SUPERNATURAL
The only problem, as we’ll soon discover, is that the Hand of God was lost during WWII on a submarine that sunk to the bottom of the ocean. But Casifer sees the benefits in getting his hands on the weapon and he agrees (still pretending to be Cas) to send Dean back in time to retrieve the weapon before it’s lost to the ocean.
Don’t miss an all new episode of SUPERNATURAL tonight at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT on The CW. You can also watch a preview here.