This is difficult...

I've finally managed to gather enough courage to continue watching The Good Wife. I'm watching it incredibly slowly, especially compared to how quickly I went through the first 4 seasons. I'm probably only watching one episode a day.

The first episode I watched after my month long break was "Hitting the Fan" in which Will finds out that Alicia is leaving the firm. I would say that Josh Charles' acting is amazing when walking towards Alicia's office to confront her; he was hurt, sad, and angry, and I could see all that just from the closeup of him walking. Then again, maybe I was seeing what I wanted to see because I really don't know much about good acting vs. bad acting. It was quite unbearable, the breakup. This one actually hurts, unlike the actual breakup of Will and Alicia's relationship. This one is final. The betrayal irrevocable.

If there's one thing I didn't like about the last few episodes I've watched, it's the fact that they focus too much on Lockhart/Gardner vs Florrick/Agos. I understand that it's an interesting dynamic, but there's no way two law firms in a city like Chicago keep going against each other, even if it's partially intentional. It also means that we're missing out on some awesome guest stars that we've had in earlier seasons. Those other lawyers are one of the best things about the show, in my opinion.

Right before I started writing this post, I had watched "The Decision Tree." It's one of the most talked about episodes of season 5, and it lived up to my expectation. Again, I'm quite impressed by Josh Charles, just him sitting there, charting his decision tree. A little look to the distance, holding back a few tears in his eyes; it seemed so subtle and simple, yet so impactful. The thing that I've gotten from the last handful of episodes is how hurt Will really is, while Alicia seems stronger. I know that it was Alicia who left so it makes sense for her to be less distressed, but sometimes it looks like she's not affected at all. It makes her seem cold at times. A part of me wants to see Alicia sadder or remorseful, for what she did to Will. It makes me want to write a fanfiction about it; interestingly, this episode actually feels like (a much better version of) a fanfiction I would write for Will, imagining that Alicia would have been far more rattled than she actually was in court. Just a lot of imagined emotions.

I just don't know if I can go on. I'm only 4-5 episodes away from that episode. It's just very hard to continue watching knowing that something horrible is about to happen. I'm not ready for Josh Charles to leave.

What Kind of Day Has It Been?

First of all, I'm pleased that the series finale is titled what it's titled. The series in general has had its fair share of critics. The finale, in particular, was very divisive, even amongst fans. From what I've read, I think the biggest criticism was that the finale didn't really end with a bang. Instead, it was very mellow and tied up a few loose threads. I understand people's disappointments in this type of endings, but I enjoyed it.

The biggest surprise of the show is definitely Olivia Munn, and her portrayal of my favorite Newsroom character Sloan Sabbith. Interestingly, Don Keefer, who at the beginning was presented to be somewhat of an asshole, ended up being my second favorite character. I, and many others, would love a Sloan and Don spinoff show (yes, I know Sorkin has said he's done writing TV shows, but I can hope). Olivia Munn is perfect for Sorkin's writing. Or, if he prefers movies, I would love a Sports Night movie. The handful of references they threw during the final episode made it that much harder to not rewatch Sports Night!

You will be missed, Newsroom! I've enjoyed the ride.

I can't seem to stop watching Sports Night

I'm currently at the beginning of season 2, and I believe that this is the third time through the show THIS MONTH. I just keep coming back to Sports Night when I have some free time.

The first (few) time(s) I've watched the show, I'm always more drawn to Peter Krause's Casey McCall. I think he's very cute and charming. And a little broken. He's also tall and handsome and has that deep voice that I find insanely attractive. Also, the frustrating will-they-won't-they romantic plot involving Casey and Dana Whitaker (Felicity Huffman) hooked me in.

However, having recently watched Josh Charles on The Good Wife (which I have yet to continue), and Dead Poets Society, means that this time around I'm more focused on Dan Rydell. Strangely, this is the first time it occurred to me that Dan might actually be the main character of the show, seeing as how Josh Charles gets first billing and Dan gets the more complicated storylines. I find him very endearing. Obviously, the Sorkin-monologue of Dan's apology was beautiful. I also started to appreciate the way Josh portrayed Dan. There's a subtlety and perfectly placed pauses that I had previously missed. Also, Josh Charles was damn cute back then!

The Good Wife

I haven't really watched any new shows lately, and Agents of SHIELD is the only show I'm following every week. I became interested the The Good Wife because Josh Charles was on Sports Night, one of my favorite shows.

I didn't think I was going to watch this show, so I wasn't too careful about avoiding spoilers. I watched Charles' appearances on late night talk show, in which he talked about...what happened to his character. That, and Julianna Marguiles' Emmy win speech. I didn't think much of it, because I honestly thought I'd learned my lesson after Game of Thrones, to not get too attached to TV characters. I thought I was desensitized by character deaths. I guess I wasn't.

Back to the beginning. Alicia Florrick, wife of disgraced politician who had to go back to work as a lawyer after 14 years of being away, raising her children. 14 years is quite a long time to be away from a profession, and she found it quite difficult to find a job. In comes Will Gardner, played by Josh Charles. He and Alicia were friends when they were in Georgetown. At the beginning, it seemed like they were just close friends who lost touch after law school. But you know they would turn him into a love interest. And, just as expected, I fell in love with Will. Or at least I shipped their pairing. Does that make me the  predictable viewer? They keep dangling their potential relationship to keep me coming back to the show?

In any case, they ended up together, and they ended up breaking up. Again, as you would expected. These things never end well on TV. Honestly, I thought their breakup was the adult, smart thing to do. It was too much for her and she needed to put her children ahead of her own happiness. However, I thought their relationship could have been explored further. Of course, this is the thing that I hate. Or I hate that I love it so much. It's never a clean breakup. They're still hung up on each other, even years later. The thing is, Will has done nothing wrong, in my opinion. Sure he's taken the money but that was 15 years ago and he has done nothing wrong to the people around him. I feel like Alicia has been keeping him on a leash; reels him in, and shuts the door in front of his face, one too many times.

Season 5: Where it all ends

I honestly don't know Alicia's reason to stay with Peter. Then again, the title of the show is The Good Wife. Being the wife is part of who she is. It's good for Peter's political career, but I don't know what good it is for her. That's one of the reasons why I just want her to go back to Will. They were happy together. So what happened at the end of season 4 was devastating. She's really leaving Will this time (his firm, at least), and she's doing it behind his back while stealing his top clients. I'm currently still watching the beginning of season 5. I'm too scared to go on. Will is about to find out that Alicia is leaving and I don't know if I want to see how he'd react. I don't want Will to get his heart broken again.

What's worse is that in about 10 episodes or so, Will will be killed. With Game of Thrones, I avoid spoilers like the plague. Now, I don't know which is worse, getting your favorite killed off when you least expect it, or when you know it's coming. I'm doing the same thing as I did when I was watching the end of Daivd Tennant's run on Doctor Who. I can't watch Will die so I've stopped watching season 5 a few days ago. I don't know if I can continue, but I really want to know what happens. I honestly think that this might be worse, expecting his death. Maybe I should be careful about spoilers not because I like the unexpected, but because knowing hurts more.

The Newsroom: Season 2

I had just finished watching season 2 of The Newsroom in one day. I think the pace in which I watched it was based on the fact that I missed Aaron Sorkin's writing. I missed the witty banters; I missed the monologues; I even missed the aura of arrogance emanated by these people who are, for whatever reason, all much smarter than me. Or at least way more articulate than I am in expressing their opinions.

I somewhat see The Newsroom as Aaron Sorkin's ultimate TV show. It takes the news reporting aspect of Sports Night, and the politics aspect of The West Wing, and the behind-the-scenes production of a live show as in Studio 60 (although this is also a significant part of Sports Night). Then again, it might just feel similar because of all the Sorkinisms. The quick, lengthy dialogues and the similar line deliveries. It's very strange, that even though a lot of things are repeated across his projects like this, or this, I never tire of them. I just like the way they speak, I guess.

Fortysomething

As usual, I'm finding it difficult to let go of a character/actor after marathoning a show. So, after watching all 8 seasons of House, I found myself looking for other Hugh Laurie things to watch. I've spent some time on YouTube, but I needed more. So I went to his IMDb page and just looked for something with decent ratings. That's when I stumbled upon Fortysomething.

I didn't even read the synopsis or looked at the other cast members. I just searched for a way to watch it. I've only watched 1 episode so far, but it's really making me happy. A young Hugh Laurie plays a doctor, and an even younger Benedict Cumberbatch plays his son! The Twelfth Doctor himself Peter Capaldi also plays a doctor, who seems to be Hugh's character's rival. I just find it pretty bizarre that two of my favorite doctors (I'm counting Capaldi as The Doctor, hence one of my favorite "doctors") play doctors in this show, and it doesn't hurt to have a bit of Cumberbatch. It's a 6 episode comedy, so it should be pretty easy to watch.

I'll miss House very much

House was one of those shows that I watched, loved, followed, and...stopped when there was a handful of episodes left; therefore, I didn't know how it ended (still on that list: Dexter, Chuck, and How I Met Your Mother). Well, I finally did it. Started rewatching everything, from season 1, a few weeks ago, and I watched the series finale last night. And, I have to say, it's still good. Not sure what made me stop watching back then.

Going back a little further, to my first experience with House. It was almost May 2009, about 2 weeks before my sophomore year finals week. No more homework, no more projects, barely any lecture, and plenty of time to study. Obviously I went looking for a new TV show to watch instead. I distinctly remember eating dinner at my desk with the pilot episode playing on my old MacBook. I had to stop eating when Chase did the first tracheotomy. I didn't expect that; I thought it was just a funny drama with lots of talking. Within 8 days, I've watched almost all 5 seasons available at the time. I was definitely obsessed. I fell in love with Dr. Gregory House, and with Hugh Laurie.

When *will* winter come?

Warning: Spoilers up to the end of season 3

With a show like Game of Thrones, avoiding spoilers has been incredibly difficult. I think I had done quite well, considering. All I knew was that Joffrey is the kid everyone hates, Peter Dinklage is awesome and plays someone awesome, handsome men and beautiful women aplenty (normal for TV shows I guess), and it's somewhat gory and plenty of nudity. Oh, there's also dragons. And lots of character deaths.

About a week ago, I decided to start watching the show, seeing as there were a couple episodes left to air of season 4. I thought ~15 days would be enough to watch the available episodes, and I would be able to watch the season 4 finale "live" (or as soon as it's available to me). It only took me 2 days to finish the first season. By the time the penultimate season 4 episode aired, I was already halfway through season 3. I honestly thought I would finish much earlier than planned, and I would have to wait before the season 4 finale.

Dominic Cooper confirmed to return as Howard Stark?

Agent Carter herself, Hayley Atwell, seems to imply so during an interview with Telegraph:

Now, the wacky actress is hoping to continue with the larks when Dominic Cooper joins her on the set of her forthcoming television series, Agent Carter. “He’s incredibly naughty,” she tells me at the Glamour Women of the Year awards with Next in Berkeley Square. “So I’m going to start the pranks as early as I can. He will come up with some very good ones, too.”

It seems that she's sure that Cooper will be joining her; but what I want to know is how big a role will Howard Stark have in the show? I'm hoping for a co-lead or at least a supporting instead of a guest starring role ala Nick Fury in Agents of SHIELD. I want more Dominic Cooper in my life.

Fleming: The Man Who Would Be Bond

I was never really a James Bond follower, until Daniel Craig took the role. I have since watched all Bond films, although I wouldn't say that I'm a big fan. He sure is cool, and (some of) the movies are fun to watch, but that's about it. And I absolutely know nothing about Ian Fleming.

The only reason I watched Fleming is because it starred Dominic Cooper, my latest celebrity crush. But I was pleasantly surprised by the show. I understand that it was fiction; a dramatized biopic. Dominic said, in an interview, that the show is more about how Ian would like his life to be remembered than how it really was. So it was quite exciting and very Bond-like. There were a few nods to Bond –– the most memorable was the drink Ian ordered –– but nothing too aggressive.

Fleming tells the story of Ian Fleming's life on the eve of World War II. He was a disappointment to his family, before turning into a spy, then a war hero. He then took his experiences to create James Bond, who could very well be Fleming's fantasy.

Dominic Cooper in the war era really reminded me of his Howard Stark in Captain America: The First Avenger. I really hope he gets to reprise that character, regularly, on Agent Carter later this year (or is it early next year?).

Edgar Wright exits Ant-Man

It's really a shame. I don't even know anything about Ant-Man, but I was looking forward to it because it's Wright and because people have been saying how great the Comic Con teaser was.

A brief statement was released by Marvel:

Marvel and Edgar Wright jointly announced today that the studio and director have parted ways on Marvel's "Ant-Man" due to differences in their vision of the film. The decision to move on is amicable and does not impact the release date on July 17, 2015. A new director will be announced shortly.

There are rumors as to what the "differences in vision" might be, but we'll never know for sure. But Wright had been working on this movie since 2006, and he was very passionate about it; it's just a shame that it's been taken away from him. I do trust Marvel though. This movie is supposed to kickstart Phase 3, so hopefully this doesn't hinder that. I will still watch the movie, definitely, but I was really looking forward to Edgar Wright's Ant-Man. I know that they're still using his script, but it would have been better to have his vision as a director to go along with said script.

Marvel.com's synopsis for Agent Carter

"Marvel's Agent Carter," starring Captain America's Hayley Atwell follows the story of Peggy Carter. It's 1946, and peace has dealt Peggy Carter a serious blow as she finds herself marginalized when the men return home from fighting abroad. Working for the covert SSR (Strategic Scientific Reserve), Peggy must balance doing administrative work and going on secret missions for Howard Stark all while trying to navigate life as a single woman in America, in the wake of losing the love of her life--Steve Rogers. Inspired by the feature films "Captain America: The First Avenger" and "Captain America: The Winter Soldier," along with the short "Marvel One-Shot: Agent Carter."

Starring Hayley Atwell as Agent Peggy Carter, "Marvel's Agent Carter" is executive produced by Christopher Markus, Steve McFeely, Tara Butters, Michele Fazekas, Kevin Feige, Louis D'Esposito, Jeph Loeb.

Source

The best part of this announcement is that she's running missions for Howard Stark. Hopefully this means we'll see him around quite a bit. I love Dominic Cooper's performance as Howard. Also, interesting to note that Kevin Feige is an EP for this show (he's not listed as such on Agents of SHIELD), while both have Jeph Loeb.

I'm hoping that the first season either leads up to the badass one-shot of hers, or starts off from it towards her and Howard founding SHIELD. From the one shot, it seems that "SHIELD" is already there, but Carter was also one of the founders so I'm a little confused about that. I'm also keeping my fingers crossed that Bradley Whitford makes an appearance (or even becomes a regular) as Agent Flynn, now that his current show has been cancelled.

AoS season 2 & Agent Carter

ABC has announced that they have renewed Agents of SHIELD for a season 2 and picked up new Marvel show Agent Carter. I expected this news but I'm still happy that it's finally confirmed. The Marvel Cinematic Universe keeps expanding and I'm loving it.

The current rumor is that Agent Carter, which was picked up for a short order season, would be aired midseason, to fill in the break of Agents of SHIELD. That's good news because it means that we wouldn't have the weird breaks like we did this season. And I can't wait how they would keep the two shows connected when one is set in present day and the other is set in the 40s-50s. Since we had a few AoS episodes this season that happen concurrently with Captain America: The Winter Soldier, I'm hoping that they somehow can do the same with Agent Carter. Maybe explore events in the past that's referenced in the movies. 

AoS season finale is this upcoming Tuesday, and I'm sure it's gonna be a big one. I'm really excited for it, and then I'll have these long few months before Guardians of the Galaxy comes out. Luckily, we'll have these two shows to look forward to between GotG and Avengers: Age of Ultron.

The Only Light in the Darkness

This is it; the episode in which we finally meet Coulson's cellist. It has been almost 2 years to the date since she was first mentioned on The Avengers, and now she gets a name an a face: Audrey Nathan played by Amy Acker.

Alias rewatch notes

I'm about halfway through season one, and these are my main thoughts:

1. Zoe what are you doing?! Although, head canon, since SD-6 is technically the bad guys, I would say that K Directorates aren't all that bad. Well, sure they are, but whatever. After quitting, Anna Espinosa assumes a new identity, becomes Zoe (what's her maiden name, anyway?) and then joined up with Captain Mal.
2. Sydney and Vaughn, just get together already!
3. Sydney's many accusations against her father: I get that she doesn't know him well, so she has daddy issues, but a spy as skilled as she, I would expect, wouldn't jump to conclusions that quickly in regards of her father. Although, to be fair, I don't think I liked him the first time I watched Alias.
   
4. Will, stop it! Just stop! :(

Captain America: The Winter Soldier: Take Two

Watched the movie a second time last night, and I appreciated it as much as I did the first time around. The awesome part of this watch was that the projectionist just cut the credits after the mid-credit scene and just jumped to the post-credit scene, so we didn't have to wait through the credits.

Turn, Turn, Turn

Warning: Spoilers for AoS and The Winter Soldier

I don't know if it was someone's screw up, but for some reason Agents of SHIELD's next episode was already up on Hulu before it aired –– would probably be taken down at any time though.

Can't wait for what's next in the Marvel Cinematic Universe

Warning: spoilers on Agents of SHIELD and Captain America: The Winter Soldier

For the past few weeks, I've been going through all the MCU movies to build up to The Winter Soldier. I had fun along the way, but I was mostly pumped by how good TWS ratings are. Even though I've managed to avoid its trailers, I read a few rumors of what The Winter Soldier's storyline might be. And it builds up from the last couple episodes of Agents of SHIELD.

Cosmos: A Space-Time Odyssey

The first episode was actually live simulcast by FOX around the world. The problem is, prime time in the US means it aired early morning here. On a Sunday too! I was at church then, so I couldn't watch it on TV. We also don't have DVRs here, so I had to find a different way to watch the episode. Therefore, I didn't get to see President Obama's much talked about intro. Although, I'm not sure it was shown on TV here either.

The episode was like a summarization of the two Astrophysics courses I took in college, presented in a fun and beautiful way. My favorite part was when host Neil deGrasse Tyson walked through the "cosmic calendar." Telling us about the big bang, and how the universe evolved, the birth of galaxies, stars, planets, and everything else. "We are made of star stuff" is a great line.

Watching the episode did make me want to go back to school and study Astrophysics. There were a few moments back in college when I thought about switching majors. The observable universe is so vast, so mysterious, so scary. Yet, there's so much more beyond it.

The one thing that I didn't know, was the existence of orphan planets. From the Wikipedia article:

A rogue planet, also known as an interstellar planet, nomad planet, free-floating planet or orphan planet, is a planetary-mass object that orbits the galaxy directly. They have either been ejected from the planetary system in which they formed or were never gravitationally bound to any star or brown dwarf.^[1][2][3] Astronomers agree that either way, the definition of planet should depend on its current observable state and not its origin.

I mean, now that I do, it just seems logical, that in this massive universe there are planets not attached to stars. I just assumed that solar systems are systems (hah!); one of the laws of the universe. Planets are attached to stars, and they, along with a bunch of other stuff, form the solar system.

The episode was very entertaining and fascinating. I'm definitely watching this one weekly! Hopefully on TV from now on.

ABC to air Marvel special with 'Avengers: Age of Ultron' sneak peek

From EW:

An early glimpse of Marvel’s eagerly anticipated Avengers sequel will be on ABC next month.

The network will air Marvel Studios: Assembling a Universe, a one-hour specials that goes behind the scenes of the comic-media empire.

The special promises a “sneak peek” of an undisclosed nature from next year’s The Avengers: Age of Ultron, plus new footage from other Marvel Studios future theatrical releases — including April’s Captain America: The Winter Solider and August’s Guardians of The Galaxy.

The show will also delve into ABC’s freshman drama Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., including new preview footage from upcoming episodes.

The docu-special promises to give viewers a “front row seat to the inception of Marvel Studios, the record-breaking films, the cultural phenomenon, and further expansion of the universe by Marvel Television.”

Marvel Studios: Assembling a Universe will premiere Tuesday, March 18 at 8 p.m.

This is exciting and all, especially with the sneak peek, but I'm a bit worried about the fact that this will take Agents of SHIELD's slot that week. Hopefully this doesn't mean that ABC is worried about their numbers. Plus, I actually quite like the show and hate how many breaks they've been getting. I would remain positive and believe that it's just for scheduling purposes, so the crossover episodes line up with the movies.

Agents of SHIELD vs Arrow

With every news of a comic book movie, or new series, or anything, the comparison between Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Arrow seems to always come up. For the most part, people seem to agree that Arrow is the current benchmark for live-action comic book series, while Agents of SHIELD is a below average procedural, and is a disappointment.

The thing is, I could barely get through the first episode of Arrow. And while I have to agree that AoS could be much better, I'm enjoying the show so far. The show is getting better and better, too. However, the thing that I don't understand is people say that Arrow wasn't that good in the beginning either. The first half of season one was very campy and soap-opera-y, from what I gather. It got better by the end of season 1, and season 2 is much better (I assume they're focusing more on the action than the relationship stuff). Then, why isn't AoS given the same chance? It's only about halfway through its first season, and I think their last episode was really good. I can't wait to watch the next episode, which should be coming out next week. It took Arrow a while to get going, and it seems to be the same case with AoS. So there's a chance that AoS would end up being the benchmark for live-action comic book series, if only more people would give it a chance.

Anyways, this was a rant-y post, and I apologize for that. I guess I should give Arrow another shot, because people speak quite highly of it. Also, because John Barrowman was in a few episodes.

I have no words...

Warning: season 2 spoilers

I honestly don't know what to say. Season 2 is just so good! Shocking in so many ways. I have no idea how Frank Underwood keeps getting away with all these things. Or how politicians get anything done when they all they do seems to be trying to screw each other. Maybe nothing gets done and that's why. Everyone just wants power for themselves.

T.R.A.C.K.S.

What's with their obsession with acronyms? I actually don't know if these are acronyms, but they're spelled like them. From the show's title, and then episodes "F.Z.Z.T.", and now "T.R.A.C.K.S.", and the upcoming episode "T.A.H.I.T.I.", why are you making it hard to write about these things?! But I digress...

I really like that, with each episode, the show is getting better. "T.R.A.C.K.S." is a solid episode, and definitely the best one to date.

Trailer: Guardians of the Galaxy

Marvel premiered the trailer for their next big ensemble movie, Guardians of the Galaxy, on Jimmy Kimmel Live! yesterday.

I like that they try to keep it as superhero-action-movie-serious until Star-Lord had to introduce himself. And then the tone switched to more of the comedic movie of Iron Man and The Avengers that I love. I'm very excited about this movie.

Before GotG, there is the second Captain America movie, The Winter Soldier, which will come out on April 4th. I actually don't know anything about Cap 2 or who the winter soldier is. I think I've watched the trailer, but I don't quite remember. GotG will come out on August 1st.

House of Cards: Chapter 14

Warning: Chapter 14 spoilers (obviously!)

A few days late, but I'm finally able to watch House of Cards season 2.

Justin to guest on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon

The first week's guests of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon were announced yesterday. And, of course, Justin Timberlake is set to make an appearance. Actually, it's not just an appearance; Justin would be the lone guest on Friday! The other days are filled with multiple guests and musical guests. So, I'm hoping this means that there will be a lot of sketches, and maybe History of Rap 5? I'm just excited that Justin would pretty much be there the whole show

Here's the lineup for our first week of guests! So excited! #FallonTonight pic.twitter.com/vSbdaxtdKC
— Fallon Tonight (@FallonTonight) February 10, 2014

The Empty Hearse

Welcome back! You guys have been missed!

The episode opened with an explanation of how it happened. My reaction was, "wow, that's quick." I can't be the only one who was expecting the mystery to be dragged on throughout the episode, maybe even the whole season. Almost too quick. This is a trick... But, I wouldn't put it past Moffat to do this, open the episode with the how and just get it out of the way. And then, I thought, well this is too much. I mean, with the dummy and the bungee jumping, and kissing Molly; it's outrageous! BUT, still wouldn't put it past Moffat to write something like that (mind you, this is before the opening credits so I didn't know that it was actually Mark Gatiss who wrote "The Empty Hearse"). Of course it was fake! (Or was it?! Hmm...)

And, of course, it had to be Mycroft who found him. Yes, it was explained later that Mycroft has always known that Sherlock's death is faked; Mycroft actually helped the plan. But I wouldn't put it past the two of them to actually fake one's own death and have the other figure it out.

As John said, it doesn't really matter *how* Sherlock did it; the most important question is *why*? Apparently, it's to destroy Moriarty's network. And here I thought that it was just two men going against each other intellectually. But, of course, Sherlock does have his own network (the homeless people), so it should have been obvious that Moriarty had one too. I'm gonna need to go back and rewatch season 2 (or maybe season 1 too) to figure it out.

Back to the "how" question, there were, if I remember correctly, three theories presented in the episode; the last of which seemed the most plausible, but they didn't actually say that it was the correct one. Yes, it was Sherlock telling the story, but he might have been explaining it to trick that guy. Sherlock's story included the rubber ball in the armpit bit to stop the pulse at the wrist, like so many fans' theorized. I'm still not convinced that they have told us the real story; we might have to wait until the end of the season. Which is just 8 days from now, so it's not a particularly long wait. Especially after how long they've made us wait since the actually event happened...

In Time

I finally watched it! I have no idea why it took me this long; I guess being a Justin fan, I was afraid that it wasn't a good movie. But I have heard pretty good things about the movie, and yet I kept on delaying watching it.

In Time is a movie set in the future, when time is literally money. Those who are rich can live forever; those who are poor have to work day to day to earn enough time to make it until tomorrow. Will Salas (Justin Timberlake) belongs in the later category. He wakes up every day with only 24 hours to live. Some rich guy who I forgot the name of, played by Matt Bomer, gave all his time to Salas because he's lived "too long" and was tired of it. Before doing so, he told Salas that for the rich people to live forever, a number of the poor must die; that's how they keep the earth from overpopulating (or at least that's how I understood it). Salas then set out to right the wrong, steal what had been stolen from them, their time, their life. He meets Sylvia Weis (Amanda Seyfried), the daughter of the very rich Philippe Weis (Vincent Kartheiser). Salas got his gifted time stolen from him, had to go back to where he came from (the ghetto), and fought the system to let his peers live.

The premise, time *is* money, is definitely interesting. As much as I love Justin, I wasn't sure about him being a lead in an action movie. Actually, I don't think it was even that; I was just very apprehensive about anything Justin related, because I just want everything he's touched to be the best. Yes, my expectations weren't very high, which is probably why I enjoyed the movie.

Quite a few lines were very corny ("What are we gonna do?" "Whatever we have to." And then they run away), but as an action movie, it was pretty good. I did think that they should have added a few humorous lines. The premise and tone of the movie afforded that, but the chance wasn't taken. Justin has good comedic timing, and, in my opinion, a bit of funny dialogue would have helped the movie. I loved Justin's delivery of "unfuckingbelievable" when the timekeeper (Cillian Murphy) just would not give up chasing them.

I was impressed by the cast of this movie. Along with the names I've mentioned, there's Johnny Galecki and Olivia Wilde. Wilde plays Will's mother; that was bizarre. Murphy and Kartheiser were particularly impressive, I thought.

Side note: Not that his character was very annoying in this movie, but during the scene where Salas had a gun pointed at Philippe Weis, I wanted Justin to pull the trigger because I've only seen Kartheiser in two things, Angel and Mad Men, and I absolutely loathe both his characters.

It's a decent movie, with an impressive cast, but the dialogue could have used some rewriting. I liked that, at the end, Salad did become a thief. I kinda wanted him to turn into the bad guy -- because that would be a twist -- but he was just being the Robin Hood character, stealing from the rich and giving to the poor. I'm not convinced that the "system" was wrong, though. Sure it's unfair, but maybe that's how it's supposed to work. Society is not meant to be fair. We don't know if what they're doing is actually fixing anything.

It was thoroughly enjoyable though, and I'm a bit embarrassed, as a big Justin fan, that it took me this long to finally watch it. The only other movie starring Justin that I have yet to watch is Runner Runner, and looking at the reviews I'm not particularly rushing to watch it.