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.

It's over way too soon

I guess that's the one thing I hate about British TV shows: they're way too short! I know it's probably just because I'm used to the American 24-episode seasons, but when there's a show as good as Broadchurch and we only get 8 episodes, I just...I *need* more –– even worse with 3 episode Sherlock AND they make us wait so freaking long. Although, I kinda think that the short season helps with the quality of the show. I'm sure there are plenty of not-as-great British shows that I didn't know about, but maybe not having to stretch out plots for 24 episodes helped the writers.

Yes, I probably watched Broadchurch just because of David Tennant. Sure, I was excited for the prospect of The Tenth Doctor meeting Rory. But I had no doubt in my mind that it would be great; all the reviews were wonderful. I am happy that I watched the show without knowing anything about it, other than the fact that Tennant plays a detective.

Broadchurch is a crime drama set in a small town, Broadchurch, that revolves around the investigation of death of 11 year old Danny Latimer. Tennant plays Detective Inspector Alec Hardy, who leads the investigation. He is aided by Olivia Colman's Detective Sergeant Ellie Miller, who is a Broadchurch citizen and has been a friend of the Latimer family. The investigation introduces us to the townsfolk of Broadchurch and shows us how a tragedy affects the small community. It really does bring the best and worst in people.

Fallon/Timberlake for SNL!!

Saturday Night Live has announced their host/musical guest lineup for December, and I honestly can't wait for their Christmas episode. December 21st, the last episode of the year, will be hosted by Jimmy Fallon, with Justin Timberlake as musical guest. I'm expecting Justin to appear in some sketches, and I'm expecting them to be amazing.

And Dec 21st: @jimmyfallon hosts w/ music from @jtimberlake!! #SNL #Christmas! #December #MoreLikeDUDEcember pic.twitter.com/M43kEUzgSH

— Saturday Night Live (@nbcsnl) November 21, 2013

Thor: The Dark World

Warning: spoilers ahead

The main reason I was excited about this movie was that it would be connected to the next Agents of SHIELD episode. There was also the Zachary Levi and Tom Hiddleston factors.

I went into the movie without knowing anything about the plot. I didn't care. It's a Marvel movie, it's Thor and Loki, and it should be fun. I actually forgot that Malekith, the movie's main villain, was played by the ninth Doctor, Christopher Ecclestone, until I saw his name in the credits. I didn't even remember much from the previous movies (the first Thor and The Avengers).

How am I supposed to continue rooting for him?

I mean, from the first episode you know that Francis Underwood is quite the anti-hero, but that can be chalked up as him being a politician. He's not an honest person. He was backstabbed so he fought back, albeit manipulatively. But that's just politics, right? Even then, I was still taken by him; his power, his intelligence. It's not like the others were any better. Well, in my opinion, they're all pretty fucked up.

The business side of his darkness I can deal with. The relationship with his wife is quite strange, but intriguing. But murder? That, I don't think I can go past that. One side of me want him to get caught; for justice to prevail. The other side of me want him to figure out a way to cheat it.

It is a gripping show. Somewhat like Mad Men and Six Feet Under, in which pretty much all the characters are despicable, but I still can't stop watching. Who am I supposed to root for? I came into this expecting something similar to The West Wing. I got something a lot darker; still fascinating, although lacking the Sorkin witty dialogue. It has only taken me 2-3 days to go through the season, so a part of me is still trying to figure out how I feel about this show, but I'm out of episodes to watch and I want more. At the very least, I'm interested.

House of Cards

I'm a bit late to this. I've added the show to my list since Netflix released it. But, I've realized that lately I've only watched half-hour comedies, with Don't Trust the B– and That '70s Show; thought it's time to go back to hour-long dramas. And, this one is always advertised on my Netflix front page.

Even with all the fuss around the show, all I knew about it, prior to watching, is that it's about the American government. The only other source of knowledge I have on American politics/government is The West Wing, so I'm setting quite a high standard for the quality of the show. Not that I'm doubting it; I haven't heard one bad word about the show.

I guess, the problem is, I'm expecting a TWW feel; fast paced walk and talk with Sorkin dialogue. I'm only four episodes in so far, and I'm still trying to get the feel of it. This does feel a lot like when I watched TWW the first time; a lot of the conversation goes over my head, but I'm captivated by the sense of power and intelligence that the characters exude. And, just like TWW, with this show, I feel like I'm not smart enough to comment on it. Well, I don't even know what's going on most of the time; I would probably just comment on the characters themselves, and not on the things that are going on. Definitely not on the politics of the show.

This is still very early for me. I'm still learning their names and what they do. Since TWW was mostly about the president's senior staff, all the things that are going on on House of Cards seem pretty new. Well, not the trying to make conceited deals part. It's like we're watching from the other side. Francis is trying to one-up the president's office, at least for the first few episodes.

Kevin Spacey is amazing and very fascinating. However, I'm still unsure of how I feel about him breaking the fourth wall. I guess it's interesting, and it makes it easier to tell the viewers his thoughts and points of view; but it can also be seen as lazy storytelling. Plus, it kinda freaks me out a bit whenever he looks straight into the camera...