"Oh boy"

Quantum Leap (1989-1993)

I vaguely remember when this show came out in the spring of 1989 and ended in 1993. I remember watching a few episodes when it aired. Though I don't remember any of them, I do remember the premise. So that's why, after all these years, when the lovely DVD player was invented and (most all of) TV series were put on DVD, it was my chance to revisit this show I've always found so fascinating. Personally, I think it's the coolest idea thought of for a TV show (followed, of course, by 24, one of my favorite shows of all time!) It's about this super smart guy named Dr. Sam Beckett, who, with the help of his super smart team, build Project Quantum Leap (PQL), which involves an accelerator he stepped into and vanished. In each show, he "leaps", so to speak, into a different body from one time and place to another. In every episode before he can leap, he has to set something right that once went wrong. He can only leap between the years of his life and death, so most of the leaping takes place between '50s and '70s. (There are only a handful of leaps from the '80s - this is why they need to make an updated version!) Sam's sidekick is Al, a human hologram, who, besides smokes his cigar or oogles after beautiful women, tells Sam what he's there to do and gives him all the details he needs. When Sam leaps into the body of his next persona, we the viewers see him as Sam, but the people around him see him as the person he's supposed to be portraying. And when we see him look in the mirror or any other kind of reflection, we see him as the person he's leapt into.


Now, I must warn you: if you've never seen the series and want to, don't read this because I do give away some major spoilers! 

The episodes included ones that made me laugh, made me cry, disinterested me, and just plain freaked me out! Here are  my ten favorite episodes, ranked in chronological order:

1. 1-06  The Color of Truth - In this episode, Sam leaps into the body of an elderly black man named Jessie Tyler in 1958 Alabama as a chauffeur for an old white woman.  Driving Miss Daisy, anyone?) Up until this episode, he had only been leaping into the bodies of white men, so it's the first episode that really catches your attention.

2. 2-05 Blind Faith - Sam leaps into 1964 as a blind pianist, but he can still see, so he has to disguise this fact from the people who know the pianist. The best part is at the end when he's trying to save a woman from being murdered and he gets blinded by a flash bulb, so he has to save her when he is, in fact, literally blind.

3. 2-22 M.I.A. - It's 1960 when Sam leaps into an undercover cop. Al tells him that he's there to prevent a MIA's wife from declaring him dead and eventually remarrying another man that she will meet later that day. Although he tries, the woman still meets the man. Sam then learns that Al is the MIA and the woman, Beth, is Al's first wife and first true love. It's not in the cards for Sam to change Al's history, so Al tells Sam the real reason he is there: to prevent his partner from being murdered in a drugs raid gone wrong.

4. 3-01 The Leap Home: Part I - At the beginning of each episode, there's a monologue telling the audience what the show is about and how Sam Beckett hopes, that with each leap, the next "will be the leap home." Well, in this episode, he DOES leap home. He leaps into himself as a sixteen year old in 1969. Of course, he thinks he is there to help his family, like making his father quit smoking since he died in 1974 and try to save his brother's life before he is killed in Vietnam in a few short months. The only catch is that he's not there to do either of those, but he's there to win a basketball game that he lost in the original history. I mean, seriously, that's the reason he's there? But my favorite scene in the episode (and in probably the entire series), is when he's talking to his sister about how their brother can't go to Vietnam or he'll be killed and tells her he know the future and she asks what will happen to the Beatles in the future and Sam starts playing Imagine on the guitar. He's about to tell her what happened to John Lennon, but Al tells him not to. But his sister is crying because she knows he's telling the truth and knows that their older brother will be killed.

5. 3-10 A Little Miracle - This episode was inspired by A Christmas Carol. It's Christmas Eve 1962 and Sam has leaped (leapt?) into the butler of a real estate owner who has gone all Ebenezer Scrooge and plans to close the local Salvation Army so that he can build Blake Plaza. Due to a chemical imbalance, Sam discovers that the rich man can see and hear Al. (Besides Sam, the only people who can see Al are children, people near death, and crazy people. Oh, and dead people and animals can also see him). So Sam and Al come up with an idea to have Al pretend to be a ghost of Christmas past, like in the Dickens tale.

6. 3-19 Last Dance Before an Execution - Sam leaps to find himself sitting in an electric chair just seconds before the switch is about to be turned on. At the last second he gets pardoned for a few more days...I can't remember the reason why. The man he has leapt into is sentenced to death, along with another man, for the murder of a priest who caught them stealing money from the church to give to the poor. Al tells Sam that he is here to prove their innocence, but getting out of this leap could prove to be more difficult than past leaps! Trivia: while Sam usually says "Oh boy!" at the start of every episode, in this one he yells, "Oh, God!"

7. 3-22 Shock Theater - Like I mentioned before, crazy people can see Al, so when Sam leaps into a man who is in a mental asylum, the other patients can see him (Al). Sam is given shock treatment and is confused about who he is and begins to think that he is different people that he has previously leaped into. Al tries to help him, but he is loosing frequency due to Sam being given drugs to forget Al, who the doctors think is his imaginary friend. The only way to get Sam back is for him to have shock treatment again.

8. 5-07, 08, 09 - Trilogy - I'm counting these three episodes as one since they're all part of the same plotline. In the first episode, Sam leaps into 1955 Louisiana as the father of a very creepy young girl named Abigail who happened to be the last person to see a man alive, the same man who is the father of a little girl who was found dead and Abigail was also the last to see that girl alive as well. The second time around it's 1966 and now Sam has leaped into Abigail's fiancé. (Yeah, he went from being her father to her fiancé, a little bit creepy if I do say so myself). The townspeople still believe that Abigail is responsible for murdering Violet, the little girl who died all those years ago and attempt to hang her, but Sam manages to stop them. In the third episode, it's 1978 and now Sam has leapt into the town lawyer where he for once and for all has to prove Abigail's innocence. It's Abigail's creepy ass mother, who lives in some kind of mental institute and has a blank, dead stare that gives you the shivers, who testifies that she was the one who accidentally killed Violet because the girl fell down a well when Abigail's mother tried to pry a locket that belonged to her daughter from her hands. But the big kicker is that Sam has a daughter! With Abigail! You see, when Sam leapt into her fiancé, he sort of leapt into a very uh, compromising position, and it just so happened that it was his daughter, and not the real fiancé’s when little Sammi Jo was conceived. So, of course, she has this sky rocketing IQ and works for PQL. I'm not making this up, folks!

9. 5-19 The Leap Between States - Sam has leapt from his timeline and into 1862 as his great grandfather, John Beckett, who was a soldier in the Civil War. After Sam is wounded, he is taken to a barn. A woman, who is later revealed to be Sam's great grand-mother is not happy to find the man in her barn because he is a Yankee (she's from the South) and a Yankee killed her husband and destroyed her farm. Al informs Sam that he has to make sure that John and Olivia fall love, because if they don't, then they'll never marry, thus Sam's grandparents will never exit, nor his parents, and of course Sam would never be born. Thrown in another man who is in love with Olivia and runaway slaves and you have yourself a love triangle - nineteenth century style.

10. 5-20 Memphis Melody - It's 1954 and Sam has leaped into a young, the-day-before-he-got-famous Elvis Presley. No, he isn't there to make sure Elvis gets discovered (though he still has to go to all the auditions to ensure that Elvis still becomes famous), but instead he is there to make sure a woman, Sue Anne Winters, get discovered. So far everything seems to be going fine. Sue Anne has a tendency of getting nervous when she sings, so when she freezes up on stage, Sam goes on with her and they sing a duet. Al tells Sam that he (Elvis) can't have a duo contract because Elvis needs to be discovered on his own. There's a great scene at the end where Sam just bursts out an Elvis tune in a diner and Al is dancing on the bar.


The following are episodes I found especially creepy (again, in chronological order):

A Portrait of Troian from season 2 - It's not that Sam has leapt into a ghost hunter, nor the fact that he's standing in the middle of a cemetery on a stormy night, that I find creepy, no, it's the old woman (who we later find out is a ghost) that I find uber-creepy. And she can see Al - that's what I mean about dead people being able to see him.

The Boogieman from season 3 - This is probably the most creepiest episode of all. Sam leaps into a horror fiction writer on Halloween and all these strange accidents keep happening and it turns out that Satan has taken the form of Al and Dean Stockwell has these crazy ass red eyes that just creep me the **** out! I probably shouldn't have watched that episode, at like, three in the morning!

Dreams from season 4 - At the end of the episode there's this creepy black and white dream sequence depicting a murder.

The Curse of Ptah-Hotep from season 4 - Sam leaps into an archaeologist excavating a mummy's tomb in Egypt and there's this whole curse (of course) and the mummy comes alive and there's this bad guy who's in it for the treasure and he's killed by the mummy. It was a bit startling!

Trilogy from season 5  Although Sam leaping into a girl's father one episode, then her lover the next was a bit on the creepy side, the girl's mother in the insane asylum was the creepiest. She had these dead eyes that just stared blankly ahead and would talk in this little girl sounding voice how she hid under her bed when her siblings were being killed by her mother and she could feel the blood dripping on her face. Brrrr!

Deliver Us From Evil and Return/Revenge of the Evil Leaper from season 5 - These episodes weren't that creepy, it was just the concept of there being an evil leaper that left me a little uneasy. I guess it would make sense that if Sam is out there to set things right, then there has to be a ying to his yang and there's someone out there to make life miserable for others. And the notion that Lothos = Satan? Creepy to the nth degree!


10 most interesting leaps:

1. Sam as Jimmy, a young man who has Down Syndrome in Jimmy from S2 and Deliver Us From Evil from S5. What I find the most fascinating is that he leaped into the same person twice!
2. Sam as his sixteen year old self in The Leap Home: Part 1 from S3.
3. Sam as a pregnant woman in 8 1/2 months from S3.
4. Sam as a mental patient in Shock Theater from S3.
5. Sam as a hologram when he and Al switch places and Al becomes the leaper in The Leap Back from S4.
6. Sam as a KKK member in Justice from S4.
7. Sam as a monkey (yes, a monkey) who is being tested to go up in space in The Wrong Stuff from S4. That's probably the show's worst episode.
8. Sam as a young Al in A Leap for Lisa from S4.
9. Sam as Lee Harvey Oswald in Lee Harvey Oswald from S5.
10. Sam as his great-grandfather in The Leap Between States from S5.


Before they were famous,they guest starred on Quantum Leap!

-Teri Hatcher played Sam's future wife as a college student in Star Crossed.
-Jason Priestly was in Camikazi Kid.
-Willie Garson (Stanford from Sex and the City) was in Play it Again, Seymour AND Lee Harvey Oswald.
-Kelli Williams (Lindsay from The Practice) was in Disco Inferno
-Patricia Richardson (Jill from Home Improvement) was in Good Morning, Peoria.
-Michael Madsen (Kill Bill) was in Jimmy.
-Marcia Cross was in Good Night, Dear Heart.
-Danni Nucci (Fabrizio from Titanic) was in Leap of Faith.
-Joesph Gordon-Levitt (500 Days of Summer and Inception) was in Permanent Wave.
-Eriq La Salle (Dr. Benton from ER) was in A Song For the Soul.
-Carla Gugino was in Ghost Ship.
-Bob Saget was in Stand Up
-Brooke Sheilds was in Leaping of the Shrew. (But she was already famous...)
-Jennifer Aniston was in Nowhere to Run.
-Neil Patrick Harris (Doogie Howswer!) was in Return of the Evil Leaper.
-Gregory Itzin (President Logan from 24) was in Memphis Melody.


Even though the show premiered in 1989, it's 1995 in Sam and Al's present time. I forget when we are told this information, but by the end of the series which was '92/'93, the time of the show is now 1999. And let me tell you: their idea of the "future" is hilarious. In one episode, Killing Time, Sam leaps into a murderer and the real leapee, who came from 1958, gets loose from PQL and he's running around the street of some random town in New Mexico and he meets this hooker who's wearing a - get this - jacket that LIGHTS UP! Hilarious. And she takes him to her place and everything is operated by remotes. It's so funny, especially since that's not how things worked in '99.

***SPOILERS!!!******

I have mixed feelings about the very last episode. First of all, I was a little confused because Sam leaps into himself on his birthday, the exact minute he was born. So wouldn't he have been his newborn self? Ah, well. I suppose it's best not to dwell on little things like that. And I guess it was suppose to be all philosophical. So there was an episode, the last one from season 2 called M.I.A. where Sam had the chance to tell Al's first wife, Beth, that he's not really dead, but since that wasn't what he was there to do, he never did and she remarried another man. And Al, of course, got married four (five?) times. But Sam gets the chance to leap back to that moment and he tells Beth that Al is still alive (and yes, I was crying when I saw this!) and she starts crying and we learn that Al and Beth have been married for forty something years and they have four daughters. Now, while it's all sweet that Al got to be with the woman he loves, it changes the whole perspective of the show! There's a photograph of historychanged!Al and he's wearing a Mr. Rogers sweater vest! Now that's certainly not the Al Calavicci we all know and love! He's always wearing fedoras and bright colored or crazy-printed suits on his journeys with Sam. So therefore it seemed his fashion sense (and most likely personality) changed. Also, while he still might have been involved in PQL, it is doubtful he would've been Sam's guide, so that's kind of sad to think about. The whole history of the show changes with that one episode! It's like all those other shows we saw with Sam leaping and Al helping him never happened because there would have never been hologram!Al! Augh, it is just so frustrating! Of course, I want Al to be happy, but I'm also selfish and I like my sarcastic and fugly fashion sense Al! :-( Oh, and Sam never returned home? WTF?!?!?!




I talk about what I did when I wasn't allowed to watch an episode of popular TV show:

A Show Worthy of its Wins

The West Wing (1999-2006)

I am one of those people, who, when watching a new TV show, needs to be hooked by the first three or four episodes or else I'll give it up. With The West Wing, I was hooked within the first few minutes and it's become one of my favorite shows, even though politics bore me. It has to be probably one of the best series that was ever on TV. Sure, some things did go over my head, but the acting is brilliant, the writing is brilliant, the cast is brilliant, and the show is very intriguing. There are no vampire slayers or crimes or terrorist activity with only 24 hours to stop it, but there's just something about this show that keeps you wanting more. 


Here's how I would rank the seasons:

Season 2 - I rank the second season as my favorite because a lot of my favorite episodes are from this season. We find out that the POTUS is dealing with MS and he does plan to run for a second term.

Season 3 - Another top-notch season where CJ has a stalker (as well as a love interest - not the same person, though!) I was curious how they were going to deal with this season since it started in the fall of 2001, so I was wondering how and if they were going to address 9/11. They did, but it was a special episode they did (the season premiere) where they dealt with a crisis and about racial profiling. 9/11 is never specifically mentioned and this episode had nothing to do with the rest of the season, it was just something they put in. This season dealt with Bartlet’s campaign. They need to work extra hard because he has MS and they’re afraid the American public won’t vote for him, but of course we know they will!

Season 1 -As you can tell, I prefered the earlier seasons to the later ones. While all the seasons were great, it was the first half of the series that really shined. Besides, I have to give props to the first season because it made me fall in love with the series and kept me Netflixing the next season (and the next and the next...)

Season 4 - This season deals with Bartlet's campaign for his second term in office (which he wins, of course). It also marks Rob Lowe's last season as Sam Seaborn and he is replaced by a campaign manager named Will Bailey. (And Winnie Cooper works for him, lol). The season finale is one of the most nail-biting with the kidnapping of the POTUS's youngest daughter, Zoey.

Season 7 - The final season follows the presidential campaign race between Democrat Matt Santos and Republican Arold Vinick (played respectively by Jimmy Smits and Alan Alda). It's really interesting to see what goes on behind the scenes of a presidential candiate and their quest to become POTUS. While we saw snapshots of Bartlet's campaign in flashbacks of earlier episodes, here we get the genuine feeling and you're with them throughout the entire campaign. This season is also a bittersweet one with John Spencer passing away in the middle of the season, the character of Leo McGarry (who also happens to be Santos' running mate), also passes away, thus the scene of Leo's funeral is really sad to watch. There's one episode of the debate between Santos and Vinick that aired live so you really get the authentic feeling of a real debate. I think that was the first "real" presidential debate where I watched the entire thing! And best of all? Josh and Donna finally get together. I mean, damn, it took them long enough!

Season 5
Season 6
I like these seasons about the same, so I tied them. While I certainly don't detest them, I just didn't care for them as the other seasons. Probably one of the major reasons they didn't do anything for me was because Aaron Sorkin left when the fifth season started. A couple of the highlights of the fifth season include guest apperances by John Goodman, who takes over as POTUS when Bartet has to step down during his daughter's kidnapping, and Jason Isaacs as a photo journalist who befriends Donna in the Middle East (and also makes Josh very jealous, ha!) Season five also deals with them having to elect a new VP because the previous one had to step down.

In season six we are introduced to Santos and Vinick, as well as other new characters like Kate Harper and Annabeth Schott. C.J. is promoted from Press Secretary to Chief of Staff. Josh decides to run Santo's campaign. Even though I ranked these seasons last, they're still as top-notch as the other seasons.

Ten favorite episodes (in chronological order):

1. 1.1. Pilot (aired 9/22/99)- We are introduced to the characters: the POTUS; Chief of Staff Leo McGarry; Press Secretary CJ Cregg; White House Deputy Communications Director Sam Seaborn; White House Director of Communications Toby Ziegler; Deputy Chief of Staff Josh Lyman; the President's aide, Charlie Young; and Josh Lyman's assistant, Donna Moss, among other characters. Like I said earlier, the pilot of every TV show is always very crucial - it lets me know if I want to continue watching this show or not. By the end of this episode, I was hooked on the series! My favorite scene is when Sam is giving a tour of the White House to a group of young students and tells them the chairs in the Roosevelt Room were made out of lumber from a pirate ship captured in the Spanish-American War. This does not make the teacher, who also happens to be Leo's daughter, very happy. Hee! I heart Sam. I so missed him when he left.

2. 1.10 In Excelsis Deo (aired 12/15/99) - This is the first holiday episode of The West Wing. Through a coat that Toby once donated to charity, he finds out that a forgotten Korean War vet has died, homeless on the streets wearing the donated coat. (Toby is notified because his card was in the coat's pocket). He attends the funeral, which is very moving and if memory serves right, made me cry!

3. 2.5 And It's Surely to Their Credit (aired 11/01/00) - Now my #1 WW ship is Josh/Donna, no doubt, but there was another ship I would have happily boarded, but alas, it never did sail. Oh, well, I knew it wouldn't happen with a Democrat and a Republican. Ainsley Hayes, a Republican, is the new associate White House counsel much to the chagrin of the others. Her first day is pure hell: her boss is hostile towards her, her co-workers do not welcome her with open arms, and worst of all, she is humiliated by two other staffers when they leave dead flowers on her desk (which happens to be in the boondocks of the White House) and a note with "bitch" written on it. Even though Sam and Ainsley, don't see eye to eye on politics, he is furious and demands to know who did it. Ainsley won't tell him, but it's not hard for him to figure it out and he rips those guys a new one. It is awesome! He slams the door to their office as he enters and says, "You know what, guys? When I write something, I sign my name." Hee! Go Sam! He grabs a sheet of papers and writes "You're fired" and signs his name. That episode made me such a Sam/Ainsley shipper. Alas, nothing ever came of it.

4. 2.10 Noel (aired 12/14/00) - Like their first Christmas episode, this one does not disappoint as well. In the first season, the last episode left us with a cliffhanger of an attempted assisination of the POTUS and Josh got shot. He hasn't gotten over it and Leo makes him see a doctor who specializes in analyzing trauma victims. I believed this won Bradley Whitford the Emmy for Best Supporting Actor in a drama series. On a lighter side, the POTUS wants to personally sign all of his Christmas cards (lol, I don't think he realizes how many he would have to sign!) The episode ends with a special concert by Yo-Yo Ma.

5. 2.22 Two Catherdrals (aired 5/16/01) - After I saw this episode, it immeditely became my favorite episode of TWW ever, but it was only the last episode of season 2. Even after seeing all of the other episodes of The West Wing, this one still remains my favorite. In the previous episode, the President's secretary, Mrs. Landingham, had died in a car accident, so he is struggling with that along with the decision of running again for a second term even though it has just come out in the media that he has MS. This episode flashes back to when Jed was in college and this is where he first meets Mrs. Landingham who worked as a young secretary for his father (and how she got the job of being the secretary to the POTUS!) There's this great scene near the end where Bartlet is in the Oval Office, talking with the ghost of Mrs. Landingham. They have one last chat before he is on his way to a press conference to announce running for a second term, even though he has MS. The Dire Straits song, Brothers in Arms is playing and it fits the scene so perfectly. The West Wing didn't use songs in their episodes that often and for that reason, placing a song in an episode makes it all the more significant. Anyway, AWESOME episode. I believe this episode is the reason why TWW won four deserved Best Show Emmys in a row.

6. 3.17 The U.S. Poet Laureate (aired 3/27/02) - This episode made me LOL because Josh discovers he has his own fan-based website - LemonLyman.com. He becomes obsessed with it, reading all the comments that range from women thinking he is the sexiest man alive to posts about what a moron he is. Obviously, the former comments don't piss him off as much! Lauren Dern guest stars as the U.S. Poet Laureate

7. 3.22 Posse Comitatus (aired 5/22/02) - This was the season finale for the third season and TWW has proven to have some great season endings. Bartlet faces a terrorist threat after he discovers that a high-ranking Middle Eastern official has been supporting terrorism. CJ, who has been stalked this season, has been falling for her Secret Service bodyguard. Of course their would-be relationship is limited by the boundaries of their professional relationship. And, alas, the fact that he gets shot and killed. The use of Jeff Buckley'sHallelujah makes the scene extra sad.

8. 4.23 Twenty Five (aired 5/14/03) - I told you, The West Wing has great season endings and this one for the fourth season is no exception. Chaos ensues when Bartlet's youngest daughter, Zoey, is kidnapped on the night of her graduation from Georgetown. He is forced to shut down Washington D.C. as he thinks this is the work of terrorists. Obviously, Bartlet can't continue on the duties of being POTUS when his daughter is missing, so John Goodman steps into his shoes for a few episodes. The more happier storyline is Toby's who becomes the father of twins named Huck and Molly.

9. 7.9 The Wedding (aired 12/11/05) - Bartlet's middle daughter, Ellie, gets married in the White House. Her wedding is on the same day that her father is trying to handle a situation between China and Russia over oil. There's a touchng moment between Ellie and her father right before he's going to walk her down the aisle. He tells her about a trip he took to Germany in his first term in Congress. Ellie, who was five years old then, was with them. They are on the East side of Berlin, waiting to cross over to the West said. Jed tells her that she "bolted out in the no man's land between the two guard posts." He and Abby were panicking, but Ellie calmly looked up at one of the soldiers on the wall and waved and he waved back. Awww. Then Ellie tells him that she remembers. Double awww.

10. 7.21 Institutional Memory (aired 5/7/06) - This was the second to last episode. It mostly focuses on CJ and what she's going to do with her future. She wants to leave D.C., but she is offered a job by Santos. Howerver, she is more interested in an offer made a by a billionaire who wants to start a foundation and will pretty much give her ten billion dollars to "save the world." I mean, how cool is that? Who wouldn't want to do that? CJ moves back to L.A. and she lives happily ever after with Danny Concannon. (At least, that's what I'm assuming!)


If you've never seen the show, or felt too intimidated to watch it, please do yourself a favor and Netflix it today! 


I talk about one of my favorite game shows when I was a kid:

I Don't Wanna Wait...

Today's show is:

Dawson's Creek (1998-2003)

  aka the show that gave us the future Mrs. Tom Cruise. Now keep in mind that this is not one of my favorite shows, but after watching all six seasons, I kept some notes on each one, which I will be sharing with you. While I had seen some episodes when it was still airing I never watched the show on a regular basis because it looked stupid (and it is), but yet, it's so addicting.

And I might add: if you have never seen this show, you are going to have no idea what I'm talking about. But I would recommend reading this even if you have never watched an episode of DC before just so you can understand how eye-roll inducing it can be. However, if you really, really, really want to watch this show, please be aware that I give away who dies, who dates who, who sleeps with who, who's gay, etc.

Season 1:

Let me just ask one question: was 1998 really that long ago, because the first season just seemed so outdated! A few examples:

-Dawson and Pacey worked in a video store. Yep, videos. Not a DVD in sight!
-There was one episode where they had detention and the librarian made them sort out the card catalouge. Do libraries even use those anymore? Everything is now on computer, right?
-In one show, Joey and her sister get their car stranded somewhere, so Joey goes over to Dawson's to call for help because they don't have their own cell phones!

I love how these are 18-20 year olds playing 15 year olds who talk like they're 30.

Heh. In the episode where they all have dentention, Dawson's all like, "This is so Breakfast Club" (and you just KNOW this line was coming up) and Jen says, "What's that?" Gimme a freaking break! Are you telling me sophistacted New Yorker Jen has never heard of The Breakfast Club? She does, however, remember it when Dawson explains to to her, then asks whatever became of the actors, so Dawson explains something about Molly Ringwald and Anthony Michael Hall and says the others are in television obscurity, then Pacey says something about Emilio Estevez being in those "Duck" movies and how they're classics. Hahahaha, DC! You did an inside joke. Okay, I admit, I was a little confused for, like two seconds, then of course, I was like, DUH.

Oh, and this show gives me a huge headache with all the stupid love angles. Check this out:
-Joey is in love with Dawson.
-Dawson goes out with Jen, the new girl.
-Dawson and Jen break up and Jen dates football jock.
-Dawson wants Jen back and tries to get back togehter with her.
-Joey is still in love with Dawson.
-Pacey sees Joey naked (accidently) and decides he wants to have a go with her. He asks Dawson for permission to date Joey and Dawson says yes. Then he says no. Then he says yes. Then he says no. It doesn't matter anyway, because Joey doesn't have any feelings for Pacey.
-Dawson sees Joey all dolled up and decides he loves her. (EYE ROLL!!!)
-Jen wants to try things again with Dawson, but he says no.
-Dawson wants to get in a relationship with Joey, but she doesn't think it's right.
-Jen's grandfather dies, so Dawson lets her sleep over to comfort her. They kiss the next morning, the same morning that Joey has decided she is, indeed, still in love with Dawson and has decided at the very moment when Jen and Dawson are kissing to tell him how she feels. She cries and runs away.
-Dawson tries to explain everything and they kiss. (EYE ROLL!!!)

Not to mention that Pacey has an affair with his literature teacher and Dawson's mom cheats on her dad with the anchorman. Good Lord, and that's just the first season, which was just half a season, y'all. This show seriously gives me a headache!

Season 2:

 Here are some of the plot points of the show's sophomore year:

-Dawson and Joey get together, then they breakup, then they get back together, then they breakup in the last episode of the season. They have the most boring relationship ever.

-I was confused by the timeline. The season picks up from where we last left off in season 1, and I was under the impression we were almost into summer towards the end of seasons 1 since Joey kept talking about maybe going to France for the summer. But then when S2 starts up, the kids continue to go to school and they're still sophomores....there was never a summer break. It was weird.

-Pacey gets together with Andie, the new girl in town. Andie is crazy! She sees dead people!

-Andie's brother, Jack, starts to date Joey when she and Dawson have broken up for the first time. It turns out that Jack is gay.

-Jen goes back to her bad girl ways, hanging out with resident Capeside bad girl, Abby Morgan. Abby gets drunk, hits her head, falls into the water and drowns. Good times!  Jen moves out of Gram's house, then moves back in with Jack after his father has decided to take Andie back to Providence to get her help.

-Dawson makes a movie about his life and gets it dissed from his film teacher.

-Mr. and Mrs. Leary seperate! Then reconcile!

Season 3: 

In their third season, Meredith Monroe and Kerr Smith (Andie and Jack) become regular cast memebers and I'll go through each character and what happened to them in this oh-so-pivotal-season. (Yes, that was sarcasm!)

Dawson - When we last left off from Season 2, Joey and Dawson split up with Joey never wanting to speak to Dawson again. Well, they do eventually speak to each other, but they never get back together this season. Dawson meets two girls One is the mysterious Eve who shops at Hos R Us and has taken Abby Morgan's place as Capeside's Resident Bad Girl. (RIP, Abby). Eve just happens to pop up everywhere Dawson is: school, the strip joint, but then he learns that she doesn't really exist. (Well, her name doesn't exist). It turns out she's looking for her real mother who is really Jen's mother. They didn't really do much with that storyline, but it would've been nice to see Jen and Eve interact, although maybe it's a blessing since Eve was really annoying.

He also meets a fellow film geek, the daughter of his principal. I thought a romance might bloom between these two film geeks, but alas, it does not. Dawson does however takes down all his movie posters after having a talk about her about how movies aren't everything and he needs more passion in his life and blah, blah, blah. Meanwhile, Dawson's mom starts her own restuarant and gets help from her ex-husband. Gail and Mitch realize they can't live without each other and get re-married. Awww. Oh yeah, Dawson makes a Blair Witch ripoff and it gets laughed at when he shows it for a film festival, haha!

Pacey: After learning that Andie had sex with another crazy like herself, poor Pacey becomes so heartbroken and breaks up with her. Then later on in the year he starts to lust after Joey Potter. Obviously Pacey has never read the unofficial guidebook to dating: you never date your best friend's ex. That's just asking for trouble. Of course, when Dawson finds out he isn't very happy and who can blame him, but really he should know that he's better off without the shrew. Pacey has the worst taste in women because both Andie and Joey annoy the living shit out of me.

Joey: So like I said, Joey and Pacey get together with Joey telling him she "thinks she's in love" with him. Please. The finale has the two of them sailing down to the Florida Keys on the boat Pacey has been working on named True Love. Gag me. Now what I want to know is did Joey tell her sister that she was going to be gone all summer? Alone on a boat with a boy she likes? And they're 16 years old. Like that's realistic. Plus what a shitty and selfish thing for Joey to do to leave her sister taking care of the Bed and Breakfast by herself. (Not that they had many customers, but still....) I'm also trying to understand what the hell is so special about little Joey Potter. I think my Katie Holmes hate is mixing in with my Joey Potter hate. Oh wait, I almost forgot! There's another guy in this season who is also in love with her: AJ, the college guy.

Jen: Thank God Jen wasn't involved in this stupid love triange. (Of course she couldn't be since a triangle only means three people can be involved). She starts dating Henry, the freshman football player who is infauated by her and their realationship is quite sweet. Jen kinda becomes a bitch towards the end of the season when she and Henry get into a couple of fights and I was on Team Henry for both of them. She gets mad at him because he'd rather be making out with her than hearing the details about the love life of her pathetic friends. And really who can blame him? Who gives a shit about the Dawson-Joey-Pacey triangle? I applaud you, Henry!  Then they get into a fight at prom when Henry tells Jen he's going to football camp all summer, and yeah he should have told her another time, but she was way harsh when she said she wished they'd never met and slamming the door in his face. Ouch! Luckily good old Grams comes through when she tells a story of how she never kissed a boy she liked, so the next day she found him and kissed him in front of the entire Navy. This inspires Jen to find Henry on the way to his football camp and apoligizes. So Jen does not get my hate this season.

Andie: Andie and Pacey break up after she has sex with a fellow mental patient and boo-hoo-hoo Andie is so upset when Pacey breaks up with her. Well, what do you expect moron? You CHEATED on him, duh! Speaking of cheating, Andie also gets her grubby little hands on the answer sheet to the PSATs (curtosy of Eve). She does admit to her wrong-doing later on in the season and pretty much only gets a slap on the wrist because she's usually such a good student.

Jack: Jack is still gay. He meets another gay guy who lives in Boston, I think. His name is Ethan. At first they're just friends because Jack wants to take it slow since he's never been in a gay relationship. Ethan doesn't think Jack is ready for a relationship and storms off when Jack won't kiss him! After hearing Gram's story, Jack wants to tell Ethan how he really feels but by the time he arrives in Boston, it's too late. Ethan has already gotten back together with his ex-bf. DUN DUN DUN!

Season 4: 
Here's  what happened to the sensational sextuplet in the fourth season aka their senior year. I'll do this alphabetically this time:

Andie - Andie somehow miraculously got accepted to Harvard which baffles me because she cheated on her SATs! Not only that, but for someone who got accepted to Harvard, she sure is stupid. At a party she takes Ecstasy when she's already on Xanax. Well, duh. That sure landed her in the hospital. Idiot. Believe me, I'm far from ivy league material, but damn, even I know that you don't mix street drugs with anti-depressants! I think the only reason she got in was because her family has the money and her dad is a Harvard alum. ;-) Poor Meredith Monroe got the shaft, though. They sent her packing most likely because she was the oldest of the group (she's ten years older than Michelle Williams who's the youngest of the group) and they felt like they didn't need her anymore. So Andie, who had all her requirements fulfilled went to Italy to visit an aunt for the rest of the year. At least they let her come back for graduation. They still had MM's name in the credits even after she left for some reason.

Dawson - Dawson starts a relationship with Pacey's older sister, Gretchen, who he used to have a crush on when he was a kid. Their relationship only lasts that year because they go their separate ways. Dawson has somehow miraculously been accepted to film school at USC. (Or was it UCLA? Oh, hell, I don't know). Have they ever even seen his movies? They all looked like crap to me! Dawson also starts another relationship: with a crusty old misanthropic (hey, it was Dawson's word, not mine!) man named Mr. Brookes. After Dawson and Joey take his boat out to sea to save Pacey and Jen from a storm (which they ripped off from The Perfect Storm, only with a much, much lower budget), Dawson has to repay Mr. Brookes by doing odd jobs around his house. Somehow, even though Mr. Brookes tells him what a crappy job he's doing and points out everything wrong with him, Dawson still wants to be buddies with him. I would've cried and wished a horrible death if somebody acted that way to me (like Mr. Brookes acted towards Dawson, not if somebody wanted to be friends with me). Dawson soon discovers that back in the day Mr. Brookes used to be a film director, so of course we have an instant bond. Mr. Brookes starts a little somethin' somethin' with Grams and when he's on his deathbed (oh, come on, you knew it was going to happen), Andy Griffith comes to see him! Well, he wasn't playing himself, but it was Andy Griffith! And last but not least, Dawson gets a new baby sister named Lillian, who is named after Joey's mother. Which makes me wonder: if Lillian Potter is the name of Joey's mother and the name of Harry's (as in Boy Wizard Harry) mother (I'm guessing that Lily is short for Lillian), then are Joey Potter and Harry Potter long-lost siblings??? Hahaha....that needs to be made into a fanfiction, if it hasn't already.

Jack - Yep, Jack is still gay. He starts his first real relationship with another boy this year. Tobey looks like he could be the love child of Clay Aiken and Anthony Rapp.

Jen - At the beginning of the season, we find out that Henry has broken up with Jen over e-mail. This makes no sense to me because one minute he's fawning over her, and the next he's broken up with her over e-mail. Obviously Michael Pitt had other engagements because we don't even see Henry in any other episodes, so there's no real closure to this relationship. Jen doesn't really have that much to do this season. Her one big storyline was seeing a psychiatrist, and going back to New York to face her father who she hasn't seen in a long time. An old acquaintance of hers, Drue Valentine, is now living in Capeside and he's pretty much taken Abby Morgan's place as being the the town's shit stirrer. Oh, and I can't forget the part where Jen and Jack (the gay one, remember?) almost have sex when they get drunk on a ski trip. Ha!

Joey - Joey and Pacey make sweet, romantic love by firelight in a romantic inn surrounded by snow. :::cue string quartet:::: I almost threw up from the excessive fluffy fluffiness. Of course, by the end of the year they have broken up because Joey has been accepted to Worthington (never heard of it), and Pacey has been accepted...a job on a yacht in the Caribbean. They have a pretty nasty fight during their prom (which was on a yacht and looked pretty cool, if I do say so myself). But of course we know these two kids are meant together and they will get back together. (Hey, I might haven't seen the rest of the series, but I do know they end up together!)

Pacey - Pacey graduates from CHS! Aww, I'm so proud of him. I even got a little tear in my eye when his name was called during the graduation ceremony. Oh, shut up! Pacey and Dawson slowly become friends again this season. He and Joey have the most obnoxious PDA at school. Dude, nobody wants to see you sucking your girlfriend in the middle of the crowded hall! Pacey and Joey somehow miraculously win the school's Cutest Couple, when we ALL know that Jen and Jack are the Cutest Couple. (So what if he's gay? They're still a Cute Couple!) 

Season 5:
In this season, the gang head to Boston to start their new lives as college students (well, except for Pacey). This is a year of change for our beloved Creekers!

Dawson - Dawson probably goes through the most transformation out of all the characters. Here is what happens to him in the course of one year: 1) His dad dies. On the way home from the store, Mitch Leery gets in the car accident. Dawson blames himself because he was home and Mitch had to go to the store because they ran out of the milk. Dawson was supposed to be in L.A., so he thinks that if he wasn't there, the milk wouldn't have ran out, thus Mitch wouldn't need to go to the store. Pacey assures Dawson it isn't his fault, it's the guy who fell asleep at the wheel and ran into Mitch. Yes, technically, that guy was at fault, but maybe if Mitch hadn't dropped his ice cream cone and leaned down to get it while STILL DRIVING, he could have avoided asleep at the wheel guy. Just saying! 2) Dawson quits UCLA. After only a week of attending classes and his first day as an intern for a hot-headed director (he gets fired when he spills coffee), Dawson decides that Cali isn't the place for him and moves back East where he eventually enrolls in a school in Boston that specializes in the arts. 3)Dawson wins a film festival. Unbeknown to Dawson, his dad had entered his film about A.I. Brooke's into a film competition. 4) Dawson becomes a man thanks to Jen, if you know what I mean. 5) Dawson directs a new movie. This creepy and socially inept kid at his new school, Oliver, has written a script and wants Dawson to direct it. They do and show it in Boston and send it out to 60 different directors. Only one replies and wants to meet with them. Oliver screws up the interview, but Dawson manages to convince the director to give him a second chance, so we see him on a plane heading out to L.A. in the season finale...


Jen - Jen and Dawson start to date mid-season, but it doesn't last. They break up. At the beginning of the year, Jen meets a guy played by Chad Michael Murry! who is a suave, charismatic, smooth-talker. (I feel like I need to put an exclamation mark at the end of his name). It turns out that Chad Michael Murry! is two-timing her with another girl. Uh-oh. So Jen and the girl dump his ass. Jen also gets a gig at the radio station where she has her own show talking about relationships.


Joey - Surprisingly, Joey doesn't annoy me as much as she did in the previous seasons. I think it was because of her roommate, Audrey. (More on her later). Though by the end of the series, my Joey hate was slowly starting to creep back! Joey is attending Worthington and has a little fling with her writing professor. Okay, they don't do anything but kiss, but c'mon, that has to be the reason why her lame story titled "The Kiss" got published in the school's literary magazine! Everyone is in love with Joey again, even Chad Michael Murry! who wants Joey to tour with his band after she sang at a karaoke bar. (She sings I Want You To Want Me and sounds horrendous! She has this baby voice when she sings, ugh!) Even the creator/writer/producers love Joey more than any other character. Why? Well, not only did Joey get one show just centered around her (and none of the other young stars were in it), but the episode was where she got mugged and the credits were all serious and ominous, and did Dawson get that kind of respect when his dad died? Nooo! That episode just got the regular credits and theme song. There's still that do they or don't they love each other crap between Dawson and Joey. Do we really care? Yawn. 


Pacey - Pacey gets a job at a restaurant in Boston called Civilization. He starts as a busboy/dishwasher and works his way up to a cook until he's cooking all these elaborate meals for his friends. After the boss leaves, the restaurant is under a new management under a new boss, an older woman who puts the moves on Pacey. Pacey's girlfriend (Audrey, Joey's roommate), sees them together and is pissed at him. After Pacey sabotages a lunch the woman had planned for all these important executives, she drives him home and tries to crash her car since her career is pretty much over. Pacey manages to win Audrey back at the airport when she's flying home to L.A; he gets on the intercom and asks for her forgiveness.

Jack - You guessed it, Jack is still gay. He's invited to join a fraternity. They need him to fill a gay quota. For the first time in his life, Jack is happy that everyone accepts him as who he is. Of course, he turns into a beer-guzzler who's failing all his classes and Jen is mad at him and Toby dumps him. Not only that, but he gets kicked out of the House. Before that, when he moved in, he got his own room, but that was because one of the guys didn't feel comfortable sharing a room with him. I totally called he was gay, and what do you know, I was right! By the end of the series they're friends with the possibility of leading to more.


Audrey - Audrey is the new charater of the show. She pretty much takes Andie's place and is the antithesis of Andie. While Andie was studious and serious and a bit anal, Audrey is more laid-back and care-free and got into Worthington because she's rich. She's Joey's roommate and dates Pacey. (You'd think that be awkward, but Joey is fine with it, in facts, she encourages Pacey to chase her down at the airport).

Season 6: 
So here's what happened to the gang during the final season:

Dawson - In the premiere episode of season 6, Dawson and Joey sleep together and it seriously skeeves me out because their relationship has always reminded me of that of a brother and sister (okay, a brother and sister who seriously like each other, but still, eww!) I had spoiled myself on a lot of things that happened during the series, but I never knew that Dawson and Joey did the deed and I don't know why. I guess they were trying to please Dawson/Joey shippers, but really, are there any D/J shippers out there? Everyone seems to be a P/J shipper. Anyhoo, Dawson and Joey are a couple for like, a day, then Joey learns that he had a girlfriend and broke up with her AFTER he slept with Joey, so that didn't bode too well for them. Dawson gets back together with his girlfriend, who's an actress in some cheesy horror movie that Dawson's the assistant to the director. She's supposed to be some hot, young thing, but really, I thought she was F-U-G-L-Y. Dawson eventually breaks up with her and decides to make his own movie about his life. In the series finale, which takes place five years in the future, we learn that his indie movie has been made into a teen soap on the WB called The Creek. Hang on...if it's five years in the future, that would make it 2008 and the WB doesn't exist anymore!


Joey - Like I already said, Joey and Dawson sleep together, they fight, they break up. Yawn. And Ick. Joey's new boyfriend for the majority of the season is Eddie, played by Oliver Hudson. (He's Kate's older brother). Joey and Eddie meet in a literature class where their teacher likes to torment Joey. Oh! Right after Joey and Dawson had their fight, Joey wrote him an e-mail in the wee hours of the morning and was so tired, she didn't realize she sent a copy to everyone in her school. Oops. Her lit teacher read it aloud to everyone in her class. Ouch. At first, Joey and Eddie hate each other, but of course, like every other guy on the planet, Eddie falls for Joey's alluring charm, beauty, and brains. :::rolls eyes::: In fact, the first time they have sex, Joey misses her very important lit exam. I don't understand: she's been studying at his apartment all night (it was the only quiet place she could find), then he wakes her at six am, and they have sex. Then she goes back to sleep and misses her exam. Dumbass. So there's all this drama with Joey and Eddie, and I could really care less because I already know she's gonna end up with Pacey. (I saw the very last episode when it was aired!) Oh, and Joey finally realizes her dream of going to Paris.

Pacey - Pacey has a goatee through nearly half of the season and at first it's distracting, but it's not actually a bad look for him. It did make him look a lot older, though. So Pacey gets a broker job through Audrey's father and he becomes like Charlie Sheen in Wall Street, kinda swarmy and raking in the dough and buying all these new gadgets. He breaks up with Audrey and he and Joey almost get back together, but then Eddie comes back, so they don't...they just get back together five years later. Of course, we all know that being a chef is Pacey's true calling, so in the series finale, he has his own restaurant in Capeside. 


Jen - There's this poll over at TWoP that always makes me laugh:
Jen died, sure. But who really deserved to buy the farm?
Are you new? Dawson. - 59%
Joey, now and forever. - 13%
Faster, Pacey, die, die! - 5%
They should have put poor Jack out of his misery. - 4%
Actually, Jen totally works for me. - 17%
The "Actually, Jen totally works for me" always get a chuckle out of me. And I love that Dawson pretty much owns this poll. LOL. So here's the thing: Jen likes this guy, CJ, but CJ likes Audrey and doesn't like Jen "like that." So CJ and Audrey sleep together and Jen finds out about this and she gets pissed. But then, I can't remember how, CJ and Jen start to date and become a couple. Jen finds out that her grandmother has cancer, so they decide to move in with her mother in New York, so Grams can have the best health care offered in the country. And yes, Jen does die in the season finale. She has a baby (we don't know the father, God Jen, you are such a slut!) I totally cried when I saw the finale the first time and she was making a video for her baby. Yes, I am a sap. Someone once made a very philosophical observation that the show begins with Jen stepping out of the taxi cab when she first moved to Capeside, then ends with her death. 


Jack - Guess what? Jack is still gay. Can you believe it? He starts dating CJ's friend, whose name I never did catch, but he totally reminded me of a hobbit. You know the look: he was short and funny looking, but in a cute way. But before he starts dating Hobbit-boy, Jack develops a crush on his pop culture teacher. What is it with this show and inappropriate teacher/student relationships? First Pacey has a wild affair with his high school teacher, then Joey makes out with her creative writing college teacher a few times, and now Jack's married professor comes on to him and pretty much tells Jack that he's gay and interested in him. (Except, he doesn't actually say that). Well, the relationship doesn't go anywhere...which is kind of sad because I want some scandal, damn it! In the finale, Jack has ended up with Pacey's older brother, Doug who FINALLY comes out of the closet.


Audrey - The blurb on the Netflix envelope says that Audrey's storyline is that she becomes the lead singer in a band. While this is true, her main storyline is that she becomes a RANGING ALCOHOLIC LUNATIC! Seriously, everyone is invited to Gail's house for Thanksgiving and she gets sloshed and starts saying nasty things about everyone, then drives Pacey's new car through the kitchen in a very Full House moment. She almost over doses, then eventually goes to rehab, and there are tears and hugs galore. As for the singing, she gets invited to join Pacey's and Jack's British roommate's band and she SCREAMS, not sings the words. It's so horrible and yet people seem to like her. I don't get it...oh wait, yes I do. Because she's wearing tight tops, of course. The guys really seem to like her. Poor Audrey wasn't even in the last episode, but Joey mentioned she was on tour with John Mayer? Really? Somehow I can't see that. While I don't like his music, I don't recall hearing any screaming in his songs. Even Andie was in the last episode!

I discuss reality TV:

There's Only One Sydney Bristow

National Television Week continues with another of my favorite shows, the one that made Jennifer Garner a household name:

Alias (2001-2006)

Warning: if you've never seen the show and plan to, don't read this because spoilers abound! 


Ranking the seasons:


Season 1
Season 2
Ask any Alias fanatic which season(s) they think are the best and chances are they'll tell you it's the freshman and sophomore years and I'd have to agree with them. The show was at the top of its game, the most exciting and suspenseful in these two thrilling seasons. The show was like me electronic crack and I couldn't wait for my next dose disc from Netflix. I love these seasons so much that I got S1 for my birthday and S2 for Christmas one year! And one thing the first two seasons had that the others didn't? Will and Francie. Their absence was severly missed in the latter seasons, though it was nice to see Bradley Cooper when he came back to guest star in an episode of S3 and later in one in S5. I loved their involvement in Sydney's life and Will trying to find about about Danny's death in S1 was one of my favorite storylines. Also loved Sydney and her parents in S2. OneBigHappySpyFamily! ....Or not!

Season 3
Though not as good as the first two seasons, S3 does have some good storylines such as where the hell was Sydney for two years and the whole thing with the Covenant and Lauren pulling an Irina Derevko on Vaughn.

Season 5
Unfortunately after S3, the show had just seemed to loose its oomph and it was time to end things. However, there were a few good episodes in this season that reminded me why I fell in love with the show in the first place. I actually need to watch this season again (and I do own it on DVD, but haven't watched it yet) because the whole thing with Vaughn's "death" confused me greatly. Were Sydney and Jack in on it the whole time? Because one minute he's "dead" and the next minute he's hiding out in Siberia or whever the hell it was. Also, did anybody care about the storylines with Rachel and Tom? I know, who? The only new character I found interesting was Renee Rienne (how fun is it to say her name?) and I did love that they brought back Anna Espinosa. And Isabelle was so cute, I'm glad she got to be with her parents, but I'm so sad she's never going to meet her SpyPappy! ::sniff::

Season 4
I blame the suckiness of this season on JJ Abrams. This was the same year that Lost premiered, so I think he spent 90% of his time on his new show while neglecting Alias. I guess all his efforts working on Lost paid off since it did win the Emmy that year. But hey, I'm not complaining. I loved the first season of Lost. I can't say the same thing for S4 of Alias though. All the suspense was gone. It seemed hardly any of the shows ended in cliffhangers, everything was resolved in one show. Yawn, how boring.


Ranking the season finales:
Obviously, a show like Alias is famous for cliff-hangers (like most shows have). Here's how I'd rank them:

Season 2 ending - This ending was so talked about that even I knew what happened and this was before I started watching the show. The ending just isn't Sydney finding out Alison Doren is Francie, oh no, Sydney wakes up in some alleway in Hong Kong and soon discovers it's been two years has passed!

Season 1 ending - Turns out SpyMommy really is alive! And...will Vaughn survive? (Of course he will).

Season 4 ending - While I hate this crap about Vaughn being "Andre Micheau," I do have to admit the car crash totally took me by surprise and made me jump!

Season 3 ending - This one really wasn't a cliffhanger, hence why I have it last. She finds documents that she shouldn't have seen, papers documenting her life. Not the most interesting thing to end a season.


My Ten Favorite Episodes (in chronological order):

1 Truth Be Told (Pilot) - Ah, the two-hour episode that started it all. Sydney learns that she's been working for the enemy she thought she was fighting. Surprise! SD-6 isn't a branch of the CIA, but more of an enemy of the United States. She finds this out from her father after her fiance is killed when she tells him she's a spy. She goes to the CIA and becomes a double agent, along with her father. The story is set: it's time to destroy SD-6.

2. Reckoning, (1.6) - Three main reasons why I love this episode: 1) Charlie sings Have a Little Faith In Me as his debut song at the club he invites Sydney and Francie to. I love that song so much! Of course, that probably wasn't the best song for him to sing...ahem. Oh, poor, poor, Francie. Though Charlie cheating on her was far from the worst thing that happened to her on the show(!!) 2) Love Sydney's and Dixon's mission in the London photo gallery where Dixon poses as a wealthy buyer and Sydney sneaks into the office to retrieve an important device and the camera detects her and one of the gaurds comes back and she has to hide on top of the heating pipe...OUCH! 3)Sydney disguised as a patient in a asylum where she has to escape with John Hannah? (Jonathan from the Mummy movies!) Love it!

3. The Box Parts 1 and 2, (1.12 and 1.13)- This is a two-parter, but I'm counting it as one episode because I can! Quentin Tarantino guest stars as McKenas Cole, a former SD-6 agent who sneaks a pack of intruders into SD-6 and takes everyone hostage while locking the building down. They want the access code to the SD-6 vault. Luckily Sydney and SpyDaddy weren't there at the moment and it's up to them to save the day! (With a little help from Vaughn).

4. The Coup, (1.14) - Sydney and Dixon are sent on a mission to Las Vegas. When Sydney tells Francie and Charlie she has a business meeting in Vegas, they perk up at the idea and think it sounds like fun. And of course, they also choose to come to the same hotel Sydney's doing her spyin' at, so she has to avoid them to maintain her cover. There's one little hitch: before leaving for Vegas, she was approached by a woman who has proof that Charlie's been cheating on Francie with her and when Sydney sees that they are about to get married at a chapel, she has to stop them, so she puts the mission on hold for a few minutes. What can I say, I'm a sucker for close calls.

5. Rendevous (1.21) - This is one of my favorite episodes of Alias ever. First of all, Syd's cabaret singer disguise is one of my favorites - I thought she looked really pretty. Loved the magneta hair! And I love, LOVE,LOVE the scene where she has to rescue Will and the look on his face is so totally priceless when he realizes at that *moment* his good friend Sydney Bristow does NOT work at a bank! LOL! See, I thought the scene inBtVS when Buffy's mom learns her daughter is a vampire slayer was really anti-climatic. It was just like, "Oh, yeah, Mom, by the way, I'm a vampire slayer." And her mom is like, "Well, that's nice." Or whatever. But when Will learns the truth about Sydney being a spy? Awesome, awesome, awesome. Love the looks on Will's face when she's fighting/shooting at the bad guys and trying to save him at the same time. Hehehe! "Who are you people?" and "Seriously?" are two of the best Will Tippin lines. I love Will! The show was just never the same after he left.

6. The Passage Parts 1 and 2 (2.8 and 2.9) - It's a Bristow family vacation in India! "You know some people go minature golfing with their parents. We go to India and look for nukes." The CIA needs Irina's help in this two-parter, so she joins Sydney and Jack on their mission, much to Jack's dismay. And in true Alias fashion they get ambushed, but they manage to defeat the bad guys.

7. Phase One, (2.13) - Lots of good stuff in this episode. Love the whole plane sequence when Sydney has to hang on for dear life after shooting open the hatch. Sure, it was a little unbelieveable (at least in Alias world, but it was a thrilling scene and I was still nervous for her even though I knew she'd make it out okay). This is also the episode where the CIA takes over SD-6, tut the best part was the reveal at the end with Francie who isn't really Francie. Ooh, that was so delicioulsy creepy!

8. The Telling, (2.22) - This episode probably has the greatest female vs. female fight in all of TV history. I enjoyed the brawl between Sydney and Francie!Alison probably more than I should have! It sorta reminded me of the fight between Uma Thurman and Vivica A. Fox in Kill Bill. It gave me a little shiver before Sydney finds out about Francie's true identity and is listening to her phone message from Will when all of a sudden he's cut off. Also loved the scene when SpyMommy falls off the highrise in Mexico City and shoots her gun at the glass windows.

9. Facade, (3.15) - Ricky Gervais does a complete 180 from The Office and guest stars as Daniel Ryan, a freelance bomb maker whose bombs are impossible to defuse. He believes his brother was killed by the Covenant and wants revenge, so he has placed a bomb on a plane that has Sark and Vaughn on board (not to mention many innocent people). It so happens that it was Sydney who killed his brother when she was with the Covenant under the alias Julia Thorn. Pretty powerful episode, probably the most memorable from S3.

10. There Is Only One Sydney Bristow, (5.12) - Will returns! Anna returns! It's like an Alias reunion! Anna has injected a small explosive device into the back of Will's head. SuperSpySyd must save him! Anna offers her a deal: a page from the Rambaldi code for the bomb's deactivation device. Of course, Anna being, well, Anna, doensn't exactly keep her word and when Sydney does hand over the Rambaldi page, Anna sets the timer off. Luckily Sydney manages to save Will at the last second! At the end we learn why Anna has returned: to look exactly like Sydney. So now there are TWO Sydney Bristows!


I talk about one of my current favorite shows:

Slayers > Vampires

I love movies, but I also love TV and therefore I have decided to declare this "National Television Week" and share with you some of my favorite TV shows which I wrote about in my LiveJournal. As an added bonus, I will also post a video clip of me reminiscing about certain TV shows. Yes, Christmas has come early!

Up first?

Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997-2003)

It took me seven months to get through what most people got through in seven years: watching all 144 episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I began in mid-December 2004 and finished in July. (Thank you, Netflix, I couldn’t have done it without you!) I absolutely adored the show. I do wish I had watched it when it was airing, but thank goodness for DVDs and Netflix, right? So here is my little tribute to the little show that put the WB (RIP, LOL!) on the map.

By the way, if you've never seen this show, I would advise you not to read this because of a) spoilers and b) you are going to have no idea what I'm talking about! 

Oh, and if you're a Buffy fan and hate Twilight  (like moi) and have six minutes to spare, you will love this.

By the way, I've heard rumors that they're remaking this show. I think it is way too soon to be remaking this show and there's no way in hell I'll be watching it because nothing will ever come close to the original! (Even though the TV show was based off a movie...)

Ranking the Seasons:

Season 2
Season 3
To me these two seasons were the ones when Buffy was at the top of its game. Second and third seasons just simply rocked. Our favorite trio still acts like, a well, trio, Angel, Oz, and Cordelia are still with us, Spike hasn’t gotten all lovesick on us, and librarian!Giles! I did like the show better when they were in high school, although I know they can’t stay there forever. Most of my favorite episodes come from these two seasons, especially the second one. I loved Evil!Angel and his snarky comments and the Mayor from S3 was hilariously awesome. These are the two seasons that made me fall in love with the show.

Season 5
This is definitely the most emotional season of the series and I did find a few episodes difficult to watch (likeThe Body). This season is full of angst and death, and then there’s more angst and more death. But I loved the premise with Dawn being a key sent to Buffy in the form of a sister. I love it! It’s so wacky! At the end of the first episode where we learn Buffy has a sister, I was trying to rack my brain, figuring out when the hell all this came in. Did I miss an episode? Was Dawn her stepsister? Was it just some sister we had never heard of, living with their dad? I was so baffled! And I liked Glory: she freaked me out and made me laugh at the same time.

Season 4
There were some great episodes in this one (and also, IMO, the worst of the entire series: Bad Beer), but the overall season felt like a buffer season: between Spike being evil and Spike becoming part of the Scooby gang. It’s like they came up with the idea of the Initiative because they wanted Spike to have a bigger role, so then they came up with the chip in the head idea so he couldn’t hurt anyone (the exception being demons) and therefore hang out with the gang without being a danger. To me this season was all about, how can we make Spike a bigger part of the show?


Season 7
I know S7 gets a lot of flack and even though it’s not as good as the previous ones I’ve mentioned (although I would probably tie it with S4), I did enjoy the final season. I loved that they brought back the high school, though why the hell would you build the school in the same spot over the Hellmouth? Well, I guess they wouldn’t have a show if they didn’t do that! I liked the storyline of the Future Slayers and the First was creepy and I totally hated Caleb. I liked the very last episode, Chosen, but I really thought they should have made it a two hour event. It seemed like a lot of things had to be squeezed in and rushed.

Season 1
The reason I have the first reason ranked so low is that it really didn’t seem to have an ongoing plot (well, except for the Master). All the episodes seemed to have the same formula: something evil comes to town, someone (Giles, Xander, Cordelia, or Willow) gets in trouble and Buffy has to rescue them. Rinse and repeat. I really didn’t get hooked on the series with this season. Like I said, it wasn’t until the next season where I was fully addicted.

Season 6
Okay, S6. Oh, boy. Here are a few reasons why I hate S6: Spuffy, (I’ll get more into that later), hardly no Giles (I remember he was only in about three episodes at the beginning, then at the very end he came back, but his presence was definitely lacking), I really didn’t care about the Xanya ‘ship, the Evil!Willow and her magicrack was a little too much for me. And while the Nerd Trio were funny, I never really understood why Jonathan and Andrew turned evil. Okay, they were never really evil and probably didn’t know what they were getting themselves into it, but I really thought at least Jonathan would have better sense than that. Oh, and I absolutely hated that scene from Gone where Buffy turns invisible and has sex with Spike when Xander is in the room. Eww, Buffy. Don’t be so clueless, Xander. I really hated Buffy in this season. Yeah, yeah, I know she just got back from heaven and blah, blah, blah, but she really annoyed me in this season! Just everything about this season makes me shudder. Truly the worst of the whole series. At least they redeemed themselves with the next season a bit.

Ranking the villains from each season:

The Mayor, S3 - The Mayor was hilarious! Best villian ever! I can see why they brought him back in S7 for that one episode where he comes back as the First.

Spike, Drusilla, and Angelus, S2 - I loved the relationship between these three, especially how Spike hated Angelus and Angelus calling Spike “roller boy” and of course weird-ass Drusilla.

Glory, S5 - I know a lot of people don’t like Glory, but like I said before, I thought she was hilarious with her narcissism and all her little minions calling her “Your Glorification” and “Almighty Glory” or whatever it was they called her. The fact that she could trade bodies with that med student creeped me out a little, especially when he didn’t tell them. Um, whose side are you on anyway, Ben?

Warren, Jonathan, and Andrew, S6 - First of all, I guess you could argue who was the real villain of S6: The Nerd Trio or Evil!Willow? Well, I’m counting it as the NT becase E!W was in only three episodes. Even though I do hate S6, I have to admit that the trio were hilarious. I remember they’re discussing villains in ficition work and Voldemort’s name comes up. Hee! But I never thought Jonathan and Andrew were really evil, Warren was really the only bad guy of the trio.

The Master, S1 - Don’t really remember too much about him, but I do remember him making me laugh a few times, so I’ll give him credit here. Plus he was a you know, a vampire, Buffy’s specialty.

Tie between Adam and Caleb, S4 and S7 - Adam bored me to death! He was so dull! Whenever he talked, I was like *yawn*, blah, blah, blah. Caleb, on the other hand, I absolutely despised his misogynist, bang-wearing, southern-drawling ass! Urgh! Hate!

My Ten Favorite Episodes (in chronological order):

1. Halloween, S2 - This is the eppy where the Trio becomes what their Halloween costumes are which they bought from Ethan Rayne’s shop. Willow becomes a ghost, Xander becomes a soldier, and Buffy turns into an 18th century girl and is helpless when they’re attacked by Spike. A very clever episode, I thought!

2. What’s My Line (Parts 1 and 2), S2 - Ah, the episode where Spike sends four assassins to finish off Buffy. The Order of Taraka reminded me of the Deadly Viper Squad, how could you not love it? The one I remember the most is the guy who disguised himself as a salesman and could turn into a million little worms. Eww. We meet Kendra, the girl who became the new slayer when Buffy was “dead” for about a minute in the last episode of the first season.

3. Passion, S2 - The very first episode of Buffy that made me cry. Jenny Calendar finds a spell for getting back Angel’s soul, all she has to do is decipher it into English on her computer disc and she’s ready to roll. Only problem is Angel finds out about this and ends up snapping her neck. A very dark episode, but wonderfully done. I felt so bad for Giles! I liked him and Jenny together.

4. Becoming, (Parts 1 and 2), S2 - Buffy and Willow find the computer disc that contains the key to restoring Angel’s soul and Willow who is been dabbing in a little bit of magic is going to try it. Drusilla murders Kendra! Buffy’s mom finds out her daughter is the vampire slayer! Drusilla turns into Jenny and messes with Giles! Willow gives Angel back his soul! But it’s too late! Buffy kills Angel! Oh, and I have to say that the first part contains the best scene ever in BTVS: Buffy running slow motion around a corner towards the library in her vinyl blue coat. They even had that in the credits, but took it out either during fifth or sixth season. Boo!

5. The Prom, S3 - Okay, I admit the only thing I remember, besides the demon dogs, is Buffy and Angel dancing to The Sunday’s cover of Wild Horses at the prom. I absolutely love that song and I love Buffy/Angel.

6. Graduation Day (Parts 1 and 2), S3 - This is probably my favorite season finale of BTVS. (It’s closely tied with Becoming and The Gift. At graduation day (hey it’s the class of ‘99! I was the class of ‘99! Yay!) the Mayor gives the commencement speech and turns into a giant snake. Luckily Buffy has tipped all the students off so they come all compared. One of my favorite fights from the series. I actually thought of this scene when I read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows when all the students are fighting the Death Eaters.

7. Hush, S4 - The entire town of Sunnydale goes silent when some of the creepiest demons I have ever seen on the show called The Gentlemen appear and seize everyone's voices. A human scream is the only thing that can kill them before they cut outthe hearts of seven people. Buffy and the Scoobs must come up with a plan to get rid of them without being able to speak. One of the most creative episodes. Ironically this was nominated for an Emmy for best writing. Who knew a show where there’s hardly any dialouge would get nominated for a best writing Emmy?

8. Who Are You?, S4 - A Freaky Friday episode where Buffy turns into Faith and Faith turns into Buffy.

9. The Body, S5 - The episode where Buffy deals with her mother's death. I think this is the first death in the show that isn't caused by anything supernatural; her mother died of a brain aneurysm if I remember correctly. One of the most powerful scenes is when Buffy is telling Dawn the news in Dawn's art class and the camera is outside looking in, so we don't hear them, but we just see Dawn's reaction.

10. The Gift, S5 - This one is a real tearjerker. Buffy saves her sister from the evil clutches of Glory and sacrifices herself to save the world, hence her gift is death. Awww.

Unpopular Buffy Opinions:

- I hate Spuffy. I am a Bangel shipper through and through. Their relationship in S6 just felt icky to me and the idea of Spike falling in love with a Slayer and getting a soul for her? Please. And the idea of Spike making a Buffybot for his uh, pleasure is just the sickest thing ever. Although the Buffybot did make me laugh with her naiveté.

- I like Faith and Cordelia. I don’t know the consensus about these two, but it seems most people don’t like them since Buffy doesn’t like them, but I enjoyed their characters. I liked how Faith was the antithesis of Buffy and how she called her “B” and her “Five by five” and “I got mad skills!” lines. I loved Cordy’s snobbiness and missed her when Anya took her place on the show.

- I don’t like Anya. She annoyed me. A lot. I could only handle her in small doses. Maybe I would have liked Anya better if they hadn’t made Emma Caufield a regular cast member. But her sex jokes and her ditziness got really old after awhile. And I know this is mean, but if anyone from the credits had to be killed off in the very last episode, I’m glad it was her. I didn’t want her to go in such a brutal way though!

- I like Dawn. I’ve seen a lot of Dawn hate, but I liked her. I thought the relationship between her and Buffy was really sweet. And I actually felt worse for her when she found out Joyce had died. That scene where Buffy is telling her the news was the only scene I bawled my eyes out during that eppy. And she was just a key! She’s not even Joyce’s real daughter! I have to admit I cracked up in that eppy where she screams “GET OUT,GET OUT, GET OUT!” at everyone.

- I like Riley. Okay, he was Captain America and could be dull sometimes. (He’s from Iowa, what do you expect?) But I really did like the relationship between him and Buffy, yes me, being a Bangel shipper. But if it couldn’t work out with Angel, I’d be happy with Buffy and Riley.

-I didn’t like Once More, With Feeling. Or rather, I just didn’t think it was the Best! Buffy! Episode! Ever! like everyone else seems to think. I liked the song they sang at the end (I think it was called "Through the Fire") and the people dancing around claiming that “they got the mustard out of my shirt” did make me giggle. But some of the songs went on way too long and the dancing went on even longer. I was a little bored. I was grateful that they don’t do all their episodes in musical form!

I'm a big fan of Buffy, but what show is my all-time favorite? Watch the video to find out:

The Beginning of the End