This Week on My TV: December 21, 2013

Disclaimer: Some shows I watch live and with others, I tend to be fairly behind on my tv watching. Even so, consider the fact that there could be spoilers ahead. All I can do is lead in with the show and episode. You read at your own risk!



**(The Carrie Diaries, S2E2 "Express Yourself") Samantha and the nudity. I cannot stop laughing, because that is *exactly* what I would expect from a young Samantha, based on what we knew of adult Samantha. -- Carrie can't deal with hurting feelings. I so get that. It's just easier to disappoint myself than to know I hurt someone else's feelings. -- Watching Tom hide things from his new girlfriend was funny...until it got sad, because he didn't know whether or not to leave out the photos of his dead wife. -- Carrie trying to be in two places at once feels like a nod to scattered adult Carrie. -- Kind of love Samantha giving Carrie advice about demanding respect from guys. -- Sebastian's father is a jerk. -- "Suddenly," by Billy Ocean. Wow, I haven't heard that one in forever. -- Young Samantha says "oh honey" just like adult Samantha! Love! -- Carrie telling Sebastian that he broke her, he broke her heart, and she hates him because she still loves him and hates herself even more for it. Flashes of Big, yes?

**(The Michael J Fox Show, S1E11 "Christmas") I love when they weave Christmas magic into sitcoms: Ian meets "Kris" who gives him the Matchbox car he never got as a little boy. Eve is reminded of Christmas spirit by a Jewish cab driver, which leads her to bailing Mike out from his gift exchange with his wife, after he accidentally gave her gift to his assistant, and Eve came up with a loaf of Italian bread and a stick of salami, just like they had on their first, broke Christmas together. -- Could we try to be a *little* tiny bit creative with the episode titles? I mean seriously, they used both "Christmas" and "Thanksgiving." Lame.

**(Last Man Standing, S3E11 "Elfie") Of course Ryan calls Christmas trees "murder" and bakes "holiday cookies." I truly cringe every time his character appears on camera. -- Hahaha. Eve messing with Boyd via the elf. -- Mike: We can pump this kid full of so much Christmas spirit, he'll be farting candy canes at his dad's house.

**(How I Met Your Mother, S9E13 "Bass Player Needed") The Mother!!! It's a Christmas miracle (and this isn't even a Christmas episode). -- Oh man. Darren is a douche. He told Lily that Robin didn't want her to move away. He told Barney that Ted is moving to Chicago. I suppose this serves a purpose, but if they wanted to create a character that makes you want to reach through the tv screen to punch them in the nose, well, mission accomplished. -- Saddest thing ever: Ted talking to Barney about moving to Chicago because he needs a new start. -- I adore The Mother. Adore. I love that she can't do confrontation. I love that she's sweet. I love that she gets along with all Ted's friends. -- Marshall is back! That reunion between Lily, Marshall and Marvin. ::sniffle:: -- The Mother: There are real villains in this world. But they don't always get real justice, do they? You wanna believe Karma's gonna get 'em but...Karma doesn't always come through. I guess you have to accept that sometimes in life, you just don't get that knockout punch. ... and then we see Ted punch Darren! (Told you he was punchable!) And The Mother bought Ted a bottle of the bar's best scotch! ::swoon::

**(2 Broke Girls, S3E12 "And the French Kiss") Blah. Chef Nicholas is married and making out with Caroline? Bad direction to take a character I thought I'd like.

**(Chicago Fire, S2E6 "Joyriding") Boden bailing on the house. Mouch bailing on the campaign. Shay is involved with a she-douche. I still don't feel a connection to any of the characters. Not even Severide when he saved a kid with a near fatal injury. -- David Eigenberg has the greenest eyes. How did I never notice that before?

**(Blue Bloods, S4E10 "Mistaken Identity") Wait a second. I thought Jamie and his high school girlfriend broke up ages ago?! -- Frank: I hate when you do that. Garrett: My job?? Frank: And why are you in here again? ... Their interactions never fail to slay me. -- The assaulted police officer had "Bert" (as in "Bert and Ernie") eyebrows. -- Danny got a new unmarked police car! He must have broadsided too many other cars during chases in his old one. -- They sure were allowing people to stand awfully close while they deactivated that bomb. -- How long before Jamie ends up with his partner?

**(Mike and Molly, S4E7 "They Shoot Asses, Don't They?") Now I've never been shot in the backside before, but why was Mike on crutches for that? -- Mike was sitting down awfully hard for someone with a bullet hole in his seat. -- I could have done without the bathroom/Vince image. -- I liked that this episode was a bit more reminiscent of Mike and Molly as they were before this season started. They were a good blend between "old and new."

**(Mom, S1E12 "Corned Beef and Handcuffs") Chef Rudy, cute? Not even close. You're full of crazy, Bonnie. And clearly need your eyes and/or taste checked. -- Christy: Walk of shame? Bonnie: Strut of pride! -- Bonnie sure put those slippers on pretty quickly after painting her toes. -- There isn't enough brain bleach in the world to erase the image of French Stewart sucking on Alison Janney's toes.

**(Person of Interest, S3E11 "Lethe") Is Harold trying to ignore The Machine's attempts to send him numbers?! -- I love when I recognize random characters from other shows. This week's Number was Donny from Frasier. -- Was the 1971 flashback supposed to be Harold or Arthur Claypool? -- Reese: How did you find me? Lionel: What? Did you think I won my detective shield in a poker game? -- Totally knew Harold was avoiding this week's Number because he knew him. -- Ah, 1979 flashback implies 1971 was young Harold. -- Reese has gone rogue?! -- There was a second machine?! -- Why does Lionel keep picking fights he can't win? If he couldn't beat HR guy, he's certainly not going to best Reese, not even drunk Reese. -- Whoa. Did not see the "not really his wife" thing coming. Camryn Manheim is Control?! -- Well that was quite a standoff to end this episode! Harold and Shaw's lives on the line and Samaritan perhaps still in existence?

**(CSI, S14E8 "Helpless") Ewww. Bloody corpse in a giant hamster ball rolling down the street? -- The break-in rapist case was at least interesting, but the human hamster ball was just weird and kind of boring. I also felt like incorporating the swing shift CSIs had a lot of unrealized potential. It seemed like it was going to be a good twist, but it ended up fizzling. Bummer.

**(Top Chef, S11E11 "Giving It the College Try") Carrie doesn't know how to MAKE A BED??? -- I'm a little confused that Shirley is so offended that Carlos appears to be "all about himself." This *is* a competition and there is only one winner. If you're NOT all about yourself, what are you doing here? -- Carrie should have gone home. She's lucky she got immunity. -- I was off on my guess this week. I thought Stephanie was going home. I'm relieved it was Justin instead. -- Shirley has come away with two big wins: a large cash prize earlier and now a new car! -- Most importantly: Louis stayed alive in Last Chance Kitchen!