season2

(S02E21) Can you feel it? That tension in the air like we felt last season, right before the final episode? Everything's coming together, and still we doubt our assumptions. Do we really know who's behind the bus crash? Were we really right in our guesses about Woody and his pervy ways?

While I'm clearly excited to know how everything goes down next week, this is also when I'm sad to realize that everything's about to end, and we'll have another summer to wait through to see what happens next.

(S02E20) Earlier today I put out the call for new viewers to this show that this was their last chance to catch a plot-ruining-free episode this season. For the most part I was right, though I'm not sure this was the best episode for a newcomer to see. There were a lot of inside jokes that might have gotten lost on someone not familiar with past episodes. With that said though, we were thrown so many new pieces of the big puzzle this week to make even fans' heads spin.

(S02E20) This episode was kind of different. I don't think they've had a case before where Don had a personal/romantic connection to those involved. I'll say this though. I didn't like how they kept pushing the idea that working in any kind of law enforcement (police, FBI, ATF, etc.) is so stressful that suicide is an option for many. I realize a job like that can have it's pressures, but I was surprised that this show took that angle. The unfortunate thing is that there's probably some truth to it so I suppose I'm just eating my own words right there. 

Beyond that gripe, this was a very good episode as usual. There really is no reason why this show couldn't pull it's weight on a night other than Friday. It's better than The Unit and would make a nice pairing with NCIS. But I digress. A former love interest of Don's (she was an ATF agent) commits suicide. But after some crazy mathematical analysis from Charlie, it seems like it may have been a murder.

(S02E19) The writers for this show really know how to throw us through enough twists and turns to keep us guessing until the very end. I'm not sure there were nearly this many goings on last season, though as many commenters have pointed out, the likely scenario is that someone we least expect or know about is behind much of what's been going down.

So let's quickly go through what we know from this episode...

(S02E18) Most times when you wake up from a dream and remember most of what happened, there's a lot of symbolism going on. You know, dreams of being late for an exam means you feel unprepared, dreams of falling means you're insecure about something, and talking in front of class naked ... well that really happened. Long story.

This episode was filled with all sorts of dream hints and clues from Veronica's point of view, though their interpretation shouldn't be anything more than what Veronica herself has figured out on her own; these aren't ghosts she's talking to.

After seeing tonights episode, I really think Darius and I are onto something with our theories about who's responsible for the bus crash. However, now I'm wondering if the writers are throwing us a red herring with Beaver's curious reaction (or lack of reaction) toward Mac. Is Beaver the one who's gay and not Dick, as Darius theorized? Beaver's real estate dealings play a role in the Mayor's incorporation issues, so I could see him doing it just to make the Mayor's life miserable. Maybe both Dick and Beaver are working together on something for once?

Maybe I was expecting way too much this week, with Veronica Mars being on a break for a while, but I found tonight's episode a bit dull. I'd read somewhere that this episode was going to mark a huge turning point in the season, though I'm not all that sure what it was. Was it Hannah's discovery that her dad really is into things with the Fitzpatricks? Or maybe Terrence's surprise locker in is garage?

Also, while it was great to see Mac again (they really need to put her in more episodes), Wallace and Weevil were sadly missing.

When I knew that this episode would include the discovery of a habitable planet for the fleet, I felt a little cheated. I knew the writers would have to explain, in some way, why Kobol didn't look so good when they happened upon it. Thankfully (and conveniently) it's revealed that the planet is within a nebula, something that would hide the planet from the Cylons.

Now the question is: did Sharon/Boomer/#8 purposely direct that ship to the planet somehow?

Sometimes when a show uses time shifting in an episode, it adds something. It makes sense. We already know I took issue with the last two episodes using this trick, and now they do it again. However, unlike that past two times, this episode just didn't gain anything from it.

Here we had a completely Starbuck-centric episode, one that showed us her continued feelings toward Enders and hightlighting her reasons for being enthused to head back to Caprica to take back their planet. As an episode that stood to spread out the primary plot of the season, I think it worked well.

Things are back on track this week after last week's brief detour. Both mysteries get some serious advancement in this episode, all the major players are there and -- thank God -- Veronica's not moping around because her love is gone.

The question I had at the end of the last episode was why would Wallace feel at all threatened by a newspaper reporter? Then, in this episode, we see that Wallace tells his story to the press, only to have it blow up in his face. OK, two things: 1) Wallace should have told the reporter where to stick it, and 2) Why the hell would Wallace tell a reporter before he told police?

OK, let me say right up front that I simply did not like this episode. Actually, I sorta hated it. No big plot developments. No mysteries solved or revealed. And then Charlie goes bonkers for seemingly no apparent reason, only to get his ass beat down my Locke. What's more, we have to wait until Februrary 8 for a new episode. Bummer.