Malcolm heads to the weaponry store and purchases a pistol with an automatic firing mechanism, all in preparation for his time in the theater. Along the way, he runs into Madam Kali (aka Evelyn Poole) and the two chat about her sentimental attachment to gun oil, the health and wellness of Vanessa Ives, and Malcolm’s latest adventure, which he claims will take him away for two years. Kali seems disappointed that she won’t be able to continue getting reacquainted with him, but he assures her that they’ll meet again. Meanwhile, Caliban has trouble at a rehearsal and gets chewed out by Simon when he doesn’t lower a rope quickly enough. Though Vincent tries to comfort him with the knowledge that all people in show business are bitches, it takes Maude coming backstage with an orange, an apology about Simon’s behavior, and literary talk for his mood to lighten. He even cracks a smile when she gives him a kiss on the side of the head before leaving.

Vanessa confronts Malcolm about a missing photo of Mina and Peter as he loads his new pistol. When she presses him on that issue, as well as why she wasn’t allowed on the plague ship, he informs her that he would sacrifice her if it meant securing Mina’s safe return to his arms. However, since Vanessa is his most direct connection to his daughter, he can’t afford for her to get hurt, so his move to block her from the plague ship was about protecting her. And the photo? It breaks his heart, even though he claims to not want to be freed up from the guilt he feels. Back at the theater, Caliban attempts to put some color on his face and sneaks into Maude’s dressing room with the orange that she gave him, thinking that the two could share it. However, the way his face looks and the manner in which he entered the room put her off and when he tips his hand regarding his omniscience of all things in the theater, he forces himself on her and slams her against a wall. He ends up leaving before anything happens, though she gets him fired from his position as pseudo stage manager. Vincent then comforts Caliban with a hug, all the while The Master slumbers in the rafters of the theater.

At the atrium, Vanessa and Dorian run into one another and he assures her that he doesn’t need an explanation for her sudden absence after they were intimate. However, she writes this off as more evidence of his pleasant neutrality and tells him that she’s not the woman she wants to be when she’s with him, not when their intimacy released a kind of darkness that she was unable to control. Not used to rejection, Dorian starts to cry and Vanessa kisses him before leaving. Caliban moves his things into Victor’s office for the time being and again laments the fact that he’s alone. While his creature’s back is turned, Victor raises his gun and prepares to end its life once and for all, only to lose his nerve when Caliban says that his monstrous inside is reflected in his monstrous outside and wonders aloud why he was allowed to feel. Ethan then comes by to snag the doctor and bring him over to Brona, who’s weakened from her already tenuous state that morning; Victor asks her whether she’s comfortable and while her body is comfortable, her soul isn’t. She’s afraid of making the transition to the afterlife, so Victor sends Ethan to get something in another room and tells Brona of a world between heaven and hell, between life and death – a world with everlasting rebirth and possibly salvation. He then smothers her with a pillow and when Ethan returns, he promises to do something with the body, leaving his friend to grieve his love.

After drying his eyes, Ethan goes to the bar and runs into the two men who’ve been stalking him. The reason they’ve been tailing him? They’re bounty hunters, of sorts, sent by his father to retrieve him and bring him back to America. But instead of going with the two and confronting the blood he left in his wake, Ethan attacks them both and leaves the bar unscathed. That night, he meets with Vanessa, Malcolm, Victor, and Sembene, the five of them heading to the theater to begin looking for Mina. Once they make it inside, they slowly, surely, and (mostly) silently climb their way upwards toward the rafters, only stopping when Vanessa spots The Master. Before he can do anything, a trap door sends Ethan into a viper’s nest of vampires, with Sembene jumping in after him and Victor following shortly after. As The Master wakes up and begins doing battle with Malcolm, the three men do their damndest to fight off the seemingly unending stream of white-haired creatures. Though it looks like the trio are down for the count, too many creatures standing between them and salvation, Malcolm manages to kill The Master, thereby killing each and every vampire it sired in the process.

Just then, Mina emerges from backstage and takes Vanessa hostage when her former friend hugs her. It turns out that Mina is a creature, as well, and she claims that each man in the theater is going to come face to face with the Devil before too long now that he has his bride. As Mina begins to bite Vanessa, Malcolm shoots her once and knocks her to the ground. Stunned, she uses her status as daughter as leverage, only for him to say that he already has a daughter before shooting her again, this time killing her. Later, Vanessa comes into Malcolm’s study as he packs up his explorer paraphernalia; he admits that he’s not going back to Africa and the two comfort one another, crying on the other’s shoulder. While Victor shows Caliban Brona’s corpse, Ethan gets hassled by the two hunters as he drinks alone and looks out at the water. This time, though, he turns into a werewolf and kills them both accordingly.

Vanessa enters a church and takes a meeting with the local priest. The topic? Her terror regarding what she’s capable of and the possibility of him performing an exorcism on her. He warns her about how long and grueling the process is, how it can sometimes take months and years in order to work, and leaves her with a single question.

Do you really want to be normal?

Additional thoughts and observations:
-“Don’t be naïve. It doesn’t suit you.”
-“Show business. All bitches.”
-“Remember us better than we are.”
-“I already have a daughter.”
-So, has this been one of the weirdest paced seasons of television we’ve had in a while? Not just when you look at an eight-episode order with a flashback episode and a bottle episode, but also the amount of information given out, the time between episodes, and the parsing out of the action/genre-heavy scenes. I like how unorthodox it is, since there’s very little on television that surprises anymore, but I wouldn’t be opposed to it moving a hair toward normativity for its extended second season.
-Favorite episode of the season: “Possession,” in a walk. The whole season has been good, minus some bumps here and there, but that was some extraordinary television. I already like bottle episodes and a show like this with so many seemingly disparate threads bringing everybody together in a house is like television catnip to me. Combine that with Eva Green showing that she’s the best dramatic actress on television and it was some spellbinding, scary, sensational stuff that shows that the show is capable of oh so much.
-Interesting that after last week’s Eva Green showcase, this episode had a very subdued Vanessa. It’s understandable given everything she went through last week, and how much physical punishment Green endured for the sake of her performance; it’s just that the show always shines just a bit brighter when she’s in the middle of the action.
-Did you have Ethan as being a werewolf? I had it pegged when the gang went to the London Zoo and he scared away the wolves, so it was a long time coming on my end and I’m pretty satisfied with how they chose to reveal it. Now, though, I’d love to see them do an Ethan-centric flashback episode next season and explain how he became a wolf and the journey he took from America to Europe.
-Malcolm is a bit of a bastard, but hearing him call Vanessa his daughter and seeing him choose her over Mina was quite touching, as was them comforting one another. They’ve had one of the most interesting dynamics on the show this season and I liked seeing him soften toward her after pushing her away/marginalizing her for much of the season.
-Should Vanessa go through with the exorcism? I think she’ll end up doing it and the show will wring some more Eva Green possession scenes out of it, so it should be a worthwhile endeavor. I would say that I don’t know how long they can drag that type of storyline out, but the show has done some strange things with time and there’s nothing stopping them from leaping ahead whenever it starts to drag.
-The way the show does vampires is especially awesome. Visually, they’re my favorite on any genre show and I like their physicality, how they’re not painted as sympathetic figures, and the way the show lights them whenever they make their appearances. Here’s hoping the show can find a way to keep that part of its mythology from closing in on itself now that The Master has been defeated.
-Let’s talk about the cool shot of Sembene jumping down the trap door hole to help Ethan and how Malcolm did something that very few heroes in genre fiction do – he made sure his opponent was dead. The show could’ve easily allowed The Master to escape and set up some type of revenge-type storyline for season two; instead, Malcolm stabbed the creature multiple times and didn’t stop until it, and the rest of its hoard, were dead. Smart people doing things smartly can make for strong television, television industry, and this is Exhibit A of this fact.
-It’s interesting that Victor chose to kill Brona himself. When he recreates her next season, will she remember that she died at his hands? If so, could he be in danger? If not, will the guilt of what he did cause him to act out and possibly even confess?
-Also on my wishlist for next season: an expanded role for Sembene. I like the mystery surrounding him and the fact that he’s a strong, silent type, but it just feels like he has a killer backstory and like he could contribute more to the overall vibe of the show than he currently does.
-While Caliban’s whole story kind of petered out after the first third of the series, his monologue about his physical appearance reflecting his inner monstrousness and his desire to be a corpse again was beautiful. For some reason, it reminded me of this scene from The Green Mile.
-My favorite shot of the episode was when Caliban’s head was on the bottom right of the screen, his face half hidden, and Maude was blurry on the left side of the screen. The entire episode (and series, for that matter) was technically marvelous (cinematography, especially) and the direction was especially tight these last two weeks.
-How do you think Dorian fits into the second season? Will he continue to pursue Vanessa after facing his first bit of rejection or will he be woven into another storyline completely?
-Thank you guys for following my coverage of Penny Dreadful this season. I hope you all join me for the second season this time next year.

The post Penny Dreadful Season Finale Recap: Did Sir Malcolm Rescue Mina? appeared first on TVHackr.

The authorities arrive and Nicholas, Opal, and Ethan all pledge that Dalia jumped, with Nicholas mentioning his wife’s history of mental illness.

2014
An adult Ethan waits in his home with Opal, as they’re expecting the arrival of Nicholas’ girlfriend of three months, the woman he wants to propose to and bring into their lives. Opal questions whether this woman will love Nicholas after she finds out what they were involved with, but before the two can have a talk about their torrid past, Nicholas’ new girlfriend Marisol arrives. The following day, Marisol, Zoila, and Carmen attend Rosie’s immigration review; after spending three months behind bars, Rosie’s filed for asylum and receives it when her lawyer mentions the possibility of retaliation from the drug cartel that killed his client’s husband. The judge orders Rosie’s immigration hearing in six months and after thanking her friends for being there, she heads off to see Spence. Over at the Westmore’s, though, the two, who are debating whether to go to Paris or Porta Vellarta for their vacation, believe that Rosie’s been in Mexico this entire time, a guilty Spencer saddened that his (former?) flame hadn’t returned any of his calls.

Adrian and Evelyn arrive home after spending the past three months reconnecting in South America. Though they’re expecting dinner guests at 7:00, Adrian is more concerned about their new Lebanese maid Fatima, someone who doesn’t fit his definition of what’s attractive. However, Evelyn reminds him that she’s there to clean, not to be ogled, and warns him not to ruin the good thing they’ve built recently. At the Delatour residence, Genevieve is still wearing all-black and grieving the loss of Phillipe, even though she now has his money at her disposal. Zoila tries to get her out of the house and on the road to moving on, telling her that life goes on and she should to, only to see that Remi wrote his mother a letter. Genevieve reads it and noticeably becomes affected by what was written, but instead of sharing, she tells Zoila she’s going out to shop. That night, Carmen and Alejandro arrive home from their latest red carpet jaunt and while she can’t help but gush at the experience, she upsets Odessa by demanding Alejandro up her clothing budget and ordering her friend to get her a martini to go along with the one Alejandro asked for. Though Odessa brings Alejandro his drink, she refuses to serve Carmen, telling her friend that she’s not her boss.

Genevieve heads to the Moondust Motel where she finds Valentina, home from Africa. In Remi’s letter, he mentioned how the two broke up and Valentina explains that when he said he wanted to stay for another year after working three-months of 12-hour days, she asked him what it would mean for her career. When he dismissed fashion as a viable career option and something important to Valentina, she came home and didn’t tell her mother about it, since she’s still upset at Zoila pushing Remi to Africa in the first place. While Genevieve convinces Valentina to come stay with her, the Powells have their dinner party, where the guests admire Evelyn’s ruby necklace Adrian purchased in Argentina. A knock on the door brings four masked men into the Powell residence, men who open black bags in front of each of the guests and confiscate their jewelry, including Evelyn’s necklace. When Adrian stands up and tries to talk them down, he gets knocked to the floor by one of the assailants.

Rosie surprises Peri by visiting the Westmore home and after explaining where she was for the past three months, asks about Spence. Peri says that he’s working and that since she hired a new maid, there’s no position for Rosie, but Rosie already has something in mind that she wants to do. Over at Nick’s, Marisol recounts her meeting the handsome man while shopping for a book and Opal tells her that she should shower and change before dinner, seeing as how Dalia used to get dressed up for her husbad and how he enjoyed that. The Powells meet with the authorities after the home invasion and while Evelyn seems to be keeping it together, Adrian has lost it a bit, trying to change the locks himself and claiming to see shifty men in the faces of trees. With Fatima having quit, the police advise the Powells to hide a bodyguard to calm Adrian down and while Evelyn warms to the idea, Marisol gets out of the shower and finds a pair of diamond earrings on her dresser. However, when she shows them off to Nick, thinking that he was the one who gifted them to her, it’s revealed that Opal was the one behind the mystery box and that the earrings once belonged to Dalia.

Marisol knows that Opal did that to make her upset Nicholas, but Opal explains that she did it because Nick isn’t ready to love again after losing his former wife and that Dalia committed suicide by jumping off a bridge in front of him. Carmen makes something of a scene at a red carpet event when she refuses to come out of the limo she shared with Alejandro, citing the fact that she feels disrespected by Odessa refusing to treat her like she’s the matriarch of the home. Even though Alejandro thinks Carmen should be doing her own laundry anyway, he acquiesces to her demands when she leverages her status against him. While Evelyn learns that Adrian has hired handsome former Massad agent Tony Bashir as their new bodyguard, causing her to trip when she sees his face for the first time, Peri brings good and better news to Spence. The good? Rosie’s in the United States. The better? She herself is pregnant.

The following morning, Odessa deliberately turns on the garbage disposal to make Carmen’s charity ball-related hangover worse and refuses to make her “boss” a ham and cheese omelet. Carmen believes that jealousy is the root of the conflict and when Odessa hears this insinuation, she quits on the spot. Alejandro, understandably, freaks out when hearing that his good friend and best worker has decided to bolt and lashes out when Carmen suggests they just bring someone else into their household; it wouldn’t take much for anybody not in their camp to see that they’re not a happy couple and Alejandro threatens to demote Carmen back to maid if she doesn’t make things right. At the Delatour’s, Valentina meets adult Ethan, Genevieve’s new pool boy, and has her first encounter with her mother since she ran away to the Congo to be with Remi. Though she gives Zoila a hug, Valentina refuses to come home and live with her again, saying that she’s not scared of her mother anymore. However, Genevieve is terrified of Zoila and Valentina is forced to find a place without her mother’s employer to fall back on.

That night, Adrian wakes up with a start, which Evelyn chalks up to Ethiopian food and Percocet. A shirtless Tony rushes in to check on things and when he and Evelyn head to the kitchen to make Adrian some warm milk, she confesses that she’s stayed with her husband because of how fascinating he is yet the weakness that he’s showing following the invasion is weakening that fascination. After telling Tony to wear a shirt from now on, she goes back upstairs, just as Marisol tells Nick that she knows about Dalia killing herself. He admits that he worried that Marisol would be scared off by the revelation and implies that he blames himself, but Marisol assures him that it’s probably for the best that Opal admitted what happen, stating that the most important thing is that they don’t keep secrets from one another again.

The men who raided the Powell home sell off their haul and hand money out to the homeless on the street, with Evelyn’s necklace being too valuable to hock; as a result, they gift it to a homeless woman they encounter in their travels. Rosie gets a visit from Spence and tells him that she thought he was angry with her for not agreeing to marry him. He dismisses the idea that Peri could’ve been behind the arrest and confesses that his wife is pregnant, causing a distraught Rosie to pull away. While in prison, she did a lot of soul searching regarding whether being with Spence would be good for her, but she takes this as a sign that she should stay away from him at all costs. Carmen brings Odessa a bottle of vodka as a peace offering and learns the real reason behind the riff between the two; rather than it being about Odessa’s jealousy, Odessa is feeling like her friendship with Carmen is deteriorating. Carmen comes home from red carpets and events gushing about what she saw and doesn’t seem to care about what Odessa is doing, but the two patch things up and decide to share a drink together.

While Peri goes to the fertility doctor, needing to become pregnant ASAP, Remi Skypes Valentina, claiming to be worried about her after their very quick breakup. She gets off the phone to go to a job interview with Evelyn Powell, while Opal and Ethan look on at Nick and Marisol embracing outside their limo. However, Opal claims that Marisol won’t be here much longer.

Additional thoughts and observations:
-“My grief is sincere. The fact that black is slimming is merely coincidental.”
-“I can’t be selfish. The US economy needs me.”
-“That’s Oscar Wilde.” “And this is heavy.”
-“I respect you plenty. Now get your butt out of this car.”
-“Oh, you sounded less attractive on the phone.”
-So, we’re all in agreement that Opal has an unhealthy attraction/attachment to Nicholas and is making sure that he can never be happy with anyone but her? And that Dalia definitely didn’t jump off the bridge? And that Ethan is either going to be the weak link, exposing what really happened that night later this season, or someone so psychologically damaged by what he saw that he’s the one to be afraid of? We are? Good.
-Spence fully believes Peri when she drops big news like a pregnancy? And doesn’t demand to see a test or anything of the sort? He’s not especially conflict-friendly, so I can see him not wanting to start something by questioning the paternity, but this is a life-changing announcement and you’d think he’d make sure before telling Rosie.
-I’m not usually a fan of flashback cold opens, but I thought this episode’s opening scene was especially creepy and made for a solid kick off to the second season mystery. Bonus points for the bookend-y final scene and having Ethan infiltrate the Delatour residence as the new pool boy, the latter of which added to how unnerving that entire storyline was and could be in the future.
-A Beverly Hills Robin Hood? I like it. We don’t have any suspects, though, since word travels fast around town and it doesn’t mean anything that the robbers knew of the dinner party.
-Marisol’s hair is kind of fab, no?
-I love the idea of Valentina working for Evelyn. It shifts the dynamic of the show just enough without completing altering it beyond recognition. Plus, it’s a way to keep the Powells tied to the maids without things getting too complicated/unbelievable and I think it should breed some interesting tension between Genevieve and Evelyn.
–Here’s the work that Nick gave to Marisol during the episode, whose title is also the title of this episode. Very fun for a show like this to include literary tie-ins, as last season had the fairy tale book at the Powell’s.
-Oh, Carmen. You are so beautiful, but I wouldn’t have blamed Odessa for clawing your eyes out. A tiny bit of fame (at the expense of a romantic relationship, not anything related to her talent, mind you) and she acts like she’s Jennifer Lopez? C’mon. She might want to think about using hew newfound public recognition to get her singing career off the ground instead of stepping on people who care about you.
-I take it Valentina is the one who broke up with Remi, hence his attitude during the Skype session. Could she have been looking for a way out of Africa and used the career put down as an escape hatch? Also, unless Drew Van Acker was filming something else at the time of production, I don’t understand the choice to sideline him like this.
-Suspicions I wrote in my notes that were later disproven: Adrian being behind the gunmen, Opal trying to turn Marisol into Dalia. Crackpot suspicion: Ethan pushed Dalia off the bridge.
-So, Tony’s hot. Let’s start a prayer circle for Evelyn to get some lovin’, because she’s in desperate need.
-I hope the show integrates more scenes where the maids bounce off of one another. Some of the strongest material in season one was when they sat around and gossiped or when at least two teamed up together, so here’s hoping the show doesn’t stretch itself too much and lose what made the first season so good.
-As with last season, I won’t be recapping the rest of the season, but I’ll for sure post sneak peek videos and I might check in sometime midseason. Additionally, a finale recap is almost a definite, but please keep up with the coverage this season. It should be a fun season and let’s all enjoy it together.
-Next week on Devious Maids: Carmen feels threatened when an old flame from Alejandro’s past resurfaces, while Rosie begins a new job with a dysfunctional family, Adrian fails to protect Evelyn in a dangerous situation, and Peri threatens Spence so he’ll stay with her.

The post Devious Maids Season 2 Premiere Recap: Mystery Men appeared first on TVHackr.

Debbie and Marty return to their home where she laments having to say goodbye to her best friends over one little fight and he breaks out the pregnancy test he found in their trash. Since their sex life isn’t especially active, Marty’s shocked at this latest development, moreso when he learns that it’s not Debbie who’s pregnant. Suspicion turns to Amber, who is busy listening to Reggie rant about Larry not allowing him to become human. She tries to make him realize that it’s a tremendous step to become a human, which would cause him to lose what makes him him, but Reggie is determined to find the pill and enlists Ginger LoJack Dick, with his heightened sense of smell, to locate it and bring it back to him. Meanwhile, Larry and Jackie attempt to go through the stuff they’ve collected since arriving on Earth – the toothpick sculpture Larry did of Marty, the animated gingerbread man Larry used on a PTA member that was giving Debbie a hard time, Dick’s Halloween-ween Marty puppet – and Jackie can’t bear it. She doesn’t want to leave Earth and as she goes through Dick’s baby clothes, Larry heads to the bathroom to wash his face, where’s he’s soon joined by Dick.

Dick sniffs out Larry’s pregnancy and tries to be a voice of encouragement for his father, telling him that the third time could be the charm. Larry’s worried about the fact that no Zabvronian has ever given birth in their human form, his mind wandering to where the baby would come out and how he would hide the bump from the non-Weaver humans, and Dick tells him that he’s focusing too much on himself and not enough on the baby inside him. Elsewhere, the Weavers confront Amber about the pregnancy test and when they’re shut down, they face the idea that the test belongs to a member of the Bird-Kersees. When they take the test next door, Jackie realizes that Larry has been exhibiting Zabvronian pregnancy symptoms (moodiness, depression, heart attack-like) for quite some time and he comes downstairs to confess that he’s indeed with child. Although the mood in the room jumps tremendously, the Weavers mostly giddy about the baby belonging to no one in their household, Jackie now understands Larry’s push to head back to Zabvron.

Debbie jumps in to give Larry a pep talk, telling him that he’s the Supreme Leader for a reason, that he’s not going to fix his problems by running back to his home planet, and that she and the rest of her family would follow him anywhere. Meanwhile, Amber interrupts Reggie’s search for the pill by showing him a copy of Everybody Poops. The intention? To show him that if he becomes human, he’s going to poop; he’s going to lose his hair; he’s going to become old; and he’s going to die. As much as she loves him, she doesn’t want his decision to face his own mortality to be on her. Outside, the Zabvronian space ship is open and Jeff prepares the rest of the colony for their journey home, assuring them they need only take the bare necessities. He’s interrupted by Larry who, with the support of Marty, Debbie, and his very own Michelle Obama Jackie, gives a speech about how happy the aliens were before Jeff arrived and how he’s not going to leave this planet before his mission is over. He pleads with them to stay with him, continuing to explore this planet and deepen their relationship with the Weavers, and just as it looks like they’re about to side with him, he informs them that he’s going to have a baby. The tide then turns and the colony decides to return home – Kareem Abdul-Jabbar wants Zabvronian Starbucks, Mary Lou Retton kisses Larry before boarding the ship, and Johnny Unitas has already gotten started on his Team DJ Jazzy Jeff t shirts.

Just then, Grandfather calls Larry, having heard about the pregnancy. He begins telling his son that despite how much of an embarrassment he is and despite the fact that they’ll likely never speak again, he’s proud of him – except that he doesn’t get around to the second part after receiving another call and getting off the line. The ship leaves for Zabvron and Larry returns home to find his family and the Weavers crowded around Abby’s bassinet. He tells Dick and Reggie to go to Harvard and become human, respectively, and Jackie steps in to remind him that even though he’s wrong quite a bit, he’s always confident about the decisions he makes, which she loves about him and which causes her to never doubt him. But Larry’s worried about being all alone on Earth now and after the Weavers assure him they’re not going anywhere, Reggie and Dick eschew their dreams to stick by their father. As such, Larry tells them all that even though their future is uncertain, he knows that whatever they’re going to do, they’ll do it all together.

The following day, though, the remaining members of the community notice how many empty houses there are and sure enough, a human couple moves in next door.

Additional thoughts and observations:
-“Plus, it’s smart to catch up those two Tim Allen fans who accidentally tuned in.”
-“Stop talking like you’re in a Kate Hudson film.”
-“And now…you’re just going to be another Asian guy.”
-“Oh my God. Yes. So pregnant.”
-“I can change myself, woman. Hands off the merchandise.”
-“I think someone must have left a hole in my cat bag.”
-“Anyways, meow.”
-“The things that come out of my mouth this season…”
-One more time for good measure: Why ABC Should Renew The Neighbors.
-This Week in Neighbors Meta Commentary: Aside from the comments above about Tim Allen fans and all the insanity that Debbie has been dealing with this season, there was Larry’s “And the critics thought we’d never last” while he was looking over the remnants of his journey to Earth and his speech to his family about how he didn’t know where they’d end up. The latter included suggestions of Wednesday from Jackie and Reggie informing them he heard whispers about ABC Family.
-On that subject, the show never should have left Wednesdays in the first place. As far as rumors of ABC Family, I wouldn’t mind it, as long as The Neighbors was still allowed to be The Neighbors and they were assured enough episodes to make it to syndication.
-I assumed that the phone call that Grandfather took toward the end of the episode would have come back in play, since it looked fairly distressing. Maybe that’s something that would reappear sometime next season, assuming there is a next season?
-Although it was sad to say goodbye to the other Zabvronians, all of whom I enjoyed having back on the show in recent weeks, I would be fine with the gingerbread man being their replacement. I had forgotten about the episode it came from, so showing it in Abby’s bassinet was one of my favorite reveals of the entire season. It also made me think of Shrek, in a good way.
-I like how this episode took a sitcom trope (the randomly found pregnant test) and gave it a little twist with Larry being the one pregnant and his reaction to the news being fairly positive. This season of The Neighbors has done a lot of interesting stuff with structure and the sitcom format as a whole and this was no different.
-Favorite episode of the season? I’m partial to “Challoweenukah” or “The One with Interspecies F-R-I-E-N-D-S,” but the 5-6 episode run that the show had to conclude the season was exceptionally strong.
-If the show is renewed for a third season, can we please get a flashback to baby Dick? The idea of his first words being “I can change myself, woman.” is too delightful to not get a visual of.
-The music playing under Debbie’s pep talk to Larry was from Bridge Over the River Kwai. As much as shows like Community and 30 Rock were commended for their pop culture IQ, I’d put The Neighbors against either one in that category, especially this season. And it’s never felt gratuitous, which is impressive considering reference-heavy humor can easily descend into empty pandering. This show avoids that by simple randomness or by using pop culture to inform its characters, the latter especially affecting when it relates to the isolation the Bird-Kersees feel on Earth.
-The shot of Kevin the Alpaca looking directly into the camera was my biggest laugh of the night. He’s the member of the colony I’m going to miss the most, I’m afraid.
-I’m very curious how the show would write around the other humans in the community in a third season. Would more people find out about their secret? How would the Bird-Kersees explain the new baby if Larry is able to cover his bump? Could the new neighbors, played by Full House duo Candace Cameron Bure and Scott Weinger, have secrets of their own?
-So…what hole would a Zabvronian baby come out of?
-Thank you guys for reading my coverage of The Neighbors. Although I didn’t begin writing about the show until 5-6 episodes ago, I’ve loved the show since the very beginning, so it’s been nice to get a chance to help spread the word about how great it is to whoever will listen. There’s about a month left until we’ll be finding out whether this show gets a third season, but even if it doesn’t, The Neighbors is the rare show that went out 100% on its own terms and ended things in a way that was as human as any other comedy on television.

The post The Neighbors 2.22 “There Goes the Neighbors’ Hood” Recap appeared first on TVHackr.

Back at the Dal, Trick tells Bo that he doesn’t have any leads as to the identity of her father, though he does inform her of her hybrid blood (the kindness of her mother and the manipulative nature of her father) and how he gave Aife up to the Dark to set an example of the sovereignty of the blood laws. Once she was caught, of course, she spent centuries being tortured and used by the Dark, which led to her losing her mind and any grip she had on reality. When Bo goes to leave the Dal and head to the portal, Trick stops her and tells her that she wouldn’t be safe if she did that and that she needs to get Lauren back from Massimo before tangling with her father. Dyson finds Kenzi looking for Bo at Evony’s and the Morrigan soon joins them; not only do Dyson and Kenzi find out that Evony is now human, and subject to the horrors of a changing body temperature, they learn that Massimo is her son, a factoid which nearly causes Kenzi to attack.

While Dyson, Kenzi, and Evony set off to the Dark archives, where the latter claims her son would be, Massimo arrives at the Dal and unleashes an energy blast he took from a Thunderbeast, knocking Trick and Rainer over. Bo tries to fight back, only to be tossed around the room due to the Seed’s impact being felt by Massimo, and when Rainer attempts to attack, Massimo breaks his arm before snapping his neck. Though Bo has some broken bones, she can’t let go of her desire to save her friends, lamenting that she wasn’t able to save Hale, Rainer, or anyone else important to her. Tamsin tells her to get her shit together and start acting like the chosen one, causing Bo to feed and note that Tamsin tastes differently than usual, with Dyson and Kenzi coming shortly after. Dyson gives Bo a hug, though Kenzi is reticent about showing affection to the woman she blames for Hale’s death; Tamsin tries to talk to the latter about life being too short to carry around grudges like this and confesses that she took Rainer’s soul, possibly her ticket out of Valhalla exile. Kenzi then produces a book that Rosette carried into this world with her and notes a page that said the daughter’s (Bo) heart would be enough to close the portal.

Before heading out to save Lauren, Bo rips up her Dark contract in front of Dyson, who tells her that he found his purpose in serving her. All his life, he felt like he was wandering and now he pledges his fealty to Bo, saying that he’ll be by her side forever and telling her he loves her. When she mentions that she would like him to serve with her rather than for her, Tamsin interrupts and the trio go to where the portal is. Three revenants saunter out of the portal and Bo nearly overdoses when she feeds off them, having to be pulled back by a kiss from Dyson. After taking care of the three former soldiers, the two note that it was more difficult than they expected, especially since there could be millions of revenants pouring through the portal at any moment. Bo feels great due to channeling the energy from her father’s impending arrival and she enlists Dyson to contain the portal so she can go save Lauren. He happily agrees, just as Evony gets drunk for the first time at the Dal; she flirts with Trick and informs him that he knows the one way to close the portal. They both then leave to meet Bo and save the world – reluctantly, in Evony’s case.

Bo puts on her necklace before battle and Tamsin and Kenzi come in to see her. Kenzi gives her a hug and a sword, assuring her friend that she’s going to be fine, while Massimo still has bursts of pain from the power of the Seed. He does have Rainer’s foresight now, but that doesn’t stop Bo from being able to sneak into the lair he’s holding Lauren captive. She’s in for a surprise, though, when he tells her that the Una Mens can deflect power and uses Hale’s siren song to blast her off her feet. He then trash talks the succubus, provoking her about Rainer’s death, and after Lauren assures her that everything’s going to be okay, Bo tries to feed from Massimo to no avail. She gets an assist from Evony, who appears from the shadows; Bo holds a knife to her throat and taunts an increasingly angry Massimo before feeding from Evony and saying that she tasted the contempt the Morrigan has for him. When Massimo unwittingly begins feeding from his mother’s chi, Bo tells him that she learned how to stop overly feeding due to the love from her friends and that if Massimo loves Evony, he would be able to stop and save her life. He does stop, only it’s too late – Evony collapses into a heap.

Bo bargains a life for a life with him and uses some of his chi to bring her back. However, Lauren brings out the Twig of Zamora and crushes it before Bo gets in a few blows on Massimo, dedicating the finishing one to Kenzi’s broken heart. Speaking of, Kenzi walks out into the field of revenants where Dyson, Tamsin, and Trick are battling for their own fates and the fate of the world itself. She informs Dyson that she figured out how to shut the portal – she has to walk into it, seeing as how she’s Bo’s heart. Kenzi’s okay with the thought, as it would give her a part to play in Fae society and allow her to go out the warrior that she is, even when Dyson warns her that the portal is concentrated energy and there’s no telling what it could do to her. She tells him that Rainer knew this would happen and that Tamsin has a Valhalla ticket in the form of Rainer’s soul that could help bring her back; she then pledges to wait outside Valhalla for Bo to come rescue her.

After leaving Lauren to tend to Evony, Bo feels her father’s presence at the doorway of the portal and just as she comes running in to help, she witnesses Kenzi looking back right before she walks into the portal. Once Kenzi crosses the threshold, every revenant dies and the portal itself closes, leaving her body crumpled near the entryway. As Tamsin takes Kenzi to Valhalla, Bo breaks down in tears, having lost her heart. While Tamsin returns from Valhalla and warns Dyson about the horror that could come from Bo acquiring the second Hell Shoe, Bo brings flowers to Kenzi’s grave and pledges that no one else is going to die on her watch.

Additional thoughts and observations:
-“First of all, I goosed her sweet berries. Right where you’re sitting.”
-“Relax, you’re going to wear out your big boy pants.”
-“I’ve got your epi-pen right here.”
-“Yeah, it’s called the coming apocalypse, dick.”
-“Ugh, terrible. Who taught you to threaten?”
-“Kenzi Malikov. Friend. Warrior. Heart.”
-All of my tears. All of them. Life is meaningless. Love is empty. The world is sadness.
-But seriously, what kind of Buffy-circa-season-5 realness was Kenzi’s death? Even though I was spoiled on the development when this episode aired in Canada and thus was able to pick up on the clues the writers left that it would be happening, I still spilled more than a few tears as Kenzi figured out the role she was meant to play and sacrificing herself for the good of the Fae. Let’s hope that season five has at least some focus on Bo going to Valhalla to bring her back, because Lost Girl without Kenzi is not Lost Girl.
-That being said, this season has easily been the worst of the show’s first four. It still had plenty of really strong moments and episodes (the stretch from the Groundhog’s Day episode through the mermaid episode was very strong), but for the most part, it was extremely muddled and confusingly plotted, its head seemingly trapped in the ass of its mythology. Don’t get me wrong, I like shows with deep, rich worlds to explore and I think the show had done a fair job in keeping things balanced before this season, but Lost Girl is a show that works best when it doesn’t take itself too seriously and when it has the wiggle room to throw in some stand-alone episodes along with the mythology. All mythology all the time is not the show I fell in love with and when the stuff they attempt to set up falls flat (what was the point of Rainer besides reminding us how hot Kyle Schmid is?), it all just feels like a waste of time.
-So, anyone who consumes the Papyrus Seed acts like Gollum? Because the guy who played Massimo was half an inch (or centimeter, since this is Canada) from muttering a “my precious” and I’m not sure if that was a case of bad acting, bad directing, or bad both.
-Confession: I did not care about Hale dying. At all. If this were two seasons ago, absolutely, but he’s felt like such a minor part of the show for so long that it was hard to be too emotionally impacted by what happened with Massimo. Plus, it turned Kenzi (irrationally) against Bo and anything that busts up one of the best friendships on television today is not okay with me.
-Drunk Evony is the best Evony. Well, any Evony is the best Evony, but I’d like to see a show about Drunk Evony and Drunk Mellie-from-Scandal just shooting the shit. Because that would be amazing.
-Did anyone else find it a touch sad when Dyson told Bo he loved her and she didn’t say she loved him back? I know succubus monogamy blah blah blah, but this man just laid his heart out on the floor for you and pledged to spend the rest of his life by your side and you can’t even say you love him? C’mon.
-The Bo of “And this is for breaking Kenzi’s heart” is the Bo that I adore and the Bo that keeps me watching this show. The Bo of most of the rest of the season, though, wasn’t my favorite. Too much emphasis on her school girl crush on Rainer, too much of her being selfish at the expense of everyone else in her life.
-Good for Tamsin for telling Bo to get her shit together. Too often, the show can feel a little hero worship-y when it comes to Bo and it’s nice to have somebody to knock her off her pedestal now and then.
-Thank you guys for keeping up with my coverage of Lost Girl‘s fourth season. Though the season was on the whole disappointing, it was still good enough to keep up with and as long as the show can keep the mythology sleek and understandable, I have a feeling that season five will be a notable improvement.
-Take us out, Katy Perry.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9S-88WxPdE

The post Lost Girl 4.13 “Dark Horse” Recap appeared first on TVHackr.

While Santos meets with Williams, who tells him that they have the advantage and that the plan they’ve been building towards starts right now, Logan and Rachel arrive at a hotel and check in under pseudonyms to maintain their anonymity. She’s still unsure about having to run and he assures her that they’ll be able to start fresh the following day before volunteering to get pizza. Even though Rachel wants to come with him, Logan makes her stay and get some rest. Back at Stonehaven, Elena informs Nick that her phone is in Santos’ car, meaning that they’ll know when he makes a move thanks to her GPS app, and that the Mutts did a number on Clay. She observes that Nick is angry about the Mutts killing Antonio and pledges to make them pay for hurting so many people she loves, all the while Jeremy listens from the other room.

Outside of town, Marsten tells LeBlanc about what life was like when he was first made, as he had to sleep in fields and learn hobo code before building himself up to where he is, just as Nick gets in touch with Jorge and learns that Philip is on a flight to France and the man who ran James Williams’ website is missing. Jorge offers to take Elena in, but Jeremy tells him that things tend to go south when she’s separated from the pack, so for now, she’s staying put. After tending to Clay’s wounds, Elena notices that Santos has finally started to move, with his vehicle about 30 minutes outside of Bear Valley. While it’s a chance that she’s taking, trusting that they’re all taking one vehicle and that the vehicle they’re taking is the one her phone is in, it’s one that Jeremy deems worth taking, especially since it gives them the chance to batten down the hatches at Stonehaven and prepare for the upcoming onslaught. Meanwhile, Rachel texts Logan wondering where he is and learns that he’s having car trouble that’s delaying his return from the pizza place. She gets hungry enough, though, that she leaves a note for him and heads down to the vending machine for snacks.

The Pack proceeds gathering weapons, setting traps for the Mutts, and barricading their windows in preparation for the attack. Jeremy shows Nick a secret passageway in the basement that leads to the greenhouse and shares with him memories of his mother, a tall blonde woman with a nice laugh who had Antonio spellbound from day one. He also confesses that he knows where she’s at. While Elena tries to get Clay, who can barely stand, down the stairs, Logan forces his way into Stonehaven and informs Jeremy that while he’s not going to adhere to the Pack rules concerning sons, he came back because the Pack is his family and because he doesn’t want to suffer anymore loss than what he already has. The GPS pings that Santos is right outside and when the Pack goes to greet them, they see a bound Rachel running at them with Elena’s cell phone taped to her face. Logan goes after her, only for a Mutt to begin chase; Jeremy saves him when he hurls an ax into the Mutt’s head, then pointing him and Rachel upstairs.

Logan hears of Rachel being blindfolded and put into the trunk of a car before forcing her into a crawlspace, telling her that he just couldn’t leave yet. Meanwhile, Jeremy orders the Pack to fight in pairs and always within one another’s sight line, just as Santos, LeBlanc, and Marsten wait outside the Stonehaven property line. Marsten chides Santos for not coming in with the first wave of the attack, but Santos stands his ground and simply commands LeBlac to keep his hands off of Elena. The first wave attacks, led by a smoke bomb that gets tossed through one of the windows and precedes both another smoke bomb and several Mutts bursting in through the previously barricaded windows. Jeremy ends up in a bathtub brawl, while Clay kills a Mutt that gets caught on a trap and Elena has it out with a Mutt that grabbed a pipe for a weapon. As Clay finds himself getting walloped by Samuel Boggs in the living room, a Mutt nearly finds Rachel before Nick comes in and snaps his neck following an altercation. He opens the door to where she’s at and assures her to stay there and be quiet until this whole mess is over.

LeBlanc and Marsten enter the home, with Marsten reiterating Santos’ order to stay away from Elena, while Elena finds herself losing ground in her fight against the Mutt. The two end up in the hallway and he nearly changes in front of her; outside, Williams comes down on Santos for not going inside for the battle and tells him that he needs to show Elena who the true Alpha is. The Mutt Elena was fighting gets attacked by Logan in wolf form and when she tries to suffocate it, LeBlanc grabs her; he then goes to stab Marsten after hearing how he’s not to touch Elena and Marsten throws him through a nearby window, giving Elena the opportunity to guillotine him. After LeBlanc is dead, Marsten mentions to Elena that he wants to mutiny, just as Clay fights Boggs in the kitchen, boils his arm in a pot of water, and knocks his new teeth out. Clay then comes after Marsten and Elena stops him, telling him that she wants to let Jeremy decide what to do with Marsten.

While Logan discovers Rachel’s gone and Nick comes with home to look for her, Williams leads Santos through the secret passageway at Stonehaven and the two survey the carnage the Mutts have suffered. Santos then finds Marsten and when he goes into the room to get an update as to what happened in the battle, the Pack closes in around him. Jeremy decides that Marsten is worth more to the Pack alive than he is dead, so he’s allowed to live, but Santos isn’t so lucky; Clay takes him by the arms and it’s decided that Elena will deliver the finishing blow. As much as Santos wanted her to be the most important wolf the world has ever known, the children being the very definition of perfect, Elena tells him that he doesn’t get to decide her future and sticks her hand in his chest, literally crushing his heart. Logan and Nick stop after a while of running for Rachel, since they’re not smelling anything. The two say their goodbyes, with Nick returning to Stonehaven to help with the Mutts and Logan running on to find the mother of his unborn child.

Back at Stonehaven, Jeremy carries Santos’ body out toward the front of the house and runs into James Williams – who, in actuality, is his father Malcolm. Malcolm tells Jeremy that he would have killed him had it not been for his grandfather and clues his son in on his ultimate goal – getting Elena and using her to spawn new wolves. He believes the Pack hasn’t used her to the best of her potential, yet later, Nate Parker brings Rachel to him, possibly as a next best alternative for wolf spawning. Elena pledges to resume tracking with Clay and when she returns to her room, she puts her ring from Clay on her finger and turns to see Philip’s severed head on her bed.

Additional thoughts and observations:
-Philip’s head in the bed at the end of the episode was an incredibly frustrating move that encapsulated why I was so unenthusiastic about this show before this week. It was a hell of a surprise twist, a bold decision that would have a tremendous impact on the show (and Elena) next season; more importantly, it cut what could have been a series-long love triangle short, which is a plus in my book because the romantic angst on this show was probably its weakest element and genre series rely too much on romantic entanglements as is. However, since the show is perhaps the biggest Clay/Elena shipper of them all, it was hard to feel like she lost anything of value. I liked Philip quite a bit and think he seemed like a good man, but he lacked a strong, distinct characterization for much of the season and the show didn’t seem interested in giving a full picture of what his life/love with Elena was like. While I get that at least part of her grief comes from the chances of her having a normal life dying along with Philip, there could have been much more emotional impact if they had invested more in Philip from the beginning of the season.
-Going off that, I think to fully enjoy Bitten you have to buy into Clay and Elena’s story. I don’t think you can’t find value in the show if you’re not into them; it’s just much harder to grasp when their feelings for one another are such a big part of the fabric of the show. Even though I didn’t care for the Clay hero worship and am still weirded out by the message of “I violated you for your own good, so it’s all okay,” as well as the way the show handled the outside world in general, I didn’t mind Clay and Elena. I thought the show was too invested in them at the expense of the supporting cast and anything resembling plot momentum, but overall, they were fine.
-Crackpot theory: Although the move to have Williams be the one to nab Rachel was interesting, I was expecting Nick to be behind it all as a way of keeping Logan tied to the Pack. He reiterated Logan’s plans to go off-grind when this was all over and we know how he’s the most dedicated Pack member in terms of preserving their ranks and the traditions that come along with life in the Pack; plus, he was the one who saved Rachel from the Mutt and we never saw him downstairs fighting, so he could have taken her and had enough time to get back to the rest of the Pack.
-I will say, though, that moves like Logan going back to Stonehaven and leaving Rachel hanging are the type of plot-over-character moments that I don’t like in shows like this. I don’t know that I buy that cautious Logan would leave Rachel unprotected to go back to Stonehaven; I know how much the concept of family has been on his mind with the baby coming and how he had last minute anxiety about leaving the Pack in lurch, but the show needed Rachel to be in that limo with Malcolm and did what it had to do to make it happen.
-One of the problems I had with this season is that it seemed to have no direction – neither the real villain nor the framework the season was operating under were clear, while nothing of circumstance seemed to happen. Incremental stuff did build up, but after 12 episodes, it felt like we had been treading water for much of the time; the finale, though, made all the sludgy, circular plotting worth it. Santos was a fairly compelling “villain,” despite the flimsy jealousy excuse to motivate his actions, and I like the idea of Marsten in the Pack, since numbers were comically dropping throughout the season to the point where you wondered whether Clay and Elena would be the extent of the pack by the end of the finale.
-I really liked how the episode was shot. Minus the gratuitous slo-mo, which accentuated the goofiness of the show due to how unnatural it felt, the lighting in boarded up Stonehaven was beautiful and added to the fight scenes, while the camera work was mostly strong and felt fresh without being over-the-top.
-Thank you guys for following my coverage of Bitten this season. Hopefully the show can snag a second season renewal and we can reconvene to discuss werewolf sexual politics, just how hot Nick actually is, and the Twilight of it all.

The post Bitten 1.13 “Ready” Recap appeared first on TVHackr.

When Larry returns home, he addresses the rest of the colony regarding Jeff, only to find that everyone is smitten with his good looks and immense charm. Overhearing Larry’s concerns, Jeff steps forward and tells his brother that he has nothing to worry about, that he has no plans of speaking to their father about anything he sees there. While Amber and Debbie have their girl talk interrupted by Marty, therefore moving it upstairs, Jeff makes his way around the Bird-Kersee family, telling Jackie that she wants a girl to round out her family and suggesting to Dick that he find some way to challenge himself since he’s bored with 4th grade material. He then leaves to pick Reggie up from school, riding out in a customized BMW-esque golf cart that draws attention from the whole of the colony.

Jeff returns with Reggie and Jane, who run into Amber and Zach outside. After a goodbye kiss duel that ends with Zach and Jane leaving, Reggie and Amber joke about their choice in mates; however, Jeff pulls Reggie aside and discourages anything from rekindling with Amber, warning his nephew about what could happen if things with Jane don’t work out. Jeff doesn’t want Reggie to end up like him, alone and without anyone to spend his life with. That night, Marty unsuccessfully tries to get Debbie to spill the beans about what’s going on with Amber. As much as she wants to tell her husband what’s going on, Amber so rarely confides in her that she wants to hold this secret for another day before confronting it head on. Meanwhile, Larry discovers that Jeff has been exerting his influence over the family, as Jackie has seemingly gotten over her baby fever, Dick is pounding away at an essay on the computer, and Reggie has wrapped up a box of his baby teeth as a present for Jane.

As a result, Larry takes Jeff to therapy with a flirty Dr. Hartley. He tells his brother that he knows the real reason for this “visit,” while Jeff confesses that Larry is the one person he wanted to be liked by and the one who he can never seem to win over. Larry admits that he’s been under quite a bit of stress lately and that might have impacted his disposition toward his brother, so the two make up with a hug on the couch. However, after the two come back home, Jeff calls Grandfather and tells him that everything is going according to plan. After reading Machiavelli on the way to Earth, Jeff has made tremendous strides toward turning the Weavers and Bird-Kersees against one another, the most important thing that needs to happen if Grandfather is to get the colony home and the mission aborted. If Jeff needs it, though, there’s a box in his room that contains what could be a plan B.

The following day, Jeff finds Marty leaving for work and lets it slip that Jackie told him about Amber dating a college guy. As expected, Marty flips out and forbids Amber from seeing Zach; Debbie, though, is more upset at Jackie for telling the secret, something that she regularly does, and both Weavers get upset when they find out that Larry knew, too. While Jeff slips up to Reggie’s room and course corrects, saying that his advice the previous day wasn’t good and giving him the box that was in his bedroom, the Weavers and the Bird-Kersees have it out, with Marty almost hitting Larry for calling him “Farty Marty.” The fighting gets disrupted for a second when Dick comes in to proclaim that he got into Harvard, just as Reggie goes to Amber and asks if she loves him and if he had a way to turn home, would she consider being with him. The two confirm that they love each other and that they consider the other the love of their life, leading to a kiss and a surprise announcement to their parents. Reggie is going to consume the green vial that Jeff gave him and turn himself human.

A shocked, defeated Larry leans into his role as Supreme Leader and informs his family that there will be no Harvard nor any genetic mutations – they’re to pack up the house that night and leave for Zabvron the following day. Jeff has won.

Additional thoughts and observations:
-“I love this stupid family.”
-“Jackie, are you shooting a soap opera?”
-“Jude Law called. He wants his face back.”
-“Maybe he’s a little cool…”
-“Congrats. He’s very pretty.”
-“What, DJ Jazzy? Mr. Jazzy?”
-Once more for the cheap seats: Why ABC Should Renew The Neighbors. Tweet it, Pin it, mark it with a B for baby and me – whatever you would like to do. Just spread the word if you can, okay?
-For those wondering, this was the first episode of season two to be written by series creator Dan Fogelman, which might explain the unexpected return to the season one title card.
-Do you buy that Amber would purposely seek out Debbie for girl talk? We’ve seen her façade break multiple times this season and the reality of her love for her family shine through, but I don’t know if she would willingly tell her mother that she’s dating a college guy. I was weirdly happy for Debbie, though, since she kind of deserves a win in this department.
-4th grade killed me, too, Dick Butkus. Darn science classes.
-If DJ Jazzy Jeff smelled my neck, I would disintegrate into a million pieces. Kudos to Debbie Weaver for maintaining her composure in such an environment.
-I love how we’re getting more of the colony these last few weeks. As much as I’ve liked season two, it felt a little underpopulated for much of its run due to the show’s budget cuts, so it’s nice seeing people like Johnny Unitas and Mary Lou Retton, if only for brief scenes.
-This Week on Neighbors Meta Commentary: In Larry’s first visit to Dr. Hartley, he says that the show is laying it all out on the table. In his last visit, he tells us to tune in next week.
-Jeff’s BMW golf cart might be the best sight gag in a season full of strong sight gags. Also amazingly funny, Larry’s extended raspberry in therapy and Reggie breaking out the ‘ship names for him and Amber. #Amggie all day, every day.
-Hopefully, if the show is renewed, we’ll get a more in depth look at a baby Zabvronian, since Dick’s three-toed first footprint and talk of a deboning process piqued my interest. Season two has been much lighter on specific alien material, opting to lean on the culture clash aspect of the Weaver/Bird-Kersee dynamic, but I was never put off by that angle and was glad to see it somewhat return.
-I would like a solo-powered hammock, as well. Someone hit up SkyMall for me.
-Jeff watching the chaos in the Bird-Kersee kitchen while sinister music played in the background gave me Carrie vibes, for some reason. but Carrie if Carrie was a handsome British alien and not a psychologically damaged teenage girl pushed to her limits by her classmates.
-Finale predictions? It’s tough to get a read on what the show is going to do, but I think we’ll have a better sense of its renewal situation at the end of the finale. Since Larry and company resisted Grandfather at the end of season one and fought to stay on Earth, I kind of think they’ll end up going back to Zabvron.
-Next week on The Neighbors: It’s the season (and possible series) finale and while a pregnant Larry must decide whether he intends to stay on Earth, the neighborhood has two new visitors.

The post The Neighbors 2.21 “All That Jazzy Jeff” Recap appeared first on TVHackr.

In the garage, Larry talks to his father through the computer and gets chastised for not having a tramp stamp or taking over a small government in his time on Earth. Larry tries to argue that he has, in fact, made progress while on Earth, with two little watched musical numbers, but he still has a lot to prove to his father if he hopes to stay in the community he’s trying to build. Marty and Debbie make it to their bowling match and while Marty is very good, Debbie isn’t, yet she has the most fun out of anybody. She dances, she gets giddy if the ball touches even one pin, and she annoys the heck out of the rest of their team, since they would like a chance to win the championship. Oscar and Lana, Debbie and Marty’s teammates, try to argue Marty into kicking Debbie off the team so that championship isn’t just a pipe dream.

While all this is going on, Jackie stays back and watches before striking up a conversation with a woman sitting next to her. She rambles about how Larry doesn’t pay attention to her or even seem to care about how she is and it turns out that the woman is Dr. Barbara Hartley, a therapist who gives Jackie her card and tells her to come in for an appointment with Larry. Elsewhere, Larry checks in with several of his key Zabvronian representatives to see what they’ve learned while on Earth, but he finds out that they’ve not really picked up anything either. Well, beyond an appreciation for the Matthew McConaissance and Natalie Portman’s sense of style. The Weavers make it home and Marty tries to get Debbie to quit bowling like Barry Sanders retired from football; however, all the adrenaline from bowling has gotten Debbie in the mood and rather than press her on the idea of quitting, Marty takes advantage of her good mood.

Dick Butkus, upset about having to be around decidedly immature Abby and Max, comes to the clubhouse and presents the youngest Weavers with separation papers. Since their friendship is breaking up over irreconcilable differences, he’s drawn up legal papers that divide the clubhouse time up. His plans? Put on a salon of higher thought and invite a series of influential thinkers with the intention of exchanging ideas. He ends up bringing Time’s Joel Stein, MSNBC commentator Lawrence O’Donnell, and Bill Nye the Science Guy to The Butkus Group, but things turn sour quickly, as Dick cuts O’Donnell off and comes down on Stein for wanting another juice box. Jackie returns home and brings up the idea of going to therapy to Larry, only for him to mock the suggestion and rip up the card she got from Dr. Hartley. However, Jackie ends up going on her own and pressures Dr. Hartley to speed up the sometimes glacial pace of therapeutic progress, seeing as how she’s not happy and doesn’t want to continue living this way.

Larry and Marty pace and mumble out in the yard and convene over what’s been troubling them. Larry mocks Marty’s problems in comparison to his own, but Marty inadvertently gives Larry a good lead by bringing up everything that Reggie has learned while being on Earth. In return, Larry tells Debbie about Marty wanting to kick her off the team and kicks her off the team himself as some sort of favor. In her therapy session, Jackie becomes overwhelmed by emotions due to no one ever listening to her and feeling as if she has no purpose; Dr. Hartley then asks her how she can make her current situation feel more like home. Back at the Bird-Kersees, Larry brings Reggie in to talk to Grandfather on the computer; however, Reggie’s contributions to his father’s cause include women liking to talk about their problems and also liking tapas, neither of which helps Larry look better in the eyes of his father. Grandfather believes the colony is worse off than he realized and since Larry is out of time, the best thing to do is send someone down to take over the mission.

Debbie comes back into the house upset at Marty’s betrayal and refusal to be honest with her and when Marty mentions cutting down on the dancing and focusing that energy on bowling, Debbie shuts down and simply says that there’ll be no more fun from here on. Outside the clubhouse, a lonely Dick gets approached by Max and Abby, fresh from throwing water balloons at cars. While one guy did give the finger, it wasn’t the same without Dick there to lecture them and he admits that maybe he was too quick to sever ties with them. The trio attempt to reconnect by throwing the remaining water balloons at Stein, Nye, and O’Donnell. At the bowling championship match, Debbie is still decidedly the weak link, the only person on her team not to bowl a strike; only this time, she’s not even dancing when she hits pins. At the end of the match, her team is down by one pin to the other team and it’s her turn to throw. Before she does, though, Marty pulls her aside and tells her that he was wrong for trying to stifle her fun, that watching her dance was the best part of getting involved in the bowling league. He affirms that they make the perfect team and she throws the last ball, missing every pin.

Jackie comes back from therapy and stands up for herself against Larry, telling him that she’s tired of him not paying attention to her and that the only way she’ll be happy is if they have another baby. While the Weavers come home celebrating, Larry goes to Dr. Hartley’s for a late night talk and a hooded figure arrives in the colony. It turns out the figure is Larry’s brother, sent by his father.

Additional thoughts and observations:
-“If you smelt it, are you, in fact, the one who dealt it?”
-“We’re not playing paperwork again.”
-“One therapy, please.”
-“I feel like a Meryl Streep highlight reel.”
-“Tell Dick and Reggie Grandpa Snuggy loves them.”
-“What wine pairs best with a husband’s betrayal?”
-“No more dancing. No more fun. I’ll be in the bathtub.”
-“Let’s have a terrible time.”
-“I want you to go out there and be adorably horrible.”
-As always, here’s a link explaining why I think ABC should renew The Neighbors. Feel free to share it across your social networks.
-However, since Toks Olagundoye has signed on to another project, I think my last strand of hope that the show actually will be renew has snapped. It could still be renewed, but at this point, with the way the end of the season looks to be written and Olagundoye looking for a way out, I’m very much doubting it.
-Third straight sexual/roleplaying tag, this time with Debbie’s three hall passes showing up in her kitchen like they do in a recurring dream of hers.
–Bill Nye the Science Guy. Bill Bill Bill Bill Bill Bill. Bill Nye the Science Guy.
-This Week in Neighbors Meta Moments: Larry brings up the Emmy nomination the show received; Grandfather mentions that not many people saw either musical number Larry put on; Jackie wants to be sure that her family permanently belongs on Earth – for at least a few more seasons; Dick can’t believe this is even a show.
-For those wondering, Larry’s hot brother is Joshua Sasse, who is starring in Neighbors‘ creator Dan Fogelman’s ABC comedy pilot Galavant. Which I’ve read and while I kind of loved it, I would rather have more of The Neighbors.
-I liked seeing Dick enjoy being a kid. His funniest moments are when they exploit him being in the wrong body and being much older than he seems (I love a good McLaughlin Group parody), but it was sweet seeing him bond with Abby and Max.
-Good for the show for shying away from the cliché of a last second pep talk leading to a miraculous athletic performance. Debbie sucks at bowling, but y’know what? She’s totally cool with that and I respect that attitude 1000%.
-Nice Home Improvement moment between Larry and Marty. I’m guessing that Marty is the Wilson in this instance?
-Next week on The Neighbors: Larry learns the real reason his brother has come to their community, while Amber confides in Debbie about her college boyfriend.

The post The Neighbors 2.20 “Close Encounters of the Bird Kind” Recap appeared first on TVHackr.

The day of the trip, everyone puts finishing touches on their packing, with Larry compiling a shirt suitcase with the various shades of pink in his wardrobe (pale, medium, dark, dark-medium), Abby telling Marty that she’s not packing a bathing suit because she’s still scarred from him almost drowning three years ago, and Reggie worrying about the impact a trip like this will have on his relationship with Jane. While Dick loads himself down with sunscreen, Debbie has begun listening to a self-help book full of positive affirmations, as she wants to get herself in a positive head space for when she has to deal with her mother. Though Amber is apprehensive about going on a trip with her ex, Debbie assures her that the worst is yet to come and soon enough, the Weavers and the Bird-Kersees are on the plane to San Diego.

Larry hates everything about it; Jackie marvels at the genial flight attendants; Amber lets Reggie know that she’s texting with college guy Zak; and Dick tries to get Max to put sunscreen on him while they’re inside, citing an Allure article from Nicole Kidman. For all the drama about seating arrangements, everyone makes it to San Diego in one piece, though both families are thrown for a loop when Janet introduces them to Benjamin, the 10-year-old boy she adopted four months ago, now technically Max, Abby, and Amber’s uncle. Janet assures them that she’s going to be a better mom that she was now that she’s given up smoking and gluten, but Debbie takes Marty out into the hallway to rant about this being yet another smoke screen from her mother and that the real Janet is in there somewhere, just waiting to come out. Marty gets her to calm down and remember that the kids are the reason they came in the first place and everyone heads to the beach, where Dick’s skin doesn’t take kindly to the sun, Ben and Max dig a hole, and Debbie tries to bait Janet into reverting back to her old habits by asking her to go to the bar. Janet, however, claims that she’s sober and Debbie’s jealousy at Benjamin grows.

Meanwhile, Marty takes Abby to the edge of the water and lets it wash over her feet in order to get her more comfortable with the thought of swimming. Though she’s initially receptive, she gets scared when he steps on a piece of a broken shell and runs far away from the water, just as Amber and Reggie’s competitiveness over their respective relationships intensifies over Amber trying to find Zak a cool rock and Reggie searching for shells for a necklace he’s going to make Janet. While all this is going on, the Bird-Kersees find themselves getting a massage, yet Jackie is the only one who enjoys it. Larry thinks the masseuse is perverted and refuses to pull down his sheet, opting instead to leave the room and (almost literally) drag Jackie along with him. Everyone reconvenes and heads to a docked boat for iced tea and a view of the harbor, where Jackie lays into Larry about him never wanting to leave his comfort zone and Amber does her best to keep up with Reggie’s description of his relationship with Jane. Out on the deck, Debbie again provokes Janet by mentioning that the bartender is eyeing her and the issue between them comes to a head, though Ben inadvertently overhears Debbie mention something about how Janet would just get bored with him and give him back to the adoption agency.

Debbie apologizes and Janet assures him that they’re together for life. Elsewhere, Amber and Reggie return from the upper deck of the boat and when she’s trying to take a picture of her drink to send to Zak, Reggie cracks and suggests that the two calm down on the competition to prove the validity of their relationships, lest it keep getting in the way of their friendship. Marty finds Abby in one of the rooms on the boat and talks her into coming onto the deck to see the ocean; he explains that he wants her to see the splashy, fun side of the ocean and that it would break his heart if he was the one responsible for her fear of the water. When they get out there, though, they find Jackie and Larry reenacting a famous scene from Titanic and Abby watches as Larry, who cannot swim, falls overboard. Marty dives in after him and she works up the nerve to get a life preserver and toss it down below, helping to save both her father ad her neighbor. Meanwhile, Debbie confesses her jealousy over Janet treating Ben the way she always wanted to be treated and Janet responds by telling her that she doesn’t know how her daughter became so great. She did such a poor job raising her first child, she argues, that she feels like she has to raise another to be able to say that one person came out well because of her.

Back at Janet’s, Amber and Reggie play Monopoly while their phones go off in the distance; Debbie gives Ben advice on how to handle Janet, including not eating the brownies and not letting her sleep past 2:00; Dick walks on looking browner than a biscuit; and Larry admits that after peeing on Marty mid-rescue, he might be ready to give up control.

Additional thoughts and observations:
-“Grandma has a sister?”
-“When does your parenting book come out?”
-“Classic Zak.”
-“Nicole Kidman told allure.com that you can never have too much sunscreen and home girl looks like a porcelain doll.”
-“Vacations are full of things I hate.”
-“I’m 8C.” “That’s a ridiculous name.”
-“And you must be Debbie’s estranged, slutty mother.”
-“Hi, I’m your uncle. You want to see my toys?”
-“Wife, sheet up!”
-“We’re like traffic updates, but hot.”
-“Peeing on Marty was a real game-changer for me.”
-If you guys missed my article about why ABC should renew The Neighbors, you can check it out here.
–Here’s the Renew The Neighbors Facebook page. Like it and explain why you want the show to return next season.
-What I like about the addition of the theme song this season, aside from how cheerful and tonally perfect for this show it is, is that it gives The Neighbors a chance to play around in their cold opens. There was one earlier this season where Larry sang the opening lines of the theme song and here, we got the very funny slurp from Marty followed by a awkward silence and then the theme song.
-Look at Larry Bird still having a job after completely botching Jay’s wedding present. Maybe he is the glue that’s holding the coffee shop together after all.
-I thought we were heading for a reveal of Amber only pretending to text Zak that weekend so she doesn’t look bad in front of Reggie, but I think I liked what we got better, if only for Tim Jo’s adorable Seinfeld impression and the hint that Reggie and Amber might just get back together after all.
-The fluorescent hat Jackie wore on the plane was lovely. Speaking of, the tag was delightful and a nice counterpart to the Reggie/Jane tag at the end of last week’s episode.
-I’m a little disappointed we didn’t get to see Rhea Perlman do a body shot. Is that bad? That’s probably bad.
-Max’s line about Uncle Ben and Dick’s line about Nicole Kidman are perfect examples of how strong this show’s child acting is.
-Blink and you missed it: the aliens high fiving after all giving the same answer when Janet asked where they’re from. They must be listening to the theme song after all.
-Good for the show for continuing to give us combinations we haven’t seen before. I don’t think there’s been a sole Marty/Abby plot thus far in the series and this was a sweet way to introduce that dynamic into the show. It’s a plot that’s been done on family sitcoms fairly frequently, but a strength of The Neighbors is that it takes something that could be overly familiar and either twists it or adds in a new element (e.g. Larry falling off the boat) to make a storyline its own. See also: the Debbie/Janet plot, which I really liked. This might have been Jami Gertz’s strongest episode overall, which is saying something considering how good she is, and anytime the show lets the humans get a little shine is A-Okay with me.
-Next week on The Neighbors: Marty is faced with having to kick Debbie off their bowling league team, while Larry’s father sends an emissary to the colony to investigate whether the aliens have become too Americanized.

The post The Neighbors 2.19 “Uncle Benjamin” Recap appeared first on TVHackr.

When Amber rejects the idea of babysitting Max and Abby, the Weavers decide to call in their babysitter Pearl, just as Larry and Jackie come over. Marty lets slip that he and his wife are in a rut and the two explain the definition of a rut, something that the Bird-Kersees aren’t familiar with. That afternoon, as Jackie paints a portrait of Dick, one in a series that shows him through the centuries, Larry comes in to worry about whether they’re actually in a rut like the Weavers. He read the same magazines that Debbie does, as well as Cat Fancy, and cites that being in a rut is one of the top causes of divorce; Larry goes in for a fist bump with his wife as a way to confirm that they’re not in a rut, only she tuned him out while he was talking about what he read. Instead, he hits her arm and causes the brush to ruin the painting.

The Bird-Kersees split up and chat with Weaver of the corresponding sex, but they get conflicting reports on what they should do to get out of a rut, as Marty is taking Debbie to a loud, fancy restaurant with impressive lighting and three DJs and Debbie expresses to Jackie that she just wants a chance to talk to her man. Larry and Jackie return home where Jane suggests they use Google to find ways to spice up their marriage; after getting distracted by Google’s “did you mean…” feature and ended up on pictures of babies and puppies, the Bird-Kersees decide to role play and dress up as the sexiest people they know for a date night of their own. Reggie and Jane are planning their own date night, so Dick is forced to go over to the Weavers and stay with Max and Abby. Though the idea of having a babysitter initially frustrates him, Dick gets over it when he sees Pearl, the Weavers’ 42-year-old babysitter. He’s instantly smitten and hurries the Weavers out the door so he can begin flirting with Pearl.

Meanwhile, Marty takes Debbie to Lou Ferrigno’s Hibachi Heaven – not exactly the place she was looking to spend her date night. It’s loud, there’s no room to move, and they sit around the grill as the chef prepares their food, meaning that Debbie’s plan of using conversation cards to stimulate talk between her and Marty is over before it can begin. Back at the Weavers’ home, Pearl dining on raw Ramen noodles is a major turn-on for Dick and when he gets Abby and Max to put themselves to bed, he goes in for the kill and begins flirting with Pearl, who offers him sanitizer that she stole from her gynecologist. However, when he approaches her again in the living room, looking for her current story and asking her to go steady, she breaks it to him gently that she doesn’t want to cross that line and that she’s going to have to say no.

Larry shows up to the bar at Lou Ferrigno’s dressed as Jackie, the sexiest person he could think of, and thought he hopes Jackie arrives at Adam Levine, she opts to dress as him, which excites Larry immensely. The two begin exchanging compliments about one another and while Larry compliments his/Jackie’s skorts, she draws his ire when she mentions his smile and how he thinks everyone’s an idiot. Larry critiques her again when she mentions his hair and lashes out by making fun of the way she says “Debbie Weaver”‘; Jackie retaliates by insulting Larry’s occupation and leaves to find the Weavers. Debbie is having a difficult time getting Marty to pay attention to her and informs him that she feels irrelevant on her own date night, just as Jackie comes up asking for a ride home and Larry arrives shortly after complaining about being in a rut.

The two couples go by the bar and Larry and Jackie figure out that they’re not actually in a rut. They just let the Weavers and the magazines Larry read get into their head, so they decide to go home together, all the while Max and Abby comfort an obviously crushed Dick as he sits outside. Although he’s heartbroken, he knows he’ll be okay. Marty and Debbie arrive home and realize that talking for hours on end isn’t their thing anymore, not with three kids, a lack of new stories, and Marty’s job keeping him from coming home early enough. However, even though they both accept their reality, this doesn’t mean that they can’t have a little romance and when Marty opens up the door to their bedroom, Debbie finds wine, raspberry twists, and UB-40, all things that were present in a talk-heavy date she brought up earlier. The two lay in bed eating twists and gossiping about Larry’s smooth legs.

Additional thoughts ad observations:
-“You gave up booze for nine months for this one.”
-“I look like Marcia Cross.”
-“I don’t know how to bust a rut.”
-“I don’t know why we barge in there anymore.”
-“All aboard the onion train!”
-“You’re very cute.” “Preach.”
-“Why didn’t you come dressed as Adam Levine?”
-The New York Times mentioned the show, spotlighting its young actors in an article posted today.
-So, this episode name dropped Scandal, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, and The View, with past references to Revenge and an entire episode dedicated to Shark Tank. If The Neighbors gets renewed for a third season, I hope we’re in for a good Last Man Standing joke, particularly if it’s about how incongruous the scheduling has been and how Tim Allen is awful.
-If I could encapsulate this show in one brief sequence, the tag with Reggie and Jane doing pizza delivery role play would be it. That was the Neighbors-iest Neighbors moment this season, I think, and it was delightful.
-Also delightful: literally everything about the Jackie and Larry gender-swap, particularly Toks Olagundoye’s spot-on impression of Simon Templeman’s voice and the way Larry said “Debbie Weaaaaaver.” It was a silly, fun way of bringing in a nice fourth-wall joke and I like how the plot ended believably abrupt, with the two realizing that it was all in their head and their recent spat validating just how strong their relationship actually is. Olagundoye and Templeman have the best chemistry of any two-some in the cast and anytime the reality around them is heightened (see: them being in drag), it makes every scene electric.
-Very sweet ending to the episode. I think the show has done well by Marty and Debbie this season after sometimes losing them in the fold last season.
-Dick’s plot felt like part had been cut for time. Although I’m always in the mood for some Dick (Butkus), this was a bit too slight and verged on filler-y, despite the presence of the always game Rachel Dratch. This felt like something that could have been a centerpiece of another episode or at least a strong B-plot, whereas it was relegated to a minor C-plot role here and squandered some potential.
-Pearl eating raw Ramen was both gross and incredibly impressive. She really earned my respect by pouring the flavor packet directly into her mouth – you’re a stronger lady than I, Pearl. Also, someone get Rachel Dratch a sitcom because she is too talented to be relegated to guest parts.
-I like how Jane is always just…around. Like she’s floating on a speck of dust, just waiting for Reggie to need her for something.
-Speaking of, very cute tech joke this week with the Go-ogle sequence. Although I know the show has some budget issues, I wish they could incorporate more first time experiences like that for the Bird-Kersees similar to those of season one.
-Abby was on a call and couldn’t meet with Larry and Jackie to discuss marital ruts. A call with Horsey, perhaps?
–Next week on The Neighbors: Debbie’s estranged mother invites the Weavers to visit her time share in San Diego, while Marty helps Abby overcome her fear of the ocean.

The post The Neighbors 2.18 “A Night in (Lou Ferrigno’s Hibachi) Heaven” Recap appeared first on TVHackr.

Jackie and Larry recoil when the Weavers try to explain the finer points of wedding attendance; Larry, in particular, is upset at the Weavers thinking he’s incompetent, but when he returns home to work on his speech and watch a series of Indian wedding movies Reggie rented, he finds that he can’t switch between the TV and DVD on his remote. Over at the Weaver’s, Marty and Debbie marvel at having time to themselves with no alien interruption and decide to use their newfound freedom as an excuse to have a picnic and put their picnic basket, which they got at their wedding, to use. However, none of the kids want to go with them – Max would rather go to a funeral; Amber is too busy making ironic vines; and Abby promised Horsey that they’d have a tea party.

Back at the Bird-Kersee’s, the family watches Bollywood movies to get an idea for their wedding present for Jay and Larry introduces the concept of balle balle – go big or go home. Since the Weavers are always telling them no, Larry suggests they go big with their gift and soon, the family sings and dances around the living room. They get noticed by some of the other aliens and after another brief dance interlude in the living room, they go outside and get all the aliens in the community to sing along. It is then decided that Larry’s gift for Jay will be a big Bollywood musical number and he then gets the dinner orders of the aliens that will be accompanying him to the wedding. Larry takes a few aliens into the house and calls for ideas on how to make their number special, all of which have to do with penguins. He agrees to them all, as well as requests for a gorilla and Justin Bieber, just as Marty and Debbie pack their picnic basket full of rice cakes. They hear a commotion coming from Amber’s room and find Amber filming a lava explosion from Max’s volcano, which is covering some of Debbie’s pancakes and Abby’s dolls in goo. Debbie and Marty try to get the kids to let them stay, but they get a rude awakening when Abby tells them they’re no fun and that’s why the kids don’t want to do anything with them.

Next door, the Bird-Kersees have acquired alpacas, fire eaters, sword swallowers, and a gorilla, among other things, in preparation for their Bollywood number. However, with one hour to go until the wedding, the band is very discordant and the clashing of the elements is becoming more apparent. Jackie thinks that they should get the Weavers to help pare down their exuberance, though Larry won’t admit failure or that he needs the Weavers to help him out. The Weavers, meanwhile, are aching to get involved in what’s going on with Jackie and Larry, as they’re realizing that the kids are right and that they’re now the type of people who eat rice cakes and tuna. When Marty and Debbie try to put on airs that they’re having a great time, Jackie and Larry come over to request that the Weavers shut them down and deploy their fun removal machine. But Marty and Debbie don’t want to be the fun removers anymore.

Instead, they get involved in the musical number that takes the aliens onto a train and through the woods. The kids get involved, as well, and find themselves impressed by Marty and Debbie’s coolness, while the aliens and humans realize that they balance each other out in necessary ways. The group makes it to the wedding where they find out that instead of Indian, Larry’s co-worker is Native American.

Additional thoughts and observations:
-“Breakfast is a lot meaner than it used to be.”
-“Yes, Marty, but this isn’t season one anymore.”
-“I hate you, Elaine.”
-“I promised Horsey we’d have a tea party. You don’t wanna make a liar out of me, do you?”
-“Nothing says Bollywood like penguins.”
-“When did that happen? That sounds like a really good episode.”
-“You see? They’re having a fake laugh contest.”
-So, hey, everybody. I like The Neighbors quite a bit and would have covered it more regularly this season if I didn’t have time conflicts on Fridays. However, with the show’s renewal hanging in the balance, I’m going to recap the remainder of the season and try to do what I can to get us a third season of the show. If you like The Neighbors and want more Weaver/Bird-Kersee hijinx, please tell your friends to watch, watch live (if you have a Nielsen box), watch episodes on ABC.com or Hulu, buy episodes from iTunes, tweet about the show, etc. Anything will help.
-I like how Abby is maybe 6 years old and can make a Silence of the Lambs reference.
-Normally, I’m not a big fan of breaking the fourth wall, but literally every time The Neighbors does it, I laugh. My favorite thus far this season was Larry singing the opening lines of the new theme song during an awkward moment a few episodes back.
-Was Larry doing Pacino-circa-Any-Given-Sunday during his “show ’em what we’re made of” to the family?
-Nobody knows what AUX is, Dick. Nobody.
-Should the show continue, I would appreciate more comments about the Bird/Kersee someday baby Elaine and her vicious rivalry with Dick.
-I love how this episode was the show dialing up its eccentricities to 11 (the medieval executioner, the off-screen gorilla rampage, the multi-colored alpaca, Dick’s green screen during the musical number) while hitting the emotional stuff effectively without being too heavy handed. The show can sometimes veer off course when it tries to service both sides of itself, so it was nice to see everything balanced just right; this was a perfect encapsulation of what The Neighbors is and what it’s capable of doing, so if there’s somebody in your life you think would enjoy it, show them this episode.
-Fantastic outtakes. I always wonder what it takes to make a production like this and The Neighbors seems like it has a really fun set.
-That was an amazing musical number. Joyfully exuberant and silly satire while retaining respect for Bollywood. Turn the light bulb, pet the dog. Indeed.
-Next week on The Neighbors: Marty’s date night with Debbie doesn’t go as expected, while Dick finds himself smitten with his new babysitter.

The post The Neighbors 2.17 “Balle Balle” Recap appeared first on TVHackr.