Moving Forward: Chicago Fire "Wow Me" review

When we lost Shay, everyone was devastated, both the characters and fans. Now, as we move forward, things are still hard for some of us, but not as much as Severide.

 In this week's episode of "Chicago Fire," the second episode of season three, "Wow Me, "mostly this epi,sode if the title stands, is about how Herrmann wants Mouch and Cruz to devise an idea to make Molly's successful franchise. In the style of the famous Donald Trump, Herrmann wants them to do a task like in "The Apprentice."

When Mouch and Cruz talk, Cruz wants Otis to be a part of it to help. They wanted to discuss it, but Mouch had everything under control until about two days before the pitch day when he was reading and getting ideas from Trump's books.

And that's when Cruz took over and got the idea for Molly's to go mobile, that is, service truck-wise. When Herrmann heard it, he gave his signature sign that he loved it. Molly's is going to be a food and beer truck service.

Wouldn't we all want that? I might not know much about food trucks. Do they service beer and other alcohol?

Meanwhile, the other focus goes to Casey and Dawson. Dawson is waiting for her transfer to be accepted to Firehouse 66; she drops by the house and gives the guys a bulk of beer so they might like her. They don't, with the look from Tom Welch, who gives Dawson and Casey a hard time.

As soon as Dawson thinks of the change that will happen, Casey asks if she needs help with more training up the stairs; as she goes up and to the top of the roof, she sees a small box. Casey comes by the door and then soon asks her to marry him.

With a bit of celebration, I'm saying a bit lightly, during the evening, the following morning, Dawson gets an overwhelming emotional feeling about Shay and that if anything good has happened to her, Shay is the first person she tells her.

But then, she got called up to the boss. She runs into Welch, and as soon as she gets to talk to the boss, he tells her she is no longer accepted at 66 because they found another better candidate. She's upset about it and was told that it was not a gender issue, which is the way Welch has been acting these last few episodes from last season til now.

And now that only leaves with no wedding between Dawson and Casey.

Peter Mils got to see where his father has been over the years without knowing from his mother. His father's family didn't like him dating a black woman, and they had to go their separate ways.

But later on, in their second rescue mission of the episode, two guys are stuck underground at a gas line where they are unresponsive. Severide sends in Mils by going down there upside down and hooking them with a handcuff bracelet so they can be picked up.

As soon as the second is up, Mils is unresponsive and stuck. They get him out and question what happened. Could it be the equipment? Could there be something wrong with Mils? I'm leaning into more of the second question on this one.

But mostly, for our sake, this episode was mainly about Severide and seeing him dealing with the loss of Shay. Yeah, he might be back to work, but he hides his feelings like a tough guy would do and carry on his duty. The only thing that will take him away from it is drinking. He tells Casey that he's been staying with Lindsey (Chicago DP) as he said to her that he was going to be hanging with the guys.

He's dodging everyone. It wasn't until the stunt at Molly's that some of the guys from 51 thought about him physically and mentally as he was drunk and thought that Brett looked like Shay. That seems to be where he went off the deep in.

At the end of the episode, he forgets his dinner date with Lindsey, and she gives him an ultimatum that she knows what it's like to lose a friend. Still, she will only be a friend and not a girlfriend who gets stood up at a restaurant, and that's the point of Severide facing his emotions and talking about it.

In the meantime, during the episode, Boden and his wife are told by the doctor that she needs to be careful during her pregnancy due to her age and that there are risks.

Dawson tries to help  Brett with new apartments because of her location and the fact that they were called to a scene of a junkie getting high just up the street from her place.

This episode still deals with the loss of Shay. For us, the viewers and fans, I think we either rely on Dawson's side of emotion or Severide's side. We see that Severide has finally accepted that his best friend is gone. We sometimes do the same thing he has done when someone that he cared for and loved and has been there since. Who knows when we just shut people out?

There was a lot of humor in this episode due to Molly's franchise idea from the guys. Rule number one: don't take advice from Trump's book unless you understand it completely.

I like Brett, the new member of the team. She's exciting, and I hope we get to know her more. This might be a good time for her and Dawson to have a girl's weekend getaway.

Next week's episode seems to be putting more fire to the flame as both House 51 and 66 have crashed into each other.

You can catch a new episode of "Chicago Fire" on Tuesday nights at 10/9c on NBC

The Blacklist "Monarch Douglas Bank" review

When it comes to "The Blacklist" never assume something that is all ready there. I've been watching since day one and it still gets me to this day with it's storyline. It's "The Blacklist," anything can happen left, right, up or down. So never assume what is there, just get a big picture of it.

Last week, we learned that Berlin wants to get Red back, just as he thinks that Red did to his daughter, to cut up piece by piece of his wife. That Ressler is having trouble dealing with what had happen at the end of the season. And Cooper is back.

The Monarch Douglas Bank is being robbed in Warsaw, Poland, buy robbers, who were in gas suits, didn't want take the money, they took what is known as "The Formula."

Meanwhile, we see Red and his cleanup crew come in and help cleans things up as he killed two or should it comes down to one and had to re shoot one guy because he was still alive. Red's doing this to get answers about where his wife is, he seems to be in rage. Then gets a phone call about a robbery at the Monarch Douglas Bank.

Liz comes in to Red's room with a file of someone they are looking for to protect but can't find. But Red gives her another assignment about the robbery. Noting that even though the robbers didn't take anything like money still means that they took something. Which is one of the best metaphors to use in this episode.

As this was going down, Berlin was trying to get his next piece of Red's wife to send to him. Of course, it turns out to be a tooth. Later on Berlin gets a phone call from the bank which turns out to be the same bank in Poland that just lost "The Formula." Angry about it, the manager had to flew over and talk to him face to face.

Both Liz and a distracted Ressler are heading to Poland to investigate. They met the lead officer, but when Liz and Ressler sees a surveillance camera, they call Aram and get the footage. Seeing that five people walked in and six people came out with the fourth person being a woman.

They track down the robbers when they saw their track in smoke and a jam on the seat that got Red to checkout a local donut shop that he came by in the past. He talks to the owner about the costumers who robbed the bank and of course she

told him. Having Liz and Ressler coming inand rescuing the woman who was trying to escape.

As the meeting with the manager about the bank was perfect distraction for Red's wife to make an escape. She takes a piece of chicken bone and get's the guard angry for throwing her shoe.

But then tell him that she needs to go to the bathroom and as soon she is free she jams that piece of chicken bone in his face. She tries escaping but was fooled and caught by Berlin.

One of many interesting scenes in the episode was when Ressler was talking to the woman who turns out to be known as "The Formula." She can remember anything, down to the last detail. She can remember account numbers. As that was going down Liz and the lead officer talks and all of the sudden a sworn of cops coming up.

With that, this led to a fight between them that made it very funny and very cool. She fights and calling for Ressler but doesn't hear her until she shoots the glass breaking it and yelling. It took like 20 seconds for him to react.

As they were chasing the officer, he gets knocked out by a person who's been following both Liz and Ressler from the beginning. Her name is Samar Navabi.

She was sent to help, thinking that it was Red's idea. They make a run for it getting in a taxi, the Formula is shot but Ressler tries to stop the bleeding by using her tampon.
They're chase by the cops there, no place to go, Red has someone to help distract them and meets them on a train. Red takes "The Formula" away to get her medical attention and to do some unfinished business.

 That would be to take Berlin's money and when Red got the what we assume is his wife's tooth and gave a reaction that he was about to cry. He then later calls and tells Berlin that they should met.

Berlin and Red meet at Coney Island. They talk with each one getting upset. Then he tells Red to call and set up the switch. This was another best scene in the episode, calling it the goosebumps moment of the episode as they finally met and talked.

That's where soon Liz figured it out what Red was doing, she told him that she stopped and switched the routing numbers making Red's deal to Berlin not good. But then, as soon as Red give Berlin the transactions of his money, a success .

Then came his wife who was blind folded, as soon as she walks towards Red there was a moment that those two had, and even if they didn't see each other literally, there was a moment mentally that look like they still had feelings.

At the end, Liz comes to see Red and he tells her that he thinks that she had someone help with the transactions, fooling him about it which he would like to know how that happen.

We later see Red's wife in the car driving back home until she looks back. Seems that she might have feelings for Red again.

As Liz leaves and Red gets a phone call from who turns out to be Samar, who tells him that she is in the FBI. Apparently, Red is sneaking in another person into the FBI for protection. Then he picks up a bottle of Jack and the show goes black.


Who is Samar? What's going to happen to Red and his wife now, even after this emotional event? This episode continuing to arc of Berlin. What was Red going to do when he walked a couple of steps towards Berlin?

Thinking that next week's episode will be something away from the Berlin storyline just a bit as they are on a hunt for a doctor, who is operating on people and stealing their organs.

You can catch "The Blacklist" Monday nights 10/9c on NBC.

A Look Back: Scapin

EAST PEORIA — Audience at Illinois Central College had an interesting evening that love, fun and laughter.

 On Sept. 27, the ICC Arts and Communication Department Theatre Program presented the latest show “Scapin” at the Performing Arts Center. It’s a story about a servant who is asked for help to take money from their fathers because they are in love; but as soon as he heard that one father talked bad about him, he seeks revenge by playing a practical joke.

 There's the character Scapin, played by Ryan Groves, who has a very comedic side. Groves’ character had a bit of a resemblance of Charlie Chaplin, the iconic actor from the 1920’s.

 The show, at times, broke into the fourth wall, where the characters walk off stage and performed scenes with the audience. During one scene, Scapin asked the director to bring the lights up to talk to the audience and ask them a couple of questions.

 Throughout the show, there were different kinds of lighting. In one scene, Geronte, played by Sam Curry, was running around chasing Octave’s father Argante, played by Ramsey Hendricks, where white lights were flashing and the music was playing loud and fast. This symbolized the speedup to the scene in the story to a classic silent comedy films.

 There were interesting characters throughout the show. One of them, Sylvestre, played by Logan Henderson, played a kind side kick to Scapin when it comes to help scheming others. Both Scapin and Sylvestre had some similarities of the classic comedic duos from Bing Crosby and Bob Hope to Abbott and Costello.

  But the funniest character was in the scene where it happens to be the funniest scene of the show.  As a way to get revenge, Scapin tells Geronte that a couple of foreign officer were coming for him, he gets in a big white bag hoping they wouldn’t find him.

 As soon as Geronte gets in the bag, Scapin has some fun; he acts out different foreign characters from a Spanish officer to a French officer and starts beating him with a loaf of bread. But as soon as Sylvestre came in, he starts acting as a German officer; Geronte’s reaction was frighten and bounced away as fast as he could. Both Scapin and Sylvestre beat Geronte and then pulled two audience members to beat him too.  

 There was a scene or two in the show that didn’t go as plan, but that didn’t stop the actors. One scene where Scapin’s hat was drop on the floor by Argante, the coins bounced on the floor and one coin rolled off stage.

 “Scapin” is a play about seeking revenge on someone to help those that are in need. It’s also about that you can’t buy love but that loves somehow fines away.

The show was simply amazing with a lot of reference of style from the 1920's comedy films an vaudeville acts. The characters were just hilarious with the funnest scene coming from when two audience members beat a character with a loaf of bread.

The Purpose in Life

Street sign of Avenue Q on the stage set.

Ever wonder what it would be like if Sesame Street was for adults? This could possibly be the one and that’s what the audience saw in the latest production at Illinois Central College.

On Sept. 26, the ICC Arts and Communication Department Theatre Program presented “Avenue Q:  The Musical” in the main stage at the Performing Arts Center. Based on the book by Jeff Whitty, the story is about a newly graduated student is on the hunt for what his purpose is in life while meeting his new friends on Avenue Q. 

The characters in the story are puppets,  the actors performing with lot of expression of vocal and facial as they sang and performed. So think of it as Sesame Street plus The Muppets plus Comedy Central and you got a production that will just make you laugh out loud out of your seats. 

“I really thought that this show was simply hilarious,” said Alex Johnson, 45, of East Peoria, of the play. “They had so many funny songs that were catchy.”

 Johnson was mentioning the songs in the show. Since this was a musical, there were many songs that got the audience simply laughing out loud; songs from “Sucks to Be Me,” “If You Were Gay,” “The Internet is For Porn” “The Money Song” and “Everyone’s A Little Bit Racist,”

But one song got the audience really laughing, “You Can Be As Loud As The Hell You Want (When You’re Making Love).” That song number came when Gary Coleman and the Bad Idea Bears, portrayed by Matthew Henry and puppeteers Emilie Dierks and Christopher McHenry, this came when Princeton and Kate Monster, puppeteer by Ryan Groves and Trisha Bagby, had a night of drinking and decided to go to her apartment and have some fun, in a way.

“That number really had me laughing so hard,” said Johnson.

The set on stage was of a neighborhood like of a New York City suburb, with an apartment building and an old store which is used for other things like an apartment and etc.  The show used the projector screen during the show to help audience to where they are located at and also with word pronunciation with words like “purpose” and “commitment.”

The show also used music a lot and not just for musical numbers but for each of the character’s theme,. It symbolizes of its character’s own character. There was an orchestra that was conducted by Tony Jones.

“I thought that the characters of Nicky and Rod were familiar to me in a way,” said Susan Kelly, of Peoria. “They reminded me of Burt and Ernie from Sesame Street; they had almost the same characteristic and were very funny.”

“Avenue Q” is a musical about how sometimes you are not always going to find what you want to do and that it has turns to something that you don’t expect. There’s humor, education and some romance as well.

You can see “Avenue Q: The Musical” playing now on Sept. 26 through the 28 and again on Oct. 3 through the 5, at the Performing Arts Center. For tickets contact the box office at 694-5136 or order them online at www.ArtsAtICC.com. 

Jeter, Thanks for the Memories

This has been tough to write about. I literally have been putting this off for quite some time now and it just get's harder and harder everyday goes by with every hour, minute and second goes by that I don't think how this day is coming. The day that we bid farewell to The Captain, Derek Jeter. 

Words are never enough to describe it. I feel happy that we wants to move on from baseball. He does deserve everything that he has come to him and ahead of him. He is one of the greatest players to have played the game. 

He may not be a home run hitter like a Hank Aaron or Babe Ruth, but my god, when it comes to tie ball game at the bottom of the ninth inning and Jeter is up, you know for sure that he is Mr. Clutch when it counts.

The game Thursday night was the moment that prove who Jeter was, that when in a time to win the game, he's there ready to finish it. 

I grew up watching Jeter probably since I was not even ten years old. I remember seeing him make that amazing catch that he did in one game back in 2001 where he just ran and jumped caught the foul ball and landed in the stands. When I saw that with my grandparents and mother I was just blown away. 

I remember the one game back when the Red Sox and Yankees were playing in the Playoffs in 2004, Jeter catches the ball just before pasting the foul line and couldn't stop running and just dive into the stands. That was a moment there.

Since then the New York Yankees have become my American League team to root for as I'm an original fan of the Chicago Cubs. 

I can't image what it would be like when today, if he plays at Fenway Park, what it would be like when he is finally gone from baseball. I guess that's what others before us might have said when Ruth, Gehrig, Mantle, Banks, Koufax just to name a few when they played their last game. 

When the new season comes, there won't be #2 there at shortstop anymore. A new era will begin for the Yankees and for MLB, who will be the next Jeter. 

That's another question for another day or until next season starts. 

Jeter has been the perfect image for MLB, the perfect role model that we have looked up to and just hopefully we could play like him. 

This year with all of these commercials of his thanks #2 or #Re2pect, the Gatorade and Nike ads that has us all in tears (don't deny it, it really did) that it shows us that even if we are not a Yankee fan, there's a player that we can relate to in so many ways. 

I thought that that moment at the end of Thursday game was a moment that we will never forget. I had another idea for what would be a great moment to send Jeter off. 

It's the bottom of the ninth with two outs and when the third strike is called out, we see  both Rivera, Andy and Jorge come out towards Jeter and give him a hug. As they hugged, they tell him it's finally time and at that moment they walk off the field. 

Just to let you know that I've thought about that this whole season. I really think it's a great idea. It sure got me emotional just thinking about it. 

As I said before, there are no words to describe the lost of Derek Jeter. He is just a simple guy, who day in and day out works his butt off trying to win games and championships for the town that he represented. 

He is a man that puts his fans and team first besides himself. He is the most unselfish ball player that has ever played the game of baseball. 

I have not doubt that he will make it into the Hall of Fame. he is a first ballot, no questions asked.

 He is literally The Captain..Derek Jeter. Jeter thanks for all the great moments and memories that you have given us for 20 years. Every game if it wasn't a good one or not you play til the game is over. You are literally an inspiration to us all and in that mind we thank you. 

  

Parenthood "Vegas" review

We never really thought that this day would have come, that we would never seen this family ever again. But tonight's not the cast at all. Tonight was the season premiere of the final season of "Parenthood." We've seen this family gone through a lot of different realistic issues that we've never seen on television making, Tuesday and Thursday nights family time. 

We thought it was going to be the series finale and not a season finale, but NBC picked it up for one more season and tonight starts the emotional roller coaster ride of what will the Braverman family face this time.

In the last season finale,, we saw the Braverman ended up being happy. Haddie has come home and informed her parents that she was gay, Kristina's idea of forming a new school for special kids like Max is in the works, Joel and Julia were still separated, Sarah and Hank are together and Amber spent some time with Ryan until he left to recover and move back to his mom's place, but not without saying goodbye. 

In the season premiere we first come to hear a heart beat sound and we see Amber at the doctor's exam room. She is pregnant and apparently pretty shock too. Her doctor informs her that she needs to think about what to do about this, she doesn't have much time before someone finds out. 

We see Crosby's family at home and see Aida walking for the first time. Zeek is planting in his garden and is excited to be pickling as well. Camille is painting as they are both outside their new home. 

Sarah and Hank are having breakfast, apparently they are stay together in his new place. And Hank talks about how his daughter, Ruby, is going to be coming back to stay with him. As that happens, Sarah has plans to take her father to Las Vegas for his birthday. 

We come to Sarah and Zeek at Vegas, playing the slots and drinking until when he was playing cards and he got up and fainted to the floor. They both go to the emergency room and find that there was nothing wrong with his heart but wants to do more test. Well, Zeek being Zeek, he through a big fit. 

Meanwhile the family is having a bit of a hard time dealing with it. Camille is worried about him, Julia get a call from her and she soon heads to confront her. As for Adam and Crosby, Adam talks to Sarah and asked her to have the doctor speak to him but Sarah thinks she has it all handled. That had Adam and Crosby go to Vegas and they met at the hotel where Zeek wasn't there but instead playing at the cards table. 

As Kristina's new school is only a couple days away, it still needed more work. So the family from Haddie, Amber, Max, the kids, Camille and Julia were helping get things put in order and put up as well. Then comes Joel, who seems to be happy to see the family and seems to miss them too. Kristina asked him if he could help with the pluming. He offered and also offered to call some guy to help. But not before we see Julia being a bit nervous when he was in the room. 

But there is an issue that Max doesn't want to go to this school, instead he likes it being home school as he gets his work done, no one holds him back and he can go to work with Hank after. Even though both Adam and Kristina tried to make him go and understand he went anyway.

Later on for the first time in like a long time I would think, Amber and Haddie had some girls time together and talked about as Amber told her that she's pregnant. The talk in their high school that they use to go to and remember some moments that they have had years ago. 

As Hank's daughter comes, in a teenage fashion attitude, his ex wife comes too. She wanted to talk to Hank about splitting her 50/50 of taking care of her after a bit of a tough time handing her in Minnesota  And they agree to do just that. 

As soon as Zeek comes home, Camille give him a hug and told him that he has a doctors appointment to see his heart doctor that day but he was a bit tired and wanted to lay down due to the flight back. As soon as they see the doctor, the doctor didn't like what he was seeing from the results from the hospital in Vegas and that he was going to have to perform surgery to see what's the cause. 

We've seen the Family go through so much life situations in the past five seasons, this might come to near the top. Word is that this season the family will experience a death in the family. Could Zeek being going? The trailer for the upcoming season gives a lot of what will happen but also you might want to grab tissues if you are going to watch it. 

You can catch "Parenthood" Thursday nights at 10/9c on NBC. 

Chicago PD "Call It Macaroni" review

After a cliffhanger in the season one finale that led to Jin being found murdered, the question remains: who did it? Was it Voight's fault? The second season of the hit TV cop drama is back as they kicked it off with a bang.

Voight is questioned by the higher power of the Chicago Police Department and asked if he was there at the time of Jin's murder.

Voight isn't too pleased about what's happening, and as her heads back to the house, he gets questioned by his unit. He does blow up a bit from all the questions and asks for any updates.

Later, Antonio gets an inside source that there is going to be an exchange of a piece of evidence for money. When the gang goes undercover, Ruzek enters as the insider and the others follow; the unit gets ambushed, and a shootout begins.

As the squad returns to the house, Al informs the group that the guy involved in the exchange was the man who had killed a girl years ago, and that the evidence that was to hold him had disappeared, and without that evidence, the guy is a free man. And it upsets Al.

Meanwhile,  Halstead gets a package sent to him six weeks ago and finds out it came from Jin. It was a hard drive that had information. He talked to Erin about it and found out that it had some intelligence of Commander Perry, and it turns out that Jin wasn't going beyond Voight's back after all.

Deciding to give or not to give to Voight, he does, and Voight takes it and tries to make a deal with Perry, but Perry turns things around and threatens Voight if he turns him in that, he'll turn him, tone beyond his squad's back.

We see that Burgess is getting a new partner; after we saw last time, her partner was a big someone with experience but not in tip-top shape. She's introduced to Roman, who doesn't quite like to work with female partners because of his history of falling in love with one.

As Antonio speaks to his source again, they got one of the guys who's part of the exchange for over $200,000. And so they set up a sting, with only one member knowing. As the squad awaits the arrival of the guy Al wants to put back in jail, they set up and see them coming. As the group gave the others the money and then gave them the evidence, they started shooting.

The squad goes in, and the mod guy and his gang leave, riding off. They're stopped, and the guy's brother steps out. As Halstead and Erin come out, the brother grabs his gun, and Halstead shoots down the brother, and he's dead.

Later, Voight gets a visitor, who turns out to be Jin's mother, who wants to tell him that he always wanted to be a police officer and that at the academy, he was mistreated. Adding that, since he joined Voight's team, he felt more of a team than before. Voight is later called back by the head CPD people and asks for his shield and gun, but he then wants to talk to the chief and discuss what Jin is doing.

Later on, some of the gang are at Molly's talking to the new member of Firehouse 51, the one who replaced the late Leslie Shay. He gets an inside source saying that there's a hit on Halstead after killing the brother of the guys they were after. Al gets to Molly's and tells Halstead about the bounty on him.

As the episode ends, Voight is seen in the storage room, moving a shelf where a vault is shown, opening it up, putting the hard drive in there, and grabbing about $10,000 for Jin's father to clear his gambling debt.

The season of Chicago PD has started with a bang. It seems that the squad is still intact after Jin passing, not like what happened over on Chicago Fire. It seems Voight does have some heart in him, but also that he still isn't telling the truth about him being this dirty cop to get the bad gangs in jail.

Burgess and Ruzek are more robust in relationship. She still hopes that she will make the intelligence squad.

You can catch new episodes of "Chicago PD" on Wednesday nights at 10/9c on NBC

The Mysteries of Laura "The Mystery of the Dead Date" review

As an online date had gone wrong for one person, it's up to Laura to figure out who killed the romance and also how to deal with her own now ex-husband as her new boss.

The story starts out as we come to a maid coming into a room, dancing, about to clean. She gets a startling reaction when she sees a woman who is hung by a silk curtain.

Then cut to Laura eating a pretzel and spots an elder person being robbed by two guys. She engaged  and speaks to them, one being a bit cocky tell her to mind her own business and calling her a soccer mom. That's where she dropped her pretzel and teased one of them.

Robber's never learn right?

And then we see Laura pick up her pretzel, a kid tells her that it's disgusting and she tells him that there's a five second rule that was more than just a five second rule, say 25 seconds. Anyone would have done the same thing if it was that good of a pretzel.

When Laura get's the call about the victim, the only clue is the victim's underwear and a horrible smell of cologne. Billy and her head to the business where the victim got the pair of underwear.

Laura runs into a problem with the worker, due to the fact that Laura isn't wearing their kind of style wearing. Until she calls out to everyone in the store telling that she had tried on a lot of clothes and she has a bit of a rash. That was one of many that was funny.

Laura finally get the cashier's attention.

That got the lady's attention and helped her find who the victim was.

On the other side of things, Laura comes back to the office seeing about everyone checking her ex-husband, Jake's ass out as he puts a up a poster. She doesn't know how this is going to work, thinking that it'll go bad while he thinks it's going to workout great.

Jake seems to be wanting to be everyone's friend and buys cronuts and a cappuccino machine and wants to have some guy time with Billy. He might have been hoping to get some tips of getting back together.

As the investigation is still going, Laura meets with the ex-husband of the victim; he got confused of the new because he thought it was his current wife that had died not his ex. Apparently he doesn't care at all about her.

Laura meets the suspect and his wing-man.

Laura finds that the victim had an apartment and see that she had a child and promises her that she will do everything to solve her mother's murder.

Everything points to a website where the victim was trying to find love. So, Laura goes undercover, filling out a profile and signed up with up to 12 dates. As she dress up as a detective meets a female James Bond, she meets a bunch of weird, freaky guys until one guy spills his drink on her. The man, named Mic gave her a card but also was rude to her, until another guy stepped in and told him to leave.

She comes to find out that this was the guy that was suppose to be with the victim but she turned him down. Which lead to that guy who spilled the drink on Laura that turns out to be the guy's wing-man. There was also another clue that it was the wing-man, due to the fact of the strong cologne smell.

So she calls him and sets a date with him, having both Billy, Meredith and Jake as her backup. Laura plays with the guy and they go to his apartment. As soon as he starts playing with Laura, she goes in and then when she sees his scares decides not to go and that's where he slaps her to the group.

It got to be a real serious dramatic fight as she returns with a punch and kicked him down to the group. Then at the perfect timing that the guys had the power turned off, the lights go out and the guy hit Laura with a metal candle holder. As soon as you think that he was going to bash her hand with it again, backup shows up.

Laura meeting "The Wig-Man"

After a long couple of days, turns down Jake for an invite, she decides to hangout with two other people, her boys as they are in the bedroom watching TV and they are sleeping each by her side.

"Dead Date" seems to be a lot of fun and yet had some dramatic sides like the fight scene. You sometimes tend to forget that this is a drama at times with it also being a comedy with some funny lines.

The character, Sammi, was just a hilarious as a child who protested her own father's work. Doesn't want to get paid but as soon as she was release she was hoping for some money for the bus. But it turns out that we might see her again soon as Laura gave her her card for some babysitting.

The episode was more of how Laura had the balance between her job and facing the fact that her ex-husband is now her boss. Which has made it very funny, with their dialogue.

You can catch new episodes of "The Mysteries of Laura" Wednesday night at 8/7c on NBC.

Always and Forever: Chicago Fire "Always" review

(Warning: Stop reading if you haven't watched the episode, there are spoilers.) 

When we last saw the gang from House 51, they had thrown a wedding for their Captain, and as soon as the party was underway, a call about a fire in a warehouse building. That's where everyone went in except for the Captain. 

There seems to be a problem; quietness sets in, and suddenly, the top building explodes. Boden yells for Casey and Severide to respond, but nothing and everything goes dark until Tuesday night when we find out who will live and who will die.

The premiere of Season Three of the hit NBC series "Chicago Fire" picked up where we left off. We find Severide waking up from the mess and ensuring that everyone on his and Casey's teams is all right. 

We see that Mills is injured with a leg injury, and they call the Captain to be in Shay and Dawson. But it was that moment when Casey and Severide heard that Dawson and Shay were in the building at the time of the explosion. 

They searched for them and came to an emotional Dawson performing CPR on an unresponsive Shay Severide. Casey tried to help Dawson, but he didn't want to stop. They try to do as much as they can, but no response. Leslie Shay has died.

As we cut to Severide and Dawson looking at each other while Shay is carried away, we come to one of many flashbacks of Shay's first day at House 51, meeting Dawson and the gang.

The second was when she met with Severide, and we found out how they became roommates. The third was as both Shay and Dawson went into the building to help a victim, we came to what had happened to Shay and how she died of a head injury. Some of the rest were just of both Dawson and Severide's good times that they have had.

Months after the incident, we come to a depressing firehouse 51; everyone returns to doing their best. Mills is back, and Dawson came in late after her appointment.

Dawson is having a difficult time when trying to find a replacement. Also, we see that she isn't quite herself and then meets Shay's replacement, Sylvia Brett, who looks like Shay. If that wouldn't be enough on her plate as it is. 

Severide hasn't been back since Shay's death, and House 66 is pissing off Casey and the team for their remarks about Dawson joining their team. 

Casey looks for Severide and finds him at his logo cabin. Casey explains that the only thing that matters is the lives they save and that he should represent death. 

Severide thinks and later comes back to House 51.

Dawson goes to her appointment with the firehouse chaplain, who she's been seeing for the last five weeks and has not spoken yet. That is until she finally talks and tells him that she blames herself for the death of Shay.

Near the end, we see Casey helping Severide pack up Shay's things for her family. Severide comes to a recording of a promise they made on the first days as roommates that they "always" kept a guarantee that they did not bring work home and stay as friends. 

This series shows that no character is safe; this is what it is in the real world. This episode proves that not even our favorite character can last forever. This episode packed so many emotions it's hard to wrap my head around. I think this could be one of the saddest episodes of the series so far. 

"Always" seems a game-changer for the series for both Severide and Dawson. We'll see how this season plans out. 

You can catch "Chicago Fire" on Tuesday nights at 10/9c on NBC. 

The Blacklist "Lord Baltimore" review

When we last saw "The Blacklist," we discovered who Berlin was and that a war was still coming. As the new season kicked off last night, we learn about more questions than there are answers, but we are left with a pretty amount of one hour of drama to take.


The show picks up a few months after seeing the season finale—Red Needs, who is hunting him down from the man known as Berlin. The name "Lord Baltimore" comes and gets Liz and the newly run FBI on the chase to find him.





Mostly everyone on the FBI staff is still shaken up by the loss of Agent Malik and that Harold Cooper is recovering from his injuries from the finale and may not return to work. Even Ressler is somewhat tight-lipped about the events, as an FBI psychologist wanted to talk to him.



We Find that "Baltimore" has been scheming a person named Rowan. Keen and Ressler investigate it and learn she has a twin sister she thinks is still alive. Well, busy is a loose word to use for someone like her.

Meanwhile, we see Red and Dembe going back to their hotel when, all of a sudden, a helicopter comes in a somewhat fashionable "Godfather" moment where guns are firing, and another group of people kidnaps Red.

Red is soon released and finds out that Berlin isn't after him but someone, a woman. When Red sees a list of people and profiles, he comes to someone important to him, someone from his past: Naomi, his ex-wife



Keen convinces Naomi to come with her for her protection. She does not want to, even if her life is in danger. But then we find out who is "Lord Baltimore" when he turns out to be a she with a dissociative identity disorder, too.

Naomi is kidnapped and brought to Berlin. Berlin seems to have a plan for her to get Red like he did with Berlin.

Near the end, we see that Keen is moving on with her life after Tom, Kessler is somewhat in denial that he isn't okay, and we see that Red gets a package with a phone that turns out to be Berlin with a message for him that gives a look to Red's face unlike any other.

This season starts strong, as if it picks up from last season. We learn what Berlin is doing to Red. But still, who is Naomi? We know she's Red's ex-wife, but who does that make it to Liz? Her mother? Her Aunt? Her cousin? She does mention that she had a daughter.

Even in next week's episode, the showdown will continue as both Berlin and Red will meet for the first time in, as they say, 20 years. I know that I won't want to miss that greeting.

You can catch "The Blacklist" airs Monday nights at 10/9c on NBC.

ER: 20 Years Later.

It was on this date, September 19th, that television would change for the better of medical genre, It was on this date that the world become so addicted to the series "ER" that it paid the way to other great medical shows we see today. 

I think we might know the whole story of "ER" and how it was created. It was written as a film script by the late author Michael Crichton, who wrote Jurassic Park, about his experience as a medical student in an urban emergency hospital. No one picked it up.

It would take 20 years later, that the idea to make it a film was in the works but then got delayed again when director Steven Spielberg and Crichton took a break and Crichton had told him about this book he was working on, which was "Jurassic Park" and soon became the biggest box office hit in 1993. 

This series got shopped around twice to one network, which did pick it up at the second time around, which was NBC. At that time NBC had it's "Must-See-TV" era going and when they read and saw the pilot they didn't know what to think of it at all, too graphic, intensest, a lot of stories in one hour and the question will the audience get it. 

Apparently so, the pilot was a two hour movie, which premiered on Monday night against Monday Night Football, which the show did really well and then soon put it on the historical Thursday night where both "Hill Street Blues" and "LA Law" held that spot. Thursday night came and it beat out it's rival over at CBS "Chicago Hope," which critics gave high praise about it and predicting that it will be out ER in ratings. 

I guess they were wrong. 

This show got recognized quick and with these unknown actors at the time, which become big stars now. Noah Wyle, Juilianna Margulies, Anthony Edwards, Sherry Stringfeld, Eriq La Salle and one actor by the name of George Clooney. They got their big break.

The series was a major hit. In fact, it grew to be the #1 new drama but also the #2 series of the season behind "Seinfeld." The shoe literally grew audience higher than "American Idol," "The Big Bang Theory," and "NCIS."   And in fact that network television will never see those kinds of ratings again unless it's a sporting event.

This is the series that changed the format of what medical shows are today. Telling stories about the cases, the characters of both the patients and doctors and most of everything relied on the writing, which made the show a huge it. That and the fact the Clooney was literally the best damn looking child doctor in the history of television.

The show lasted for 15 years and still made Thursday night Must See TV til the end of it's run. The show kept true to the medicine. A lot of real doctors and nurses could not watch it because they would say it resembles of their job too much.

If I had to sum up 10 episodes that define ER it would have to be in this order:

"On The Beach" episode

10. Kisangani, season 9, episode 22
9. Time of Death, Season 11, episode 6
8. All In the Family, Season 6, episode 14
7. And In The End, Season 15, episode 22
6. Blizzard, Season 1, episode 10
5. Hell and high Water, Season 2, episode 7
4.Take These Broken Wings, Season 2, episode 21
3. Pilot, Season 1, episode 1
2.On The Beach, Season 8, episode 21
1. Love's Labor Lost, Season 1, episode 19

If you watched these episodes, these episodes define what "ER" was and is in it's own way legendary.

It help influenced other medical dramas like "House" and "Royal Pains" not to mention "The Night Shift."

Personally this is my all time favorite series. No other show will top this series in my opinion. I grew up watching it since I was a little kid. At that time, it was my grandma, mom and I that watched it together. It kind of stopped around the time my brothers came into the picture but that's okay we did watch it separate homes. And when the series ended it was still as what it use to be, my grandma, my mom and me watched it while my brothers were with my grandfather. And oh yeah, it was the series finale, there were tears coming and going that night.


Amazing that "ER" premiered 20 years ago. Time does fly by so fast. In a couple of days it will be "Friends" anniversary too.

"ER" gave us so much. It gave us inspiration to be doctors and nurses, it gave us the drama and entertainment that we have never seen before and made us tune in week after week after week. It really did shape the way we watch television along with "Hill Street Blues."

There's no way to sum up the series. It was just simply a legendary series all on it own.
Happy 20th Anniversary ER!!!!

The Mysteries of Laura "Pilot" review

Photo by Hulu.com

Laura Diamond is not your typical NYPD Detective. She loves to catch criminals and solve mysteries but also has to deal with a stressful family with a soon-to-be ex-husband and devilish twin boys who would want to make you glad you’re working. This is the concept of the new NBC series “The Mysteries of Laura.”

Based on the same show in Spain, the series centers around Laura Diamond, played by Debra Messing, who is not your typical detective or mother, but she’ll do whatever it takes to get the job done no matter what or how she does it. She’s a bit like Columbo meets Jessica Fletcher, but without writing a novel, add the attitude and an oversized eating habit.

The series is a dramedy, meaning there’s an equal amount of comedy and drama. And for an actress like Messing, she can balance both of those genres.

The pilot aired on NBC. Wednesday night after America’s Got Talent finale and re-aired again on Thursday. The storyline of the pilot is of Laurthatis called to investigate a threat to a high businessman who then turns out to be murdered and the stress of finding her twin sons in preschool after being kicked out.

There were scenes in the hilarious pilot. One was when Laura was heading to investigate the threat, and on her way there, she was singing “The Warrior” by Patty Smyth in the car. 

Another was where she was and was going to rent out a swimsuit, but it cost way too much—and made a come meant that she could get the same dress at Target for less than it cost. As was done, she took it off while wearing a button shirt from the suspect and told the lady that she kept the tag on the suit so she didn't have to pay the total price.

A scene showed her soft side after the interview about getting her boys into another school, and the boys didn't behave too well. So, the interview was done, but her husband stuck his neck out for the first time. WWE Seesaw told her she was the best mother, which didn't make a difference.

Photo by NBC

Later, we see Laura putting the kids to bed and hear them tell her they think she’s a great mom and love her. Then the music “All of Me” by John Legend played, making the scene happy but sad.

“The Mysteries of Laura” is a well-balanced mystery crime dramedy with a good, from Josh Lucas to Janina Gavankar to even the twin boys. It has some of that classic The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes to Murder She Wrote if you like to watch mystery crime shows.

Messing’s character, Laura, is similar to her well-known character from Will & Grace of Grace Adler. She can’t sing (but who can? We love to sing in the car), and the foot fetish is another. But it doesn't seem to be a big problem for this series. 

You can catch new episodes of “The Mysteries of Laura” on Wednesdays, starting September 23^rd, at 10/9 central, on NBC. The show is in the lineup of other cop dramas before “Law & Order: SVU” and “Chicago P.D.” which the network is calling that night “Women Crush Wednesday for its strong female characters on each show.

The Mod Squad: It's a Cool, Good film.

What do you get when you have three teenage delinquents who have been chosen to do undercover cop work instead of serving jail time? You get “The Mod Squad.” This 1999 film based on the hit television series from the late 60s to early 70s with the same name has these teens taking on the crime world of the 90s.

The story starts with one of the members, Julie (played by Claire Danes), running into the nightclub, warning everyone of the cops. No one believes him, but when the diddido comes, everyone runs in fear and fun. Then another group member, Pete (played by Giovanni Ribisi,) who was dancing with a lady, sees an older, overweight cop and runs off. Then there’s Lincoln (played by Omar Epps) watching everyone, looking for someone they are looking for until the cop starts chasing him. He got stopped for looking at one cop, telling someone to get out. All three get arrested and brought back to the LAPD station.

The film has a bit of multiple complications, starting with what I just said about how we meet our central characters. Then, as we moved on, we met the detective responsible for these three to work for the LAPD, as some other detectives and officers didn’t like it. Finally, we see after twice of undercover business at a bar, one due to Pete’s mess up with someone and the other being that they had the guy.

This film story has more than one falling action,n but if I had to pick one, everything fell when Captain Adam Greer (played by Dennis Farina) was shot and killed. The main characters were shocked and had to leave when they saw him dead in the alley.  After that event, both characters went to their respective Most. Pete and Lincoln went on their own, and Julie was alone in a depressed state, including her ex-boyfriend Billy (played by Josh Brolin).  

   This falling action has been carried on for a good while until we see some resolution begin to form when Pete starts to figure things out that the cop that he thought was good was naughty. As the gang gets back together and meets at the beach, they form a plan and get some evidence. Lincoln pretends to be someone’s boy toy while Julie and Pete do a stakeout at an abandoned warehouse. As things start moving, cops run in. Everyone was in the warehouse, and that’s when Julie and Pete came in crashing in, stopping and stalling for the other cops to get there, which they did and arrested the two kids until Pete used a tape recorder to claim their innocence and that these other cops were the reason Greer died. And as soon as that event was over, they decided to rejoin and continue to be The Mod Squad.  

            
This film had a dark setting, with lighting being one of the reasons. The lighting in rooms was dim, with fluorescent lighting being used. It shows it had a dark environment. For example, when the gang was brought back to the station, they were in a room with just enough light to see what was in the room with a bit of darkness. Also, even though the original storyline was based in the late ’60s to early ’70s, it seems to be found in Los Angeles and 1999.

            
I find the characters engaging in this movie, mainly the three members of the Squad. 

Julie had this good girl with a sweet side and was an alcoholic. She's the character that will sweet talk to you. 

Pete, who’s not bright at times, crashes Lincoln’s car almost every time he drives it and just acts like a total moron, but he does prove to be the man in the end. 

And there’s Lincoln, who has a sarcastic side and wants to get the job done. These characters know they are doing something good; they may be young and arrogant, but they have some trouble sides.

The music in this film is fantastic. The names of songs from artists playing in the movie and on the soundtrack. Names like Busta Rhymes, Everlast, Alana Davis, and Curtis Mayfield. One of my favorites was played in the film in the opening scene when Julie was running, and the song was “Goin’ Crazy” by SX10. That made the film great to start with because it got me hooked. Also, I loved the song “Can’t Find My Way Home” by Alana Davis; this one was a pop type of song I love and is a close second to the version by Alison Krauss. 

Left: the cast of the television version. Right: the cast of the movie version.

I enjoyed the film “The Mod Squad.” It's a late 90’s dark side of a teen cop drama for only grown-up teens. It might sometimes use some natural language in the film, showing its real side. I don’t see how film critics and other people don’t like this film and why it bombed in theaters. It was a well-entertained and excellent drama with a good storyline, setting, and characters.