Parenthood "Happy Birthday Zeek"

Sometimes we want to go on our own terms. We don't want to die when we're under the knife. That's what Zeek Braverman feels about in this week's episode of "Parenthood."

This is one of the story lines that will truly show what this series is all about, family, emotional connections and just simple every day life. I'm talking about Zeek's health and that he's needs to have surgery to fix his health problem.

As stubborn has he is, he tells his doctor that this thing he had in Vegas, was just a minor thing that happen and he'll be fine. But that's when his doctor told him that he could have the same episode in a car or if he did fall hit his head on the pavement. That seems to much to handle.

From Zeek's point of view, he doesn't want it, of course, but also he's also trying to think that it's not that serious.

As soon as Zeek and Camille get to the car things turn quiet and of course Adam is called to talk to him but he has another thing to worry about at home and at the new school with the way the kids are wanting their meals without gluten and other things.

Kristina had him go pick up some hot meals for the kids at Whole Foods, probably not the smart place to go but anyway, Adam was going to talk with Zeek about having the surgery but instead Crosby who came with him decides that he should talk to him and it really didn't go the way it was suppose to go.

One of my favorite scenes is when Adam and Crosby are talking and it turns out into a yelling discussion. These two brothers crack me up so much, even if it is bad or something stupid it puts a smile on my face just to see them argue. They are really true brothers at it's best.

Meanwhile we see that Julia and Joel have an issue with to deal with when Sydney's teacher calls and tells them that she has been bullying another student.  This is probably due to the fact that they're separated. And when they talked to her about it, it turned into a serious problem.

As we left last week's episode, Amber told her mom that she was pregnant and that it was Ryan's. Sarah is stun to hear but also near the end happy. We see them have a moment when Sarah brings her photo album of Amber when she was just a baby.

And comes the birthday party for Zeek, everyone comes, Julia makes a special Martha Stewart cake that doesn't have any sugar or gluten in it.

 No body liked it at all. Adam and Zeek finally talk about the surgery and it was very clear and understanding that he doesn't want it because he wants to die on his own terms and we could see that and understand. We don't know if we could come back from being under after surgery.

But as soon as Zeek steps outside to take some air, he see Amber setting down, He joins her and sees her crying, thinking that she was crying about the surgery but really she tells him that she's pregnant.

And the look on his face changed from that moment on. Later after coming in, eating some bad cake, dancing to his grand kids song that Crosby help make, Zeek was in the dinner table thinking with a chocolate cake and a glass a milk in front of him.

Camille comes and talks to him and tells her that he has a secret and tells her anyway about Amber. And after they talked about how it is impossible, that Zeek decided to have the surgery.

In a way, I feel emotions are just running on high during this story line. It reminds me of when my grandfather had to have heart surgery because the doctor didn't see it there a couple of years ago. But he's fine. He was real cool about it before, just like Zeek. This show really hits close to home. Families should be watching this series.

Next week's episode will probably be no different than this week's. All I have to say is just have someone by your side and have a box of Kleenex with you.

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












 

Chicago PD "Get My Cigarettes"

When it comes to someone getting murdered, it's never easy when it's someone you've known since childhood. That's what Voight face's this week on "Chicago PD."

After last week, Halstead has a bounty on him for killing Oscar's brother in a shootout. Al talks to Ruzek and Halstead about how there was a bounty on him and Voght years ago.

Then Voight comes up with a photo of what we thought was a suspect then turns out to be a murder victim after he showed the photo of him shot in the face with a dollar bill tag on his chest. This being their case to take, as soon as Erin talks to Voight about him about not just lying to the team but lying to her about what he was doing, that in fact when she was taken in by him that she told him everything. She felt betrayed by him.

Until Antonio knocks and asked Voight about a guy name Nick, who tuned out he does and learned that he was murdered. The reaction that Voight gives was unseeing, never thought he would get emotional like that. First time for anything.

Voight and Antonio head over to the scene, and sees that Nick was shot the same way as the other victim that they were looking into, shot in the face. Voight finds out that one of that Nick was hanging with Don, another childhood friend.

The unit learns about a family who was threaten by a group of men who banged up the husband. And stressed out  his wife to take an overdose amount of pills due to the fact of they own money from their business.

As soon as they were done interviewing, there was a call of another gunshot victim, same one as the other two this time was in the garage. Erin and Al get there.

Al says one of the best lines in the episode "George Washington strikes again." As soon as they look around they hear a banging noise coming from the car. Apparently the victim's daughter was in the trunk and saw what the suspect looked like.

As Erin interviewed the daughter, she hand her off to Ruzek for identifying the suspect and this time he's going to use the new program of using a tablet. Ruzek gives an impression that he doesn't know how to work it so goes to someone, an officer and gets him to do it.

They find out from the sketch that it was the Dale's son Jake who got beat up from the three guys for owning them money. The hunt for Jake was on towards his house, but by the time the team gets there, they were too late. They talked to his father and sister.

Voight, Al and Halstead heads towards Don's home, as they get there they hear gun shots inside the hose. Voight and Al go in the front and see a wounded Don on the floor with his gun pointing out.

As Halstead was scooping the area he sees a basement door opening and looks in. That's where Jake points his gun at him and then makes a run for it.

Halstead chases Jake all the way through the train tracks. Jake steals a car and goes to the hospital where his mother is with cops there. The team gets there and Halstead talks him down and arrested him.

Voight and Al talk to Jake about why he had to kill them. He tells them that they couldn't go to the cops because they've threaten their lives.

Later on, Erin talks to her mother. Her mother wanted to make amends and apologized for what she has done to her long ago. For her mother to apologized Erin wants to talk about the past, which her mother doesn't. She also thinks that she shouldn't treat Voight like he was her father or blood. But for what she has done for her seems like that.

As soon as they talk, her mother's fiance comes in and that's when she give them her blessing and walks out and heads towards the bar where Halstead was at drinking. She looks at the bartender and thinks that Halstead is sleeping with her. He tells her no and that they only played scrabble one time.

I'm guessing scrabble is a code word for sex. Am I right about that?

He asked Erin if he could stay at her place for while since the bounty on him struck his apartment the other night. She give him a hard time and accepts but then a man comes into the bar and starts shooting at Halstead.

What it looks like he missed Halstead, the shooter shot the bartender.

As for Voight, he wanted just to sit at the local cop bar and drink a beer. Then comes Don and talk to him about Nick and how it was just something that he had to do. Voight tells him the same thing that Don told him, that this is a social place, he doesn't want to hear or talk about Nick again.

"Get My Cigarettes" probably is has a meaning of that even though you might have grown up with someone, you think that you really know them. It turns out that you really don't, that they have a bad side too. And just like Voight, his buddies were in the same kind of thing.

Next week's episode looks to be all on Halstead. Does he turn himself in to Oscar? What happen and does anyone make it out alive?

You can catch "Chicago PD" Wednesday nights at 10/9c on NBC.

The Mysteries of Laura "The Mystery of the Biker Bar"

It's never easy for a detective or cop to find out that the victim of a murder is someone you closely knew. That's what Laura deals with in this week's episode of "The Mysteries of Laura." 

It was only her day off that Laura gets a phone call from the medical examiner about a murder victim who had her calling card in his pocket.  She heads out there, and finds out that the victim is a close old friend name Jerry Patch, aka St. Jerry. 

Shocking to see him dead, she goes on and tries to find out how it happens. Then comes Jake, who heard it on the scanner about the murder. he confronts her about it and then see two tourist taking a selfie with the dead body behind them. That really upset Laura. I would too, even now with selfies being the thing that people would take on with a dead body behind them. I wouldn't even do that. 

Laura questions Jerry's wife, Ruby, who has been with him for over 30 years. Ruby was in shocked to hear that he was murdered. At the time she was cleaning up the place as she was talking to Laura and Jake. 

Then came to name Crazy Eddie, who Rudy talked about that him and Jerry talked the other night. Of course, the name crazy Eddie is as it sounds. He's crazy and describes that he's being watched by the CIA with drones all over the place. Laura talks to him back at the squad room and tells her about the name "Birdman" who was watching Jerry. 

Laura and Soto interviewed the Birdman, who was just an OCD man who watches everyone from his apartment and takes notes of what's happening at that day and time. When Laura heard of it, she scammed him for it that the Mayor needed it to help with the issues. 

As Laura is back at the office she's reading the book. Jake doesn't think that the answers are in the book, which she proves him wrong and tells him about a lady who was screaming outside that the Birdman had to call the cops for it. 

They interviewed Faith who was a waitress at Jerry's bar, who at the night of her screaming that she was going to kill Jerry that the reason for that was he fired her for stealing. But it wasn't her that stole, it was her boyfriend, who by the way started running off when Laura turned and looked at him. 

Soto ran after him until he got hit in the face with his helmet. Then Laura chases him by hopping on someone else's bike and followed the boyfriend until he got hit by a bus. Yeah, when you see a stop sign up ahead and you are chasing a suspect, you might want to stop and hope a bus would come by. 

As soon as Soto gets to the accident, Laura helps his bad cut by putting a pee pad on his face. That was probably one of the funnest moments of this episode. 

Along with the storyline, of the twins busting Ned, the neighbor, his window with a baseball. 

And the fact Laura has an issue leaving the twins with the new babysitter, who by the way turns out to be very funny and clever too. 

Laura then goes by the book again and finds out about a suit person who was following around Jerry's building. Loyd as they called him, was the guy who was at the wake and turns out that maybe he could have killed him for the rights of the air. Even I thought that Loyd was the one.  

As it turns out that he wasn't the one but give out a clue that Jerry gave him half of the estate of his air but not the one he wanted to get. The other half was under him. And as Laura thought it through, she comes up with that you can't have three halves. It's really impossible. 

Turns out, it was the wife this whole time. Laura didn't even see it, due to the fact that this case was so close to her personally. 

 "The Mystery of the Biker Bar" was as I said in the beginning, it's never easy for a detective or cop to see someone that they knew so close get killed. Sometimes the thing that we don't suspect should be the ones that we need to suspect.

Another funny scene in the episode was when she was trying to put on her biker outfit for Jerry's waking and Laura had a hard time getting her pants on. She had to have her boys help her get in them. She says "size six fits all." She's right, it does it.

I really think that this show is improving from it's pilot. I might be saying this only three episodes out, this show isn't you typical cop drama that we need to have all this tech crap and medical slang just to feel smart. This show has enough of the cop drama that we can follow easy and also enjoy laughing at some of the moments. 

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

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.