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Mark Baker

Once Upon a Time 2-6: Tallahassee

As per usual on Once Upon a Time, we had two stories, one in the present and one in the past. The twist for this episode was that the present story took place in Enchanted Forest and the past story was Emma’s story from 11 years ago in our world. And if you are doing the math – that’s right. We just met Henry’s father and proved one theory correct.

We’re going to start in our world past this week. Our first look at Emma 11 years ago is as she is stealing what we think of as her yellow VW Bug in Oregon. Just as she is taking off with it, she finds someone in the backseat. Since he has the keys, she assumes he is the owner, but when a cop pulls them over, she learns the truth. This man, Neal Cassidy, doesn’t own the car either.Read More »Once Upon a Time 2-6: Tallahassee

Castle 5-5: Probably Cause

I first fell in love with Castle because of the humorous approach they took to mysteries. I’m not saying they don’t take mystery and murder seriously, but they have fun along the way with the quips and flirting they’ve always had between Castle and Beckett. But along the way, they’ve also developed such real characters that when they do a case that is more serious or personal, I love those just as much. That was certainly the case last night.

The episode started out like any other one. Castle’s at home, he thinks alone, and then hears Alexis in the house. She’s come home to do laundry and grab some snacks before taking off again to meet some friends to study. Castle’s a little perturbed by that, but the murder scene puts all that from his mind.Read More »Castle 5-5: Probably Cause

Once Upon a Time 2-5: The Doctor

logoThey really went there.

After spending all week being prepared to hate this revelation and twist to the story, I must say I didn’t mind as much as I thought I would. It was one little explanation that made it completely work for me.

Of course, if they hadn’t spoiled it last week, the shocks might have been much better tonight. It’s obvious we weren’t supposed to know who or what Dr. Whale is.

We have three stories to look at tonight, so enough with the preamble. Let’s get to it.

Let’s start back in the Enchanted Forest of old.Read More »Once Upon a Time 2-5: The Doctor

Once Upon a Time 2-4: The Crocodile

Another episode, another fractured fairy tale. As I believe I had mentioned last week, I love Peter Pan as a whole, so I was interested to see what they were going to do with Captain Hook. It’s added another layer to the story, and I think it is going to make things very interesting.

Let’s start back in the day of the Enchanted Forest.Read More »Once Upon a Time 2-4: The Crocodile

Castle 5-4: Murder, He Wrote

A nice romantic getaway to the Hamptons. What could be better than that? Well, if you are Castle and Beckett, maybe a romantic getaway without a murder. But then where would the fun be for us?

I’ve got to admit, I wonder a bit about the setting. Yes, they’ve talked about Castle’s place in the Hamptons before. But since ABC’s hit show Revenge is set there, I’m wondering if there is a connection. I also wonder if last season’s fairy tale themed episode was inspired by Once Upon a Time. But those are minor points since both episodes were good in their own right.

And I have to give them early credit for the shout outs to the fans. First, there is the title of the episode and the mention of the classic show Murder, She Wrote. People were making comparisons to that show early on because of the writer solves murders premise. Plus, there’s the scene where Castle is trying to come up with a trendy couple name for them. After several bad attempts to combined their names, he comes up with – Caskett, the long used name in the fan community. Just fun little nods I really enjoyed.

This is also the season with the best used story arc so far. Usually, a story arc plays out over just a few episode over the course of a season. Here, they’ve been doing something with Castle and Beckett being together in every episode so far. They are really playing it for laughs, too, and I’m enjoying it. Of course, something this big really does need to play a part in so many episodes, at least at the beginning of the season. Still, I’m a bit surprised that another domino fell tonight. Just how long are they going to keep this secret relationship a secret?

But enough preamble; we’ve got a murder to solve.Read More »Castle 5-4: Murder, He Wrote

Once Upon a Time 2-3: Lady of the Lake

Oh, our characters are in so much trouble. The problem is, they don’t even know it yet. The way things ended is so tantalizing. I don’t know if I will be able to wait for next week.

You want to talk about this week first? Okay, we can do that. And we’ve got three storylines to deal with, so buckle up. It’s going to be a long night.

And if you didn’t notice the change I made last week, I want to be clear now. Since the show has started making a point of calling the land all our characters came from Enchanted Forest, I’m going to start calling it that as well. So no more Fairy Tale. Hello Enchanted Forest. In fact, let’s start there.Read More »Once Upon a Time 2-3: Lady of the Lake

Castle 5-3: Secret’s Safe with Me

Storage wars meets murder. The headlines almost write themselves if last night’s Castle had been a real murder. And it had some serious fun moments along the way.

The case starts with a dead girl in a cheap motel room. But she had $4,000 in cash on her, so why was she in that hotel? And why did she write LIE in her own blood? She lived in Philadelphia, and her boss was tracking her down because she had stolen the money from him, but he hadn’t arrived in the city yet. (Plus if he were the killer, it would be like the shortest episode ever. We haven’t even gotten to the opening credits yet.)Read More »Castle 5-3: Secret’s Safe with Me

Once Upon a Time 2-2: We Are Both

I love this show. Really, I feel the need to say this again. I LOVE THIS SHOW!!! And if you aren’t watching it, go catch up now. You really need to get into it.

Okay, okay, I’ve calmed down a little now. Maybe I can write a coherent recap that isn’t all babblings of a fan boy. Or I will at least try. No promises, okay?

Let’s start the recap with the Fairy Tale portion of our story. And I mean the Fairy Tale of old. In fact, we get an interesting piece of Regina’s back story.

We’d seen how Regina lost the love of her life and was forced to marry the king, Snow’s father, by Regina’s own mother. But how did she start to use magic? And how did she turn evil? All that in tonight’s Fairy Tale flashback.Read More »Once Upon a Time 2-2: We Are Both