According to CNN, as of this morning there was snow on the ground in all fifty states except Florida. And, yes, that includes Hawaii, the meteorologist clarified, as if someone might speculate that Hawaii wasn’t one of the fifty. Our snow is far north of us, though they keep suggesting that we might get some flurries today. It’s cold enough for it, but I have my doubts.
I think I like the idea of a snowstorm more than the reality of having to shovel out driveways, navigate hazardous roads, contend with outages, etc. I had my fair share of those back in the day. I remember one winter when my car, which was parked in the last slot of a lot that had enormous rock faces on two sides, was completely drifted in. Snow got into the engine compartment and when I drove it to the lab the next day, I warmed the car up only enough to melt the snow, which then promptly froze in every available crevice of the engine, cracking the distributor. Not fun.
It seems like every mystery show eventually has to do “the one about the magician.” Castle did this on Monday night and it was fun. We learn little bits about Beckett each week, and the way that she lit up when talking about her grandfather and his love of magic was terrific. And the fact that she told Castle that he reminded her of her grandfather: promising. I liked her little magic trick with the flowers at the end, too, and Alexis’s gag with the quarter/$20 bill was hasty but hilarious. Of course a bunch of detectives are going to suss out Esposito and Lanie’s affair. We’d be disappointed in them if they didn’t. Next time (though apparently not next week?) we will be treated to “the kiss” and it looks like another episode the furthers the story of Beckett’s mother’s murder.
Two Abbies are obviously better than one on NCIS, especially when the other Abby is Abigail Borin as played by Diane Neal of Law & Order. She’s a character that really plays well with Gibbs and apparently this week’s episode drew the largest audience for the show ever. Not bad in season eight. You’d think someone used to being around boats all the time would know better than to go on a blind date on a dinner cruise where you can’t duck out the back entrance if things get awkward. I had half a notion that her oblivious date would be involved in the case, but I’m glad he wasn’t. That would have been too cute. Lots of good contemporary references, including the Paris-Hiltonesque sister of the victim who “went viral” (what did she have, Gibbs asked.) McGee told them about her leaked sex tape. “Want to see it?” he offered. Gibbs and Abbie 2 stepped on each other in their rush to say no. Nice chemistry between the two Abbies. “Is this a record?” Borin asks, taking in all the Kaf-Pow Abby consumed. “No. We don’t talk about the record. It got ugly.” Favorite line of the episode came from Ducky, regarding pop culture. “We’ve gone from Socrates to Snookie.”
More potty humor than you could shake a stick at in the season finale of Men of a Certain Age. Terry came up with the weird idea of the three friends going on a weirdo weekend to Palm Springs to play golf and have colonoscopies. The three muska-rears. I wonder what Jackson Browne thought about his song “These Days” being the soundtrack to the procedure. Best line, from Joe: Asshole. Even after a colonoscopy, you’re full of sh!t. Robert Loggia was Joe’s dad, who showed Joe how to use the back of his hand when fighting, a lesson that proved helpful later when Owen, then Owen and Terry and finally Owen and Terry and Joe tried to take down a musclebound guy who got in Owen’s face. Is there anyone who hasn’t had Robert Loggia playing their father on TV? A nice moment where Joe’s father said something casually offensive to Owen (I voted for your guy). That’s how parents are, and both guys were old enough and mature enough to gloss over it without making a big deal. You can’t change their thinking at this point. Nice resolution with Owen venting about his father not looking out for him and Joe realizing that his “mind bets” were just another manifestation of his gambling addiction and Terry realizing that, after all this time, he might actually be in love.
