Stacy's Blog Has Got It Going On

 "Have you heard my Tony impression?" -Jake O'Kane Wow, what a roller coaster.  I was honestly expecting a pretty straightforward finale without a ton of tension.  I thought Dee had this locked up and it wasn't going to be close.  While I ended up being right about the winner, there was actually a ton of tension in this episode.  It was much closer strategically than I thought it would be as well as at the Final Tribal Council.  Plus the emotional journey for Jake really made this an engaging finale.  I loved it and it's a great ending to an awesome season.  Let's get into who played well and who sucked! We'll start with the Final 5. Who Played Well: Jake came up with a very clever way to win the Advantage for the Immunity Challenge.  He didn't end up winning Immunity, but I do want to give him credit for how he remembered the combination.  It reminded me of Stephen Fishbach in  Tocantins.   I also like his attempt at putting on a show for the Jury wit

 "Grand Theft Auto." -Pete Martell The finale of the original run of Twin Peaks  picks up with Andy (Harry Goaz) and Lucy (Kimmy Robertson) comforting each other after the events of the Miss Twin Peaks competition. Agent Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan), Sheriff Truman (Michael Ontkean), and Deputy Hawk (Michael Horse) manage to figure out where the entrance to the Black Lodge is. Windom Earle (Kenneth Welsh) brings Annie Blackburn (Heather Graham) to the entrance to the Black Lodge and brings her inside. At the Hurley house, Mike Nelson (Gary Hershberger) professes his love for Nadine (Wendy Robie), but the sandbag hitting her in the head has jogged her memory.  She remembers she is 35, but has no memory of Mike and she is devastated to see Norma (Peggy Lipton) with Ed (Everett McGill). Donna Hayward (Lara Flynn Boyle) prepares to leave home as both her mother, Eileen (Mary Jo Deschanel) and Ben Horne (Richard Beymer) try to console her.  Both Dr. Hayward (Warren Frost) and Sylvia H

It's that time again: The Snubby Awards!  For those of you who don't know, the Snubby Awards take a look at all of the Best Picture nominees from a given year and determine if the best film won or if another was snubbed.  If that's the case, they win the coveted Snubby Award! This time we'll be taking a look at the 2002 Oscars, which was a great selection of movies.  This is one of my favorite years overall and definitely my favorite of the years with only five nominees.  The nominees were:  Gosford Park , In the Bedroom , The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring , and Moulin Rouge!  with the winner being  A Beautiful Mind .  Did  A Beautiful Mind  deserve to win or did another movie get snubbed?  Let's find out! #5. A Beautiful Mind Yes, I think the Best Picture winner from the 2002 Oscars is the weakest of the nominees.  This movie was a wild ride and definitely kept me on the edge of my seat.  I was way more engaged than I was expecting and Russell Crow

 "My kids are turning on me!" -Julie Alley Love is in the air, and so is some questionable gameplay.  This was a fun, if pretty straightforward episode until we got to Tribal Council.  I also think it made it pretty obvious who is going to win the season, but I could definitely be wrong.  Either way, let's get into who played well and who sucked. Who Played Well: Dee had a great episode.  She won Immunity and took out Drew, which is a great move for her.  She also managed to keep her emotions in check and didn't tell Austin about the plan to blindside Drew.  The game is more important than the showmance for Dee, which isn't the case for Austin. Julie also had a good episode.  She's doing what she needs to do to survive and is willing to work with anyone.  I love how she and Jake just ditched Drew and went Idol hunting. Who Sucked: Austin was left out of the vote for Drew, which just makes him telling Dee about the Julie vote in the last episode even worse.  He

 "If we're not at the right place at exactly the right time, we won't find our way in." -Agent Dale Cooper "Miss Twin Peaks" begins with Leo Johnson (Eric Da Re) and Major Briggs (Don S. Davis) chained up in Windom Earle's (Kenneth Welsh) cabin.  Leo manages to find the key to Briggs' chains and frees him, asking the Major to save Shelly (Mädchen Amick).  Earle returns to find the Major gone.  He places a cage of tarantulas above Leo and forces the rope that opens the cage into Leo's mouth.  If Leo were to let go, the spiders would fall onto him.  Earle listens in on Agent Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan) and Sheriff Truman (Michael Ontkean) and overhears that Cooper saw BOB (Frank Silva) as Josie (Joan Chen) died of fear.  Cooper believes that BOB was drawn out of the Black Lodge to the fear.  Earle deduces that fear is the key to opening the Black Lodge.  He leaves the cabin and Leo to his fate. Ben Horne (Richard Beymer) comforts Audrey (Sherilyn Fenn

 "..." -Everyone A drive-by shooting results in Brian Godlock (Joel Kinnaman) getting shot in the throat and losing his ability to speak as well as his son being killed.  Brian falls into a deep depression, but eventually resolves to kill every member of the gang that killed his son. What Works: Joel Kinnaman does a fantastic job in this movie without saying a word.  There is almost no onscreen dialogue in this movie and while that experiment has mixed results, it works for Brian and it actually makes sense.  We're given a good reason Brian doesn't speak.  He was shot in the throat!  Kinnaman manages to say a lot without speaking.  You feel his rage and despair and you totally understand why he goes on his rampage.  It's similar to the Death Wish movies, but much more effective. The action is pretty awesome.  It's to be expected with John Woo at the helm and he hasn't lost a step.  The action is fun, brutal, and occasionally over-the-top.  Whenever a actio

 "I think there's a lot of very full bags tonight." -Emily Flippen Wow, what an epic episode.  It had everything!  A wild and tragic backstory, a really fun Immunity Challenge, romance, tension, betrayal, and a very exciting Tribal Council.  Now we have to examine all the insanity and figure out who played well and who sucked. Who Played Well: Let's start with Jake and Katurah.  The last two Belo players could have been at the mercy of Reba, but when opportunity knocked, they both answered the door.  They both went along with Drew's plan to try to blindside Julie, which was a good move for them.  Fracturing Reba is the best they could have hoped for.  I also really like that Jake got over his fight with Drew from last week and worked with him. Drew was the catalyst behind the vote against Julie and I think he did everything right.  He's at the bottom of the Reba 4 and needed to shake things up in order to have a chance of winning.  Drew won Immunity and pulled

 "Audrey, there are many cures for a broken heart, but nothing quite like a trout's leap in the moonlight." -Pete Martell "The Path to the Black Lodge" picks up with Agent Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan) questioning a friend of the late Rusty Tomasky (Ted Raimi).  Cooper realizes that Windom Earle (Kenneth Walsh) took a pawn without declaring a move, meaning he has abandoned the literal part of their chess game. Cooper, Sheriff Truman (Michael Ontkean), and Major Briggs (Don Davis) go over all of the information Briggs was able to obtain on Earle's role in Project Blue Book.  They learn he became obsessive, possessive, and violent in regards to his work and was eventually kicked off of the project.  Cooper realizes that Earle's primary motive is not revenge, but to find the Black Lodge.  Earle overhears everything. Major Briggs goes for a walk to clear his head and Earle prepares to ambush him.  Leo Johnson (Eric Da Re) steals the remote to the shock collar he

 "I did fart once." -Drew Basile Okay, the Top Gun montage sequence in this episode might be my favorite Survivor moment since Tony won Winners at War .  I don't know whose idea it was, but they deserve a raise.  That was the funniest moment in a very funny episode.  This episode was a blast even if the gameplay was questionable at times.  Let's get into who played well and who sucked! Who Played Well: Taking out Bruce was a mostly questionable movie since I don't think he could have beat anyone in the end.  He was a great Final Three goat.  However, I think splitting the vote between Bruce and Jake was a good move for Austin, Dee, and Julie.  They're the ones in power, so getting rid of the bottom feeders is fine for them.  Austin also managed to win a tough Immunity Challenge, which gave them the opportunity to get rid of Bruce. Emily was very effective in this episode.  She was the one who lured Bruce into a false sense of security so that he didn't pla

 "If we let the police handle this, we're all gonna be 50% off." -Evan One year after a tragic riot at a department store, people involved in the tragedy start being murdered by someone dressed as a pilgrim.  The daughter of the owner of the store, Jessica Wright (Nell Verlaque), has to face off against the killer before they all end up carved like turkeys. What Works: Thanksgiving is a love-letter to holiday themed slasher movies from the 70's and 80's and this movie does so many things right where those movies failed, and that's why I like it so much.  This is a slasher done correctly. These types of movies typically have some sort of small-town holiday tragedy, which ends up being the catalyst for the main plot of the movie.  In a lot of these films, that initial tragedy isn't shown or we only see a bit of it.  It's usually something that is told to us in exposition.  Not in Thanksgiving .  The opening tragedy is a classic Black Friday shopping riot

 "Good things are good." -Jake O'Kane This ended up being a pretty straightforward and uneventful episode despite the best efforts of production.  I think even without the twists of the episode, Kendra probably would have been the person to go.  I always like it when production tries to force something crazy and it just doesn't happen.  Straightforward episodes are fine!  We don't need to take away a third of the players' votes to have an interesting episode.  Straightforward doesn't always mean boring.  Anyway, let's take a look at who played well and who sucked. Who Played Well: We'll start with Bruce.  I like that he's doing some self-reflection in the wake of Kellie's elimination.  I don't know how much good it will do him, but it might help.  He won Immunity and saved his Idol for another day and was willing to turn on Kendra when the vote started turning that way.  I don't know if he can win, but if he keeps this up, he can at

 "YOU ARE WITNESSING A FRONT THREE-QUARTER VIEW OF TWO ADULTS SHARING A TENDER MOMENT!" -Gordon Cole "Variations on Relations" picks up with Agent Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan) and the local lawmen returning to Owl Cave to find more of the petroglyph uncovered.  They figure out Windom Earle (Kenneth Welsh) has been there and Cooper has Andy (Harry Goaz) draw the petroglyph. Earle tells the story of the White Lodge and the Black Lodge to Leo Johnson (Eric Da Re) and a traveling musician, Rusty (Ted Raimi).  Earle than constructs a large, paper-mâché chess pawn with Rusty stuck inside of it.  Earle shoots and kills Rusty with a crossbow. Catherine Martell (Piper Laurie) asks Pete (Jack Nance) to help her open the puzzle box.  Pete accidentally drops it and it opens, revealing another puzzle box. At the diner, Shelley Johnson (Mädchen Amick) reluctantly enters the Miss Twin Peaks competition at Bobby's (Dana Ashbrook) insistence.  Meanwhile, Lana Milford (Robyn Lively)

 "Hopefully I stop sucking." -Jake O'Kane Wow, what a fun episode.  It was great to have the auction back and I loved Kellie's reaction to getting voted out.  Best of all was Jeff pulling out a knife and stabbing the bag of rice.  More evil Jeff please!  Anyway, let's get into who played well and who sucked. Who Played Well: Let's start with Jake, who was in a terrible position at the start of the episode and didn't get very far in getting himself out of it, but I like his awareness of the situation and seeing through Emily and Kellie's attempt to stop him from playing his Shot in the Dark.  He absolutely made the right call in playing it. The plan to take out Kellie from the Reba 4 and Emily was an awesome move, especially for Drew and Austin.  I think Kellie was the biggest jury threat and they can still take out Jake and Bruce later if they so choose.  This weakens the Belo alliance, weakens any potential women's alliance, and gives Austin a 2nd