TV Recaps Reviews

Homer has to visit the bank but food is not allowed there so he puts his candy apple in his pocket. The clerks think he has a gun and mistakenly think he’s holding up the bank. At trial the judge sentences Homer to 100 hours of community service (he thinks its worse than going to prison). During comunity service Homer begins to become friends with Chief Clancy Wiggum who is supervising the prisoners. Homer and Chief Wiggum begin a bromance of sorts, with Chief Wiggum very excited that he has a new friend and asking the other cops if Homer is watching him as Homer leaves community service that day.

Marge overhears Bart and Milhouse talk about a cool new transformer toy similar to a Pokemon-style trading card game, called Battle Balls. Marge misunderstands them and thinks the kids are talking about drugs. Bart and Milhouse are way into these new toys. Marge rummages through Bart’s room and Bart catches his mom searching for drugs. Bart shows his mom Battle Balls and Marge thinks the toy is super cool.

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Deadliest Catch is back for a sixth season on Discovery. There is something about this reality series that grabs you and hooks you. The show follows five Alaskan King Crabbing boats as they fish off the Bering sea doing one of the most dangerous jobs in the world. Who would have thought watching crusty fishermen catching crab at sea would be so entertaining and riveting? The great narration by Mike Rowe of Dirty Jobs seals the deal with this series. I’ve been hooked for a couple of seasons now and have to say, the series is well worth watching.

During season four, Phil Harris, skipper of the ship Cornelia Marie, one of the ships featured on the show, became seriously ill during shooting. Captain Phil had a blood clot that went to his lungs while at sea, leaving him with a poor prognosis for the future. Captain Phil fought back while in the hospital to get back on his ship and was able to finish a number of the sixth season episodes before being hit by a massive stroke. Captain Phil survived another week or so, coming out of a coma long enough to spend time with his two sons who fished with him at sea. Captain Phil died February 9, 2010 of complications from a stroke. This season of Deadliest Catch is dedicated to him. Captain Phil was a favorite of the show’s audience and his dedication to fishing defined what a ship’s captain should be.

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The Maine episode starts in the dead of winter with interviews of locals of Maine, giving the audience a feel for the place. According to the locals there are two types of Mainers, civilized Maine are flatlanders while the farmland has woodmen Mainers. Tony is visiting Maine because his cameraman Zach is from Maine and well, Tony’s never been to Maine before and says “its under an hour to get here from New York”. Tony tells the audience that Portland, Maine is known as the foodiest city in the United States.

Tony and Zach head to J’s Oyster where the atmosphere is dark and pub-like with a loud crowd, known as a classic Maine place. J’s serves up Maine steamers and steamer clams are one of Tony’s favorites. Tony tells Zach steamer clams are “one of the greatest, truly American things ever, a taste of my childhood”. Tony and Zach wash down the clams with pints of beer. Zach tells Tony during their tour of Maine there will be chopping of wood and gathering of water. Tony is concerned about how wild and uncivilized areas of Maine are from Zach’s stories (shades of Deliverance) and says “Just tell me there’s no non-consentual sodomy and I’m with you”.

Street & Co. is a famous fish joint in Maine steps away from the water. Tony and Zach dine on shrimp, monkfish and cuttle fish (Tony says its sublime). Tony’s not too excited about another patrons pasta with clams, he thinks it doesn’t look so good.

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Jesse fills the tank of his RV and goes to the mini-mart to pay. Jesse realizes he doesn’t have enough money to pay for the gas and sweet talks the young cashier girl into accepting a package of meth instead for payment. A local law enforcement officer walks in the mini-mart. The girl hesitates in fear for a moment, then accepts the package from Jesse.

Mike visits Saul and plays a recording of Walt and Skyler fighting. In the recording Skyler admits Walt called her bluff on having him arrested but tells him “We are not married anymore.” Walt heads to Skyler’s workplace to confront Ted Beneke who is having an affair with Walt’s wife. Walt talks his way into the office then starts yelling at Ted, who is hiding in his office. Walt picks up a huge potted plant and tries to throw it through Ted’s glass office wall but it doesn’t work. Walt is carted off by three security guards as Skyler looks on, embarrassed by the situation. As Walt starts to get into his car, Mike drives up, pulls Walt into his car and drives off.

Mike delivers Walt to Saul’s office and Saul tells Walt “Consider this an intervention”. Walt starts screaming at Saul asking him if he bugged his house. When Saul admits he had Mike bug Walt’s house, Walt fires him and Saul tells Walt he is shutting down the website so there is no more money laundering for Walt’s business. Mike removes the bugging equipment from Walt’s house as Walt watches. “You know, Walter,” Mike says, “sometimes it doesn’t hurt to have someone watching your back.” As Mike drives off a a chalk drawing of a scythe is seen near his tires, no doubt another warning from the Cousins.

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Mr. Burns expects his entire power plant workforce to put on a 4th of July BBQ extravaganza for him so he can enjoy the holiday while his workers slave away for him. Homer, Lenny and Carl are tired of working on the holiday and sneak into Mr. Burns wine cellar. They get drunk and destroy some of Mr. Burns precious items stored away and make a big dent in his wine collection. When Mr. Burns calls the police to come to investigate the problem the police find a famous stolen painting hanging in Burn’s wine cellar and arrest him, sending him to jail.

Lisa wants to share her excitement about her ant farm with Bart, who isn’t too interested at first. Bart sticks a whole pop-tart into the ant farm and Lisa is upset. The ant farm breaks by accident and one lone ant is saved. Lisa creates a new ant farm for her one ant and warns Bart to stay away from it.

Mr. Burns assistant Smithers takes over the business and tries to be nice to the workers. Homer, Lenny and Carl take advantage of Smithers until he overhears them making fun of his gullible nature. Smithers decides to be just like Mr. Burns only worse and Homer, Lenny and Carl begin to wish Mr. Burns would come back.

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Tony stands in his Chef whites in his old haunts, Les Halles restaurant in New York. Tony tells the audience this show is about basic techniques in cooking. He realized there are many people who simply don’t know how to cook the basic foods we all love. Tony’s list of basics you need to be able to cook:

• Basic knife skills
• How to cook a lobster
• How to cook an omlet
• How to make a tomato red sauce
• How to grill a steak
• How to roast a chicken
• How to cook a hamburger
• How to make a stew

Tony has invited a number of famous chefs to help him show the audience how to cook these simple items. Tony starts off with making stew, Boeuf Bourguignon in fact. Tony shows the audience how to properly cut an onion without dismembering yourself. To start the stew, Tony shows how you curl your fingers and thumb back when dicing an onion, cutting in slices top to bottom, then a slice across the onion and then slicing across the bulk of the onion to create dices of onion. Simple enough with practice. Tony says of cutting yourself when using a knife is “the knowledge that you’re an idiot”. Tony continues the stew by cooking the onions until they are translucent.

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A flashback to Hank’s DEA informant’s early demise at a seedy Mexican cantina sets the scene for Hank’s continued fear of facing his return to the El Paso office of the DEA. Mike the undercover detective phones Gus to report Walt is still alive and guesses that Saul Goodman doesn’t need to know about the episode.

Skyler comes home to find Walt in the house. Calling him on his cell phone she insists he leave. Walt tells Skyler this is his house too and refuses to leave. Skyler threatens to call the police and Walt tells her to go ahead, calmly grading papers as she fumes. Skyler calls the police then sits waiting for them to arrive. Walt Jr. arrives home and is thrilled to see his dad. The police knock on the door and ask Skyler what the problem is and Skyler can’t bring herself to tell them about Walt’s illegal activities, telling them he broke into the house and won’t leave. The police go down the list of things that would cause an offense and nothing applies to Walt. He takes care of the baby and tells the police he has not been the most attentive husband lately. The police suggest counseling and leave the house. Walt Jr. yells at his mother for calling the police on his dad. Walt tells Walt Jr. not to blame his mother. Skyler is furious and tells Walt sarcastically “welcome home” as she closes the bedroom door.

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The camera shows a French style home with classical music playing. Tony narrates, saying “inside it looks like France, but outside its Vietnam”. Tony describes the Vietnam Central Highlands as “a place of peaks and valleys and mist”. Tony tells the viewers when the French left the Central Highlands after WW II they kept their French influence. The Vietnam Central Highlands are located up in the mountains where it is cooler at altitudes of 4,500 to 5,000 feet.

Tony is back in his favorite place on earth, Vietnam. Tony drinks beer with Linh, his old friend and guide from his previous visits to Vietnam at Duck Restaurant, a street-side food stall known for duck preparations. Tony and Linh drink beer as they receive crispy rice cake, spicy coleslaw with star fruit and boiled duck pieces. They enjoy some spicy sweet and sour duck dish next, then meaty duck soup and finally a savory porridge with duck.

Tony and Linh visit the emperor’s palace, decked out in French decor with beautiful grounds surrounding the palace. Tony and Linh visit Linh Phong Monastery Pagoda, known for their vegetarian meals made with fresh local ingredients. Thirty Buddhist nuns live at the monestary and cook the vegetarian meals they will enjoy. The Buddhist nuns work hard to make the food. Vegetarian meals are often spicy since there is no meat. Tony says he can go five days without meat but he craves it. Tony and Linh enjoy a meal of rice, spicy mushrooms and vegetables, and spicy soup.

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As Ned Flanders runs his bible study, Homer screams out “hey, my bathing suit came off” as he goes down the sidewalk on a slip and slide, disrupting Flanders program. The entire bible study group watches Homer through the window as he slides and Ned becomes more upset. Reverend Lovejoy convinces Ned Homer can still be saved. Ned looks at WWJD bracelet and his “Jesus time for a good deed clock” on the wall and agrees.

Ned invites Homer and his family as his guests to the bible study’s trip to Israel the holy land the next month. Homer ponders out loud sarcastically about “taking my family to a war zone, on a bus with religious lame-os, in a country with no pork in a desert with no casinos” to Flanders. Marge hears the exchange and accepts Ned’s offer as long as the Simpsons pay their own way, an idea Homer’s wails indicate he is not happy with.

The plane arrives in Israel and Homer is bound and tied by airport security. Marge tells Homer he should apologize for his remarks to which Homer says “but latkes aren’t as good as American pancakes”. Homer suggests the latkes are pretty good with applesauce and he is released. Krusty is on the trip and Lisa asks him why he traveled to Israel, he says as a Jew he must travel there once in his life to avoid hell. When Lisa tells Krusty Jews don’t believe in hell, Krusty runs into the nearest strip joint.

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Walt White is driving down the highway singing along to the radio. Walt is pulled over by a policeman who tells him he needs to fix his windshield. Walt goes into a tirade about the crack in the windshield coming from debris dropped by the Wayfarer 515 airplane crash on his house and can’t understand the officer’s reluctance to see his side of the story. Walt does not follow the officers instructions and becomes beligerent, resulting in being pepper-sprayed, then taken into custody.

Hank and the DEA team find the burned out remains of the truck and its occupants in the dessert. Hank thinks this is high-end cartel work and wants to investigate further into the crime. Jesse sees a for sale sign at his aunt’s home. Jesse stops by and tries to talk to his dad, who seems reluctant to talk to him about the sale. When Jesse suggests he come by to see his mom and dad for dinner his dad says maybe sometime. Jesse realizes his parents want little to do with him after the discovery of his meth lab while staying at his aunt’s house.

Walt sits at the police station with red eyes from the pepper-spray and is embarrassed by his behavior. After apologizing to the officer, Walt’s brother-in-law Hank bails Walt out of jail. As Hank drives Walt home, Walt confides to Hank that Skyler is divorcing him.

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