SUPERNATURAL: In a Show About Two Brothers, Does Anyone Else Matter?

The seventh season of “Supernatural” is coming to an end but the heated argument about how successful the year has been will last until the Fall. Coming off a season focused on monsters, angels, and Purgatory, season seven sought to give Sam and Dean Winchester a single group of Big Bads in the form of the Leviathan. But these aren’t your everyday villains: they’ve infiltrated the highest positions of power and are gunning for the Winchesters – who are struggling to find a way to fight back. One of the biggest subplots this season has focused on isolating the brothers, cutting them off from the lifelines they’ve relied on for seven years, and this move has gotten the fans up-in-arms about whether it was the best decision.

But the question lurking in the back of my mind is: in a show that is - and has always been - about two brothers, does anyone else matter?

NOTE: Within this post, there may be spoilers for episodes that have already aired. Continue reading at your own discretion.

The Doppelganger Trend: Are Two Leads Better than One?

There are at least three network shows that prominently feature their lead actress in dual roles: “Fringe,” “Vampire Diaries,” and “Ringer.” This isn’t a new concept and I can name numerous times when an actor has gotten to act opposite themselves on their own show but I’m curious as to why it’s becoming such a hot trend now? And is it always worth it?

NOTE: There may be spoilers for episodes that have already aired within this post. If you are spoiler-sensitive, continue reading at your own risk.

Dear Penn Badgley, CUT YOUR HAIR!

Penn Badgley, of “Gossip Girl” fame (or infamy, depending on how you look at it), has been lost to us, pulled away into the wild growth and all-consuming underbrush that his hair has become. If you’re walking down the streets of Manhattan or shopping in Los Angeles, be careful who you offer a dollar to because they’re not all homeless. Statistically speaking, 1 out of every 5 homeless men is Penn Badgley.

PRIVATE PRACTICE: You've Heard What Happened to Charlotte King but Have You Seen What’s Happened Since?

 

Writing convincing, slow-building character development is a difficult task. Anyone who writes – for a living or for fun – will admit to this. It’s a challenge that we all face but one that we enjoy struggling with, nonetheless. But these days, it seems like fully realized characters are becoming harder and harder to find. In fact, if someone asked me to name some of the best developed ones on TV today, I would be hard-pressed to list more than ten. However, the number one spot on my list, for the character who has never stopped growing, will always be reserved for one woman in particular: Charlotte King of “Private Practice.”

NOTE: This article discusses recently aired episodes of "Private Practice" but there are no spoilers for future episodes within this article.

THE HUNGER GAMES: Was Katniss Everdeen Whitewashed?

From Feminist Frequency.

Lately, there has been a lot of commotion about whitewashing - casting Caucasian actors in roles instead of people of color - and "The Hunger Games." People have been insisting that the character of Rue shouldn't have been African American while others believe that Katniss Everdeen shouldn't have been white. It is extremely unfortunate that this is still happening in America, that people of color aren't given leading roles in films and that their stories are rarely told on the big screen. It really is. But I feel like the casting if Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss isn’t the best example of whitewashing considering it’s a movie based on a book as opposed to a brand new script - in which there are no definitive physical descriptions.

FRINGE: 4.19 "Letters of Transit" - Thoughts and Theories

Professor Nina: Did anyone really expect her to age poorly?

After tonight's mind-blowing episode of "Fringe," the entire series is up in the air. I'm not just talking about it being renewed for a fifth (and probably final) season, though. This episode literally changed the entire game. I know that it's made me reevaluate what we know and what we've seen of the Observers and it's definitely put the entire fourth season into context (why erase Peter if the problem was that he had a baby with Fauxlivia, not Olivia? Wouldn't that mean no baby would've been made at all?). In this post, I want to touch on some of the main topics that were on my mind during and after "Letters of Transit."

If you haven't seen the episode yet but want to read my thoughts and theories, you can take a few minutes to read my recap of the episode. Or you can wait until they put it up on Hulu or Fox.com.

NOTE: There might be some spoilers for upcoming episodes laced throughout my theories. If you are sensitive to these kinds of things, I suggest you don't continue reading this post so as not to risk spoiling yourself. However, if I discuss a major piece of information for a future episode, I will be sure to make a note of it beforehand.

FRINGE: 4.19 "Letters of Transit" - Henrietta, We Got No Flowers for You

Desmond asks Walter if he knows where Penny is.

It's not unexpected for "Fringe" to pull out all the stops on a nineteenth episode. Every fan knows this. In the show's sophomore season, we got a forty-two minute blend of nearly every genre know to man; it was a musical, a love story, a classic noir, and a fascinating sci-fi trip. Season three surprised us even more when the episode was promoted as being an exploration of the unconscious mind of everyone's favorite heroine, Olivia Dunham, but then threw us into a tizzy when at least twenty-five minutes were spent as a cartoon!

The fourth season's highly anticipated installment, however, didn't seem to be shaping up to be anything outrageous. We've been to the future before (in the third season finale that erased Peter Bishop from the timeline) but we had never seen one that had been taken over by the Observers and that was the big draw, as far as I was concerned. Little did I know that this single episode could quite literally be a - and I know how abused this phrase is - game-changer.