Sid Caesar 1922-2014

Legendary comic and television icon Sid Ceasar died today at the age of 91. He was an early TV star and comedian who starred in the famous NBC variety series Your Show of Shows, from 1950 to 1954. On the show he became part of a comedy team that consisted of Carl Reiner, Howard Morris and Imogene Coca, while writers of the show's sketches included Reiner, Mel Brooks, and Neil Simon. He then started another variety show called Caesar's Hour (1954-57) with a team of writers and performers that included at times Howard Morris, Neil Simon, Carl Reiner, Bea Arthur, Nanette Fabray, Mel Brooks, and Larry Gelbart. He was nominated for 10 Emmys in his career, winning 2, was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame in 1985, and made appearances in several movies and tv shows in the 70's and 80's, including Grease and the Mel Brooks films Silent Movie, History of the World, Part 1, and Airport 1975.

Here's the "Birthday Sketch" from Your Show of Shows, a series that was essentially the birth of the variety/sketch show on television, and served as the inspiration for Carl Reiner's The Dick Van Dyke Show:

RECAP: Justified 5x06 "Kill the Messenger"

Justified continues to weave an incredibly complicated web of interweaving plot threads this season, as we open up with a ponderous scene of Art sitting alone in bar, seemingly depressed after what Raylan confessed to him last week. When Raylan pulls up outside in the rain, he hesitates before walking in to face his boss. Turns out he was right to be cautious, as when Art sees him he stands up and decks him one across the face, knocking him down in the process. He then shakes his head in disappointment as he charges out of the bar. Raylan looks surprised but resigned to the reaction as he gets up and places his trademark cowboy hat back firmly on his head.

When we get back from the credits we're at the Kentucky State women's prison, where Ava is being led into her cell and put in the grey uniform (it resembles a scene from Orange is the New Black actually). Boyd meanwhile is sitting in his car, wiping away tears before he heads into the place of his old white supremacist pal Gunnar, who we haven't seen since the first season. They catch up on old times as Gunnar expresses slight concern about Boyd working with black customers in his business, but Boyd brushes that off and asks him for the favor he's there for. He wants to pay Gunnar's sister Gretchen, who's currently in the state prison, to look after Ava (who he notes as his wife) while she's in there. He seems to accept the offer nicely enough, but as we'll see later, it's a bit misleading.

Alison is walking up to a fancy house where she encounters Danny Crowe's vicious dog, whom he holds back as Darryl comes into view, inviting Alison into the house. She's there to check on Kendall and Wendy, who have now moved in and are putting away groceries as Alison wonders why they didn't go back to Miami. Wendy turns on the charm, casually mentioning her knowledge of Alison and Raylan's relationship while she shows off the rental agreement for the home. Alison leaves the house nervously as she walks past the chomping-at-the-bit dog, while Danny himself barks at her nastily (I'm really starting to hate him, by the way). As she's driving home a truck seems to be following her and starts ramming her tailgate, running her off the road into the woods. She looks back after the crash to see Danny laughing at her as he drives off (how stupid is he, anyway?)

At the marshal's office, the atmosphere is pretty frosty in a meeting as Tim wonders whether Raylan's black eye and Art's swollen fist have anything to do with each other. Art ignores the comments and Raylan volunteers to do some money counting desk work, which Art gruffly accepts. Rachel volunteers to go with him but the two of them run into Alison in the hallway, whose own beaten face grabs Raylan's attention. At Audrey's, Darryl is wondering what happened to the MIA Baptiste, and Kendall nearly gives away the game with his shifty and suspicious eyes. Danny quickly comes up with a story of Baptiste talking shit about Darryl behind his back and deciding on his own to go back to Florida. I don't know why Darryl buys this, as the two are so obviously lying it's comical, but he seems to accept it. As Rachel and Raylan get in the elevator, Rachel deduces that Raylan's going after Danny Crowe now and jumps at the chance to go with him.

Meanwhile, Dewey is trying to sell his shot up pool for $800, but the guy who's buying it notices how trashed it is and offers him $20 for the whole thing. Dewey is offended and chases the guy off, telling him the pool was his dream and he's not giving it up. Danny then comes out carrying an unconscious bar customer while Dewey wonders if his relatives would really leave if they could get that money back from Boyd. When Danny confirms they would, Dewey comes up with the ridiculously stupid idea to hold a gun to Boyd's head and make him surrender. Yeah, that's happening. Ava is now brought out to meet her lawyer, who guarantees her they're doing everything they can to find that guard but he's taken off and the cameras were turned off at the time of the assault. He then gives her a message from Boyd, who's promised her protection on the inside, as poor Ava continues to suffer her unfortunate circumstances. I'm starting to wonder if she's being made to pay for Boyd's sins here, and will dump him when (or if) she finally gets out of this.

The two dumb D's, Danny and Dewey, make their way into Boyd's bar to find Karl sweeping up, who simply dares them to make a move on him. He's not giving up Boyd for anything and even when Dewey pulls a gun on him, puts up a pretty good fight against both doofuses, before Danny ultimately knocks him out. Dewey of course, doesn't know what to do now, but Danny says Plan B is to ransom Karl for the money. Brilliant! Seriously, these two guys are so mentally challenged it boggles the mind. The adult criminals meanwhile, Boyd and Duffy, are now meeting with Picker, who's setting up the connection with the Mexican border gang in what looks like a hotel room. The associate they meet is a Mr. Yoon, who's played by James Kyson and may look familiar to fans of Heroes. Boyd and Duffy are concerned about paying upfront given their recent experiences, and Yoon is willing to go along with it, since his employers aren't ones to be taken in. 

Ava's finally taken out of solitary and sent into the crowded prisoner's quarters, where she's given the top of a bunk bed and the woman on the bottom is named Nikki, who tells her to keep to herself. Back at the Crowe's, Wendy is pissed and also thinks the idiot D's plan to kidnap Karl was a bad idea, but then the marshals pull up and she goes outside to handle it. Raylan is upset and wants to bust into the house (which belongs to the hardware store owner Mike- I was wondering whose house it was) to find Danny, but Wendy stops him going in, saying they need a warrant. Raylan just about makes it in anyway, where Danny is waiting behind the door with a knife, but Wendy diverts them to the hardware store at the last minute, where they can find Mike.

Ava heads into the prison yard now and comes face to face with the aggressive inmates, who bat at her while she sides up to a friendlier one named Penny, who tells her her best bet is to keep to herself. Ava doesn't think that's her decision as a group of black female prisoners come up to her. They seem to like the fact that she attacked a guard though, so Ava doesn't deny it, but the group walks off when confronted by another one, which happens to include Gretchen. Ava is at first relieved, but Gretchen turns out to lead the white supremacist crowd, and jumps Ava anyway as payback for Boyd being a "race traitor." Ava screams as she's held down while her hair's cut.

Boyd and Jimmy come back to find the bar a mess, when Boyd gets the call from the lawyer that Ava's been attacked. He's extremely upset by this, especially when told that it was Gretchen who did it, and he's been betrayed by Gunnar. He sends Jimmy over to presumably get rid of him. At the hardware store, Rachel and Raylan find Kendall behind the counter and Darryl messing around with a chainsaw, as he leads them to old man Mike in the back room, who's been pressured into letting them move into his house. Raylan tells him to order them out and Darryl objects, but Mike lets it drop that they've taken his hunting cabin too. Jimmy returns to Boyd to tell him that Gunnar's got a group of skinheads with him now, waiting for Boyd's retaliation and that they're outnumbered. Boyd hesitates, trying to figure out what to do next, and then Jimmy tries to call Karl, whose phone Dewey answers. Unfortunately, Dewey has the worst possible reception and all the threats he tries to issue go unheard by Boyd and Jimmy, who don't even realize it's him. 

The marshals pull up to the hunting cabin and Dewey takes off when he sees them, as Danny has Karl inside, tied to a chair as he's beating him up. Raylan and Rachel bust in when he answers the door and Rachel gets to be the one who clocks him as Raylan agains threatens to shoot the damn dog, who tries to attack when Danny gives the order. Karl twists the situation though, saying he's there of his own free will, as he and Danny are engaging in mutual S&M, and maybe if they just let him go the whole thing gets put behind them. Danny's for it, even though he realizes this is exactly what Karl wants so he can get back to Boyd, but there seems to be no choice. Back at Audrey's, Wendy is insisting they hightail it out of the state, much to Dewey's delight, as the marshals have won, but Darryl still doesn't want to leave. Danny suddenly shows up out of nowhere, telling them what happened, and Darryl is mad that he let the guy go after screwing everything up, and of course, right then Boyd, Jimmy and Karl burst in with guns pointing. This time though, Boyd has a new proposition for the Crowes, offering them a chance to make the money they want.

Boyd walks into the skinheads' place, with Gunnar laughing about his deception of him, but he's got his new friends the Crowes behind him, who burst in to hold them up while Darryl beats  Gunnar to a pulp. Boyd holds a gun up to his head, threatening him to call his sister back and let her know if a single thing more happens to Ava, he'll be the one who suffers for it. Boyd then skulks out, ordering his guys to take back his money. Ava's awake at night now and asks her bunkmate Nikki for her razor, offering her commissary for a month. Nikki gives it up, but instead of going after Gretchen, Ava cuts her hair off in the bathroom. Boyd is on the phone with Dunham now, who's clearly talking under pressure, but Boyd is wanting to make sure everything's set for their Mexican heroin smuggling operation. To his credit, Dunham manages to express in code that the operation will go as smoothly as the last time they worked together, and as Boyd hangs up he realizes Dunham's been compromised, since the last time they worked together Boyd robbed him. Things just can't go right for Boyd this week can it?

In the car on the way back, Rachel asks Raylan if he's upset he didn't get to kick Danny's ass, but Raylan says it was nice to watch her do it instead. He also calls her out for going with him to keep him in line, so she can report back to Art, but Rachel takes offense at this, saying she went along in case he wanted to talk about what happened between them. Raylan apologizes, telling her he trusts her with his life but he can't tell her what went down. Rachel sighs as she realizes that it's because it would compromise the whole office if he did. Raylan's now with Alison, getting drunk as she wonders what kind of a guy he really is, and surmises that he may be a hero who likes to avenge his lady's honor and save people from burning buildings, but he's often the one who starts the fire. Raylan doesn't seem to disagree. 

In the final scene of the episode, Wendy and Darryl are happily counting their money when Boyd storms into their abode, offering up another job. Boyd sends Wendy out of the room so she can keep up her pretense of not "knowing" what's going on with the family, as Darryl wonders if this next thing will be as fun as beating up skinheads. Boyd says maybe, as it depends on how fun it will be to help him kill his cousin Johnny. Ha! I was wondering how long it'd take for him to reach that conclusion about Johnny. We'll find out in two weeks if Boyd can concoct a plan where everything goes right for once. He was awfully close last week if not for that horrid little guard- can't wait to see how that one shakes out. See you on back on the 25th everyone! 

TEASER: "Veep" Season 3

The first teaser for Season 3 of HBO's Veep, coming back April 6th:

FEATURETTE: "Game of Thrones" Season 4

A 15-minute look at the new season of Game of Thrones, premiering April 6th:

TRAILER: "Hannibal" Season 2

Warning: this is a very spoiler-y new trailer, so watch at your own risk.

REVIEW: "Sherlock" Season 3

This past Sunday, the BBC series Sherlock wrapped up its third season, and as usual, it was another exciting, fun-filled three episodes, even if some may feel that the mysteries themselves were less interesting this season. It was by far the most character driven season yet, with nearly every episode revolving around the love and friendship between Sherlock and John Watson, which has always been the heart of the show and so that didn't bother me in the slightest. My one complaint is that Sherlock himself may have been a little too softened this season, as his obvious and now verbal devotion to his friends and family put him as far away from the "high functioning sociopath" characterization as you can get. I grade each of the three episodes below:

3x01 "The Empty Hearse" (Inspired By: The Adventure of the Empty House, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Sherlock comes back from the dead in the premiere, in a very meta episode that has a lot of fun making fun of the fans obsession with poring over how he could have possibly faked his own death two years earlier. We see several different scenarios play out, each with some insanely ridiculous and unlikely detail that pokes holes in the individual theories. We also get to see Benedict Cumberbatch dress up and act as a French waiter in order to surprise Watson with his reappearance, which turns out to be a horrible idea, as Martin Freeman pulls off genuine shock, anger and trauma at the hoax he was subjected to (especially when he learns several others were in on it all along, including Molly and Mycroft). Finally, we are introduced to Mary, John's new fiance, who comes across as a funny and lovable good sport, who accepts Sherlock for who he is and is actually into the case-solving, in a welcome departure from her personality in the Holmes stories. John's anger lasts until Sherlock saves him from a fiery death when he's placed under a burning bonfire by a mystery villain, but things are good between the boys after that as they stop a potential attack on the London Parliament (an event that Mycroft called Sherlock out of hiding for in the first place). The mystery is very sidelined in this one, as most of the airtime is devoted to repairing Sherlock and John's relationship, as well it should, and we never really get a satisfactory answer as to how Sherlock did in fact, fake his death, but that's probably for the best anyway, right? I mean, why spoil the fun of guessing?

Grade: A-

3x02 "The Sign of Three" (Inspired By: The Sign of the Four)

A very unusual and clever episode that takes all kinds of twists and turns throughout (I didn't even realize that we were going to get a mystery in here until 2/3 of the way in!). John and Mary are getting married, which provides for all kinds of hijinks as John asks Sherlock to be his best man, and of course as such, Sherlock is forced to perform the duties of the role, including making a speech and throwing the bachelor party. Hilarity ensues, as we actually see Sherlock and John getting drunk and attempting to solve a case while wasted (there's nothing more hilarious than Benedict Cumberbatch stumbling through Sherlock's mind palace). The structure of this one is different too, as nearly all of it takes place during Sherlock's neverending best man toast, with various flashbacks to pieces of other cases that seem not to have anything to do with each other (almost like a clip show of episodes we haven't seen). But eventually there is a point to the random cases we're shown, as it leads Sherlock to solve, in the moment, the threat of a potential explosion at John's wedding involving one of the guests, who turns out to be an old military buddy of Watson's. Loads of character and relationship moments in this one, including the adorable continuing love between Sherlock and John, but also his budding friendship with Mary, and even Mycroft points out that Sherlock is softening up lately with his expanding circle of actual friends. There's also a cameo from Irene Adler (Lara Pulver), who makes an appearance inside Sherlock's mind, where it's hinted she shows up often (please bring her back next season, guys!). The ending is exceedingly sentimental, if heartwarming, but I have to admit I'm getting a bit concerned with how much Sherlock has been humanized this season- he's almost a different person altogether (although it is showing off Cumberbatch's comedic skills more than ever before- anyone who's familiar with him purely as a villain will be surprised at how funny he often is as Sherlock).

Grade: A-

3x03 "His Last Vow" (Inspired By: The Adventure of Charles Augustus Miverton)

The finale of the season was by far the most mystery focused, as the episode starts off with the villain, Charles Magnussen (played with delicious glee by Lars Mikkelson, brother of Mads, in case anyone knows them) threatening a government official by licking her face in a pretty disgusting cold open. We then go on to see that some time has passed since John and Mary's wedding, with Mary now visibly pregnant (as Sherlock called in the last episode), and John getting bored with suburban life and itching to get back to case solving. He even maneuvers his way into a drug den, where it turns out Sherlock is hiding out undercover, which bugs John because he hadn't been included in whatever his plan was. Sherlock is after Magnussen on behalf of the government official, which is extremely dangerous, and he's even faking a relationship with Mary's bridesmaid from the last episode in order to do it (she's Magnussen's personal assistant). It's truly bizarre to see Sherlock pretending to be dating someone (John nearly keels over from the shock), but that's all pretty much over when they break into Magnussen's building, and Sherlock finds, to his horror, that Mary is involved with Magnussen somehow and has been hiding her secret agent past from both he and John. The blindside about Mary is the character driven news in this one, as she tries to cover herself by shooting Sherlock, who only barely recovers, and exposes her for what she is to John, who's supremely betrayed by this. All of them spend a Christmas vacation at Sherlock and Mycroft's parent's house (the two were introduced this season as embarrassingly normal thorns in Sherlock's side), where John finally forgives Mary, but Magnussen strikes again. His high tech glasses reveal the pressure points in his rivals, and he realizes John is Sherlock's (he's the one who trapped him in the burning fire), while also revealing that he keeps no records of anything they can use against him. Sherlock does the only thing he can, and shoots Magnussen to protect John and Mary from treason charges and Mary's secret past. As his punishment, Sherlock is spared a trial by his brother and instead sent into a likely fatal MI6 mission in Eastern Europe, but at the last possible moment, who should announce his return to all of London but Moriarty, who may have faked a death of his own. We leave this one on a cliffhanger, but it's a pretty damn good one, and definitely for me, the best episode of the season. I don't know when the show will be back, but as always, I'll be there when it does, and looking forward to its no doubt spectacular return.

Grade: A

RECAP: Justified 5x05 "Shot All to Hell"

Wow. This was another incredible episode tonight, as Justified is on a roll, maybe its best season since the second. We start off with the first of many Boyd triumphs, as Paxton is awoke in the middle of the night by a call from Mooney. He's pouring over several newly dead bodies in Paxton's funeral home and casually informing him that he'll be charged with conspiracy in a "using bodies for profit" scheme, as Paxton freaks and realizes Mooney betrayed him. When he hangs up he turns on the lights to see Boyd sitting by the bed in a chair, pointing his own pistol at him. In chilling, but quintessential Boyd Crowder fashion, he walks slowly over to him, forces him to point the gun at his own head, and tells him his reputation, his life and the lives and reputations of his children and grandchildren will be spoilt for generations to come, before pulling the trigger and blowing Paxton's brains out in a framed suicide. Damn.

Now, we're back in Canada, as the guy who squealed to the feds last week is cornered in an alley by some kind of hitman named Marcus for Theo Tonin, played with a cold steeliness by Alan Tudyk, who makes a much better bad guy than I ever would have imagined. Marcus threatens him and forces him to tell him what info he gave up, first shooting off his fingers, and then when the guy folds, blowing him away anyway. Well, that's a quick two bloody casualties to start the episode, and oh yes, there's more to come. Back in Kentucky, we're at Alison's office, where Darryl's sister Wendy is back (Alicia Witt), and has secured Kendall away from social services by promising Alison to take him home with her. Raylan strolls in to flirt with both women and try to muscle Wendy into getting all the Crowes out of the state, but Wendy won't have it, displaying a loyalty towards her family as she takes the bratty Kendall out of the office with her. Alison scolds Raylan for his policy of intimidation by harassment, as Raylan is once again foiled in his war against the Crowes.

Art is staking out a diner now, where Picker is seen having breakfast with Wynn Duffy, and notices Marcus staking out the same restaurant with plans to go inside. Art cuts him off on his way in, shaking him down with all he already knows about him and getting him to decide against going in, as he will prevent any violence from going off without a hitch. Marcus is not easily scared off, but he does decide to back away (or so it seems), while Art heads into the joint himself. He sits himself down at the table with Duffy and Picker, exchanging in his usual banter with the crooks (he's almost better at this than Raylan), telling Picker he wants a word with him in exchange for not getting into what he knows about Sammy Tonin's murder. Duffy tells him to go ahead, but as the two men get up, Marcus walks into the diner straight towards them. Art tries to calm the situation down, but Marcus refuses, saying he's willing to shoot right then and there unless Picker comes with him. Art doesn't back down, issuing his own best threat to shoot him at point blank range, and this finally makes Marcus back off. But Alan Tudyk is actually very scary in these moments, as his lack of emotion and cold expression leave things in a grave position, while Duffy lightens the mood with his wisecracks. With things defused though, Art hauls Picker off to the marshal's office.

Dewey is lying in bed with his two hookers, contemplating how he's changed in the wake of his first murder, but the girls just laugh and make fun of him for wanting to talk. He then gives them two mementos that supposedly have sentimental value on his way out, but one of them tosses it when he's gone. I wonder if Dewey's going to get a chance to redeem himself this season by getting rid of his obnoxious cousin, who's really starting to get on my nerves. Case in point, this next scene, where Boyd comes back to the bar to find Darryl and Batiste hanging out, waiting for the notorious Boyd Crowder, taking the time to insult the bar in front of him. Boyd casually sits down behind them and pretends he's somebody else (this is another awesome Boyd moment), taking the insults for a while, until he gets Darryl to turn and face him, at which point and Jimmy pull their guns simultaneously and order the douchebags out of the bar in 60 seconds or less. Darryl tries to act tough and demands a bigger share of the money Boyd screwed Dewey out of, but Boyd pretty adamantly refuses and sends them out in total badass style, I might add. I love Boyd (if it wasn't obvious). And yeah, Darryl's getting more and more irritating with every episode.

Raylan goes back to the marshal's office to find Art in the room with Picker, which understandably freaks him out, as he needs to protect himself from the revelation of the Nicky Augustine situation. Boyd is now meeting with Hot Rod Dunham, who mentions how he used to get stoned and listen to records with Boyd's dad, but Boyd is there to talk business. He wants Dunham to dismiss Johnny in exchange for going in with him on his new Mexican heroin smuggling operation. Dunham thinks this is unlikely to happen, but seems to accept Boyd's offer. Back at the office, Raylan is nervously watching Art and Picker talk, and gets in there to hear what he's saying. Picker looks at Raylan smugly, while Art tries to pin him for Sammy's murder, but he's not afraid. Raylan manages to get a minute alone with him. Meanwhile, Boyd is outside making some new deal that we're not privy to with a guy named Hays, who has black lung and is dying, but willing to do something for Boyd for all the money he promises him.

While Raylan has Picker alone, he gets him to tell him where to find Marcus and basically threatens his life, telling him him he's in trouble for the things he's seen him do. Now we get Boyd, Mooney and Mara at a restaurant, where Mooney is preparing to accept the money Boyd promised him for setting up Paxton. But when Boyd gets up from the table Hays storms in and shoots him, yelling loudly that this is "for his family," and then Mooney is dead on the ground while there's a panic from the customers. Boyd calmly sits back down at the table with a stunned and angry Mara, who realizes he's played her too, and she's not getting any of that money, all of it having gone to Hays. Boyd tells her he's giving her the chance to get out of Kentucky alive and leaves her alone to stew in her frustration.

At the prison with Ava, the lawyer tells her she's free now that Paxton and Mooney are "removed" from the situation, and she'll be getting out at 9am the next morning. Then he covers his ears again while Ava and Boyd embrace and she lovingly tells him she can't wait to fall asleep in his arms again, thanking him for everything he did. Their goodbye is a little too drawn out for my liking though, and this scene is coming early enough for me to suspect things are not going to go off without a hitch. Unfortunately I'm right, as we'll soon see. Back at Audrey's, Wendy comes in to deliver Kendall back to Darryl and Danny, the latter of whom immediately starts picking on Kendall, as Darryl expresses his own frustration at the rambunctious nature of his brothers. Wendy realizes Darryl wants her to move up there too and help them set up roots, while also keeping the feds off his back. Though she claims to not want to do it, she doesn't like leaving Kendall there to be put back behind the bar again. So, yeah it looks like Wendy's sticking around.

Art and Raylan are now poking around an abandoned factory where Picker told them to find Marcus, and after a few seconds he comes storming out with a massive automatic shotgun, shooting at them from all corners. Raylan and Art dodge the gunfire and Raylan gets behind him in the nick of time to take him out in the back. They then find Theo Tonin of all people, tied up and bleeding in one of the factory boxes. And now the other shoe falls for poor Ava, as she sits with her cellmate doing her hair before bedcheck, talking about getting out the next day. But of course, nastly little prison guard Danny Strong comes in and picks out a weapon from under Ava's mattress. Turns out it was planted there by the treacherous cellmate, who calls for help while Strong turns the knife on himself and stabs his own gut and arm to frame Ava for assault. Ava is in shock as the guards come in to take her down.

Danny and Kendall are hanging out back at Audrey's, and Danny continues to pick on Kendall, blaming him for not killing Raylan when he had the chance. He challenges him for a little practice, pulling a knife on him while Kendall bats it away, but then Batiste comes in and notices the tension. He tells Danny to go out and get the groceries, but Danny isn't into it, and the two of them get in their own little scuffle. Batiste challenges him to a fight and Danny seemingly backs down, but as he pretends he's on his way out to get the groceries he suddenly grabs a gun off the bar and blows Batiste away in another shocking moment. Kendall is upset, but Danny tells him to keep his mouth shut and help him get rid of the body. Man, so many deaths this episode.

Dunham is now back with his crew, which includes Johnny, who's playing cards with the other guys. Dunham spills the beans about Boyd's Mexico plans and says he got the word from Boyd himself, as his guys turn their guns on Johnny. Dunham starts to apologize for this, but Johnny isn't all that fazed, because as it turns out, he spent the money off their first hit by splitting it among Dunham's guys, who now work for him. On target, the guys now turn their guns on Dunham, who's unpleasantly surprised by this turn of events. So it looks like Boyd and Johnny's war continues. Back at the bar, Ava's lawyer turns up with some bad news for Boyd, who storms off to the prison, demanding to see Ava. The guards tell him that she's been transferred to the state penitentiary as Boyd freaks out and must be held back. Whoa- Danny Strong is SO dead.

Now, we get Art, Raylan and the DA celebrating in the office, as Art gets to end his career with the biggest arrest of his life, having put away crime boss Theo Tonin. Before the DA takes off though, he tells them that Picker did give them the name of the fed who was at the scene of Nicky Augustine's death, and it was special agent Barkley of the FBI. When he takes off, Raylan almost makes it out of the office before the guilt (and Art's knowing look) overcomes him, and he turns around and tells Art that it wasn't Barkley, and he happens to know it for a fact. Yikes. And that's it, everybody. I can't wait for next week to see where this is all headed. Until then.

RECAP: SNL 2/01 "Melissa McCarthy"

Sorry for the delayed recap, everyone. Super Bowl festivities took up more time last night and today than I thought (Yay, Seahawks!) But having watched the episode now, I don't think I missed out on a whole lot. Melissa McCarthy returned but was failed by some bizarrely bad writing this time around, as Seth Meyers bows out of SNL after 12 years to go take over Late Night after the Olympics, and because of that event, SNL won't return to the air until March 1st.

COLD OPEN: It's the Super Bowl with commentators Jay, Bobby and Beck, and the half-time show is a Broadway musical with Taran as a flamboyant Peyton Manning, Melissa with a cameo as a singing coach and Kenan as Richard Sherman. It's extravagant and really long, but also kind of weird.

MONOLOGUE: Melissa's third time out, she jokes about being married to Richard Sherman, but Bobby interrupts with a video of her "snotty" attitude last time she hosted. She and Bobby then duel on Crouching Tiger-style wires. Again, a weird skit but I guess at least it's different? Not real funny though. Huh.

VALENTINE'S DAY: Ad for buying last minute V-Day gifts for your girlfriend at the CVS- it's ok, I guess.

DELAWARE ONE: Spoof of the GOP Congressman who threatened to throw that reporter off a balcony after the State of the Union. Melissa is Congresswoman Kelly, who's even worse- it's pretty funny.

WOMEN'S GROUP: Meeting of middle class women who talk about their personal goals while drinking wine and Melissa's goal is to avenge the death of her father in a bloody way. Melissa's funny as usual, but this thing goes on way too long. She almost saves it though, because she's just that good as these random, bit characters, and the ending is Chris Farley-esque.

GUESS THAT PHRASE: A game show with Beck (who's screen time lately seems to be usurping the other newbies) hosting. Melissa's an overexcited contestant who keeps guessing the phrases early and wrong. A big problem tonight is the length of these skits, which are going on far too long, and Melissa can't really save this one.

28 REASONS TO HUG A BLACK GUY: Jay, Kenan and Sasheer do a rap about black history month in a classroom, and keep dropping slavery as the big reason. Pretty good.

WEEKEND UPDATE: Taran as a stranded Atlanta resident from the snowstorm, but it's kind of lame. Then, it's Seth's last few minutes on Update and he's joined by Amy Poehler and Stefon! They show up to take him to "the other side," and it's a sweet moment (I like it when Stefon yells at Cecily for barely knowing Seth). Then Andy Samberg shows up to serenade him, and randomly, Fred Armisen pops in as Governor Patterson.  When SNL comes back on the first, Seth is going to be replaced by new head writer Colin Jost, which is a big risk (I personally think they should have chosen the deadpan Beck Bennett- even though he's new, I bet he'd be better than Cecily). We'll see how it goes from here, but Seth leaving the news desk is a big deal, as he's been there since 2006.

MUSEUM JANITOR: Melissa is some kind of engineer at a museum who starts fighting with the paintings. Another weird, random sketch and not that funny either.

GIRLFRIENDS TALK SHOW: Nooo! Why? Why do they keep doing this sketch? It's awful. I can't even say anything else. I despise this skit. It's replaced "The Californians" as my most dreaded sketch.

PARK BENCH: Bobby is a guy on a bench who loves Melissa, even though she's eating chicken in a gross way and batting away flies. Eh. It's another weird one- I don't know what's going on tonight with all these somewhat odd, bizarre skits. At least it's short.

SUPER BOWL FANS: Kyle is in the streets, awkwardly questioning football fans before the game. This is essentially the kind of bit they do on The Daily Show, and much better.

So yeah, not a great episode, guys. I had high hopes, because I loved Melissa McCarthy's last two hosting stints, but this one was a C at best. Too bad Seth's last show had to be kind of a dud. SNL comes back in a month with a new Weekend Update anchor that we pretty much know nothing about, and I'll be there to see how it all goes down. See you after the Olympics!

RECAP: Justified 5x04 "Over the Mountain"

Another terrific episode tonight, with every storyline interesting and coming together already in ways reminiscent of how the show usually concludes its seasons, rather than starting them. It's really been a good, solidly plotted season so far, and we're only in the fourth episode. We start off with a quintessential Justified opening scene- dark and violent yet dryly funny at the same time, as Dewey has dragged bartender Wade Messer out into the woods to presumably kill him as Darryl ordered him to. Dewey tells Wade to pull out a shovel to dig a hole under the pretense of digging up Dewey's money, but Wade produces his "weebilo" shovel from his Boy Scout days, completely befuddling Dewey, who calls it a midget shovel. As Wade turns his back, Dewey pulls out a gun and clumsily attempts to shoot Messer, who is hit but pounces on Dewey, wrestling the gun from him. Dewey gets the upper hand and manages to beat him to what he thinks is death, but then he goes to the car to get a better digging tool, and when he returns Wade has seemingly wandered off. Dewey panics and roams off into the woods, calling his name in the dark, but stumbles badly into a ditch and is himself knocked out in an ominous fashion. Never send Dewey to do anything, Darryl. That's the lesson here.

After the credits, Raylan is in Art's office, being informed by the D.A. that Wade Messer was actually a confidential informant, who'd been feeding them info on Boyd's criminal activities, so his having gone missing is a concern. Raylan is annoyed that he wasn't told and doesn't buy that Wade was giving them legitimate info- and also annoyed at having to now find the guy who once tried to arrange his death. Art sends Tim out to accompany him, which is just another thorn in Raylan's side this morning. Now back to Dewey, who's woken up in the middle of nowhere and can't get service on his phone. He cries out helplessly as we go to Johnny Crowder showing up at the prison to see Boyd and Ava, who are waiting for him in stony silence. Johnny makes it clear he's still pissed at Boyd for shooting him years ago, but Boyd offers to team up again in order to make money for both of them. Johnny basically shoots him down and subtly flirts with Ava, who emphatically does not respond (there's always been a weird hint that Johnny is in love with Ava from afar, so I guess that's still there). He insults Boyd and refuses to join him, as he gets up and notably, walks out, having finally gotten out of that wheelchair he'd been in for three plus seasons. Boyd also gets up and leaves, calling his henchman to track Johnny in his car.

Raylan and Tim show up at Aubrey's to find another Crowe brother, 14-year-old Kendall, now tending bar in Wade's place. Raylan questions him about Wade, Dewey and Darryl, only to get snarky answers in return. They take off as we cut back to Dewey, still wandering around lost, who now gets on his knees to pray to God that he let him find Wade so he can finish the kill before Darryl finds out (ha- nice praying, Dewey). Miraculously, Dewey suddenly finds fresh blood on a rock in front of him, which tells him Wade is around there somewhere after all. Tim and Raylan go to Wade's place to find Danny Crowe and his attack dog, Chelsea, living in his house. After Danny calls off the dog, Raylan questions him about Wade and Danny is evasive, mostly insulted by Raylan's comments about Chelsea. He skulks back into the house as Raylan looks suspicious.

Dewey finally comes across what looks like Wade's dead body, still bleeding out from his gunshot wound, but when he gets to him Wade looks up and begs him not to shoot. Dewey hesitates, and then a kid and his mother out in the woods walk into the scene, but only see Dewey, thinking he's a guy who needs help for sunstroke. Dewey of course panics and yells at them, but when Wade starts making noise, Dewey flees with the family, hoping to get out of there and hope Wade bleeds to death on his own. Back at Aubrey's, Darryl, Danny, Batiste and Kendall are wondering what could have happened to Dewey. Danny thinks Darryl should have just killed Wade himself, but Darryl says Dewey had to prove himself. Kendall's worried about the marshal but Darryl's not so concerned about that yet, saying he has to find Dewey himself to see if he offed Wade, and if not he'll take care of the both of them.

Now for the creepiest scene of the episode, as Ava faces down a disgusting prison guard (played by Danny Strong, who will always be Jonathan from Buffy to me), as he taunts her for smirking at him, getting her to admit she was laughing at his height. He then tries to rape her but is stopped by a female guard, who orders her out of the cell, while icky Danny Strong leers on in the background. At Boyd's bar, he's preparing to go after Johnny but is stopped by a visit from Tim and Raylan, who demand to know if he has any idea where Wade is. Boyd is annoyed by this, but Raylan tells him he knows that Wade was feeding the feds false info from Boyd as their informant, while also skimming from Dewey's money on Boyd's account. Boyd cooperates by giving Raylan Wade's non-government tracked phone number so he can find him, but Raylan has Tim watch over him for a while as he tracks it. Back at the marshal's office Art gets a call from the Detroit fed who has somebody that Art wants to see.

Darryl finally gets a call from Dewey, who's of course panicking on the other end, as Raylan follows the GPS coordinates to a deserted area where he finds crows flying in a herd and realizes Wade's body must be there somewhere. Meanwhile, Darryl and Dewey are on their way to the same spot, as Dewey tries to makes excuses for having left Wade out there, and while Darryl is not amused, when they pull up to the area it's surrounded by cops as Raylan turns over Wade's corpse- he did actually bleed to death. Darryl and Dewey hightail it out of there as Darryl tells Dewey he's lucky the problem solved itself.

Back at the bar, Tim and Boyd are playing Scrabble (!) while waiting for Raylan to get back, and when he does, Boyd assures him it had to have been one of the Crowes who killed Wade, as there was really nothing in it for him. Despite his love of antagonizing Boyd, Raylan already knows that's probably true and seems to accept Boyd's reasoning. Meanwhile, at the prison, the female guard sides up to Danny Strong in the break area to beat him down with a crowbar and tell him that Ava's "protected," threatening to burn his eye out with a cigarette if he ever goes near her again. He's sufficiently cowed as the guard walks away, and although it makes sense that Boyd would have her protected in there, I'm sort of wondering if it might be Johnny somehow in a twist.

Dewey is, as usual, in distress as Darryl keeps in locked up in a trailer, and he yells at Darryl for making him kill Wade. Darryl beats him down though and finally tells him he's got no choice, as he made him do it to prove that he IS one of them, and now that he is, he can go it alone and take all the blame or join them in their quest to build up some kind of operation in Kentucky. Dewey looks sad and trapped, as we go to Boyd staking out Johnny, whom he sees is now working for Hot Rod Dunham, the guy from a few episodes back that Raylan threatened. Boyd seems to set a plan in motion to take them both down for greater gain, while Raylan is lectured by the D.A. on Boyd having something to do with Wade's murder, seeing as he is a crime boss and all. Raylan is amused at his describing Boyd that way, but denies his involvement in it, thinking he knows Boyd better than him. Which of course he does, but maybe too well.

Art's now in Detroit to meet with the Canadian drug dealer for information on what happened the night Nicky Augustine was killed. The guy tells him it's all hearsay but that Sammy Tonin had told him he had some Kentucky lawmen on his side who was there that night. Uh-oh. He doesn't have anything concrete though and tells Art he's got to ask Picker about it (the guy who killed Sammy), and that he's now holed up in KY with none other than Wynn Duffy. Art looks troubled as he leaves, and this obviously can only lead to bad things for Raylan, and probably very soon. Speaking of Raylan, he's now in bed with Alison, who tells him she's troubled by one of her cases, where a guy threatened to beat her to death for taking away his kid, who he kept chained to a radiator in the garage, and would have killed her if the police hadn't been there. Raylan is disturbed by this too, and comforts her as he seems to be pondering his own thoughts on something else as well.

Finally, we get back to Lee Paxton, who unravels the hand that Mooney and Mara present to him in a towel and pass off as Boyd's (it's from a corpse, remember). Paxton is glad that Mooney has killed Boyd but when Mara asks him if he's still wanting to pursue the case against Ava he insists on it, saying she deserves everything she gets. Well, I guess that didn't work out. They're going to have to get rid of Paxton after all. Raylan goes back to Aubrey's, finally deciding to order the Crowes to vacate the premises and get the hell out of Kentucky, but of course Darryl refuses, leaving Raylan to at least tell them to remember he gave them a chance when it all ends badly. He does produce a court mandate allowing him to take Kendall away though, seeing as he's a minor they had serving alcohol in a whorehouse, but Darryl and Danny freak out at this, telling Raylan they're prepared to kill him rather than let him take their brother. Raylan accepts the challenge, but at the last second Kendall offers to go willingly so no one gets hurt. Darryl is pretty pissed though, as Raylan and Kendall walk out of the bar. The last scene of the episode is Boyd coming across the complete pile of bodies, apparently piled up from the night he and Jimmy got hit and from when the shipment was taken.

So that's it, everybody. Things are happening really fast, and despite all the new characters they've introduced this year, I already feel like I know them all pretty well. I still think this is the fastest start Justified has ever got off to, and for me this is already a better season than last- I'm just excited we're still at the beginning. Next week Wynn Duffy's back and Art seems to be finding out more about Raylan's involvement in Augustine's death, so stay tuned!

RECAP: SNL 1/25 "Jonah Hill"

Kind of a meh episode tonight, but destined to be overshadowed by the very special guest who showed up in the middle of the monologue. Check it out below as Jonah HIll returns for his third time hosting SNL.

COLD OPEN: A fairly amusing opening that shows the Winter Olympics broadcasters presiding over "heterosexual" figure skating, where Bobby and Jay do their best to stumble over the ice. It's decent.

MONOLOGUE: Jonah comes down, excited about host- LEO!!! Sorry, my inner 12-year-old fangirl made an involuntary reappearance when Leonardo Dicaprio actually steps out onstage to recreate a Titanic moment with a nervous Jonah. It's awesome and I can't believe he showed up!

BENIHANA: Jonah's recurring character, the 6-year-old jewish boy, is cracking jokes at the restaurant, but the appeal of this sketch is lost on me. None of the jokes worked and it went on way too long.

THE HIT: A mild recorded bit with Taran, Kenan and Jay as gangsters who get distracted by the beauty of the snowfall before a shootout. Not that funny, but harmless. Kinda weird that Jonah's not in it at all.

COUPLES QUIZ: Kenan as the game show host interrogates one of the contestants (Jonah) for clogging up their bathroom and denying it. It's kinda funny, but again, fairly mild, as is the trend tonight.

WEEKEND UPDATE: The jokes are actually funnier than the guests for once, as both Seth and Cecily get in some good digs at Justin Bieber, Chris Christie and Mike Huckabee for their various continuing scandals and stupid remarks. Kenan comes on as the cop who arrested Bieber, and that's pretty good, while Kate shows up as a rural Russian woman looking forward to the Olympics.

SWEETHAND RANCH: Ugh. Definitely worst of the night, as Cecily and Jonah are two horse trainers who keep getting attacked by the horse- really not funny.

SPIKE JONZE TRAILER: A good one! Jonah spoofs Her, playing Joaquin Phoenix who falls in love with his OS, but this time it's his own voice. It's funny, but probably more so if you've actually seen the movie, so it may be a bit insider-y.

BOSS DINNER: Jonah gives it his all as a nervous guest at a dinner party who keeps retreating to the bathroom to scream really loud at himself and make everything awkward. His commitment to it makes it more amusing.

INSIDE SOCAL: Sigh. Another recorded bit with Beck and Kyle, who are desperate to make these things work. Thankfully, this one is a little bit funnier than their others, as their douchey college guys putting on a basement tv show is pretty on the mark. 

PORN STARS: One of my favorite recurring sketches is slightly less funny tonight, with Jonah getting in the best joke about The Wolf of Wall Street as a porn movie. It ends the show on the consistent "okay" note that ran through the whole night.

So, Jonah was fine as host, but the episode just had too many middling skits and not enough real laughs. I'd give it a C+, but for Leo's cameo appearance it gets bumped to a B-. That's how cool it was to see him show up. Next week, it's Melissa McCarthy, yay! She's usually a terrific host, so that will almost surely be a better episode. See you then!