jlh | this week in tv

Hawaii 5-0, "Kai e'e": I just realized this morning that Steve/Danny, for me, is like the perfect combination of Seamus/Dean and Ryan/Simon. And yet, I'd rather write about Chin and Kono. (Notice Kono's irritation that Chin is talking to his former fiancé? Also, totally legal for cousins to marry in Hawaii!)

Anyway, I'd bet actual money that Wo Fat is the one who put the money back. He knows about it; the first time we saw him was visiting Irish!brunet!Spike in jail. And he'd be one to want Steve to be beholden to him. Wo Fat thinks ahead. He'd be pleased to know that he caused even a moment's ethical quandary in the team, as well.

Of course Grace is a card sharp, and also Danny needs to take his shirt off far more often. And for all of Danny's chatter, he's a "visual learner."

Castle, "Knockdown": What made the kiss awesome, even though most of us were totally spoiled for it, is the way that they kiss just to make the cover work, and then there's this look of surprise, then they kiss for totally fucking real, and even then, in the heat of the omg passion, both of them are still aware of what they're actually supposed to be doing. Also, as I said on tumblr about our other favorite couple, Ryan and Esposito, I love that in the middle of torture and stress they're still mostly trying to make each other laugh.

I thought the plot and the turn to really serious drama was well done; Castle can be serious when it wants to, but never dark. I love all the real emotion on display and especially Montgomery's fierce protectiveness of Beckett: "I know you. You wanna pick up those scissors and run around the house with them." And Ryan and Esposito's loyalty in not wanting to take the case from Beckett, though it's always fun to watch how well the two of them work together on their own case.

The only thing is, I'd rather have ended on a supercloseup of Beckett's determined face than the hit man's.

Anyone else watch both of these shows and notice that the Coast Guard commander and the former partner of the cop on Castle were played by the same actor? If H-50 hadn't been on a special night, he would have been on opposite himself.

White Collar, "Forging Bonds": Backstory! Baby Neal, and newlywed Peter. Alex, who's just generally super fun. (Though I stand by feeling that Sara is better for Neal long term than Alex. I just like seeing Alex around.) Mozzie with a bad toupé, clearly dressing down to avoid his doppelgänger, that weird talent agent with the loud suits.

As for Kate, Neal actually wasn't with her that long, was he? Some halcyon days in New York, but she was gone before he made the big time, and as soon as he found her he was in jail. She visits him in jail for three years and then bang she's gone, held away from him, and then she dies. It's like a really uninteresting indie comic.

Anyway I adore the introductions of Jones and Diana, particularly that Diana not only outed herself in basically the first sentence she said to Peter (good for her) but also came up with the strategy that eventually caught him. Good job with the hair and wardrobe to make her seem young and green.

Why was there no new Top Chef? Were they worried about going up against the Celebrity Rehab Live Reunion show?

Community, "Celebrity Pharmacology 212": Look, they can't hit them all out of the park. This one was more fun for meta than anything else. It's tough to shape the show around Pierce or Abed but I kept feeling that Pierce deserved more than what he got. I get Annie running short, but I don't get Annie collecting cans before going out to get a job. I get Pierce giving her money and then using it to get what he wants, and the way she called him out on how and why he tries to buy affection/control. The scene when he was watching the film was completely adorable, though, and I just feel like we didn't get enough payoff on that.

I wish I'd had a period fairy. I adore the cool cats, and Jeff being obnoxious with Britta and trying to fix it by pretending to be her boyfriend.

Also the Dean was a little on-the-nose in this ep, wasn't he? With the whole furry thing and the overt admiration of Jeff?