Defiance: Welcome back, Everybody! (My thoughts on episode 3x01 “The World We Seize” & episode 3x02 “The Last Unicorns”)

Right off the bat, I have to say that I really enjoyed the two-hour season three premiere of Defiance. However, as you probably noticed in the title of this blog post, while this episode was aired as a two-hour season premiere, it was really just the first two episodes of season three aired back-to-back.

The first episode picked up seven months after the events of the season two finale, and I have to say that I thought the visual and special effects at the beginning of the episode were really impressive. Nolan and Irisa, who were still in the stasis pod that they got into at the end of the season two finale, were removed from the pod by members of the Omec, a new alien race that was introduced in the season premiere, and they were left stranded in a snowy area outside of Defiance. Apparently, the Omec had long since thought to have gone extinct. Personally, I really like the Omec for the most part so far. I think that introducing a new alien race was a great move on the writers’ part, since I’ve always felt that the level diversity of the different alien races on the show was somewhat limited for a science fiction show. That being said, I’d like to go ahead and mention that Conrad Coates who plays T’evgin reminds me a lot of Jessie Lawrence Ferguson and the character he played in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode “Code of Honor”, Lutan. Honestly, I initially wondered if it was the same actor who had played the two roles, so I decided to look on IMDB to see if I was correct. Obviously, I was wrong, but I just thought that I would mention the fact that I had originally thought it was Conrad Coates who played the two roles.

We were also introduced to a new Castithan, a man named General Rahm Tak, who’s played by Lee Tergesen. I have to say that based on just these two episodes alone, I absolutely love General Rahm Tak. It’s pretty obvious that Lee Tergesen is really enjoying playing the part so far. I’m really hoping that Tergesen will be sticking around for a while.

Nolan seemed to be under the impression that he and Irisa could just return to Defiance like nothing had changed after being in the stasis pod for seven months and after everything that happened last season, which seemed pretty delusional on his part. At least Irisa was able to recognize that she probably wasn’t going to be very popular with the other citizens of Defiance after everything that happened last season. Berlin definitely wasn’t happy to see Irisa again, because she blames Irisa for Tommy’s death. That being said, I love Berlin and I thought that Anna Hopkins did a great job of playing the part last season, so I’m thrilled to see that she’s back for season three as a series regular. Berlin wasn’t the only person who gave Irisa a hard time though; she was also harassed by other people throughout the two episodes.

The Mentalist: Scoop on episode 6x17 "Silver Wings of Time" and more from TVLine's Matt Webb Mitovich

Here's some scoop on The Mentalist from this week's (Posted on 4/8/14) Matt's Inside Line column.

Shall I dare ask for a Mentalist scoop? –Sal
You shall! In this Sunday’s episode, Jane and the FBI scramble to prove a death row inmate’s innocence, thus pitting Jane against no less than Star Trek: TNG‘s god-like Q . “[Guest star] John De Lancie plays a man whose wife’s killer is about to be executed, and he and Jane square off over that,” exec producer Tom Szentgyorgyi previews. “John gives a spectacular performance, and was a great sparring partner for [Simon] Baker.”

Please! Do you have anything for Mentalist fans on Jane’s reaction to Lisbon’s new boyfriend? –Yara
While I had Szentgyorgyi on the phone to preview May sweeps/the season finale, I was sure to inquire what Jane was thinking as he sat alone on the sofa, after seeing Teresa run off for late-night pancakes with her new paramour, Pike. “I think Jane was feeling curiously like a third wheel – something he doesn’t feel very often – and wondering why he felt that way,” the EP answered. “Pike is with us through the end of the season, and he will become a increasingly important figure in Lisbon’s life, so Jane is wondering what he’s feeling, because he’s been the most important man in Lisbon’s life — and suddenly he might not be.”

Link to the full article:‘Arrow’ Felicity Backstory Spoilers — ‘Scandal’ Finale, ‘The Mentalist’ - TVLine

Star Trek: Enterprise-I miss this show so much

I don’t know why, but I’ve really been getting back into Star Trek lately. Perhaps it’s partially due to Star Trek Into Darkness being released in theaters. Anyway, I’ve been watching a lot of Star Trek: Voyager episodes again for the first time in years, and I’ve been thinking about doing the same thing with Star Trek: Enterprise.

I know that there are a lot of people who have issues with Star Trek: Enterprise and how it messed with the continuity and history of the franchise, but I for one really liked it. It was really interesting to see what Starfleet was like in its early days before they had fairly advanced ships and technology and before they had all the rules and regulations that frequently came into play in the previous TV series, such as the Prime Directive.

I love pretty much all of the characters on the show with the possible exception of Travis Mayweather. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t dislike the character Travis. It’s just that he has never really stood out to me like the rest of the characters on the show did.

It’s such a shame that the show was canceled when it was. Personally, I thought season 4 was pretty good. The final episode was far from great due to the fact that it focused a lot on Counselor Troi and Commander Riker from Star Trek: The Next Generation instead of the cast of Star Trek: Enterprise, but the series finale could have been a lot worse, if you ask me. I definitely think I’ll watch some episodes of Star Trek; Enterprise again in the near future.