Dancing with the Stars: Yankee Doodle Dorky

Do we really need theme weeks on “Dancing with the Stars”?

Between the dancing, the laughably-bad singing from the band, the insane judges, the delusional celebrities, and the PG-13 nudity…isn’t there already enough stuff happening on this show?

I bring this up because I thought Americana week was pretty much a complete disaster.

Yes, I’m the same guy who raved about Classical Week last time out, so I’m basically a giant hypocrite. (“Theme weeks are terrible…unless I enjoy the theme!”) I like America and I like “Dancing with the Stars”, so what went wrong?

My biggest problem was that the costumes and song choices forced upon the couples this week often clashed horribly with the style of dance they were asked to do.

Don’t believe me? Let’s run down last night’s episode, in order of appearance, starting with…

Ralph Macchio and Karina: Ralph actually summed it up perfectly when he noted that this dance would feature a New Yorker and a Ukrainian performing a Brazilian party dance/two-step to “Sweet Home Alabama.” Why, that’s just crazy enough to work! Except that it didn’t. At all. Besides how crazy it was, I think Ralph reverted to his over-the-top tendencies that make him look crazy when he dances. I also felt like he was going to fall over at any second. Overall, not a great start to this episode and an unfortunate sign of things to come.

Chris Jericho and Cheryl Burke: Not all of last night’s episode was terrible. In fact, I thought Jericho’s Viennese waltz was actually quite beautiful, even though I think there are still too many moments in his routines where he stands there while Cheryl dances around him. I’d give Chris his much-desired 8 for his waltz…and a 9 for his Len Goodman impersonation. Speaking of Len, where did his comment about Cheryl’s boobs/Rocky Mountains come from? She’s hardly the first pro to let it all hang out. Is he just now noticing?!

Petra Nemcova and Dmitry: I like to think that Elvis Presley is up in heaven (assuming he’s dead) and waiting for the death of the advertising genius who decided to turn “Viva Las Vegas” into “Viva Viagra”…so he can pummel the guy in the afterlife. Oh yeah, Petra. She’s such an insanely nice person — saying how grateful she is for all her opportunities in America — that I actually feel bad for knocking her wobbly, forgettable quickstep.

Romeo and Chelsie: I thought Romeo’s foxtrot was absolutely delightful. The problem was that it veered a bit too much into a Macchio-esque wildness at certain points. Most importantly, Rome FINALLY seems to be getting into the silly spirit of this show. Romeo also proudly announced that he’d officially outlasted his infamous dad on “Dancing with the Stars”, which led me to wonder…Master P lasted FOUR weeks?!?!

Hines Ward and Kym: Over the last two weeks I feel like he’s being a tad over scored because of the lack of a clear frontrunner. (Somebody’s gotta be in first place!) There’s also the fact that he’s just so damn likable. Although I thought he did a better job this week than last (he has the best hip action out of any celeb this year…including the ladies) I didn’t think their rumba was very sexy. But that probably has more to do with the wildly inappropriate song and Kym’s insane dress than Hines and Kym.

Kirstie Alley and Maksim: The DWTS wardrobe person must REALLY hate Kirstie Alley. I’m perfectly ok with the fact that she’s a little bigger, but her bell-bottomed/top with the sheer tummy outfit for “American Woman” didn’t do her (or anybody at home watching) any favors. Even though her routine was not a foxtrot by any stretch of the imagination, Kirstie danced it well and, more importantly, got through it without any mishaps. All credit must go to Dance Doctor John Travolta, who was more charming in his cameo than he has been in his last few movies.

Kendra Wilkinson and Louis (pictured, right): The predictable “I really DO care about this ridiculous show” mea culpa from Kendra played out exactly as you’d expect. Well, maybe not, since Kendra still seemed overly perturbed by Carrie Ann’s observation that Kendra is afraid of acting elegant on the dance floor. (I agree.) It’s no accident that her best dance was the sexy rumba. Kendra danced pretty well. The problem was that her “Yankee Doodle Foxtrot” was the dorkiest thing I’ve ever seen in my entire life. And I’ve seen every episode of this show! (Also, I’m a GIANT dork.)

Chelsea Kane and Mark: It’s probably just me, but it still feels like Mark is trying to outshine his partner when he dances. It’s one thing for one of the pros to over dance when their celeb stinks and they have to overcompensate, but Chelsea’s actually REALLY good, so, of course, Mark has to look even better. Ugh. Anyway, their samba WAS really clean and the best dance of the night. It’s no accident that Chelsea’s hip action was much improved from her cha cha a few weeks ago.

So what’d you think of this episode? Will Ralph ever give Bruno sex? Am I the only one who can’t hear “Viva Las Vegas” without thinking “Viva Viagra”? Finally, who do you think is going home? (The conventional wisdom is probably Kendra…but I’m going to go with Petra.)

Justified: Follow Me

You know what I realized watching the latest episode of “Justified”? We haven’t actually seen very much of Boyd Crowder in full-on outlaw mode.

Sure, the very first time we saw him in the show’s pilot he was blowing up a church and by the time that episode ended he’d come close to killing sister-in-law Ava. (Will ya look at how far those two have come?!) But after that, Boyd had his religious conversion for the rest of season 1 — which turned out to be mostly sincere — and he’s spent the entirety of this season fighting off multiple temptation to return to a life of crime.

Indeed, Boyd’s reputation as a VERY.BAD.MAN was mostly earned off-screen and before the events of this show. That’s made it a little easier for us to root for him because the Boyd we’ve seen is the one who trades witty banter with Raylan and struggles to do the right thing.

That’s why it was simultaneously tragic and a little electrifying to return to a life of crime after being offered the non-weed criminal business in Harlan by a grieving Mags Bennett.

After seeing the end of last week’s episode, it would’ve been perfectly reasonable to expect Mags to declare an all-out war on Raylan and the Givens. Instead, we got a great, sad scene with two concerned mother figures when Mags met with Helen. Helen (like us) was concerned about Mags striking back against Raylan. Instead, Mags agreed to squash the family feud, lest more blood be spilled.

In case you were afraid that Mags was going soft, she coolly slapped and threatened to kill that boor from last week’s party after he gave her crap for selling out to Black Pike. We also learned that she holds Dickie responsible for Coover’s death, since Dickie was the one who told Raylan were Coover had taken Loretta. As punishment, Dickie got to keep the weed business, but he was banned from all other criminal activity (now under Boyd’s watch) and cut off from the rest of the Bennetts. (I don’t think he’ll be getting Black Pike money in his Christmas cards.)

Poor Dickie. He almost gets choked to death by his own brother, then the man who crippled him kills his brother. Now, not only has he been prohibited from exacting revenge, but he’s been isolated from his family. No wonder he’s making the extremely foolish decision of taking on Boyd, his cousin Johnny and new muscle Devil/Milkshake.

To be completely honest, I’d completely forgotten that Johnny Crowder — the cousin that Boyd shot and mostly crippled during last season’s finale — even existed. It’s weird because I remember liking the relatively sensible character in season 1. Now, he’s literally a broken man, so it didn’t take very much for Boyd to sell him into joining him on his new criminal enterprise (make no mistake…Boyd WAS selling him) since Johnny had experience working with Boyd’s father, Bo. Also, I enjoyed the aggressive Devil. (Too bad he’ll almost certainly be killed very soon.)

Even though Boyd would probably list “full-time criminal” as his occupation, he’s not completely letting go of his life as a decent guy. As soon as he showed up at Ava’s house and Ava approached him, we knew they were going to kiss.

I’m not saying that Ava is ONLY attracted to bad boys — although her ex, Bowman, was no prize. I just think it’s curious that there wasn’t any kind of heat between the two until after they started lying to the police together (after Boyd’s heist) or Boyd went back to being a crook. When Boyd was being “good”, Ava naturally seemed distrustful…but also completely turned-off by him.

But enough about the criminals: let’s talk about the lawmen in this episode.

The scene where Raylan confronted Art with what he knew/didn’t know about the money Winona had stolen was probably my favorite scene in the episode. Art never seemed more like Raylan’s disapproving dad than when he was scolding him for being so stupid and telling him how disappointed he was in him. These guys give each other a lot of crap as boss/employee, but seeing how angry Art was with Raylan (and seeing how embarrassed Raylan was to let Art down) gave us a great look at how much they care for each other.

In fact, for a guy as relentlessly decent as Raylan, he has some considerably psychological scarring that Timothy Olyphan fantastically keeps under the surface. We saw it again during the great scene in which he told Winona that he’d been afraid that he’d helped her with the money caper because he was an outlaw at heart (like his dad), but it turned out that he just loved her.

The Raylan/Winona scenes in this episode were pretty great. I loved the way they ping-ponged between Raylan still being pissed with her to Winona trying to use humor to diffuse the situation (joking about needing a ride to rob a bank). Their no-fuss “I love yous” were also pretty refreshing.

I also liked that the writers allowed Winona to admit that maybe she’s just openly messed up in the head. In movies and TV shows people (including me) usually demand that characters do things for very clear reasons that make sense. In real life, sometimes stress causes people to not think clearly and do truly stupid things. (Like steal money from an evidence locker.)

With Art upset with him, Raylan didn’t see a terribly compelling reason to stick around his job, so he agreed to transfer to Glynco, the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center where he could teach people how to shoot and Winona wouldn’t have to worry about him being killed in the line of duty.

Unfortunately, the two guys who Raylan had schooled earlier in the episode (“I got right, you go left = badass) resurfaced, crashed into Raylan’s car and initiated a shootout. Raylan took out a guys’ legs before killing him. He got the other guy right as he was about to shoot Winona, who was making a run for the exit.

I think it’s great that, after not shooting anyone all year, Raylan has now shot three people in the last two episodes. With the season coming to a close, I have a feeling that number will continue to go up.

So what’d you think of this episode? Have we seen the last of Loretta this year after Raylan talked her into giving her foster home a chance? Finally, who hired those guys to try and kill Raylan? And are we entirely sure those guys were after Raylan? (All I’m saying is that Winona happened to be in the car with him both times they showed up. Also, the scene with Winona and Gary at their divorce proceeding felt inessential.)

America's Next Top Recap: Garbage Time

How is Alexandria doing this?

In practically the blink of an eye, she has gone from this cycle’s resident she-monster to front-runner, picking up cars, clothes and top photo honors along the way.

As someone who watches (and has seen) WAY too much reality TV, I understand that the power of editing can create some pretty unexpected switcheroos. Maybe Alexandria wasn’t really that bad all along.

On the other hand, it’s damn near impossible to take dozens of “I hate Alexandria” quotes from the other girls out of context. I also vaguely recall the judges chewing Alexandria out earlier this season for her bossy, unprofessional attitude on set. (It seems so long ago.)

Except that all of this seems to be forgotten by the judges. Still, the part I REALLY can’t understand is that Alexandra still comes off like a major phony…but no one seems to care. If I think some of her poses are kind of cheeseball (like the ones during her audition with Lana Marks during the bonus go-see) that’s a matter of taste. But how about when Lana Marks asked her why she wanted to do the campaign: “Why DON’T I want it?”

Huh?! I mean, BRILLIANT! (I guess.) Give that girl some more fabulous clothes and Angelina Jolie’s clutch! As you can tell, I don’t get it. My best guess is that Alexandria is just a really tall, prototypical fashion model…and that she’s placed a Confundus charm on everyone in the fashion industry.

But she’s not just bewitching the people who keep giving her fabulous prizes. Last week, Brittani had a spectacular meltdown in her attempts to vanquish Alexandria. This week, Brittani apologized to Alexandria, but it was Molly’s turn to lose her s---! Sure, Molly was frustrated with Alexandria, but the blonde terror wasn’t completely to blame for Molly’s perpetual sour-face in this episode.

Near the start of the episode, Tyra met with the girls to teach them how to put together a portfolio. I was most struck by the fact that Kasia’s portfolio only had four pictures (everyone else’s had five or six) which supports my theory that she just doesn’t take very good pictures.

The reason they were putting their portfolios together was because it was time for go-sees. The challenge would feature four stops with each visit representing a different model “archetype.” (A running theme this year.)

Alexandria was the only model from L.A. and bragged about her homefield advantage. Even as she booked 4 out of 4 jobs, it seemed like the show had set her up for failure by having her arrive late…but she actually returned with about 30 seconds left. In fact, EVERYONE arrived in time. I’m not saying this is the first time that’s happened in the show’s history, but it’s the first time I’ve personally seen it.

Alexandria, Molly and Kasia finished in the top 3 so they got to compete in a fifth go-see for a spot in what turned out to be a thoroughly silly national print ad for Lana Marks handbags.

We were led to believe that Molly would’ve won if her attitude/face hadn’t been so stank while she was waiting her turn. (Imagine if Lana knew about the dozens of F-bombs she dropped in her smart car during the go-sees.) So Alexandria picked up the win, and I was left to wonder why Kasia didn’t win since I thought she had the best poses. (I guess she was a little too “fiercely real” for that ad campaign.)

After some more hating on Alexandria from Molly back at the house, the week’s challenge was revealed: the girls would be modeling eco-friendly (or “echo-friendly,” as Mr. Jay inexplicably pronounced it) clothes at a landfill. Derelicte!

As I mentioned earlier, Alexandria won top photo honors for her strong picture. I also enjoyed Brittani’s shot, and not just because she dared to get down in the muck.

Nobody really had an atrocious picture (though Kasia slid by with another meh shot), but Molly wound up in the bottom two with Jaclyn.

Since no one’s picture was that bad, Tyra seemed to rely on their go-see performance. Molly booked 2 out of four jobs, while Jaclyn booked 2 out of 2. Tyra and the panel seemed really turned off by the fact that Jaclyn (and Brittani) only made to go-see stops, but I don’t care how many stops you make if you don’t book the job. The bottom line is Molly and Jaclyn booked the exact same number of jobs.

What I’m trying to say is that I don’t understand why Jaclyn was sent home instead of Molly. The difference in their go-see performance was negligible. Molly’s flirted with the bottom 2 before, while Jaclyn had never been there. So what gives? Were we not going to be able to send enough blonde white girls to Morocco if we eliminated Molly?

Whatever. I guess next week it’ll be Hannah’s turn to have a meltdown that almost gets her eliminated, ala Brittani last week and Molly last night.

So what’d you think of this episode? Anyone else find it hilarious that Tyra introduced Lana Marks by saying that she makes the “most expensive” handbags in the world…not “the best”? Will Jaclyn ever solve that indecipherable riddle we know as “a map”? Has anybody other than Tyra ever noticed her skinny calves? Finally, why didn’t they wait one more episode and have the girls do their go-sees in Morocco? (Go-sees are roughly 500 percent more fun when the models are trying to ask foreigners for directions.)

American Idol: Movie Night is a Giant Flop

I generally consider myself to be a pretty positive guy. I try to look on the bright side of things.

So allow me to apologize upfront for what’s going to be an extremely negative “American Idol” recap because I hated pretty much everything about last night’s episode.

How much did I hate the latest episode of “American Idol”? Let me count the ways:

- I hate that “American Idol’ is probably the greenest show on TV seeing as how they recycled yet another theme last night. Good job guys! We hadn’t had a “Songs From the Movies” night (not to be confused with “Songs from the Cinema”) since…a little less than a year ago.

- I hate that I have to keep complaining about the lack of new themes in this column.

- I hated that the “Rob Reiner, Hank Azaria and Elvira walk into an ‘American Idol’ taping” joke didn’t really have a punchline.

- I hate that will.i.am wasn’t paired with mentor/record mogul Jimmy Iovine earlier this year. Will doesn’t necessarily say anything extremely illuminating, but at least he’s entertaining and, more importantly, has a way of bringing out Iovine’s cranky/intense side, which have made the mentoring sessions slightly more interesting.

- I hated Paul McDonald’s version of “Old Time Rock and Roll” before he hit the bottom of the staircase at the start of his performance. It’s not that he can’t do high energy — I thought he pulled that off quite well last week — it’s that Paul (pictured, left) sounded REALLY bad last night and reverted back to his most annoying performance instincts.

- I hate that I’ve been forced to create the nickname Lauren “B+” Alaina for a singer who seems like she should be great, but never ever delivers an “A” peformance. Picking “The Climb” was smart because there’s a great chance that she was going to sound better than Miley Cyrus (which she did), but I ultimately felt underwhelmed by her solid performance. She never seems as interesting when she’s singing as she does when she’s being interviewed, during rehearsal, etc.

- I hated that the show tried to make is seem like Boyz II Men’s “End of the Road” was made popular by the movie “Boomerang,” Blondie’s “Call Me” was popularized by “American Gigolo” and “Bridge Over Troubled Water” was made popular by “The Pursuit of Happyness.” Oh wait, I thought it was hilariously awful, but I didn’t hate it.

- I hate that Stefano Langone seems like he is forced to physically will himself into “feeling” the songs he sings…and it never quite works. I also hate that he has his eyes closed roughly 40 percent of the time when he sings. All of this is a shame because he has a good voice. (On the other hand, I DO give him credit for boldly picking a song called “End of the Road” after almost going home last week.)

- I hate that Scotty McCreery backed out of doing “Everybody’s Talkin’” from “Midnight Cowboy” in favor of going back to his country roots — when did he abandon them?! — and singing a decent version of George Strait’s “I Cross My Heart.” Phew! Something interesting almost happened there for a minute…that was a close call!

- I hated the first half of Casey Abrams’ take on Nat King Cole’s “Nature Boy” from “The Boy with Green Hair” (but, really, “Moulin Rouge”). The close-up camera angle and the return to his creepy/growly tendencies did him no favors. That being said, the jazziness of the second half almost won me back. Almost. At least he didn’t sing “In the Air Tonight.” Singing a song that’s best known for a drum solo would’ve probably been a mistake.

- I hate that it really seemed like Casey cleared his throat right into the microphone in the middle of his song, but that the judges didn’t really say anything.

- I hate that watching 2011 Most Beautiful Woman in the World Jennifer Lopez — SO much more beautiful this year than she was last year when her music and movie career were in the tank — in HD is the only reason to not fast forward through the judges’ comments.

- I hated that the one person the judges actually criticized was my girl Haley.

- I hated that Haley Reinhart spent so much of her time during “Call Me” yelling, instead of showcasing her terrific voice. I did like her stained glass window dress.

- I hate that every Jacob Lusk performance is basically the same (overdone, often off-key), but — unlike other contestants (RIP Pia) — he never gets any grief for it. That being said, that final note WAS pretty sick.

- Like Jimmy, I also hate when someone who hasn’t sold a single record gets preachy with me. (Though, to be fair, I also hated it when someone who’s sold 10 million records gets preachy with me.)

- I hate that Jacob completely backed down when he wanted to do “The Impossible Dream”, but Jimmy foisted “Bridge Over Troubled Water.” I actually felt a little sad at the end of the rehearsal package watching Jacob try to talk himself into the song: “It’s a really great song…I hope America likes it.” That’s a really far cry from his incredibly preachy/arrogant comments last week. We could only see him from the neck up when he was talking, but I’m assuming his tail was tucked between his legs.

- Finally, I hated that…no wait a minute…I actually REALLY liked James Durbin’s “Heavy Metal” performance. Sure, the music’s not my favorite, but James was clearly having a blast on stage (so I had more fun at home), and I like that he stuck to his guns even though Jimmy openly hated the song. At least will.i.am had his back.

So what’d you think of this episode? How much did you hate my gimmick for this column? (I understand, but I REALLY hated this episode, so I had to vent.) Finally, who do you think is going home? I’m just going to pick Stefano from here on out until he goes home, because there’s no way the dude can win (right?!) so I’m guessing he’ll be exiting sooner rather than later.

Dancing with the Stars: Harry Situation

Classical Week on “Dancing with the Stars” — with its 46-piece orchestra, mezzo soprano, excitable violinist and black-tie dress code — was such an upscale affair that I felt a little under-dressed watching from my couch.

Not really. I was still wearing more clothes than most of the dancers.

Here’s how everybody did with the Viennese waltz and paso doble, in order of appearance.

Romeo and Chelsie: Romeo kicked off the night with a pretty terrific paso doble routine that ended with my favorite paso doble-related “death” of the night. (Romeo got great height on his jump, and I loved the way Chelsie the Bull gasped for her last breath.) Unfortunately, I DID see the moment where Romeo lifted her off the ground, but does anybody other than Carrie Ann care if there are lifts?

I just wish that Romeo was completely into this show by now. Romeo had trouble getting into his aggressive character, so Chelsie allowed him to show off his basketball skills. Cliché alert! You’re not gonna believe this, but the young black guy is really into basketball. Come on, Romeo…surprise me for once! Why couldn’t his passion have been tennis or chess or something mildly unexpected? Congratulations, Romeo…you still look tough. Kinda. End of rant.

Kendra Wilkinson and Louis: With Wendy and Psycho Mike gone, there are no truly awful dancers left in the competition, but I thought Kendra was kind of a train wreck last night. She clearly wasn’t comfortable with the Viennese waltz during rehearsal, and that carried over into her performance, where she seemed totally unsure of herself. It was all over her face and her body language. I thought the judges were kind to give her straight 6s. Homegirl has to figure out a way to sell her performances, even when she’s not into the dance (like last night) or her partner (like always).

Sugar Ray Leonard and Anna: Ray’s Viennese waltz was his most appealing performance. That’s probably due, in no small part, to the fact that his dance was very reminiscent of the Landler scene from “The Sound of Music.” It’s a good thing too because Carrie Ann was right to point out that Ray doesn’t so much glide across the dance floor as much as he jogs. I’m not sure if this performance was enough to keep him in the running, but it was a step in the right direction. Now why wasn’t he wearing a tutu to go along with his ballet class tights?!

Petra Nemcova and Dmitry: I’ve pointed out how nice incredibly nice Petra is in the past. Unfortunately, that was a strike against her in the paso doble. Dmitry arranged a photo shoot during rehearsal so she could practice looking fierce, but it ended up coming off as an excuse for Dmitry (and us) to sit around and look at how sexy Petra is. As for her paso doble: I thought her leaned-back posture was a little weird, and the forceful nature of the dance (like the jive two weeks ago) exposed how weak her core is. However, I also thought it was an entertaining a routine and that she ultimately did a pretty good job of capturing the character. I even enjoyed the ending where Dmitry unraveled her skirt to reveal glittery booty shorts as Petra inexplicably writhed around in a laughing heap. Still not sure if that was supposed to happen.

Ralph Macchio and Karina: This Romeo and Juliet-themed waltz was quite beautiful and my favorite dance of the evening. Ralph successfully softened his movements across the dance floor (especially his arm movements) for the first time. I also felt like I should have laughed at his sobbing in the beginning, but I was completely invested. I wonder if Romeo was irked that the producers didn’t give him this routine.

Hines Ward and Kym: It’s no secret that I love Hines and Kym as a couple. Apparently, I’m not the only one judging by the way the crowd exploded into a standing ovation at the end of his paso doble…and by the way the judges over scored him. Don’t get me wrong: I thought he danced well enough from a technical stand point, but I also caught glimpses in his face that gave me the impression that he wasn’t totally in character. It seemed to me like he was thinking about it…and kind of just wanting to get through it. Still, I love me some Hines and Kym, so I can’t be mad at their slightly inflated scores, especially since Hines has such an awesome attitude.

Chelsea Kane and Mark (pictured, right): I wondered why Mark was dressed like The Sorcerer’s Apprentice from “Fantasia”, but it turns out he had a Harry Potter-themed dance to “Hedwig’s Theme” in mind. (The spotlight across the dance floor was a great touch.)

I hate to be a Debbie Downer, but I have to side with Len in his critique of Mark, the look-at-me jackass. Look, I get that he wants to incorporate modern elements into his dances. However, his job is to do the dance that is assigned to him. (In this case, it was the Viennese waltz. A few weeks ago, it was the jive.) Instead, Mark just ends up doing the style known as Whatever the Hell He Wants…with bits of proper technique tossed in to get the judges off his back. Sure it’s fun, but it’s a little annoying that he’s wasting Chelsea’s considerable talents to indulge his larks and it’s REALLY annoying that he showcases himself more often than not. End of rant #2.

Chris Jericho and Cheryl: I thought Jericho nailed the arrogant character, and I thought this dance was especially effective in the beginning. However, like Len, I would’ve liked to have seen more of an explosion or a quickening of the pace in the second half of the music (“In the Hall of the Mountain King”) escalated. Then again, that’s not really his fault, since he didn’t choreograph the dance.

Kirstie Alley and Maks: This couple is getting dangerously close to becoming a complete joke on this show...assuming they’re not there already. That’s not the worst thing in the world. I mean, this isn’t the most serious show on TV. But Kirstie can actually dance a little, so it’s a real shame that her routines have become an interpretive dance version of “A Series of Unfortunate Events.” Hopefully next week, there’ll be no injuries and Kirstie will strap her shoes on tight. Also, here’s hoping she dances better because she looked mildly tipsy last night.

So what’d you think of this episode? Did you like that we got to see the couples right before they hit the dance floor? (And does Kendra always have that “Oh crap” look on her face before she dances?) Should ever week be Classical Week on “Dancing with the Stars”? Finally, who do you think is going home? (I’m guessing Kendra gets the boot…but Kirstie makes an appearance in under the harsh red light.)

Justified: Oh Brother

Are we 100% sure that Mags Bennett is a villain.

Sure, we know that —as the head of the Bennett weed/moonshine crime empire — she’s ultimately the main antagonist to our hero, Raylan Givens. And if you’ve seen the end of the latest episode, you know that those two won’t be getting any chummier with each other.

Still, “Brother’s Keeper” displayed that, as terrifying as Mags may be to her full-grown, no-good sons, she’s not all bad.

By the way, this was also the episode where the proverbial s--- hit the fan.

Many of the season’s important storylines — Mags killing Loretta’s father and lying to the girl about it, the Black Pike mining company deal, the escalating feud between the Givens and the Bennetts — came to a head in this episode. Now “Justified” has less than a handful of episodes to make sense of this mess.

The episode was mostly set at a day-long party thrown by the Bennetts at their home. Among the guests were Raylan and Carol Johnson, as well as Boyd and Ava.

For the entire episode, I tried to figure out the devious reason that Boyd had for bringing Ava to the party. My conclusion: sure, he figured he’d seem less threatening if he brought her along, but I think he mostly wanted to show her a good time. Who knew Walton Goggins could clog. It also seems like Ava has fallen pray to the charms of another Crowder.

Of course, Boyd had some business to discuss before his happy dance. Having acquired the signature for Arlo’s valuable land, Boyd sat in on a meeting with Carol and Mags and Carol made one final offer to buy Mags’ land before the mining company inevitably descended on Harlan and blew the top off the mountain.

Mags played her trump card: blowing the top off the mountain would be worthless if the company didn’t also own the land where the necessary access roads are located. At first, I thought it was silly that a big-time company wouldn’t think of something so important, but the show made a point of mentioning the fact that it was Carol who had been sent in blind to this negotiation. Since we learned last week that Carol kind of hates her life as a mining company honcho, I can totally buy that she didn’t do her due diligence.

The thing that struck me hardest about this scene — even harder than Raylan struck Dickie when he tried to barge in — was the fact that Mags didn’t just want money to make herself richer. She wanted enough money to make sure that her family and her town were taken care of long-term. Sure, she’s Harlan’s reigning criminal mastermind, but that doesn’t make the invading mining company the good guys.

So Boyd was dancing, Mags was singing: there was absolutely no doubt that things were going to go to hell.

The episode’s opening scene had Mags getting Loretta ready for the party and basically telling her that she was the daughter she never had. (And the child she WISHES she’d had, instead of the three stooges.) Mags also had to dodge another request by Loretta to talk to her dad.

Later, Loretta was helping an increasingly jealous Coover with a chore when she noticed what looked like her dad’s watch.

Loretta wanted to make sure, so she gave Coover a poisoned joint. When he was unconscious, she crept into a bedroom (oh, hi passed-out Dickie) and confirmed that it was her father’s watch. Of course, having her sneakily poison Coover makes Loretta more like Mags than she’ll ever know given what Mags did to Loretta’s father.

She quickly activated the bat signal by calling Raylan’s cell phone. Unfortunately for her, Coover had been pretending (you can’t fool him that easily…he’s a goddamn professional!) and was about to kill Loretta when Dickie intervened. Unfortunately for Dickie, Coover is a human mountain and easily choked out his gimpy brother.

I thought director Tony Goldwyn (the actor who’s also directed some great episodes of “Dexter”) did a great job of staging the scene at Coover’s — and the following scene at the site where the had disposed of Lroetta’s dad’s body — like a horror movie. (The way he snuck up on Loretta in that darkened room was chilling.)

Brad William Henke also deserves credit for giving a great performance. The dumbest and deadliest of the Bennett clan could’ve been a one-note character, but Henke injected just enough pride and jealousy to make him interesting.

I’m speaking in the past tense because Raylan ended up killing Coover. Raylan was about to join Loretta’s father, but Loretta distracted Coover long enough for Raylan to shoot him and send him to his death.

Margo Martindale has been excellent all year and was great in this episode. However, she has never been better than she was in the final scene of this episode. The way she flipped the switch from begging Raylan to see Loretta (not Coover) one last time to coldly walking away was absolutely chilling.

So what’d you think of this episode? Am I the only one that kind of wishes that the show hadn’t definitively told us that Raylan and Carol didn’t sleep together? Finally, what do you think Boyd promised Arlo to get him to sign over the land?

America's Next Top Recap: We All Go A Little Mad Sometimes

It’s been an eventful week in the world of reality show meltdowns. (Well, more eventful than usual.)

After learning that Meat Loaf is “the LAST F---ING PERSON YOU EVVVEER WANNA F---ING F--- WITH”, it was Brittani’s turn to totally lose her s---. (Cursing is contagious!)

Things started out so promisingly for Brittani, as she was still basking in the glow of last week’s win at the start of the episode. The girls returned to the house to find gift bags (YAY!!!) that contained Warriors in Pink T-shirts and the material for their next challenge (yay).

For the week’s challenge, the girls would be doing a photo shoot with Nigel in which they’d have to embody a different aspect of the Warriors in Pink campaign against breast cancer. Some of the campaign’s symbols included “river”, “tree”, “war paint” and “dove”. Also, I completely made one of those up…good luck trying to figure out which one.

During the shoot, Brittani got chewed out when Nigel sensed a disconnect and asked her what she thinks about when she models, and she responded, “I don’t think, I just do.” As a former model, Nigel flipped out at the idea that someone would trivialize their Very Important Job. Me? I don’t care if Brittani is thinking about what groceries she has to pick up on the way home as long as she delivers an excellent picture. I thought Jaclyn might get the win for wanting to “beat the crap out of cancer” with her boxing gloves, but the victory went to Alexandria. I’m not saying that Alexandria wasn’t a deserving winner…I’m just saying that I wouldn’t be shocked that the producers gave Alexandria the win to piss everyone else off.

And pissed off they were. It was bad enough that Alexandria would get to appear in a national ad as a role model. (I watched her commercial, and Brittani’s right…she does do a weird thing with her face.) She also won (putting on my Bob Barker mask) A NEW CAR!

Later, all of the other girls were talking about how Alexandria was an undeserving winner, but it was Brittani who was loudly leading the charge. Alexandria overheard her and confronted her, and Brittani bit back by telling her that everyone in the house couldn’t stand her. (Cut to everyone else staying eerily silent.) I actually feel a little bad for Alexandria. (I said “a little.”) It’d be one thing if she were trying to drive Brittani and the other girls crazy with her bitchiness as a calculated move. However, I honestly think that Alexandria has no idea how horribly annoying she is to everyone else around her.

As you know, this outburst came back to bite Brittani in a big way, but first it was time for the week’s photo shoot.

On a tour through Universal Studios, the girls stopped at the Bates Motel where Ms. J was brutally murdered by Mrs. Bates. (RIP, Ms. J.) Also, ***SPOILER ALERT*** Mrs. Bates was actually…Mr. Jay, who announced the week’s challenge: the girls would be going crazy for…something.

Since Jaclyn’s Why So Serious? “Crazy for Makeup” photo (pictured, right) was the best in the bunch and a really deserving winner, and since Mikaela’s “Slightly Perturbed for Sales” was CLEARLY the worst picture of the bunch and got her sent home, I’m going to skip over all that and go straight to the judges’ panel.

During Alexandria’s critique, Nigel brought up Brittani’s outburst and reamed her out for being unprofessional in front of a client. Even though I didn’t see any “client” anywhere (was he talking about the car?) I agree with him 100%. Brittani yelling at Alexandria like that in a professional setting is completely unacceptable. That’s what the Model Home and confessionals are for.

Sensing that she’d made a huge mistake, Brittani started freaking out…especially after Tyra laid into her. She excused herself and walked off set because it looked like she was having a panic attack. She came back just in time to listen to the judges crush her subpar photo.

During the deliberation, the judges had a serious discussion about sending Brittani home. Nigel, Andre Leon Talley and dandy “Gossip Girl” stylist Eric Daman all voted to give Brittani another chance. Tyra, on the other hand, did what Tyra does…she made it about herself.

With absolutely zero prompting, she brought up the notion that people assume that she unilaterally makes all the decisions on this show. Except that’s not the case: she only gets one vote, and it’s very possible that she won’t get her way if the other judges disagree. (Cut to Tyra patting herself on the back over resisting Toccara’s elimination during cycle 3.) (Cut to me rolling my eyes.)

Tyra insisted that “Top Model” was not a monarchy and expressed extreme displeasure at the fact that Brittani was being allowed to stay on. Why did we even have a bottom 2, if we saw that the judges decided to keep Brittani? So that we could see Ty-rant scold Brittani some more, of course!

While it may be true that Tyra only gets one vote, it’s absolutely ridiculous to think that she doesn’t have more influence than any other judge. I mean, how about the fact that she’s the one who selects which photo gets used at panel. From now on, Brittani better make sure that she doesn’t take a single unflattering photo or Tyra might pick it. Hell, the conspiracy theorist in me thought it was weird that Tyra picked that weird, boring photo of Brittani after we saw her jumping around during the shoot and getting great feedback from Mr. Jay.

So what’d you think of this episode? Do you feel badfor Brittani? For Alexandria? Finally, is Jaclyn actually the frontrunner to win this thing?

American Idol: Rock and Roll All Night

I have a feeling there’ll be considerably less square dancing on stage at the end of tonight’s results show.

Though the mood was downright exuberant at the end of last night’s entertaining Rock and Roll Hall of Fame episode — the third, strong performance episode in a row — I’m expecting things to be a touch gloomier after tonight’s sure-to-be-though results show.

I’m not even going to complain about the fact that AI yet again recycled a theme from a previous season (Whoops! Guess I just did) because there were no dogs last night among the performances.

Well, that’s unless you count Jacob Lusk’s incredibly off-putting comment during his pre-performance package that, “If I end up in the bottom three, it won’t be because I sang the song bad. It won’t be because I sang the song wrong. It’ll be because everybody in America wasn’t ready to look at themselves in the mirror.”

Now, even if “American Idol” hadn’t stepped up its online presence this year — for the first time in the show’s history, contestants have their own official Twitter and Facebook accounts — I’m guessing some of the singers would have gone on the Internet and at least read a sampling of what’s being said about them. That sampling would include me saying that I can see that Jacob is a talented singer, and I’m very impressed with what he can do with his voice…but I just do not enjoy watching or listening to him AT ALL. It’s also not hard for me to imagine that the previous sentence might actually be among the least harsh things Jacob would come across on the web So

I can appreciate that he may be frustrated at people making fun of his weight, his jarring facial expressions or his femininity when he performs. My problem with his statement is that he’s saying the ONLY possible reason he could be voted out is if we’re intolerant or cowards. Um, how about maybe we don’t like the way you sing…or we just don’t like YOU. And not because of the reasons you may think…but because you’re an a-hole.

His version of “Man in the Mirror” was fine, but it certainly didn’t back up the tough talk from his pre-performance piece. On top of that, I found it disingenuous that he busted out a series of vigorous pelvic thrusts after deciding not sing “Let’s Get It On” because it was overtly sexual. All that being said, I don’t think he’ll go home tonight. However, I DO think he’ll get a necessary kick in the ass by being placed in the bottom 3. The frustrating thing is that, with so many talented singers, a stupid comment like Jacob’s really could be the difference between staying and going.

If I had to decide who was going home last night on musical merit, it’d be an incredibly tough decision. I’d probably lean Stefano Langone’s way.

In addition to getting one of the few honest-to-goodness negative critiques of the night (Randy called his performance “jerky” at the beginning), I just feel that he’s extremely labored whenever he sings. There’s a difference between being into a song while you’re performing it and looking like you’re in pain, and Stafano falls into the latter category too often. That being said, this was an improvement over the last few weeks. He looked relaxed at the start of “When a Man Loves a Woman” and his upper register was pretty.

I think a previous bottom 3 dweller like Casey Abrams, Paul McDonald or Haley Reinhart could return there.

Casey sang “Have You Ever Seen the Rain”, but also continued his quest to remind people why he was considered an early front-runner by bringing back the upright bass. I don’t think it had the same impact it did in Hollywood week, but it was still pretty cool and allowed him to display his musical chops. (Meaning, he didn’t seem crazy.)

I don’t see Paul returning to the bottom 3 this week after an energetic pimp spot/episode-ending performance of “Folsom Prison Blues.” At first, I thought the tempo was a little too fast and frantic (and Paul looked a bit uncomfortable), but once he got into it he delivered one of his better performances. I also liked that he pushed himself vocally and as a performer.

More than likely, I can see Haley returning to the bottom 3, even after she capitalizing on last week’s “Bennie and the Jets” momentum. Haley seems to be settling into a musical groove — though maybe Janis Joplin’s “Piece of My Heart” was a little too on-the-nose for someone who’s been repeatedly compared to Joplin — but she’s still endearingly awkward on stage. (I say “endearingly awkward” because I like her — if she were someone I didn’t care for, “endearingly awkward” would become something like “uncomfortably off-putting.”)

But which one of the season’s four front-runners would be most likely to put in a bottom 3 cameo for the first time.

I’m guessing it’s not Scotty McCreery, who has so many fans that they can’t help but rush the “Idol” stage. (Seacrest’s look of confusion was priceless.) Scotty sang Elvis Presley’s “That’s All Right”, but was still decidedly more country than rock. (Which is perfectly ok.) Even though he has such a distinctive voice and style, he at least tries to do something different every week.

Speaking of which, Pia Toscano made her eagerly anticipated non-ballad debut with Tina Turner’s “River Deep, Mountain High.” (I was mildly shocked she didn’t do the Celine version, since that’s her hero. Actually, she kinda did.) This was a small breakthrough for her, but I agree with what Jennifer was trying to say as she was walking on egg shells. Pia is still a pretty robotic performer that could benefit from more experience working a stage. Then again, my biggest problem with Carrie Underwood when she was on this show was that she performed like a robot, but I saw her live a few months ago and she was phenomenal.

The most predictable thing about this episode was that James Durbin would go “intimate” after last week. (Of course, pretty much anything he did last night was going to be low-key after setting a piano on fire last week.) It wasn’t his best and it certainly wasn’t his most electrifying performance, but it was a smart strategic move to change things up for one week.

So that means that I believe the singer most likely to make her bottom 3 debut is Lauren Alaina. Don’t get me wrong: I think she did a REALLY good job with “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman”, a titanic song. However, it was still short of greatness, which has been the story of Lauren this year. Hell, it wasn’t even better than Kelly Clarkson’s version in season 1…or even Crystal Bowersox’s more low-key cover during Hollywood week last year.

Oops…I know we all agreed that we wouldn’t talk about last year. My bad.

So what’d you think of this episode? Do we even need to hear from the judges at this point? Can will.i.am come an be a guest mentor every week? (I thought he was funnier and more insightful than Jimmy Iovine has been all season.) Finally, who do you think is going home? (I’ve got Haley, Jacob and Stefano in the bottom three with Stefano going home.)

Dancing with the Stars: Ready to Rumba

What sad, sad lives these celebrities have led.

At least that’s the impression you’d get after watching them tell their emotional, personal stories through dance — mostly rumba — in the latest episode of “Dancing with the Stars.”

Still, even with all thigh tributes to dead relatives, random dance styles and thigh injuries, the show delivered a thoroughly entertaining episode, which is why we’re all here.

And I’m assuming you’re here right now to get my thoughts on last night’s shenanigans. Here’s how the couples did, in order of appearance:

(Skipping over the demo from the DWTS Troupe.)

Wendy Williams and Tony: This just isn’t working out. Wendy danced a foxtrot to “Last Night a DJ Saved My Life” to illustrate her journey as a struggling radio personality years ago; and also because it had the word “DJ” in it. (It was a slightly more appropriate choice than Usher’s “DJ Got Us Fallin’ in Love.”) Although her technique was slightly better than last week, she continues to be a frustratingly tentative and weak presence on the dance floor. Not to get too technical on you, but she’s LAME!!!

Chelsea Kane and Mark: Chelsea wanted to convey joy by dancing the cha cha cha to “Chelsea,” a song written by…some guy she was into a few years ago. (Or something.) Chelsea continues to LOOK fantastic on the dance floor. If you’d never seen the show before last night, you’d be hard-pressed to guess who was the pro and who was the celeb. That’s why her atrocious hip action and relative stiffness during the dance was a major disappointment. At least she was able to convey joy.

Chris Irvine and Cheryl: The first tearjerker of the evening had Chris Jericho dancing under his given name and dedicating his “Let it Be” rumba to his mom because she loved dance (“Solid Gold”!) and she loved the song. While I was completely connected to the story he and Cheryl were telling, the dancing was a slight disappointment. (At least not as good as Chris has shown he can be). The rumba had a few nice moments, but his arms looked weird at times, and his hip-action was virtually non-existent.

Kendra Wilkinson and Louis: “When Fog Machines Attack!” This fall on Fox! I give Kendra and Louis credit for dancing the only truly sexy rumba of the night. (It IS known as “the bedroom dance.”) Kendra dedicated her rumba husband Hank Baskett — who was inexplicably dressed like Tony Manero in the front row —and once again hit her moves and poses impressively. However, the fact that she’s CLEARLY not into Louis at all took some of the heat out of the dance as far as I’m concerned. Also, her clear stumble near the beginning and a couple of messy spots should’ve kept her from getting those two 8s.

Romeo and Chelsie: Romeo dedicated his “I’ll Be There” rumba to two of his cousins who died at a young age under tragic circumstances. I thought he came out extremely strong (especially from an emotional standpoint), but eventually seemed to lose his focus halfway through and it got sloppy. I just wish he’d stop bitching about the more feminine qualities of this show during rehearsal. In week one, he didn’t want to move his hips in a suggestive way. This week, he didn’t want to wear the dance shoes with the slightly high heel. Somewhere, Master P is smiling.

Hines Ward and Kym: I was grateful for Hines’ lively samba tribute to his mom if only for the fact that it broke up an impressive streak of downbeat/depressing routines. I’m still thoroughly enjoying this couple and Hines was pretty much the only celeb to give us half-decent hip action on his Latin dance. The only problem is that I feel it was a little too early to play the Steelers gear/ Terrible Towel card.

Petra Nemcova and Dmitry: Last week, Petra looked frail, gangly and awkward. This week, she found a dance that was PERFECTLY suited to her strengths (excellent posture, long limbs and a regal air about her), so it’s not surprise that her waltz was my favorite dance of the night. (It wound up tied atop the leaderboard with Hines.) Also, has there ever been a supermodel that seems so…nice?

Sugar Ray Leonard and Anna: Unless there’s a shocking turn of events, it seems like tonight’s elimination is going to come down between Wendy and Sugar Ray. Seems to me like the show seems a little bit more interested in keeping Ray around, seeing as how they allowed him to do his routine with elaborate staging/props and shelled out cash to get Michael Buffer to do his intro. (Then again, it seems like Buffer will show up at any function for a ham sandwich.) For a paso doble, it was oddly disengaging and his “passion” seemed labored. I haven’t even mentioned his bad kicks and his non-existent footwork. In fact, let’s just forget him and watch Anna TrebunSKAya (as Buffer would say) from now on. At least, it looks like Ray is trying. (Unlike Wendy.)

Kirstie Alley and Maksim (pictured, right): The shame of it is that Kirstie’s rumba was actually pretty damn good. Yes, the fact that Maks suffered a thigh injury, but recovered enough to finish the dance impressively worked out perfectly with Kirstie’s story about coming back from adversity following the death of her mother just as Kirstie was getting her big break with “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.” It’s an even bigger shame because this injury opens up about 500 more “Kirstie Alley is fat” jokes. My favorite part was, after Kirstie and Maks got their score, seeing Maks hobbling off camera with Cheryl and Tony following close behind to make sure he’s ok. These pros are clearly friends and seem to care for each other.

Ralph Macchio and Karina: Yes, Ralph dialed his aggressiveness way back from where it was last week for his rumba (dedicated to Ralph’s wife), but his forcefulness was still a bit much. Parts of the routine were lovely (as Carrie Ann argued), but too much of it seemed more like a martial arts exercise than fluid, beautiful dancing. More importantly, if I were to tell you that a married couple’s name was “Ralph and Phyllis”, is there any way you’d assume that they were under 80 years old? The fact that Ralph looked 13 in his wedding picture (what an adorable ring-bearer) didn’t exactly help matters.

So what’d you think of this episode? Does Mark make a better girl than Chelsea? Why didn’t they go ahead and just make this Rumba Night? Finally, is there any way someone other than Wendy Williams goes home tonight? (Cut to Sugar Ray Leonard crossing his fingers.)

Justified: Mad Mags

Poor Charlie. Not, not him.

I’m talking about Coover Bennett’s unseen pet, which was unceremoniously killed by Ava’s shotgun blast as she came to Boyd Crowder’s rescue.

Unfortunately for us — and for a despondent Coover — Charlie was killed before we got a chance to see what kind of animal the two nastiest Bennett Bros. were using to threaten people working with Black Pike (like Boyd) or considering signing an agreement that would allow the company to mine in Harlan County (like Reggie, Harlan County’s black guy). The actual answer is here. I would’ve guessed a raccoon.

I thought “The Spoil” was a return to form for “Justified” after the previous two episodes, which focused heavily on the contrived Winona/money bag drama. It was a return to form because it was a return to the season’s main villains: the Bennetts.

Of course, as Raylan amusingly pointed out, between the Bennetts, the greedy/shady mining company and Boyd (who, despite his sturdy righteousness, could strike back at any moment), Harlan County isn’t short on bad guys. Raylan’s job is just to clean up the bodies in the aftermath.

Then again, Raylan may not be in a position to cleanup for anybody else, since he’s dealing with his own mess…and he’s kind of a mess himself. Although, I still stand by my opinion that the some of the drama in the previous two episodes was annoyingly artificial, it served its purpose of putting our main character in a fascinating place.

Early on we got a fantastic scene in a batting cage — that poor teen was just trying to do his job — where Art gave Raylan his assignment for the week: protecting Black Pike bigwig Carol Johnson while she was in Harlan for a town hall meeting. Obviously, the scene was dripping in subtext — and played beautifully by Nick Searcy and Timothy Olyphant — since we knew that Art had busted Raylan and Winona scurrying out of the evidence locker toward the end of the missing money drama. Apparently, the subtext wasn’t lost on Raylan either, since he went back to his hotel and informed Winona that Art knew.

At the end of last week, Raylan seemed utterly disgusted and angry at the predicament he was in, and those feelings seemed to spill over onto this week because he appeared to be hungover for most of the episode. As we learned from last season’s “Hatless”, a drunk/hungover Raylan is a Raylan that will get into (and lose) a fight. This time, it was Coover giving him a vicious beating until Mags (hilariously) tapped him on the head with a shovel to stop. I’m sure a lot of people are shocked that nothing happened to Coover as a result of assaulting a federal marshal, but I figure Raylan’s going to want to handle that one on his own down the line.

With Raylan at his most vulnerable, it was probably more difficult than usual for him to resist the comically-forward advances from Carol, who tempted our hero while in various states of (basic cable) undress. But even Carol’s mild sluttiness was given proper context, as we learned that she was an English major in school who wound up in the mining business because of family. She strikes me as a generally unhappy, severe person who occasionally throws herself at an attractive guy out of boredom.

We also got the story on the Givens/Bennett family feud, which started in the moonshining days and reached its peak during the modern age during a baseball game in which Dickie beaned Raylan with a fastball and Raylan broke his leg with a bat. (And that explains the limp.)

There was a little more Givens family drama as Helen offered to give Raylan the rest of the marshals money that Arlo had stolen if Raylan promised to stay out of Harlan and leave the Bennett alone. Obviously, there’s always the chance that Arlo might have something cooking on the side with the Bennetts (though unlikely because of the family history), but I’m choosing to see this as Helen’s way of showing concern for Raylan and trying to keep him safe. Still, that’s a pretty big gesture.

After an explosive town hall meeting (relax, they were just firecrackers) which was, in effect, “won” by Mags’ powerful and charismatic speech — Margo Martindale (pictured, left) killed it — Raylan accompanied Carol to Arlo and Helen’s house as she tried to get their signature on Black Pike’s behalf.

At that point, the sniper from last week’s episode returned, leading to the episode’s climactic action scene. Though Arlo was shot in the leg — there IS a little hero in the old bastard after all, as he jumped to protect Carol — the tenses moment came when the sniper was about to shoot Helen. Fortunately, Raylan neutralized (but didn’t shoot) the sniper, who turned out to be Kirby Jr’s sister. (Kirby Jr. himself was apprehended off-screen outside of Judge Reardon’s home, so that seems to be the end of that…unless their mom re-surfaces.)

Overall, I thought this was a strong episode, and next week’s looks even better.

So what’d you think of this episode? Who DID set off those firecrackers? (Do we believe Carol when we said it wasn’t her…I don’t.) I know that this is a TV show, but if the Bennetts are such a notorious crime family, how come we didn’t hear about them at all last season? Finally, is there anything on TV right now that’s better than any scene between Raylan and Boyd?