Nine weeks. Nine wonderful weeks of Yvonne. And she survived, so there’s a glimmer of hope that she’ll be in “Dexter” season eight. And, if she does resurface, Hannah & Deb have finally found that common ground Hannah sought in the last episode: Deb’s a liar & a killer too!

The scene between Dexter & Hannah when he visits her in jail may sum up their relationship best: schizophrenic. They love each other. But he killed her father & she tried to kill his sister. He provides the evidence to get her arrested, then visits her in jail and tells her how much he misses her….

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Once upon a time there were two people who found each other and started a relationship.  Oh, yes…and they’re both killers.

Dexter & Hannah are not your typical young couple.  The conversations over dinner are enlightening.

Dexter:  My Dark Passenger…My need to kill.  It’s like this thing living inside  me telling me what to do, saying I have to kill, leaving me no choice.

Hannah:  You’re not a puppet….

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Webster defines helter skelter as “in disorder; in hurry and confusion.” In Dexter’s world, it means trouble.

The episode centers on unusual alliances. Dexter & Isaak, when Issak has Hannah kidnapped. Deb & Hannah.  LaGuerta & the former captain, Tom, who was key in the investigation of the Bayside Butcher, but who she got fired. Normally, these people have no desire to be associated. But the “helter skelter” of these alliances form……

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In the first episode of the season, Lt. Debra Morgan discovers that her step-brother & colleague, Dexter, is a serial killer. Shocking as that was, it’s even more amazing that eight episodes later, this Miami-Dade detective is asking her brother to take the life of a suspect, Hannah McKay, who Deb believes is getting away with murder.

Of course, complicating things even more is that the brother is having an…

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It’s Yvonne on “Dexter” Sunday…week 2. As much as we want to learn…and see Yvonne…we’re only getting dribs of the Hannah story. It’s all compartmentalized in the ongoing Dexter milieu. But we’ll take what we can get…and next week promises to be more.

Hannah has quite a story to tell….

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Strahotski’s finest LYKAON is back with the FINALE review:

Wow. I can’t believe the end has snuck up on us so quickly. Though I haven’t been able to keep up with Chuck as avidly as I once did, it does not make its graceful exit from television any less sad. It’s a sad day for nerds everywhere, and an especially sad day for us Yvonne Strahovski fans who have grown accustomed to a healthy dose of her awesomeness every week.

As much as we may not want to accept the end, it is upon us. We’re about to lose all of our beloved characters to television history, but as they say — all good things must come to an end. And boy was Chuck a good thing.

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The name of the show is “Chuck.” But for weeks now, it’s Sarah Walker who is the driving force. This episode is no exception. It’s Sarah who decides its time to quit “spying” if they are going to have the future they envision, “maybe babies” and all. It’s Sarah who comes up with an alternative to Carmichael Industries, trading bullets for keyboards. And, ultimately, it’s Sarah who is willing to sacrifice it all to save Chuck.

In two weeks the show will be over. From the promo for next week’s “Chuck vs the Bullet Train” the struggle will be Sarah’s. She has the Intersect. We know it’s a deadly Intersect. We saw what it did to Morgan and we see the pain that Sarah experiences when flashing. As Yvonne has said repeatedly in interviews this week, Chuck & Sarah will have something taken away from them. And, more ominously, the taking is “slightly, slightly tragic.” How that all plays out is for later. Yvonne went on to say that the fans will be satisfied…but it will be an “edge of the seat” experience. So we cling to the hope that “alls well that ends well.” After our dedication for five years, I’m not sure that even Fedak would screw that up.

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We have a NEW Reviewer, as our main site isn’t quite right yet… we will post the review here for you all to read!!!

It’s been three years since the last “Chuck” Christmas episode. We all remember that Chuck gave Sarah his Mother’s charm bracelet…and Sarah killed Mauser, the Fulcrum agent, because he found out Chuck was the Intersect.

That was a tense episode, but nothing like “Chuck vs the Santa Suit” featuring the return of Chuck & Sarah’s most vile nemesis, Daniel Shaw.

With only six episodes left in the series, it seems fitting to bring back the bad-est of the bad guys –and certainly the most hated villain of the series — for one final showdown. And while the confrontation dominated the episode, there were other moments that elevate this episode to outstanding.

Yvonne Strahovski once again proves that Sarah is the heart and soul of this series. Her range of emotions in this episode is astounding. She shows such simple joy when the episode opens being the secret weapon in Ellie’s Operation Santa, having gathered the decorations, and, then telling announcing the arrival of Mr Pippers, the preppy polar bear for Casey; seeing her hatred and loathing when Shaw appears; watching her try to convince Shaw that he can still be a good man, then begging for to stop his violent plan; the sheer surprise when Chuck tells her that Beckman kissed him; and, the icy stare as Shaw reveals his final plan. Yvonne creates such depth to the character. Of course, seeing her free herself with the knife she keeps in those platforms was pretty astounding too. And that Ellie has tapped her as the secret weapon in Operation Santa again proves that Sarah has come full circle into the normal life she never thought she could have. She even wore the charm bracelet!

The episode offers the entire cast a chance to shine. Ellie & Awesome have another good episode, albeit slightly less dramatic than there adventures in the last episode. As the primary drivers of the “best Christmas ever” movement, they offer a sense of normalcy in what is a chaotic episode. And, Ellie gets at least part of her revenge on Shaw for the killing of her father.

Jeff & Lester get the chance to save the day when Morgan asks them to delve deeper into the virus, which they off-handedly do after consuming Subway subs and vast amounts of caffeine. They discover that the virus isn’t destroying computers, it is gathering information from the government computers. Their efforts lead Chuck to finalize his plan.

Casey again proves the depth of his character. From “cold school” assassin to dedicated team member & devoted father, Casey’s growth continues. His purchase of Mr Pippers, the preppy polar bear on Ebay for Alex shows how far he has come from discovering he has a daughter in “vs Tic Tac.” into truly acting like a father. After he’s shot and imprisoned by Shaw, he turns to that bear to leave Alex his final message . But, being Casey, he figures out a way to use the bear’s electronics to escape, to help save himself & Sarah. Perhaps his best moment was at Christmas, when he told Alex to her face the things he said on the “bear” message, ending with “You know that Grimes kid, he’s not so bad. You should maybe give him another chance.” Our Tin Man has a heart!

General Beckman shines in so many ways. Bonita Friedericy has some of her best performances this season, with this certainly at the top of the list. Beckman discovers who is behind the Plan. Her true allegiance is apparent in her declaration, “This is my team and nobody, especially Shaw, is gong to take us down.” She takes Chuck/Santa to the CIA Christmas party and helps him steal the devise from Decker’s office. But nothing demonstrates her commitment to the Team more than kissing Chuck: “Grow up Bartowski, you’re about to become a man!” And, when she said, “Let’s go save our girl,” she cemented herself as an active member of Team Bartowski. Inviting them back into the CIA was icing on the cake.

Of course, the crowning moment of the episode is the rematch of Chuck & Shaw in the Buy More. Last time, both Chuck & Shaw had the Intersect. Now, Shaw has the Intersect, and plans to upgrade it into 3.0 with the information gathered by the Omen virus. But Chuck again proves he’s smart with or without the Intersect. He uses Shaw’s plan against him, infecting the 3.0 upload with the Omen virus, and bringing an end to the Intersect in Shaw. Chuck also proves that he’s more than capable in the fist fight with Shaw. He’s no match for a gun, though. And so, just as in his last encounter with Shaw, it takes a woman to ultimately bring Shaw down. This time it’s Ellie. Taking down Shaw offers both Chuck & Ellie the opportunity to avenge their Father’s death.

It is a great episode, filled with the wonderful interaction of characters that we have grown to love and hate. It is dark and violent, but also filled with the quirky fun that has been a cornerstone of this series since the beginning. It showcased Yvonne’s ability to dominate an episode, even when she’s more distressed than kick-ass. It was a chance for all the

characters to be a part of the action, including Big Mike, the Buy More crew, and even Skip with mistletoe in an elf costume. And, it gave fans the Christmas episode that so many have wanted as we count down to the final episodes.

Next week’s episode looks to again showcase Yvonne’s Sarah as we finally meet her mother, and learn the secret to the mysterious reference to “the baby.”

Sorry for the late review. Fridays are hard days for me. Always something going on. Sadly, I didn’t take down quotes for this one but that doesn’t mean I don’t have opinions! Let’s get to the review of Episode 5.03 – Chuck Versus the Frosted Tips.

Overall, I think this episode was solid. The season has ramped up with each entry, and this one was fun. It’s always good to see…… Read More Here

With every week that passes we must sadly realize that Chuck is hurtling far too quickly towards its end. It’s sad to dwell on that, though, so I prefer to focus in on what we’ve got left ahead of us. A lot of good stuff lies ahead of us, full of Yvonne Strahovski goodness.

This week we get to look forward to Trinity being stunt casted right into the fray. And hopefully we’ll see some more of Captain Awesome, and I’m seriously hoping that Big Mike isn’t gone for good.  And where’s Beckman?! Let’s get to the review of Episode 5.02 – Chuck Versus the Bearded Bandit.

“One of the KGB’s most ruthless spies…”

No time was wasted in establishing Carrie-Ann Moss and her role on the show. Though the villain of the week was some random guy, we all know that Moss is really the important addition to the show. I like this concept of making the big baddie a rival spies-for-hire. It also throws some fun wrenches in with Gertrude trying to recruit away Sarah and Casey.

I haven’t been keeping up, but hopefully Carrie-Ann Moss is going to be sticking around for a significant number of episodes. It was an interesting twist to have Sarah have to call her character to save Chuck and Morgan. Hopefully that pays off down the road.

“I’m so over this whole Jeffster thing.”

That line might have made me laugh the loudest during the whole episode. The Jeffster thing is a bit overlayed, and it’s funny to see the writers acknowledge it. It actually serves to give Jeffster a little more life when even the characters themselves recognize that it’s getting old.

I loved that Big Mike came back! I was worried that we wouldn’t see him this season, but he’s back in a big way. I loved his 70s commercial and the way in which he integrated back into the Buy More so quickly. It didn’t hurt that he got some Morgan’s Mom jabs in there.

“That’s a pretty man.”

Yay! Awesome’s back! I love his character, I love the actor, and I can’t imagine Chuck without him. This was a great episode for him. I think he may be the first guy to get the Buy More sexy wind blowing machine. Watching him walk in the way that is usually reserved for Sarah was a hoot.

It’s sort of weird that so far this season they’ve not playing Ellie and Awesome together. I wonder if they can only afford so many secondary characters per episode or if it’s just the way the story worked out. If I had to pick my favorite secondary character, it would probably be good ol’ Captain Awesome.

“Batman and Batman.”

The fight scene with Chuck and Morgan deserves a special mention. It was really tons of fun to see them fighting together as a duo. I’d love to see a story-line where they started moonlighting as a superhero team without telling Casey or Sarah. They could get costumes and the whole bit. It would be awesome. The convenience store robbery was a fun moment between them as well.

With so many characters, sometimes the core relationships can get lost in the shuffle. The friendships between Chuck and Morgan is one of those relationships. It’s as core to the show as the Sarah/Chuck dynamic and Morgan is best when he has Chuck to play off of.

“No harm, no fowl.”

Casey was awesome this episode. He had a lot of comedy that he got to play off in his normal straight way. I especially loved when he played the hunter; I felt a little bit of Jayne coming out there. I’m pretty sure he channeled the same accent.

The car scene with Sarah was also neat. It was funny to see Casey gross Sarah out with his sordid past.

“First of all, it’s Mrs…”

Yvonne Strahovski has sadly taken a bit of a backseat so far this season, but with an episode like this I’m willing to overlook it. She was there to support the cast as well as ever, and her rock-climbing scene was pretty hot. I hope the writers realize that seeing Sarah in action is every bit as sexy as seeing her in lingerie.

It’s good to see Sarah really embrace that she’s married. It feels weird for the show to completely abandon romantic angst, but it’s making it work far better than I thought it would. It’s fun to see the little flirty scenes, and they can now be used to break up the tension.

“A CEO with skinny arms.”

Last week’s premiere fell a bit flat for me, but this episode really got things rolling. I liked it a lot, and it has set up some really good hooks for this final arc. We got the briefest hints this week that the Intersect isn’t meshing well with Morgan’s brain, and using that turn Morgan into a temporary bad guy is actually a really fun idea.

I didn’t get to all I wanted to talk about — Morgan’s Bale voice, the awesome rock-climbing gun, Chuck’s hacking, Indiana Jones references. This episode had a little bit of everything, and Chuck always works best when the action is balanced by a healthy dose of humor and homage.

What did you guys think? Did this episode do more to get the season started right?