Reviews and More

Monday night’s episode of 24 was number 6×17 and the action took place between 10:00PM and 11:00PM. I thought most of it was boring, right up til the point where Jack and Fayed started fighting. That’s when the show gained momentum and really caught my attention. Plus, that last phone call… Wow! Anyway, here’s what happened during the rest of the hour.

White House Bunker: It turns out that Wayne’s order for a nuclear strike was just a bluff to get the government from Fayed’s country to cooperate with the U.S. Wayne and the Joint Chiefs actually gave the order to launch a secondary, non-nuclear bomb that wouldn’t have done much damage at all. The bluff works, and the ambassador from that still unnamed Middle Eastern country tells Palmer that they have a man named General Sahib in custody. They’ll interrogate him to see what kind of info he’ll divulge.

Later on, Wayne feels weak again and starts jonesing for another adrenaline shot. His doctor refuses, so we’ll have to wait and see what happens with this angle.

Jack/Doyle/Fayed: Jack starts interrogating (read: torturing) Fayed out in the field, but Fayed won’t reveal anything. That’s when Jack devises a scheme that could lead CTU to the remaining nukes. They tell Fayed that they’re transporting him back to CTU for the “pharmaceutical package”, but en route they’re intercepted by masked men who are ostensibly trying to help Fayed escape. These men “shoot” Jack and Doyle, and then take off with Fayed.

The men tell Fayed they’ve been sent by General Sahib, but Fayed won’t believe them until he talks to Sahib himself. The ambassador at the White House bunker arranges for Sahib to pretend that he’s giving legitimate orders to Fayed, but Sahib manages to slip in a distress code. That’s when Fayed shoots all the CTU agents and tries to make his escape — in a sanitation truck. Jack discovers him just in time and climbs under to truck to go along for the ride.

When they arrive at Fayed’s warehouse, Jack storms the place without bothering to call for backup, and of course he manages to shoot down all of Fayed’s associates without so much as suffering a single scrape. Then Jack and Fayed get into that awesome fistfight that I mentioned at the top of the post. That was the best action of the season so far, IMO. Jack wins, then hangs Fayed for good measure.

The nukes are now secure and just when it looks like the season’s over, the writers remember that they have six more episodes to fill. So Jack gets a phone call at the end: it’s Audrey. She’s still alive and is being held by the Chinese, which means Jack’s next mission will be to go and rescue her.

My Reaction: As I said at the start, the episode was boring until the last 10 minutes or so. Why are the writers showing so much of the White House bunker? Are other viewers actually interested in what’s going on there? That stuff continues to put me to sleep. Also, are we EVER going to get any follow-up on Logan, Martha, and Aaron? It’s been, what, four hours since Logan was stabbed in the neck? Surely we should have had an update by now.

I’m glad the storyline is taking a turn. I’m ready to see Jack do battle with the Chinese in order to save Audrey. Bring it on!

I know there are a lot of people out there who think payday loans are a bad idea and will end up hurting more than they help. I can understand why some would feel that way, but at the same time, I’d be willing to bet that those very same people have never taken out a payday loan for themselves. They’re just basing their opinion on stories they’ve heard or on half-truths about that type of service.

Well, I actually had to use a payday loan many years ago, so my opinion comes from personal experience. I was living paycheck to paycheck at the time and was driving a real beater of a car. Unfortunately, the thing decided to give out on me right at the beginning of the week. I remember that it was one of those weeks when all my bills came due at the same time, so I was faced with the dilemma of having to choose between paying for my car or paying rent.

I desperately needed both (obviously), so I decided to try a payday loan. Yes, the interest rate is extremely high and if you don’t pay the loan back on time, you’ll get hit with major penalties. But what other option did I have? My credit cards were already maxed, so there wasn’t anything else I could do.

In that situation, the payday loan really came through for me. I only took advantage of the service one time, which allowed me to get my car fixed and keep my job.

So in extreme emergencies, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with getting payday loans. Just make sure you pay everything back on time and don’t use this type of service as a crutch for every little financial problem that comes up.

Desperate Housewives finally came back with a new episode on April 8 after a month-long hiatus. Bree and Orson are still on their honeymoon or whatever, so that left everyone else on Wisteria Lane to pick up the slack. Here’s what happened on 3×17, which was called “Dress Big.”

Lynette/Tom: Lynette and Tom continued their petty bickering. This time, Lynette refused to wear the restaurant’s official uniform, which is an orange t-shirt. She said she doesn’t like orange because the color means something bad is going to happen. She even goes so far as to try to make the other employees complain to Tom that they don’t like the shirts, but they say the uniform isn’t so bad.

Lynette sticks to her guns even when Tom orders her — as a manager — to put the uniform on. This causes them to get into a fight, and Lynette leaves early. When Tom doesn’t come home on time, Lynette goes back to the pizza parlor to find out what happened. She discovers her husband collapsed on the floor. His back gave out and he’ll need surgery, which will keep him out of commission for a few months. The last shot we see is of Lynette putting on her orange shirt in order to run the show.

Gabby/Victor: This storyline seems a bit aimless to me. These two had the same dates and the same conversations that they had in the last episode. Victor talked about how much Gabby will eventually like him, and she kept saying how she’s going to dump him soon. The only thing that changed this week was that Gabby’s entire wardrobe was ruined thanks to a leaking boiler (or something) and she ended up stealing dresses from Victor’s wife’s closet. Of course Victor’s wife later runs into Gabby at an event, recognizes her one-of-a-kind dress and demands that Gabby return it then and there.

Susan/Ian/Mike: Ian’s parents come to visit, and Susan’s klutziness kicks into high gear. She sets Ian’s mom’s dress on fire near the barbecue grill and later opens a door on her. Susan also catches Ian’s dad while he’s cross-dressing in her bathroom.

When Ian’s mom finds out that Susan is divorced (not widowed, as she assumed), she starts pressing Ian to make Susan sign a prenup. At first Ian refuses, but when he sees Susan chatting with Mike in the driveway, he reconsiders. Susan reluctantly agrees to do it; however, as she’s about to sign, she gets Ian’s dad to come to her defense and tear the document up.

Edie/Carlos: Edie has been going through a dry spell in the dating department, so she sets her sights on Carlos. What’s more, she uses her son Travers as “sex bait” to lure Carlos to her house. At first, Carlos repels her advances, but then Edie goes over to his house, strips down in front of him, and tells him that she’s changed. Later on, we see them naked in bed together.

My Reaction: The storylines felt so completely disjointed tonight that I couldn’t enjoy the episode at all. One of the best parts about Desperate Housewives is the way the wives interact with each other and the way the storylines usually overlap (at least a little bit). Now, it’s like everyone’s off doing their own thing, and that’s not interesting at all.

Nevertheless, there were a couple of great moments in this ep. I thought Felicity Huffman was fantastic in the scene where she found Tom and tried to hold herself together while dialing 911. Also, I thought Susan’s clumsiness was actually funny this week, and Gabby’s facial expression when Victor’s wife threatened her with the pepper spray was hilarious.

Okay, I think I’m ready for this season to end. How many eps are left again?

The first time I ever bought a pair of cowboy boots was for my Halloween costume one year. I was about 22 years old and had never worn them before, so I didn’t really know what to expect. I was surprised at how comfortable the boots were and how great they looked with jeans, so I started wearing them from time to time as part of my regular footwear rotation. I was soon hooked, and have had at least one pair of cowboy boots at my disposal ever since then.

It’s almost time for me to buy a new pair, so I was checking online this morning to view some of the latest designs. I came across a website called The Boot Store, and immediately fell in love with a couple of different pairs of Western boots. The Boot Store had a great selection of products overall and I could see right away how competitive their prices are. When I’m ready to order, I will probably go back to that site again. Check it out for yourself and you’ll see what I mean!