Prison Break Season 3 Episode 13

Everybody got out and started running in Prison Break Season 3 Episode 12. Bellick, Lechero, and T-Bag made it all of about 20 feet. Scofield, Whistler, Mahone, and McGrady made it outside the fence. McGrady’s with his father, and we’re waiting to see how they get past the police blockade. Whistler faked an injury and then took off, just in time to prevent Lincoln from killing Mahone.

As Whistler takes off, a chase ensues. He gets a cell phone from a pedestrian and calls Susan, just in time for Lincoln to start punching and kicking him.

McGrady and his father are approaching a police blockade. They stop and ask him some questions. McGrady hides, and his father pretends he doesn’t know anything. They demand to inspect the car.

Sucre’s being tortured back at Sona, but it’s not getting them anywhere.

Michael and Susan talk on the phone. He tells her he wants to meet in 10 minutes, alone. So she rounds everyone up.

Sona’s a free-for-all. There’s plenty of looting and violence for to go around. As Lechero’s being beaten up, T-bag insists on helping him, even though Bellick would rather leave him for dead.

Mahone makes his way into a bar for a club soda. Interesting strategy for someone running from the man.

Sucre’s brought outside and given a shovel so he can dig his own grave. He starts digging.

Susan meets Michael. She suggests he should be on the same side with the Company, since they pay well. He’s got Whistler; she has Sofia and LJ. It’s not time to exchange them, though. Michael isn’t interested in doing that just yet. He just wants to make sure everybody’s alive.

McGrady’s father has fertilizer in the back of his truck. They let him go. After they drive away, McGrady crawls through a hidden compartment behind the seat.

Lechero and Bellick are both trying to convince T-Bag to get lost and stop risking his life for Lechero. T-Bag believes the guards have a price.

LJ finds the concept of Susan thinking she can outsmart Scofield to be amusing. He leads them to a building with metal detectors. Inside, they make the exchange. Everybody else is ready to just walk away, but Sofia demands that he give the coordinates. Susan reveals that there are no coordinates. James wants Sofia to come with him, but she’s not real thrilled with the idea. Susan, meanwhile, expects Michael to just walk into a trap, but he knows she’s got shooters ready at each exit, so he makes an alarm go off so that everybody will go outside together.

Sucre’s done digging his grave. He lies down as the guard demands. Then they start burying him alive.

Once they get the money, T-Bag reveals his true intent. He’s not trying to help Lechero. He wants to take the money and kill him. Lechero hands him a pillow, which he uses to smother him to death.

At the exit, Susan and Whistler are stopped by the guards, since Michael’s planted evidence on them. One of Susan’s goons comes up and shoots. He’s shoved out of the way, and his misfire hits Sofia. Lincoln refuses to leave her there, which should be an indication to her and to Whistler which side is the right side. LJ agrees to stay with her so that Lincoln can run.

Whistler has some bad news for Susan. The book is gone.

McGrady and his father stop for a homecoming party.

Once he’s all the way buried, the guards finally realize that burying Sucre isn’t going to work. Once they unbury him, the phone rings, and Sucre’s told he has to find out where they are if it’s Scofield, which it is. After finding out how everybody is, he drops the phone and breaks it, daring the guard to kill him.

T-Bag makes an announcement in the middle of the yard. He tells everybody that Lechero is dead and gives a speech about how everybody is equal. Then he holds up a fistful of cash, which he starts throwing around to the other prisoners.

Sucre’s not dead. He’s just a prisoner in Sona now.

LJ gives Michael a paper rose that he’d left for Sara back when they were in Fox River.

From her hospital bed, Sofia whispers to LJ that she found something under Whistler’s bed. Lincoln isn’t interested, but Scofield. They find some papers with the name Jason Lief. Michael doesn’t want to just get away. He wants revenge. While Lincoln heads off to the hospital to see Sofia, Michael goes to hunt down Susan.

Whistler shows up at the bar with Susan, and he’s there to get Mahone, who says he’s in. In the process, Mahone also suggests that Susan’s the weak link, and if that’s the case, Scofield will find them.

At this point, Prison Break has neither been officially cancelled nor renewed. Hopefully they pick it up for a fourth season, as there’s still obviously more left to the story. Stay tuned to dingoRUE for continued coverage.

Big Brother 9 Episode 3

Parker & Jen were the first power couple of the game and should have had a simple decision with no hard feelings. Instead, once Jacob opened his big mouth in Big Brother 9 Episode 2, they decided they needed to target him instead of the couple everybody was in agreement about (the overly annoying Sheila and Adam), making Jacob and Sharon the first team to be evicted from the Big Brother house. Having won HOH, Amanda & Alex now have the power. As those of you keeping tabs on the Big Brother 9 Spoilers page are aware, it’s been one of the more eventful first weeks in the house, which should make for an interesting show tonight.

Alex says he’s upset because he really didn’t want to win, since winning is generally not a good thing. Chelsia is not happy to see Amanda in power.

Amanda is displeased with her picture on the memory wall. Matt is absolutely in love with his picture. Jen makes a comment about her picture being first on the wall, a harmless comment that gets blown out of proportion, largely by her partner, who after overreacting last week is claiming that if he loses it will be because of her, rather than the enemies he’s made an effort to make in the house.

Allison’s letting her jealousy take control of her game, and she’s ranting about it to Parker. She threatens to reveal the secret about Jen and Ryan dating, which is just ridiculous and stupid.

Amanda tells the story of how her father hung himself when she was 21, a couple years ago. The last time she heard from him he was a voicemail message in which he told her she never answered when he needed her, so because of that he was going to kill himself. She says this is why she’s always happy because it’s better to be that way than be sad all the time. Her partner Alex also lost his father at a young age.

Allison doesn’t want to play other people’s game. Instead, she wants to play her own very stupid game. Those who need to trust her think she’s a ticking time bomb, which is not a good thing to have people thinking about you in this house.

Adam is uncircumsised, so of course Jen wants to see it. The mature level of conversation in the BB house is just so refreshing.

Allison needs to talk with someone, so she kinda sorta dances around the subject with Sheila, but doesn’t actually say anything worthwhile. She just lets her know she’s keeping something from her. I’d avoid her after that myself.

Rather than letting Allison spill the beans, Parker & Jen decide to tell the secret. He tells Alex and Matt that Jen and Ryan are dating. They don’t like that he waited two days to tell the secret, especially since he woke everybody up at 4am and yelled at them for not telling who called him a snake. Then Parker & Jen tell Natalie and Amanda, who are also pissed off.

Allison plays innocent with Matt, who likes her anyway, so he’s okay with it in terms of her role. Then he brings her out into the room with the others, where she and Jen get into how they hate each other.

Allison turns on the waterworks when she reveals this information to Joshuah, and he gets a bible for people to swear on that they all don’t know each other. Yeah, that worked so well for those who believed James when he swore on the bible in Big Brother 6. Matt doesn’t think it means anything because half these people aren’t even religious. He’s right to be skeptical. Even if it’s true that nobody else does know anybody, believing this little ceremony is just setting yourself up for being blindsided.

Alex and Matt form an alliance, and they bring Amanda and Natalie in on it, who are comfortable that they have a strong foursome that can control the house. They plan to win HOH or POV every single week. Silliness.

Allison doesn’t care whether her teammate hates her. She confides in Sheila, who knows what it’s like to hate her partner as well. They play a trick on Joshuah and pretend that they’re a lesbian couple. They know he can’t keep a secret, and he immediately goes and tells. Then they tell Chelsia, who believes it as well. Somehow, they believe this will help their game. Has Allison not been paying attention to the fact that she’s a target because she’s with a partner who is dating someone else?

Alex and Matt don’t mind Adam, and they let Sheila know that not only do they not mind him but they actually don’t like the way she treats him. Adam asks what he did wrong to make her hate him so much. She swears, calls him a loser, and runs off crying. She won’t win an Emmy, but it may win the award for biggest drama queen of the house.

If the HOH couple is not able to come up with an agreement, they’d be nominated, and the team that finished in second would be HOH.

Nominations
Sheila & Adam – Safe
James & Chelsia – Safe
Matt & Natalie – Safe
Neil & Joshuah – Safe
Ryan & Allison – Nominated
Parker & Jen – Nominated

As much as they may want to point fingers and blame each other, all four nominated people have played their own role in this, and none of them is being very smart. Alex is looking forward to them burying themselves even deeper.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of Big Brother 9 Episode 4, which airs Tuesday at 9/8c on CBS.

The Biggest Loser 5 Episode 7

Jackie’s played the game hard from day one, which I’ve liked about her, but she seemed to be confused last week between playing hard and asking the dumbest of all reality show questions: do you swear on your family? Seriously, when has that ever worked out? As per usual, it didn’t work out for her when she was voted out, and as per usual, she got up on her high horse about it. I’m not of the belief this is a bad thing myself. On the contrary, I don’t think that question should ever be asked, and if someone’s willing to stoop to that level and ask it anyway, they should be prepared to be blindsided.

When they return from elimination, the black team is not happy to see what’s gone down. Dan’s making an effort to avoid his teammates. This isn’t the way you stay in this game, dude. Granted, this lame couples twist and Bob’s stacked deck don’t leave him a lot of room to ensure he’s not the next one gone. The black team asks Jillian to approach Dan and ask him to join their team, but she knows better than to get involved in that.

Bernie is The Biggest Loser of the week. He chooses gameplay. His card is 50% off at this week’s challenge, which is not readily apparent what it means.

Eventually, Dan realizes that moping and whining and going off on his own isn’t going to get him anywhere. So he pretends he’s forgotten what happened and is willing to patch things up with his team. Jay & Mark apologize for having lied to him.

They walk to the challenge and see water, which they know isn’t good since they’re already cold. Two pairs from each team will stand on balance beams. There’s a rope with the total weight they’ve lost during their time there. Bernie will only be carrying half of the weight he’s lost because of his reward. Whoever wins can give immunity to two people, one from their own team and one from the opposite team. Since it’s about balance (actually, it’s more about strength than balance), Trent obviously sits out. Despite his lack of balance, the 50% off convinces Bernie to stay in, so Kelly sits out. Mark and Dan must hold 130 pounds; Jay and Roger have 107. Maggie and Paul are holding 85 pounds, and Bernie and Brittany have 62. Roger and Jay are the first ones out, and Mark and Dan follow. Black team wins.

Trent tells Bob that, even though others around him may be playing the game, it’s not about gameplay for him, as he just wants to lose the weight so he can be there to watch his son grow up.

Jillian comes up with a plan. She’ll put the names in a hat, and whoever’s name comes out last gets immunity. Maggie wins immunity. The theory was that this wouldn’t cause hard feelings, but it’s pretty obvious that Maggie is the weakest link of her team, so this does not sit well with Paul.

Deciding some things are beyond her knowledge, Jillian brings in a professional. A therapist. Scary. She has her mom come in to meet with her team. Bob also asks his team if they want to meet with her, but they’re not interested. They want to walk it out, not talk it out, so they go for a hike. Despite his knee injury, Trent is able to make it to the top of the mountain.

Brittany says her weight stems from her parents getting divorced, which was followed by being told that her biological father actually died when she was 4. Kelly, likewise, had to deal with her parents’ divorce at a young age, and to top that off, her family led her to believe that she was responsible for her mom having a stroke following a fight they had. Paul doesn’t remember much about his childhood, except that he was abused by his father, which he’s never talked about before.

Before the weigh-in, the black team reveals who will be getting immunity: Jay. Hmm. Interesting. I’d have gone with Dan since it would have driven a wedge between the blue team and split up another couple. Of course, that’s assuming they think they can win the weigh-in, but after last week’s win, another black team win is unlikely.

Kelly: 225 pounds (-8)
Paul: 241 pounds (-10)
Bernie: 216 pounds (-7)
Brittany: 188 pounds (-1)
Maggie: 204 pounds (-2)
Total: -28 pounds, 2.54%

Dan: 237 pounds (-7)
Roger: 292 pounds (-9)
Trent: 349 pounds (-8)
Mark: 215 pounds (-6)
Jay: 244 pounds (-4)
Total: -34 pounds, 2.48%

By the slimmest of margins, black team wins the weigh-in. Paul is the player of the week. Unfortunately, Kelly let it be known during the weigh-in that she didn’t trust her team, so that may not bode well going forward. Jay has immunity, and so does Roger. Since Dan missed Roger’s mark by 0.1%, it’s pretty obvious who’s going home here. Instead of breaking up another pair, they can just make the easy decision. Bob’s not happy with his team’s loss and walks out of the room before Alison finishes talking.

But there’s a light on the horizon for Dan. Trent doesn’t feel he’s contributing enough because of his injury, so he volunteers to be voted out. Not to be outdone, Mark also volunteers to go home. If we’re going based on what’s best for the team, the solution here is really simple. Jay should quit, or at least ask to give up his immunity.

Votes
Jay: Trent
Mark: Trent
Trent: Mark
Roger: Trent

If not for the injury, Trent could have won this thing. I don’t think they were quite ready to let him go yet, but they honored his wish to do what he felt was best for them going forward. He returns home to see his family, and then goes to the local high school where he trains athletes and are holding a pep rally for him. From his starting weight of 436 pounds, Trent is now down to 324 pounds today, for a loss of 112 pounds. He’s also passing the lessons he’s learned on to his wife.

It’s not over yet, though. Alison calls everybody into the elimination room and tells them they’re going home. Just how much have they learned, and how much self control do they have? We’ll find out next week.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another recap of The Biggest Loser: Couples episode 8, which airs Tuesday at 8/7c on NBC.

The Amazing Race Asia 2 Winner

With the elimination of Ann & Diane in The Amazing Race 2 Episode 12, we’re now down to the final three teams: Rovilson Fernandez & Marc Nelson of the Philippines, Vanessa Chong & Pamela Chong of Malaysia, and Collin Low & Adrian Yap of Singapore. This season has really been a story of the complete dominance of Rovilson & Marc, although unlike everybody else, Adrian & Collin have given them a run for their money. While it can be suggested that these two teams had it too easy, I’d argue they could take on the best players and still perform strongly.

Teams depart in the order in which they arrived.

First: Rovilson & Marc (5:09am)
Second: Adrian & Collin (5:25am)
Third: Pamela & Vanessa (5:34am)

Teams must drive themselves to District Six Museum in Cape Town, the home of the first black South African community, who were forcibly removed from their homes during apartheid.

Pamela & Vanessa point out something I had not realized previously. The teams remaining are the only teams to win a leg. Marc & Rovilson have placed first an astonishing 9 times (with three second place finishes). Adrian & Collin, who usually placed second behind them, managed to come in first two times. And way back in episode 1, before their various nervous breakdowns, Pamela & Vanessa won the first leg and came off as one of the early strong contenders.

The museum opens at 8am, and the drive there is long enough that the first team to arrive, Rovilson & Marc, don’t have to wait for the hours of operation. Once there, they need to figure out a computer password from a list of streets. Once they get that, they must read one paragraph about the history from the walls of the museum.

The detour is a choice between search or assemble. In search, teams must make their way through Scratch Patch and search through hundreds of semi-precious stones to find the designated race rocks. In assemble, teams must go to Bishop’s Wires & Bead Craft, where they will learn how to make a South African wire art radio.

Radio: Rovilson & Marc (after trying search), Vanessa & Pamela
Search: Adrian & Collin (turns out to be not as hard as it sounds)

From there, teams will drive to the soccer field at FC Kapstadt next to the construction site for the 2010 World Cup soccer stadium, where they will need to score three goals from the penalty line.

After that, they’ll drive to the Atlantis Dunes and ride quad bikes along a flagged course to search for a clue. There are 18 possible checkpoints. One has a clue. The others have an hourglass that must run out before they can move on. This game of dumb luck is potentially the opportunity the trailing two teams have been waiting for. Rovilson & Marc take the time to perfect their sand angels and sand breakdancing. Adrian & Collin are using the fact that they’re in second to their advantage, as they’re avoiding anywhere they believe Rovilson & Marc have already been. Having spent some time spying on Adrian & Collin’s strategy, once they do get the clue, Rovilson & Marc decide to wait and pretend it’s an hourglass. They don’t buy the acting, though, and grab the clue a few minutes afterward (after recovering from a wipeout).

Once they’re done playing in the sand, they’ll drive to Cape Point and go by Funicular to the Upper Station then walk to the Cape Point Historic Lighthouse. They have to tell the lighthouse keeper the country they think they’ll be travelling to next to get their next clue. When they arrive, Rovilson & Marc miss the point of the clue, allowing Adrian & Collin to take the lead. They find out they will be travelling to Singapore next, which gives them the home country advantage.

The airport is the great equalizer and makes the rest of the leg moot. All three teams are on the same flight to Singapore, 9700km away. The first stop is the Raffles Statue at the Asian Civilizations Museum. They will now head to Tanjong Beach at Sentosa Island by taxi. Rovilson & Marc, mere seconds ahead of Adrian & Collin, catch a break. They kept their taxi waiting while they read their clue, but the other guys didn’t.

The road block is to place the flags of the countries they have visited on the race in order. This turned out to be the difference between losing and winning for the hippies in The Amazing Race 9.

Road block (in order of arrival): Rovilson, Vanessa, Adrian

Rather than choosing to pick the person who would have done better, Rovilson & Marc stick with their strategy of alternating road blocks. While that’s worked well for them thus far, now’s not the best time for it. Eventually, the other two teams catch up, so the race comes down to who can finish it first. Adrian, who had a book of flags when he was younger, takes the lead by finishing the task first. Vanessa gets it next. Rovilson finishes, but it’s not looking so good.

The final pitstop for this leg of the race is the Rainbow Bridge at the Chinese Garden.

First: Adrian & Collin
Second: Vanessa & Pamela
Third: Rovilson & Marc

And The Amazing Race Asia 2 winners are Adrian & Collin. While they were a good team, it’s hard not to feel that Rovilson & Marc should have won this race after dominating it so much. Still, they ran a good race having won almost every leg, and they took the time to stop and smell the roses along the way, making them perhaps the most entertaining team from any season of The Amazing Race.

With the success of the first two seasons, it’s likely we will see The Amazing Race Asia 3. Applications are currently being accepted and are due February 25, 2008. Filming is expected to begin later this year. As with this season, stay tuned to dingoRUE for recaps.

Sex in the Big Brother House

Normally, the cast members are able to control themselves to prevent any embarrassing footage from being shot. The only previous exception was David and Amanda from season 4.

Last night, just two days after the first episode of Big Brother 9, two of the couples hooked up. Dating couple Jen and Ryan had a very brief bout of sex in the bathroom. As if that weren’t enough, Matt and Natalie hooked up for her to give him oral sex (during which he told her he doesn’t want her to get attached to him).

Considering everybody has been partnered with their “soulmates” and all the contestants are single, looking for love, and in their 20s (Sheila notwithstanding), we probably haven’t seen the last of this. This season has the potential to become even more racy before it’s all said and done.

The CW Return Schedule

The CW has announced its plans for the return of original scripted programming.

Aliens in America (March 2-23, April 27-May 18, 8 episodes)
Everybody Hates Chris (March 3, 12 episodes)
The Game (March 23, 9 episodes)
Gossip Girl (April 21, 5 episodes)
One Tree Hill (April 14, 6 episodes)
Reaper (April 22, 5 episodes)
Smallville (April 17, 5 episodes)
Supernatural (April 24, 4 episodes)

HD-DVD on Its Last Legs?

When Warner Bros. dropped HD-DVD in favor of Blu-ray, it became apparent it was only a matter of time before Sony’s format won the war. Not willing to admit defeat, Toshiba slashed prices in an effort to prove that it was offering the better deal to consumers. Seriously, though, better deal or not, Sony’s biggest advantage can’t be beat: 10 million PS3 owners.

The last week has been particularly unkind to the HD-DVD format. First, Best Buy said that its sales people would push Blu-ray in terms of product placement and sales associate recommendations. For its part, Netflix said it would be phasing out HD-DVD. Now, Wal-Mart, the world’s largest retailer, has weighed in. They will be going Blu-ray only by June.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, “reliable industry sources” suggest Toshiba will pull the plug on HD-DVD in the next few weeks. “An announcement is coming soon,” said one source close to the HD DVD camp. “It could be a matter of weeks.”

American Idol 7 Episode 10

The judges narrowed it down to 50 in American Idol 7 Episode 9. Now that Hollywood round is over, it’s time to narrow it down even further to the top 24.

Ronald Hodge, who we haven’t seen yet, is up first. He’s eliminated. Multiple others we haven’t seen proceed to be eliminated as well.

Carly Smithson, whose first album sold 378 copies with the backing of $2.2 million from MCA, is next. She’s the first one to make the top 24. Maybe if she wins Idol, her next album will sell 379 copies.

David Cook, who Simon said he wasn’t so sure about without a guitar, also makes it through.

The judges were concerned that every time Amanda Overmyer sings it will sound the same, but she was obviously going to get through.

Simon tries to scare David Archuleta, but we all know he’s going to be in the top 24.

Kristy Lee Cook has stood out each time she’s sung Amazing Grace. So what more is there to her? She gets through.

Brooke White says she was nervous the whole time she was on the stage. It didn’t come across that way when we saw it the first time. She’s already crying on the elevator ride up. She makes the top 24.

Danny Noriega, Jason Castro, Luke Menard, and Alexandrea Lushington are the next to get through, as does Ramiele Malubay.

Michael Johns shined in Hollywood, and that momentum carries him through this.

Syesha Mercado had a difficult Hollywood week and lost her voice, but she managed to get it together enough to be able to go forward.

Robbie Carrico also goes through to the top 24.

Garrett Haley, Kady Malloy, Chikezie Eze, Amy Davis, Alaina Whitaker, and Jason Yeager get through.

Asia’h Epperson, who recently lost her father, also makes it to the next round.

David Hernandez makes it through, but it’s not unanimous. Simon said no.

Josiah Leming, who also had a tough week in Hollywood, gets the boot, based largely on his final performance keeping a bad lingering vibe. He tells them he got overconfident, interestingly enough. Despite the rejection, he’s the first success story of the season, as he’s been getting quite a bit of attention and selling his songs on his Myspace page. Of all the people eliminated, this is the one that makes the least sense.

The final spot for the guys is between Colton Berry and Kyle Ensley. It’s no surprise that Colton, whoever he is, makes it through. Simon says he disagrees with the decision and that Kyle should have been given a chance.

For the girls, it comes down to Joanne Borgella and Cardin McKinney. Joanne, who says she’s had problems in the industry because she’s overweight, is the last person to make the top 24.

The top 24 contestants of American Idol season 7, who will move on to compete for America’s votes, are:

Alaina Whitaker
Alexandrea Lushington
Amanda Overmyer
Amy Davis
Asia’h Epperson
Brooke White
Carly Smithson
Chikezie Eze
Colton Berry
Danny Noriega
David Archuleta
David Cook
David Hernandez
Garrett Haley
Jason Castro
Jason Yeager
Joanne Borgella
Kady Malloy
Kristy Lee Cook
Luke Menard
Michael Johns
Ramiele Malubay
Robbie Carrico
Syesha Mercado

Half of these people we either don’t know or barely know, which is one of the things I’m not thrilled about with the start of American Idol. They spend so much time on disasters that they can’t give most of the more deserving people enough attention.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another recap of American Idol 7 episode 11, which airs Tuesday at 8/7c on Fox.