recap: heroes "how to stop an exploding man"

*spoiler alert: if you did not watch last night's heroes, do not continue reading.*

so last night was the season one finale of heroes. we were promised that if they "saved the cheerleader" they would save the world. and i do have to say that although i thought the episode was good, the ending was a bit anti-climactic. there was no big super cliffhanger. i mean, hiro did teleport himself into the 15th century. but that doesn't make me squeal "omg i can't wait til next season".

so here's what happened:
-molly (the tracking system) did not die.
-the boring family (niki, micah, and DL) are still alive
-parkman was dumb enough to try and "shoot" sylar, and ended up getting his own bullets to the chest.
-hiro finally fufilled his destiny of stabbing sylar
-claire was reunited with mr. bennett, aka "noah"
-nathan came to peter's (and new york city's) rescue and flew away with him so he could explode in the sky, as opposed to manhattan

NOW, here are my questions:
-is parkman dead? he's kinda boring. now that peter absorbed his power, can they just kill him off?
-speaking of killing off characters, niki/dl storyline. please. spare me. we can save micah since he's a kid.
-who is this mystery bad guy molly speaks of that is "worse" than sylar? i smell a season 2 villain.
-did nathan die when peter exploded? is peter dead?
-how did NO ONE see sylar go down to the sewer. i'm assuming he's still alive.
-why did the writer's say reade street was on the lower east side? that's just lazy fact checking.
-and speaking of lazy, when peter was passed out on a nyc street, there was NO ONE ELSE walking down the street or sidewalk. really??
-what the hell is grandma petrelli's power????

all in all, a good finale. tonight, idol performances. tomorrow, idol results and 2-hour lost finale! eeek!

recap: the office- "the job- parts 1 and 2"

*spoiler alert- if you have NOT watched last night's finale episode, do not keep reading*

last night was the 3rd season finale of the office. at the beginning of the episode, we see michael in the lobby of dunder-mifflin corporate offices in new york. when cfo david wallace walks in, he looks surprised to see michael since his interview isn't until the next day. right off the bat, off to a funny start.

so here basically is a summary of the events that happened last night (summary from nbc):

the office is still buzzing from the events of their day at the beach. a job opening in corporate pits coworker against coworker as michael, jim, and karen all head to new york for final interviews. in scranton, dwight’s new regime institutes sweeping reforms, pam plays an interesting role and jan comes in with exciting news.

so here's what that means:

-scranton dunderlings tease pam about what she said at the beach, but she has no regrets

-michael, karen, and jim all go to ny to interview for a corporate job, which turns out to be jan's job as they are going to fire her

-michael tells jan, she flips out and michael "respectfully" withdraws his name for consideration. jan is fired and escorted out.

-dwight is picked by michael as his successor. needless to say the news goes to his head

-and jan's exciting news...wait for it...a boob job.

-creed has a blog titled creed thoughts.

the episode ended with RYAN getting the job (surprise twist!). and for the pam/jim cliffhanger...click here to watch.

recap: american idol - and then there were two...

well, let me take a moment to swallow my pride (and claire voyant skills) and say i was COMPLETELY WRONG on who i thought was going home. but i also said that if i had my way, it would be blake and jordin in the finals. so let's just take a moment to say YAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!!!!!! but now, more than ever, i'm kinda torn. i love blake, but i love jordin.

ahhhh, so last night we saw more of the contestant's home town visits. everyone got an honorary day in their home town. blake had cute, sentimental moments with his dad (he called him "daddy", awwww).

there was also a performance from last year's melinda doolittle (i.e. last year's 3rd place), elliott yamin. the funny thing is as i was watching it (for about five seconds before i decided to fast forward through it), i thought to myself "this sounds like music my mom would like". an hour later i talk to my mom on the phone and she says "who was that guy that performed? i like him. i might have to look for his cd." NO JOKE. at least elliott yamin has a fan base of 50-something moms (i love you mom).

so next week, the AI finale. and if last year's finale is any indication, it's going to be RI-DUNK-ULOUS!

recap: american idol brings it

last night we got not one or two, but THREE songs from the three remaining contestants. jordin, blake, and melinda each got to sing a judge's choice, producer's choice, and their choice.here's what they went with:
jordin
judge's choice- simon picks "wishing on a star"
producer's choice- "she works hard for the money"
contestant's choice- "i who have nothing"

blake
judge's choice- crazy paula picks "roxanne"
producer's choice- "this love"
contestant's choice- "when i get you alone"

melinda
judge's choice- randy picks a tough song "i belive in you and me"
producer's choice- "nutbush city limits"
contestant's choice- "i'm a woman"

overall, i have to say i agreed with the judges as to the contestants finally bringing it. although, they are the top three, so if they can't cut it by now, they are in deep shit.

so here's my assessment of last night and who i think is going home. the judges ADORE melinda beyond words. simon even went as far as saying he "loved her little striptease" (she only took off her jacket, but for a conservative girl like melinda, that is a striptease). i think by far, she is the one they want to take home the crown. i think blake ABSOLUTELY has a strong fan base. so who does that leave? jordin. but, if i had to make an educated guess, i'm gonna have to say that melinda will be in the bottom two with jordin because her fan base isn't as big as blake's. but, i'm sticking to my gut and saying jordin's journey ends tonight. blake and melinda will be in the finals next week (if i had my way it would be blake and jordin all the way!).

but don't cry for jordin. that girl can sing! and maybe she can do guest roles on ugly betty as her long lost sister!

recap: heroes "landslide"

*spoiler alert! do not read if you have not watched the episode that originally aired on 5/14*

hiro and ando are in isaac's loft. hiro's moaning over failing to kill sylar, but ando tells him to grow a pair. ando tells them they can have the sword repaired. naturally, in the phone book there's a company that fixes swords (and has the creepy hero logo on it).

across town, the bennett/parkman/ted/petrelli/cheerleader reunion commences. mr. bennett agrees to let claire help "save the world" since it is her destiny. little do they know that sylar is close by and eavesdropping on their plans.

nathan and mr. linderman talk about nathan's political future. as long as nathan lets the bomb explode in nyc, he will be president one day. in the middle of some sappy moment about nathan's dad, nathan's wife interrupts them and he gives her a "gift". he touches her hands and we're lead to believe that he maybe healed her. linderman leaves and nathan and his wife argue about linderman. then of course, shazam! her foot starts moving and she stands up. she's healed!

the superteam (peter/claire/ted) are on their way to "saving the world" and peter overhears sylar overhearing them. peter panics and orders that they "get off the streets". i have no idea what good he thinks that will do, but we'll trust he knows what he's doing.

cut to ando and hiro who run into nathan. hiro tells nathan they are trying to stop the bomb and need his help. but nathan lies through his teeth and says they can't stop the bomb, "nobody can". hiro realizes it's too late to sway him and calls him a "bad guy" and a "villain".

hiro and ando take the broken sword to the shop to see if they can get the sword fixed. the shop keepter tells hiro it depends on "him". the door opens and it's zulu from star trek! hiro's dad! hiro is stunned to see his dad, and his dad tells him he has reached the end of his journey. although he is hesitant to speak to his father, hiro agrees to do so out of respect.

micah and the boring babysitter girl who can change what she looks like sit in the nyc apt. she bribes him with a comic books. keeps him somewhat happy. linderman walks in and says micah can change the world with his ability. and if he helps him, once he's done he can not only go home with his parents, but he'll give them a buttload of cash to be rich and happy forevs.

the superteam is walking down the street and suddenly fbi cuts them off. the blonde chick who was working with parkman arrests ted. claire and peter literally disappear and runaway to save themselves. turns out sylar phoned in an anonymous tip with their location under the alias "isaac mendez".

hiro and his dad talk about his journey and saving the world. and then hiro's dad becomes a total badass and tells hiro he's gonna give him sword lessons so he can kill sylar. AWESOME!

babysitter takes micah to the polls and has him "tell the computers" to vote for nathan petrelli. micah realizes the computers are all on the same network and assures the babysitter nathan will win by a landslide.

more snoozefest, jessica and DL find nathan. nathan wins the election by landslide just as micah said. nathan decides to help jess and DL find micah.

back to more exciting story, hiro and his dad have sword fighting lessons! badassery ensues! so awesome!

parkman and bennett are in some federal building to keep their "stop linderman" plan. they run into jess and DL and join forces.

out of nowhere, the whole molly/surresh storyline pops up. she tells surresh she is cured. she thinks about parkman and tells surresh he is in the building (she's totes right). eric roberts walks in and cuts their plans short because there is a helicopter waiting on the roof to take them to a "safe location". eric roberts is pissed and tries to stop bennett and parkman. and, IT'S A SHOOTOUT! eric roberts tries to kill parkman, but bennett gives him a lead sandwich instead. parkman and bennett make it to surresh and molly. but confusion city...bennett wants to kill molly. surresh has a gun on bennett, bennett has a gun on molly.

it's nighttime now and sylar flips over a police vehicle. he finds ted. he kills him.

back to the fun! hiro and his dad finish their sword lessons. dad is so proud! hiro goes out to find ando, but he is gone. ando has taken a sword to save the world himself.

claire and peter are stuck in traffic trying to get out of the city. they find ted's dead body and realize sylar stole ted's power.

oh this boring story again! jessica and DL find linderman and ask for micah. then linderman plays the money card and offers her millions of dollars if she kills DL. jess pulls the ol' switcheroo and turns into niki. she doesn't kill DL, but linderman shoots him. just as linderman is about to kill jessica, DL does it for her. it is assumed both DL and linderman are dead.

cut to nathan's victory speech. we see a montage of peter and claire, hiro going after ando, micah looking out the window, ando searching for sylar, blonde fbi chick, surresh and bennett. at the end of nathan's speech, we see sylar "practicing" his new power. THE END.

next week, the FINALE! it looks like DL is alive and reunited with jessica and micah. grandma petrelli says the bomb will go off. surresh takes responsibility for micah. parkman might die. claire tells peter the future isn't written in stone. and peter and sylar face off. GAME ON!

recap: the office- "beach games"

first of all, let me say god bless jeff zucker for creating the concept of supersized episodes. with that said, last night's office episode was hilarious!

*spoiler alert! if you haven't watched the office "beach games" episode from 5.10.07 (shame on you), don't continue reading.*

the episode starts off hilariously with dwight in michael's office, trying to figure out what's "medically wrong" with michael. dwight asks him when he started feeling sick. michael replies "about 10 minutes ago." dwight replies back, "you mean when i brought in the paperwork?"

pam: About 40 times a year, Michael gets really sick, but has no symptoms. Dwight is always gravely concerned.

dwight tells him to point at the part where it hurts so he can help diagnose him.

dwight: you have to point to a specific part of the body.
michael: right there.
dwight: “abdomen. menses.”
michael: maybe.
dwight: “the uterus contracts after your egg passes through it.”
michael: not it. I don’t have eggs.

pam comes in and tells michael that he has a call from the CFO of dunder-mifflin. david (the CFO) tells michael that he's calling because michael is being considered for a job at corporate. after embarassing himself for a few moments (spilling the details about "breaking jan's heart"), david tells him to drive to ny the following week with his figures along with a recommendation for his replacement in scranton.

the next day, the staff is dressed and ready for "a day at the beach". of course michael is wearing his sandals t-shirt under his hawaiian shirt. after telling poor toby that he can't go (because "someone has to stay at the office"), the rest of the crew boards the party bus. michael tells them that they'll all be participating in "fun activities. fun-tivities" (my favorite line of the night). everyone but pam is allowed to participate. michael tells her she has to take notes for him on everyone's performance so he can evaluate them later.
they arrive at the lake and michael picks team captains (dwight, jim, stanley, and andy). they each pick team names.

dwight: we will be called gryffindor.

jim: really? not slytherin?

dwight: Slytherin are the bad guys, jim.

jim: i know. okay, we will be voldemort.

dwight: he who must not be named? I wouldn’t do that.

jim: vol-de-mort, vol-de-mort …

stanley picks "blue team" and andy picks "team usa". michael reluctantly tells the staff that they're all competing to be his replacement because he's being considered for a job at corporate. later we see jim and karen talking to david the CFO on the phone saying they want to be considered for the corporate job. they take part in various activities (carrying an egg on a spoon blindfolded, hot dog eating contest, sumo wrestling, and walking across fire).no one wants to walk across the fire until michael does it, so he attempts to, but chickens out. dwight shows michael his dedication and walks across the coals (and burns himself).
later we see michael talking to the staff telling them that they're going to have "tribal council" and vote. he asks jim to reveal why he would be a good replacement. jim tells michael he doesn't want to be considered for the regional manager job because he's going to meet with david in ny about the corporate job.

meanwhile, pam is by the coals and works up the courage to walk across them. she then approaches the staff and says she's been trying to be more honest lately. she asks everyone (rhetorically) why they didn't go to her art show. she says she feels invisible at the office. but the biggest revelation, she tells jim she called off her wedding for him! along with other crap. it was fantastic!

pam: hey, i want to say something. i’ve been trying to be more honest lately and i just need to say a few things. i did the coal walk! just, i did it. michael, you couldn’t even do that. maybe i should be your boss. wow, i feel really good right now. why didn’t any of you come to my art show? i invited all of you. that really sucked. it’s like sometimes, some of you act like i don’t even exist. jim, i called off my wedding because of you. and now we’re not even friends. and things are just like weird between us, and that sucks. and i miss you. you were my best friend before you went to stamford. and i really miss you. i shouldn’t have been with roy, and there were a lot of reasons to call off my wedding. but the truth is, i didn’t care about any of those reasons until i met you. and now you’re with someone else, and that’s fine. it’s … whatever. that’s not what i’m … i’m not … okay my feet really hurt. the thing that i’m just trying to say to you, jim, and to everyone else in the circle i guess, is that i miss having fun with you. just you, not everyone in the circle. okay, i am gonna go walk in the water now. yeah, it’s a good day.

michael: pam, that was amazing. but i am still looking for someone with a sales background.

if you missed last night's episode, nbc released a promo for next week's finale. the promo doesn't have any new scenes, but it does make for a good recap of last night. and there's stuff that i didn't include in the recap. but you should watch the 40 minutes of goodness for yourself. if you can't, watch the promo here:

recap: lost- "the man behind the curtain"

*spoiler alert! do not read if you have not seen the 5/9 episode*

ok, on the upside, lost is officially back. seriously. it had all of the WTF moments that made season one fantastic. the downside is that there are only 2 more episodes left in the season. the other upside is that there is definitely an end in sight for the show, which means this shizz is gonna get wrapped up. the other downside, 48 episodes is a looooong time.

in last night's episode, we not only got a highly anticipated ben flashback, but we also got an ending with a bang. literally.

we learn that ben's mom died while giving birth to ben. and contrary to popular belief, ben wasn't born on the island, but instead 32 miles outside of portland. oh, and that uncle rico from napolean dynamite is his dad. years later, we see ben and his dad arrive at the island. they are there to join other members of the dharma initiative and work on the island. one night, young ben takes the code to the sonic fence and unarms it. uses a bunny to see if it's safe to cross. when he goes into the jungle, young ben encounters a man (who appears to be richard). young ben tells the man he wants to join him. the man tells him to be patient. time passes and ben is older. once again, uncle rico (ben's dad) has forgotten ben's birthday (a reccuring theme throughout the night's episode). ben helps his dad pack up the van to make a drop at the pearl station. when they reach the mesa, they stop. ben looks at his watch and puts on a gas mask and kills his dad with nerve gas.

flash forward to real time events. locke brings his dead father's body (courtesy of sawyer) to the others camp. locke asks ben to tell him everything about the island. ben tells locke that a man named jacob is the leader of the island, but he doesn't talk to anyone but ben. locke doesn't care and ben reluctantly agrees to take locke to meet jacob.

ben and locke reach a small house. ben advises locke to leave his flashlight off as "jacob hates technology". when they go in, they have a very norman bates moment when ben introduces jacob to locke, only to have locke stare at an empty chair. ben continues to full out have a conversation with said empty chair. locke clearly thinks ben is crazy and begins to leave when he hears a voice say "help me". locke turns around with his flashlight on and crap starts flying all around the room. locke leaves, ben is thrown in the air. locke asks ben what was in there, and he simply replies "that was jacob."

on their way back, ben takes them on a different route and shows locke the mass grave full of skeletons wearing dharma coveralls. ben tells locke that the his group couldn't co-exist with the original inhabitants of the island. ben made sure he wasn't in that group that died, and tells locke that he wasn't smart like him. locke turns around and ben shoots him in the abdomen. locke falls into the pit. ben asks locke what jacob said to him. when locke tells him, he replies by saying that locke had better hope jacob will help him.

meanwhile, while all that crap happens, back on the beach, juliet is revealed as a mole. when they play the recording and confront her, jack says that he knew the whole time.

so, questions:

-first of all, is locke dead??? the producers did say that there would be a few deaths before the finale, but i refuse to think locke is one of them. after all, the island does heal people faster than usual. and the island hearts locke.
-how the hell has richard not aged, yet ben is like 30 years older?
-why is ben the leader, and not richard?
-why couldn't ben hear what jacob said to locke?
-who the hell is jacob? for realsies!

-is it just me, or in the split second that we saw jacob, did it not look like locke with a wig? (thanks mark)

(source: lostpedia)

recap: idol bids adieu to lakisha

adios, kiki! well, just as i suspected, lakisha was voted off of american idol last night. but before we get into that, other highlights from last night's show:

- ryan seacrest doing man on the street interviews.
- pink's pre-taped performance finally makes it to air.
- a "let's meet the contestants" type of segment. cuteness.
- another cheesy ford commercial featuring the idols running away from a crowd of fans (kids) to the music of "you really got me".
- the four sing as a group. perform a barry gibb medley. adorable.
- barry gibb performs. makes me long for this wonderful SNL sketch.
- the contestants panic as the results are read.
- lakisha cries (sad) and sings her last song.

contrary to the judges opinions, i actually enjoyed barry gibb week. i loved the songs. i loved the performances.

both blake and lakisha found themselves in the bottom two. moments before the results were revealed, simon predicted that lakisha would be going home. and low and behold, he was right.
blake's gonna have to step it up. although at this point, i love the three that are left.

next week: blake, jordin, and melinda will sing three (!) songs each. they sing a song of their choice, a song picked for them by the judges, and another selection from clive davis.

recap: heroes "the hard part"

*spoiler alert: do not read if you have not watched the 5.20.07 episode*

at the start of the episode, hiro and ando find themselves back in their own time and realize it's time for them to "save the world" (YAY!). hiro turns to the comic book for answers, but it is incomplete. they decide to head to isaac's apartment for answers.

meanwhile, our little claire bear is back at the petrelli mansion when nathan's wife and two sons return home. i have no idea where his family has been this whole time. especially days before the election. but whatever.

parkman, mr. bennett, and ted are still on the run. still on their way to new york city. yawn.

back in vegas, DL decides to go look for micah. he asks niki/jessica/whatsherface to come with him. while that snoozefest is going on, we see micah in a nyc apartment with candice who is disguised as his mom.

thompson (eric roberts!) offers surresh a job. but surresh is smart and realizes they need him more than he needs them. eric roberts (yes, i'm calling him that from now on) agrees and shows surresh where he works. eric roberts introduces surresh to molly, whos is apparently the only girl in the world (seriously?) that can stop sylar. she's dying and surresh is the only person that can find a cure (how convenient).

back at isaac's loft, hiro and ando find isaac dead. they see sylar. sylar hears them with his supersonic hearing. hiro and ando teleport out of there in the nick of time without a trace.

DL and niki. zzzzzzzzz. suspect micah's in nyc. zzzzzzzz. go to ny to find him. zzzzzzzz.

surresh talks to little molly and takes a blood sample. tries to figure out how to come up with a cure.

back at the petrelli mansion, claire talks to nathan about ted...the guy who blew up her house and who she suspects will blow up nyc. nathan tells her he admires her bravery and tells her he'll make some calls. and he does...to mr. linderman!

sylar goes to queens to visit his mom who is clearly a little off. we learn that his mom always pushed him to do more with his life and that what he did was never good enough. it's like betty crocker's recipe for a serial killer. seriously.

claire and peter see nathan talking to eric roberts. claire doesn't trust him.

micah discovers his "mom" isn't really his mom. next.

sylar demonstrates one of his abilities for his mom a la turning water into snow. very edward scissorhands. she freaks (duh). hiro freezes time and tries to kill sylar. he fails. sylar breaks hiro's sword in halfsies. sylar scissorhands kills his mom...with scissors (again, duh). makes a painting from her mom's blood (creepshow!).

surresh figures out he is the key to molly's antibody. cute.

peter gives claire a gun and asks her to kill him if she ever sees he's the one to blow up nyc (too bad they're related, they are too cute).

grandma petrelli totally creeps me out and tells peter he has to let nyc blow up. borderline incestuous undertones.


peter and claire run into mr. bennett, ted, and parkman. while standing close to ted, peter starts absorbing his power and sees his hands glow. he freaks out. the end.

questions:
1) what is grandma petrelli's secret power? i know that bitch is hiding it.
2) why doesn't peter just stand away from ted? i mean, whenever he was far away from invisible man, he couldn't turn invisible. sounds like an easy solution.
3) why is niki/jessica/micah/DL still a storyline? and can we kill them off next season if it doesn't happen before then?
4) is linderman nathan & peter's dad? (thanks to adam winer for that one)
5) how the hell is hiro gonna save the world now with a broken sword???

recap: grey's anatomy 2.0

last night, abc aired a special 2-hour grey's anatomy. and in case you haven't heard, they did it because it served as the platform for the rumored grey's spinoff.

in a nutshell, addision takes a leave of absence from seattle grace and drives to la for a much needed vacation and visits old friends. of course, she ends up working (delivers a baby) and finds out there's a vacant spot (how convenient) at her friends' private practice (that'll apparently be the title of the show if abc decides to pick it up). back at seattle grace, christina can't seem to get excited about planning to her wedding to burke, izzy and george still have feelings for each other, and meredith's stepmom dies and her dad slaps her.

to be honest, the show was kinda boring to me. both the grey's part and the spinoff part. will i continue to watch? of course. would i watch the spinoff if abc picked it up? probably. but even though the 2 hour borefest wasn't all that exciting, i did notice something that peaked my interest.

there was a particular scene where addison (kate walsh) is sitting in the lobby of her friend's practice. addision and her friend naomi (merrin dungey) are talking when naomi asks what time it is. addison replies with "five to one". then, naomi's colleague comes over to sit with them and again repeats that it's five to one (below). at that moment. the cute receptionist dell (chriss lowell from veronica mars and life as we know it) starts walking by all slo-mo like. shirtless and carrying a surf board. (below)

i swear, it took me back to the 80s and reminded me of this diet coke commercial:

i'm onto you grey's writers. or private practice writers. or whoever wrote that scene. i'm onto you...

recap: idol's double edged sword

last night it became clear that the women of of american idol were definitely the front runner's of the competition. after last night, the only male left standing was blake lewis (and deservedly so). phil stacey (the bald one) and chris richardson (justin timberfake) were voted off of the show. and if you read yesterday's idol recap, you'll know that i'm one happy camper, as those are the two that i wanted kicked out. in all seriousness, phil and chris weren't horrible. they weren't fantastic either. they gave "safe" performances. they didn't blow anyone out of the water with their voice (like lakisha) or reinvent herself every week (like melinda) or take huge risks (like blake).

so now it's down to four: lakisha, melinda, blake, and jordin. next week is disco night with barry gibb mentoring the kids. disco night is usually my least favorite of the competition (next to country night), but i have a feeling the four that are left will pull it off.

so goodbye bald guy and what's his face. in two years, nobody will even remember you were on american idol and you can go back to singing karaoke in your local bar on friday nights.

american idol recap: week 8

rock week finally arrived on american idol, which obviously means one thing...bon jovi? mock it if you will, but think of all the times that you're at a party or a bar and a bon jovi song comes on. everyone sings it. bon jovi songs get the crowd going. so of course, the american idol producers invited members of bon jovi to mentor the contestants. and the results? well, here's a recap:

first up, phil stacey. he continued his streak of luck when the judges showered him with high praise and compliments for the third week in a row. he's no dummy, and since country week, phil's tried to find songs that have a twang. so phil picked "blaze of glory" from young guns. he was actually pretty good and might actually stay in the competition.

next up was the cute and bubbly jordin sparks. last time jordin sang a rock song, she delivered a pretty solid rendition of pat benatar's "heartbreaker". so although it was a male rock song, bon jovi seemed like it might seem a good fit for her. well, bad news bears because the judges were anything but crazy about her performance. i will say that i was actually so worried she might get kicked off (especially since she could've maybe been kicked off last week), that for the first time in it's six seasons did i actually pick up my phone and vote for someone on american idol.

after jordin, we had lakisha. to be honest, she's kinda lost that charm in my eyes. i think she started off too strong at the beginning of the season with "and i am telling you", because since then, nothing that she's sang since has compared to that performance. but with that said, last night she came pretty close. her soulful rendition of "this ain't a love song" helped simon shed that tough exterior.in fact, she charmed the judges so much that simon actually grew a heart for about 10 seconds and asked her for a kiss. on the lips! despite the fact that lakisha planted one on simon, she's back on the good graces of the judges. i had dismissed her and thought it might be time for her to go home, but after last night, i think she redeemed herself and earned another chance.

then we had blake lewis, with a brand new darker 'do. i will admit that the way he used to fit in beat boxing into all of his songs got on my nerves. but then came tony bennett week or some crap and he realized you can't do it with every song. so i think that's when blake started becomign one of my favorites. but last night, he took a great risk by creating a very orignal arrangement to "you give love a bad name". well, it paid off. blake not only gambled big, but he won big in return getting smiles from all three judges. my favorite performance of the night.

next up chris richardson who performed "wanted dead or alive". he started at a disadvantage right away. he mentioned that chris daughtry performed the song last year, which automatically earned him comparisons. it sounded okay, but compared to all the other performers, it sounded too karaoke. i agree with simon that i'm not sure if it's enough to keep him in the competition for another week. my least favorite performance of the night.

lastly was melinda dolittle, who sang a newer bon jovi song. she went with "have a nice day". i'll admit that at the beginning of the competition, her surprised faces and humbling demeanor started getting a little annoying. but she has steadily gained the confidence she needs while maintining her grounded personality. add that with her awesome performances and you have a possible idol winner. had blake not gone out on such a limb, she would've been my favorite performance of the night.

my thoughts on who goes home tonight:

i WANT phil and chris to go home.

i THINK it will actually be chris and jordin.

Recap: Heroes

"String Theory" starts off 5 years into the future...5 years after the bomb went off in NYC. Hiro and Ando find themselves at Isaac's loft where they confront future Hiro. Although I guess the whole "space-time continuum" thing that Doctor Brown talked about in Back to the Future was bullshit. There were no cataclismic consequences of these two meeting face to face except that Hiro was afraid of future Hiro. Once future Hiro discovers that Peter saved Claire, he realizes that they can still prevent the bomb from going off by killing Sylar. That's when Parkman busts in with Homeland Security agents and they arrest Hiro. Future Hiro and Ando teleport to Las Vegas to find Peter.

At a strip club in Vegas, "Jessica" dances on stage as Hiro and Ando arrive to look for Peter, her boyfriend (first of all, does anyone find it weird that she has now presumably slept with both Petrelli brothers?) She won't tell future Hiro and Ando where Peter is, but does tell them that HRG man is in Texas. She goes to the bar where invisible Peter materializes.

The rest is a lot to take in, so I'll just use the ol' bullet points:

• Parkman questions past Hiro about all of the people he's murdered, but Hiro doesn't have any memory of this because these are all things future Hiro has done. Parkman tells President Petrelli (Nathan) that they have Hiro, but he doesn't seem to have any memory of things.
• Nathan summons Professor Suresh (who now works for him) and tells him they captured Hiro, and that he's decided to "exterminate" all of the people with "special abilities". Very weird that Nathan has turned Adolf Hitler-like and proposed a genocide of sorts.
• Surresh goes to Isaac's loft and finds the timeline.
• Back in Texas, HRG is testing a young boy to see if he has "special ablities". The boy tests positive, but he gives him and his family a new ID so they can escape the authorities. Future Hiro arrives and tells him that Claire is still alive.
• Surresh realizes that Hiro can travel through time and that he's trying to fix the past.
• Claire is a waitress at a small diner in Midland, TX and engaged to a busboy that works there. HRG is there and tells her to go into hiding.
• Future Hiro and Ando are almost captured by Parkman, but Peter comes and saves them.
• Parkman finds Claire at the diner.
• Back in Vegas, Peter tells Ando he is surprised to see him because he died in the explosion 5 years earlier.
• Surresh tells Nathan that Hiro was trying to kill Sylar before he exploded. But Nathan just tells him they will continue with the plan to exterminate those with abilities. Parkman tells them they have both Hiros in captivity, and Nathan tells Surresh to kill them both.
• Back in NY at the Petrelli mansion, Claire visits her biological dad Nathan, who thought she was dead. She's pissed at him for making people afraid of those with abilities. But he tells her he's met a lot of special people, including the one who allowed him to become president. Just then he starts opening her scalp and we realize it's SYLAR!

• Peter and Niki argue. Boring. She's pissed at him. ZZZZZZZZZZZ. He leaves her.
• At the site of the explosion, "President Petrelli" delivers a speech about finding a cure for the genetic code.
• Meanwhile, future Hiro and Peter fight their way into the Homeland Security team. Parkman stays upstairs with Surresh and the Haitian so that they are safe from Hiro and Peter's powers. As past Hiro begs for his life, Surresh apologizes and kills the Haitian instead. Snap!
• Past and future Hiro reunite. Peter holds off Parkman. Parkman calls Nathan to tell him the situation.
• Nathan flies from the bomb site and the crowds gasp.
• Peter confronts Nathan, realizing that it is really Sylar and that his brother is dead.
• Surresh holds off Peter and Sylar and past Hiro and Ando teleport back to the past.

NEXT WEEK: "The World At Stake" As Nathan and his family prepare for the election, Hiro and Ando prepare for a mission of their own.