Pretty Little Liars Recap: "Out, Damned Spot" (S05E20)

The episode starts with the girls donating blood during a drive that Hanna's mom, Ashley, is putting on. She's upset because no one from the church has shown up and she is grateful to Aria, Hanna, and Spencer for donating. Emily was unable to donate because of the volunteer work she had done in Haiti during the summer. While the girls are talking, a commotion ensues they see Mike getting caught stealing cookies by the refrigerator full of blood. They share their concerns that maybe Mike stole their blood for A which upsets Aria.

Aria is freaking out about school and her grades because she has a grade contingent acceptance to SCAD (Savannah College of Art and Design), Aria has to improve her grades and make honor roll. While she's studying Mike's phone goes off. She sees that a blocked number is calling so she answers. A recorded message plays asking if she would like to accept a collect call from "Hank Mahoney" at the women's correctional institute. Aria accepts and asks if it's Alison, but the caller hangs up. Aria angrily confronts Mike who flips out and tells her not to answer his phone ever again. She panics while taking a math test and ends up cheating off of Andrew who realizes what she is doing and offers to tutor her. Aria reluctantly accepts his offer and he comes over to her house.

Also having college acceptance anxiety, Spencer decides to take a break and help Jonny with a new project. He takes her to Hollis College where he paints a mural on the roof of a building. He encourages her to help him and to do something she loves not because she's good at it but because she loves it. Spencer helps him and the two of them bond over the mural.

Hanna is doing just fine on her college acceptances but finds out that she has been turned down for financial aid not because of her mom but because her dad makes to much. She finds out that her mom accepted Pastor Tedd's marriage proposal and she also confessed to him about her night with Jason which has led him to think about their relationship. Ashley insists that she will figure out how to pay for Hanna's tuition and tells her daughter not to involve her father. Of course Hanna doesn't listen and she goes to visit her father at his work. During their meeting he expresses that he is proud of Hanna for making it into such good schools and that he had no idea she had even applied to them. Hanna asks him for help paying the tuition. Her father informs her that is "all comes down to dollars and cents" and that he promised his wife Isabel, that he would take care of his stepdaughter Kate going to Dartmouth so he can't help Hanna. Hanna is devastated and storms out.

Emily and Talia go for a bike ride and come upon the spot where Talia had her first kiss. She shares the memory with Emily and the two talk. Emily kisses her and heads back to the New Brew where she casually informs Ezra of Aria's acceptance to SCAD, assuming that he already knew. She sees Talia's file out and wonders why she has a different last name. Ezra then informs her that Talia is married to a man named Eric. Emily leaves and sees Aria's brother Mike withdrawing a large sum of cash from an ATM. She gets a hold of the receipt and rushes over to Aria's. She interrupts Aria's tutoring session and tells Aria what she found.

They see Mike leave in the car and they need a way to follow him. Aria asks Andrew to take them which he does. On the way, he asks why they're following Mike and Emily covers by saying that they think Mike is taking steroids. The end up at a sketchy diner and Andrew (sweetly) offers to go in with them, but Aria and Emily insist that they will be fine and Spencer is on her way so she will be able to take them home. Once they are in the diner, they see Mike and he is approached by a man who Aria believes is Hank Mahoney but Emily informs her that he is actually Cyrus Petrillo (the man Alison paid to pretend he kidnapped her). Spencer gets there and the girls spy on the guys from outside. They wonder why they can't get a hold of Hanna but she tries calling Aria from Ezra's phone and it gets ignored. The three of them get a text from A with a picture of 3 blood viles with Spencer, Aria, and Hanna's names on it thanking them for donating to A's get-into-jail fund. When they look up the guys are gone and they see Mike driving away. They wonder where Cyrus went and they look for him. He rides his motorcycle right at them backing them against a wall. He questions whether they were spying on him or Mike and informs them that he doesn't like being followed. The girls say they know he has something of theirs and just as they're getting ready to make a deal, Andrew shows up with a baseball bat demanding that he leave them alone. Cyrus leaves and Andrew smiles proudly at Aria.

Hanna ends up at the New Brew looking for Emily but she only finds Ezra. He tells her she can talk to him if she needs to and she opens up about what happened to her dad. She confides in Ezra telling him, that she just wanted her dad to tell her "I knew you had it in you." She says she was trying to find out where everyone was but she left her phone at her dad's office and won't go back. After failing to get a hold of Aria on Ezra's phone she decides to go home. Before she leaves Ezra tells her, "I know it's not the same, but I was your English teacher for a while and I always knew you had it in you." [such a sweet moment!]

As she's leaving, Hanna sees a flyer for a beauty pageant where the prize is $20,000 that she can use for tuition. At home Hanna fills out the application and encourages Ashley to fight for the man she loves.
They all meet at Spencer's and try to figure out what A is going to do with their blood. When Spencer leaves to get another blanket, Mike is seen outside one of her windows.

Aired on 2/10/15

Pretty Little Liars - Review

Pretty Little Liars is set in the town of Rosewood, Pennsylvania, and it follows the lives of four girls, Aria Montgomery, Hanna Marin, Emily Fields, and Spencer Hastings, whose clique falls apart after the disappearance of their leader, Alison DiLaurentis. One year later, the estranged friends are reunited as they begin receiving messages from a mysterious figure named "A" after Alison's funeral, who threatens to expose their deepest secrets, including ones they thought only Alison knew. At first, they think it's Alison herself, but after her body is found, the girls realize that someone else is planning on ruining them.

The main cast includes:

• Lucy Hale as Aria Montgomery
• Ashley Benson as Hanna Marin
• Shay Mitchell as Emily Fields
• Troian Bellisario as Spencer Hastings
• Sasha Pieterse as Alison DiLaurentis
• Ian Harding as Ezra Fitz
• Laura Leighton as Ashley Marin
• Holly Marie Combs as Ella Montgomery
• Chad Lowe as Byron Montgomery

Recurring cast includes:

• Janel Parrish as Mona Vanderwaal (promoted to main cast)
• Tyler Blackburn as Caleb Rivers (promoted to main cast)
• Keegan Allen as Toby Cavanaugh (promoted to main cast)
• Lindsey Shaw as Paige McCullers
• Torrey DeVito as Melissa Hastings
• Drew Van Acker as Jason DiLaurentis
• Tamin Sursok as Jenna Marshall
• Nia Peeples as Pam Fields
• Lesley Fera as Veronica Hastings
• Brendan Robinson as Lucas Gottesman
• Brant Daughtery as Noel Kahn
• Julian Morris as Wren Kim
• Cody Christian as Mike Montgomery
• Nolan North as Peter Hastings
• Yani Gellman as Garrett Reynolds
• Bianca Lawson as Maya St. Germain
• Bryce Johnson as Darren Wilden
• Ryan Merriman as Ian Thomas
• Sean Faris as Gabriel Holbrook

Guests include:

• Andrea Parker as Jessica DiLaurentis
• Roark Critchlow as Tom Marin
• Aeriel Miranda as Shana Fring
• Roma Maffia as Linda Tanner
• Vanessa Ray as CeCe Drake
• Ryan Guzman as Jake
• Chuck Hittinger as Sean Ackard
• Luke Kleintank as Travis Hobbs
• Eric Steinberg as Wayne Fields
• Edward Kerr as Ted
• Jim Titus as Barry Maple
• Annabeth Gish as Anne Sullivan
• Paloma Guzman as Jackie Molina
• Chole Bridges as Sydney Driscoll
• Larisa Oleynik as Maggie Cutler
• Sterling Sulieman as Nate St. Germain
• Shane Coffey as Holden Strauss
• Amanda Schull as Meredith Sorenson
• Brandon Jones as Andrew Campbell
• John O'Brien as Carter Hackett
• Miranda Rae Mayo as Talia Sandoval
• Will Bradley as Jonny Raymond
• Reggie Austin as Eddie Lamb
• Diego Boneta as Alex Santiago
• Jim Abele as Kenneth DiLaurentis
• Steve Talley as Zack
• Claire Holt as Samara Cook
• Natalie Hall as Kate Randall
• Teo Briones as Malcolm Cutler
• Meg Foster as Carla Grunwald
• Gregg Sulkin as Wesley Fitzgerald
• Jake Weary as Cyrus Petrillo
• Heather Mazur as Isabel Randall
• Wyatt Nash as Nigel Wright
• Sydney Penny as Leona Vanderwaal
• Nathaniel Buzolic as Dean Stavros

<sup>Overall Rating: a MUST watch (but not alone or in the dark)

Catch Pretty Little Liars on ABC Family Tuesdays at 8 P.M. EST</sup>

Urban Decay 'Naked On the Run' Palette Review

Urban Decay has released another palette in the 'Naked' series. This one is different from its predecessors because it is a complete look and not just eyeshadows. The On the Run palette has 5  all new eye shadow shades, a bronzer, a blush, an all over highlighting shade, a new eyeliner shade, a new lip gloss color, and a travel size mascara.

The eyeshadows include:

• Dive (metallic rose w/golden micro-shimmer)
• Fix (soft taupe matte) 
• Resist (medium metallic taupe) 
• Dare (medium brown matte) 
• Stun (metallic bronze w/light gold micro-shimmer)

The bronzer is a medium matte bronze and the blush is a vibrant pink with a slight shimmer.
The highlighting shade is is called: 50/50 (cool bisque satin)
The eyeliner is called Stag (deep brown satin)
The lip gloss is called Sesso (rose with pink shimmer)

PROS:



Overall, I really like the colors in this palette. I love all of the eye shadows (I use Dive and Resist almost every day). They are all very flattering colors and they go on really well. I am also a fan of the 50/50. I swipe it on my eyes in the morning when I don't feel like doing much with my eyes or if I'm in a hurry. The eyeliner is such a pretty brown color, I love it. I usually don't wear brown eyeliner because I don't like the way it looks with my brown eyes, but this one is so pretty.

The mascara, Perversion, is really nice. I haven't had a problem with flaking or anything like that which is nice. I haven't gotten to use the bronzer much, but I do like how it goes on. The blush is such a pretty pink. It gives you this naturally flushed look which I am a fan of. As for the lip gloss, it is surprisingly pigmented and I think it looks really pretty. I'm used to sheer glosses but this one packs a punch when it comes to color.

CONS: 

I do wish, however, that the packaging wasn't so bulky. It's kind of big and annoying if you want to carry it on the go. It also does not include a brush which I find really annoying. The palette is advertised as a "travel-ready kit comes loaded with EVERYTHING you need for a complete Naked look,"  but it's hard to put on makeup with no brush.



Also here are the fill weights:

• Eyeshadow: 5 x 1.4g POIDS NET/WT 5 x 0.04oz
• Blush Bronzer: 8.5 g POIDS NET.WT 0.3oz
• Naked Ultra Nourishing Gloss-Sesso: 4ml / 0.13 fl. Oz
• Perversion Mascara: 4 ml/ 0.13 fl oz
• 24/7 Glide On Eye Pencil: 0.8 g POIDS NET/NET WT. 0.03 oz

Like I said before, I do like this palette a lot and I would recommend it, but if you're going to be using it somewhere other than your home- make sure you have your makeup brushes.


If you're interested in purchasing this product you can get it at either Sephora or Ulta.  

Marvel's Agent Carter Recap: "The Iron Ceiling" (S01E05)

In this episode, Peggy decodes a message sent by the mysterious typewriter. It turns out that the message includes coordinates in Russia and suggests that Howard Stark would be there. Chief wants Agent Thompson to go with a team and retrieve Stark. Peggy insists on coming along, but neither of them want her too. She then contacts the 'Howling Commandos' and requests their assistance. When she informs Chief of the Commandos assistance, he allows her to go to Russia.

Peggy is forced to change into her tactical suit in the men's locker room and while she is in there Thompson plays a trick on her and Sousa. He asks Sousa to retrieve something from him on the other side of the room (he had no idea Peggy was in there) and he walks in on her half dressed. She turns around and he sees her bullet wound scars which he recognizes from the picture of the mysterious blonde.

Agents Carter and Thompson head out with 2 other S.S.R. agents to Russia where they meet up with the 'Howling Commandos' who express how much they've missed Peggy. During a talk around the fire, Peggy learns how Agent Thompson received his navy cross during the war and she begins to look at him a little differently. The next day, Agent Carter leads the team into what looks like a warehouse where they find a classroom where a projector is playing a cartoon that is filled with subliminal messaging. As they make their way through the building they find a room full of beds with handcuffs on them. In the room, a little girl is crying and Dum Dum Dugan is stabbed by her. The knife really only gets his vest but she manages to kill Junior before disappearing.

They realize they have to get out of there and on their way to find an exit they run into two men in a cell. One is a scientist and the other a doctor. They show the agents the blueprints they were given by Leviathan's men which are from Stark Enterprises. They were tasked with building the object. Peggy and Thompson free them as they try to make their escape. The four of them end up getting cornered by soldiers, shooting at them. Thompson freezes in a moment of PTSD while the imprisoned scientist holds one of the Commandos hostage- offering him to the Russians. Peggy tries to calm him down but the doctor shoots him. As Peggy fires back at the Russians, the Commandos' burst through the wall to get her and Thompson out of there. Peggy grabs him and tells him to break out of it and focus. They escape-barely- and take the doctor back to the States with them. Peggy says her goodbyes to the Commandos and on the plane ride home she learns even more about Thompson. He tells her that the soldiers he killed were actually coming to surrender and that he buried the white flag before anyone else saw it. He told Peggy about how guilty he felt about what he had done and once they returned to the office, he took her out for a bourbon.

Original air date 2/3/15

Marvel's Agent Carter Recap: "The Blitzkrieg Button" (S01E04)

Ok so in the latest episode, it was revealed that one of the "weapons" that was stolen from Howard Stark is a vile of Steve Rogers AKA Captain America's blood. Howard came back to town and hid in Peggy's apartment, while tasking her with retrieving the vile. He lied to her about it and claimed the object was something that could shut down the entire city if she opened it. Peggy figures out that Jarvis is lying to her about the object, so naturally she opens it after switching it out with a fake one in the SSR lab. Naturally, she is devastated and ends up punching Howard, throwing him out, and telling him that she is done working for him. Peggy keeps the vile and hides it in her room.

 Meanwhile, the new woman on the floor, Dottie, killed the man who sneaked in to kill Peggy- that was a twist NO ONE saw coming. I thought Dottie was this sweet naive girl, but it turns out she's an assassin of some sort. So now Dottie has a revolver, and Peggy has quit her mission.

Also in the episode: the chief heads off to interview a former Nazi and leaves Agent Thompson in charge which went about as great as you'd imagine. He demands they find out where Howard Stark is and Agent Sousa decides to go to the docks to try and get a finger print from the phone that called in the anonymous tip. While he's there, he sees some bums and brings one of them in for questioning. He and Thompson battle it out and eventually get some information from the guy. He tells them he saw a dark haired woman and a well dressed man. In the midst of the interrogation- Sousa opens up to the homeless man about his time in the war while Thompson listens on. Naturally Thompson was cruel and callous with Sousa.

 Peggy runs into Thompson while attempting to sneak out with the vile- and he asks her why she even works there and informs her that women will never have a place other than secretary in the work place. After the chief returns, Sousa looks at the picture of the blond woman and starts coloring her hair in dark. Is he figuring out it's Peggy? Also, the transmitter that the police found starts typing something on the typewriter. I'm afraid that Agent Carter will be mentioned....




(also, Stan Lee was in this episode getting his shoes shined with Howard and Jarvis)

Original air date 1/27/15

Chasing Life - Review

Chasing Life is a show about 24-year-old April Carver, who is a smart and quick-witted aspiring journalist who is trying to make her way at a Boston newspaper. April tries to balance her career with her family – her widowed mom Sara, rebellious little sister Brenna, and her grandmother Emma. April finally lands a big interview for her paper. In order to get the interview, April donates blood (so she can talk to the interviewee) at her estranged uncle's hospital. She passes out but scores the interview, and a date with her hot co-worker Dominic. Her uncle visits her to inform her that they ran tests on her blood and she has leukemia.

Just as everything in April's life has started to come together, this news is devastating and she must find a way to deal with the news, tell her family and friends, as well as fight this cancer. In the midst of all this, April finds out that her father had an affair and has a daughter who lives in Florida.

Now I know a show about cancer should be a major bummer, but surprisingly- this one isn't. While every episode is bound to make you cry (or bawl if you're like me), you are also guaranteed a laugh, and this heart-warming feeling of encouragement. This show makes you want to fight and to appreciate every minute of your life, because it is a beautiful thing. Another thing I like about this show is the family. The Carver family is so relate-able- they are perfect. No matter what happens, they stand by each other and they fight for one another.

The main cast includes:

• Italia Ricci as April Carver
• Mary Page Keller as Sara Carver, April and Brenna's widowed mother and a therapist
• Richard Brancatisano as Dominic Russo, an arts reporter at The Boston Post and April's love interest
• Haley Ramm as Brenna Carver, April's rebellious teenage sister
• Aisha Dee as Beth Kingston, April's best friend and the first person April tells about her cancer

 Recurring cast members:

• Steven Weber as Dr. George Carver, April and Brenna's paternal uncle, who has a romantic interest in Sara
• Scott Michael Foster as Leo Hendrie, the son of a famous politician and a cancer paitient
• Rebecca Schull as Emma, Sara's mother/April and Brenna's grandmother
• Abhi Sinha as Danny Gupta, April's co-worker and friend
• Augusto Aguilera as Kieran, Brenna's boss at an art gallery/tattoo parlor/love interest
• Dylan Gelula as Ford, Brenna's rebellious friend
• Gracie Dzienny as Greer, a popular girl from Brenna's school, who is a lesbian and a love interest for Brenna
• Shi Ne Nielson as Raquel Avila, April's supervisor/rival
• Jessica Meraz as Natalie Ortiz, April and Brenna's paternal half-sister. She is younger than April, but older than Brenna.
• Todd Waring as Bruce Hendrie, Leo's father and a famous politician
• Rob Kerkovich as Graham, Dominic's roommate and Beth's boyfriend
• Merrin Dungey as Dr. Susan Hamburg, April's doctor
• Andy Mientus as Jackson, a fellow cancer patient from April and Leo's cancer support group
• Tom Irwin as Thomas Carver, April, Brenna and Natalie's father and George's brother
• Laura Harring as Olivia Ortiz, Natalie's mother and Thomas' mistress
• Vondie Curtis-Hall as Lawrence, April, Dominic, and Danny's boss at The Boston Post
• Stephen Schneider as Aaron, April, Dominic, and Danny's boss at The Boston Post, who replaced Lawrence

Overall Rating: a MUST watch

Tune in on Monday nights at 9 PM EST on ABC Family











*additional information from Wikipedia

Marvel's Agent Carter - Review

Holy cow Batman, there is finally a kick-ass woman in the lead role of a television show!

For anyone who has been living under a rock, I am talking about Marvel's Agent Carter. Peggy Carter is one bad-ass woman, and I am so in awe of her. Finally there is a powerful, witty, independent, and intelligent woman in the lead role of a television show, in the super hero genre no less, and it is actually about her- not a love story. Obviously as with any show, love is involved, but this one is more about lost love and moving on with life.

It's a nice change of pace to have such a positive role model for girls (of all ages). Peggy does not need a man to get by. She isn't a pushover. She isn't a bitch. She stands up for herself and speaks her mind when she needs to and when it's appropriate, and when it's not- she bites her tongue and takes it like a woman. She is a loyal friend, as evidenced by her basically committing treason, and she is smart. You see, there are a lot of female driven shows all over television, but they are filled with love triangles and the men constantly saving the women. Instead, the show brings to light what it was like for women in the work place after the war, and even how far things have come. It makes me so sad how the men in her office treat her- especially because she is just as good/if not better than they are at what they do.

The main cast includes:

• Hayley Atwell as Peggy Carter
• James D'Arcy as Edwin Jarvis who is Howard Stark's butler and ally to Carter, who will eventually be a tutor to Tony Stark and inspire his J.A.R.V.I.S. artificial intelligence.
• Chad Michael Murray as Jack Thompson who is a war veteran and an agent with the S.S.R.
• Enver Gjokaj as Daniel Sousa who is a war veteran and an agent with the S.S.R. He experiences prejudice due to his crippled leg which allows him to relate to Carter
• Shea Whigham as Roger Dooley who is the S.S.R. chief and oversees agents Carter, Thompson, and Sousa

Recurring cast includes:

•  Kyle Bornheimer as Ray Krzeminski who is an S.S.R. agent
• Ralph Brown as Ivchenko who is Russian psychiatrist working undercover in America for Leviathan
• Alexander Carroll as Yauch who is a young S.S.R. agent Dominic Cooper as Howard Stark who is the father of Tony Stark as well as a founding member of S.H.I.E.L.D.
• Meagen Fay as Miriam Fry who is the proprietor of The Griffith- the boarding house where Carter and Angie live
• Lyndsy Fonseca as Angie Martinelli who is a waitress and aspiring actress that befriends Carter.
• Bridget Regan as Dottie Underwood who is a small-town girl from Iowa who moves next door to Carter and has a secret

Guests include:

• Lesley Boone as Rose who is a switchboard operator working for the S.S.R.
• Kevin Cotteleer as Alex Doobin who is an S.S.R. scientist
• James Frain as Leet Brannis who is a former operative of Leviathan
• Ralph Garman as the radio announcer
• James Landry Hébert as Sasha Demidov who is a Leviathan operative
• James Austin Kerr as Jonathan "Junior" Juniper who is a member of the 'Howling Commandos' who works with Carter
• Neal McDonough as Timothy "Dum Dum" Dugan who is a member of the 'Howling Commandos' who works with Carter
• Devin Ratray as Sheldon McFee who is a truck driver at Daisy Clover who was bribed to aid Brannis
• Walker Roach as the "Captain America" radio actor
• Leonard Roberts as Samuel "Happy Sam" Sawyer who is a member of the 'Howling Commandos' who works with Carter
• Benita Robledo as Carol who is a nurse living in The Griffith with Carter
• Costa Ronin as Anton Vanko who is the co-creator of the arc reactor with Howard Stark
• Richard Short as Percival "Pinky" Pinkerton who is a member of the 'Howling Commandos' who works with Carter
• Erin Torpey as the "Betty Carver" radio actress
• James Urbaniak as Miles Van Ert who is a scientist at Roxxon Oil
• Ray Wise as Hugh Jones who is the President of Roxxon Oil
• Stan Lee cameos in "The Blitzkrieg Button" as a shoeshiner patron
• John Glover cameos in "The Iron Ceiling" as a journalist and friend of Dooley
• Chris Evans appears in "Now is Not the End" as Steve Rogers / Captain America via archive footage from "Captain America: The First Avenger"

Overall Rating: a MUST watch show.









*additional information found on Wikipedia