2010 Top Scripted TV Huh? Moments

We appreciate all of the hard work writers put into their TV shows. Here are some of the moments that left us wondering a bit.

1. "Lost": They're all dead and waiting to go to heaven. Depending on who you are, this was either a very good head-scratcher or a very bad one. We loved it, even though we're sad about what it means.

2. "The Walking Dead:" Zombies unseat vampires as the coolest non-humans on TV. It's not their fault they're zombies which makes us feel for them, though they freak us out.

3. "Mad Men:" Don Draper proposes to Megan. Whoa, Don! A little foreshadowing next time, please?

4. "Breaking Bad:" Walt goes from meek chemistry teacher to big-time drug dealer to murderer. Walter, you scare us. But you're never boring and for that we love you.

5. "Glee:" Mr. Schue kisses Coach Beiste. Enough said. 

6. "Sons of Anarchy:" Jackson and his half sister are discovered half-way down the incest road by their respective mothers. Double ick.

7. "True Blood:" Bill and Sookie break up. Again. Can't we all just get along?

8. "Dexter:" Someone accepts Dexter for all that he is. How nice. We like this one.

9.  "The Event:" Aliens. Really?  All that pre-game hype and they turned out to be aliens. Possible to start over?

10. "The Good Wife:" CBS goes all sexy on us in a surprising oral sex scene between Alicia and Peter. It sure made us blush -- and they didn't even show anything!

--Yvonne Villarreal and Maria Elena Fernandez

twitter.com/villarrealy

twitter.com/writerchica

Photo: A scene from the "Lost" series finale. The castaways are waiting to go to heaven. (L-R) Ian Somerhalder, Elizabeth Mitchell, Josh Holloway, John Terry, Matthew Fox, Evangeline Lilly, Sonya Walger, Henry Ian Cusick and Emilie de Ravin. Credit: ABC

2010 TV Characters We Lost: We'll Miss You

 

It proved impossible to rank the beloved characters that died on TV this year, so we are respectfully listing them in alphabetical order.

Amy (Emma Bell on "The Walking Dead"). Didn't you scream "Nooooo!" at the TV. We did.

David Hale (Taylor Sheridan on "Sons of Anarchy") Uh. That came out of nowhere.

Ida (Randee Heller on "Mad Men"). Bert Cooper said it best: "She was born in 1898 in a barn. She died on the 37th floor of a skyscraper. She was an astronaut." No one answered a phone quite like Miss Blankenship. 

Jin (Daniel Dae Kim on "Lost"). The most heart-breaking death on "Lost" of the year. Ultimate sacrifice.

Marlene (Phyllis Sommerville on "The Big C"). We were so upset when the show went there, but we understood the move later. Still, we will miss her very much.

Renee (Annie Wersching on "24"). Jack Bauer finally gets to have sex and minutes later his girlfriend is shot by a sniper. Man, it sucks to be Jack.

Sayid (Naveen Andrews on "Lost"). Another self-sacrificing moment but the romantic hero went out in a big way.

Sun (Yunjin Kim on "Lost"). Watching her drown with her husband still brings tears to our eyes.

Talbot (Theo Alexander on "True Blood"). Russell mourning Talbot is almost as sad as watching Talbot die. We liked that sexy vampire very much.

Tom (Tate Donovan on "Damages"). We knew that mess would not end well but we're sad you're gone.

Honorable Mention: He was, unfortunately, not a fictional character but we need to salute Capt. Phil Harris who died while filming "Deadliest Catch." We really miss you.

-- Maria Elena Fernandez and Yvonne Villarreal

Twitter.com/writerchica

Twitter.com/villarrealy

Video: The tragic "Lost" scene in which Jin and Sun died together. Credit: YouTube

'Sons of Anarchy' recap: Ending with a bang, some cuts and a rat-a-tat-tat

Pacing is one of my favorite things about "Sons of Anarchy" -- that creepy tension creator Kurt Sutter so deftly builds with nicey-nice scenes that ultimately lead to murder. The conclusion to Season 3 uses that technique to great effect, beginning with a lovey montage of Jax snuggling Tara, Jax cuddling Abel, Clay nuzzling Gemma and Agent Stahl actually smiling as she runs her hand over the bed linens once occupied by the lover she killed in the last episode.

You just know something bad is about to go down. And, since the IRA storyline needs to play out, it's sure to involve Jimmy O and Stahl. 

Last week, impossible as it seemed, Stahl appeared to be living up to her end of the deal: Getting Gemma off the hook for murder and helping the MC get out of serving major time. And Gemma, it seemed, posed a major threat to that deal by turning herself in.

But we all know nothing is ever what it seems in "Sons of Anarchy." As Gemma so wisely commented, "There's no trust. Something will go wrong. Somebody will get hurt. I promise you: It'll end badly."

The question is: For whom? It's quite a trick that "Sons of Anarchy" has viewers rooting for the murderous members of SAMCRO, who are just as nefarious as the Irish gunrunner Jimmy and the Machiavellian Stahl. This episode even saw Sonny Barger, one of the best-known and longest-standing members of the real Hells Angels, make a star turn as Lenny the pimp.

At least Jimmy got what was coming to him. So did Stahl. But will SAMCRO?

Probably not. But that won't be clear until next season.

-- Susan Carpenter

Photo: Ron Perlman (Clay) and Charlie Hunnam (Jax) in "Sons of Anarchy." Credit: FX

'Sons of Anarchy' recap: Meanwhile, back in Charming

They're baaaack. And Charming is exactly the same as Sons left it: corrupt, bloodied and on the brink of utter chaos.

There's a lot of trickery in this lead-up to the season finale now that SAMCRO's back on its home turf, with the dead brunettes by the side of the road, Agent Stahl offing her lesbian lover and Jax stabbing the dude who could've brought down Hale and saved this thoroughly compromised town from Applebee's and other suburban encroachments.

Charming, at least to Jax, is less important than revenge for Tara's kidnapping, even if she -- and her unborn baby -- are now safe. And Agent Tyler couldn't have been that great in the sack if Stahl so readily gunned her down. Oh well. Stahl shouldn't have any trouble finding a replacement for the late Agent Tyler once she's convicted and sent to the women's prison in Chino, shacked up in an 8-by-10 cell with other miscreants in orange jammies.

Stahl is exactly what Gemma has claimed, and worse. Killing a lover is bad enough, but then framing the dead bed partner for a murder Stahl committed so she can advance her own career? Now that gives a bad name to professional women everywhere. I hope the Jag Stahl drives in hell is worth it.

-- Susan Carpenter

Photo: FX

'Sons of Anarchy' recap: Whose side are you on? [Updated]

"Sons of Anarchy" makes even the most convoluted of comic books seem straightforward. In comics, there are good guys, and there are bad guys.

In "Sons of Anarchy," there are bad guys, and even badder guys -- and an entire cabal of witchy women. It's getting increasingly difficult to figure out who's the most evil of them all.

This entire season it's been a tossup. There's Jimmy O, who lets his henchmen do most of the dirty work, as he did this episode, calmly sipping brandy at a kitchen table while his thug yanked the teeth of a traitor. Sure, Jimmy pulled the trigger point-blank at the end, but his crisp suitcoat wasn't even splattered.

Then there's Father Ashby, a compromised man of the cloth who, like Jimmy, is a puppet master though he absolves himself of any wrongdoing. Is he serving God, country, SAMCRO or his own best interests? When Ashby offers himself as ransom to Jimmy so Jax can finally cradle Abel in his arms again, it just seems too easy. 

Was it Ashby or Jimmy who planted bullets in the heads of Abel's adoptive parents to make that happen? Surely there's something nefarious in the works.

Maureen, it appears, isn't as sympathetic to SAMCRO as she's seemed, planting a wad of John Teller's letters in Jax's backpack as the Sons ready themselves to return to Charming. And Gemma? She's just coming off the rails in her efforts to protect her men. [Updated at 10:25 a.m.: The original post mistakenly had Maureen planting cash in a backpack and has been corrected.]

Agent Stahl is just as much of a snake as ever, manipulating her lesbian co-worker and botching the $250,000 drop to secure Tara's return. And Tara? She's becoming more of an old lady with each passing episode, slitting the throat of her captor.

"Sons of Anarchy" is what it's always been: A delightfully bloody mess.

-- Susan Carpenter

Photo: Zoe Boyle (Trinity) and  Charlie Hunnam (Jax) in 'Sons of Anarchy.' Credit: FX

'Sons of Anarchy' recap: An alternate use for a toolkit

It's got to be difficult to have such a hot half-sib, especially if you don't know you were spawned from the same sperm donor. Poor Jax and Trini. From the moment they met, Jax was doomed to be caught with his pants pulled down even lower than he normally wears them, and with Trini allowing access to her cleavage.

"I almost shagged my brother," Trini weeps to her drunken mother in a moment worthy of a telenovela. It's a wonder her ma, Maureen, could even see straight after her whiskey binge to break up the tryst, but she, along with Gemma, showed that moms know best. Better to break up things in the heat of the moment than to greet a three-headed grandchild nine months later.

The last thing Jax needs is to bring yet another baby into the world, when the one he's got is still kidnapped and the one on the way might be aborted or otherwise killed.

Baby Abel is the whole reason Jax and SAMCRO are even in the mossy bog of Belfast, which gets bloodier by the hour. SAMBEL VP O'Neal is outed as the rat who's been working with Jimmy. Strung up like a rack of lamb and sliced and diced with garage tools, he points the finger at co-rat Prez McGee -- a confession that's rewarded with two bullets in the chest and a pushed-from-the-roof sendoff for his superior.

Jimmy continues to prove he's one slippery dude. How he managed to escape Jax's fist and speed away in his Land Rover can only be known by the screenwriter, who must be saving his death for the season's closer -- unlucky episode 13.

-- Susan Carpenter

Photo: A scene from "Sons of Anarchy." Credit: FX

'Sons of Anarchy' recap: Girls packin' heat, guys gettin' shot

Someone's going to off Jimmy O. The question is: Who's going to pull the trigger on this bloke?

Will it be Jax, who, Father Ashby promises, will get son Abel if he plants a bullet in Jimmy's sheered Irish skull? Or could it be Chibs, who, reunited with wife Fiona and daughter Carrie Anne, might rip off an arm or other symbolic body part in retribution for Jimmy's infidelities?

Perhaps it will be Fiona who steps up and does the deed, because this episode shows she's capable of two-fisted gun-slinging and knows how to plant a knife. Maybe it will be Gemma, who's increasingly desperate to find Abel and more and more on edge.

Unexpected alliances are forming among the women, just as cracks are showing up in the overseas SOA brotherhood. I guess that's what happens when bombs go off and body parts are scattered and entire livelihoods are at stake.

Tara's services would have come in handy after the truck bomb. Opie's one tough dude if he can reach inside his own stomach to retrieve an apparent piece of shrapnel and still stand up.

But Tara's got her own belly to deal with. She's made her appointment at the abortion clinic. The hospital administrator is even giving her a lift. It will be interesting to see how that story line unfolds, now that the two co-workers have been rear-ended and tricked into exiting the car and the back tat on Tara's boss has been revealed. Who the heck is she?

-- Susan Carpenter

Photo: Katey Sagal in "Sons of Anarchy." Credit: FX

'Sons of Anarchy' introduces appisodes

The intoxicatingly off-color combo of leather, lingerie, Harley-Davidson and outlaw MCs has grown "Sons of Anarchy" into the highest-rated series ever to appear on FX.

Now the cable network is introducing a "Sons of Anarchy" mobile app to fill in the blanks of SAMCRO's complicated history.

Introduced Monday, and available through iTunes for iPhones, iPads and the iPod Touch, each "appisode" delves into the sordid past, present and future of the Sons of Anarchy Motorcycle Club Redwood Originals, a.k.a. SAMCRO, including John Teller's vision for the club and how this small-town California MC came to run guns for the IRA in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

Appisode 01 will be released Nov. 8 and explain "Why is Belfast relevant." Appisode 02 is to be "The History of SAMBEL." Coming soon are "Who's who in Belfast" and "Locations around Belfast."

Appisodes will be added each Monday and Wednesday.

According to the video introduction from show creator Kurt Sutter, the appisodes are "an insider's glimpse of the SOA mythology from Charming to Belfast" that fill in "the MC history, character back story and the details of the large narrative arcs my writers and I draw upon to create the show. I think you'll dig it. If not, what the hell, it was only a buck."

-- Susan Carpenter

Photo credit: FX

'Sons of Anarchy' recap: Belfast brawling

The Irish theme in Tuesday night's episode was stronger than a boozer's breath at closing time. Starting with the re-recorded, folk-tinged theme song and carrying through to left-side-of-the-road riding and the barely discernible accents of Sons' island brothers, Belfast is a lush and welcome contrast to the dry and dusty Charming. 

Yes. SAMCRO has finally touched down over the pond, where it immediately got down to business living out a one-percenter fantasy: ramming police cars, beating up cops, threatening their families. And getting away with it.

There's a baby to find, after all. An illegitimate child to meet. A score to settle.

Gemma's eyes could very well have been glowing red under her aviators as she met Maureen and was introduced to Jax's half-sis, Trini. Jax has no idea he and she share the same Da, so there's some  incestuous intrigue to their flirtation.

Meanwhile, back in Charming, we find out what Lila wanted to tell Opie before he sped away on his bike and hopped on the cargo plane for Ireland. She's with child. Just like Tara. Only Lila is less conflicted about what to do. Shamelessly giving her name as Sarah Palin, Lila has secured her appointment with an off-the-books abortion clinic -- an action that won't only terminate her pregnancy but also "Sons' " viewership by social conservatives. At least until next Tuesday.

Tara is inspired to follow suit, but I doubt she'll go through with it. Sure, she was wronged by Jax, but abortion is a pretty extreme form of vengeance and is difficult to do when a woman still desperately loves her man. 

Abel could use a sibling. That is, if Jax is ever able to get him back. It's finally clear what Jax will need to do to accomplish that. He  needs to off Jimmy O, and probably will, but Father Ashby is one nefarious dude. I'm not so sure that murder will result in a returned baby.

-- Susan Carpenter

Photo: FX

'Sons of Anarchy' recap: The morning after

Episode 7 opens with a view Jax no doubt saw up close and personal during his sleazy porn-star tryst, with a glimpse of pale and perky butt cheeks taking up the entire screen. It was a brilliant and startling starter for an episode that is easily the best of the season so far.

For full dramatic effect, Tara, of course, had to walk in on Jax in post-coital repose, which set in motion a string of porn-star bitch slaps and some of the most colorful clubhouse boys talk ever written, as Jax and Opie bantered about "high-traffic zones" and the future of their respective appendages.

Genius.

Where there's sex on "SOA," violence is never far behind. The wet spots barely had a chance to dry before Jax and the rest of SAMCRO were off to mess with one of the lesser Mexican MCs, planting a bullet in the head of one member as payback for a cleaver in the head of another.

Lovely.

Meanwhile, back at the hospital, Gemma phones Maureen in Belfast to let her know SAMCRO is coming. What she gets in return is some thank you: Maureen, it turns out, had a kid with Gemma's ex, John Teller -- father of Jax. Should be interesting when the two half-sibs meet.

And when Gemma sees Mo. My prediction: catfight. Gemma's tips are gonna hurt.

Tara won't be going, but her life isn't exactly boring. Helping Gemma escape with a faked drug reaction? Then convincing the hospital administrator to corroborate her lie?

Jax is a dang fool. I'm glad he's heading to Ireland, where the Belfast chapter seems to be prepping to give him a good whupping.

-- Susan Carpenter

Photo: A scene from "Sons of Anarchy." Credit: FX

 

 

 

'Sons of Anarchy' recap: Trust versus love

It looks like Jax's next visit to the hospital won't be to see Tara but the doctor who can best treat him for the gonorrhea I hope he's contracted from the pouty-lipped porn star. 

Clearly, some men have to destroy what's good for them because love makes them vulnerable and feel too out of control. Comparatively, brawling, stealing, murdering and mauling are easier for a guy who was born to and bred by SAMCRO.

But still. How could Jax dump such a babe-alicious brainiac, especially after she punched out her boss, stepped up to play surrogate baby mama, sold 'scrips and jeopardized her livelihood -- all of it for Jax and the M.C.

My guess is Jax will be back. I can only hope a triple diagnosis of gonorrhea, crabs and herpes and multiple doses of antibiotics, permethrin and herbs knock some sense into his scraggly blond bedhead.

Jax needs to wake up and smell the love. Not the sex. Dodo-brained jail bait is, ultimately, a liability.

Tara is not like Stahl. She isn't the type to let her partner take the fall. She's stand-by-your-man material -- more like Gemma, but that's getting a little Oedipal.

-- Susan Carpenter

Photo: FX

'Sons of Anarchy' recap: Old ladies rise up

Old ladies are supposed to do what they're told, but it's hard to blame the Sons' matriarchs for doing what works for them for a change, even if it isn't in the best interests of the M.C.

Gemma and her Belfast counterpart Mo aren't club members. Only their men. So when Gemma decides she's "too old to run" and Mo defends her tip-off about Abel's whereabouts as an act that will stop her head from being "squeezed off with razor wire," I was impressed. That takes some big ones.

And Tara. SAMCRO doesn't exactly seem like a protected-sex crowd, so it was only mildly surprising to learn she's been planted with Jax's seed. I just hope Jax takes the news as well as Gemma's and Mo's old men.

But what's Tara going to do about riding pillion? Having been a pregnant motorcyclist, I'd guess it's just as uncomfortable to nestle a baby bump against your man's back as it is to rest it on the tank.

Maybe Tara won't get that chance since it's looking like SAMCRO's heading over the pond and she'll be held back to peform surgeries.

-- Susan Carpenter

Photo: FX