Keeping a loving relationship fresh and strong has to be one of the hardest things to do.  After being together for a number of years, trying to find something that will surprise your partner might be next to impossible as you know each other inside and out.  But that cannot be a good thing if the relationship has fallen on hard times, knowing that there is trouble and a possible wandering eye could drive anyone to madness.  Taking the vow, for better or worse, may not mean the same thing that it did when it was said.

Richard and his wife Della have fallen on hard times.  Even though Della seems to be happy in the relationship, she is keeping secrets from her husband and he is starting to suspect that she is running around on him.  Returning from a shopping trip with their old friend Alan, Della is sporting a new coat and although it is said to be a friendly gesture, Richard is not happy that his wife is receiving gifts from an old friend.  As their anniversary is upon them, Alan has invited the couple up to a cabin to get away from their woes and enjoy their time, together.

While not wanting to accept the gift, Richard goes along with it since his wife is looking forward to the getaway.  Richard is more focused on what is happening between his wife and his old friend rather than see how nice the trip really is.  As he mopes around the cabin on a sleepless night, he finds Della and Alan talking on the porch of the cabin and being very friendly.  Knowing that he is about to lose his wife to a wealthly playboy that used to date her back in high school, Richard is not willing to pull any punches on what he is feeling.  Calling Alan out for spending too much time with his wife, Richard also divulges the secret the couple has been keeping dear to their hearts, the loss of their first baby before it was born.

Alan tries to talk Richard down, but once he starts to hit the bottle, there is no stopping his rage.  Knowing that his wife is finding happiness in the arms of another man, Richard devises a plan to get even with them both, using every gift received at his disposal.  When trying to pick up Richard for an event that is happening in the other cabin, Alan is forced to experience the rage of the jealous husband first hand.  Not being able to escape, or to warn Della about what is happening, Alan is stuck with his back on the wall and cannot tell his old friend the news that has been kept a secret from him for some time.  Della comes back to cabin to find Alan, but seeing that he has been pinned to the wall by an arrow, she knows that Richard has gone off the deep end.  Without being able to tell him what is happening in the other cabin, or what the surprise really is, she is forced to keep her mouth shut by her husband who is about to find out that all of his dreams were about to come true.

This is a very sad tale and I feel for Richard throughout the entire episode.  With quiet whispers between his wife and an old friend, I can see where he is coming from and deserves answers.  But the surprise is what really kills me as Richard is trying to hide the evidence of his crimes.  Gavan O’Herlihy who plays Richard embraces this role of the jealous husband and you can see the pain flowing through him as he is sure that his life is going to end badly, when it was actually going to take a turn for the better.  I would say that asking questions would have helped the situation, but both Della and Alan had been biting their tongues the entire time to try and surprise the tormented man, so it would not have helped.  Until next time, Stay Scared.

What's red and black and sexy? Charlie; recently back from Oz our favorite little hacker is out for revenge. This isn't the little Charlie we last saw, nor is it the adorable nerd we love. She's on a war path. But for whom? In previous seasons we learned that the girl we know has a dark past. When she was a kid, Charlie got scared at a sleep over and called her parents to pick her up. A drunk driver hit them and from then on her life was never the same. It seems that Oz has done enough damage to make Charlie seek out all those involved with the case. She hits up a few people, not killing, but torturing, until she gets a name of a councilwoman.

Sam and Dean are in disbelief that this is the girl they know and love. Charlie takes the woman's bank statements and then promptly kicks Dean's ass from here to Sunday. War from Oz has made Charlie pretty awesome. She takes off after popping the tires on Baby. Just as she leaves Dean in the driveway swearing, another car pulls up. Thinking its Sam, Dean is shocked to discover Charlie? There's two of them??!! That's right, there's two of them. A light and dark side. Good Charlie explains that the wizard had to split them in two in order to win the war over emerald city. After that, dark Charlie escaped to hunt down the person responsible for killing her parents. Once back, however, she breaks the key, stranding them both here. Battling the darkness has never been more literal. 

Sam and Charlie take off to find any clues as to how to fix the key. Dean stays behind to protect the man that ruined her life. Only to face dark side again. She plays it nice and gets alone time with the man who made a terrible mistake all those years ago. She stabs him with with a sharpie before fleeing. Sadly, there is no cure for a permanent marker stab wounds. I never even thought Charlie could hurt a fly.

Meanwhile, good Charlie and Sam find a retired Men of Letters member. He had been to Oz several times. He tries to play the two off like they're wrong, but he drops the act to help. While in Oz, he was forced to be split into light and dark. The dark version of him became The Wizard. Bad news, there is no fixing the key. By the time Dean gets to where Sam and Charlie are, dark Charlie has a plan...the two fight it out, but any damage done to Bad Charlie hurts the good half. 

All while our Former Men of Letters does something drastic, shooting himself in the stomach brings the Wizard here. Charlie shoots the good version of the Wiz in the face before the Wizard can kill Sam. Soon beaten by Dean, who nearly loses it and kills Dark Charlie, the two are finally reunited, and made whole again. With no key to Oz and a broken arm, Charlie decides to stick around and help find a way to remove the Mark. Dean is beating himself up even more so than usual, but alls well that ends well. At least for this episode...

Last week in my own separatist reality—I mean--Supernatural we learned some key life lessons. Like, don’t trust Crowley’s mom; Metatron is still a massive tool bag; and possibly my favorite, Castiel makes an okay-father-substitute. Not really, he’s terrible at it, but that’s all right. He tried really hard, and that’s all that matters. Really though, let’s focus on Rowena. Seriously, I’m more irritated at Crowley for even thinking he can trust her! She turned out exactly like I thought she would, which is both sad and amusing. I’m not entirely sure what Crowley’s childhood was like, but from this episode, I have a pretty good guess. I feel the majority of it involved a lot of resignation. Maybe Rowena and John Winchester should compete for “Show’s Worst Parent Award”. Though, Chuck (Who totally is God, and yes I just said totally, because there is no question in my mind about it!) might just be winning…

Well, the Mark of Cain is proving to be annoying and Dean really wants rid of it, so Castiel calls in a favor and borrows Metatron from Angel-jail to try and help out. There really isn’t any helping out though, because even if Metatron knows how to remove the Mark, he’s not saying a thing. But, he gives the boys a hint as to how to remove it. And by hint, he says the one thing Sam didn’t want to hear. According to the Scribe, they’re going to need the First Blade. Nothing is ever easy in the Winchester Life, but one phone call to Crowley, and the King of Hell decides he might help out. Maybe. He’s pretty sure this is a bad idea…but, you know, he does have a soft spot for Moose and Squirrel. As he goes to retrieve the blade, however, he finds that someone else has already gotten to it. By Crowley’s very own right hand man was tricked into getting the blade first by Rowena. Sadly, he doesn’t get to plead his case as he’s killed by the witch. Crowley stumbles upon the scene and falls for her twisted lies! Come on Crowley! How can you not know she’s playing you! Really!?

All the while Castiel is trying to make things right with Claire, and that’s just not happening. Dean even attempts to reach out to her, but that ends badly. Especially when she has her new friends try to kill him. Talk about being indecisive, before they can get the jump on him, Claire decides she doesn’t really want the older Winchester dead. Dean doesn’t kill the friends, but he scares them off and breaks a bench in a display of awesome. All ends well, somewhat, because Dean storms off to have some private words with Metatron, and Claire and Castiel get their “I don’t hate you, but leave me alone” closure.

The following torture scene of the world's douchiest angel is pretty spectacular. It’s a bit deserved and not as bad as it could have been. Metatron is lucky he didn’t hurt Sam, or well, there’s no telling what Dean would have done. The Scribe was responsible for a lot of things though, like killing Kevin, and that just won’t fly. Metatron finally tells Dean that the whole thing ends at the beginning. Beginning of what? Who knows! But Sam and Cas break in before Dean does any more damage and the little twit is taken back to heaven. Sam tries to tell Dean that maybe he just needs to learn to live with the Mark, annnnd, well, that’s not happening. At least tonight we get to see an old face, and I’m seriously concerned as to what happened to our little Charlie!

Putting your priorities first can lead to many downfalls.  As you are always looking to get something accomplished you may find that you have let your life just pass in front of you without really getting a chance to live it.  With that being said, if you are able to accomplish what you believe your lifelong goal has been, you may feel fulfilled and have no regrets in missing the little things.  Just make sure to keep your eyes open so you can see what is happening, you never know if your priorities need to make a drastic change.

Logan Andrews is looking to build a new resort on a plot of land he was lucky enough to inherit from the death of his last love.  Working closely with his good friend Freddy who is the island doctor, the two have schemed ways to make enough money to fund the building of their future hotel.  But Logan never lowers his gaze even when he has exactly what he wants.  Miss Margaret Richardson has just entered his party and has caught his eye with her richly demeanor.  While trying to get to know the woman, Logan is called out for an emergency on his newly acquired property that will sink his dreams forever.

Finding out that all of the land that is now under his possession is covered with swamp and quicksand, it will take more money than he has to get his hotel off of the ground. Knowing that Margaret has money that can makes his dreams come true, Logan turns to an old friend for help to get her to fall in love with him and give him access to all of her money.  Psyche is not happy with her relationship with Logan since he would not stand up for the love that the two share in front of the upper class.  Even though she is upset, she knows Logan’s plan and will support him in any way that she can.  Giving him a voodoo potion to make the distant Margaret fall in love with him, Psyche gives Logan the exact instructions on how to use it properly, one drop for marriage or two drops for a love of a lifetime.

Being able to sneak the drop into any drink that he gives to Margaret, Logan believes that marriage will not be enough to secure her financial surplus and gives her two drops.  Unknown to himself and his doctor, Margaret dies before they are able to tie the knot.  Now with no chance of getting the money to complete his dream of building the hotel, Logan cries over her grave.  But Margaret is not dead, as she has been given two drops of the voodoo potion, she is his for life.  Coming back from the grave, she acts as if nothing has changed, but slowly her body starts to deteriorate and becomes more and more grotesque.  As Logan understands what is happening, he needs to find a way to get away from his undead love, but even his own death will not keep the two apart.

This is an enjoyable story as voodoo is brought into the mix while trying to make one’s dreams come true.  Although it is not goal of Logan to fall in love, he has to convince a rich woman to allow him to take control of her finances.  When she does not see the benefit of this however, he finds another way, and love is the only thing that can force this on somebody.  But Logan is in love with another woman and her love burns more deeply than he even knows.  Cursing him instead of helping him could be the only way for him to truly understand what he has left behind with her.  With D.W. Moffett as Logan, Pamela Gien as Margaret, Janet Hubert as Psyche and the great Aubrey Morris as Freddy, this is one of my favorite casts for the show to date.  Each actor/actress found the right amount of rage and lust to show how deep love could truly burn.  Until next time, Stay Scared.

Having history with people is a good thing most of the time, but having a long history with an enemy could be even better.  You know what they are good at and also know what they are bad at.  Being able to use their downfalls against them, you are able to use your intimate knowledge for whatever you want, but you have to be careful, as they know the same things about you.

Reno Crevice has just ridden back into town looking for a game of cards.  Walking into his old stomping ground, he finds out that one of his lifelong enemy’s has taken the game over.  Without having any of his old friends to play against since Sam Forney has cleaned them all out, there is a different game on the horizon.  As Reno only has a hundred dollars to play the game, Sam is a much higher roller now and wants to play for the right to stay in town.

Starting with a dice game, both gamblers roll double sixes, forcing them to take their next wager even higher.  Walking out to the parking lot, a game of Russian roulette is their next venture.  As Reno talks the talk and goes into why it is important to think when death is on the line, Sam just urges him to pull the trigger.  When the gun comes down to the final chamber, the odds are purely against Reno, but he still pulls the trigger.  As the gun does not go off, he blames Sam for loading duds in his gun, and the game must continue since both men have such a strong hatred of each other.

Heading back inside the bar, the two men sit down and start a game of Chop Poker, winner gets to take the finger of the loser and so on.  As the game begins, Sam is losing more than a game, but most of his fingers and needs to find a way to turn his luck around.  When he is able to beat a pair of tens with a pair of jacks, he knows that the hot streak will continue and his game has just begun.  With each man winning and losing just the same, they keep playing their games, but can there ever be a true winner when they seem to have the same amount of skill at every game they try to play?

The story of pure hatred between two men that will never back down, no matter what the odds are.  I love how this episode plays out as each man becomes more stubborn than the other when it comes to winning and clearing the other one out of town.  As Lance Henriksen plays Reno and Kevin Tighe plays Sam, it is easy to believe that these two men genuinely do not like each other.  As each game comes up in a draw, watching as their rage grows is just fantastic and I am very pleased with how it all played out in the end.  Until next time, Stay Scared. 

There are times you want to keep your past hidden away when trying to get involved in a new relationship.  But on the problems that this can lead to is that you will never know what the person you are trying to get involved with thinks about it.  It may be something that will destroy any chances of moving forward, or it could make the relationship stronger.  But you will never know until the cat is let out of the bag, as telling the truth is always the best thing to do to keep a relationship strong.

Carlton Webster is looking to start his life over again.  Since he has been locked away in his home for many years without the touch of a woman, he has found one that will turn his life around.  But Carlton wants true love, and not to have it confused with his fortune.  Wanting to make sure that Linda loves him for who his is and not what he has, he puts it all on the table for the young vixen, but although she loves the mind of the old man, she could not be with someone so old.  Carlton is bent but not broken over this and finds a doctor that will help him on is conquest to become a young man once again.

Finding a doctor that can change body parts to make him younger, Carlton happily turns over a million dollars to get his face replaced.  Thinking this is all that Linda would want, he comes calling once again, but she is not impressed with his change, since his body is still old.  Going back to the doctor again, he pays two million more to get the abdomen of the young man replaced with his.  Now knowing that he is a new man, Linda would not turn him down and even with the beefcake top half of his body stunning her, she still has a problem with his old legs.  Investing his fortune to try and impress the young Linda is killing Carlton, but he will do anything in the name of love to make her happy.

Selling his home and laying off his best friend and man servant, Carlton goes to the doctor for the final transplant.  For the lower body of the young Hans that has been benefiting from this venture, three million dollars, or a million a limb.  With this being all of the money Carlton has left, he has to decide how important love really is to him.  Knowing that if he completes the transformation, Linda will love him, he gives the rest of his fortune to the doctor and donor and runs to Linda to show her how much he really loves her.  Finding that she has moved to an uptown apartment, Carlton is shocked to see his old life being flaunted in front of him as Linda wanted a man with money to take care of her and not the poor young man he has become in trying to impress her.

What I gathered from this tale is that it is more important to be forthcoming about one’s self.  Not trying to hide who or what you are could make your life much more fulfilling and watching as Carlton has giving up everything that he was accustomed to, to find love with a woman ended up the way it should have started if he just told the truth.  With William Hickey playing Carlton, Kelly Preston as Linda and Rick Rossovich as the striking donor Hans, they all play their parts extremely well and bring the story to life.  As always, Stay Scared. 

What would you do if you were able to see into the future?  Would you try to make all of the money you could in knowing things that others do not?  Would you keep an open eye to see and cheat death as you would be able to see it coming?  Or would you just capitalize on your ability and tell other people their futures, as you find out that your power should not be used on yourself.  Having a special ability like seeing into the future can be dangerous, since you seem to be the one that is tempting fate itself.

Cathy Finch is looking for a way to a rich and successful life.  Trying to utilize a fortune teller’s vision, Cathy visits Madame Vorma and gets the news she is looking for.  Cathy will marry a man who will inherit a fortune and then shortly after die a violent death.  Cathy loves the idea of not being married for that long and all of the money being hers, but she has to meet the man she will marry before any of the premonition will come true.

Getting fired from her job, then finding another one as a waitress at strip club, her future has been told correctly by the Madame, but she fears that the next part will come true as well.  As a bar regular comes in that is a mountain of a man, Cathy hopes that he is not the man she will need to marry to get rich.  Checking up with Vorma again, she is upset to find out that this is the man in the visions and she will have to marry him to get the money.  Although Cathy is revolted by the appearance of her future husband, she decides that money is more important to her than love and gets married to Charlie Marno. 

Cooking, cleaning and making love to this man for three months is too much for Cathy and she confronts Madame Vorma, calling her a fraud.  But Vorma stands by what she has said, as she is always right.  Cathy heads to the supermarket and does her regular shopping and is surprised that she is the one millionth customer and gets a check for the same amount.  Knowing that the fortune teller was wrong, Cathy heads back home and calls it quits with Charlie and tries to leave the small apartment since she is now independently wealthy.  But Charlie will not let her go, as he is deeply in love with the woman who only married him for his nonexistent fortune. 

A classic tale of a gold digger that is only looking to get to the money, but with a twist that only can come from Tales From the Crypt. As Cathy is looking for a way to get to easy street, she finds out that nothing is easy, even with the promise of money.  Not being able to get the entire story or how her life will finish up may have led to her own demise, but with her number one priority being money, who knows if it would have stopped her.  With Demi Moore as Cathy and Jeffrey Tambor as Charlie, getting a couple of bigger names for the premiere of the second season of Tales From the Crypt is off to a beautiful start.  As always, Stay Scared.

I don’t know about you, but when I saw the title, I laughed. And then felt sad. Because…well…sad feels. Guys! Guess what! It’s the second half of season 10, and I have to start this off right. If you haven’t already heard (which, I’m sure we’ve all heard, but it’s gotta be said), Supernatural has been picked up for an 11th season. Yes, I screamed loud with joy. Mostly because I seriously love Moose! Speaking of, I used that lovely nickname of Sam’s when talking to Laurel about the show, she’s just finished season 1, and she was so confused. It’s funny how this show can change so much. I have no regrets. None. Except that maybe Moose’s hair in this season isn’t as fabulous as it could be…just. Saying.

Hey! Let’s move on to the recapping portion of this blog shall we? Dean is still not pleased with the Mark of Cain being on his arm, Sam is worried, Crowley’s having strange dreams, because his mother, Rowena the witch, is possibly tampering with them, and Castiel is upset he can’t seem to get Claire to stop hating him. And Claire, well, she’s just a bag of messed up…she has found some new friends to hang out with and they’ve offered a special one-time-only-friends-help-friends deal of killing Dean! Isn’t that just true friendship right there? It’s a bit psychopathic and a little extreme, but who am I to judge. Either way, while she’s off being a brat, Castiel has a friend bring him something special from heaven; perhaps the only thing that can help them. The only downside is Metatron doesn’t seem to be in a helping mood. Or does he? He tells the Winchesters and Castiel that they need the First Blade. Anything after that is going to cost them something. Dean calls Crowley, and just like that the King of Hell decides to help out…

Well, not so much decides as he gets talked into it. Despite everything that’s happened between them, Crowley still seems to have a soft spot for the Winchesters’. Crowley’s mother, on the other hand, seems to have a soft spot for causing trouble and getting her way. She manages a spell that allows her to hear what Crowley and the boys are talking about. She then convinces Crowley’s right hand man to go fetch the First Blade before they can get to it. All so she can kill him and stage a ruse that Crowley stupidly falls for. I have to give Rowena this; she’s a crafty little manipulator. Now, our King of Hell isn’t so sure about helping out Sam and Dean. Still, he lets them know he has the First Blade. Dean takes that and gives Metatron a visit. Only to find out that the Scribe isn’t willing to give more information just yet. That’s alright, Dean is willing to beat him senseless and then slice into him with an Angel Blade.

In no time Metatron spills the secret to removing the Mark. It all ends where it began. What does that even mean? Probably has something to do with where he got it…or who gave the first mark to begin with…after that Sam pulls Dean away and Cas takes Metatron back to heaven. It’s a whole confusing mix of emotion really. And when it’s all said and done, Sam tries to get Dean to realize that he’s stronger than the pull of the Mark and he might just need to live with it.  Dean doesn’t seem so sure, but he later gets a call from Claire, sparing him more of Sam’s’ boring lectures. Seems Claire’s new friends weren’t joking when they offered to kill Dean. They almost sneak up on him, until Claire screams at the last minute and Dean throws them both to the ground. Smashing the bench with the axe was just a nice reminder of who not to mess with. Dean leaves without a word and Claire walks off. Castiel finds her later and the two have some sense of closure together. He did kind of ruin her life, but she’s still a little brat. With that, we’re left to wait a whole week until we get more Supernatural. In the mean time, there’s always re-runs…

When last we left our hunter duo, things were not going so well. Sammy and Dean were both in denial over the Mark's influence over the older Winchester. Castiel asking for help provided a near perfect distraction. The Angel of the Lord was in a bit of a pickle, it seemed. Especially when it came to dealing with the daughter of his vessel. While Jimmy Novak was long dead, the daughter he left behind was long into trouble. Not quite an adult and with no place to go, she seemed to be bouncing in and out of a home for wayward children.

Feeling guilty over having taken her father from her, Castiel decided to try and help. He broke her out of the home and things seemed to be okay. Except that they weren't. The young girl ditched our trench coat wearing Angel the second she could. All to meet up with another kid and some old guy who had "taken them in." Creepy vibes? Yeah, for real, me too. The old guy had some gambling debt he needed to pay back and he talks the young Novak into holding up a convenient store. 

Cas intervenes, and with the help of Sam and Dean, they track her back to the old creepers house. Speaking of, knowing she didn't pull off the heist, he strikes a deal with the leader of the gang. The girl for his cleared debt. And things just got scary for her. Or, almost. Castiel rescues her and they all nearly make it out...until Dean lets the Mark control him just a bit. The unleashed rage causes everyone in that house to lose their lives. Begging the question of if Dean will ever be free from the Mark's control. He'd already made Castiel promise to kill him if he became a demon again....unbeknownst to Sam of course.

With all that going on we can't forget about the fun that's happening in Hell. Seems Rowena isn't getting the treatment she deems worthy. Convince a demon to lie for her, she inadvertently gets Crowley's trust. Despite all the history between them, he's willing to give her a chance. If you ask me, it's a recipe for disaster. So what does tonight hold? I guess we'll have to wait and see.

Retirement can be a killer for some people.  After working for over forty years, it is not easy for people to slow down and let life pass them by a little bit.  With all of the hobbies that are out there, finding one that will keep them busy enough to make them feel like they are accomplishing something every day, but it just may not be enough.  There is something to be said about leaving the house and putting in a full day’s work that leaves you feeling fulfilled in a way and it is hard to replace that feeling.

Jonas has been forced to retire after working forty-seven long years and is looking to make the most of his golden years with his wife Anita.  But what Jonas does not recognize is that with all of the time he has been away from the house for so many years is that Anita has found a way to keep herself busy and has made several new friends.  Although her friends are animals, she treats them like they are people and will do anything for them, since they are the only family she has known for some time.

Jonas is not ready to see this, thinking that being home with his wife would be like an extended weekend, but sees that the affection that he has expected is wasted on the animals.  Wanting to keep himself distanced from this, he tries to stay busy around the house, but there is only so much that he can do to avoid the situation since there are animals everywhere around the house.  Talking with his neighbor about hobbies, Jonas has decided that he would rather win back his wife from so many years ago and become a loving family, but when he receives a tuna sandwich made with cat food, he begins to understand that this may not be possible.

Finding a hobby that will fulfill his needs and give him a sense of purpose, Jonas takes up taxidermy and starts to practice on the house pets.  Not allowing Anita in the basement until he has completed his collection of her loved ones, he is very secretive of his endeavor.  But Anita is privy to the prize of his collection as she sees one of her favorite dogs has been stuffed on the patio.  Wanting to protect her babies from her fierce husband, Anita makes it down to the basement and sees all of her friends on the stuffing line and while Jonas is trying to explain why he loves the hobby so much, she bashes him on the head with his retirement hammer and adds him to the ranks of her favorite pets.

Who does not love watching old people bicker, because they are so darn cute?  This takes watching that to the next level as you wonder what is actually happening at their homes.   Now I know that retirement will never suit me as I want to be as busy as possible with my conscious time, since there is so much to do and if I don’t have a good schedule to force myself to do it, it will never get done.  With the great M. Emmet Walsh and Audra Lindley as a newly retired couple, I could imagine what I would be like if I was lucky enough to have my wife be able to stay at home while I worked.  Until next time, Stay Scared.