Heroes' Bennet backstory,American Idol and Veronica Mars solves the case yet again

Heroes had a nice use of the flashback this week as the Bennet household was under siege by Radioactive Ted and Matt the Mindreader(where was their new buddy Hanna Gittleman aka Wireless Lass,I'd like to know!). We learned several new things: Claude the Invisible Man was Bennet's first partner, Hiro's dad(more George Takai,yes!) is a major member of the Primatech Paper Mutant Hunters and our good Haitian friend has been keeping his mouth shut for quite a long time.

I've always considered Mr. Bennet to be one of the bad guys on this show and in some ways,he may still be but his love for Clare is totally sincere and heartbreaking. It's too bad that he goes to such extreme measures to keep his family out of the loop but now we have more of an understanding about the why of that. Plenty of fireworks,both physical and emotional from everyone. Here's one of the biggest ones of the episode:





The murder of Dean O'Dell was wrapped up this week on Veronica Mars,just in time for a brief hiatus to give the Pussycat Dolls Search show on for a few weeks. Yeah,replace a smart,savvy show with a female lead with a hunt for the next video vixen to complete the bimbo six-pack-another brilliant move there,CW! Back to VM,I really hope Keith gets to stay Sheriff,it's nice to see a competant person getting to do the job they were meant for. Whether or not that will make Veronica's detective work harder or easier remains to be seen.

Also hope that the whole Logan/Veronica thing takes a back seat for awhile. I've never been crazy about him as her boyfriend in the first place and now that he's wanting to move on to Parker(good on Parker for using the "but you were dating my friend" backout. Shows some character),I say great! I'm all for love but VM is best when Veronica gets all into classic Nancy Drew mode. The confrontation in the classroom was truly awesome:




Once again,the girls beat down the boys on American Idol this week. The dedication theme was nice but some of the choices were weird,like Jared singing"Let's Get It On" for his parents. ICK! Poor Sanjaya,he wanted to honor his grandfather with that "Stepping Out With My Baby" number but he seemed to be whispering the whole song(I knew Sanjaya was in trouble when he came out with that fedora). The only decent guy numbers were Sundance Head's "Mustang Sally" and Chris Sligh's tribute to his lovely wife. Very nice:



Lakisha rocked the house again,with "Midnight Train To Georgia" dedicated to her grandmother:



Haley tried to get down with "Queen of the Night" but she sounded more like the Kid Sister of the Early Evening to me:



Don't agree with me? Take a listen to the original version of the song then:



Other ladies who did well the other were Melinda,with "Funny Valentine",Gina with"Alone"(songs from Heart are tough to do but she pulled it off nicely)and Stephanie's "Dangerously in Love",even if she did sound abit Beyonce. Antonella and Alaina were awful. Alaina's voice was drowning in the Dixie Chick's "Not Ready to Make Nice" and Antonella needs to watch the 'tude. Simon was correct when he said that he and the other judges put Jennifer Hudson on but America voted her off. Go get some more singing lessons,honey or find another webcam to pop your top for. That's your biggest claim to fame here,Antonella.


The results show is tonight and these folks should be safe from the Song of Shame:

MELINDA



GINA



SUNDANCE



Random Notes:




America's Next Top Model: I managed to catch some of this cycle's premiere(why do they call their seasons "cycles" on ANTM? Do I really want to know?)in between the girls on AI and I liked the concept of political hot topics as a photo shoot theme. Kathleen really was dippy,even for a show like this. Her take on anti-fur(her photo topic) is"It's bad to kill live animals but if they're already dead,you can take the skin...they do die of old age in the jungle,right?" Uh,even if they do,dear,most fur coats are not made of matted aging fur from a retired forest dweller. That blank stare in her photo was way too natural,so it's for the best that she's been dismissed.

The Office: Michael and Jan's relationship reminds me of the Spike/Buffy hook-up in Season Six; Jan hates to need Michael but he fulfills her longing to connect to someone,even in a self destructive way. And just Spike,Michael is more committed to their romance than she wants him to be. Don't know if this love affair will "implode on itself like a dying star" but it may end badly for all concerned. Poor Michael.

Jan & Michael's Dirty Little Secret:



Spuffy Love: