TV Geek Out 162: Mad Men, "The Good News"

The good news is ... Lane is more fun than a barrel of drunken monkeys when he's had a few! Joan can still have babies even though she's had a couple of "procedures"! And that's about it. "The Good News" was yet another example of how bleak, and funny, Mad Men's fourth season is. The episode contrasted and balanced its emotionally devastating scenes: Don telling Anna he had to go (instead of telling her she didn't have much time left) and Joan's breakdown were countered by Don and Lane's cathartic New Year's night out and Greg's surprisingly healing jokes. Focusing on three of the show's most stoic, even repressed, characters underscored just how much their old ways are doing them disservices -- and what a fresh start the new year offers them. Grab yer Texas belt buckle and begin 1965 with the TV Geek Out Geeks here.

TV Geek Out 161: True Blood, "New World in My View"

TV Geek Out covers episode 10 of True Blood's second season, "New World in My View," in which Bill, Sookie and Jason return to Bon Temps and find their hometown in a sorry state, with its citizens running rampant. Sookie and Bill go to her house, and when they encounter Maryann, Sookie repels her with a burst of light from her hand! Meanwhile, Andy and Sam have been cornered into the walk-in fridge at Merlotte's. Jason, who's prepared himself for battle, outwits the mob at the bar, but only momentarily, and Sam ends up surrendering. With Andy's help, Jason puts on a show to make the mob believe he's their God, and then he "smites" Sam, who turns into a fly and escapes. At Bill's, he and Sookie find a crazed Maxine Fortenberry with Hoyt and Jessica, and Hoyt fills them in on what they've missed. They head out to see Tara, whom Lafayette and Lettie Mae have been unsuccessfully trying to get through to. When Bill and Sookie arrive, they team up with their combined glamouring and mental powers and free her from Maryann's control. Bill leaves to get help from another vamp (a queen!), whom he thinks might know how to defeat Maryann. Back at Bill's, Jessica can't take anymore of Maxine's bitchiness, and starts to feed on her! TV Geeks Heather and Dana talk about all this, and Sookie's second steamy Eric dream here.