Theme of the week: No evidence is evidence

Anyone else happen to have Fringe, Awake, and Grimm on their TV-viewing schedules? If so, you may have noticed a common thread in their most recent episodes: No evidence is evidence. Spoilers ahead.

Even though Awake airs first, Fringe was the first of the three that I watched. In Friday's episode, called "The Consultant", Walter helps Fauxlivia solve the mystery of the mole in Fringe Division when he tells her "No evidence is evidence." By that, he means that her being unable to find any trace of the mole implies that the mole must be someone high up, with the power to tamper with evidence and erase his tracks. Though she initially can't believe that Colonel Broyles would betray them, by the end of the episode, they have him in custody.

It's a shame Walter can't be in every show (really, he'd be an excellent addition to just about anything). In Thursday's episode of Awake, titled "Ricky's Tacos," Detective Britten's subconscious--or magic power or whatever--is telling him to look back at a case he was working on before his accident. He checks out a building related to the case, but finds nothing. When he tries to find the case file back at the station, it is missing. When he reports this to Captain Harper, rather than being concerned that a whole case file is gone, she questions why he's investigating the closed case in the first place. Britten is deflected. No evidence is evidence, Detective. Of course, we the audience know that the police chief is involved in...something...which requires her to cover up this case and keep Detective Britten distracted. In her position of power, it's not a difficult thing for her to do.

Then we come to Grimm. Friday's episode, "Love Sick," starts with police Captain Renard killing two men (who probably had it coming) in a parking garage. Don't mess with Sam Adama. He knows just what to do to make it look like the men killed each other, but he misses one thing: the guy's cell phone, which could reveal that its most recent call was made to the captain himself. After Nick collects the phone for evidence, Renard is able to replace its SIM card. So, when the lab reports their findings back to Nick, they reveal that the old phone has a completely clean, new SIM card. How odd. No evidence is evidence, Nick. It's time for Nick to figure out that something's up with Renard, because I'm dying to know who/what he is and what he's doing.

I couldn't help but be amused by this apparent theme of the week. I guess it says something about the kind of TV shows that I watch. By now we've learned this lesson very well: If you can't find evidence, or your evidence goes missing, your boss is probably conspiring against you.

The Hunger Games, with Beanie Babies

If you're a fan of The Hunger Games and don't mind a bit of cuteness, I suggest you check out this retelling of the story with Beanie Babies. Surprisingly faithful to the source material, it's really very well done and had enough cleverness to win me over completely. And, in just 11 minutes, they managed to include some plot points that the movie had to leave out. I wish I could make home movies like this.

Game of Thrones, Season Two: A Clash of Kings

It's already aired in some of the world, but I am so excited to see the new season of HBO's Game of Thrones, which premieres tonight. One of my friends who watches the show just got HBO, so we'll be gathering at her house every Sunday for the next few months. I had grand plans to make lemon cakes for the premiere, but only got as far as buying lemons; Sunday laziness kicked in, and it didn't happen. Maybe some other week.

I've heard excellent things from the critics who I gather have been treated to the first four episodes of the season, so I have high hopes. I'm particularly looking forward to Arya and Dany's storylines in this season. And Tyrion's of course. The only trouble is that of the four of us who will be watching together, I'm the only one who's read the book Clash of Kings (I'm still in the middle of Storm of Swords). I'm pretty bad at keeping a straight face, so I don't know what I'm going to do when they turn to me and ask questions, or share their theories... One friend suggested "Put a paper bag over your head", but that's not very sustainable. Well, I'll just have to learn to deal with it.

If you're not watching Game of Thrones, I highly recommend you catch up quickly and jump on Season 2. It's going to be an exciting ride.