RETURNING: Hot in Cleveland: Live Show and Victoria's Mom

Live show! Did Elka fumble her words or did Betty White make a boo-boo? Not that it really mattered, things kept on-pace and were great nonetheless. I was a little sad that the end of Elka and Mamie's illegal activities came so suddenly, but I guess that means the writers have more exciting things in store, right? The second episode of the season was a bit boring in that there were really only a few truly good jokes, and the rest of the plot had smaller things at which to laugh here and there. I did really like the "puppet door," but I'm also left questioning what's going on with the characters on this show... is Mamie out and Penny in? Will Penny exist in Cleveland but we won't see her much (like Mike and Vanessa's families on Last Man Standing)? I don't know if I'm a big fan of either situation, honestly... the four main characters already have such chemistry that I don't think adding to that will help anything... agree?

Hot in Cleveland  "It's Alive!" (S04E13): Elka's been selling all sorts of medications from Canada, and Joy is concerned so she thinks Elka and Mamie should just sell off what they have and close up shop. [I laughed pretty hard at Victoria: "How could you have all these pills and not have shared?"] But, the inventory is much larger than Joy thought, and the problem only gets worse when a black market competitor learns of their "business," and threatens arson.

Joy calls a detective, Claude, for help, and he wants to use a gangster, Sally, to intimidate Tommy, the pill pusher. [yeah, a lot of descriptions there!] But, nobody knows what Sally looks like, so the detective pretends to be him! ["what if I said unconscionably?" haha] But, he's nervous, so Joy gives him liquor and Victoria gives him drugs, leaving Claude a wreck. So, unbeknownst to one another Victoria and Melanie both act like Sally. [this part got really funny and I was sure one of the actors would bust out laughing!] Claude then shows up, slightly convincing Tommy, but he soon passes out on the floor. Somehow, the real Sally arrives, and he's the son of a friend of Elka and Mamie. [she reminded me a little of Sophia from The Golden Girls, actually.] She shows up out of nowhere, learns of her son's "profession," and is the impetus to force everything into working out... the gangster agrees to buy out the rest of the supply from the women and pretty much give it to those in need. [unbelievable, but typical.]

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Hot in Cleveland  "Canoga Falls" (S04E14): Victoria learns that her hometown is naming a Square for her, so the girls plan a trip to Upstate New York. However, it turns out that the whole thing was a lie to get Victoria home for the first time in 12 years. [I would be positively LIVID! especially if I had dragged along my friends!] See, Victoria's sister, Bess, needs help handling their mother's deteriorating health. Well, Victoria wants to follow Melanie's example and put her mother in assisted living, but when Bess says that she's planning to move to AZ, Victoria decides to take her mother to Cleveland and stick her in a facility there. [how often do you think we'll be seeing Penny now?] Well, it turns out that Penny tricked Bess into tricking Victoria into coming to visit. [ha!] Elka advises her to tell the truth, and she's still invited back to Cleveland. [though her hanging out at the bar with Elka was a bit odd.]