Who on Bones has a bad bug? What truth is Arrow‘s Tommy going to share? What is NCIS agent Ziva’s tie to the new Mossad boss? Will a secret Smash relationship be outed? Read on for answers to those questions plus teases from other shows.
Bones | “The stakes are incredibly high” in this Monday’s episode, Emily Deschanel shared with TVLine this week, when a viral outbreak jolts the Jeffersonian. “One of our own” — Arastoo — “is affected and faces possible death,” the actress previews. “And since Cam, who we are so close to, loves him and is facing losing him, it’s incredibly terrible to think about.” As Brennan and her team race to crack the case at hand (as a means to developing an antidote that will squash the bug), Booth struggles with being shut out of the process. “We kind of go into lockdown mode, so even though he is very concerned and is threatening to show up, he’s not going to be let in.” Instead, the G-man does anything he can “from outside the Jeffersonian,” Deschanel says, “because we won’t be able to solve the case without him.”
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Smash | With only six episodes left in Season 2, expect to see a number of story arcs crescendo toward their inevitable conclusions. Bombshell, for starters, has its official Broadway bow in this Saturday’s episode (now airing at 8/7c), and showrunner Josh Safran says that the musical’s “critical fate will be revealed” by the end of the hour. Meanwhile, you can expect to see more of Jimmy’s erstwhile drug dealer Adam skulking around the Hit List stage door — but maybe not for the reasons you’d expect. “The relationship between Jimmy and Adam is more complicated than has been revealed,” adds Safran, who teases that the connection between these characters will be clarified in this weekend’s ep. Oh, and if Jaime Cepero’s one-time-only, “gah!”-worthy cameo as the nefarious (and naked!) Ellis wasn’t enough Season 1 nostalgia for you, the executive producer promises that another former cast member will show his or her face in Episode 12.
Arrow | An Angel (alum) will descend upon Starling City next week, 
in the form of J. August Richards playing a hit man dubbed Mr. Blank. Per showrunner Andrew Kreisberg, “He’s a very cool new villain to add to our rogues gallery” — and one that almost was lifted from DC lore. “Originally, we were going to try to do Onomatopoeia, a villain from Kevin Smith’s run [of New Earth comics], but Kevin apparently said in an interview that there was no way to bring that character to television and film — and after a while we agreed with him!” (Ono’s shtick was the ability to mimic sounds.) Instead, with Mr. Blank, Arrow gets a tantalizingly “innocuous assassin, somebody who has strength and power but is just sort of there in the background. That’s how we came up with the name, because he’s not really anything or anyone.”
And now, even more Arrow scoop, plus many other reader questions answered….
Do you have any scoop on Arrow and the remaining episodes this season? What will happen between Laurel and Tommy? –Karen
Did you hear that in the May 1 episode, “Tommy stuns Laurel with a truth”? Because I did, so I promptly invited EP Andrew Kreisberg to elaborate. “People should be wondering what that truth is…,” he answered, before adding: “Not every truth is about the plot; sometimes these truths are emotional, and they can be just as powerful as the mechanics of what’s happening in the episode.”
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Anything you can tease about Defiance‘s Nolan and Amanda? Their scenes during the pilot were so cute and hilarious. –Angel
Agreed, there’s a bit of a Han-and-Leia vibe there. In Episode 2, though Amanda is still recuperating from injuries suffered during the Volge battle (“Battle of the Volge”?), she joins Nolan on a trip to the bowels of what used to be St. Louis. Alas, by episode’s end, a bold if well-meaning act by Nolan’s wild-child ward Irisa will force madam mayor to make a call that agitates not just Datak Tarr but perhaps the entire Castithan race.
Matt, please, you’re our last hope. We’re dying to know a spoiler for this year’s season finale of The Mentalist. –Danny
When I spoke to executive producer Daniel Cerone about the April 28 episode (that he wrote and reveals the contents of LaRoche’s Tupperware), I also coaxed this finale tidbit out of him: “Put it this way: By the end of the season and into next season, the hunt for Red John becomes real. And names will be named.”
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On CSI, Morgan has a thing for Hodges, yet he’s marrying Elisabetta — but Greg has a thing for Morgan. What is going to come out of that storyline? –Danny
I ran your query by executive producer Don McGill, and he had this response: “We’re excited at the interest sparked by the heat between Hodges and Elisabetta. Fans can expect more intrigue between our unlikely couple when a surprise visitor from Italy and a surprising revelation about Elisabetta’s past surface at a day spa where Elisabetta finds herself a witness in a murder investigation.”
Where is Dracula on NBC’s summer schedule? –Bender
Rest assured, production is underway on the Jonathan Rhys Meyers-fronted series — Episode 2 is filming as we speak, I hear – but any details on where/when it will “stake” a claim on NBC’s schedule won’t be revealed until the network’s May 13 Upfront presentation.
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Please tell me the names of the guest stars on the April 17 show on NCSI. –Suzan
If by “the April 17 show on NCSI” you mean “the April 30 episode of NCIS,” which has yet to release a guest cast list, I can confirm that that hour marks Oded Fehr’s first episode back as the elusive Ilan Bodnar.
Is it too late to ask for more NCIS scoop? That promo for next week’s episode has me very excited to see the finale arc kick off. –Cheryl
Ever since I broke the news of Marina Sirtis’ casting as new Mossad director Orli Elbaz, several have wondered if Eli David’s successor is familiar with his feisty daughter. “There is a lot of history between Ziva and Orli,” show boss Gary Glasberg confirms. “We discover something at the end of the [April 23] episode, a nice little twist and a surprise that absolutely will inform us moving forward about the two characters. There is more to [their relationship] than meets the eye.”
More scoop on Once Upon a Time! Thank you! –Laurel
No, thank you for this generic request that allows me to plop in whatever nuggets I wish. “We said at the beginning of this season, ‘Magic is coming and it always has a price’ — and we’re going to see that at the end of this season,” series cocreator Eddy Kitsis told me. Leading up to that in these final four episodes, “We’re going to see a new chapter in the Rumple/Belle story that we’ve never seen… we’re going to see an Evil Queen and Snow White story that we’re excited about… and we’re going to get some backstory on Baelfire and Captain Hook. You’re going to see all the core characters front and center.” And just to be crystal clear about Tamara/what I shared in last week’s Spoiler Alert! webisode, here are Eddy’s actual comments on the matter: “She is a person from this world. She is from America. She is not going to be revealed to be someone else,” he attested. “For us what was interesting was, with the curse gone, what happens when the outside world comes? Who has been looking for this place?”
If there’s a show you’d like the Inside Line on, email mattmtvguy@gmail.com and maybe it’ll get love the next time around! (With reporting by Vlada Gelman)
