Ask Ausiello: Spoilers on HTGAWM, Mentalist, Parks and Rec, Homeland and plus 

Got a scoop request? An anonymous tip you’re dying to share? Send any/all of the above to 

Ausiello: Remember how Alfred Enoch’s “puppy dog” Wes shared with Rebecca in Episode 7 that his mother committed suicide when he was only 12? Series creator Peter Nowalk teases that viewers should “definitely pay attention to” that tidbit of background information. “That was a big bomb. It was buried in a bunch of information that was not significant, and it explains a lot of Wes’ behavior; it explains that he has a deep sadness, a loneliness. It maybe explains a little of his ‘damsel-in-distress-rescue syndrome,’ too,” continues Nowalk. “It’s a question: ‘How did [Wes\' mother] kill herself?

did she kill herself? What happened to Wes after that? And how did that impact who he was?’ What happens to us as children completely determines our psychology and our behavior after that. [That death], basically, blew apart his life.” Nowalk also hints that even though Wes doesn’t come from the “shark-feeding” upper-class world inhabited by most of his Middleton University cohorts, he’s actually “much stronger than people think at first glance. Wes has been through things that are worse than any of [his Keating Five counterparts]. He knows how to shut down his emotions in the dramatic events of Murder Night.”

crossover? —Mason Ausiello: We’ll learn that

vet Nick Tarabay) has a surprising connection to Starling City. As exec producer Greg Berlanti teases: “He’s got a relationship to one of our recurring [

. BONUS SPOILER: The Weather Wizard is returning! No, not the one that brewed a storm in the pilot — his

. Turns out that Mark Mardon survived the same plane crash that his kin was in, and as such possesses the same, but lethally refined, weather-controlling powers. Oh, and he wants Detective West (AKA Clyde’s killer) dead. Translation: The forecast calls for a s–tstorm.

Ausiello: The official logline for the show’s Dec. 10 holiday episode confirms that Dinah Lance (played by Alex Kingston) is back, which begs the Q: Does that put pressure on Laurel to tell her family the truth about Sara? “Laurel has a really emotional journey about that in that episode, for sure,” Berlanti tells us. “Whenever we get that whole family together, especially subsequent to stuff that’s happened, it will bring a lot of that to surface.”

episode, the one where Daisy gives birth? I’ve already seen a photo of Booth holding Sweets Jr. (*

Ausiello: The delivery won’t be as dour as you might expect, given the circumstances. “Maybe it was supposed to be dramatic, but I don’t think I’m capable of that,” Carla Gallo previews with a chuckle. “I feel like to do a dramatic birth is too upsetting for anyone to watch.” That said, Sweets’ presence — or lack thereof — “looms large” in the hospital room, she promises.

Ausiello: Yes, but these next four scoops are for Don, the Aushole from last week’s AA who sent me those Smurfs pics from Paris:

♦ Season 3 will pick up a few weeks after Season 2

♦ The show will finally head to Camp Genoa

-style payback for what happened to Deputy Yawners

Question: I’m seriously missing my Pawnee pals. How dare they keep us waiting after a season closer like that?! I may be a little premature, but do you have any hints of what’s coming on

coming: Mayor Gunderson. Exec Producer Mike Schur tells us it’s unlikely the final season will introduce us to the MIA politico. “I don’t think you’ll ever meet him,” he says. “There’s an episode that has Mayor Gunderson in its fabric, so there is some

of him. But I don’t think you’ll ever see him walk on camera and wave and say hi.”

Ausiello: Interesting choice of words, considering the CBS drama will conclude its seven-season run with a two-part episode that revolves around a menacing new serial killer who goes by the name “Lazarus.” An exterminator by trade, Lazzie (as I call him) conceals psychopathic tendencies underneath his unprepossessing exterior.

Ausiello: Jax and Wendy probably won’t be riding off into the sunset in the series finale. At least that’s not where Drea de Matteo sees them heading. “I don’t know if that’s the right ending for a show of this nature and for a writer like Kurt [Sutter], who has always played against the Hollywood-generic-plot-point kind of thing,” she muses. “It could be something that people

ending made people go, ‘What the f–k happened here? Did they go on? Are they dead?’ I think Wendy would love for them to end up together. But I don’t think we’re there yet.” BONUS SPOILER: Tonight’s episode may well be Charlie Hunnam’s finest hour (er, 90 minutes).

Ausiello: The Dec. 16 holiday episode (which also doubles as the fall finale) marks the return of three notorious cyber terrorists: Former Systems Administrator Kevin Hussein (played by Ethan Rains), Heidi Partridge (Erin Allin O’Reilly) and

 Ajay Khan (Vik Sahay). In the wake of a city-wide Internet blackout the week before Christmas, the NCIS team pulls the trio out of prison to help with the case, and, whaddaya know, I’ve got an exclusive first look at their comeback below!

now that it’s been renewed for a second season? It’s my new guilty pleasure! —Raymond

Ausiello: Your new guilty pleasure is about to get even more sinful. When the show returns in April, Mary will cross paths with two men who sound like they’re going to be as dangerous as hot: Samuel Wainwright, a cold-hearted but quick-witted surgeon whose predilection for sadism would make Christian Grey blush, and Baron Sebastian Von Marburg, a 250-year-old Dorian Gray type whose “anything goes” approach to sex is the antithesis of puritanical. In addition to these series regular roles,

is also casting a pivotal recurring part: the ancient (and yet gorgeous) Countess Von Marburg, Sebastian’s mother and, if she has her way, Mary’s future mother-in-law!

Ausiello: The series finale will feature quite a few storyline and character callbacks, exec producer Jeff Eastin promises. “My hope is that people who are real fans of the show, who’ve stuck with us this entire time, will not be disappointed,” he tells us. BONUS SPOILER: Eastin vaguely teases that Diana and Jones will “continue on and move up” in the last episode.

Question: So you will answer some inane question about Monroe and Rosalee’s honeymoon on 

, but you won’t answer my question about whether the sharks on

ever go back and make a deal with a contestant whom they have turned down on the show but then had second thoughts about a possible deal? I’ve been loyal to you. Don’t you like me anymore? —Mike

I like you, Mike! That’s why I’m going to give you more of the

scoop for which you so ardently clamor! Silas Weir Mitchell recently gave TVLine a little inside intel on the upcoming Christmas episode. “It’s hilarious and it’s totally messed up,” he said. “There’s a thing that happens to a certain subset of Wesen” around the holidays, and “it’s similar to Krampus, in a way, because it has to do with the seasonal thing.” Weir wouldn’t tell us

which of the show’s Wesen will be affected, but he couldn’t speak highly enough of the episode. “It’s another level of

: absurd, funny, ugly, dark and great.” BONUS SCOOP: Go-to TV Big Bad Arnold Vosloo (

) will guest-star in an early 2015 episode as Jonathon Wilde, a Manticore bounty hunter from Texas working on behalf of the Wesen Council.

Ausiello: New character Orion, who’ll make his appearance after the winter break, may just prove himself a gift from the heavens for Abbie. “She sees in him someone who is actually completely living for what they believe, and finds that really inspiring and maybe even decides to sort of follow him in that,” Nicole Beharie tells TVLine. No word on what Ichabod will think of that…

Question: Whatever happened to Rafael’s sister Luisa from

Ausiello: “She is coming back with a bang,” co-star Justin Baldoni teases of his onscreen sibling, played by Yara Martinez. “It’s a very funny situation and wherever your mind takes you, go there, because these writers are hilarious with the things that they have her and us doing.”

Ausiello: How about an exclusive clip from tonight’s episode, in which Reese — who this week is instructing at the police academy to mind the latest POI — touches base with his (almost flirty?) NYPD shrink:

Ausiello: This Sunday’s episode ranks among the Top 5 best

. Much of the focus is on the prisoner swap — Saul in exchange for those half-dozen terrorists — and Carrie’s familiar feeling that something is amiss. I’m not going to tell you if her suspicions turn out to be correct, but I

tell you to make sure the edge of the seat is comfortable, because you’ll be fused to it during much of the hour.

reunion alert! Ana Ortiz, who has been racking up some serious guest-star credits during her

hiatus, will next turn up in the Season 5 finale of

colleague Chris Gorham). She’ll play Karen Coughlin, a political advisor known on the Hill as “the wolf in chic clothing.” Karen approaches a seasoned Beltway insider with the opportunity to enter into the political arena.

Question: Do you know anything about a possible love interest for

Ausiello: As a matter of fact, Matt Mitovich just got off the horn with series creator James Duff, who had this to share about the certain someone who is poised to change the grizzled detective’s life: “Provenza ends up attracted to someone he never thought he would be attracted to. He felt like the book was closed on the romantic part of his life, and now that book is suddenly reopened.”

That’s a wrap! Please send questions, comments, and anonymous tips to askausiello@tvline.com. (

Additional reporting by Vlada Gelman, Kim Roots and Michael Slezak

Ausiello, nothing on Grey’s Anatomy’s fall finale?

Sing it. :) Hopefully there will be a special GA scoop later in the week (NOT about a potential love interest for Amy, please).

How about you stop throwing up the “Undertone” window when all I want to do is read the posting??

I think sunday’s episode of Homeland was up there with New Car Smell, but if you say this week’s episode is better*, I believe you. Can’t wait.

*Ok, you didn’t say that but I’ll hold you responsible if it doesn’t meet my expectations.

I sure hope that Dinah Lance’s return means that Laurel finally tells her parents about what happened to Sara. I know she’s concerned about her father’s health, but they need to know what happened.

See, this is where I disagree. They all said their good-byes, they know that Sara is gone and is probably not coming back. Laurel telling her parents that she is dead only helps Laurel by giving her a clean conscience. She will probably feel better, but what good does it her parents? Nothing. She shouldn’t tell them, because nothing good will come of it.

No, a parent deserves to know if their child has died.

IMO this is kind of ridiculously selfish of Laurel. It also doesn’t help that her method of keeping Quentin ‘safe’ is drastically flawed. So it’s okay if she goes out and gets herself beaten to a pulp which worried the hell out of Quentin (and probably would’ve given him a major heart attack) yet she can’t tell him about Sara? It’s total BS. No parent would ever NOT want to know that their child is dead. Even QUENTIN said that the truth is always better than lies. And Laurel’s an idiot for not telling him.

Sara saw her father the last time she was in Starling City, and he’s still leaving her phone messages asking her to call him to tell him she’s okay. Dinah also believes Sara is alive.

Not telling her parents that Sara is dead is incredibly cruel to them. And stupid since the police department might be able to help catch her killer. The longer Laurel waits, the more wrong she is.

If Sutter was going to do a happy ending why not Jax with the love of his life and their kids. A happy ending isn’t Jax with his junkie ex wife he’s never loved.

Though I’m slightly annoyed that Sleepy Hollow is adding yet another character, I will try and have faith that the writers know what they’re doing.

I agree, but maybe it means they’re getting rid of Hawley? Especially with how it sounds like Abbie’s to idolize Orion. Crane can be there to snap her out of it if Orion proves to be evil, but there’s even less purpose to Hawley.

I desperately want to have faith these writers can get the show back on track too. This last episode with the Mills sisters was sublime, so they must be capable.

If SOA has an open ended ending like the Sopranos it will s*ck. We deserve better than that. There better be a lot of resolution. Just my 2-cents :-)

Lazarus, eh? Seems strange to have a multiple part series finale with a big villain if said villain doesn’t have something to do with the underlying plot of the series. Could Lazarus be referring to Jane’s father?? The show has never addressed where his father is now. Hopefully it’s not referring to Red John rising from the dead!

If they leave it cliffhanger-y-ish.. I’d say the hope was for a last minute pick up.

If they tie it all up within the two-parter.. Maybe it will be to show that they meant to drag RJ out.. But that they can actually solve a big serial killer case swiftly.. Like throwing the characters a bone from years of slowly solving the RJ case.

What are the chances Saul gets killed off on Homeland? Need percentage.

Final season of Mentalist with 13 episodes just like what Chuck (NBC) and Fringe (Fox) did in the past. A two hour series finale on February 18, 2015.

I got a feeling that the Alfred Enoch’ s character will turn out to Prof. Keating ‘s long lost son that she give up when she was younger.

Well, that would her acting like she wants to bang him sliiightly more creepy x)

I can’t wait to learn who murder Sam and why. I hope that the writer don’t wait until the last five minute of the show before telling us who is the killer.

Didn’t they basically reveal it was Rebecca last week?

Thanks for the Homeland scoop. This week’s episode was great, so looking forward to the next one (although I’m already stressing about Saul). Also thanks for the NCIS scoop, which sounds more interesting than the other recent spoilers.

Only TNT scoop I want is that the cancellation of Perception was a joke, which it is anyway

laurel is a show killer. arrow is so rough this season with so much focus on her. i hope they’re just setting her up to leave in the season 3 finale. if not, it makes me doubt if i’ll continue watching.

So much focus on her? Did you forget about that crummy felicity episode? All the focus was on her.

Well sweety, it is been only 3 seasons with out Felicity’s back story so why is that a problem for you? Sure isn’t for the show, it was highest rated episode in a long time. :)

Laurel’s had major focus in four of the six episodes this season. Even the last one, which should have been about Roy, was mostly about Laurel.

it’s just too much laurel in every single episode. ratings speak. people like felicity. they don’t like laurel. she’s a drain on the show and has been featured way too much. the only way that can be paid off is if they’re completing her storyline and writing her out of the show. at this point, it would make sense.

Apparently it’s rumored that Oliver won’t really be in the first three episodes of season 3B and that Laurel will be working with Team Arrow during that time. To be honest, I love this show, I will give it a chance, but man… I don’t think I can muster up the energy to watch Laurel be plopped front and center whilst Oliver is gone. Probably won’t tune in to these episodes.

How about, before anyone decides whether they’ll tune in or not, that we find out the context for the break Stephen gets? Also, I don’t think one character should stop people from watching. I watch because I support the show, and I could care less who the focus is as long as they give it their all. I’m not going to ‘tune out’ just because I might not like where the show is going. I’m going to give it a shot (more than the 4 eps *some* people gave it), and not worry about any one thing that bothers me. Because most of the time, there’s something even better for me to focus on. I am Team Arrow.

I already put “Halfway to a Donut” in my Top 3 Homeland episodes ever (along with “New Car Smell” and “The Choice”). I can’t wait for Dennis Boyd to get chewed out by Carrie, John, Quinn AND Martha.

Good info on two of my favorite shows The Mentalist and White Collar. I’m so glad the Mentalist is back even though it’s for a short time, boo hoo. With White Collar I’m worried about the ending. I want everyone to live thru it and be happy. Maybe Peter is moving on and that Diane and Jones will fill in the gap. Will Neal get his freedom? What will he do with it if he gets it?

Any news or insights when Suits and Graceland is coming back?

Yo when are Carrie and Quinn gonna hook up on Homeland? Anyone have any intel on that?

WHAT?!They are skipping Hood and Devas confrontation on Banshee!!That was something I wanted to see go down.

I quickly lost interest in How to Get Away With Murder, as much as I love Viola Davis, I found that I didn’t care about any of the characters.

Yup. I only stuck around for two episodes. I already bailed on MADAME SECRETARY too, it was a bit juvenile. There is too much good stuff on TV to have mediocre shows clog up my DVR.

I still like Madame Secretary, it has everything to do with Tea Leoni.

Hope Carla is right but it’s still more than sad to me to have another Bones character having no father, suppose it’s better than a deadbeat dad, tho.

Thanks for the NCIS scoop! Sounds like it could be an interesting episode bringing three cyber terrorists from different episodes together.

Don’t kill of Gemma off as every last person on this show is a killer, her killing Terra, because of Terra being a bad behind to Jax, is no worse than the tons of people Jax and Nero have killed. So have Gemma tell Jax what a bad person Terra was and let Gemma live and her and Nero go off happy and Jax changes the club to be good guys.

The NCIS villains show sounds like fun.

Will Lt. Provenza finally try dating someone his own age?

While I like seeing Alex Kingston any time, I am so over all the Laurel episodes on Arrow this season trying to make the character happen, Someone, please make it stop.

Big fan of White Collar.It will very interesting how they tie the end. It will be missed after six years. Matt Bomer is great!

Could Captain Boomerang be Felicity’s father? Or maybe Roy’s? Diggle’s freind from the Army? I hope he’s not a Laurel ex, since they’ve already done that plot with Felicity. One of Thea’s old teachers? Yeah, I’m reaching. And chances are, none of these are right.

Are they finally going to have Laurel spill the beans? Please? I am so ready for this. And seeing Alex Kingston is always wonderful.

When Daisy gives birth on Bones, this will definitely be split two ways for me. Happy that she will deliver a healthy baby boy and sad that Sweets will not be there for his sons birth.

I am anxious and waiting impatiently to watch the first show of the season of the Mentalist.I will be sad when it is not on TV .Just like The Guardian I will miss Mr Simon’s acting.He is a great actor

Will they bring back Abby’s brother in NCIS?

You need to use the Ask Ausiello or Inside Line email addresses, thank you. –Mgmt.

The Grimm holiday EP sounds good, looking forward to it.

Sons of Anarchy Recap: This, That and the Mother Thing

The Voice Top 12 Results Recap: They Want to Do the Wild-Card Thing

Ask Ausiello: Spoilers on HTGAWM, Mentalist, Parks and Rec, NCIS, Sons, Bones, Homeland, POI and More

Following Scoop: Michael Ealy Cast as Ryan Hardy\'s Next Nemesis

So You Think You Can Dance Renewed for Season 12 -- With a Twist!

1The Voice Recap: Are They So Very Special? (I\'m Hoping They\'re…287

2So You Think You Can Dance Renewed for Season 12 -- With a Twist!239

3Once Upon a Time Recap: 20 Big Moments From a Huge Episode156

4Stana Katic Ponders Her Castle Future: \'For Me It\'s About Art Over…153

5NBC\'s State of Affairs: Will You Return for Further Debriefing?128

The Voice Top 12 Results Recap: They Want to Do…

Mindy Project Recap: You Turn Me Write \'Round…

Happyland Post Mortem: EP Explains Lucy\'s Season…

Covert Affairs Sneak Peek: McQuaid Searches for…

Sons of Anarchy Recap: This, That and the Mother…