Grey's Anatomy: Get Up, Stand Up (10x12)

I am sighing and rolling my eyes. Just... ugh. Really? No. I'm not... I don't know what... to... do... about this. Siiiiiigh. Let's dive in to the plot, shall we? This should be fun.

So, April's wedding has arrived. Let's go through these different plots and then I'll explain why I'm so eye-roll-y about it all.

First of all we've got Derek, who is working with Callie on the brain patient. However, he is being courted by the US government to come work on their brain mapping program. Derek declines these federal scientists, stating that he has too much on his plate as it is. In particular, Derek had promised Meredith to pull back at work so she could do her research. In the end, at April's wedding, Derek gets a call from the President of the United States.

So... that's stupid. Sorry, but what? Really? The President wants Derek specifically? I think this is a case of the show going too large in scale. I was completely brought out of the reality of this show when presidential phone calls started coming in.

The Vampire Diaries: Fifty Shades of Grayson (5x10)

Divin' right into the plot on this one.

Damon escapes from Wes' evil lair of evil, and he goes back to the Salvatore mansion, fetching Stefan to go back and save Elena. The boys go to find Aaron as leverage, calling Wes and telling him that they'll kill Aaron unless they get Elena back. However, Wes doesn't want to give up his new test subject. Instead, he releases Enzo, injecting him with poison to insure he comes back for the antidote, and sending off the deranged vampire to kill Damon.

Wes tells Stefan on the phone that he'll kill Elena if they hurt Aaron, but Stefan says the threat works both ways. Enzo shows up and tells his story to a surprised Stefan, who doesn't know how to react to this new piece of information about his brother. When Wes continues to not give up Elena, Aaron saves his own life by offering information about Augustine. While Stefan and Aaron go off to Aaron's dorm room, Enzo and Damon fight. Enzo reveals that he's going to die unless he kills Damon, and as he collapses Damon tries to save him with a bunch of tubes marked antidote. It does seem to revive him for a moment, but just long enough for Enzo to make it clear that he doesn't forgive Damon. Then, he dies.

Parenthood: All That's Left is the Hugging (5x10)

This is our last episode of Parenthood before the winter hiatus, and mostly I just… ugh… I just don’t know what to think. I really do want to enjoy this episode, since we’re finally past the whole Kristina-for-Mayor plot. Except for that’s the problem. We’re not past it. Let’s take a look at these plots.

Kristina says she’s fine in the aftermath of the lost election, but Heather and Adam both continually assure her it’s okay for her to be angry. Kristina doesn't listen at first, but then Adam convinces her to blow off some steam by throwing eggs at a billboard of Bob Little. I really disliked this part of the episode. It pisses me off that we’re dragging this plot out so much. I really liked the idea of her lost election being a moral victory and I actually wanted Kristina to be okay with it and move on. I don’t think Adam was doing the right thing by encouraging her to be angry and to randomly commit vandalism. The only think I’ll miss about the mayor plot is Heather, who I really enjoyed as a character.

Elementary: Internal Audit (2x11)

Since I've let these reviews pile up and it's now the holidays, the next few are probably going to be rather short. My apologies.

Plot plot plot. The case involves this guy who was about to kill himself but then he gets tied up and murdered. Sherlock and the gang try to follow different avenues of investigation based on the fact that this guy was embezzling lots of money and thus has a lot of people very angry with him. In the end, however, it seems that the culprit is a man in charge of giving settlements to holocaust survivors. He had been stealing money from his clients, and when the victim caught wind of it he was going to reveal everything. A reporter also gets killed in the process of all of this going on.

So, as far as cases of the week go, this one was serviceable. Nothing special happened, but it was fine. I thought the twist about the murderer was actually a bit out there, if I’m going to be picky. But in terms of telling a unique story I suppose it was alright. As always, I enjoy seeing Joan and Sherlock work as a team, instead of having Sherlock steamroll over Joan while she tries to learn. They have a really good professional balance along with their private friendship.

The meatier parts of the episode were very much character-based, as is most often true with this show, and indeed is often true with procedural cop shows in general. Sherlock is still thinking about Bell’s injuries, and although he has decided that logically speaking he is not to blame, he still feels bad about it. Sherlock confesses as much to Alfredo, his sober sponsor, who responds with a rather surprising idea – he wants Sherlock to take on a fellow addict and be a sponsor himself. Sherlock doesn't like the idea, as he says he doesn't have time to deal with such things while being dedicated to his work.

The Big Bang Theory: The Cooper Extraction (7x11)

The premise of this episode is that Sheldon leaves to go witness the birth of his nephew, and the rest of the group, a la It's a Wonderful Life, talks about what would have happened to them if Sheldon didn't exist. So, okay, that sounds like it's a decent setup for some funny jokes. However, I found it to be severely lacking in the funny department. Let's take a look.

The whole gang is over at the apartment decorating the tree. Even Stewart has come to join in on the fun. Throughout the episode, Sheldon video calls with everyone throughout the episode, reporting on the state of his sister and her birth. Amy speculates that if Sheldon hadn't been born, most of them would never have met each other. Here's how things would be, according to the friends' imaginations:

- Leonard never would have asked Penny out because he'd be too scared.

- Bernadette would never have gone out with Howard, because she would have seen the way he and Raj acted together and assumed they were dating.

Modern Family: The Old Man & the Tree (5x10)

Reviews: Lightening Round!! Go, go, go!

Gloria's mother Pilar is in town and she keeps criticizing Gloria. Claire shows up to spend time with her so that Gloria can have some time off, but to her horror Claire and Pilar get along great, and now Gloria feels jealous. In the end, Claire reveals that she's jealous because her mother only ever sends her slippers for Christmas and won't come to visit.

Good: All of it! Really funny. I think the jealousies and insecurities between Gloria and Claire are always really fascinating to look at. I also liked how Pilar spun some crazy theory about Claire's slippers being a nostalgic memento from the past... that was hilarious.

Phil has been trying to go on an elliptical machine the distance from their house to Canada in a year. If he fails to do so, the machine will be moved out of the bedroom and down to the garage. As the Christmas deadline approaches, Phil tries desperately to complete his goal. Luke encourages him especially, since he's been failing to take the recycling out all year long, and it's all hidden behind a tarp in the garage. He doesn't want to be discovered. But just in case Phil doesn't complete his task, Luke hires Dylan to come remove the recycling. Dylan accidentally takes fireworks instead. Phil gives up, but Luke sees how depressed he is and encourages him to get back on the elliptical and finish the task, which he does.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: The Bridge (1x10)

Meh. Not very eloquent, I know, but that's basically all I can say at this point. Meh. I really want to like this show! But I just can't get completely lost in it. I will say one thing, though... this episode is part one of a two-parter, meaning we have to wait until after the hiatus to see how things shake out. I like the cliffhanger they gave us, but there are a lot of reasons why I think this show hasn't fully come in to its own yet. Let me explain them to you after the plot summary!

It appears that Centipede is causing trouble again, when they spring some guy named Edison Po from prison. Their serum is getting better, and they are ready to move to the next step in their plans. Coulson calls in Mike Peterson (J. August Richards, from the pilot) to help them figure out what's going on. The team confronts one of Centipede's soldiers, but just before they manage to defeat him, Centipede activates a kill switch in the soldier's eye, much like what happened a few episodes back with Coulson's old friend Akela Amadour.

Edison Po talks with Raina (the girl in the flower dress) and says that Mike Peterson is going to be very useful to their plans. Mike calls his son Ace, but it turns out Raina is with Ace. Centipede offers to return Ace only if Mike gives himself up. He agrees to do so, but when they meet to make the exchange, Mike betrays Coulson, revealing apologetically that Centipede didn't want him - they wanted Coulson. Coulson graciously allows himself to be taken. Mike is reunited with his son, but passes Ace quickly off to Skye and tries to go back in to save Coulson. An explosion occurs, possibly killing Mike, and preventing the rest of Coulson's team from going to his rescue. Coulson and Raina are seen in a helicopter. Raina reveals that Centipede wants to know what happened to Coulson after he died.

Once Upon a Time: The New Neverland (3x10)

We're back in Storybrooke! Woo! I've got to say, a lot of things about this episode blew me out of the water. I was really impressed. I wouldn't be me if I didn't have complaints as well, but over all I think this was exactly the episode we needed. It broke the Neverland pattern, got us out of those woods and back among some familiar and comforting settings and characters. Let's talk about the plot.

The Jolly Roger arrives in Storybrooke and everyone happily reunites with the returned travelers. Rumple puts Pandora's Box under lock and key and everyone promises "Henry" that Pan can't hurt him anymore. Hook informs Neal that he's backing off of Emma for Henry's sake. Neal tries to ask Emma out, but she doesn't accept. David talks to Emma and tells her not to miss the good moments in life. Emma believes something is wrong with Henry, since he's been acting strangely, and he wanted to stay with Regina instead of her. Nobody else believes her. Pan, in Henry's body, releases the Shadow from where it was trapped on Hook's ship, and the Shadow kills the Blue Fairy. In order to protect Henry, Regina takes him down to her vault, where Pan-who-looks-like-Henry knocks Regina out using some magic potion thing and then absconds with something very important.

Emma, still convinced that something is very wrong with Henry, goes with everyone else to Rumple and asks him to release Pan from the Box. Whatever is happening, clearly Pan is controlling the Shadow. The group goes out to the edge of Storybrooke. Emma crosses the line back to the real world, and Rumple releases "Pan" outside of Storybrooke as well, so that he will be powerless to use magic. Emma is about to shoot him, but "Pan" convinces Emma and everyone else that he's really Henry. The group goes to Regina's vault, finds her unconscious, wakes her up, and they all discover to their horror that The Curse is missing. Yup, that's right, the original Big Bad Curse is gone, and it looks like Pan has it. Pan tells Felix that if he enacts the curse now, everyone in Storybrooke will lose their memories and Pan and Felix can be in charge, running a whole new Neverland.

The Mentalist: Green Thumb (6x10)

The scheduling of The Mentalist this season is sort of weird. I mean, we take care of Red John in episode eight, then have two episodes set two years later, and now we go on hiatus for winter. It's just sort of... well, at first I was thinking that the hiatus should have come directly after the Red John conclusion, but upon reflection I actually think things worked out okay. This way, we get two episodes post-Red John to establish the formula for the rebooted show. Last week, we got Jane back to the states. In this episode, he went from being imprisoned to working for the FBI. Let's take a look!

So, the FBI are working on a case involving a missing computer programmer. They believe someone is going to ask ransom for him, but that hasn't happened yet. They need to bring Jane in on the case, but Jane refuses to help unless Lisbon works with him as well. The FBI brings Lisbon in, but she makes it clear that it's just for this one case. She doesn't want to uproot her new life. At one point on the case, Jane escapes the FBI and runs off. Although he later comes back, Libson is angry at Jane for vanishing again.

Jane figures out that the case is actually more personal than anything else - it doesn't have much to do with the man's job as a comupter programmer. The missing man's wife, a Romani Gypsy, has a psychic friend whom the missing man believes is sleeping with his wife. He kills the psychic. Then, it turns out one of the neighbors is involved in a gang, and he's been keeping the man hostage. They manage to rescue him, but of course he is in trouble for murdering his wife's psychic.

The Vampire Diaries: The Cell (5x09)

Okay. Okay, I just don't know. I liked a lot of the individual elements of this episode. A lot, actually. But other things felt really heavy, really forced, very exposition-y again... and you know what it is? Overall, I just don't know what the focus of this season is supposed to be. There doesn't seem to be any clues to tell me where my attention should go most heavily. Also, I'm desperate for some Salvatore brother bromance moments, and Stefan and Damon didn't even interact in this one. I know, I know, that's my own hangup. Let's take a look at this plot.

Okay so Damon is still being held captive by Wes, who plans on using him for his experiments now that he doesn't have Jesse as a test subject. Elena goes to find Aaron, because she's worried about Damon. Aaron is grieving Jesse's death (he's been told it was a suicide), but when Elena mentions that Damon is missing, he agrees to help find him by going to find Wes. The two of them go to the Whitmore house, where Aaron invites Elena in, and then reveals that his own last name is Whitmore, and that he is the last remaining member of his family.

Wes finds them in the house and injects Elena with vervain. He then puts her in the cells with Damon. While down there, Damon tells Elena the story of the Augustine organization, and how he has been here before. Basically, back in the 1950's, one of Damon's relatives sold him out to Augustine. He was put in the cells and experimented on by Dr. Whitmore (Aaron's grandfather). While there, he met and befriended another captive vampire named Enzo. He and Enzo created a plan to escape. However, in the end Damon couldn't get Enzo out and he abandoned him to die, escaping by himself.

The Big Bang Theory: The Discovery Dissipation (7x10)

Wow, for once The Big Bang Theory actually told a story that took more than one episode. A few episodes back, Sheldon thought he had discovered a new element, but it turns out that the discovery was founded on a mistake. In this episode, we get to see more of the repercussions from that.

The main plot follows Sheldon, who is being forced by the university into interviews celebrating his great discovery. He doesn't want the fame, since it's founded on an error, and reacts negatively to the press. Amy brings in Wil Wheaton to explain to Sheldon that he knows what it feels like to be negatively perceived because of one accomplishment. He encourages Sheldon to get through it. Sheldon cheers up. However, Leonard disproves the existence of Sheldon's element. He thought this would make Sheldon happy, but it doesn't - he's angry that Leonard took away his accomplishment. Now, Leonard is getting the attention for his disproving. Sheldon tries to force his way onto a radio show interview with Leonard. The episode ends with Penny and Amy listening to the program, embarrassed at the antics of their boyfriends.

Grey's Anatomy: Man on the Moon (10x11)

Okay. Lots to talk about, as always with this show. Let's dive right in.

April's three sisters are in town for her bachelorette party and impending wedding. They are all condescending and call her "ducky," which April explains refers to "ugly duckling." After putting up with them for quite some time, she finally publicly explodes at them and tells them that she's not their awkward unfortunate sister anymore. She fires them from being bridesmaids and elects Christina, Meredith, and Arizona as her new bridesmaids. While this is all going on, Matthew and Jackson have their own drama. The two of them are witness to a man nearly being suffocated because his tie gets stuck in a taxi door as the car drives away. Matthew performs a tracheotomy on the sidewalk, and in the ER Jackson angrily yells at Matthew for doing it wrong. Later, however, Jackson lies to April and says that Matthew didn't mess up. Jackson and Matthew have a talk, and decide that for the sake of April, they need to get along. Matthew encourages Jackson to come to the wedding.

Alright. I've expressed a lot of annoyance about April's plot lines in the past, and I think, oddly, that's because they weren't getting enough attention. Now that the plot has a chance to breathe and develop a bit, I found myself enjoying it. The stuff with Matthew and Jackson was great. I don't like love triangles, but I do like the awkwardness developing between these two men. April's sister's were really obnoxious (intentionally, I believe), and it was enormously satisfying to see April take them down a few pegs. My one hang up is this: it's really silly to believe a woman as beautiful as April was ever an "ugly duckling." I mean, seriously? The girl is flawless.

Elementary: Tremors (2x10)

You know, ordinarily I hate episodes like this one, where it's all told in flashbacks and we're not given all of the information at the beginning simply for shock value. But... surprisingly... I loved this episode. Once again, Elementary has surprised me by doing something new and fresh with an idea I've seen several times.

The framing device of this episode is that Sherlock must testify at a hearing to determine whether or not he and Joan can continue working with the NYPD. Why should such a question come up? Well, when working on a case, Sherlock provoked a man who then attempted to shoot him. Bell jumped in front of the gun, and is severely injured.

In all honesty, that's pretty much all you need to know about the plot. The case isn't one of those super memorable ones, although it did have some interesting elements, such as a guy with schizophrenia who believes he is a knight who has been forced to kill his queen... later it turns out that the victim (ostensibly murdered by the "knight") was in fact dying anyway, and that she took money out against her own life insurance policy in order to try for an experimental cure. The guy who shot Bell was actually not involved in the murder - he was a viable suspect, but he turned out to be innocent. On the way to finding that out, however, Sherlock had managed to antagonize the guy and accidentally outed him as an ex-con who broke his parole. He was thus fired and sent back to jail. In his anger about this, he tried to kill Sherlock, and that's how Bell got injured.

Modern Family: The Big Game (5x09)

As I know I've said a thousand times before, episodes of shows like this one generally work really well when they have a unifying theme. This week, it was a big football game. Honestly, this episode was one of those ones that had me shrugging at the end of it. There were things I liked, things I didn't like, and most of it just chilled out somewhere in the middle. So, despite the fact that I like plots with unifying events, this one is sorta... "meh" to me.

Let us begin.

Cam is very excited for the upcoming football game because if he wins, he'll have won more games in his first year than any coach at the school. As the team gets ready to play, Cam asks Luke to be the announcer because the normal guy is out sick. Just before the game, Cam and the team learn that their opposition's coach has just died, and that they are playing in his honor. Despite this, Cam is still determined to win. It's a close game, and at the very end it's up to Manny to make a final kick to win the game. He makes it, sealing their victory, but later in a conversation with Cam, Manny reveals that he meant to miss the point. Cam tells Manny it's okay to feel competitive and be proud of winning sometimes.

Supernatural: Holy Terror (9x09)

I actually waited a few days before writing this review on purpose. Usually, I get them out late because I'm busy, but in the case of this one, I actually waited until I had cooled down, and felt I could talk about it rationally, rather than just flailing and yelling and crying and virtually punching things. Now that I'm in a better frame of mind, let's talk about Supernatural's mid-season finale.

First, the plot. A lot was going on here. Maybe too much, actually, but I'll get to that in a second.

So, the main plot centers around a civil war between the different factions of angels at war on earth. On one side, you've got Bartholomew, and on the other Malachi. Each of these angels are leading a group intent on taking over Heaven. Each side is slaughtering the other, and Sam and Dean pick up a lead. When they get there to investigate, they find Cas already on the case. Ezekiel, unhappy about being around so many angels, and especially Cas, forces Dean to send Cas away, which of course breaks everyone's hearts.

So, Cas is a bit lost and confused and alone, so he tries to pray. Unfamiliar with the process from the human side, at first it doesn't seem to work, but he then receives a visit from Muriel, an angel who is attempting to stay out of everybody's fighting. She's scared to see him, because obviously Castiel could attract a lot of unwanted attention. Turns out, Muriel was right to be afraid - Malachi and some angel named Theo show up and kidnap Cas and Muriel. They attempt to force Cas to give up information about Metatron's spell. Cas is tortured, and Muriel is killed while they are trying to make him talk. Cas of course continually says all he can say - he didn't know what Metatron's plans are, and he's just as clueless as the rest of them as to how to get back into Heaven. When Malachi leaves the room, Theo reveals that he wants to defect from Malachi's side and join Metatron. Cas plays along for a moment, pretending he has pull with Metatron, and thus tricks Theo into letting him go. Cas steals Theo's grace and escapes.

How I Met Your Mother: The Rehearsal Dinner (9x12)

Okay, How I Met Your Mother. I think we need to have a talk. Stop. Doing. Fake-out. Plots. Robin and Barney's relationship has already had a fake-out proposal, a fake-out bachelor party, and now a fake-out rehearsal dinner? Really? Tacking on a "surprise!" to the end of your episodes does not automatically make them good.

Argh. As you might be able to tell, the premise of this episode pissed me off. That being said, I thought the execution was actually rather good. In know, confusing, right? I'm having a hard time deciding what to rate this episode. As a self-contained plot, it had a lot of fun surprises, good jokes, and a few genuinely sweet moments. But having watched the rest of this show, I was just annoyed at the recycling of this plot line. Let's take a look...

The episode is told in flashback (a flashback within the larger flashback of the show, I suppose). Barney is handcuffed in a laser tag security office, with an angry Robin nearby lamenting that their rehearsal dinner was supposed to have started ten minutes ago. We then go back and see how the two of them got there. Barney narrates the story to an increasingly irate Robin and a disgruntled security guard.

Once Upon a Time: Save Henry (3x09)

This week's episode is called "Save Henry," but it might more accurately have been called "Regina is a bad ass who gets shit done." Maybe that's a rather wordy title, and "Save Henry" perhaps has a better ring to it. But seriously, Regina was kicking all sorts of ass in this episode, and I am very happy that we got a chance to shine a spotlight on her character. Before I even talk about the plot, though, I want to make one thing clear.

Regina. Is. A. Villain. Sure, she's a complicated villain. Yes, she has a tragic back story. Yes, I do believe she has the capacity to genuinely care for the people in her life, especially Henry. But guess what? Loving your son does not give you a free pass for all the other horrible things you have done! Including horrible things to Henry himself, of course! While Regina's actions are justifiable from a character standpoint, I in no way think she's one of the good guys. Hell, in this episode she actually explicitly states that she doesn't regret the curse or anything else that she's done! That's pretty messed up. I just wanted to start my review off this way because I'm going to be spending a considerable amount of time gushing about how awesome Regina is in this episode, and I wanted to make it clear that just because she was a bad ass here, that does not excuse her actions as a character in general.

Alright! Now that I've gotten that little rant out of the way, onto the plot! I'll start with the flashback stuff. First of all, we see Regina and Rumple talking just before the curse is enacted. Rumple warns that Regina will always feel a hole in heart, and that revenge will not be enough for her. Regina ignores his warning.

The Mentalist: My Blue Heaven (6x09)

I don't know what to think about this episode of The Mentalist. It was just so... not like The Mentalist! But I don't actually think that's a bad thing. I'm not sure if a procedural cop show has ever been so daring in changing up the game like this. There was no crime of the week at all, really. And since we've finished our really long Red John A-plot, this really is like hitting a reset button on the whole show. I'll take you through what happened, and then I'll talk a bit about it. Ultimately, I'll just say upfront, I think this episode worked really, really well. There were, as always, a few things I would have liked to see go differently, but this one gets a high rating from me.

Two years have passed since Jane killed Red John, and he has been hiding out on an island where he's safe from the hands of the law. He spends time with a woman, Kim Fischer, and loosens up a bit. Abbot shows up on the island and offers Jane a job with the FBI. If he accepts, all the charges against him will be dropped. Jane says yes, but only if Abbot agrees to certain terms. For example, he will be a free man - no parole. Also, he will work with Lisbon. Abbot pretends to agree, but once they get back on US soil, he gives his own terms - Jane will report directly to him, and there will be parole. It also turns out that Kim is an FBI agent, and she was playing Jane. Jane does not agree to Abbot's terms, and he's taken to a detention center.

The rest of the team have settled in to new lives - Cho now works with Abbot at the FBI; Rigsby and Van Pelt have started a private security company, and they have a kid! Yay! Lisbon is now a police chief in a small town, and while she seems to have moved on with her life, she still receives letters from Jane. In fact, the letters are how Abbot managed to track him down. There's also another little subplot on the island where Jane is staying. A drug lord is looking to make a deal, but Jane has Abbot take him in, thus saving the little island community from the evil influence of this man.

The Walking Dead: Too Far Gone (4x08)

Now we're talking. Wow. Stuff happened in this episode. Like woah. Let's go through the plot, and then I'll squeal about the awesomeness that was this episode. Of course, I wouldn't be me if I didn't have a few complaints as well, but to be honest, this episode kicked some major ass. Here we go!

So, the Governor has captured Michonne and Hershel. He talks to the rest of the people in his group, and discusses his plan to take the prison. Most everybody agrees, although Lilly is nervous about it. The Governor tells Lilly that he doesn't care about anyone in the prison, and that he'll do whatever it takes to survive and to get Lilly and Meghan somewhere safe. Lilly and Meghan stay behind while the Governor and the others go to enact their plans. Michonne and Hershel, as prisoners, are taken just outside of the prison. Hershel continually insists that there's another way, and that the two groups of people can find a way to work together. The Governor refuses to listen.

At the prison, we see our main group still recuperating after the recent illness. The Governor and the rest of his people show up outside of the gate and give Rick an ultimatum - get out of the prison by sundown, or Michonne and Hershel will be killed, and the rest of the prison will be subjected to the Governor's superior weaponry and manpower. Rick tries to talk some sense into the Governor (yeah, I don't know why he thought that would work), and then tries to appeal to the others, especially Tara. He says that if they put down their weapons, they can come join the prison and be a part of the group. While there is a bit of discomfort expressed by the Governor's group, ultimately they hold firm. While all of this discussion is happening, Daryl has been surreptitiously arming everyone (Maggie, Beth, Tyreese, Sasha, Carl, etc.) in case a shootout begins. And then...

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Repairs (1x09)

It seems like we're going through and doing a character episode for each of our six leads. A few weeks back we had Simmons, then Fitz, then Ward, and now this week we get to look a bit closer at May. I'm happy that they're doing this, as slowly but surely I'm feeling a stronger connection to these characters. While I don't love them as much as I love some of Whedon's others, I think we're getting somewhere here. Hopefully the momentum continues to pick up over the rest of this first season. Let's look at the plot.

A woman name Hannah Hutchins is believed to have telekinetic powers, after an explosion killed some technicians at her company. The team brings Hannah aboard, but when the plane makes an unscheduled and very frightening landing, the team learns that Hannah isn't the one responsible for all of these accidents. Instead, one of the workers from Hannah's company, named Tobias, is trapped between this world and what he believes to be Hell. It turns out that he caused the first big accident by purposefully messing up the equipment so he could spend time with Hannah. Now, he is targeting people who are trying to hurt Hannah, which includes Coulson and the rest of the team. With May's help, Hannah tells Tobias to stop hurting people, and he disappears.

So, the plot was pretty tight and well contained, which I've found can only be a good thing with this show. Some of their problems often come from overstretching their narrative and trying to do too much all at once. When they stick to smaller stories, it generally works okay. That's not to say that there weren't some stumbles along the way... in the summary above, I really just stuck to the bare bones of the plot, which doesn't include much in the way of our main characters' involvement. And that's part of the problem - this story didn't actually have very much to do with the team. There was a lot of character development for May, and even for Ward and Skye as well, but the development didn't mesh very well with the case itself. This disconnect made it difficult to care about Hannah and her story while at the same time continuing to care about Coulson and the team.

Supernatural: Rock and a Hard Place (9x08)

Oh god this is so late, sorry. I'm gonna be depressingly brief, especially given that this is an episode of Supernatural, and usually I like to ramble on about these. The plot is a basic one, straight out of an earlier season of this show.

Jody Mills calls up the Winchester boys to investigate a bunch of missing persons cases. Sam and Dean find out that these people all have something in common - they go to the same church. Not only that, but the girls have all taken a chastity vow. Sam and Dean think that maybe dragons are the culprit, given that it's taking virgins. They need to get closer to the situation, so the two boys take a purity pledge and go to one of the meetings. There, Dean meets a girl named Suzy. While Sam and Jody continue research, Dean goes home with Suzy and discovers that she's one of his favorite porn stars. The two of them have sex. Only now there's a problem - Sam and Jody have just figured out that they're hunting Vesta, Roman goddess of the hearth. She's taking virgins who have broken their oaths, which now means Dean and Suzy are in danger.

Dean and Suzy are taken by Vesta, and they are dumped underground with all of the other missing people. Sam and Jody find out where they are based on a phone call from Dean that kept cutting out, but luckily Sam managed to hear the sound of a whistle. While there, Vesta attacks Jody and Sam. She stabs Jody, and then goes for Sam. Jody manages to kill Vesta with a special stake, but not before Vesta reveals to Sam that he is seriously internally damaged. Jody is okay, despite the stabbing, and she says goodbye to the boys. Sam talks to Dean about what Vesta said, wondering if he's always going to be messed up. Dean doesn't want him to deal with that, so he starts to tell Sam about Ezekiel, but Zeke himself steps in and stops Dean from doing so.

How I Met Your Mother: Bedtime Stories (9x11)

Alright, it’s 25 hours until the wedding. I really enjoyed this particular installment, as it focused on Marshall in some ways, but also provided a lot of flashback material. I’ve talked before about how I ultimately really enjoy the idea of having the entire season take place over one weekend, but that at the same time, some variety is needed in some places. In this episode, we got it, in more ways than one.

The plot is as follows: Marshall and Marvin are on the bus on their way to Farhampton Inn. Marshall speaks in rhymes to Marvin to keep him quiet, since the rhymes make him tired. He discovers that Marvin’s Mother Goose book is missing, so he has to improvise rhymes in order to appease Marvin and the rest of the bus, all of whom don’t want to listen to Marvin’s crying. The framing device just constitutes Marshall telling Marvin three different short stories about his friends. Gus, a passenger on the bus, helps out with the occasional rhyme. Then, a blown tire on the bus forces the group to wait for aid. Marshall, upon learning that Farhampton is only five miles away, decides to try walking. Ted, in his narration, reveals that Marshall would live to regret that decision.

The three stories are as follows:

Castle: The Good, the Bad and the Baby (6x10)

Time for a super short review, because I’m tired and bored of writing and yeah. I’ll touch on the plot briefly and then discuss what I thought. I’ll start with this, though: this was an average episode. Average in terms of plot, characterization, jokes, all of it. Nothing about it really stands out as particularly special, or particularly bad. I pretty much instantly forgot what happened in this episode the minute I stopped watching. Let’s take a look.

So, Castle and Beckett are involved in a case that begins with a man stumbling into a church carrying a baby boy. The man dies, and the team can’t figure out who the baby belongs to. As the case continues, we learn that their victim is an ex-con, and that he’s involved in a lottery scam. Someone involved with the lottery is also involved – her husband and child had been kidnapped by the victim’s people. The victim, it turns out, had been forced into all of this, and tried to help the husband and the child, which is what got him killed. The team returns the baby to his mother, and her husband is safe as well. They get the bad guys, and all is well.

During the episode, Castle and Beckett have to care for the baby because it’s Thanksgiving weekend and there’s nowhere else for him to go. Although it’s very hard work, they manage to work together and succeed. They discuss having kids of their own someday. Beckett is tricked into participating in a fake Castle family tradition, as she dresses up as Pocahontas for Thanksgiving. Castle, Alexis, and Martha all laugh at her, but it turns out she has a costume for Castle to wear as well, so she gets her comeuppance.