Doctor Who: The Husbands of River Song (2015 Christmas Special)

Miracle of miracles, this episode actually made me a little bit emotional about River Song. I'll try to forestall my usual complaints about her character, because most people have heard it before, either from me or from somebody else. In any case, this was a really proper sendoff for her character, even if it does cause some (more) continuity errors in terms of River's first appearance on the show, and last adventure with the Doctor in "The Silence in the Library." This installment wasn't all that Christmas-y, but it was fun and it was touching. Let's take a closer look.

Cons:

The basic plot of this one has the Doctor stumbling upon one of River's adventures pretty much at random. River doesn't recognize him, because he doesn't have one of his twelve known faces. Adventures ensue, fun times are had, and then when River is in danger, the baddies think that the Doctor might show up and try to save her. She gives a big impassioned speech about how the Doctor isn't stupid enough or in love enough to risk anything for her. He's a monument, a god, greater than any mere mortal. He wouldn't waste his time on her. The worst part is... she seems to believe what she's saying. When she finally realizes that the Doctor is the Doctor, she's shocked.

Elementary: The Cost of Doing Business (4x06)

Yikes. Morland Holmes is not messing around here. This was a seriously intense installment of Elementary, but most of that intensity was concentrated in the last two minutes. The rest of the episode was a bit more standard. Let's take a look.

Cons:

Most of this episode focused on Sherlock and his father, which I loved, but as a result, Joan's role in events was very diminished. There were a few reminders of Joan's distaste for Morland, and Sherlock told her to make her own opinion now that he was really in their lives, instead of hating him on principle. All of this was very interesting, but it was such a very brief part of the episode as a whole. I would have loved to have seen some more interactions between Morland and Joan, because they've started to set up a very delicious rivalry there. I think we might see more as the season progresses, with Joan and Morland each holding on to Sherlock and basically fighting over his soul. This episode might have been a good place to set up some of this, but the opportunity was missed.

Insert standard complaint here about the lack of Gregson and Bell - similarly to Joan, they got pushed to the side this week. I'd love to see these two interact with Holmes Senior as well. Basically, stick Morland in a room with any of our characters and I'd love to see the result. I think we need to start integrating Morland into the story proper with a bit more strength.

The Big Bang Theory: The Opening Night Excitation (9x11)

Talk about free advertising for Star Wars, huh? I mean, not that they need it. Record breaking opening and all. I still haven't seen it, but now our characters have! What did they think, and what did I think of this episode? Let's take a look.

Cons:

This week, the guys go to see Star Wars. Sheldon stays behind because it's Amy's birthday, and so Howard, Raj, and Leonard bring Wil Wheaton along with them. Normally I love the simple humor he adds to an episode, but here his jokes fell rather flat. He came to the Star Wars premiere dressed in a Starfleet uniform, remarking that he wanted to maintain his loyalty to Star Trek. He then tells the boys to stop thinking so hard about the new movie. Whether it's great or it sucks, life will go on exactly the same. While I suppose this is sound advice for people who let their emotions become too entangled in pop culture, I can't help resenting the message a little bit. The Big Bang Theory clearly has no real concept of the importance that media can have on the real world. Things like Star Wars do matter, for what they say about the society that produces and consumes this type of media. Why do we, as a culture, feel drawn to this type of story? Should we ignore the reactions from fans to the casting of a black lead, and what that says about the racism still prevalent in American society? I think media often requires deeper thought than most people would like to give it.

The Big Bang Theory: The Earworm Reverberation (9x10)

At first glance, there are a lot of things to praise about this episode, but there are unfortunately some overlaying problems that cloud my ability to be totally complimentary. Let's take a look.

Cons:

Well, the big thing this week is that Amy and Sheldon have gotten back together. While I liked the way this episode portrayed the reunion, I'm a little disappointed that the show didn't try to get more out of the separation. We were starting to see hints that Sheldon understood his mistakes of the past, and that Amy was starting to learn to stand up for herself. But I could have done with a lot more of that before the inevitable reunion. The Big Bang Theory has been notoriously bad at prolonging A-plots, so I guess this was as good as we could hope to get. But still. There was more that could have been done.

The other "Con" is a bit more nebulous. Has anybody else noticed that Penny and Leonard have had nothing to do since the beginning of the season? They've become comedic side characters, with less screen time than Raj and Howard. I hope that the second half of this season focuses on them again. I'd like to see them actually settling in to married life and perhaps getting away from Sheldon once and for all.

Elementary: The Games Underfoot (4x05)

This was one of those episodes of Elementary that just hits you right in the sweet spot. It wasn't one for the history books, but it was exactly what I wanted at this point. Something comfortable and solidly good.

Cons:

The actual twist in the case this week ended up derailing a lot of the buildup. Basically, for most of the story you believe that the victim was murdered over an old rare video game collectible, but then it turns out the guy accidentally stumbled upon an evil business man's money-saving toxic waste scheme. It felt a tiny bit out of left field. Not enough to be distracting or a huge problem or anything, but definitely not my favorite resolution to a mystery.

The Vampire Diaries: Cold as Ice (7x09)

This was a good episode. Not a great episode, but a good one. It certainly ended with a bang, and I'm really anxious to see the next installment.

Cons:

Caroline and Alaric have a subplot where they deal with Caroline's mystical pregnancy. It seems that pregnancy hormones for a vampire cause a lot of blood cravings and a quick temper. Her behavior isn't so different from an ordinary pregnant person's mood swings, but because she's a vampire it's getting dangerous. Alaric tries to be comforting, but Caroline freaks out and nearly attacks him. Caroline ends up visiting her mother's grave to talk it over. See... it's not the actress's fault, but I just don't find this "pregnant Caroline" story line at all compelling. Knowing where it ends up makes me uncomfortable. I don't like the idea of Caroline and Alaric as an actual couple. I think what bothers me the most about this is that it feels so disconnected from the main plot of the week. If they want to do this whole "Caroline is pregnant" thing, shouldn't Stefan be a central player in this? He's off dealing with Julian, and as such the pregnancy subplot feels totally underutilized and awkward.

For the first time, the flash-forward is in the "Con" section of one of these reviews. The only new piece of information we get is that Stefan and Valerie are apparently an item in the future. I mean, I guess I'm not really all that surprised, but I also don't care. I don't see the chemistry between them and I'm far less intrigued by this surprise pairing than I am by the whole Enzo/Bonnie thing. Which we saw none of this week, by the way. Stefan is gearing up to go after the mysterious female adversary who has kidnapped Caroline and Damon. He very condescendingly leaves Valerie behind for her safety, even though she'd undoubtedly be useful to him and she's a bad ass vampire witch. That was annoying.

Modern Family: White Christmas (7x09)

Great episode, with a few weaker threads to deal with. Let's jump right in.

Cons:

The plot involves the entire family going to a cabin in the woods for Christmas. Mostly this worked really well, but there was a subplot with Luke, Manny, and Lily involving the two boys trying to scare Lily by telling her the house was haunted. The episode tag shows that Luke had locked himself in the perpetually locked room by accident, as his family leaves him behind. These little glimpses of horror-parody clashed pretty badly with the idea of Christmas spirit that they seemed to be going for overall. It wasn't awful, but it just didn't fit.

Alex's subplot got a little lost in the shuffle as well. She ends up befriending a woman named Fig, who came to the cabin because her family comes there every year. Apparently they all took off to Hawaii without her, and she didn't even know about it. Cam kindly invites Fig to stay with them. She's an overwhelmingly negative woman, and Alex immediately gravitates towards her. Fig is the smartest in her family, and has alienated herself from everybody else. Alex declares that this woman is her ghost of Christmas future, and she tries to be less negative. There were things I loved about this plot thread (see below!) but it sort of tapered off into nothing. It would have been nice to have some sort of emotional resolution, and show some real growth for Alex's character. As it was, nothing really progressed because of this plot thread.

Supernatural: O Brother Where Art Thou? (11x09)

I mean I'm not surprised, but I am heartbroken for Sam. Seriously I'm so scared for him and I just love him so much I want to wrap him in a blanket and protect him from the world.

Cons:

So, the main thrust of this episode is that Sam insists on talking to Lucifer, and Dean grudgingly agrees they don't have any other option. While Sam is busy with that, Dean gets caught up in following Amara's trail. Turns out that Amara has started to up her game, and is killing people. She ends up whisking Dean away to where they can be alone, and then proceeds to be very creepy and tell Dean they belong together and actually kiss him and ewwwww. Honestly, I have no problem with a romance between Dean and Amara in theory, but in execution everything about this feels wrong. I'm hoping that we're supposed to feel profoundly uncomfortable. As far as I can tell, Dean is under some sort of magical compulsion when it comes to his weird connection to Amara. That is not consent. The actual Dean Winchester, with all his faculties about him, wouldn't be engaged with Amara in this way. It's freakin' disturbing and I can hope it's handled with grace and proper consideration for the issues of sexual assault that are being raised. I'm not optimistic, though.

No Cas this week! I don't care about him not being in the C-plot episodes, but it's a little unpardonable that he wasn't even mentioned this week. Not for any love I have for his character, but for the fact that the Winchesters are dealing with Rowena, Crowley, Amara, and Lucifer here, some of the most powerful players on the board. Why would Cas not be involved? Why would he not be consulted? It's a plot hole.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Maveth (3x10)

What the what?! Did they just... I'm not sure if I'm okay with this, in all honesty. There's a lot of stuff to be concerned about. Let's just jump in.

Cons:

The main thrust of this episode takes place on the alien planet, as Ward leads the Hydra team, with Fitz, try to find the monster and take it back out through the portal. Fitz finds Will, and convinces Ward that they need him to get back out. All goes well, as Will and Fitz manage to take out the other Hydra agents, leaving Ward behind and injured. However, as they get closer to where the portal will reopen, we get a surprising twist - Will isn't Will at all. It's the Inhuman monster, inhabiting Will's body. Apparently, Will died saving Jemma. I'll talk in a minute about the excellent execution of this twist. But at the same time, I can't help thinking... what the heck was the point of all that? Will was introduced as nothing more than a love interest obstacle for Fitz and Simmons, and after all that buildup now we learn that he's dead? Ugh! What a waste of all of our time! As much as I do ship Fitzsimmons, I was actually looking forward to seeing what they could do with his character once he got out of the alien world and started interacting with our team. That was a squandered opportunity.

Similarly, it looks like Ward is actually, seriously, dead. That's... that's just HUGE. And I don't like it. There's something sort of lazy about introducing an incomprehensibly evil force and then having it conveniently house itself in a human receptacle to make it easier for our heroes to interact with. The same sort of thing is happening in Supernatural right now with the Darkness, and I am just not a fan. Ward is way too cool of a villain to be dead. It just sucks because I felt like even after all this time, we had only scratched the surface of what could have been one of the greatest TV villains ever to grace the small screen.

Once Upon a Time: Swan Song (5x11)

Holy Hell. That was... that was... well, it wasn't anything that particularly surprised me, but it did its job in terms of landing an emotional blow. I won't be shaking this one off in a hurry. And now we have to wait until March to see what's next?!! Argh!

Cons:

While this episode hit me in all the right emotional spots, and all my favorite characters had great moments, I would be remiss if I didn't point out a rather disappointing fact. This episode was a huge mess where the plot is concerned.

First of all, this was not at all an adequate wrap-up to Season 5A. I hope that in 5B we continue to resolve some of these dangling plot threads, because there are a lot of them. Most significantly, there's Arthur. The entire presence of Camelot in this plot thread led up to exactly nothing useful, other than Merlin supplying the origin story of the first Dark One. What about Arthur's evil hold over all of Camelot? What about his bewitching of Guinevere, and the forbidden love between Guinevere and Lancelot? None of that was at all resolved.

Same goes for Merida. While I truly enjoyed the moments she had on the show, particularly the last few times we saw her, what was the point? She fed into the main story very infrequently. I can only hope that her character has more to do in the future, because thus far there hasn't been a satisfying reason for her presence whatsoever. Everything with Merida feels like a weird, disjointed one-shot. Very well done in its own right, but what does it have to do with anything?

Doctor Who: Hell Bent (9x12)

I don't know... I mean, that was certainly much better than I would have expected given how poorly last week's episode went, but at the same time, I'm still annoyed. It's frustrating because I wanted to be moved and impressed and all that... but I can't quite manage it. This was much better than I had any hope to expect, however. Let's take a look.

Cons:

The Doctor, now on Gallifrey, is out for revenge against the Time Lord's high council for indirectly causing Clara's death, and for trapping him in the time loop castle of doom last week. Basically, the High Council is terrified of retaliation from the Doctor. First they send troops to try and bring him in by force, then they send envoys who bow down to them. When Rassilon finally turns up personally to get the Doctor to come forward, the Doctor wins the loyalty of his troops, because he's a "war hero." He effectively takes over the High Council and banishes Rassilon from the planet. See, the problems I have with this are difficult to describe, but it all goes back to one of my main complaints against Moffat - it's all too epic. The Doctor's uber-importance is emphasized again and again. All of Gallifrey is in awe of him. He's called a "war hero." I don't know... it seems counter to the very essence of what Doctor Who is supposed to be.

The Vampire Diaries: Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me (7x08)

Oh boy. Next week's episode looks like a doozy, and I can't wait. But for now let's talk about this week's adventures. Things are certainly heating up!

Cons:

But before we talk about the good stuff, let's talk about the annoying stuff. First of all, Enzo got a little subplot this week. It goes something like this: he asks Lily to run away with him so she'll be safe from Julian if things go wrong with Stefan and Damon's plans to kill him. Enzo and Lily share a kiss, but Enzo doesn't get the girl in the end, as Lily decides to stick around and help her sons. Enzo, depressed, decides to feed on a girl to achieve a "buzz." Matt stops him just in time, and tells him that he's totally useless and nobody wants him. Enzo retaliates by saying that Matt is pretty ineffectual too, as he has no real chance against Julian and the gang. Enzo goes outside, and is immediately hit with vervaine darts and carted into a truck. Matt appears and says he's enlisted some help to rid his town of evil. Enzo asks who these people are, but Matt says that Enzo should wait until they introduce themselves.

Modern Family: Clean Out Your Junk Drawer (7x08)

Okie dokie. No Luke and Manny this week, but we had lots of stuff going on with everybody else. Let's dive in.

Cons:

The main plot this week is that Gloria won a session with a couple's therapist at an auction, and this woman comes over to do her program with Gloria and Jay, Phil and Claire, and Cam and Mitchell. I liked a lot of stuff about it, and I'll talk about that in a moment. But there were definitely some missed opportunities, especially with Cam and Mitchell. Their discussions about coasters and leaving the light on didn't lead to anything deeper, and I didn't feel like their relationship shifted in any way by the end of the episode. This was a contrast to the other two couples, who had surprisingly real moments mixed in with the humor.

Supernatural: Just My Imagination (11x08)

I'm so happy I literally don't even know what to do. I cannot begin to describe to you how much I adored this episode. I was expecting it to be funny, and it was... but it was so much more than that. Let's jump right in.

Cons:

A teeny tiny complaint is that they didn't mention Cas at all. The only reason I'm even saying anything is because I absolutely love it when they toss his name in there at least once an episode, even if it's just to say "Oh, Cas is off doing research at such-and-such location." That's all I need to be totally content, so I always notice when they can't be bothered with even that much.

The other complaint is a bit more... complicated. Dean was kind of a jerk in this episode. I think what they were trying to show was that Dean's reluctance to accept the imaginary friends was because he was uncomfortable facing the truth that he hadn't always been there for Sam. But he just came across as kind of a dick, and I thought they could have toned it down a bit, or shown more of the complexities of Dean's feelings before the ending.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Closure (3x09)

Okay! This episode was pretty darn intense. I have one thing I want to discuss as a potentially troubling flaw, but the rest of the episode kicked ass.

Cons:

Rosalind Price was fridged. Pretty much by definition. She was killed by a man to hurt another man. There was, expressly, no other reason to kill her at this moment. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is usually better than that, and I was quite disappointed to see such a tactic being used here. I don't think it's a problem to kill off female characters in general, but I felt like all that buildup with Price's character was wasted here, since she was clearly only a means to cause Coulson to fall off the deep end. It feels disrespectful to her character.

And on a less righteous note, Rosalind Price was interesting to me. I was annoyed about the simplistic twist last week, where we learn that she was working for Hydra but didn't know it. But even with that being said, I greatly enjoyed the complexities of her character, and thought she still had a lot to offer in the story. It's disappointing to have that potential cut short.

The Walking Dead: Start to Finish (6x08)

Oh noooooo. Things are intensssssse. Let's just dive right on in.

Cons:

I don't think I really have any cons here. I mean, there's the fact that Deanna is dead (or about to be), and I was just starting to like her, but that's not a real criticism of the show so much as it is a personal complaint. Same goes for the lack of Daryl, Abraham, and Sasha. They showed up at the end of the episode, but I was really hoping that I'd get to see Daryl come back to Alexandria and reunite with some of our people in this episode.

In terms of serious complaints, I guess the only thing I've got is that one of the subplots didn't do as much for me as the others. As the Walkers swarm into Alexandria, several groups of our core characters attempt escape, using whatever means they can. One of these little groups consists of Carol, Morgan, the Wolf prisoner, and Denise, who was there to try and tend to the Wolf's injury. This plot thread is continuing the theme of Morgan vs. Carol/Rick in terms of ideology. Maybe it was just its placement in an episode that had so much else going on, but I found these parts sort of dragged down the pacing. I love Carol, but I want to see her interact with my other favorite characters. All this separation is wearing down on one of this show's real strengths, which is the relationships between its key players.