Doctor Who: Twice Upon a Time (2017 Christmas Special)

Okay! Yeah, I enjoyed that. I wouldn't be me if I didn't have my complaints, and as always, let's start with those.

Cons:

The original Doctor being a sexist old man really did not work for me, and there are a few reasons why. First off, I have no idea if this is true of the original character or not, but even if it was, it doesn't make sense. Time Lords are ancient beings from a society wholly different from earth. Would they really have the same stupid hangups about gender? Specifically considering that Time Lords have malleable genders? But I actually have a bigger problem with this. See, it's not necessarily the worst thing in the world to have a sexist character in the story. But this guy isn't just some random old codger. He's meant to be the Doctor. We're meant to connect to him and sympathize with him. So if he's going around saying sexist stuff, there needs to be a real reason behind it. Oh, hey, I've just thought of a reason - the Doctor, as in, our current Doctor, doesn't want to regenerate, because he's afraid of continuing on, of growing and changing. Maybe seeing this old version of himself, with very backwards ideas about gender, could remind him that change is often a very good thing. That over time, he can learn and grow as a person and be better for it. There! I've just attached a simple, sensible moral to the whole "sexist original Doctor" bit. The problem is, they didn't do that! The sexist comments were just played for a laugh! Pulease.

It was cool to see Nardole and Clara there for a tiny moment at the end of the episode, but these moments were so fleeting that they felt a bit like prizes granted to the Doctor for good behavior. I remember Tennant's farewell tour as the Tenth Doctor had his final moments, where he went around and saw all of his companions one last time before regenerating. You want to know why that worked? Because these companions did not appear magically in front of him and tell him how amazing he was. He went and saw them in their own lives, doing their own thing, living on without him, and he got to see the way that life moves on.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Rewind (5x05)

What an amazing episode! Best of the season! I've really missed Leopold Fitz.

Cons:

In fact, I've missed him so much that it's kind of highlighting for me the structural weaknesses with this season so far. The stakes in the future world just don't feel as serious. Whenever we're dealing with time travel, or alternate realities, the whole concept has this sense of unreality to it. I think that might be the issue I'm responding to here. This one hour with Fitz and Hunter felt more like this show I know and love than the other four episodes have.

I will admit that when we meet Enoch, the ancient alien who has been studying humanity throughout the centuries, I rolled my eyes just a tiny bit. I felt like Fitz took this guy seriously a bit too quickly. Obviously I don't know what the plan is for this character moving forward, but I feel as if within this episode, there could have been a way for all of this to shake out without introducing Enoch.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: A Life Earned (5x04)

Fitz!!! For like half a second there at the end. But still. I was so happy to see him!

Cons:

Okay, I like the stuff going on here, but it does feel a little sluggish. Each episode teaches us a bit more about the world, sure, but it almost feels like all four of these episodes are telling the same slow story. I want more character interaction. I want more forward motion. For example, Daisy is now with Jemma, but we don't learn anything more other than that everybody wants to buy Daisy because she's Quake, the "Destroyer of Worlds." Other than that, we just get a few more pieces of the puzzle slowly edging into place, but not a lot of forward motion.

Fitz showing up at the end made me realize how badly I've missed him, so I guess I'm just putting it under "cons" that he's been absent for so long.

Once Upon a Time: The Eighth Witch (7x10)

This may be my favorite episode of the season, and it a weird way that's pissing me off - we got so many things in this installment that I wanted more of! Let's get started.

Cons:

So, the flashback scenes take us up to the moment that the curse was cast, bringing us full circle. We start with Lucy's birth, and then we see that on her eighth birthday is when all this crap went down. I loved all of these scenes, but there's a problem - why did we not get to see more of this? The last time we spent time with Ella and Henry in the magical land, they were just getting started on their romance. Now they're settled into their lives and they have a kid? There are some touching moments between Hook and various other characters, we see Rumple helping people out in unexpected ways, Zelena shows up with an adult daughter Robin, Jack is there for some reason, and all of these things are so fascinating and fun... but it feels like I missed a chapter. I wanted to see more of all of these characters! I want to know what their lives are like in this land. Do they have a house? Are they still part of a rebellion to take down Lady Tremaine? I don't know! It's like someone hit fast-forward!

The fact that Mother Gothel was double-timing Drizella is excellent, of course. I did have one complaint, though - Anastasia is awake, and there's a moment where she reacts in horror that Drizella is working with Gothel, only to end up being part of Gothel's plan herself. I'm confused - does Anastasia even know who Gothel is? Why? When would they have met?

The Big Bang Theory: The Celebration Reverberation (11x11)

This was the first time in... a very long time that I felt a bit interested in an episode of The Big Bang Theory before it even started. I was so pleased with the Raj and Howard conflict from last week that I was actually looking forward to seeing where it went. How did they do?

Cons:

Well, I'm of two minds. Raj and Howard's fight is resolved in quite a juvenile way, which is sort of perfect for their characters, but I did find myself wanting more. Maybe it's not fair to ask this show to be something that it's not. We were never going to have a drawn-out conflict with lots of serious character growth and meditation on their relationship. So given the constraints of the format, I don't mind so much. Still, I wish maybe we could have had one more conversation at the end of the episode to button up this difficult chapter in Raj and Howard's friendship.

Pros:

The fact that they continued on with the conflict at all was impressive to me. Things get increasingly hurtful, as Raj doesn't invite Howard to go to Star Wars: The Last Jedi with him, and then Howard doesn't invite Raj to Halley's first birthday party. That changes when Howard needs help setting up the party. He goes to Raj, who is hurt that Howard is only apologizing because he needs something from Raj. However, Raj decides to help with the party for his goddaughter's sake. An altercation in the bouncy house leads to both of them admitting - "you're my best friend and you hurt my feelings!" They then discover that shoving each other in the bouncy house is quite fun, and begin playing together. Like I said, the resolution is a bit juvenile, but I liked the way this whole plot thread wasn't just played for laughs. They were both genuinely hurt by what was going on, and that was very evident in the acting and the script.

Modern Family: No Small Feet (9x10)

Are we never going to be free of Pam?

Cons:

I liked several things about the plot with Cam, Mitchell, Pam, and Bo, but the fact that Pam has not exited the scene is not one of them. I'm still annoyed by her whole character and her presence on this show.

Alex and Luke had a weird little subplot where they sell Alex's used shoes to foot fetishists online. This had potential to be funny, but it sort of dropped off with no real resolution. Same thing with Manny - his contribution this week is that he keeps showing up at his parents' house to steal luxury items, and makes excuses as to why he's there. Not a terrible idea, but it just didn't really lead to anything.

The Walking Dead: How It's Gotta Be (8x08)

How long are we actually dragging out the Negan stuff? I'm getting good and sick of it.

Cons:

So many. I'm in the mood to complain a bunch, so look out. First of all, this whole season has been building up all of these different stories, and then this episode tried to bring all of them to a head, but kind of failed with most of them. We've got all these groups of people confronting all of these other groups of people, and the garbage folk run off pretty much immediately, making them a waste of time, and Eugene's moral dilemma is solved by letting Gabriel and the doctor go, even though it's like... too little too late, and then meanwhile Enid and Aaron are off trying to find the all woman community to ask for their help, and I'm thinking: are you kidding me with this? How many SEASONS of this show are going to be about Negan? I'm bored!!!

Outlander: Eye of the Storm (3x13)

I'm really bummed that this was the finale. I feel like I was just getting back into the swing of Outlander again, and now I have to wait several months for more?? Let's take a look at everything this finale had to offer us.

Cons:

I know I've been repeating myself with this a lot, but there is this problem in the pacing of the TV show vs. the books. In this episode, I quite enjoyed individual scenes, but found myself getting whiplash as we jumped from one important plot point to another. For example, last week's episode ended on a cliffhanger where Jamie was being arrested. But... it's really easy to handle. Fergus runs and tells Lord John, Lord John tears down the captain and states his authority over Jamie's fate, and Jamie is free. Claire's not even in any of these scenes that decide her husband's fate. She's so sure he'll be fine that she turns to the more pressing matter of Ian's rescue. That kind of undercuts the tension, doesn't it?

Another example: you have this big, climactic moment with Geillis, and when it's over there's still twenty minutes of the episode left. These twenty minutes hastily provide us with a second climax, where their ship is hit by a storm as they start their journey back to Scotland. Claire is thrown overboard and nearly drowns, but Jamie rescues her and they wash up in Georgia. There was nothing wrong with these scenes at all - very intense, beautifully shot, edited, and acted. But they felt like they belonged in a different episode than the rest of this stuff.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: A Life Spent (5x03)

Okay, where's Fitz? I'm getting mad.

Cons:

I think the novelty wore off for me a tiny bit with the setup, so the absence of Fitz actually bothered me more. If that makes sense. This felt like basically more of the same from episodes one and two. And, like, the first two episodes were very good. So I’m not going to complain too much about that. Maybe I just want the pacing to speed up?

Pros:

But yeah, this season is shaping up to be very good if I’m being honest. To start with, we get to see a lot of creative uses of powers. The scenes with Yo-Yo in particular were really neat. And Daisy got to pull a few neat Quake moves. Of course, now every time Daisy uses her powers it's loaded with a greater significance, because we wonder how much truth there is to what Deke has told us about the fate of humanity. Could Daisy really be capable of such a thing?? Who knows!

Once Upon a Time: One Little Tear (7x09)

Okay... I don't know. I didn’t hate this episode, but I’m losing my patience a wee bit.

Cons:

Maybe I just wasn't paying enough attention, but does anybody find these stories a little convoluted? Let’s talk through some of the stuff going on here. We get the real Rapunzel story this time, and it turns out that Victoria Belfrey/Lady Tremaine is Rapunzel, and her husband remarried while she was trapped in the tower, and then she later poisoned Ella’s mother to make her run away so she could have her family back. There were a few times where I had trouble reconciling what we already knew about Ella’s back story with what we were learning here. And then on top of that you’ve got the subplot with Rogers and Weaver which still seems to be going nowhere, although we finally have official confirmation that Rumple is awake.

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend: Getting Over Jeff (3x07)

Oh man, this show honestly can do no wrong in my eyes at this point. This was such a lovely, somewhat mellow midseason finale, and I loved it as I've loved every episode this season.

Cons:

I'm so sad about Darryl and White Josh, you guys. This isn't a con in the writing of the show, but it's another tentative question about the future. If WhiJo isn't in the show as much anymore, I'll be really upset. I already feel like the side characters in this show don't get quite as much screen time as one would hope.

Pros:

Before we get to the main stuff, though, let's focus on their sad breakup. It's heartbreaking because Josh doesn't know what's going on at first, and when he realizes his face just falls and it's... so hard to watch. I love the detail of cutting back to them later and learning that they've been trying to say goodbye for the past two hours but haven't quite been able to walk away. They end up sticking around to watch Josh (Chan) do his cool bar tricks, and when the episode ends we don't get to see the fatal moment when they actually part ways. It was such a melancholy way to do the breakup, but undeniably effective. I also like that Darryl's daughter is the one to make it happen, because she knows her dad isn't happy anymore.

Supernatural: The Bad Place (13x09)

You know, I'm tempted to say that this is jumping the shark, but... nah. Not really. This show can basically do whatever the heck it wants at this point.

Cons:

I miss Cas a lot. I'm annoyed that he returned from the dead just to get predictably sidelined. It's such a tired pattern. Why can't Misha appear in more episodes? I do not get it.

We have a subplot that's leading us in to Wayward Sisters quite nicely, with Patience finally going to join Jody. I had one problem with it, though. Patience tells her father that she needs to go and help, and her father says that if she chooses this life, she's not welcome to return home. This felt like a cheap cliche to get Patience away from her father and give her an excuse to live with Jody. After what happened with Missouri, you'd think that Patience's father would know better than to cut family members off for his own stupid reasons. It felt out of character.

The Big Bang Theory: The Confidence Erosion (11x10)

.... A good episode of The Big Bang Theory? What the heck!

Cons:

Penny and Leonard continue to feel very sidelined this season, and Penny's realization that sometimes she's mean to Leonard doesn't really go anywhere, because Leonard is content to take the abuse. Not a lot of traction there.

I really liked the main story of the week with Raj and Howard, but I will admit it came out of left field. I suppose I shouldn't complain, but it would be nice if this show were capable of some subtlety and buildup. That's probably wishful thinking.

Modern Family: Tough Love (9x09)

This episode felt a little lackluster to me, but I'm not convinced that's entirely a bad thing...

Cons:

What I mean by 'lackluster' is that several of these plot threads felt like they lacked climaxes. Lily accidentally gets left home alone with an infant, and nothing bad happens. Phil gets lost in the woods, but we next see him in a hotel preparing to take a bubble bath. Manny is dating an older woman, but then she leaves before they can have a conversation. Claire drives a large delivery truck, no shenanigans ensue. In some ways this is okay, because it avoids the pitfall of going down the expected slapstick path with each of these plot threads. But still, I found myself wanting something to happen.

The least successful plot thread, ironically, is the one where something does sort of happen. Mitchell notices that Cam is too gullible, and this all plays out when one of Cam's disobedient students convinces him that he's actually an undercover cop trying to bust drug dealing in the school. Mitchell thinks this is an obvious ploy to get out of trouble, and Cam realizes he must be right, showing up to bust the drug deal. Turns out, however, that the kid really is a cop, and Cam ruins the drugs bust. So... okay? This didn't really go anywhere, and I wanted something truly unexpected out of the situation. You know that the plot twist is going to be that he really is a cop, the minute Mitchell convinces Cam that he isn't.

The Walking Dead: Time for After (8x07)

Does anybody care about Eugene enough to justify this episode? Does anybody think the creepy garbage people are interesting?

Cons:

Most of this episode is focused on Eugene's moral dilemma. Does he turn on the Saviors? Does he try and save himself and the rest of them by getting rid of the Walkers using creative distraction methods? Does he turn on Dwight, who he discovers is the traitor in this episode? Does he help get the doctor away for Maggie's sake? Does he help poor Gabriel? Here's the problem: I don't really care. And another problem? Nothing really happens. Eugene spends the bulk of this episode agonizing, and then decides to help Negan, but not give up Dwight. So, in other words, maintain the status quo. Boring!

Rick's subplot in this episode was one of the most boring and annoying things I've yet seen in this show. He's been taken captive by the garbage people. They take away his weapons, undress him down to his underwear, and tie his hands. Then they bring him out to have him fight a Walker on a stick being controlled by one of the men... and Rick easily overpowers everybody and negotiates his freedom. I get the idea that this was supposed to make Rick look like a bad-ass, since he was able to escape from these people even when the odds were stacked against him. Instead, it makes Rick look stupid for getting himself into this situation, and it makes the garbage people look completely weak and idiotic. And I still can't stand the way they talk. It's ridiculous and adds nothing.

Outlander: The Bakra (3x12)

I've rarely been more split on my opinion about an episode of this show before. The stuff I loved, I loved, and I think it will be easy enough to guess what that stuff is. But then there are several things I found really aggravating and really did not enjoy. As always, let's start with those -

Cons:

Man, I was so excited for Geillis' return, but now that she's back, I really didn't like her in this episode. I know it's part of the book as well, but for some reason watching this woman in her forties sexually assaulting a teenage boy was even more disturbing to me this time around. And they made her unnecessarily sinister, what with the pool of blood and all of that. The thing that works about Geillis in the first book/season is that she's creepy but you're never entirely sure of her motivations, or how far exactly she'll go. She's kept in the shadows and hard to read. Here, all subtlety has gone out the window.

Then you've got Margaret Campbell and her brother, who are working with Geillis in order to figure out a prophecy that will tell Geillis when a Scottish King will sit on the throne. Again, I know we're pulling from the source material here, but come on. This is some campy shit. And Geillis does that exposition thing where she explains the plan to Margaret's brother even though he obviously already would have known it... the whole thing culminates in Margaret telling Lord John his fortune at the party, while holding the three sapphires that were handed down for generations, yadda yadda, and it felt like something out of a farce.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Orientation (5x01/02)

Oh boy. We're back. I freakin' love this show, okay?

Cons:

Where the frickle frackle is Leopold Fitz? Sorry, but seriously where is he? Is it a conflict with the actor or something? When I realized that Fitz didn't get pushed through the monolith with the rest of the gang, I was anxious, but I figured he'd still be showing up at some point. But no! He doesn't appear AT ALL in this two-parter! That is unacceptable!

Pros:

Where to start with this? Okay, the whole premise is just amazing, and I'll tell you why: one of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s big problems is that is needs to fit into the continuity of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, meaning that often times when it tries to raise the stakes, we all know that nothing too big can happen, or else it would need to merit mention in the movies themselves. Here, we have a future where the Earth has been torn apart, and humanity is on the brink of extinction. It's a clean slate, a new level upon which to operate. The stakes can get as high as they need to get!

The Big Bang Theory: The Bitcoin Entanglement (11x09)

Every single episode of a sitcom I've ever seen where the characters think they've come in to a lot of money ends up this way. Yawn.

Cons:

The problem here is that the second the episode introduces the idea of the guys getting rich on bitcoin, you know where it's going. There will be shenanigans trying to get a hold of the bitcoin, and then in the end through weird happenstance, we'll learn that the bitcoin is lost forever, and everything remains status quo.

The flashbacks to seven years ago only reminded me how annoying and unfunny all of the jokes about Leonard and Penny's relationship were... yeah, we get it. Leonard doesn't deserve Penny because she's so hot.

Supernatural: The Scorpion and the Frog (13x08)

Yeah, okay. That was fun.

Cons:

If I were to complain, it would be to say that the pacing felt maybe a little sluggish up top. It took a smidge too long to get to the actual heist part of this episode, and then those scenes took a hot second to really get going. But this is a minor complaint in the scheme of things.

I also wish that we could have gotten a bit of a status update on our favorite angel, but I understand why we didn't. This was a C-plot episode that was still driving the force of the A-plot in an interesting way, so I can't complain too much.