The Handmaid's Tale: Holly (2x11)

Wow, Elisabeth Moss totally crushed it.

Cons:

I didn't get the wolf thing. Was it hunting her? Or was it meant to be some sort of symbol of hope or something? It felt random, like an added threat in an episode already filled with enough threats. I liked the way the episode tilted into the horror genre in certain ways, and I thought that almost every decision worked. But the wolf felt out of place to me.

Pros:

That is a total nitpick though. This episode was almost entirely focused on June, alone and scared and about to give birth. Let's start, however, with the flashback material.

As June prepares to give birth for the second time, she thinks back on her pregnancy with Hannah. There weren't any particularly big revelations or new plot information provided here, it was just a chance for us to see June, Luke, and Moira together, preparing for the addition of a new life. We see June in labor, we see her mother showing up, a bit late but there nonetheless, we see a scene of June leaving a crying Hannah behind at school, in a heartbreaking parallel to their goodbye in last week's episode. I love seeing these flashback scenes, not just in this episode, but throughout the show. It helps to emphasize the extreme difference between past and present. Obviously Gilead is a surreal nightmare for June, and this becomes even more clear when we see what her life once was.

Elementary: Nobody Lives Forever (6x09)

I'm a little conflicted.

Cons:

I'm sorry for being a broken record, but there wasn't much in the case of the week that I found all that compelling. Not bad, or anything, just not anything to write home about.

The subplot was much more compelling, as it always is, but I'm having some concerns about this season as a whole. I feel pretty confident that this will be the last season of Elementary, and if that's the case, there are so many things that have been set up in this first half of the season. I want to spend time focusing on Joan's adoption arc, because if they're really going down this path, they need to do it justice. I want there to be proper buildup for the big Sherlock v. Michael showdown, because I want that to be worthy of the time already spent on it. If Natalie Dormer can be pulled away from being a super successful star, I want one last check-in with Jamie. And in this episode, we instead focus on the long-absent Mycroft Holmes.

Westworld: The Passenger (2x10)

Well then. Definitely wasn't expecting that.

Cons:

Bernard's timeline still confuses me. I never got fully clear on the order of events. I think I mostly have it sorted out, but it's concerning that the truth didn't crystalize for me. There were some revelations, like the idea that Ford was just in Bernard's head, and it was Bernard making the decisions the whole time. That would have been a much more powerful moment if I hadn't still been slightly confused about when he was doing what, and how he got to each place.

I know that death is not the end on Westworld, but I've got to express my discomfort at the number of people we saw die in this episode. Specifically, the number of women. Dolores, Maeve, and Elsie being the three main examples. Even Charlotte and poor lobotomized Clementine get axed, although of course the truth about a couple of these deaths is more complicated. We had to watch basically every named female character die in this episode, even if some of them are not permanent. On the flip side, most of the men survived the slaughter. Bernard, Stubbs, the two lab tech guys, even William gets out alive. Even Teddy sort of makes it. I'm not storming off in outrage or anything, but the optics do not look great. Especially Elsie. Give the girl a damn break, why don'tcha.

The Handmaid's Tale: The Last Ceremony (2x10)

This episode was hard to watch for a lot of reasons. But it was certainly powerful as all hell.

Cons:

The whole start of the episode is one big fake-out, with June appearing to go into labor, but then it turns out it was just false labor. The Waterfords have already gathered all of the other Commanders and their Wives for the ceremony, so they are humiliated and disappointed. I didn't have a problem with the premise, but I was a little confused by the way this was handled on screen. Did June know that she wasn't really in labor, and wanted to trick them? What good would that do? She later begs Commander Waterford for the chance to see her daughter - you would think she wouldn't want to piss them off. And if she didn't realize the labor was false, what was with that smirking expression on her face when Serena came in later?

Elementary: Sand Trap (6x08)

I have feelings.

Cons:

The case of the week was about a sand gang, and it was kinda just meh. There were a few pieces of it that I enjoyed, but for the most part it was your run-of-the-mill case-of-the-week. (That was a lot of hyphens!) Nothing wrong with it, per se, but nothing that much grabbed my interest.

I'm still a little bit worried about the idea of Joan wanting to become a mother. This episode was good. It didn't piss me off. But I'm still watching very closely to make sure we're not falling in to some problematic cliches.

Westworld: Vanishing Point (2x09)

I mean... damn. In some ways this episode crossed a line for me. That was a level of intensity that I was not expecting.

Cons:

There's a moment where Ford gives Maeve a little talk, and I had some problems with it. Basically, this is part of Ford's consciousness, programmed to give Maeve a message, right? Well, in that message, we learn that pretty much everything Maeve did up to the point of turning back for her child was of Ford's design. Her coming to a realization of herself, her access to her own programming, all of it. There are moments when Ford's planning becomes a little too ridiculous and far-seeing. It makes a twisted kind of sense why William would be so convinced that Ford is always behind everything, because it seems like a lot of the time, he is behind everything.

I... mean... William kills Emily. And I really don't know how to feel about that. In one sense I guess it was effective, in that I certainly wasn't expecting it and it made me feel emotions. But on the other hand... yikes. This was a level of intensity from this show that I wasn't really looking for. I know William has done a lot of terrible things, but this is beyond the pale.

The Handmaid's Tale: Smart Power (2x09)

This show is... it's something special. It hits at a place deep within me that feels such sadness and worry about the state of our world today. It strips things down to their basic level and hits at the core of certain issues in a way that's just so powerful.

Cons:

I honestly don't have much of anything? Maybe the girl who's living with Luke and Moira could get a bit more development. We haven't really checked in with her in a while and I don't feel like I understand her whole deal.

Pros:

Okay let's start with the stuff in Gilead. June learns that Serena is going to kick her out as soon as the baby is born, so she asks Rita to look after her child. She later brings up her concerns to Aunt Lydia, and we get one of the most fascinating Aunt Lydia scenes to date. See, Aunt Lydia is in some ways easier to hate than Serena, but there's this drive to her that captivates me. More so than almost anybody else in Gilead, she feels like she was born in this system. The life she had before is completely hidden from us. But we learn just a tidbit here - she was godmother to her sister's child, who died when he was just four days old. When June offers her condolences, Aunt Lydia's response is: "it wasn't my fault." This just fascinates the heck out of me. What does it mean? In some ways it seemed like Aunt Lydia was asking for June to understand that none of this is her fault. That she's a cog in the machine, a victim as well as part of the problem. I'm not sure if I agree, but it's interesting to think that she might look at her situation that way. When she tells June that she would never let anything happen to a child, I believe her. It doesn't excuse her abhorrent behavior, but I believe that she really does hold the lives of children above all else.

Elementary: Sober Companions (6x07)

Well. Dang.

Cons:

I'm glad that we're not done with Michael yet, but I do hate that just when things are ramping up and getting interesting, he decides to go away and give Sherlock time to recover. This means that we'll probably have a whole string of C-plot episodes before we get more interesting stuff with this serial killer. This is typical of a show like Elementary, and it's a big part of the reason I wish they had smaller episode orders so they could do a tighter and more exciting season arc.

There's a moment where Sherlock buys drugs, and we're supposed to be all scared that he's about to relapse, but it turns out he bought the drugs as a plan to drug Michael and get him to slip up and make a mistake. I think this heroin might be something of a Chekhov's Gun situation, in that it might pop up later and tempt Sherlock. But for now, I was a bit annoyed by this scene's attempt to trick us.

Westworld: Kiksuya (2x08)

Not my favorite episode, unfortunately.

Cons:

I'm going to start with a disclaimer, alright? I'm not equipped to talk about the nuance of media representation when it comes to Native Americans. I can only speak to what makes me a little twitchy, and that's what I'm going to do here. See, I've been complaining for weeks that the portrayal of the native characters in the park has been... less than ideal. They spoke in stoic, one-worded remarks, when they spoke at all. We only ever saw them in their full face makeup. We saw them committing acts of violence. We didn't really see any alternative to this representation.

Finally, we see a nuanced portrayal. A man named Akecheta tells Maeve's daughter a story, a story of how he learned the truth (or at least some version of the truth) of his own existence, and began to seek a door to another world. My problems with this story are many, although I have heaps of praise for the man playing Akecheta, Zahn McClarnon. My first problem is that this story seems, for all that it's about a robot Native American, kind of cliche. It seemed to be vaguely "spirit quest" like, and it fell into a pattern of storytelling that I feel like I've seen before. Stoic native man bravely soldiers on in the face of his pain.... I don't know. Maybe I'm reaching. It just felt like it came through in the tone of the episode, with the music, the dialogue, the long shots of scenery... eh.

The Handmaid's Tale: Women's Work (2x08)

This show just slays me. I cry like every week now. Crazy.

Cons:

Nick handled the letters thing really poorly. He sees the packet of letters, and knows that Eden saw it. Instead of playing it off and being cool about it, he freaked out and totally made her way more suspicious. I get that sometimes you just react to stuff without thinking, but Nick should be better at this by now. It's his job to be sneaky and subtle.

Pros:

Okay. Where to even start? Serena and June bonding over their subversive behavior? That is my jam. I've mentioned this in the past and I'll continue to mention it for the rest of this show's run, I'm sure - Serena is such a fascinating character, and the twisted relationship between Serena and June is maybe the most fascinating thing this show has to offer, and that's saying a lot. Serena admits that she hates knitting. June compliments Serena's writing. It's all so complex and subtle and there are so many things that they just can't say out loud. You can tell that both women are sorry to see the end of this time of conspiracy when Commander Waterford comes home.

Elementary: Give Me the Finger (6x06)

Oh boy. This was a good one.

Cons:

I don't know if this is necessarily a "con," more just a general true statement about the show - I like the stuff happening in the periphery more than I liked the main story. This is almost always true with Elementary.

I thought the bad guy in this episode was kind of stupid. She kills a former member of the Yakuza, has valuable information, and then wanders straight into a trap. Not even a particularly clever trap. I felt like the way the murderer was caught in this episode sort of undercut her effectiveness.

Westworld: Les Écorchés (2x07)

This episode was a bit of a letdown. It wasn't bad. I've yet to encounter a bad episode of this show. But I felt some ennui while watching. Let's dive in to the specifics.

Cons:

I've been alluding to this for a while, but it feels like everything is buildup without payoff. Dolores keeps talking about her quest to be truly free. Maeve continues to under-utilize her new superpower and worry for her daughter. Bernard is confused. Hale doesn't know what's going on. And even this episode, which had a bunch of confluences and moments where characters finally came together, didn't feel as impacting as I think it was meant to. I still feel like I'm waiting for everything to click together.

Ford is super creepy and obviously Anthony Hopkins is doing a great job, but there were a few lines in there that were... less than subtle. When he's talking to Bernard he says something about how the human brain is the "last analog device in a digital world" and it made me cringe just a bit. These are the kinds of lines that draw far too much attention to the show's attempt at social commentary. I'm not saying it's a bad attempt, there's just no need to point it out so obviously.

Westworld: Phase Space (2x06)

Poor Maeve. Poor... everybody.

Cons:

So we learn that there's this backup computer network called "the Cradle" where all the hosts exist together in a hive mind type of thing. Bernard uploads himself into it to try and gather more information. I have no problem with this idea, and it leads to some great material in the episode. But I find myself a bit annoyed that it hasn't been brought up or discussed before this point. Elsie brings it up and it feels very exposition-y and info-dump-y in a way I didn't much enjoy.

Also, I must continue to complain about the pacing of this season overall. As far as I know, there are only ten episodes, right? If that's the case, we're 60% done and I still have so many questions. I don't know what the climax is going to be, I don't even have the slightest clue where all of this is heading. This episode doesn't do anything to start pulling together the pieces. If anything, it just introduces more questions. We get scenes with William and his daughter, but learn very little of substance. We see more of the Shogun story-line with Maeve, which is interesting, but it doesn't seem to propel Maeve and her companions forward on their own path, until the end when Maeve goes in search of her daughter. I'm enjoying everything we've been getting, but I'm worried that the culmination isn't going to be as powerful as it should be.