Grey's Anatomy: With a Wonder and a Wild Desire/Broken Together (15x01/02)

This show has so many characters! These reviews are fun to write, but Grey's Anatomy always gets a little out of hand. Let's try to rapid-fire some stuff.

Cons:

I've never been a big Amelia and Owen fan, and the whole Teddy pregnancy complication is not helping matters. For whatever reason, I really noticed the soap-opera-y dialogue in their plot thread this week. I don't feel emotionally invested enough for the show to get away with Owen saying "are we on a motorcycle with one helmet?" or Amelia saying that she has feelings, and then describing those feelings as "heart pounding" and a bunch of other cliches. It's just too much. Their lives are a mess. The baby thing is a complication that just compounds the chaos, and not in a good way.

Jo is curing cancer? Okay, I don't hate it, but I'm keeping a close eye on it. This could get real silly, real fast.

The Good Place: Everything Is Bonzer! (Part 1)/(Part 2) (3x01/02)

It's always exciting to start reviews for a show I haven't written about yet. I binged seasons one and two of this excellent NBC comedy a month or so ago, and I'm thrilled to be on board for the start of Season Three. Let's just get right to it.

Cons:

It's hard to complain. This show is very good. I have a potential future-complaint, though. I really hope that now that the four humans are back on earth, alive, we're done resetting their memories. Thus far, I haven't been bothered by how many times they've forgotten and then gotten to know each other again, but at some point I think it might start to be a problem. We can see Michael form growing and adapting relationships with people, but Eleanor, Chidi, Tahani, and Jason all keep getting rebooted so their relationship progress is effectively lost. There's a point at which this becomes shaky. We haven't hit it yet, but I'm watching out for it.

Pros:

I really admire any show that can shake itself up and give itself new structures so often. It was the thing that BBC's show Merlin did so poorly, relying on one central conceit and overplaying it to death. This show started with a premise, ripped that premise to shreds, and then started this season ripping it even more to shreds. This comedy about four people who have died and are in the afterlife is now about four people who are alive. Going about their day to day. That changes everything, in a good way.

The Big Bang Theory: The Wedding Gift Wormhole (12x02)

This episode is educational in the specific way that The Big Bang Theory often fails. Let's take a look.

Cons:

So, there's a subplot where Stuart accidentally gets a spray tan and turns too orange. This... it's so cliche that it's a parody of itself. This happened to Ross on Friends over two decades ago. It's just lazy writing. I'm so uninterested in Stuart's new love life with a woman who is probably far too good for him. Also, Stuart was the very last holdout for a potential queer character on this show, and we didn't get it. Not that I'd actually want to see the writers write a non-straight character, because they'd probably suck at it... but still.

Okay. So. As I said, this episode is a good educational example of how this show fails at being comedy. The premise has a lot of intriguing possibilities. Basically, Amy and Sheldon get a mysterious wedding gift from Leonard and Penny, and they can't figure out what it is. They go crazy trying to figure it out, and end up deciding that it's a scavenger hunt to find the real present. We learn early on that instead, Penny and Leonard just passed along a weird gift they got from Howard and Bernadette, and we then learn that initially Howard had received the gift from Raj for his wedding. It's a quartz wand thing. It's... decorative? It's useless.

Modern Family: I Love a Parade (10x01)

And so the final season of Modern Family begins. As I've discussed quite a bit in my reviews over the last couple of seasons, this is a show that is really showing its age. But that doesn't mean there's nothing to appreciate!

Cons:

What is Alex's whole deal? Her plot thread this episode was that she had a lazy summer and then got back on her feet and studied for school. I get whiplash with her. Is the point that she's lonely, so that's why she's a couch potato? Was this supposed to feel like mother/daughter bonding, what with Claire starting to be lazy too? In fact, Claire's plot thread was just as annoying and uninteresting. She is "off her game" because she can't figure out what is bothering her family members, but then by the end she solves the mystery of why Gloria is upset. Okay... point? Seemingly none.

Pros:

Cam and Mitchell caring for little Cal was pretty funny, I guess. That kid really is cute. And Lily being a snarky little jerk actually helped to make their point pretty well. Maybe Cal isn't the smartest bulb, but he's a genuinely sweet kid. And really freakin' cute. Hugging as a primary skill is also pretty hilarious.

The Big Bang Theory: The Conjugal Configuration (12x01)

It's here! The beginning of the FINAL SEASON! I'm so excited. Not about the show, of course. I'm just thrilled it's finally going to END.

Cons:

I mean... it's boring? I don't know how often I can list the same complaints about this show. This was a season premiere, and so they really pulled out all the stops by going to a couple of different sets away from the apartment standing sets. Woo hoo. It's just that when I watch this show I can always tell how cheaply it's being made. The only expensive part of The Big Bang Theory is the salaries of the actors.

I hope that Sheldon doesn't sacrifice too much of his comfort for Amy's sake. I like the idea that he wants to work hard to make her happy in their marriage, but he doesn't need sex to be happy, and he shouldn't give in on that because he's afraid of disappointing her. I don't know. This show isn't good enough to treat this topic with the respect it deserves, and since I'm asexual, I always keep a really close eye on these kinds of plot threads.

Suits: Managing Partner (8x10)

I was a little bit underwhelmed by some aspects of this finale, but if this is what the show is about now, I can't exactly complain when this is what I get. Let's dive in!

Cons:

This isn't a "con" so much as it is just... a statement. I don't care about this show nearly as much as I used to. Also, I've never been a fan of flashback stuff as it is, and this was a flashback episode about Robert and Samantha, the two characters I care about the least. So this episode was not designed to be a winner for me personally. I don't think the episode itself did a bad job with the material, it's just not my preferred material.

The problem with flashback episodes in Suits is that they almost always spend a lot of time showing us something that could have been told very easily. We learn in this episode that back when Sam was an associate and Robert was a partner, Samantha saved Robert from allegations of collusion and got the current name partners ousted. Samantha was instrumental in making Rand Caldor Zane a reality. That's why Robert is so loyal to her. We see this revelation come out through a series of scenes in the past between the two of them. But the same information might have been imparted through a conversation in the present day. Maybe Samantha tells Harvey, or Robert tells Harvey, or the two of them discuss it, or Samantha confides in Donna... all of these scenarios would allow for the characters, as we know them today, to develop further.

Elementary: Whatever Remains, However Improbable (6x21)

When they wrote this episode, they thought it was the finale, you guys. I'm emotional.

Cons:

I've got to say, I'm glad there's going to be a Season Seven. Not just because I like this show, but because there are a number of pretty essential dangling threads that I wouldn't be all that thrilled about leaving alone. Namely, Bell and Joan didn't really get a goodbye scene, Sherlock and Bell got barely anything, and things with Gregson fell completely apart. Now, don't get me wrong, the Gregson stuff was excellent. But if this really was the last we were going to see of him, then that would suck majorly. It felt unfair to his character to leave so much unresolved.

I recently learned that when the show-runners were plotting out this season, they thought they had a shorter episode order. That explains why Michael is missing from so much of the season. Unfortunately, just because I understand the reason now doesn't mean it fixes the structural issues of this season. Michael was so interesting, and then he was dead and this final episode was about something else entirely. Had they known they were getting a Season Seven, and had they known the season would be longer, I think the Michael stuff would have felt a lot more satisfying.

I never really understood why this FBI agent had such beef with Joan and Sherlock. Sure, I can see how they would be the FBI's worse nightmare what with all of their cutting corners, but this woman seemed to have something of a personal vendetta against Joan in particular, and that is not born out in the show we are being presented. What is her problem?

Suits: Motion to Delay (8x09)

You know I don't usually comment on how unrealistic this show can be, but this week it was actually distracting.

Cons:

I work in a law firm, but even though I'm not a lawyer, through just general osmosis I could count several things that were very wrong with this episode. For one, Katrina and Brian never should have gone directly to confront that woman who was apparently infringing on their client's copyright. She has a lawyer, meaning they speak to the lawyer, not to her. Big no-no. Also, Brian lying about who he was to get a piece of evidence against someone? Wasn't there a whole plot thread where Donna nearly got arrested for that very action? Here, it's presented as a risky move, but neither Brian nor Katrina seem to contemplate the fact that they could get caught, and Brian could be disbarred. And the line about Brian's precedent being a "genius move" was silly. That was some first-year law school shit. Then there's Sam and Alex. Conflicts in a law firm don't exist just for litigation... it's also a big conflict even if they're trying to reach a settlement. The scenario where Alex and Sam sit in a room with their two clients to talk it out is crazy and never would have happened, what with Alex and Sam both being a part of the same firm.

There was this moment with Harvey and Robert referencing The Terminator and doing crappy Schwarzenegger impressions, and... well, it was kind of weak. The idea is that they're both in crappy moods because of what's happening with Bratton Gould, so of course their energy is a little low. But their exchange of quotes had none of the zing and pop that Harvey and Mike used to have. It doesn't even have the chemistry that Harvey and Robert usually have in a room together. It was just mildly awkward and sort of... dead.

Elementary: Fit to be Tied (6x20)

Well then. Some stuff has happened.

Cons:

I thought the reveal about the judge killing the victim and making it look like Michael was kind of weird. If you think about it, it's pretty much just a plot cul de sac. It doesn't teach us anything new about Michael, or Sherlock, or anything. It's just a weird happenstance that the first new "victim" of Michael's wasn't really his killing at all. The apprehension of the murderous judge is treated as an afterthought, because there's a much meatier story going on in this episode.

I've often praised Elementary for taking a more measured approach than a lot of procedural shows would, but I must admit I wanted maybe a bit more from Sherlock after Joan got attacked. I feel kind of duped that we didn't get to see the moment when Sherlock arrived home and found her injured, and I would have liked to hear Joan trying to explain things to him as he works to get her to a hospital. It's not like I need to see these things to know that Sherlock was worried and scared and angry, but sometimes it's nice to have a bit of that angst sprinkled in.

Suits: Coral Gables (8x08)

I rather enjoyed Louis' story, and Gretchen's, but could have done without some particular elements of this episode.

Cons:

Mainly, I thought Sam's plot thread was unnecessary. It wasn't bad, but it just sort of rehashed things we already know about her. Sam tries to poach a client from her old firm, gets mixed up in some old sketchy behavior, and ultimately ends up losing a client instead of gaining one. Along the way, Harvey is there to try and keep her in line. I liked Harvey interfering and making the right call, but what I was less crazy about was Sam trying to cross a line, failing to do so, and learning apparently nothing from it. She did something really sketchy in her past, and it appears that she learned absolutely nothing from it.

Pros:

Like I said, I did enjoy Harvey being the voice of reason in Sam's plot. Despite this show's many flaws, I still maintain that Harvey's character growth is one of the more nuanced and well thought-out that I've ever seen on a TV show like this, particularly with such a cliche character to start things off with. Harvey was the kind of guy who did the reckless stuff he is now cautioning Sam against. But he's not being a hypocrite - he genuinely has grown and learned over several seasons. One of his most important lessons is that it's possible for him to lose. He can't go in to every scenario ready to battle it to the ends of the earth - sometimes he has to give in. What taught him this? Mike going to prison. It's the first Mike mention we've gotten in a few episodes, so of course I had to mention it. I miss him so much.

Elementary: The Geek Interpreter (6x19)

Let's dive right in to this one.

Cons:

Something in the pacing of the main case was a little bit off. We learn late in the game that the motive for kidnapping has to do with flood zones for insurance/property value purposes. This comes out of left field and is a much less exciting reason to kidnap a mathematician than I would have expected from this show. Not that everything needs to be wacky all the time, but this was a little mundane, especially for something that was brought up so late in the episode.

I'm also a little miffed by the lack of development in any of the existing subplots. No further mention of Michael's return, no forward motion on Bell's career or Joan's quest to become a mother. Instead, we introduce another subplot that I found quite interesting. But despite my interest, I find it odd that we're only a few episodes away from the finale of the season, and we're introducing new ideas instead of further exploring the handful of subplots still left dangling.