The Mighty Nein: The Mighty Nein (1x04)

The gang's all here, y'all! Well, not all, but we're getting there.

Cons:

I've seen a lot of people feeling upset or even just ambivalent about Essek's characterization so far, and I have to admit that, yeah, I do have some real concerns about how this is shaking out so far. For one thing, him spilling the beans to Trent about his mother is just like... how stupid are you? I could buy the idea that over a long period of time, Trent sort of tricks Essek into revealing hints about his mother, as Trent feeds on his loneliness. But this was just like... my dude, what part of Trent Ikithon's whole deal makes you think you can trust him? Why are you confiding in him like this?

Bob's Burgers: Tube for Tina (16x07)

Awww, look at Linda being so supportive of her daughter. We love to see it.

Cons:

I don't think I have anything to complain about other than that I would have loved to see some of the Boyz 4 Now movie, that would have been a hoot.

Pros:

The subplot on this one involves an unfortunate bird that slams into the window of the restaurant and dies shortly after. Louise, Gene, and Bob go to Teddy's to bury it in his backyard, and then they find out that the bird was someone's pet, so they have to go with her to dig up the remains. One thing I liked about this one was how relatively few twists there actually were in the story? Like, I kind of expected once the lady saw the dead bird she'd be like, "oh, that isn't Zeus" and the whole thing would be for naught, or that the guy who knows about birds would show up and cause shenanigans or try to claim that this rare bird deserved to be in a museum or I don't know what else. Sometimes full chaos levels are fun, other times it's nice when a story takes the trajectory you more or less expect from it. Poor Phyllis having her conversation with Zeus at the end... I know it's meant to be funny but I got genuinely sad thinking about dead pets. :(

The Mighty Nein: The Fletchling & Moondrop Traveling Carnival of Curiosities (1x03)

That was a lot of fun! And the gang is (almost) all together now!

Cons:

The same aesthetic comments I made in the last review still stand, of course, but by and large I think this episode was my favorite of the first three!

Still in the category of questioning/wondering, I'm very curious as to what the implications will be for Caleb that this inciting incident that brings the group together was sort of caused by him? Like, he wanted to steal the bugs for magic, and that's what let the devil toad off leash, so to speak. Obviously Beau and Nott were also involved in things going bad, but I'm just curious about this as a character beat. I don't have strong positive or negative feelings about it yet, I just hope the implications are explored in a satisfying way.

The Mighty Nein: Who Will You Be (1x02)

Let's dive in! I'm still having a lot of fun but also I'm wondering about a few things... I wonder if I'm just being nitpicky or if other people agree with any of my comments in the "cons" section.

Cons:

I have a lot of... what I guess I'll call aesthetic objections? The show looks great, and a lot of this is a matter of preference, but there are a few things that I know aren't a big deal end of the day, and yet I definitely noticed them so I want to point them out.

The Mighty Nein: Mote of Possibility (1x01)

We're here! I'm going to start this review with the big caveat that my memory of campaign two of Critical Role is shaky as fuck. Like. With the Vox Machina stuff I was frequently making comparisons between the stream and the show, and here I'm going to try to do less of that because a) I don't remember what order shit is supposed to happen in, and b) I understand that this adaptation is going to be a lot looser about a lot of stuff. That said, same with Vox Machina, if there are particular moments or character beats that I remember and I have a comment about how they've adapted it, I'm going to say something! Let's dive into our first episode. I'm soooo hype for this, y'all.

Grey's Anatomy: When I Crash (22x06)

LET RICHARD RETIRE. Jesus Christ.

Cons:

A thing I don't like is how our broken up couples are in this stage of like... oh, we're not so angry anymore, we're starting to be wistful/fond about things. I was happy that Teddy said she and Owen were making the right decision breaking up, but I still don't trust that we won't have to get back on this merry-go-round. And with Lucas and Simone, I'm almost positive they're building to them being back together eventually. They're making Lucas nicer than usual and less annoying but it's not working on me because I feel like I know his true colors, and his true colors are whiny baby. ALSO in the romance department, Jules asked Winston out for a drink and to that I say boooooo. Stoppppp.

Bob's Burgers: Get Her to the Zeke (16x06)

Aww, I loved this one!

Cons:

I don't have an actual complaint about this episode, but I will say there was a brief moment when I thought that this episode would finally address the fact that Zeke and Jimmy Jr. have gay crushes on each other and then felt a little let down that that didn't happen lol. I'm mostly joking but only mostly.

Pros:

Let's start with the subplot with Bob, Linda, Louise and Gene - there's a big scary rat that has been seen out in the alley behind the restaurant, and Hugo and Ron show up with an exterminator named Roxy the Rat Queen to try and deal with the situation. The Belchers end up letting the rat go by the end of the episode, because they're too sad about the thought of Roxy killing him after they've spent several days invested in his fate. I love the moments where the whole family comes together and ends up doing something a little naughty but in collaboration, the kids and the adults all on the same page.

There was a fun dynamic in this subplot too, where Hugo does his normal thing of being mean to Bob, but at the same time he's playing really sycophantic to Roxy, so he keeps flip-flopping to agree with Roxy even if it means walking back his insults to Bob. That was fun! And the super rat was kinda cute, not gonna lie!

Grey's Anatomy: Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child (22x05)

There were a couple of things I liked about this episode, where my faves got lots of fun stuff to do, but I wouldn't be me if I didn't also have my complaints.

Cons:

The biggest "ugh" of this week to me was the Jo and Link story. They've done story-lines before where a romantic couple featured one religious person and one atheist, and really tried to grapple with it, but this was just... not it. Jo being a Christian who would want to baptize her kids is just nothing that's ever been addressed before. She didn't give a shit about having Luna baptized, did she? It came out of left field for me. It was also frustrating because I wanted Link to make the best and most undeniable argument against it for Jo: it's about consent. Let's teach our kids about different faith traditions and if when they're old enough to give it some thought they want to be baptized, then great, we'll be there to support them. It frustrated me that Link didn't lay it out for her like that, and it's annoying that things are so unsettled now as we go into Jo's Dramatique Giving Birth Episode next week. I find the topic tedious and Link, while annoying and bad at presenting his argument, is 100% in the right here.

Bob's Burgers: The Secret Guardin' (16x05)

This one was fun! 

Cons:

I don't think I have any complaints!

Pros:

The Teddy subplot was just the right amount of ridiculous. I like that Kathleen was understanding in the end and had the riff about picking up the wrong little old Irish lady herself in the past. The idea that Teddy could get all the way back from the airport without realizing his mistake is so funny and on point for him. He gets in his head and his single-minded focus can cause some problems for him.

I also liked how easy it was for Teddy to bond with the wrong old lady by uniting in a dislike of Bob; Teddy is very willing to use Bob for his own goals in whatever form that takes. Also shout-out to the joke about Teddy leaving with the coffee mug and insulting it as a bad to-go coffee cup.