Grey's Anatomy: Idle Hands (9x18)

I'll be brief in this review due to my overwhelming schedule at the moment. I liked this episode. It was really solid. I'm always impressed by how consistent Grey's Anatomy can be. There haven't been too many bad episodes in the show's entire history. Let's look at the subplots of this one really quick:

Alex! I love him so much. He's my favorite. His plot with his patient this episode was adorable. The two of them were playing pranks on Jason Meyers (Jo's boyfriend), that escalated until finally Webber joined in too. It was funny, it was sweet, and it ended with a real kicker - Jason Meyers is a bit of an ass! But then, so is Alex, and I do love him.

Christina. It was nice to see her getting excited about surgery. I was properly upset when we found out that she was being appealed to as a board member and not a surgeon. I love that she won in the end, and, in true Christina fashion, she's really excited about the prospect of all this extra work. It was nice to see her come to a realization of her power, and use it to her advantage.

Supernatural: Goodbye Stranger (8x17)

I loved this episode. I really, really did. A lot. I only have a few small things to say negatively (because when do I not?) but all in all I thought it was an amazing return from hiatus for Supernatural. I missed this show while it was gone, and this episode reminded me of all the reasons to love this show. 

Okay, the first great thing this week: Sam and Dean’s relationship. This is of course the biggie for this show. I’m always happy when an episode has a focus on the connection between Sam and Dean. I loved to see them joking around together during a few moments. Dean finding the old… magazine was so funny, especially when Sam let Dean have his ten minutes. I also loved when Dean asked about Meg’s hair and Sam was just like “Uh, dude?” but totally silently. Then at the end when Sam teased Dean for quoting The Lord of the Rings, and Dean told him that “the Rudy hobbit always gets a pass,” I actually laughed out loud. It was nice to see a lighter, more natural side to the Winchester brothers, because they have been so tense lately.

On the more serious flip side of that, we finally have some actual honesty happening. I liked that Dean noticed Sam’s bloody tissue, and then came out to confront him about it pretty quickly. It never gets old to see Dean worrying about Sam. The scene at the end was really touching, because Sam promised to be honest. I’m getting a bit worried about these trials. I don’t want anything to happen to Sammy! Actually… who am I kidding? I want to see Sam hurt, if only so I can watch Dean freak out about it.

Smash: Musical Chairs (2x07)

After last week's great episode of Smash, I was a bit nervous to see how well this one could hold up. I didn't LOVE it as much as last week's episode, but I still enjoyed it. I'll start with the things that I didn't actually like, so that I can spend the rest of the review talking about the good stuff.

The Jerry sub-plot. Thank goodness it should be over at this point. I was getting really sick of that. The entire episode, Eileen and Julia's characters just talked about how awful Jerry was and how everything was falling apart. It wasn't until the end that we learn that Jerry has finally caved and that Bombshell belongs to Eileen again. I haven't been too invested in this plot thread for a while now. Like I've previously mentioned, the character of Jerry just doesn't hold my attention. Hopefully now we can get this messy business behind us and move on to better things.

Another small problem that I had was the way that Liasions finished off. Terry Falls' number was HILARIOUS! The audience was laughing, and I was actually pretty engaged with it. But what didn't make sense to me was the ending, when he kept singing after the music had stopped, fell off of his swing... and then all of a sudden the show was being canceled? It was a bit disappointing to me to see that after all of that work that Ivy did with Terry, there was no real pay-off. It sort of felt like the entire Terry Falls story arc had absolutely no point at all. Also, I liked Terry. I liked Terry and Ivy's interactions. It's too bad we probably won't be seeing any more of him.

Castle: Scared to Death (5x17)

I really loved this episode! Was it flawless? No. But was it fun, straightforward, well-resolved and well-acted, and was generally what I look for when I watch Castle.

Let's start with the plot. It's not particularly new to go with the idea of fictional horror in a crime show, but what I appreciated about this attempt was the way they set up the stereotypes and then played with them. Some of the funniest moments of the episode came when Castle pointed out how stereotypical everything was: the creepy cabin, the three days before death, the missing body... one of my favorite quotes was when he said "I don't think I need to tell you what kind of chances the comic relief guy has."

Here's something interesting: In a funny episode, there managed to be some real depth. Obviously the idea that Castle and Beckett were going to die because of watching the disk is ridiculous, but real tension was added to the episode because Castle genuinely believed it. It was actually really touching to see how freaked out he was, not just for himself but for Beckett. He didn't want to let her watch the tape, because he was genuinely afraid that she would die. When she wanted to go find the third potential victim in the creepy cabin, he told her that he couldn't let her go alone. I loved Beckett's line: "Castle, that's so sweet! You want me to outlive you?" And then of course there was the adorable payoff at the end, when Beckett saw the following entry on Castle's bucket list: "Be with Kate." Apparently he had written it three years before. These genuine moments interspersed throughout the episode really made a difference.

Once Upon a Time: Welcome to Storybrooke (2x17)

In some ways, this is the episode I had no idea I was waiting for. I didn't think about the beginning of Storybrooke much. It didn't seem important. Turns out? It is! And it's awesome. I didn't like this episode as much as last week's, because I did see a few annoyances with it here and there. But I had a great time watching it, all the same. Let's take a look at some of the specifics:

So... the kid who plays Henry, Jared S. Gilmore, is really cute. Truly, he is. But his acting chops do leave something to be desired... I was a bit more distracted by it this week than I normally would have been, because Henry had such a significant role to play. That being said, he was a well-written character this week.  I liked that Henry was still angry with Emma. That felt true to all we know about him, and about kids in general. I also like that he still, to this day, calls Regina "my mom" but calls Emma, Mary Margaret, and David his "family." It's sorta psychologically twisty but I really love it. I also thought that it was really powerful when he said to everyone "you used to be heroes. What happened to you?" It was a great point and it added a lot of tension to the episode.

The real meat of this episode was Regina's character. I absolutely loved Lana Parrilla in this. Seeing her at the beginning of the curse was fantastic. It was of course really neat to see Jamie Dornan reprise his role as Graham/Huntsman, but I felt that his presence was rather underused.

How I Met Your Mother: The Fortress (8x19)

So... before I start this review of How I Met Your Mother, I'm curious. Is anyone reading this? I know it's not well advertised, but it does get page views. Are those just people clicking on past? If you are reading, go ahead and leave me a review. I'd love to hear from you.

On to the show: This is a sitcom that reached its prime quite a long time ago, and probably needs to die gracefully. I know that a season 9 has been scheduled, but I'm not quite sure I'm happy about that. Regardless, it's important to look at each episode on its own merits.

This week was... well, it had some funny moments in it, but it also had a lot of problems. I'm going to start by addressing the three pretty major problems I had with it, so that I can then move on to what I liked.

The Mentalist: Red, White and Blue (5x17)

This episode was okay. I'll write just a very brief review on it, detailing a few things I liked and a few things I didn't.

The good: the set up. That's not something I usually praise about this show, but the idea of having a man with memory loss as your prime witness was interesting. Not revolutionary or unique necessarily, but it was utilized to good effect here.

The bad: The pay off. Jane uses a trick to catch the suspect. Very old hat. We've seen it on this show a million times. The perpetrator of the crime was really out of left field, too. The trick with a crime show is that the reveal must feel both surprising and at the same time inevitable. I was... surprised, I guess, but it seemed to come out of nowhere, and I was not given enough time to care about all of these characters so as to make the truth a big shocker.

The Vampire Diaries: Bring It On (4x16)

Nina Dobrev is a great actress. Despite the fact that nothing really changes about her outward appearance, she manages to make the characters of Elena and Katherine very distinctive. And now we get to add a third sort of "character" to the list. That being: Vampire Elena with her humanity turned off. Kudos to this actress for her portrayal of Elena as an unfeeling vampire. Sometimes it's truly frightening to see how far our heroine has fallen.

So... this episode. It wasn't my favorite on record, or anything, but I enjoyed it perfectly fine. Usually my favorite episodes are the ones where we get some Salvatore brother cuteness, and that was conspicuously lacking this week. However, that's a personal preference, and I'll definitely look at this episode on its own merits.

I've already praised Nina Dobrev's performace this week, but I wanted to give a shout out to the little-appreciated Paul Wesley as well. His portrayal of Stefan this week was excellent. I finally started to see what everyone's been talking about between Stefan and Caroline. I was staunchly wishing for them to just remain friends, but now that it looks like Tyler is out of the picture (no!) I would definitely support a relationship between Stefan and Caroline. I honestly don't care one way or the other about which brother Elena ends up with, as long as the two brothers can still be together and love each other at the end of the day. I hope both of the Salvatores are happy by the time this thing wraps up.

Grey's Anatomy: Transplant Wasteland (9x17)

I think that Grey's Anatomy has a bad rap for some reason. I mean, I know it's melodramatic and unrealistic and all that, but I find it to be consistently well written and acted. The characters are interesting and dynamic, the plot keeps you on your toes, and the actors really know how to forge meaningful relationships between their characters. This week's episode, while by no means a show-stopper, was nonetheless a perfectly standard episode of a consistent show.

I'm a big fan of this season's plot thread about the hospital's bankruptcy. It makes the reality of the plane crash a big and continuing part of the show and the characters. This is the first episode during which the hospital is under new management: our very own Seattle Grace plane crash victims. And... Jackson Avery. There's a great tension between Avery and the others, since he is in many cases their inferior, and they feel - justifiably - that he has his position because of nepotism. There was a wonderful moment in the episode where Derek basically sent Jackson away with his tail between his legs. It's so awkward because the student has suddenly become the boss.

I also like the antagonistic divide between Alex and the others. In a sick way, he's a bit jealous that they were all in this plane crash together. Because, now, he's on the outside again. It's a bit reminiscent of the Karev from the beginning of the show, when nobody else liked him. I also adore the budding romance between him and Jo the intern. Obviously it will be a while yet before anything substantial happens between them, but it was nice to see Alex admit his feelings for her and start to make amends. I absolutely adore Alex working with the pediatric patients. For all his gruff exterior, he's amazing with kids. To this day he remains one of my favorite characters, not only on this show but in all of television.

Parks and Recreation: Bailout (5x16)

This is a great show, and this was a great episode. I think one of the biggest strengths of this show is its understanding of when to push the envelope and when to give us comfort and familiarity. This week we got our good old reliable Parks and Recreation humor.

The main plot thread of the episode involved Leslie's attempts to save the local video store. Inadvertantly, she turned it into a porn shop, and incurred the distaste of Ron Swanson, who saw Leslie's actions as a government bailout. The other plot involved Tom's Rent-A-Swag business, and how Jean-Ralphio's sister is causing strife in the business.

The episode relied on familiar jokes, such as Leslie being tied to Pawnee's porn industry, Ron Swanson's love of food (meat, especially), Tom's helplessness when confronted with the promise of sex, Jean-Ralphio's ineptitude at... well... everything.
 

Elementary: Déjà Vu All Over Again (1x18)

This was a great episode. One of the strongest this show has had thus far. Elementary suffers from a strong comparison with BBC's amazing show Sherlock, which is another modern-day take on Arthur Conan Doyle's famous characters. However, it has done a relatively good job carving out its own identity. It has avoided falling in to several extremely stereotypical traps, and while the week-to-week crimes are sometimes a bit bland, the characters of Sherlock Holmes and Joan Watson are very interesting, and their relationship is excellent. 

This week had the added bonus of having a compelling crime that kept me on my toes. The guest actors were decent and I enjoyed the way the two crimes in the episode wove together. It was nice to see Watson learning the trade, and Sherlock teaching her. Their relationship works because it's such a give and take. Watson helps Sherlock with his addiction and gives him help on his cases, and Sherlock has given Watson a new purpose and career path. 

It was nice to see Watson take a big risk only to have it backfire on her - it shows that to be a consulting detective will not be easy, but that she has a true passion for it. The mini arc with her friends was a nice thought, but I felt it could have been fleshed out a bit more. I liked the idea of their holding an intervention for her, but it felt like the story just petered out when they saw that Watson had helped solve a crime.

The Office: The Farm (9x17)

I never expected The Office to survive two whole seasons without Michael Scott, but I actually think these last few episodes have been pretty great. "The Farm" was initially supposed to be a backdoor pilot for a Dwight-centric spin-off, and I must say I don't at all mind that it's not going to happen. I think sometimes it's best to put a concept or a character out to pasture before it gets too old. 

That being said, this episode was pretty funny. I loved that Oscar was the only office member who came to the funeral. It was a little weird that Angela wasn't in attendance, given Dwight's obsession with her, but that's alright. Seeing Oscar react to the weirdness of Dwight's family was really fun, as was the introduction of Dwight's family members. Their weird traditions were hilarious!

The Big Bang Theory: The Closet Reconfiguration (6x19)

This will be a rather brief review, because I'm falling a bit behind with these reviews. I'm rather neutral about this episode. I didn't have any real problems with it, but none of it was excellent.

I like the idea of a plot line concerning Howard's father. However, the efforts of this show to focus on a more serious topic fall a bit flat. It wasn't terrible or anything, but the acting chops of these comedic actors did not quite hold up to the task. I did like the payoff at the end - all of the different possibilities of what the card said were funny, especially Raj's mention of the Far Side card. I wanted  more from this plot, however. It could have been interesting to see some real anger from Howard about what his friends and wife had done. Oh well.

There was some decently funny moments in the episode, most centered around Sheldon cleaning the closet. I always love it when Sheldon is cast as a child and Leonard as his parent. Sometimes this show can over-play that dynamic, but this week it worked pretty well. I love how indulgent Leonard is, and how the rest of the characters all work with Sheldon's idiosyncrasies, even using them to their advantage when they can.
 

The Mentalist: There Will Be Blood (5x16)

This week's episode was pretty great, actually. I'm finding more and more often that with The Mentalist, the crime-of-the-week episodes fall flat, while the ones that advance the Red John plot are interesting. This show should definitely consider sticking to its existing mythology rather than giving us more of the same old crime stories. I think the reason that episodes like this work so well is that it gives these actors (especially Simon Baker) a chance to really shine.

This was not a flawless episode by any means, but it did have a lot of really great stuff going for it. I liked that we once again revisit Jane and Lisbon's continued dialogue about Red John and revenge and all that. You would think that this conversation would get old, but the actors do such a great job with it that I don't mind.

Smash: The Fringe (2x06)

Holy God. Smash. This show just has this wonderful problem with completely blowing me out of the water occasionally. This week was one of those times. Yikes. I honestly have very little to say in terms of what was wrong with this episode. Almost everything was just so right. Let's talk about it:

I'll start with Ivy's plot thread in the episode.Terry Falls is hilarious. I loved seeing Ivy sing her song and nail it so entirely. And it was so satisfying to see Ivy tell Terry the truth, again, and have her be listened to this time. If I had to complain about something here it would only be that I wish we had more. I think it would be in the show's best interest to develop some of Ivy's cast mates a bit, just to create higher stakes.

Okay, now for Bombshell. Things are happening, man! At first, I was upset that Eileen had chosen the old version of the show instead of the new. If the characters in a show are getting fed up with something, chances are the audience is going to be as well. However, I kind of like putting the show in a rut like this. And, we didn't stay there for long. Now that the characters have learned of Jerry's treachery, we can get him out of the way and move forward. 

Once Upon a Time: The Miller's Daughter (2x16)

Okay, this episode was amazing. It showcased why Once Upon a Time is, at the end of the day, fantastic television. It had a few problems, but they were small ones, and over-all, everything was stunning. I'll start by listing the few small problems I had with the episode, so I can finish off by gushing about everything that it did right.

So. Problems. For one, I thought it was nice that they were keeping up with the thread of Emma having magic, but it felt really underused and sort of... well... useless, in this episode, since Regina and Cora undid Emma's magic so quickly. I just thought that it could have been employed better.

Another thing I didn't love was the recycled plot point of Charming telling Snow that revenge is bad, blah blah blah, and it will change her for the worst. Haven't we seen this before? Oh well. It wasn't the worst thing ever, especially because the actors handle it pretty well. 

The Big Bang Theory: The Contractual Obligation Implementation (6x18)

This show is almost constantly a mixed bag for me. There are usually some really great moments AND some really stupid ones in each episode. This week's episode was decent, but it had some weak moments. Let's take a look:

So, the biggest problem for me was the Sheldon/Leonard/Howard plot. A few weeks back this episode dealt with Sheldon being sexist in a pretty un-funny way (the episode where he gets accused of harrassment in the work place). I found that episode pretty uninspired because it dealt with a real issue and played it strictly for laughs with no real pay-off. I felt like this week's episode was a backlash to that. It was done better, but still not particularly funny.

Leonard trying to act "hip" with the girls and then going in to a rant about his childhood? Well, it sounds like it would have potential but for some reason it didn't hit home to me. The girls were unimpressed by Howard having gone in to space, and again, this felt really predictable. Howard being under appreciated and thought to be a loser? Wow, mind blowing. The only decent part of this plot thread was Sheldon's Curie story and then his decision to call Amy and Bernadette. That was clever, and I think it proves what we have all known all along: Sheldon isn't sexist... he's just... prejudiced against everyone who isn't him. It's an interesting character trait for a show's main character, and I think that they always do a good job with it.

Smash: The Read-Through (2x05)

Oh, Smash. What a fantastic disaster you are. I watched all of last season with maniacal glee. (Oh God, pardon the pun-like association with that other musical TV show we all know and love to hate). This new season has been so much better than the last. I absolutely adore the new additions of Kyle and Jimmy, played by Andy Mientus and Jeremy Jordan respectively. I like the addition of a new musical to the mix, and the idea that our familiar musical, Bombshell, needs a major reboot. It seems like a rather humorous meta-reference to the fact that the show itself is being rebooted under new show-runner Josh Safran.

So... last week we got "The Song," a fantastic and emotionally powerful episode that had a simple theme, starred the beautiful and talented Jennifer Hudson, and came to a dramatic and rewarding climax. The music was great and the character arcs lovely.

This week? Well... to be honest there was nothing about "The Read Through" on the surface that should have made it bad. It has three main story-lines, two of which center around a read-through, hence the title. Individually, each of these threads was interesting, but when put together the episode felt very disjointed, disorganized, and, well... crowded. This show needs to take a note from Once Upon a Time and other big ensemble shows, and learn that it doesn't have to follow all of its characters every week. I'd rather have a week off from Ivy or Karen or whoever, so that we could more deeply explore each of these plots and characters.

Once Upon a Time: The Queen is Dead (2x15)

Oh my word. Once Upon a Time. It's a bit difficult for me to be objective about this show, since I just love it so damn much. But, I shall try. I know that this show suffers from a few rather sub-standard actors and some pretty shoddy dialogue, but the genius of other actors and the brilliance of the plot more than make up for it in my opinion. The effects aren't great, it gets more than a little cheesy at some parts, but at the end of the day I still keep coming back for more.

The characterization of this ensemble cast is superb and the plot keeps moving forward and twisting around in new and unexpected ways. Never a moment wasted with this show. Now, let's dive in to this latest episode, "The Queen is Dead."

It wasn't the best episode that this show has seen, and the flashback moments were riddled with problems. However, the plot moved forward with fresh leaps and bounds, and we got a healthy helping of Revenge!Hook and Hurt!Rumplestiltskin, so at the end of the day I think we can chalk this episode up to a win. (I am betraying my fandom tendencies by freaking out over this show. I know. Make fun if you will.)

The Mentalist: Red Lacquer Nail Polish (5x15)

Okay. Uh... The Mentalist. I used to really love this show. Truthfully I did. Nowadays, I'm just watching it out of some outdated sense of loyalty to the characters. I've stuck it out through four and a half seasons, and I feel like I must keep going. To figure out about this Red John thing. I mean, I need an answer at least to that.

But... honestly... it feels like everyone is just phoning it in at this point. This episode was unoriginal in terms of plot and guest characters, and it did nothing to advance the development of our main characters, either. Pretty useless, basically forgettable... it wasn't awful or anything. It just wasn't good either.

Let's start with what was wrong with the plot. The idea of a rich family all squabbling over money? This show has over-used that particular formula. Also, the twist at the end, that the victim was alive? Been done. Been done by so many cop shows I can't even tell you. And it's been done by this show in the recent past, even! I have nothing against a surprise ending, but you run into a problem when the twist comes completely out of left field with no proper buildup and no sense of how Jane figured it out in the first place. When twists start to feel formulaic, you know a show is struggling.