Smash: Opening Night (2x12)

This episode was great! It was a lot of fun, had a fantastic number from our two favorite leading ladies, and pushed the plot forward in big ways. I had one major problem with it but I'll get to that in a moment.

It's opening night of Bombshell, and the cast of Hit List has all been invited. Similar to the earlier episode with the opening of Ivy's musical, this episode gave us an opportunity to combine all of our story lines and get all of our characters together in the same location. And things... were... tense. In the best way possible.

First of all, we have Julia and Tom. In perhaps the most heartbreaking plot thread that this show has ever had, this dynamic duo may be over for good. The episode tracked them through a series of conversations that made me more and more depressed as I went on: At first, Julia was trying to determine what their next project should be. One of my favorite lines of the episode was: "A musical can be built around the poetry of Ezra Pound." Haha good luck with that. Tom was reluctant, still angry with Julia about the Hit List article from the last episode. Later, Julia remembers a dream she and Tom had always had of making a musical out of The Great Gatsby. However, Tom had already been offered the job of directing a City of Angels revival. The resulting revelations were painful to watch. Julia, excited about Gatsby, has her hopes dashed by, awkwardly enough, Rosie O'Donnell, making a cameo as an audience member. When Julia confronts Tom, he basically tells her that he wants to direct, but that she shouldn't feel the need to wait for him to go back to writing. How depressing! How can they be breaking up? This is not okay! This was a well acted plot line and it really broke my heart. Very nice!

Smash: The Dress Rehearsal (2x11)

This episode had a lot of promise, and it delivered on... some if it. But not all. I'll start with my biggest problem: the lack of music. Even the less-than-brilliant songs from Smash have been fun to watch, but this week had an annoying habit of skipping right over them. The most flagrant example was when apparently there was a new episode of Hit List, but we skip to the end, with Derek saying it was good. What was good? I want to see! It was a lame cop out.

I'm not really going to cover the plot of this episode, because I don't have time for that. Also, I have no readers, so what's the point in recapping what I just watched? I'm just going to separate this into a "pros" and "cons" list really quick.

Pros: Tom. I really enjoyed Tom this week, and I thought most of the Bombshell stuff really hit the nail on the head. If it felt a bit like a rehash of last season's scramble to prepare Bombshell for opening, I didn't mind it. It made for great drama and really hit on all the things about this show that really should be the focus: the drama of working in the world of theatre. It was nice to see Julia have a good idea about Bombshell and help things get off the ground.

Castle: The Lives of Others (5x19)

This episode was... it was... I don't even know. I... I was distressed. I think that they went too far with some things, and I just couldn't help but think that if I had been in Castle's shoes, I'd be pissed. But... I'm getting ahead of myself. 

This week's episode had the very clever set-up of an injured Castle stuck at home while the rest of the gang was off solving the crime of the week. It pushed the physical comedy of the show to new heights and made for some great moments of Castle behaving like a spoiled baby as he expected to be taken care of by Beckett.

Before I get into Castle's role this week, I'll talk briefly about the actual crime. It was... fine. Better than average crimes on these types of shows, in fact. I didn't see the twist coming at the end, and it was nice to see Beckett solve it virtually without Castle's help. That very rarely happens. I wasn't dying to know what happened (pardon the pun) but I was never rolling my eyes at the murder scenario or the reveal at the end, so that's always a good thing. My biggest problem with this plot was that it felt pointless. With the other plot of the episode being so much more compelling, why did they even need a murder-of-the-week? It's alright for formula shows to break the mold, and since this episode very nearly did just that, I wish they had gone all the way with it.

Grey's Anatomy: Can't Fight This Feeling (9x19)

I don't really have much to say about this episode. The whole time I was watching it, I had basically no real reaction one way or the other. It was perfectly watchable but nothing too outstanding. There were two plot threads I found myself caring about the most this week:

The first was Owen and Christina. I thought that the story this week was a pretty compelling way to add some conflict into their professional/personal relationship. The fact that Owen loses his cool because of his connection to the kid was nice, and I liked that Christina didn't put up with it. She's a good surgeon, and she knows what she's doing. Owen's connection with the boy, Ethan, was really sweet to see as well. I think this is probably a thread that will carry over into future episodes, and I'm happy to see more.

The other plot thread that I enjoyed was the one centered around Derek, Shane, and Heather Brooks. This show is pretty genius in the ways that it introduces new characters and builds them up until we hardly remember a time when they weren't here (Jackson and April, anyone? Owen too!) The intern characters are a lot of fun, and I find myself really invested in their story-lines. Shane was getting jealous of Derek's attention to Brooks. It was a fun plot thread to follow, and I found myself rooting for Brooks while at the same time a bit sad that the Shane/Derek duo was losing its strength. I hope they continue with this in the future.

Modern Family: The Wow Factor (4x18)

Cute! This episode was cute. One really interesting thing I noticed was that Phil and Claire had no interaction, and neither did Mitch and Cam. I thought it was a cool way to explore other relationship dynamics within the show. I'll go plot-by-plot, because that seems to be the best way to talk about this show.

Cam and Claire: I admit I had completely forgotten about the house-flipping plot they had set up all those weeks ago, but I'm glad to see it explored again here. Cam and Claire's relationship is a fun one on this show. I liked the opening part of the episode, as they each explained their methods for manipulating one another. There were some great jokes. At first, I was really annoyed by Pam, because I found it rather insensitive that the lesbian girl just had to have a crush on Claire. But, actually, the episode saved it by the joke later on - apparently, Pam was perfectly aware that Claire was trying to manipulate her, but she didn't mind the view, all the same. That was funny! I thought it was disturbing that the goldfish all got catapulted to their death at the end, though.  Ahh! So many bodies!

The Mentalist: Behind the Red Curtain (5x18)

Okay. This episode, like virtually every other episode of The Mentalist from the past few years, had a fairly boring plot but a few good character-building things. I'm going to be brief -

The plot fell into a lot of traps. The idea of a murder in the world of theatre has been done to death, and the only way this could have worked is if they had found new ways of showing us the drama, or if they had been more self-aware that they were following in a lot of footsteps, and consequently done a parody or a satire of theatre-murders. As is, it came off very bland and predictable. On top of that, most of the guest actors weren't really up to the task at hand.

But, there were good things about this episode. For one, J.J. La Roche was back, and it was fantastic to see the way he and Jane played off of each other this week. It was actually quite comical, which I enjoyed. I am also very intrigued by the continuing hunt for Red John, although I was disappointed to see yet another potential link to Red John be killed. I think it would be more interesting to keep one alive for a while, just to see how Jane handles it.

Doctor Who: Cold War (7x08)

I'll admit that I didn't take notes on this episode as I watched, so this will be a rather brief review. Basically... I liked it! It was a nice, normal, solid episode of Doctor Who. I didn't jump for joy at anything, but I was enjoying myself the whole way through.

The idea of bringing back the ice warriors (villains from Classic Doctor Who) was an intruiging one, and I am glad that Mark Gatiss stuck to his guns about this in order to write the episode that he wanted. However, the design of the alien in this episode was probably the weakest point for me. It was cheesy and not particularly threatening.

Some of the side-characters were compelling - I liked the relationship between Clara and Professor Grisenko, and the animosity between the Doctor and some of the other characters. But... I was really distracted by all the British people playing Russians. Couldn't they have gotten Russian actors? It really bothered me.

The highlight of the week, however, was the growing bond between Clara and the Doctor. I know I sound like a broken record, but I honestly love their chemistry. The best part of the episode was when Clara volunteers to go talk to the captive Ice Warrior, and the Doctor gets this big grin on his face, after which he pretends to object strenuously to the danger she'll be in. He trusts her and is confident that she can take care of herself. In general, that's what's nice about Doctor Who. The female companions are treated like competent human beings. Ont he flip side of this, it was endearing to see the Doctor's worry for her when things started to go wrong.

Once Upon a Time: Selfless, Brave and True (2x18)

Wow. What a bad episode. I know that's a negative way to start off a review, but seriously! This episode was terrible! Because of how much I love this show, I'm usually inclined to go pretty easy on it. As I've mentioned in the past, sometimes the dialogue and the acting can be a bit spotty, but what always saves the day is the over-all plot, which is consistently well-crafted, with lots of well foreshadowed twists and turns. This week? No. Just... no.

Let's take a look:

Okay, so apparently August has been hiding in a trailer this whole time. Lame! I missed him so much while he was gone, and now you're telling me that he's been in Storybrook and all anybody had to do was go take a walk and they could have found him? Ugh.

So... he's been made into wood. Actually, pretty good effects for this show. I was never too distracted by puppet-August. The other actors did a good enough job interacting with him, etc. etc.

Smash: The Surprise Party (2x10)

Great episode this week! A lot of fun. Good use of music, guest stars, rising tensions... I had problems, but overall I really enjoyed it. I'll separate my discussion of this episode into the different subplots going on this week. Most were strong, but not all.

Eileen. I really do like her, but her romance with Richard Francis is really boring. Not only boring, but this week I was getting annoyed by how controlling he was being. He admitted at the end that he was used to having a wife stay at home while he worked, so Eileen's career-mindedness was going to take some getting used to. I found this to be a tad irritating.

Now for Ivy and Tom's story. I loved it! I was really anxious about Ivy and Tom's fighting, but this episode was a great way to further explore it. I thought that Tom and Liza Minnelli's song was really fantastic! Megan Hilty (Ivy) is so adorable, and she had such a great smile on her face the whole time they were singing. I liked that the show didn't spend too much time going down the "this is a misunderstanding" route. At first Ivy was worried that the whole thing was a PR stunt, but she very quickly realized differently. Although it was a bit contrived to have Ivy forget her keys in order for Tom to find out about the party, it was still heartbreaking when he turned up. I like Ivy's declaration about directors and friends being incompatible, but I hope that once Bombshell is firmly under way we can move past that and have them  be friends again.

The Big Bang Theory: The Tenure Turbulence (6x20)

This week's episode had a rather boring premise with a downright insulting element to it, but it was peppered with a lot of funny one-liners. As such, it is the typical mixed-bag of an episode. This show has done amazing with the number of viewers it has managed to rope in and maintain. I suspect that this has more to do with the simple premises and crude jokes than anything else. Sometimes people are fans of mindless entertainment.

Alright - let's look at the premise for a second. Raj, Leonard, Sheldon, and Barry Kripke are all after a new tenured position that has just opened up after the death of a professor at the university. A humorous enough idea, especially when you take into account all the great joke potential that comes from each of these characters trying to shmooz their way into the position. I guess one of my major problems with this episode was that it seemed to miss out on a lot of great opportunities. For example, part way through the episode Leonard goes to the gym to try and get some face-time with Mrs. Davis (a woman who is on the committee that will choose the new tenured position). Then, Barry shows up, and it turns out that Mrs. Davis and Barry are friends. This could have been hilarious, but the entire setup instead focused on some rather weak physical humor with the obvious punchline that Leonard is out of shape. I wanted more.

The Vampire Diaries: American Gothic (4x18)

I loved this episode! I'll start by talking about the three things I didn't love, so I can go on to all the amazing stuff. There's a lot of it.

Minor nitpick #1 - the over-arching plot of this season was hardly advanced at all. I have nothing against character episodes per say, but since we are winding towards the end of this season I felt that a bit more could have been pushed forward this week. 

Minor nitpick #2 - Although there were many things to love about Caroline and Klaus' exchange this week (I'll get to them in a minute) I really didn't appreciate the resolution. Why couldn't Klaus really be dying? It wouldn't have mattered, as long as Caroline could have succeeded in pulling the stake out. The "Silas is messing with me" angle is really silly.

Minor nitpick #3 - On the same topic, Silas. Silas was barely a premise in this episode, but I really dislike the idea that Silas can turn into whoever he wants. It is giving me flashbacks to Season 7 of Buffy, with the First Evil, only this time he can turn into anyone, dead or alive. It's sort of a cheap trick for a show to use. I hope they find a new twist on it.

Okay - now onto the things that were awesome!

Doctor Who: The Rings of Akhaten (7x07)

Yes. Yes, yes, yes. Thank you, Doctor Who. This episode was excellent. Perfect? No. Amazing? Yes! I actually liked it better than opener of this half-season. It had a simple story, great character development, and a satisfying conclusion. Basically, it wasn't trying to be too epic. It knew it had forty minutes to tell a story, and it utilized the time very well.

I'll start with... what else? The beginning.

Alright, so... I know I just said I really liked this episode, but I will admit that the whole leaf story was a bit weak. It tied through the episode a bit too strongly, rather cheaply resolving the central conflict. Is it just me, or are Clara's parents the cheesiest people ever to live? Have you ever heard of a couple so annoyingly perfect and happy? However, I did like this opening because we got to see the Doctor trying to find out more about Clara. It was a good way to remind us the central conceit of her character - she is an ordinary human in every way, but she is just not possible! All I have to say is I hope that Moffat has a good resolution for this.

So, what I really admired about this week's episode was the pacing. We had almost ten minutes go by before we were even introduced to Merry (the little singing girl!) and even longer than that before our central conflict became clear. It gave the episode real stakes and development, which I appreciated.

The Office: Stairmageddon (9x19)

This episode was okay. Nothing special, and I didn't love it as much as the last one, but it did have some good things about it.

I'll start with the plot threads that I didn't enjoy:

Andy. Oh, Andy. I really like him normally, but the past few episodes have been a bit bland. His obsession over the youtube comments was amusing for a bit, but it simply wasn't enough to carry over two episodes.

Dwight and Clark trying to get Stanley to a sales pitch. Okay... I enjoyed the premise here, with Stairmageddon, and it provided for a hilarious line at the start of the episode. Oscar says: "When something as routine as elevator maintenance happens, and people are forced to exert cardiovascular effort, we have to compare it to the end of time." That cracked me up! But... the rest of this portion of the episode was really lame. Stanley being dead weight the whole time because of tranquilizers? The humor was a little juvenile for my taste. There were some funny moments like Dwight using animal vernacular like "hindquarters" and "shank" and Clark's discomfort with this, but other than that it was too silly.

Elementary: Snow Angels (1x19)

I really am enjoying this show. I'm going to write about it ridiculously briefly right now, but I do want to make sure I touch on this episode, because it had some great elements to it. 

The crime of the week was pretty bland, to tell the truth. The only really compelling part of it was Bell's role, which I really appreciated this week. He managed to figure out a lot of the crime on his own, and he was good at manipulating the suspect into what he wanted. Sherlock had a great quote after watching Bell pull it off: "Detective Bell once confided in me he played Sky Masterson in his high school production of Guys and Dolls. I had not until this moment imagined that he was any good! Stage's loss. New York City's gain, I suppose."

That was generally a high point of this week's episode - Sherlock was not the center of attention. Both Bell and Watson proved very adept at solving the case as well. Sherlock actually stopped mid-deduction at one point to give Watson a try, and she succeeded. It was very refreshing.

Another slightly interesting twist to this story was the storm and the subsequent technological blackout. It could have been a really compelling way to see how Sherlock functions without the help of all the modern tools of technology. A cool idea, but not enough was done with it.

The Office: Promos (9x18)

This was a pretty fun episode! Given that it's a sitcom, I won't write too much about it, but overall I found it to be a success. As The Office winds down and prepares to end its final season, I really admire the move towards nostalgia and all the tie-ins to earlier parts of the show. It's really funny to see the fall-out centered around the documentary finally being released. This show, more than any other mockumentary I've seen, really plays with the formula and it makes for some great comedic and dramatic moments.

For one, I enjoyed Pam's wistful viewing of the promotional footage. It showed her relationship with Jim in a different and better light, and maybe made her realize once and for all that things are not alright between them. It all culminated in a pretty intense exchange with Brian, where she realized the extent to which their privacy had been violated over the past ten years. (A side note - it feels a tad unrealistic to me that they could have so much footage without these people's consent. Especially people like the Senator and other visitors who probably never signed anything or were aware of the cameras. Oh well. It's a television show).

Supernatural: Taxi Driver (8x19)

I really don't want to say anything bad about an episode that gave us Crowley, Bobby, Benny, Kevin, and a Winchester hug. I mean, wow. That's a lot of awesome for one episode. But... in some ways that was my biggest problem with it. I remember back in earlier seasons of this show when getting in and out of Hell would have taken up an entire story-arc. An episode like this had enough material to fill at least two or three episodes, if not an entire half-season.

Kevin Tran is having a lot of trouble coping with the pressures of his life as a prophet. He's convinced that Crowley is in his head. The Winchesters brush him off and Kevin tells them that the second trial involves freeing an innocent soul from Hell. So... they summon a crossroads demon. They torture him, and he tells them to go to a rogue reaper to get into hell. They find one, and Sam goes off with him. They get into Purgatory. Sam gets into Hell. Sam finds Bobby. They get out of Hell. But now they are trapped in Purgatory. Dean kills Benny to send him back there to get Sam out. Benny succeeds, sacrificing himself to get Sam and Bobby out. Meanwhile, Naomi and Crowley are messing around in everyone's business, Kevin is becoming more and more crazy... 

Just writing that out made me tired. So many things happened! I really wish that this had at least been a two-part episode. The first half could have ended with Sam finding Bobby in Hell. He turns around and punches Sam. What a great cliffhanger that could have been! The second episode could deal more fully with Dean's realization that Sam is stuck in Purgatory, and his decision to ask Benny to help. This episode had some of my all-time favorite characters in it. No Cas, but other than that the whole freakin' gang was here. Kevin, Crowley, Naomi, BOBBY! I mean... that's insane! If we could have had 85 minutes of material instead of just 42ish, they all could have had more time to shine.

Smash: The Parents (2x09)

This week wasn't that great. I was a bit disappointed in the lack of fun musical numbers this week, and the story didn't keep me that entertained.

There were two main plots going on this week. I'll talk about Bombshell first because I did actually have quite a few issues with the way this story is going. So... Ivy's mother is now playing Gladys (Norma Jeane's mother). I love Ivy, but I'm not all that invested in this plot thread. I know she feels inadequate with her mother around. It has already been established. I feel like the show is recycling old drama instead of giving us something new. The song "Hang the Moon" was pretty enough, but I actually found myself bored with the staging and the pacing. That's never a good sign.

It also made me notice one of the biggest problems with this show: do they know what a musical is usually like? We have heard a ton of songs from Bombshell and quite a few from Hit List as well. Bombshell's problem is that Marilyn is in practically every number. There are way too many things going on! How long is this musical? How many characters are in it? It doesn't make sense! And then in Hit List, every single song seems to be a solo power ballad. Are there no group vocal numbers? Oh well. Maybe I'm picking on something that doesn't matter. The musicals are fake, after all.

How I Met Your Mother: The Time Travelers (8x20)

Yes! This episode was awesome! If you read my review of last week's episode, you'll know that this show has been grating on my nerves lately. However, this episode was hilarious. It took a silly but creative premise and stuck with it. It didn't try to pull off too much in one short episode, and in my mind that makes it a success. Was it perfect? No. I had a few problems with the way they chose to do this episode, but none of the jokes fell too flat for me and over-all it was still fun to watch.

The idea of having the entire episode in the bar was great. It reminded me of the more simple set-ups of earlier episodes of this show, in a good way. The idea of future Teds and Barneys showing up was really great. (I was mildly distracted wondering why they hadn't aged, but it was a small nitpick). The set-up made for some great jokes, like Ted's horror when he thinks that the 20-years-from-now version of himself is still unmarried. Turns out, it was all a joke. It was a nice way to poke fun at the overblown suspense of who Ted will end up with.

There were some great jokes in the episode, too, like Barney's scalp-check with Ted, and Robin's nonchalant remark: "That's odd. A little early in the week for a scalp-check." Robin and Marhsall wanting to have a dance-off was funny too, especially with the reference to Marshall's dancer's hip. This show always makes me laugh with its throwback references. Robin's trick that trapped Marshall in the girl's bathroom was pretty great, as was her line: "I'm Sparkles, bitch!"

Castle: The Wild Rover (5x18)

Alright, so it's been a while since I watched this episode, since I had a ridiculously busy schedule there for a while. Regardless, I'll attempt to review what I remembered of it. It's going to be a short one, though.

This episode was awesome. I had no idea I wanted an episode about Kevin Ryan this badly. Turns out, it was exactly what I was waiting for. The story was great, the supporting cast was a lot of fun, and oh my God, Ryan was amazing. He has acting chops that I did not know existed.

Anyone who reads these posts knows that I'm a super huge fan of bromance, and it was nice to see the relationship between Esposito and Ryan explored a bit more deeply in this episode. There were some really tense moments between them that made me anxious for a good climax, and boy did we get it! I loved how bad ass Ryan was, and how much he trusted Javi to be there for him. "Yo Javi, where you at!" What a great line! There was also Javi's worry and anxiety for his friend, which was really sweet to see.

Doctor Who: The Bells of Saint John (7x06)

Yay! Doctor Who is back. I missed this show so much. I always miss it when it's not around, and it always brings a smile to my face. Reviewing an episode of this show is a rather daunting task, even considering that I have basically no readership. So many great minds get together after new episodes to speculate and theorize, and I suppose I'll just add my own two cents to the growing pile of reviews already out there about "The Bells of Saint John."

I'm going to split this review into two halves. For the first half, I will review the plot. For the second, I will review the characters. I'm doing this basically because my opinions on the two are very different. Diametrically opposed, you might even say. So, as Eleven would say, Geronimo!

The Plot: 

The story was... underwhelming, I suppose. Not bad or anything, but it felt a bit confusing and lackluster. The bad guys weren't particularly threatening and it all seemed to be resolved too quickly. I can't quite put my finger on it, but it just didn't feel like an hour's worth of story.