The Big Bang Theory: The Collaboration Contamination (11x05)

Ehhhhhh.

Cons:

The main plot of this one is that Amy and Howard start working on a project together at work, and this makes their respective partners jealous. Oh, Bernadette is fine - it's Raj that's jealous over Howard's time, and Sheldon is missing Amy. What do I dislike about this? Well, Sheldon is a complete jerk. He's controlling and demanding and based on this episode alone, I would think he'd make a terrible husband for Amy. Amy, meanwhile, is long-suffering and doesn't stand up for herself even a little bit. Is it just me, or has Sheldon been reverting into an even more immature version of himself so far this season? It's driving me nuts!

Penny and Leonard play the role of parents to Sheldon this week, as they have so many other times. There were some elements I enjoyed, but whenever they do plot threads like this it just emphasizes to me how little momentum these two characters have nowadays. What are they working towards? What is their purpose?

The Walking Dead: Mercy (8x01)

This was good. Great? Maybe not. But good? Yes.

Cons:

A little too much cheesiness, maybe. Lots of speechifying about hope and unity and if we stick together we can take back what's ours. I got a little bit bogged down in all of that. Also, I'm sick of Negan's evil monologues. They have long since lost any speck of threat or even humor. Like when he tells Gabriel that he's going to shit his pants... there's just nothing in there that's funny or scary to me.

This episode features flash-forwards, or... maybe... delusional daydreams of the future... that show us Rick's life. On the one hand, I like not knowing whether this is really what's coming, or if Rick is just thinking happy thoughts. But on the other hand, it's a little cheesy. We see Judith as a little kid, who has seemingly aged seven or eight years, but Rick looks like an old, old man with a white beard. How much time is supposed to have passed? This was confusing.

Outlander: A. Malcolm (3x06)

!!!!! Amazing! Pretty much everything I could have hoped for from this episode.

Cons:

I mean, there were things that were changed from the reunion in the books. I don't mind the changes for the most part, but of course there are always those treasured details that you want to see and when they happen a bit differently, you notice. For example, in the books, Fergus comes across Claire when Jamie isn't around, and immediately drops to his knees and hugs her around the waist. Claire doesn't recognize him right away and thinks he's an eager customer in the brothel. I'm not saying I didn't love what they did instead, but... you know. These are the things you remember.

Young Ian doesn't look the way I expected him to. I thought the guy playing him did an excellent job, but still. I pictured him to look more like Jenny, with the dark hair. I can't remember how he's described in the books, but for whatever reason, this wasn't what I was picturing. I also pictured him to seem younger, more like a child. I think he's meant to be fifteen or sixteen, but honestly he seems more like he's eighteen or nineteen. It might not seem like much, but it does make a difference.

Once Upon a Time: The Garden of Forking Paths (7x03)

I felt a little less happy with this episode, mostly because I feel like the plot is moving forward so slowly. We did get a good amount of information here, but I kind of wish we could speed things along!

Cons:

So, the Hyperion Heights story-line had a few of those moments of cheesiness that were just a little over the line for me. Jacinda makes a speech about hope and belief to a bunch of people from Hyperion Heights, and they all eat it up. It reminded me of Henry's awful speech in New York a few seasons back. It felt unrealistic that people in the actual real world we live in today would be swayed by such sappiness.

There's a pacing issue going on where certain things set up in episode one are still being dragged out. I don't want to be told all of the answers to the season's big mysteries, of course. I like not knowing exactly what Rumple is up to, or what he knows. I like not knowing how and when Tremaine enacts the curse. But other things feel pointlessly secretive. Like we meet a witch that Victoria has been keeping prisoner, but we don't learn the witch's identity. Why are we saving that for later? And we learn that Cinderella is in some way responsible for the death of one of Tremaine's daughters, but we don't learn what happened. Whatever it is, can we not just know now so we can move on to more interesting things?

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend: To Josh, With Love (3x02)

God, this show is good. I love it so much.

Cons:

I wasn't totally crazy about the subplot this week, which involved Tim learning that he'd never given his wife an orgasm. He despairs at this realization, and sings a song that parodies "Empty Chairs at Empty Tables" from Les Miserables. The song is about the "buzzing from the bathroom," since his wife would go into the bathroom and masturbate after Tim failed to get her off. I don't really  have any reason to care about Tim as a character. He's such a non entity. This felt like a completely strange subplot to devote time to, and I can't imagine it will lead to much else.

Pros:

That being said, "The Buzzing From the Bathroom" was a hilarious song, as are pretty much all of the songs this show produces. I also liked that Paula's off-the-cuff insult totally changed Tim's life, but he's so insignificant to her that she doesn't even remember saying it.

We check in with Josh this week, and discover that his plan to be a priest isn't going as well as he would have hoped. Turns out, you have to go to school and go through lots of training, and Josh is having a hard time feeling motivated. His friends are convinced that he won't go through with it, and are then appalled to learn that Josh hasn't contacted Rebecca at all since leaving her at the altar.

Supernatural: The Rising Son (13x02)

Okay! We're really starting to dig in and establish the set pieces and character arcs for this season, and I've gotta say, I'm quite interested in where things are going!

Cons:

I'm not all that interested in the newest Prince of Hell, but that could be because we've just met him. I think I'm a little uncomfortable spending time talking about the leadership of Hell since Crowley isn't around. The scenes with all of the demon cronies arguing over protocol have never been the most interesting thing about Supernatural, and the one thing that made these scenes worthwhile was having Crowley there. I hope we can do something interesting and new with Hell, instead of doing the same old stuff, minus our favorite King of Hell to spice things up. That said, I'm not writing off Asmodeus quite yet. He could be interesting.

Pros:

Let's start with the subplot, actually: Mary and Lucifer are the strangest reluctant duo I can imagine. Lucifer figures that they need each other if they're ever going to get out of this parallel universe and get back to their sons. Lucifer's plan is to trade Mary to the Winchesters in exchange for Jack. Mary is going along with this plan somewhat, since she's obviously at a complete loss. Eventually, the two are accosted by a bunch of angels, but Lucifer is able to kill them all easily. He then comes face to face with the alternate world version of his brother Michael, who apparently killed his own Lucifer some time ago, and is ready to kill another one. The two begin to fight.

Modern Family: Sex, Lies and Kickball (9x04)

Yeah... Not a winner.

Cons:

The most uncomfortable of the plot threads belongs to Alex and her parents. Basically, Claire makes jokes about Ben, and Alex decides to retaliate by using an erotic paint kit, and leaves the resulting painting for Claire and Phil to find. Claire decides to call Alex's bluff by framing and hanging the picture in the dining room. This leads to a conversation where Claire realizes that she is mocking Alex's boyfriend in the same way that Jay always mocked Phil, and that it's wrong. Alex admits that she and Ben faked the painting, since Ben was too nervous to perform.

Modern Family has always been a bit of a sexless show. There have been moments that delved into the fun role-playing side of Phil and Claire, but other than that, there isn't much exploration of the rest of the family and their sex lives. I never really gave it much thought, but now I'm wishing the show had decided to steer clear of this topic. What a creepy, creepy exchange between Alex and Claire. I'm honestly okay with the idea of exploring boundaries between an adult woman and her parents, when it comes to boyfriends and the like. There could be a good story in there somewhere. But this? Ew...

The Big Bang Theory: The Explosion Implosion (11x04)

There was a lot of gendered crap in this episode and while I am not even the slightest bit surprised, I still did not like it. Let's take a look.

Cons:

Howard and Bernadette find out their new child will be a boy, and Howard spends the rest of the episode despairing about being a good father to a son, since he doesn't know how to be a man. Raj at one point does mention that maybe their son will be "sweet and sensitive" instead of rowdy, but other than that, nobody mentions the fact that Howard's parenting skills should not alter greatly based on the gender of his children. The whole thing was just eye-roll inducing. I'm fine with Howard having insecurities about being a father, but it sucks that those insecurities are based specifically on raising a boy.

Pros:

I did kind of like the opportunity for Sheldon and Howard to bond over their crappy relationships with their dads. It brought these two characters closer together, and I always think that's fun to see. The stuff with the exploding rocket, helping to teach Sheldon how to drive, etc. etc. was all pretty sweet. Sheldon didn't even make fun of Howard's intellect!

Once Upon a Time: A Pirate's Life (7x02)

Cute! Very cute! And satisfactory! Also I still don't know why there's a Season Seven of this show, but whatever. Let's take a look.

Cons:

The evil stepmother is silly in how evil she is. Clearly she and Mr. Gold have some sort of deal worked out, and I'm sure we'll learn more about that later... but come on. She wants Henry framed for theft to remove him from her life, she wants to prevent Jacinda from seeing Lucy for no good reason... it's just so campy. I know that we'll get more on her motivations at a later date, but at this point I'm kind of rolling my eyes.

The flashback story explains a lot about why we have some characters trapped in Hyperion Heights, but not others. But one problem it does have is its pacing... I feel like a ton of things happened very quickly, because we had to establish the origin story of Wish!Hook, the reason why Regina, Wish!Hook, and Henry are all together in the same place, why Emma isn't around, etc. etc. all in a very short period of time. We have the older, potbellied Hook being magicked into a young hot version conveniently, we have Wish!Hook doing a 180 on his apparent motivations, we have Emma showing up basically just to hug Henry, and then turning around and leaving again... all of this felt a bit unbalanced and almost like I wanted to see a two-parter. Is this because I want more Hook and Emma? Maybe. But I also think the story genuinely could have been balanced out a bit more.

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend: Josh's Ex-Girlfriend Wants Revenge (3x01)

My first Crazy Ex-Girlfriend review! It's been a while since I've started a new show and reviewed it, but here we are! This was a great premiere and it made me really excited to see what else they can do with this wacky show. I know the ratings have been low all along, but I'm glad that the CW has decided to give it another shot anyway.

Cons:

Does it count as a con that I miss Greg a lot? Still? I want him to come back now.

Also, just in general the fake sex tape plot thread was stretching my disbelief just a bit. Which I know is saying a lot for this show. I think it was the Josh Chan look-alike thing that pushed it sliiiightly over the edge for me. A small thing, but I thought I'd mention it.

Pros:

So the main plot is about Rebecca getting revenge on Josh, but all of her ideas suck. She brainstorms with her friends -Valencia, Paula, and Heather. Eventually, they come up with a good plan - Rebecca can sue Josh for abandoning her! My favorite part of this plot thread was Valencia coming up with the plan to sue Josh, then Paula co-opting it and everybody congratulating her and ignoring Valencia. "Am I dead?" *gasp* "How did I die?" Hilarious line delivery. Of course, the song about generalizing men was pretty fantastic, too. I hope we get to see a lot more of these four ladies hanging out together.

Grey's Anatomy: Ain't That a Kick in the Head? (14x04)

I'm a little befuddled by how quickly we've gotten through the Amelia-has-a-tumor plot, but I'm rather pleased about it too. Let's dive right in, and I'm going to try and go quickly (famous last words).

Cons:

There's this brief moment where Arizona and April are commiserating over missing their daughters. Reuniting with kids is a theme of the episode, as a matter of fact, and I'll get there in a second. This plot thread just served to remind me of how weird it was that even though Arizona won the custody battle, Sofia just went off with Callie and Penny anyway. What a weirdly bungled plot thread that was. And of course any time this show becomes about babies it gets a little ridiculous, because we never see any of the adults spend real time with their kids.

I wish Megan would stop insisting that Riggs is oh so in love with Meredith, because it's just slowing things down and bogging the whole proceeding up with a love triangle. Riggs and Meredith weren't together for long enough for their relationship to ruin the potential of such a great reunion. I want closure on this quicker than we're getting it.

Supernatural: Lost and Found (13x01)

Well, then. Just start off with a real tear-jerker, why don't you? I'm pleasantly surprised by how much this episode dealt with the fallout of last year's finale. No fast-forwarding, no forgetting the pain and grief and anger. It's all front and center.

Cons:

I'll repeat myself a little bit from last year's finale in saying that Cas' death, while undeniably tragic for Sam and Dean, lacks a little punch since I know Misha is coming back. Not a huge thing, but if somehow I could have been kept in the dark about this, I'm sure it would hurt more. Call me a masochist.

Pros:

Honestly, though, this episode kept me gripped the entire way through. The plot is pretty basic. Sam and Dean track down Jack, who fled from the house where he was born. They find him eventually in a local police station, some angels show up to take him, but Sam and Dean end up protecting him from the angels and decide to bring him back to the bunker. Meanwhile, the two brothers are arguing about the best way to handle the Jack situation. Sam seems to see the potential for goodness in him, or at the very least he thinks Jack could be useful. Dean just wants to kill him straight off, but that might be harder than it looks. The two are also dealing with a boat load of grief. Cas is dead, Crowley is dead, Kelly is dead, and Mary... well, Dean seems convinced that she's gone too.

Modern Family: Catch of the Day (9x03)

I'm feeling pretty apathetic about this show, but there were quite a few individual moments this week that I enjoyed. Let's take a look.

Cons:

One thing that doesn't work for me is Cam and Mitchell's bickering. Pam is an annoying presence that never really makes me laugh, and the bickering between the couple is getting kind of depressing. If maybe they were planning on exploring some real problems in their marriage, I'd be on board. But it seems like we're just getting more of the same crap that we've always gotten with these two.

Manny makes the briefest of appearances and is creepily sketching a girl without her consent, so... yikes?

The Big Bang Theory: The Relaxation Integration (11x03)

I felt myself thoroughly bored by this whole thing.

Cons:

Raj and Stuart fight over Bernadette's new pretty coworker. Guys are gross. These guys are particularly gross. When this woman says she's not interested in dating anyone right now, Stuart "scores points" by saying he'd love to be just friends, and then gloats about it to Raj once the girl is gone. Just. Do not.

Sheldon is getting stressed about the wedding and as a consequence is talking in his sleep. Amy is worried that there's a relaxed, chill Sheldon hiding somewhere inside him, and he's suppressing that version of himself and ramping up the stress. Penny tells Sheldon to try loosening up on one small thing, so Sheldon decides to wear flip flops. This leads to shenanigans and he ends up showing up at home covered in dirt without either shoe.

Outlander: Freedom & Whisky (3x05)

I have to wait two weeks to see the continuation of that scene? Arghhhhhh.

Cons:

Okay, so this episode stays entirely with Claire, Brianna, and Roger the whole time, and we don't learn anything more about what Jamie gets up to after he leaves Helwater in the last episode. This is true to the books, in that the next steps in Jamie's journey are something we've got to find out alongside Claire, now that she's finally back in the eighteenth century. That's all well and good, but spending the entire episode in the twentieth century highlighted for me how much less interesting it is than the stuff in Scotland's past.

This becomes especially true when we look at Brianna. God, I feel bad. I want to like Sophie Skelton in this role so badly, but she's not very good. She has a very monotone delivery, and she's expected to carry some pretty heavy and often hokey dialogue. When she's talking about how Claire gave up Jamie for her, and now she has to give her back to him, or how Jamie doesn't know Brianna, and Claire owes it to him to go tell him everything, I was just not at all invested. She comes across really stilted, and just cannot carry the emotions of these scenes.

Once Upon a Time: Hyperion Heights (7x01)

I'm seriously curious about why ABC decided to renew this show, honestly. I feel like there's no reason for it. That being said, I did not hate this premiere. In particular, I liked Henry Mills.

Cons:

The same hokey dialogue that has always plagued Once Upon a Time has come back in full force here. Lots of repetition about "telling your own story" and "changing your story" and whatnot. I can imagine getting really sick of that really soon. And Regina, known as Roni, has this big long speech to the villain at the end where she talks about endurance and hope and whatnot. It was hokey as hell and it was hilarious to think about the evil stepmother just sitting there letting her finish her speech.

Apparently, we are doing the same thing here that we did with Emma, where Henry doesn't remember his real family and has forgotten because of the curse. The only real difference is that he does sort of remember, but he just thinks it's a story he wrote, and not real. I'm not going to say this is the worst idea ever, but I really did hope that we'd try something different this season. I can only hope that it won't be protracted for the whole season. If we can have Henry remember after a few episodes and then move on to other things, I'd be okay with it.

Grey's Anatomy: Go Big or Go Home (14x03)

I love how Grey's Anatomy will sometimes indulge in some dark comedy. I also love how even in its most sappy and dramatic moments, it still sometimes gets me unexpectedly emotional. This was a fairly standard episode of television, but I had fun with it!

Cons:

Every time I see one of Meredith's kids, or evidence of her being a mother, I kind of snicker, because that has really not been a thing at all in this show. At least with April and Jackson, we see the baby once in a while. This rare Zola sighting was not unwelcome in and of itself, but it just highlights a consistent balance flaw in this show.

One of the patients this week is a boy who ends up getting in a hot air balloon accident while trying to ask a girl out to homecoming in an elaborate way. This makes for some good laughs, but there was one moment that I found troubling. The girl didn't get a chance to answer because of the accident, and she confesses to April that she's not sure she's going to say yes. She's suddenly really popular because of what happened, and might get the chance to go to homecoming with one of the more popular kids in school. April makes this speech about how you have to go for the people who make grand gestures, not for the people that are popular. Now, I agree with April that you shouldn't base who you go out with on social status. But I definitely disagree with her that just because this boy went to great lengths, the girl should say yes. What if she doesn't like public displays? What if she genuinely only thinks of this kid as a friend? April made it seem like she owed him a yes, which I am super not okay with.

Modern Family: The Long Goodbye (9x02)

This was fine. I think nowadays "fine" is about all I'm going to get with this show, and I'm okay with it.

Cons:

Mitchell and Cam's plot thread involved their kitchen catching fire. At first Cam thinks he may have subconsciously burned down their kitchen so that he has an excuse to remodel it, but it turns out to be a faulty blender that Mitchell has been using to make smoothies. This plot thread seemed oddly unbalanced, as the enormous financial and personal loss of a fire was not played even the least bit seriously. Pam is still around, and she's not very funny, and in the end Mitchell and Cam spent the episode bickering per usual. Nothing really substantial or really funny came out of this.

The other plots all had some fun moments, but I mostly just found myself shrugging my shoulders. This all could have been taken way further. Manny is starting school, but given how much they've botched Alex's college plot thread, I don't feel much investment in Manny's either. And Alex's plot thread involved her being at school, which felt unbalanced because last season I could never tell when she was supposed to be living at home and when she was actually attending classes. Didn't she take some time off at some point? I don't know. Point being, this show doesn't seem to know what to do with the kids now that they're all grown.

The Big Bang Theory: The Retraction Reaction (11x02)

This was an episode with some bones to it, which is something I very rarely say about The Big Bang Theory.

Cons:

Of course, that doesn't mean it was super awesome and great or anything. There was this really weird subplot that kind of petered out without resolution. Bernadette and Amy commiserate that they have to hide their success from their male partners, because they always get weird when they're doing well in their careers. They decide to brag to each other instead. Bernadette brags about all the money she gets working in the private sector, while Amy claims that Bernadette's job is morally bankrupt.

This was problematic in a couple of different ways. The idea that Amy and Bernadette feel uncomfortable sharing their successes with Sheldon and Howard is... unsurprising, but depressing. If I thought this was going to be a plot point moving forward, I'd be happy to see it explored. But we know it's not going to be. The guys will continue to be bad partners to the girls in a lot of ways, and they'll just put up with it with a complacent sigh. Ugh. And then there's the weird antagonism between Bernadette with her money, and Amy with her morally superior attitude. If Bernie has so much money, why was there all that financial concern with the babies? And since when is Bernie working in the private sector a point of conflict? This came out of nowhere.

Outlander: Of Lost Things (3x04)

Another of my absolutely favorite scenes from the books was featured in this episode, and I loved it a lot. I do have a few qualms, though...

Cons:

For the first time, I felt like the 20th century plot couldn't keep up with the 18th century story. Basically, we see Claire, Roger, and Bree continue to hunt for signs of Jamie. But eventually, Claire comes to the conclusion that she can't keep searching for a ghost. She decides it's time to go home to Boston, where she has her home and medical practice waiting for her. There wasn't really enough going on to justify an episode's worth of materials, and consequently these scenes almost felt like they were discarded bits left over from last year's finale, as we've finally caught up with the events we left off with last season.

And then there's the Brianna problem. Sophie Skelton is... not doing a great job. Her line delivery is stilted to the extent that she comes across like somebody performing in a high school play. Her dialogue is maybe a little bit hokey too, as she talks about hope and love and never giving up... but the thing is, the other actors on this show have been able to pull off lines like that, and she can't. The only thing that gives me hope for her character is that her best moments are the ones with Roger. As we move forward, the majority of her scenes will be with him, and not with Claire, so maybe their chemistry will develop into something more enjoyable to watch. For now, I'm disappointed that Bree, an excellent character from the books, is translating so poorly to the small screen.