Outlander: I Am Not Alone (6x08)

I love Claire's short hair, it looks super cute! Just thought I'd mention before we get into all this craziness.

Cons:

I mean... I don't know. This episode was pretty great. I guess my only complaint is that it's a finale and now we're left on such a cliffhanger until season seven comes along? There's so much setup happening, and we're going to have to wait to see the payoff.

I suppose along the line of more significant complaints, I think structurally this short season had some issues with pacing. While this episode in isolation did a great job, I was perhaps missing maybe one more hour of content prior to it, to pad out some of these elements. The various subplots that had to be wrapped up and set aside, the little things here and there that weren't given a ton of room to breathe.

Barry: forgiving jeff (3x01)

Oh man, okay! I watched the first two seasons of this show a while back but this is my first experience watching an episode all caught up, so I can't rush on to see what's next. Let's talk about it!

Cons:

Barry is one of those shows where it's pretty much definitionally flawless television, so any complaints I have are in the realm of personal preference.

So there's one thing about this show, and it's that I can't stand Sally. There's the way the show wants me to think Sally sucks, and there's the way that I think Sally sucks, and the two are related but I'm not always convinced they're 100% aligned? Like when she's walking around being all busy on set and squabbling about fight choreography and dress colors, my overwhelming feeling is that of ennui, just oppressive, irritable ennui. Get over yourself, girl. I don't care. You are the worst. So while I know I'm supposed to think all these characters are the worst in some way or another, Sally is the person where when I see her on screen I wish I was watching anyone else.

Outlander: Sticks and Stones (6x07)

You know, I have one major problem with this episode and it's tied in with a problem I've had with the whole season...

Cons:

I find it insulting that this episode wants us to believe for even one second that Claire may have killed Malva. To me, that's banking on a wholly unnecessary source of drama. The situation is fraught enough as it is, with so many different angles to explore, that I seriously don't think we need to add in this element of "maybe Claire's a murderer!" This is all in connection with the ether thing we've been doing all season. That too feels like an unnecessary element that was added to spice up a story that didn't actually require any more spice. Claire can have her doubts and troubles and traumas without adding in an ether addiction-type thing that makes her hallucinate and causes her to doubt her own mind. There's enough meat on the emotional bones of the story without going there at all!

While I'm glad we get to have the Lizzie subplot with the Beardsley twins, I did think it a bit of a shame that it all happened so quickly in one episode... I wish we'd had the reveal in an earlier episode and then maybe the hand-fast trickery here, to spread it out a bit? This show has a challenge in adaptation that springs from the fact that the books weave together subplots and mete out new information in slow little drips over time. So here, they condense the Malva accusation and her death into one episode, and condense the Beardsley subplot into one episode... I don't know, it doesn't quite work for me on the level of information flow.

Doctor Who: Legend of the Sea Devils (2022 Easter Special)

I wanted to feel more connected to this episode than I ended up feeling! I apologize for the brevity of my thoughts.

Cons:

In terms of the main plot, the Sea Devils themselves, the pirates and their various backstories, I found myself wanting more than what I got. We spent a lot of time with people without ever really learning about them or connecting with their characters.

I also got annoyed that Dan was separated from the Doctor and Yaz yet again. I swear they have a vendetta against letting Dan and Thirteen do any bonding, but whatever.

I was waiting for the theme, but other than "you shouldn't drown the whole world because you'll kill people", I wasn't really understanding what this story was meant to make me understand.

The Walking Dead: Acts of God (11x16)

I feel like I paid even less attention than I normally do to this episode. Ha. Maybe I don't like this show very much.

Cons:

There are shows that can get me to stop and really, really pay attention during long stretches of suspense or action with no dialogue. This show is often not one of them. So this episode features a lot of Daryl running around, a lot of Maggie running around, you've got characters getting injured, but nobody that we care about is injured bad enough for it to matter, and long stretches of just running around, dealing with violence, dealing with Walkers, and I can't tell you how bad my brain zoned out during most of it. This is partially the fault of me, the reviewer, but I think it also speaks to how repetitive and predictable this show has become over the years.

This episode also just speaks to how utterly pointless Leah was as a character. This should have felt like a serious blow, something heartbreaking and real and tragic, the fact that Daryl killed her to save Maggie's life. Daryl loved her, didn't he? That's supposed to be something with emotional resonance, and I felt nothing. That whole tense standoff between Maggie and Leah, where Maggie acknowledged that Leah would want revenge on her... these two women have taken so much from each other, but there's not a proper buildup or understanding of character or anything, that would make this moment land.

Outlander: The World Turned Upside Down (6x06)

Well dang! I wasn't expecting things to happen quite so quickly!

Cons:

This episode comprises quite a passage of time, and honestly I feel a little conflicted about it. To take us through Claire's sickness, Malva's entire pregnancy leading up to her ultimate fate, all in one episode, made me feel a little uncertain about where we were in the timeline at any given moment. I admire how much of the story they were able to tell here, but it does sort of feel like all the slow, sinister buildup of Malva's character came to a head and then was immediately pivoted into the next branch of the story. I think I would have wanted this story to take place over two episodes instead of just one, if I had been calling the shots there.

Things like, Ian being one of the potential fathers of Malva's child, and Jamie's despair during Claire's sickness, and Roger continuing to preach at the protestant church, and the assembly Jamie and Roger attend... on the one hand, I'm impressed by how much from the books is being included. On the other, it felt like we got a lot of summarization where I could have done with some slowing down.

Grey's Anatomy: Put It to the Test (18x15)

Wow, the stuff with Schmitt was stressful as hell! This was an intense episode.

Cons:

I liked the intensity of the performances during Meredith and Bailey's big fight, but I felt like it wasn't totally justified on the merits of the situation. Bailey went from zero to one hundred in being angry with Meredith for... checks notes... getting a job offer. She doesn't even ask her if she's taking it before she starts screaming at her and throwing Derek in her face, it's just awful and doesn't feel like it was built up enough.

Nick, as I've said a thousand times, is pretty boring. It's not that there's anything wrong with his transplant plot thread here, or how he's trying to grapple with the despair he feels in career. It's all perfectly unobjectionable. It's just not interesting. I'm glad his cool new medical procedure works, I guess, but I'm not interested in seeing how he responds to any of it.

The Walking Dead: Trust (11x15)

This is definitely an episode building to a midseason finale, rather than paying anything off, so there's quite a bit of treading water. Is that a bad thing?

Cons:

Well... in a lot of ways it's hard to judge this episode on its own, when there's more to come that will hopefully wrap up or escalate many of these plot points. I guess my least favorite stuff here was with Ezekiel. Kind of felt like a waste of time to show him getting into and out of trouble so quickly, what with Carol there to bail him out. I don't like the implication that Ezekiel might still be holding a torch, because I really like the vibe of the two of them as amicable exes who managed to stay good friends in the aftermath of their marriage and the loss of their son. I don't need to go back to romantic intrigue with these two.

This episode ends with a dramatic reveal of Leah, but like... last episode also ended with a dramatic reveal of Leah? So that felt like a weird pacing thing. Shouldn't they have held off on showing who stole the weapons for this moment, instead of telling us last week and then having this one be just a retread, with Hornsby offering her a job?

Outlander: Give Me Liberty (6x05)

Lord John Grey!!! My beloved!

Cons:

I remain convinced that they never fully stuck the landing with Murtagh and Jocasta... I was a fan of Murtagh sticking around on the show as long as he did, but the fact that his lasting legacy is now as Jocasta's sadly dead lover instead of Jamie's beloved uncle/father figure is kind of annoying to me. The fact that we spent time on Jocasta mourning for Murtagh here felt very strange.

The elephant in the room whenever we're at River Run: Jocasta is a freakin' slave owner. So when we're sitting around and giggling with her, Claire's getting high with her, all that stuff, it's just super uncomfortable and never properly dealt with. The character of Mary didn't help matters. I don't remember if this is someone we'll learn more about later, I can't quite recall this plot thread from the books, but in this episode she was basically there as set dressing. We learn her mother died and that Jocasta gave her time off to grieve. Okay, so is this supposed to be like a "Jocasta is a good master" thing? Because eww. And then later she's like, telling Jamie that Jocasta has seemed down lately because of losing Murtagh, basically there to provide emotional support to her white master and her white master's family, and I'm just cringing the whole time it's happening. I'll admit I don't have a solution to offer, I'm not sure how I would have made this better, but I'm certainly always uncomfortable by the way it's just kind of... not dealt with in the story.

Grey's Anatomy: Road Trippin' (18x14)

I love Jo very much!

Cons:

For the first time in a long time, I can't really think of much to complain about. None of the main stories were irritating to me on their face. Maybe the stuff with Meredith and Zola wasn't quite what I wanted it to be, just because I feel like they're stringing us along with this stuff about Meredith moving and taking the new job. Yes or no? Is Meredith leaving? What's happening with that? I don't like her boring boyfriend, so I don't like the time-wasting we do with him.

Pros:

Hey, miracle of miracles, there were moments with both Owen and Teddy this week that I didn't hate! Probably because it wasn't a plot thread about their relationship! First, I love that Amelia is chastising Owen for trying to push his recovery. Owen makes for actually decent comic relief when he's being the "doctors make the worst patients" cliché. And when he's acting as chief for Bailey, he manages to do a decent job but also gets a little worked up with the difficulties. I liked how he responded to everyone else's incredulity about his fitness for the job.

The Walking Dead: The Rotten Core (11x14)

A decent installment in many ways, but I still can't help but feel that so much of this season has been treading water. We know shit is going to come to a head with the Commonwealth, we know these are bad people at this point, so... I don't know. Sometimes I wonder what we're even doing here.

Cons:

I think Jeffrey Dean Morgan is a good actor. I find his performance moving, as long as I don't think for longer than a couple of seconds about the truth of what he did. Apparently he feels very guilty. Apparently he's a new man now. He's got a wife, which is just wild to think about. But he didn't just kill Glenn and Abraham and countless others. He did it with glee. I know he's got a tragic backstory, but I can't ignore the truth of that.

Hornsby and Sebastian both have a similar problem as villains in that they seem kind of cartoonish? Like, wouldn't they be even a little self-aware about how their words and behaviors might be received? Willing to sacrifice countless lives to get to a stash of money... that's some Disney villain shit. I wish their justifications felt a little more thought out, or they wrestled with some discomfort, or maybe they are completely immortal and don't even try to justify it... I'm not sure what exactly I wish was different, just that things weren't so ridiculously clear-cut in terms of who we're supposed to hate. The vast majority of citizens of the Commonwealth seem happy and secure. Is the real evil here that at any point that security might be stolen from you? If so, let's get into it from that angle!

Outlander: Hour of the Wolf (6x04)

Well, an Ian-centric episode was never going to be the most compelling to me. Also on the preview of the next episode I saw John Grey, and that was the most exciting part of my whole viewing experience lol. Let's take a look!

Cons:

So, Ian just doesn't really do much for me as a character. In the books, I like him when he's a teenager and lose interest when he joins the Mohawk, and all the stuff that comes after... it's not that I think any of this material was bad, per se, but my own personal level of engagement was low. The flashbacks of Ian and Emily felt very... one-note. I thought the actress portraying Ian's wife did a good job with what she had, but she didn't really have much, did she? I didn't get a sense of who she was as a person. Yes, clearly she and Ian loved each other, but what else? The tragedy didn't hit as hard as it might have, if I'd understood Emily, and also Ian's other friends there, the life he'd truly been able to build for himself in his new community.

The way they're doing the ether plot this season really confuses me. I just remember in the book that Claire was SO careful and SO meticulous at all times with it, and in the show we have her self medicating, and also show her practicing on Josiah and Lizzie just to give Malva some practice? Maybe I'm misremembering things, but I don't think that was in the book.

Grey's Anatomy: Put the Squeeze on Me (18x13)

Okay, I'm going to try and rapid-fire this one. Famous last words.

Cons:

Teddy and Owen. Do I really need to say more? I guess I'm... glad... that they've talked through their issues so hopefully we can put this behind us? But I don't know, it just feels like a waste of time whenever I have to watch their drama play out on screen. I'm also sad that Megan and Farouk seem to be gone, I was hoping they'd stick around and have more to do.

I really love Bailey and Ben's relationship, so I get a little resentful when I see them referencing and continuing on from plot beats that are happening on Station 19. I wish we had more of that play out during the show I'm watching, and not the show I refuse to start.

Meredith is now considering moving for this new job opportunity, and Nick is... there, and ostensibly going to be a factor in that decision, but I'm just borrrrredd by him and nothing that happens can change that! Sorry!

The Walking Dead: Warlords (11x13)

Eh.... I mean... okay, I guess.

Cons:

Does anyone else just get very tired whenever we meet a new group of people, get a new weirdo or warlord or whatever, who has to do the whole macho routine and be intimidating in some new way we haven't seen before? Because we have seen it before. Come on. There's this showdown between Aaron, Gabriel, and some people of the Commonwealth, with this new community they want to assist, and the whole time the tense scene was going on, I was sitting there trying not to yawn. There's nothing new under the sun.

I found the way this episode was structured, with flashbacks and an out of order series of scenes, to be largely unnecessary. It was clearly done that way because Toby Carlson needed to be a twist surprise assassin. But honestly, the tension of us, the audience, knowing what he was up to while Aaron and Gabriel did not, would have worked far better from my perspective. It just felt convoluted for the sake of being convoluted, almost as if they thought making it confusing would trick us into thinking it was good as a matter of course.

Outlander: Temperance (6x03)

Oh man... some of my very favorite stuff from the books, although of course it's hard to watch for obvious reasons!

Cons:

I was really vibing with the energy of last week's episode, and this week had a lot of stand-out scenes I liked, but also had some of those clunky moments I notice with the show sometimes, were it kind of feels like everyone is play-acting and they don't feel like real people to me. Crowd scenes where Brianna and Marsali awkwardly exposition at us about Mrs. Bug watching the kids, or Roger filling Bree in on the situation with Lizzie and the twins. The scene with Amy and Roger, with the bullfrog in the pitcher of milk - I get why that scene is there, for the sake of stuff that will happen later, but on its own it felt a bit awkward.

Grey's Anatomy: The Makings of You (18x12)

Huh. I feel distinctly torn about this episode.

Cons:

I like that we're actually doing some stuff with the kids, it's fun to see Zola have a personality and interests of their own, but also... oof... the kids' acting in this show is... not the greatest. It's a little distracting to see Maggie and Winston playing off of the performances from the little ones playing Bailey and Ellis, and even Zola.

Nick. Okay, so in this episode, we meet Nick's niece Charlotte, and we learn that he can have a bit of a temper sometimes, and that he's overprotective of his niece. Real, concrete information about this guy. A personality. I wish I could bring myself to care more. I will give them credit and say this is the most that a storyline with Nick has ever made me want to pay attention, and that's because I love Meredith and I want her to be safe and happy. I just can't quite click with this generic nobody, no matter how hard they try and make me.

The Walking Dead: The Lucky Ones (11x12)

Eh, this episode didn't compel me the way the last couple episodes have. I guess the novelty of the Commonwealth is starting to wear off a bit.

Cons:

The guy who wants to bring in the additional communities for his own personal clout is kind of boring to me? I guess I don't quite get his whole deal, and Pamela is also feeling a bit one-note to me. I get that it's going to be an issue of control, they're going to have to figure out a balance where the benefits of the Commonwealth are not worth the totalitarianism. Like, we all agree totalitarian regimes are bad, but zombie apocalypses are also bad, right? I don't know, it just seems like all this stuff is going to be dragged way out past the point of interest, where I want to get to the aftermath, so we can see what the world will truly look like moving forward for these characters. This is the final season, let's get a move on, here!

Pros:

I did like Eugene and Max's scenes. I want to believe there will be no more double-crossing, that this time it's really real, and Eugene will get to have that happiness. I loved his apology, where he talked about his difficulty with social cues and how believing in the imposter was part of so badly wanting to have that love in his life. These two are both very awkward and yet sweet, and I find myself genuinely rooting for their love! And I also thought Eugene's struggle before getting to that point where he could talk to Max was interesting to watch. He and Rosita having a moment together was sweet; at this point they are some of the longest lasting characters on the show and their friendship was a bizarre yet powerful one to watch develop over the years.

Outlander: Allegiance (6x02)

This was a good one, lots of stuff from the books that I remember with a certain degree of fondness/dread... let's dive in!

Cons:

Still not sold on the whole ether plot thread here... I'm trying not to be a grump just because it's different from the books; that's not really my beef with it. It honestly just seems out of character for Claire in a way I worry they won't integrate well moving forward.

Also... okay... so this is lifted straight from the books, but the scene where the Cherokee women come into Jamie's bed uninvited has always felt a little odd to me. It's a pervasive problem with this whole story, that so many of the characters experience sexual assault or rape in their life, and yet there is also this very irreverent and joking way that such things are often looked at. I'm not saying Jamie is obligated to feel violated by what happens to him in this scene, but the fact that it's played entirely for laughs is sort of odd, is it not?

Grey's Anatomy: Legacy (18x11)

Koracick, my love!

Cons:

Why are they giving Nick his own story-line? You can't trick me into caring about this man, Grey's. You can't do it. This episode brought back Tom Koracick, one of the weirdly greatest characters ever written for this show, and you expect me to pay attention to Nick's boring shit? And it doesn't help that the story seems kind of... basic ground for Grey's Anatomy? It's a simple story about an organ transplant, where we have to grieve for the young man who died and celebrate the young man who gets another chance at life. I was waiting for some twist that would make it stand out from other similar plot elements over the years, but there really wasn't anything. It honestly feels like that plot thread was just there to try and make Nick more sympathetic, give the audience something to connect to. The trouble is, Nick being a nice guy is literally the only thing I know about him, and now I've learned nothing new.

And then the end of the episode is Meredith going to celebrate her success with him, which is honestly the last thing I care about seeing. It kills me, because seeing Meredith in a stable, simple relationship with a good guy is something I really want for her, but Nick just gives me nothing to connect to!

The Walking Dead: Rogue Element (11x11)

Oh damn, poor Eugene!

Cons:

I guess I want a bit more information from the leaders of this community... so far we just get "they seem nice but they're all kind of creepy" and it's about time to learn a bit more. Do any of them have qualms about what they're doing? I guess this isn't so much a con as something I hope they explore a bit more later on.

I see that most clearly in Carol's little detour this week, with Hornsby, where we learn that the Commonwealth does deals with other less idealized communities. Specifically, they get their opium supply for the hospital from one such group. This could be interesting color and certainly raises some questions, but mostly it just had me scratching my head as to why Carol would be given this tour. If this is an Authoritarian community, why do the newcomers get to spend so much time poking around in their business? Does Carol have a job, or what?