Bob's Burgers: The Amazing Rudy (14x02)

Aww, a Rudy episode! This was sweet.

Cons:

I really can't think of much I would change? Maybe as a nitpick, it was a little silly that the episode made the purpose of the dinner a "reveal" after an opening scene where Rudy and his dad don't directly mention where they're going and why. I'm not sure holding that card close to the chest added much of anything.

Pros:

I would love to see more episodes like this, filling out details of the rest of this community, where the Belcher family plays side characters who come into the story in a couple of pivotal moments! It was so effective to start with Rudy and then hear the kids' voices at the mall. And then when Rudy runs out of the restaurant, I knew he'd end up at Bob's Burgers and that he'd find safety and kindness there. I really felt the family as a refuge, somewhere you could go to feel better.

Bob's Burgers: Fight at the Not Okay Chore-ral (14x01)

A fun season opener!

Cons:

I wish even more of the townsfolk could have been cast inside the Western story the family was telling. It was cool to see Jimmy Jr. and Zeke, and Mr. Fischoeder, but I would have loved to see Teddy, and various other townsfolk more prominently featured.

I felt like the conclusion to this episode was a little wishy-washy, where Linda has to admit that she got a little worked up about the chores thing because of pressure from her own mother, but at the same time... Linda is right, and the fact that the kids don't do any chores around the house is weird. I wish there had been a little more of a button on the episode where maybe the kids had helped out with a task, working with their parents and making it a family activity.

What We Do in the Shadows: A Weekend at Morrigan Manor/Exit Interview (5x09/10)

Oh boy. Lots to discuss.

Cons:

The biggest con I have here is... well, if Guillermo was going to be made back into a human at the end of the season, I wish we'd gotten to see more of vampire Guillermo. I actually don't mind narratively this turn where he goes back to being human, but why couldn't we see a whole season of him getting to be a bat and go flying and do all the other vampire things, in full-swing? That way the fact that he's not ready would hit a little harder: he can't bring himself to drink human blood, which is the only way he can continue to be a vampire, even though he's experienced all the perks. I just think that would have been a more fun way to play it. Instead, we spent a whole season waiting and waiting to finally actually see vampire Guillermo, and we... never fully got that at all. He did look good with those fangs, though.

Pros:

The Morrigan Manor stuff was so charming and fresh and different. I truly had no idea where this episode was going to go, from the invitation, to the amazing fencing choreography with Lazlo and his large group of combatants... I even thought the Guide's role in the story added something fun.

All season I've been complaining that they haven't done enough with the whole vibe of her being an outsider, but in this episode, when she finally takes matters into her own hands, I did feel the weight of her relative insignificance all season, finally coming to bear. I realized pretty soon she had to be behind all the disappearances, but it was still fun to see it play out. And I like how she acts as a contrast to Guillermo, who now feels included in the group in various ways. One good moment is at the beginning, when the recording says "six of you" and they're confused about the number six, because they were forgetting to count the Guide. Which means they think of their family as being five people, and that includes Guillermo. So sweet!

What We Do in the Shadows: The Roast (5x08)

Oh my god, this was an AMAZING episode.

Cons:

I feel bad for continuing to harp on this, but The Guide continues to feel like such a wasted character! I like the performance, I don't think it has to be this way, there could be some really funny stuff here! But instead it's the same joke again and again. It's like she's the Jerry from Parks and Rec or the Toby from The Office. But this show didn't really need that, they're all a bunch of losers, and there's already the vampires treating Guillermo like he's disposable to fall back on as a joke? I don't know. She had plot relevance this week, but it feels like we could have done this without her.

Pros:

Lazlo's ennui was really funny, the way he keeps dismissing everyone's attempt to snap him out of it... one of the funniest exchanges was right at the top, when Nadja and Nandor were talking about Lazlo lacking interest in his old hobbies: Nadja - "We are down to like sixteen fucks a week." / Nandor - "We're down to three". And Nadja reaches out and puts a hand on Nandor's arm, in horror and sympathy to hear something so terrible! That really made me laugh.

What We Do in the Shadows: Hybrid Creatures (5x07)

Man, this show is a trip sometimes. This episode didn't quite click for me in a lot of ways.

Cons:

I will say, one of the things that I love so much about Guillermo as a character is that he's a bad-ass. He's a fool as well, don't get me wrong, but throughout the last couple of seasons, Guillermo being ridiculous is always balanced by big wins, something triumphant and comedically over-the-top cool that shows he is without a doubt the most competent character in the cast. This season... it's basically been all losses for our favorite half-vampire half-human guy. I hope he gets some ridiculous victory by the time the season ends, just for balance.

The grotesque animal hybrids were... okay, there were one or two funny moments in there, but by and large this humor just wasn't really making me smile. The thing where they all called Guillermo "daddy", and he was having to care for them like children, including bathroom stuff... I don't know, y'all. I get that this show is wacky and bizarre, but that just didn't work for me.

Outlander: Turning Points (7x08)

Big episode, lots to discuss. I'm going to try and be brief.

Cons:

I don't like Ian and Rachel again. I keep flip-flopping. But this episode adapted one of my least favorite book moments, where Ian suddenly gets all intense and passionate, and Rachel is all confused and torn about her feelings. It feels like the ramp-up for this romance is very sheepish and cute, and then suddenly it's this burning passion. It doesn't vibe right with me. Also, we end with Arch Bug showing up again and leering threateningly at Rachel, having identified her as someone Ian cares about so he can exact his revenge. Eh. I really could take or leave that whole plot thread, if I'm being honest.

This is a little hard to quantify, but there's a lot of over-explaining in this episode, I feel? Moments that were powerful on their own but then get just a bit too much in the way of belaboring, thus diluting their power. Benedict Arnold, for example. I wish we didn't have the moment where Claire is given an opportunity to sway his opinion away from resentment. The implication that she might have said something in that moment to alter the whole course of history is a little silly. I wish it could have been left more subtle and unsaid.

What We Do in the Shadows: Urgent Care (5x06)

Finally, Nadja knows! What a wild episode.

Cons:

I feel like this has been a Colin Robinson-heavy season so far. I'm not saying I dislike that character, but... let's be real. Not my #1 favorite part of the show or anything. I thought his story had promise but it took up maybe a bit more of the run time than I would have liked. I would have allocated more time to Nadja and Guillermo and Lazlo, and slightly less to Nandor and Colin.

Pros:

But starting with that Colin plot, I did love the conceit where he keeps being accidentally too interesting, and it slowly starts to kill him. As he tries to drain from people, he finds that his black eye looks too interesting. Then he gets hit by a car, and a TikTok is made of him, and he discovers the man who hit him is a famous actor (John Slattery - from Mad Men!), and then when he tries to go into a gas station, it's being held up at gunpoint... no matter what he does, he's too interesting to drain energy! That's pretty funny, as was the bit where Slattery finds Colin's accent so interesting that he's happy to listen to him talk all day.

What We Do in the Shadows: Local News (5x05)

Okay, this was pretty hilarious.

Cons:

The thing about Guillermo's slow vampire transition this season is that it does blunt some of the comedy impact of him being a vampire in the first place. I sort of wish there had been a more dramatic contrast between human Guillermo and vampire Guillermo. It's almost like instead of setup and punchline, it's setup and then very long, meandering journey towards a destination we've already been told about. That's not to say I don't enjoy some of the things about said journey, but I don't know. I guess I'm just hoping we'll see Guillermo get his transformative moment to shine.

Oh, and, same note as always on the Guide: there's nothing wrong with her, but she seems like she could lift right out of the story without being missed at all. Sorry!

Outlander: A Practical Guide for Time-Travelers (7x07)

Dun dun dunnnn!

Cons:

I will say, I thought giving William a cheery, jokey bff in the army was a little transparent. The second this dude opened his mouth I was like "ah, he's about to die so William can learn the true horrors of war." I didn't dislike everything with William in this plot thread, but it's probably the least I've cared about adult William since we met him; he's more interesting to me as he relates to the interpersonal connections of Jamie, Claire, and Lord John. Big surprise there.

I feel like they made Rob Cameron just a little too pushy and sinister? In the books I think there was just a little more time to get to know him as a purely innocuous figure, so here it's like we barely know him and now he's pushing in for dinner invitations and asking questions about Roger's papers, like... it's pretty obvious pretty quickly that something's up. I don't know how I would have solved for this, but just thought I'd mention it. The pacing also kinda made the Buck thing a little less impactful, just because we go from "what the hell are you doing here" to "I forgive him, he's Cousin Buck" so immediately. It also made me miss Roger having a huge scar on his neck and difficulty speaking clearly. That's such an important character trait for him in the books, that he never fully recovers from his near death by hanging. I get why for practical reasons they cut it out, but I think it makes his relationship with his ancestor more compelling if the evidence of his close call is still there in every word he speaks.

What We Do in the Shadows: The Campaign (5x04)

I'm in a bit of a Good Omens coma at the moment so pardon me if this is rather a brief review!

Cons:

I guess I wanted a bit more of an understanding of where Lazlo was coming from with his behavior towards the people of Little Antipaxos. It seems like he's trying to impress them at first, but he belittles them and thinks they're all primitive idiots. Then, when they don't warm to him, he immediately goes hostile and tells them to fuck off. This from the man who refuses to set foot back in his homeland because they insulted his beautiful and perfect wife Nadja. I wish we could have seen this play out more from Lazlo's perspective, so we could see maybe that he's feeling insecure or strange about all the time Nadja is spending with these new friends, or something.

Pros:

That said, Lazlo and Nadja are still hilarious, and I did love the resolution, wherein Nadja's new friends think that Lazlo is a figure from their old folktales, a particularly foolish and mean-spirited oaf who brings good luck to those who are near him. That would be funny to see more stories about!

Outlander: Where the Waters Meet (7x06)

Lots of good stuff to talk about!

Cons:

I remember this from the books, that Jamie's time fighting for the rebels keeps kind of dragging on and getting addendums added onto it. Like, you think he's done, then he gets pulled in elsewhere, and keeps saying yes again and again... it felt a little messy in the book too, and here I find myself antsy to get to Scotland and all the stuff that happens in the aftermath of that.

Pros:

In the aftermath of fleeing from the fort, Jamie and Claire try and help sneak as many people away as they can. One woman, frantic and sure that the Indians are going to take her, ends up running off and when Claire goes to find her, she watches the woman take her own life, and is then captured by the British. When taken to their camp, she finds her patient Walter Woodcock, and she also finds... William. I loved Claire showing her compassion and strength as a medical professional again, and that William, even upon finding her to be a rebel, wants to help her out as best as he's able.

What We Do in the Shadows: Pride Parade (5x03)

What an episode, holy shit.

Cons:

I can't think of anything I'd change about this one! I guess I'll repeat my comment that the Guide doesn't have a ton to do. The joke seems to be that she's superfluous and ignored, but she does feel superfluous to me, so it's just not that funny.

Pros:

Where to start? The Nadja plot thread was hilarious. All of the physical comedy of the doll inside vampire-Nadja's body was a delight, I was laughing out loud at so much of this. And then the grotesqueness of Colin and Doll-Nadja both inhabiting vampire-Nadja's body? The duet they sang at the pride event? I don't even have anything coherent to say about any of this, it was just hilarious all the way through. The ending gag of Lazlo deflowering doll-Nadja who is possessing vampire-Nadja, along with Colin, with vampire-Nadja inside doll-Nadja egging them all on... I mean, what other show can you think of that would ever do something as batshit insane as this? It's incredible.

Outlander: Singapore (7x05)

Huh, interesting. A couple of significant changes I'm not sure how to feel about, but an otherwise solid episode!

Cons:

Now, as a caveat, it has been a minute since I read the books, but I'm almost sure the scene with Ian meeting Emily's son goes a lot differently. For one, Ian is the one to name the kid Swiftest of Lizards, and Emily actually asks Ian to name her daughter, but he feels a connection to the older boy, and names him instead. It's left incredibly ambiguous as to whether or not this really is Ian's biological son, although later events strongly suggest this to be the case. In the show, they cast a little white kid to play Swiftest of Lizards, so it seems pretty clear we're not supposed to have any doubt. And he already has his Mohawk name, and Ian gives him an English one: Ian James. I'm... not sure how to feel about this. I liked the subtlety, the ambiguity, in the book. And I liked that Ian claimed the right to name him in the Mohawk fashion, instead of being handed the opportunity by Emily. It makes Ian's connection to his Mohawk identity stronger, that he names this child of his spirit in the tradition of one of his chosen people, instead of the people of his birth. I don't know, it just felt a little too neat and tidy, the way this played out.

What We Do in the Shadows: A Night Out with the Guys (5x02)

The poor Guide lol.

Cons:

I will say, the Guide isn't really my favorite part of the show, as much as I love Kristen Schaal. So when the show seems to lampshade how superfluous she feels, making jokes about how the other vampires forgot about her, didn't notice she hadn't been around, I find myself sort of agreeing with that sentiment. She's great, but she doesn't seem to add much that we don't already have with the other characters, and I don't miss her when she's gone! Sorry!

Pros:

I did enjoy Nadja's plot thread even without caring much for the Guide, specifically her discovery of Little Antipaxos! It was so fun to see her connect back with her roots, while being completely and utterly oblivious to the poor way she's treating the people around her, specifically the Guide. Her enthusiasm about her original home is infectious and delightful.

What We Do in the Shadows: The Mall (5x01)

We're back!

Cons:

I will say, with this show being a pure comedy without a lot of significant character development for the most part, there are occasionally running plot elements that get dropped or shuffled off very unceremoniously that I wish could have been delved into more. The big example for me going into season five is Colin Robinson being his normal adult self again, with no apparent lasting impact from the time he spent growing up as a kid. I want Lazlo and Colin's relationship to have shifted in some way with the fact that Lazlo is basically Colin's dad now, and I worry that they won't take advantage of the comedic (and heartwarming) fodder that this scenario provides. So far, we don't have any hints of it.

Outlander: A Most Uncomfortable Woman (7x04)

Oh boy oh boy, things are a-happening!

Cons:

So, I honestly really liked Jamie and Claire's sex scene in this episode, but as a small note: I'm not a fan of the slow-pan away from them on the bed, over to the shot of them in the mirror; it's just so cheesy and feels played out. Isn't there a different way to do a sort of fade to black situation?

Ian and Rachel are just... bland nothingness to me, sorry. I don't really care for them much in the books either. I like Rachel as a character, but the romantic entanglements she finds herself in are always a bit of a snooze fest. The way they played up the connection of Ian and Rachel in the brief time they met just felt so forced, like, oh, a young single woman and two young single men! We've got to have romance blooming immediately! Kind of lazy, honestly.

I feel like Tom Christie's horrible abusive behavior is sort of ignored here? Like, we can feel some measure of sympathy or gratitude for the man, sure, he saved Claire's life after all. But he was an absolutely horrible father to his children and I feel like the show has come around on Tom too much, presenting him as more sympathetic than I think he's supposed to be.

Outlander: Death Be Not Proud (7x03)

Okay, so, there were bits and pieces of this episode I greatly enjoyed, but it felt sort of... odd, as a full story.

Cons:

The Bugs haven't been real characters in the show up until this exact moment, it felt so odd to have such an emphasis on the story of the gold, and Murdina's death, and all that. I think part of the issue is in adaptation, where there are just so many things that happen in these books, so many subplots and minor characters who end up having their own significant plot moments, that in order to do justice to them all, sometimes it feels like something is coming out of nowhere. That's how I felt big-time in this episode, with the story of the Bugs stealing the Stuart gold from Hector's crypt at River Run, and then the two of them trying to sneak off with it, and Ian shooting Murdina, thinking she was Arch... it all felt like a scene straight out of nowhere, and it really overshadowed the central thing that happens here, which is that the house burned down. I wanted to linger more on that, instead of on these extra new developments that connected so little to anything that has happened at all recently in the show.

I know this is lifted straight from the books, but I wish Jamie's dreams of the future were a little less literal and magical. It seems too neat and tidy that he literally has visions of things like telephones, therefore pretty much confirming that what he's seeing is true.

Outlander: The Happiest Place on Earth (7x02)

Dang, I'm honestly incredibly surprised about some stuff in this episode!

Cons:

As an overall note, this episode just felt incredibly crowded with incident. The fact that the episode in which we learn the end of the Christie storyline, with Allan telling his story and meeting his fateful end, is also the episode in which Brianna and Roger have a baby, discover Mandy's health problem, and leave, and is the episode where we meet adult William for the first time, and is the episode with the fire that's been built up for several seasons... it's just so much to happen all at once! I feel like especially the start of the episode with Allan, coupled with last week's revelations from Tom Christie, all belong to an earlier plot thread that really should have been resolved separately from the Brianna and Roger leaving story, and the Wendigo Donner/fire story.

Mainly, I'm surprised that Roger and Bree are actually going into the future at all, with their kids. That whole plot development in the books is incredibly important, but I thought after they hinted at it and then bailed back last season, they were just going to skip over it entirely. A lot of plot happens in these books, I wouldn't have been surprised if they'd given this whole thing a pass. I am excited to see how it plays out, I guess, but it does make the fact that they decided to go and then changed their minds before, kind of ridiculous.

Outlander: A Life Well Lost (7x01)

We're back! It feels like it's been forever since this show was on the air, but I guess it was May 2022 when we last left off, in quite a dramatic fashion, with Claire arrested for a murder she didn't commit, and Jamie separated from her, desperate to save her before it's too late!

Cons:

To start, I do not like the new vocals on the intro. Mostly they were okay, but that weird breathy whisper thing at the very end fading into the episode title card, was just bizarre.

The voiceover is still a weakness of the show. A holdover from a concept that wanted to use Claire's first person POV from the books. There's one instance of it early on from Claire where she's talking about how she knows how long the Revolutionary War will stretch on, and it just felt like an unnecessary emphasis on something we could have gotten just from looking at her face as the other prisoners spoke of the hardships they were facing.

Brianna is still the weak link as an actor. I think I've realized that she's no good at anything but the extremes. She has a really infectious sweetness when she's playing super hyped and excited, and I've seen her do despair and pain very well too. But when she just needs to have a normal conversation with her husband, it sounds super stilted and I feel like I can basically see her reading the lines off a script. It's too bad, I really wish I liked her more. Book Brianna is going to reign supreme, I'm afraid.

Barry: wow (4x08)

I mean... "wow" seems like a pretty good word for it.

Cons:

Footage not found, honestly? This was more or less perfect television. The only shot I didn't like was the fade up on the clapping audience towards the end with Sally directing a high school production of Our Town. I think because we'd had a few very iconic, in-your-face shots leading up to it, and that one felt like it pushed over the edge for me, in openly acknowledging, I guess, the theatre of the whole thing? But that's the tiniest of nitpicks.

Pros:

Where to even begin? I think what I'll do is just run down the ultimate fates of the characters we most care about.