His Dark Materials: The Botanic Garden (3x08)

Woof! Okay. Let's talk about it.

Cons:

The thing is, yeah, this episode has the problem it was always going to have, in that it feels disconnected from the rest of the story in a lot of big, obvious ways. We went through so much with Asriel and Coulter, and they barely get mentioned here. Characters like Iorek get barely a sendoff. The aftermath of Asriel's war isn't fully addressed; obviously it's implied that the Magisterium is going to go home with its tale between its legs and none of the angels on Metatron's side are going to bother anyone anymore, but we don't really see much of any of it. The Gallivespians, the other witches besides Serafina, they don't get their due here. This is how the book ends, too, I'm not saying they had a lot of choice in it, but I think the structural problems that have plagued this season are apparent when you have a finale that is kind of doing its own thing, almost entirely cut off from the plotty buildup leading to it.

Father Gomez coming to do his murdering, and Balthamos showing up to thwart him is also something from the books, but again it felt shoe-horned in. I get that I'm kind of contradicting myself, as this is an element that does tie back to earlier in the season, but it feels so disjointed, like, God is literally actually Dead, dude. Move the hell on.

His Dark Materials: The Clouded Mountain (3x07)

Dayummmm I'm gonna cry so much when I watch the last episode, it's not even funny...

Cons:

The thing is, this show never should have tried to pull off an action movie. The special effects don't pass muster, they're forced to rely on shortcuts that just aren't all that visually interesting... angels and witches are having an epic battle but we can't really see it, human troops are valiantly dying for the cause but it's in dark snippets we can barely focus on. The Gallivespians continue to have not enough to do. It's not a matter of what's on the screen being bad, so much as it is a matter of them not being able to put stuff on the screen that should be there, if they really want it to.

Underpinning this problem with effects is a bigger one of Asriel's motivations. This whole time, his vendetta against God himself has been sort of a weak point. In the books, Asriel is more of a distant figure. By giving him so much screen-time in this final season, we sort of shine a spotlight on the fact that his whole war is a little silly and kind of useless. In the end, it's all about Lyra and the prophecy. So why is Asriel bothering with all of this? Is it just a distraction, a la the battle at the black gates in The Lord of the Rings, so Frodo can destroy the ring, or in this case, so Eve has the chance to "fall" the way she's destined to do? I don't know. When you really look at it, kinda weaksauce.

His Dark Materials: The Abyss (3x06)

Man, I got super weepy with this one.

Cons:

I felt like of all the emotional gut-punches in this episode, the one that wasn't as effective for me was Will and his dad. I think this goes back to an error in judgment from the second season. See, in the books, Will and Jopari never get to have a conversation as father and son while they're both alive. This is the first time, in the land of the dead, that they're getting to talk. But here in the show, they got to have a big chat and a slow death scene at the end of season two, so this additional scene just didn't really add all that much? I mean, don't get me wrong, always glad to see Andrew Scott, but other than his hint about how Will belongs in his own world, and instructions on finding his daemon, it felt devoid of the emotion I was wanting to feel.

I should say an overall weak point of the season has been the Gallivespians. I think they might be kind of weak points in the books too, but I remember feeling a deeper sense of connection to them such that when there were moments of tension and action, or even tragedy, it mattered to me. In the show, if you replaced all the Gallivespian characters with literal drone cameras that flitted around after the human characters, I'm not sure it would make any real difference.

His Dark Materials: No Way Out (3x05)

This was an excellent episode!

Cons:

The stuff with Mary Malone continues to be a weak point, and honestly I think that's the consequence of trying to adapt this story in the first place. Atal and the others of her kind are interesting in theory, but they feel so random, so disconnected from the rest of the journey. And they're not quite as weird and alien as I always thought of them from the books, so I think in the back of my head I was really looking forward to the Mulefa and then I saw them and it was sort of a letdown. What Mary learns here about Dust and how it's dying is really important, but with so little time spent setting this up, it feels like it could have been learned elsewhere and without Mary even existing as a character.

I kind of missed checking in with Asriel this week; his plot is "keeps getting ready to do war in the background", which, fine, but I think more of an impending sense of his presence would be helpful.

And my eternal complaint that the daemons should be more integrated into the story. We see how much Lyra is suffering without Pan, we see Mrs. Coulter about to be separated from her own daemon... I think what would be helpful is if we saw the other daemons with the Magisterium characters a bit more. Heard them talk, watched them interact with their environment and bring key insights into certain moments, instead of just feeling like an afterthought.

His Dark Materials: Lyra and Her Death (3x04)

There's a weakness in this episode that I think carries over from the book too, maybe, but I think the problem is exacerbated here... let's discuss.

Cons:

I know how this story ends, so I get why Lyra is headed for the land of the dead. I know how it all connects. But the story we've been told thus far... Lyra going after Roger when the cost is so extreme, just doesn't quite fit. The heart-rending scene with Pan where she's leaving him behind would work a lot better if a) the audience understood why Lyra going to Roger was more important than staying connected to her very soul, and b) if the daemons were better represented throughout the show. As it was, the performance from Dafne Keen was phenomenal, but the buildup did not lead to this moment having the impact you would want it to, because in the back of your head you're just going... Lyra, don't leave him, then... I'm sorry, it's sad that Roger died, but you can't actually help him now, so why are you doing this?

His Dark Materials: The Intention Craft (3x03)

Oh boy, I can't wait for episode four, I have a feeling it's going to make me a little weepy. But let's talk about this one first!

Cons:

The effect on the Gallivespians is... weird. They've got the scaling situation going, but it doesn't ever really feel like they're in the same place? Like when Lady Salmakia is talking to Lyra and Will, it doesn't feel like they're actually physically near each other. And the scene where she attacks them, angry about the knife being broken, it really did feel like the kids were flinching away on cues from someone off-camera, not to an actual living person existing in their environment.

Mary Malone... it's strange that we're not making progress quicker with her. She's on her journey, and I know where it's going, but there are five episodes left the show, and we're just now getting to the point that I think of as the beginning of her story? So I don't know, that's a little odd, pacing-wise.

Also odd for pacing was to have Balthamos come back for like two seconds just to say "oh, you're going to the land of the dead. Okay, bye, then." I guess I'm glad to see him, but not really sure what the point was there.

His Dark Materials: The Break (3x02)

Oh boy oh boy!! It's so fun to be someone who knows roughly what's coming, because shit is already getting wild.

Cons:

So I'm going to have a lot of praise for Ruth Wilson, who plays Mrs. Coulter, in a second, but there was one part in the script that I wasn't as wild about. The moment when Will has Lyra and is about to use the knife to run away and leave Marisa behind... see, this is such a pivotal moment, such a key lynchpin of the story, and I wanted Coulter's behavior to be a little more, what's the word, deranged? Unsettled? As it was, it felt like she was still in almost entirely manipulation mode, playing off of Will's feelings about his own mother to get what she wants. And that's such a key part of Marisa's character, her skilled manipulation, I get that... I just wanted this moment to be used to show the ways in which she's unraveling a bit more. A subtle thing, that I'm having a bit of a hard time articulating, but there it is.

I really like Balthamos in this adaptation but I wish there had been a bit more time with him as he's processing his grief and his purpose in life now that Baruch is gone (RIP, buddy, we hardly knew ye). I recall in the books really getting to watch this angel go through, like, a crisis of faith? It was strange and lovely and painful, and I feel like we didn't get enough time with it here. Maybe as the season goes on we'll fold that concept in better, who knows.

His Dark Material: The Enchanted Sleeper (3x01)

We're back, and it's the final season! This episode picked up right where we left off, without missing a beat. My thoughts and feelings are remarkably similar to how I think I was feeling a couple years ago when season two was on the air. Let's dive in.

Cons:

The church stuff is such an important piece of the puzzle especially here in the third season/book, but I still find myself the most bored whenever we flip back to dealing with Fra Pavel, and that whole world. It's not that it's bad, necessarily, it's just sort of... dour, and slow, in a way that I don't feel gripped by.

I also thought Will and Iorek's interaction was a bit oddly paced? I get that there's a lot of book to get through very quickly and we only have eight episodes to do it, but Will finds Iorek, immediately challenges him to a duel and then uses the knife to cut through a bit of his armor, showing that he has a weapon too powerful to beat. This is straight from the book, and yet it felt very contrived and way too easy that Will would think of this idea right away and it would work so neatly. Maybe a small thing, but just thought I'd point it out.

An eternal complaint I have about this show is that the daemons are not front-and-center enough on the screen, which makes it easy to forget about them sometimes. Which is a problem, when so many key story elements are contingent on whether or not a person has a daemon with them or not. More visible daemons, please!

The Walking Dead: Rest in Peace (11x24)

So... this finale suffered majorly for one big reason: the spinoffs next year. Let's just dive right in, shall we?

Cons:

Think about it. If this had been a true finale, if this had been the end of the universe of this TV show, we would have gotten so much content that the fans have been waiting to see. Instead, it's all teased out for us, trying to force us to tune in next year to see more Negan and Maggie, Rick and Michonne, Daryl... it's too damn much, y'all. I won't list all the missed moments, but if these spin-offs didn't exist, we definitely would have gotten Rick and Michonne reuniting with their daughter and son, right? A thing I think we've all damn well earned seeing? And if Daryl wasn't going off on his own without Carol, maybe they could have resolved that relationship in a way that would have made the fans happy to see. This is a finale. I want to feel big emotions, I want full cheesiness turned all the way up to eleven. I cannot believe that they had Rick and Michonne show up at the end in the form of letter writing, still not reunited, and we got no catharsis on any possible Rick reunion. With Michonne, with Judith, with Daryl? That man lived in the woods for half a decade being sad about Rick's death. I wanted to see them reunite, for fuck's sake.

But even setting aside the things I really wish we could have seen that just weren't there, there were moments that should have packed a much bigger punch, but were instead glossed over. The biggest one? Judith, in a moment of delirium when she believes she might die, tells Daryl that Michonne left to go find Rick, who they believe to be alive. I had sort of forgotten that Daryl didn't know this information, but it makes sense: Judith says she never told Daryl because she didn't want him to leave too. This should have been a huge moment. Daryl's love for Rick and his family is a cornerstone of his character; the revelation that Rick is still alive should have been earth-shattering for him. And, honestly, if they're going with all these spin-offs anyway, that should have been the impetus for Daryl to leave, not some vague idea Maggie has about wanting to find out what's out there.

The Walking Dead: Family (11x23)

Yeah, so here we are! Just one more episode left to wrap everything up. Let's talk about The Walking Dead's penultimate outing!

Cons:

There's still a bit of treading water, which is frustrating to see so late in the game. The main question I have for after this show ends is, what will the state of the world be in the aftermath of the finale? Where will our characters be living, how will they be building a future for themselves? And I don't think this show is going to give me that in the end. I think there are too many spinoffs in the works, I think there's too much that's going to be left hanging.

Like all the stuff happening in the Commonwealth, trying to get Eugene out of there, it all feels real pointless when you put it up against the Commonwealth's inevitable demise at the end of the episode. In the later seasons of this show, so many of the big status-quo changing moments are frustrating because they seem to make so much of the buildup pointless in retrospect. Why have we spent so long on the Commonwealth if it wasn't bridging us to something bigger? What, in the end, makes Pamela and all her cohorts any different than any of the other mini-bosses we've had over the years? Ah, well.

Grey's Anatomy: Thunderstruck (19x06)

I'm sorry, but I'm pretty underwhelmed and exhausted all at the same time. I'm going to have to search hard to find anything nice to say about the vast, vast bulk of this episode.

Cons:

So like. Meredith is leaving the show, and this is how they want to send her off? What the hell? Everything about Meredith's departure has been treated so bizarrely and like they can't make up their mind what note they're trying to go out on. She's moving because of Zola, fine. But now her house has burned down? Why? What's the point of kicking her one more time with yet one more terrible tragedy, on her way out the door? The Grey house is an iconic setting for this show, so I suppose they wanted to mix things up and do something dramatic here, but it honestly feels so shoehorned in and unnecessary. We're also having to deal with Nick and Meredith drama, because Nick doesn't know whether to follow her to Boston, or else stay put in Seattle to take care of the students he's just starting to train. I obviously do not care about Nick at all, he's boring as sin, so the idea that we might have Nick still on the show when Meredith is gone is truly the worst of both worlds to me. Yeesh.

The author story with Tessa, a fictional Seattle children's author, was way too over the top. She's full of wisdom and knows she might die, but wants to live because she still has more stories to tell in her soul or whatever... give me a break. They were leaning so heavily on how tragic it would be for her to die, that I was pretty sure she'd be safe, and indeed she was. I didn't hate the idea of this character conceptually, I just think someone needed to turn the dial down on the "inspirational older lady" setting. I also found Lucas to be particularly frustrating this week. He chokes during a surgery and is asked to step aside so Simone can take over, and then in the aftermath of the totally successful surgery, all he can do is mope about how he failed and how he's not living up to his family legacy. The truth now being out about Amelia being his aunt, we're having to see this character do yet more angsting about legacy and living up to the family name. Yawn. Also, the Lucas/Simone kiss kind of came out of nowhere. Maybe I won't hate it someday, but for now I'm just kind of uninterested in that angle.

The Handmaid's Tale: Safe (5x10)

This season happened so fast!

Cons:

I'm a little confused about Nick and Tuello. Basically, Nick agrees to turn spy for the Americans, because he knows that Gilead is trying to punish/kill June? But basically he connects with Tuello in exchange for a promise that Tuello will do everything he can to keep June safe... but like... wasn't that already a guaranteed outcome from the Americans? They weren't about to let Gilead kill June if they could help it, so what is Nick actually getting out of this? Is he planning on eventually getting the hell out of there, and joining June? I get it, that learning that June is in danger would frighten him, but it seems he's changing his mind and doing this crazy risky thing, all for a very nebulous return.

I was a little annoyed with Luke and June and Nichole fleeing and Moira not coming with them. We have so little insight into what Moira's life is these days, other than as a co-parent to Nichole, a real part of their nuclear family. So, especially since Luke was planning on turning himself in so his family could get away... why not send Moira along too? What is the point of her staying there in Canada, when she too is an American refugee that the Canadian people don't want anymore? And then there's just the unnecessary trickery and drama of Luke not communicating with his wife about staying behind. That kind of sucked.

The Walking Dead: Faith (11x22)

Y'all, we are so close to this show being over. The end is in sight. I can hardly believe it.

Cons:

I knew we were in trouble when I saw how Negan-heavy this episode was. I just don't feel invested in him and his new wife and the baby on the way. I keep saying it over and over, this is never going to be super compelling to me, unfortunately. There are little sparks of interest with Ezekiel, which surprised me, but ultimately no. This whole plot thread with the work crew standing up to some random evil minion of the Commonwealth whose name I don't even know, just feels like time wasted. There were so many turns here where at first we're supposed to think Negan is going to betray Ezekiel to save his own skin, but of course he doesn't. Then we're supposed to think Negan is going to be killed by firing squad, but of course he isn't. Our other heroes show up just in time to save the day, and I found myself yawning. Shouldn't there be more tension here?

Meanwhile in Alexandria, Maggie is reunited with Hershel but all the other children are still missing so we have to drag out this rescue operation for next week. Again, I'm sorry, I know I sound awful but - I don't care about Hershel and Maggie that much. Maggie has been gone from the show for so long, and honestly it doesn't feel like she ever quite came back, does it? I don't know her anymore. I don't feel connected to her and her emotional journey. I want Judith back, honestly.

Grey's Anatomy: When I Get to the Border (19x05)

Well then, I guess we know why Meredith won't be around much for the rest of the season!

Cons:

This episode was odd, it felt like an outlier that arrested the progress of certain key arcs. This was the first episode all season where I felt kind of "meh" about the new interns, and that's because we spent all our time focusing on Lucas Adams, and how his co-workers think he and Amelia are sleeping together. I thought that a was funny and potentially dramatic little wrench to put into the works when it first happened, the classic lie that grows out of control. But now we've got this whole thing where it's tied up in Lucas being a disappointment to his family and trying to stake out his own identity... and I'm just kind of bored with it all. What's going to happen when the others learn that he's Amelia's nephew? Well, nothing much, probably. They'll all judge and/or shun him for being a legacy kid, instead of for sleeping with an attending. Who cares.

Catherine Fox has never been a favorite of mine. When I saw that Jackson and Tom Koracick (my beloved fave) were going to be in this episode, I got really excited. But Tom's entire purpose was to talk to Catherine about her cancer, which has come back and is probably going to kill her this time around. I don't dislike Catherine to the point of wishing for her death, but god am I sick of the back and forth on this. She's had cancer for years now, we're constantly waiting to see if this is when she'll finally succumb to it. Can we not give Richard a break? He's lost every woman he's ever loved to sickness. I'm getting tired of this.

The Handmaid's Tale: Allegiance (5x09)

Oh goodness. I can't believe there's just one more episode of this season. Lots to discuss.

Cons:

I could have predicted that something was going to go wrong with the planned Hannah rescue, but I have to admit I'm a little disappointed in this less than creative outcome. Is Hannah's rescue going to be the last thing that happens in this show? Are we not going to actually see the aftermath of that, or are we going to drag out this family separation for all of season six as well? I guess I'm just getting a little frustrated. I would have at least liked something a bit more thrilling than all the Americans getting shot down and killed, essentially offscreen, while June and Luke just worry and wait.

So, the thing is, seeing June and Nick interact is just... it immediately sucks all the air out of the room. They have such good good chemistry that you just root for them to start smooching at every second. This is good, for the most part, but there are two problems. One, it just re-emphasizes how underwhelming Luke and June's connection is, by contrast. And for two... we've seen similar scenes for June and Nick so many times. So many fraught goodbyes, so many situations in which there's an unavoidable reason why they just can't be together. Every time, I don't know if I'm meant to believe a door is firmly closed, or if it's still cracked open in some way. So I'm left more flummoxed than I am moved. Nick's excuse for not being able to come to Canada feels a bit weak. Yes, Rose is pregnant, and yes, "Gilead is Rose's home", but come on, Nick. Obviously you have far more power to change your life circumstances than June does.

The Walking Dead: Outpost 22 (11x21)

We are so close to the end! This was a pretty good outing.

Cons:

It's difficult for me to feel invested in Negan, even now. He's separated from his pregnant wife, and I think I'm meant to care and be concerned, but she's such a non-character, we've had no time to get to know her, and I can't bring myself to care just on Negan's behalf, you know?

The twist about Outpost 22 being... Alexandria?? Really confused and annoyed me. It emphasized the extent to which this show has lost all control of its timeline and geographical awareness. I knew that Alexandria had been taken over by the Commonwealth, but that was through Hornsby, who was on Pamela's bad side, to say the least, and is now dead... so who is running the former Alexandria (and Hilltop? Question mark? Now?) How long has it been? I thought there were still some of our heroes/good guys in those old communities, or did they really clear them entirely out? Man, I don't know, and I don't really care.

It just feels like another retread, instead of a propulsion into something new, the way I was hoping for. I wanted the Outpost or the work camps or whatever, to be giving us new insights into the larger world. I thought we'd be connecting the Commonwealth to how other parts of the world have been surviving. I thought this would be more of a direct line back to Rick, is what I'm saying. There's so little time left!

Grey's Anatomy: Haunted (19x04)

Happy Halloween!

Cons:

I actually wish they'd done more with the spooky holiday vibes. It was cute to see Bailey in a costume or whatever, but they could have had slightly more fun with the whole concept. What about Meredith's younger two children, did they get to have a fun night trick-or-treating? What about Teddy and Owen's kids? Felt like this episode could have had more checking in with the various families.

Say it with me: Nick is boring. This week he was nothing more than a boring sounding board for Meredith to bounce off of. I miss when she dated interesting and dynamic men with personalities. Sigh.

I thought that Jules's little rant about the cadavers being disrespected was a bit odd. Surely in med school she had to dissect a cadaver? She must know that donating bodies to science includes medical training purposes? I just thought it was odd to make her a mouthpiece for this. Almost like it was just there so that Owen could reassure us, the audience, that stabbing a dead guy's body and pretending there was still a way to save him wasn't actually as ghoulish as it seemed. To be clear, it is kind of ghoulish. But it's also an opportunity to learn, and that felt like an obvious truth that a resident would already know.

The Handmaid's Tale: Motherland (5x08)

Man, this is a good episode. This is a good show.

Cons:

The only thing I can think of as a con for this episode is the things it didn't include. Moira hasn't had a lot of connection to this season's main plot, and I've been missing her perspective on things. She and Luke and June are all co-parenting Nichole together, and she has been pushed to the side of things for a while now.

Pros:

June's plot in this episode centers around the big question of whether or not she should go back to Gilead for Hannah. On the one side, there's Lawrence, setting up this New Bethlehem project that will hypothetically begin to mend some of the human rights violations of Gilead. He wants June to come there, to be able to live with Luke and Nichole, to be near to Hannah when she becomes the head of her own household. And then on the other hand, Tuello is telling her to please, please not go back, that she is symbolic of American resistance to Gilead, and her giving in will be a huge blow. He promises to work as hard as he can to get Hannah out, as long as June will stay put in Canada.

I love this dichotomy. It's such a culmination of June's struggles over the entire history of the show. All she's wanted to do is save Hannah, she has felt like such a failure leaving Gilead without her. And yet this is a real issue, a choice that has huge ramifications. Rita says she'd do anything if her son was still alive and she could be with him. But Luke points out that Gilead cannot be trusted. The chance to be closer to Hannah likely isn't worth the risk of putting themselves, and Nichole, under Gilead's control once again.

Doctor Who: The Power of the Doctor (2022 Halloween Special)

Well, that's the end of the Thirteenth Doctor. Does anyone else feel like she still never quite hit her stride?

Cons:

Dan ended up being one of the most useless companions in Doctor Who history! I found him so charming and interesting to start, he had so much potential, but pretty much all his adventuring with the Doctor happened offscreen. We never got to establish a relationship between him and the Doctor properly.

And that's just generally true of so much of this Doctor's run. I loved the stuff with her and Yaz. There was a brief spark of something great with the Fam, there for a while. It sure was great to see Graham. But in terms of who this Doctor is, and what her specific vibe is, I don't think I ever really clicked in with it. It's not the acting, I think that was pretty damn solid across the board. It just felt like someone was holding these seasons back from reaching their full potential.

The Walking Dead: What's Been Lost (11x20)

I've been missing Carol since we came back from hiatus! She's the best.

Cons:

I was celebrating after the last couple episodes that it seemed the Commonwealth stuff was done with, and we could move on to endgame stuff, but instead it's all dragging on a bit much. Clearly now we know that the Commonwealth is going to connect us to some bigger story of surviving human communities. It might even be our bridge back to the long-missing Rick Grimes. But at the same time, I'm thinking about Hilltop and Alexandria and Oceanside and all the other shit we want to be wrapping up in the last four episodes of the show, and thus having Pamela to deal with as a villain, and Hornsby still in the picture, starts to feel a little frustrating. I definitely thought Zombie Sebastian killed Hornsby last week, but I guess Pamela wanted to torment him a bit first. When will villains ever learn?

Yumiko's journey this episode was good in some ways, but it just feels like we never spent enough time on her and her brother, on showing how she's been doing in the Commonwealth during all this time. Now we're going to have some Commonwealth courtroom drama, it looks like? I'm not necessarily that mad about it, I just feel like it's odd in terms of its placement in the season as a whole.