Once Upon a Time: Broken Heart (5x10)

I don't know... while in theory this episode should have been a total winner for me, there were a few things that just didn't fully click. It wasn't bad by any means, but I just feel... sort of disheartened. Let's talk about it.

Cons:

So, the main plot of this week's episode is dealing with the fallout of the revelation that Hook is a Dark One. We see how in Camelot he is angry at Emma, but Emma tries to convince him that they can defeat the Darkness inside both of them, as long as they work together. Hook seems to trust Emma, and Emma proves her trust in Hook by handing over Excalibur. Then it turns out... nope! Hook has fully succumbed to the Darkness. He decides to enact his own Curse to get back to Storybrooke - that way, he can finally get his long-awaited revenge on Rumple, who is still back there. Emma tries to stop him, but Hook crushes Merlin's heart as a way to enact the curse. This is a loophole - Nimue loves Merlin, so since she is all Dark Ones, it works the same way as Hook crushing the heart of the person he loves. Emma adds in a memory erasure to the Curse, erasing Hook and everybody else's memories of the fact that he's the Dark One. She figures this way Hook won't remember why he enacted the Curse to get back to Storybrooke in the first place, and this will protect him.

Doctor Who: Heaven Sent (9x11)

My eyes have rolled so far out of my head that they've fallen straight out of my skull and are rolling down the hallway and down the stairs and out the front door and... yeah, you get the point. Seriously. Screw this.

Cons:

I'm going to start by saying that I know that this episode got a lot of very positive reviews. Frankly, I'm astounded by that. I thought this was a whole lot of pretentious drivel and for the most part it barely held my attention. But, since I know I'm in the minority on that opinion, I am going to try and talk about the elements that worked well, and why I think this episode impressed so many people.

So, my main complaint is that this episode contains two "plot twists" that just did not work for me whatsoever. Basically, the Doctor is trapped in a place he can't quite figure out, and he seems to be stuck in a time loop. The only way to stop a terrible monster from killing him horribly is for him to reveal a secret truth. In order to protect the secret of the "hybrid," a mythic half-Dalek-half-Time Lord, the Doctor allows himself to be killed again and again as he struggles to break through a barrier to get out of the prison.

Elementary: All My Exes Live in Essex (4x04)

This episode was pretty solid! It didn't overwhelm me with awesomeness or anything, but I greatly enjoyed it. Let's get started.

Cons:

The subplot this week was good, but it felt very disconnected from the main plot. Basically, it featured a woman doing research on Joan out of revenge for Joan poking around in police officer's lives. This woman, Cortez, doesn't think it's Joan's business. I thought this plot thread had a lot of potential, and it actually could have been a main focus for an episode or two. But instead of exploring it to its full potential, it was wrapped up too quickly, and didn't connect to the episode's main story.

And speaking of main stories, I'm not convinced that anything in this episode had anything at all to do with the A-plot. That's fine in theory, but with a long season like this, it's disheartening to lose momentum for the main event. There was only one very small mention of the elder Mr. Holmes this week.

Castle: Mr. & Mrs. Castle (8x08)

Okay, I don't mean to be so negative but... what the hell was that?

Cons:

Castle and Beckett are back together, proving once and for all that their separation was total nonsense. Nothing but a cheap narrative ploy to mix up things that did not need to be mixed up. Castle learns the truth about Beckett's plans to take down these evil drug people, and he confronts Beckett, asking her why in hell she had to break up with him to do this. Beckett goes on with some nonsense about protecting him, but Castle shoots down that argument just as firmly as I've been shooting it down all season - he points out that Beckett could have told Castle the whole truth and then they could have staged a breakup and took down the bad guy together. Castle says that Beckett is clearly broken, needing the obsession to drive her.

All of this would actually be a good point if Beckett's real behavior had backed it up during the season. But she "pushed Castle away" in name only, continuing to see him on a regular basis, and not fighting very hard against his attempts to fight his way back into her life. How does that indicate a broken person unable to form a good relationship? And how is that supposed to protect him from the baddies? It makes no sense. And if that's the explanation we're going with, why on earth did Castle forgive her so easily? It's pretty weak.

The Walking Dead: Heads Up (6x07)

What the heck? What the what the what the what? I'm just... what?

Cons:

Why did they even bother to try and fake us out with the Glenn death thing? What a cheap marketing ploy! Like, I figured what with all the hoopla surrounding his death that he had probably miraculously survived. But to tell us that just a few episodes later makes no sense. Why even bother to do any of this? Why did we have to think that Glenn was dead? I mean, nobody believed it, first of all. And second of all, it's just such a slap in the face to the audience to pull a "just kidding!" that's so uncreative that literally every single fan of the show had already predicted the exact outcome. Nicholas' body was the one being torn apart, Glenn gets under the dumpster. Uninspired to say the least.

Doctor Who: Face the Raven (9x10)

I'm annoyed. Not surprised, but annoyed. Siiiiiiggggghhhhhh.

Cons:

I'm not mad that Clara died. Honestly, I'm not. I mean it was pretty obvious it was coming, but still, I felt like it was an okay ending for her character. The companions have too high of a survival rate anyway. And nothing else would ever make Clara leave her adventurous life with the Doctor. Death was the only way. But here's the thing -  Clara's death was all about the Doctor. Did you notice that? In her final moments, she told the Doctor not to seek revenge. Okay, fine. But she didn't mention her students, or her family, or anything freakin' personal about herself. I think she may have mumbled Danny Pink's name once, vaguely, but for the most part these final touching scenes were all about Clara comforting the Doctor in her final moments. Seriously! It's not Jenna Coleman's fault, but Clara just sucks as a character. Her entire life and death revolve around the Doctor to the point that it's absurd. How is it that a character who actually has a canonical life outside of the Doctor (being a teacher) could fail to have any personality outside of him?

Grey's Anatomy: Things We Lost in the Fire (12x08)

This episode did not feel like a mid-season finale. It didn't have any over-the-top catastrophe with multiple deaths. None of our principle characters are in physical danger. A few big moments are interspersed with a lot of smaller details. Despite it not feeling as big as a mid-season finale normally does, I still greatly enjoyed what I got.

Cons:

Normally, I don't mind the voice overs in Grey's Anatomy, even if they can be a bit hokey. This week, though, the whole "fire" analogy felt particularly forced. The fire itself was rather unnecessary. We could just as easily have had all the patient-based plot threads this week without trying to centralize things with a big disaster. The only thing this served to accomplish was to have Bailey handle her first serious catastrophe as chief. This idea wasn't given a lot of time to develop, so it almost felt like it could have been done away with altogether.

Speaking of very little time to develop, Penny had almost no screen time in this episode. Believe me, I'm not complaining about that on principle - I'm not exactly a big fan of Penny, as I find her character to be pretty boring as of yet. But in terms of the pacing of this season, I find it odd that her character didn't have anything to do in the mid-season finale. It seems like after all that buildup and the fallout of her identity, she should continue to play a bigger role moving forward.

The Vampire Diaries: Mommie Dearest (7x07)

Okay! This is an episode with a lot of things to love, and a few things to grumble about. Let's take a look!

Cons:

Caroline is pregnant with Alaric's twins. I'm sorry, but it's just weird. And they did a fake out thing where at first you think she isn't, but it turns out the babies were just cloaked, so they've been there the whole time. This is just... weird. I'm very uncomfortable with the idea of Caroline being pregnant when she had no desire to be, and in a situation where she can't make decisions about her own body because the babies aren't even hers. It's strange and it feels very forced.

Valerie is actually growing on me a little bit as a character, but I hate the fact that Valerie is the one to tell Caroline about the baby that she lost at Julian's hands. I really thought Stefan should be the one to do that. It seems like the Stefan/Caroline romance is being ripped apart before it really gets a chance to get underway, and I'm feeling frustrated by the missed opportunities.

The Big Bang Theory: The Platonic Permutation (9x09)

Aww... I actually felt really bad for Amy in this episode! Unfortunately, this installment was kind of a dud, with the exception of one plot thread. Let's take a look.

Cons:

This week, we get a look at our cast of characters as they celebrate Thanksgiving. Penny and Leonard prepare to host a meal for everybody, but they get into a fight about Leonard knowing Penny better than she knows him. It all starts with Penny not knowing Leonard's birthday. However, Leonard accidentally lets slip a piece of information that he learned from reading Penny's private journal, and the argument escalates. Leonard ends up wearing lingerie that he got for Penny in order to embarrass himself and get her to forgive him. Nothing about this plot thread was particularly funny, and it also didn't offer anything high-stakes. Their argument was mostly played for laughs, although in my opinion not knowing your husband's birthday is pretty awful, and invading your wife's privacy by reading her private journal is pretty despicable. I think we were supposed to find this little spat amusing, but it didn't really work for me at all. In addition, this was another example of this show wasting opportunities. I wanted to see Penny and Leonard host a big fun Thanksgiving dinner, but instead we only saw the prep work and no real final result.

Elementary: Tag, You're Me (4x03)

Ehhhh.... kind of a weak one in my opinion. Not terrible, but not strong. Let's take a look.

Cons:

The cases themselves have never been the strongest thing about Elementary, but often they draw my interest by bringing in an interesting moral or political question. This week didn't have that. I won't go into the details, but basically this week our case involved a website that matched up people who looked similar, and proved that certain facial recognition software had serious flaws. The murderer ended up being a cop avenging his brother's death in a frat party's hazing years ago, but the crimes multiply as we find out that one of the guys from the site set up the murders. Nothing about this really clicked for me. It sort of felt like a couple of different cases being squeezed into one. There were no particularly interesting revelations, and Sherlock and Joan's involvement in the case felt lackluster. This was their first week back with the NYPD, and I wanted a bit more.

Speaking of that, we didn't have any good scenes between Sherlock and Gregson and Bell, as they welcomed him and Joan back from their brief hiatus. I thought maybe there would be some good character moments there, but there was nothing special about this case at all. It felt like any other week.

Supernatural: Plush (11x07)

Supernatural is killing it this season with the C-plot episodes. Awesome! Let's take a look.

Cons:

This episode ends with a scene of Sam and Dean in the impala. Sam discusses his visions of the Cage with Dean, thinking that maybe that's where the answers are about the Darkness. We also see Sam praying to God at the beginning, asking for answers about what he's been seeing. All of that is fantastic, and I'm so excited to see where it's leading. But Dean is being way too dismissive about this. He keeps brushing off Sam's concerns, and it's getting ridiculous. If you don't want Sam to lie to you, maybe you should try and listen to him when he talks, Dean! I feel so bad for Sam, because he feels so alone right now with these visions. I wish that Dean would take him a little more seriously.

Modern Family: Phil's Sexy, Sexy House (7x07)

Very funny episode. Best we've had all year. This is one of those episodes that plays to Modern Family's strengths. A series of silly misunderstandings, interconnecting plots bringing all the characters together, and a clear theme. Very nice!

Cons:

The only slight misstep of the episode was Manny's subplot with baby Joe. It wasn't even necessarily a bad subplot, but it didn't get a lot of time to be fleshed out, and wasn't particularly stand-out in any way. Basically, Manny uses Joe's adorableness to win favor with a girl he's invited over. Joe doesn't behave, latching on to the girl's leg and biting, pretending to be a "bad dog." Manny puts Joe in Stella's cage to punish him. Like I said, this just didn't have very much to offer.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Many Heads, One Tale (3x08)

It happened. It finally happened. Oh my God. I cannot even process this. I've been waiting since the pilot episode and it finally freakin' happened. C'mon, you all know what I'm talking about. Let's... start with some other things, though.

Cons:

So the twist with the ATCU this week is that instead of trying to cure Inhumans, it looks like they're shopping out fish oil pills to as many people as possible, trying to get people to transform. I like this twist, but what I didn't like was the super obvious twist on the twist, which was that Rosalind didn't know about it. I know I'm being sort of fickle, because last week I said that I hoped she wasn't Hydra. And I stand by that. But it just felt sort of obvious. The more Coulson yelled at her to reveal the truth, the more clear it was that Rosalind didn't know what was going on. Maybe I would have felt a stronger connection in this scene if Coulson could have given Rosalind the benefit of the doubt, instead of just jumping to conclusions.

Castle: The Last Seduction (8x07)

This episode was such a confusing mix of annoying and wonderful. I'm really happy with a few things, but still aggravated by a lot. Let's take a look.

Cons:

Hayley was in this episode, and I'm still struggling to figure out what the hell she's doing in this story. This week, she helped Beckett by going under cover at a spa and trying to uncover a woman with an adulterous secret. Was Hayley really the only person who was available for this? Aren't there other women working at the precinct? And what is Hayley, exactly? Is she consulting with the NYPD? I'm confused and I'm struggling to find her character interesting. There was one jarring moment when she asked one of the suspects to tell her the name of her tattoo artist because she really liked her tattoo. No offense, but the tattoo was a really basic pattern on the lower back. It was annoying, because if Hayley was going to make a point of talking about it, shouldn't the tattoo actually look cool?

Vikram also made an appearance, to annoyingly point out to Beckett that she shouldn't be spending time with Castle because of the ongoing dangers of their illicit research. Go away, Vikram. You make no sense and annoy me greatly. 

Once Upon a Time: Birth/The Bear King (5x08/09)

Oh my Gosh we have so much to talk about here. This is going to be an insanely long review. But hey, it's a double episode, and both halves were awesome. Let's get started.

Cons:

Well... the fact that this is a double episode is rather puzzling. Each episode individually was awesome, but they barely connected at all. Maybe it was just a scheduling issue, but I feel like the double episode week could have been saved for a different point in the season. Previous double episodes have been continuations. This was not. It was odd, and the second episode, while very good, definitely cut off the momentum of the first episode, which did more to carry on the A-plot.

This is a small thing, but it really distracted me. The actress playing Merida's mom Elinor looked way too young. She looked like she was the same age as her daughter, or at most only ten years older. I'm not sure why it bothered me so much, except for maybe the fact that I feel like older women don't get nearly as many opportunities in Hollywood.

The Walking Dead: Always Accountable (6x06)

Yay, Daryl! I missed him. Unfortunately, this episode wasn't as good as one might have hoped. I'm pressed for time, so let's jump right in.

Cons:

The pacing of this episode just felt a little... off to me. It sort of dragged. There wasn't enough solid focus on one character for the slow pace to work, like in Morgan's episode a few weeks back. And there wasn't enough switching things up between the characters for my attention to be suitably grabbed all the way through.

The plot of the episode is pretty basic - Daryl, Sasha and Abraham get separated on their way back to Alexandria due to a group of strangers shooting at them. Daryl gets kidnapped by a couple of new characters who appear to be on the run from the folks with guns. All of this would be compelling, but the new characters were not at all interesting. I wish I had had something more to grab on to with these guys, but as it stands I just couldn't feel invested.

Doctor Who: Sleep No More (9x09)

Unfortunately, this was not a good episode. I don't have a lot of positives to mention at all.

Cons:

This episode was found footage, with a twist. But even with the twist, I still think that this found footage thing is getting really old. And if you can't come up with something new and totally fresh to do with it, you shouldn't bother. I'm not convinced this episode totally knew what to make of its found footage framework, and although there were a few cool moments, for the most part there wasn't anything creative about camera angles or anything. The whole story could have been told just as effectively without this element.

Mark Gatiss wrote this episode, and usually I can depend on him to come up with creative and distinct characters. But this episode just didn't have that. In many ways, the setup reminded me of the "Under the Lake"/"Before the Flood" double episode, what with it all taking place in an enclosed space, and the focus on a group of people in mounting peril. But that story worked mainly on the merits of the very distinct and memorable characters. This episode didn't really have any standouts at all.

Elementary: Evidence of Things Not Seen (4x02)

I'm going to be brief in this review, because I'm pressed for time. Let's take a quick look.

Cons:

The case itself was sort of incidental, and I'm not going to spend a lot of time talking about it. Essentially a team of scientists are murdered, and their research is stolen. Turns out they were working on manipulating brain waves in an attempt to create a way of effectively influencing people's opinions. In the end, the stolen research was a red herring, because it turns out that they hadn't been at all successful in their experiments. Sherlock ultimately solves the case because he notices that a pet lab rat was also dead a the scene of the crime, and he puts together that a machine was used to cause the victims to suffocate, so that the killer could shoot them easily without resistance. There were lots of twists and turns, such as Chinese businessmen and missing laptops, as well. Nothing about the case really grabbed my attention, and I think it's because they were trying a bit too hard. I didn't really like the fake out as to the way the victims were murdered. Sure, they were shot, but first they were suffocated so they couldn't resist. Why not just deprive them of air and not bother with the gun? And some of the red herrings and outlier suspects were just a complete waste of our time.

The Big Bang Theory: The Mystery Date Observation (9x08)

This was a pretty cute episode, actually. It focuses on Amy and Sheldon and their struggles to move on from each other, with humorous results. Let's get started.

Cons:

There are a few jokes in this episode about Penny and Leonard's marriage. Penny says that she was forced to bring Leonard along with her now that they're married, and jokes that she threw away all her high heels because she's married to him now. That wouldn't bother me except for the fact that at the beginning of this season it seemed like maybe they were going to address real issues in their relationship, and now it's clear that their relationship is only being used for humor. For all the jokes that this episode made, it didn't really push anything forward on a larger plot level.

The Vampire Diaries: Best Served Cold (7x06)

Oooooooookay then? What the what?! Things got weird this week, and there are some parts of this that I'm not actually all that thrilled about, to be honest. But in other ways, this episode certainly shook things up and got me very interested in where we're going next.

Cons:

Caroline is apparently pregnant with Alaric's twins. At the wedding, the Gemini Witches in attendance were chanting something to save the babies, apparently transferring them into Caroline. I have had my fill of creepy vampire babies from Twilight, thank you very much. And while I'm sure this will be quite different from that, I'm still more than a little annoyed, if I'm being honest. It's just... weird. Caroline didn't have any say over this, and it's creepy and weird that she's suddenly carrying Alaric's children.

Faux-Jo dying so quickly was also a bummer. Apparently, since Jo is human and the soul inside her was a vampire, Jo's body can't withstand life for very long. While the scene of Faux-Jo dying was quite touching, it was odd to me that they wouldn't try and drag this out a bit longer. I was excited to see an interesting sort of friendship develop between Alaric and this person. It could have been a continuing plot thread for sure, and it's odd that it was discarded so quickly.

Grey's Anatomy: Something Against You (12x07)

This was a pretty standard episode of Grey's Anatomy, meaning that we spent time with a lot of our key players. It's going to be difficult to remember all of the stuff going on here, but I'll do my best not to go on too long.

Cons:

Jackson and April. I know I'm a broken record, but these two just don't really interest me. I like them both individually as characters, but when the plot line focuses on their relationship, and all its ups and downs, I just lose interest. This week, Jackson asks April out to dinner. April is thrilled, thinking this is a sign they can start repairing their relationship, but Jackson is intending the dinner to serve as a platform to talk about divorce. At the dinner, April gets paged to the hospital before they can get to the serious talking. They agree to talk later, and then at the end of the episode it looks like they've fallen back into bed together. This is going to be tedious, I can tell. April will be all happy and think they can repair everything, while Jackson will feel regretful and guilty. The roller-coaster is exhausting. They are by far the least interesting relationship on the show right now.

Modern Family: The More You Ignore Me (7x06)

Kind of a mess of an episode, unfortunately. There were a few things to enjoy, though.

Cons:

The Dunphy's plot was sort of all over the place. We learn that Luke stole the car to go see a girl, and got caught driving without his license. Phil decides to crack down on the punishment, while Claire is actually relieved to see Luke participating in normal teenage rebellion. This plot thread could have been interesting, and I can certainly think of many avenues we could have gone down with the idea of Luke being arrested. In particular, we could have explored the switched roles of Phil as the enforcer and Claire as the "cool" parent. Or we could have addressed Luke's problematic behavior with women. But instead of doing any of that, we got Phil worrying about his masculinity. Is it just me, or have we done this before? It's getting old! Claire is constantly having to reassure her husband that she finds him manly enough. It's very annoying.

Supernatural: Our Little World (11x06)

Yikes. Things are gearing up in kind of a horrifying way. I actually have some big complaints about this episode, but I think the good stuff was good enough to sort of neutralize my criticisms. Let's jump in.

Cons:

In this episode, Cas finally finds Metatron. He gives us an important piece of relevant information: The Darkness is God's sister. But other than that, all the scenes with Metatron and Cas seemed to be just an excuse for a violent fight sequence, and a way to retread the same questions that we've already heard about Cas' place in the world. As Cas was bloodying Metatron to a pulp, Metatron kept going on about how Cas was everybody's puppet, and wasn't he tired of being used by his enemies and his friends? All of these points are totally important... but also totally obvious and rehashed. I guess what I'm saying is that Metatron's purpose in this episode could have been squished down to just a few seconds while he dropped his important plotty information.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Chaos Theory (3x07)

This was, no surprise, another great episode. I had a few things that I was a bit iffy about, but for the most part things are still going strong.

Cons:

Things come to a head in this episode, as Lincoln contacts Mack and tells S.H.I.E.L.D. what he knows about Lash - he's a S.H.I.E.L.D. employee. From there, they quickly put together that Lash is Andrew. By the end of the episode, he's been neutralized with ATCU's nifty suspended animation goo. All of this felt a little too hasty to me. Lash was a great mystery, and the revelation of his true identity was very impressive as well. For all of that buildup, the fallout of the truth was over so quickly. Obviously Andrew will come back into the story at some point... but why not explore this idea for a few more episodes before fridging him?

Castle: Cool Boys (8x06)

A Beckett-less episode. Strange. Still, this was pretty fun. I'm just going to get straight to it. I apologize for my brevity.

Cons:

Same complaint as always. Beckett and Castle's separation doesn't make any sense, so it's difficult to be emotionally invested.

This episode was so busy focusing on other things that it completely dropped the Ryan and Esposito tension that's been going on. That annoys me - these two were at serious odds over the results of the Sergeant's exam, and now there's no sign of any tension whatsoever.

The Walking Dead: Now (6x05)

This was exactly the episode I was hoping to get. We stuck around in Alexandria, and actually explored the fallout from the first few episodes of the season. And there's lot of fallout to deal with. Not sure how I'm going to remember all the little details of this episode, honestly. Let's jump in.

Cons:

Well... kind of what I just said. I loved that this episode brought us back to Alexandria, but I get a little bit overwhelmed with all of the characters that we're supposed to keep track of. The moment that got the most lost in the shuffle was when Aaron admitted that it was his fault that the Wolves found Alexandria. That could have been a powerful character moment, but it got lost. I liked Aaron in the rest of the episode, though. There were other little things like that. None of them were bad - but it just felt like we didn't have proper time to digest and process all of the development here. And so many characters were barely in the episode, or absent altogether - Michonne, Carol, Gabriel, Morgan, etc.

Once Upon a Time: Nimue (5x07)

This. Is. Awesome. Everything is falling into place excellently. I have a few little nitpicking complaints, but mostly I'm thrilled with the direction this is going. Things have to get worse for our heroes before they can get better, right?

Cons:

The back story about Merlin and Nimue was for the most part excellent, but the entire "shock" of the episode is built on the reveal that Nimue is the first Dark One. It was painfully obvious from the first moment, and so Merlin's constant elusive statements were a bit hokey. It would have been okay for us to know the whole time that Nimue was the Dark One. It wouldn't really have ruined the suspense at all.

Merlin and Emma go on a quest in this episode to get an ember from Prometheus' fire, with which Excalibur and the Dagger can be reunited. That's all well and good, but I never quite understood why the two of them needed to do this on their own. Wouldn't it have been better to have Hook or maybe Mary Margaret and David along? They might have helped Emma remember the goodness within her. Maybe she had to make the choice unfettered by her loved ones, but honestly I think Merlin was taking a rather silly and unnecessary risk.

Doctor Who: The Zygon Inversion (9x08)

So... this double episode has definitely been a weak point in the season thus far. There were a lot of elements that I felt were very successful, but I never felt like things clicked into a coherent and masterful whole. Let's take a look at part two of this Zygon-based adventure.

Cons:

I'll start with the big one. The entire episode hinges on a scene at the very end when Kate (human) and Bonnie (Zygon) face off and contemplate pushing a button that will destroy the ceasefire between humans and Zygons. Kate wants to push the button that will kill all the Zygons, while Bonnie wants to push the button that will force all the Zygons out of hiding, and cause panic and destruction. The Doctor is the only thing stopping them from pushing these buttons - he talks to them, trying to get them to see that war is an endless cycle, and that the only way to get off the crazy rollercoaster is to forgive. The Doctor also draws on his own experience with war to convince these two women not to push the buttons. They both back off, swayed by the Doctor's rhetoric. Bonnie actually realizes that both boxes are empty, and that the whole thing is there to keep the political balance safe.

The Vampire Diaries: Live Through This (7x05)

Ah, yes. Damon and Stefan glorious bromance. This is what I was waiting for. However, my personal preferences don't mean I can ignore some of this episode's flaws, either. Let's take a look!

Cons:

In this episode, Damon and Stefan team up with Valerie to find Julian and stop him from being reunited with Lily. Caroline stays at home and worries about Stefan going off with his first love. This plot thread has just become insulting to Caroline's character. I hate her constant insecurity about Stefan and Valerie. I also find Valerie uninteresting as a character, and the entire concept of their star-crossed past to be silly and overdone.

The Big Bang Theory: The Spock Resonance (9x07)

This episode made me miss Leonard Nimoy again. Seriously, I loved that man and I love Spock so much. In many ways I was hoping for more with this setup, but it also makes sense that they would want to focus on the characters rather than on making a full-episode tribute to a dearly missed man. Let’s dive in.

Cons:

Leonard, Penny, and Raj all felt like distractions in this episode. Raj was there to say a couple of one-liners about Howard and Bernadette’s situation, while Leonard and Penny just sat on the sidelines and reacted to what was going on with Sheldon. In Raj’s case, I almost wish they had left him out entirely. With Leonard and Penny, I wish they could have integrated into the story a little more strongly.

Pros:

Elementary: The Past Is Parent (4x01)

This episode didn’t really feel like a season opener, but it was a solid installment nonetheless. I’m thrilled to have this show back on the air after such a long wait, and I’m excited to see how these new developments play out.

Cons:

Like I said, this didn’t feel like a premiere. It wasn’t… epic enough. It was a fallout episode from last year’s finale, honestly. And while that’s fine in many respects, it was a little off-putting to start the season so slowly.

Also, Bell didn’t have enough screen time. I’m a broken record, I know. Gregson got his scene with Sherlock, and Bell had a brief moment with Joan, but I always want more of these two, Bell in particular. Hopefully we’ll get more of them this season.

Grey's Anatomy: The Me Nobody Knows (12x06)

I think we'll just jump right in with this one. I'm generally pretty happy.

Cons:

The main story this week, which I quite liked, centered on Penny starting work at the hospital. She's on Meredith's service, so awkwardness ensues. I did like this plot thread over all, but there's one significant thing I need to mention... Penny is boring. Grey's Anatomy is amazing at creating nuanced and complex characters. Penny is still new, but in the three episodes she's appeared in, I've gotten the sense of a timid girl in an impossible situation, and nothing else. I don't feel like I know her. That could be an intentional thing, as she's definitely supposed to be an outsider, but at the same time I do hope that she gets more distinct and interesting soon. It's difficult for me to understand Callie's attraction to her as of right now. I'll need to see more.

Supernatural: Thin Lizzie (11x05)

Surprise A-plot episode! No way! In some ways I wish this had just been a standard ghost episode, but in other ways I'm thrilled that we're pushing the main story forward with such alacrity. Let's get started.

Cons:

Not much utilization of the Lizzie Borden idea. I really loved what this episode ended up being about, but I can't help but be slightly disappointed in all we didn't get to see. I think this show might have done some cool things with Lizzie Borden, and all the mystery and horror surrounding that. But we barely got any of it before the Amara plot line swept in and took over. Like I said - I enjoyed the plot line that we did get, but still think I might have liked a Borden-based ghost story as well.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Among Us Hide... (3x06)

Woah! What?! I can't believe I didn't see that coming. I'm feeling a little off my game, to be honest. Usually things like this don't catch me off guard. Was this a really obvious twist and I just totally missed it, or did they do a good job of keeping the truth hidden? Let's get started.

Cons:

Uh... I don't really have anything to complain about! Actually, if I were to lodge a tiny little nitpick, it would be that the Fitz and Simmons stuff could have been taken out of the episode and it wouldn't have hurt the overall flow at all. This show has a lot of plot threads and sometimes I think it's okay to cut one out of the story. Simmons got the whole episode last week - if we hadn't seen her or Fitz this week it would have been okay. I liked seeing them, but it wasn't necessary and might have messed with the pacing of the episode just a tiny bit.

Oh! One other thing. In this episode, Werner Von Strucker gets one moment to shine, as he reveals the big secret of Lash's identity. And then he dies. Von Struckers seem to be dropping like flies, and that's a little lame. That character didn't even get a chance to do anything before he was dispatched.

The Walking Dead: Here's Not Here (6x04)

As an individual episode, this was great. But I do have a complaint. Let's take a look.

Cons:

This season is enormously frustrating because so far it's had zero continuity. Episode One was about Rick and the others trying to get the Walkers away from Alexandria. Episode Two was about the Alexandrians fighting off the Wolves. Episode Three was back to Rick, et. al. And then this episode, Episode Four, was a flashback episode about Morgan. I find it enormously difficult to settle in to the season when there's no consistency. As much as I think this episode was amazing, I found myself resenting all the screen time that Morgan was getting, when I just wanted to know what was going on with Rick and the rest of our group.

Once Upon a Time: The Bear and the Bow (5x06)

This episode had a focus on Merida, Belle, and Rumple. Because of that, I'm actually rather surprised that I liked it as much as I did. It's not like I have a problem with Merida or Belle, but I wouldn't have been surprised if this episode had bored me. But it didn't! I have some complaints, but I'm generally pretty pleased!

Cons:

In Storybrooke, Emma is still on a quest to pull Excalibur from the stone, and she still believes Rumple is the one who should do this. Rumple escapes Merida and runs to Belle, so Emma forces Merida to try and kill Belle so that Rumple will be a hero to defend her. In the end Rumple ends up pulling Excalibur from the stone. Rumple declares that Emma has made a mistake - now Emma has the sword, sure, but she's also made Rumple into a powerful enemy. So... this bothers me. It feels like a bit of a letdown, to have the sword out of the stone so quickly. I wanted more drama and buildup with that! Also, I don't believe for a second that Rumple is suddenly a hero. He did the bare minimum (unintentional pun lol) in defeating Merida, and suddenly he's gained all his confidence? I think this show is more complex than that, and I'm hoping we'll see that it's not as easy as all that. As it stands, I think Rumple got let off rather easy.

Doctor Who: The Zygon Invasion (9x07)

For the most part this episode felt like setup for whatever happens next week, but I still quite enjoyed it. I'm going to be a bit brief, since like I said, this feels like mostly setup.

Cons:

What I just said. There were some pacing issues in this episode such that I didn't feel like we were really keyed into the story until almost the very end. Choppy transitions and no real screen time between Clara and the Doctor made this feel like a long, drawn-out prologue to a good story, but without the good story to follow.

There were also parts of this episode that had me rolling my eyes - namely, how stupid is UNIT? I can't believe this organization actually let a population of volatile aliens disperse among the humans of the Earth with no real safety protocol in place for when something inevitably went wrong. I'm sorry, but there's only so far you should go in your trust and benevolence. I'm all for incorporating the Zygons into Earth, but when you know almost nothing about another species, shouldn't there be more safety protocols in place? Yeesh.