Doctor Who: The Return of Doctor Mysterio (2016 Christmas Special)

2016's Doctor Who Christmas special was... unoffensive and bland. There were a few things that I enjoyed while watching, a few things I didn't enjoy, and when it ended I pretty much forgot it all instantly. Not exactly a masterpiece.

Cons:

Like I said, this whole thing was pretty bland. There was a slight connection to last year's Christmas special, as we learn that the Doctor and River have just had their final "date," lasting many years. Ostensibly, this is the Doctor's first real foray out into the world since River left him to go die in the Library. That's a nice little connection, but the story doesn't really play up on it very much. Same can be said for the Doctor's sort-of companion, Nardole, who was the head of the Hydroflax last we saw him. The Doctor keeps him around because he's afraid he'll be lonely. An interesting conceit, but it's not handled as skillfully as the 11th Doctor's love for his Cyberman head, and we don't get enough time to really parse this out. Nardole's presence ends up feeling like a buildup to whatever his character will be in Series Ten, instead of a proper piece of this episode itself.

Then there's the disconnect between the stuff happening with the Doctor, and the stuff happening with the superhero. Grant was a young boy when he met the Doctor for the first time and inadvertently swallowed a powerful gemstone, giving the superhero-obsessed little boy the superpowers he always wanted. Years later, Grant is posing as a nanny for the child of a woman he's been pining for all his life. This woman, a reporter, is smitten by the mysterious "Ghost," who is of course Grant's alter-ego. You can't get much more cliche. It's the stereotypical superhero story in every way, without even a bit of nuance to change things up. Grant is Superman, complete with a glasses-wearing unassuming alternate personality. And Lucy is Lois Lane, down to the fact that she's a nosy reporter who, despite being portrayed as quite intelligent, is blinded by her smitten feelings for the superhero she's trying to investigate. Ugh. Stop.

Elementary: Pick Your Poison (5x10)

Usually, I really enjoy how understated Elementary can be. Unlike in other cop shows, the personal lives of the detectives are not inexplicably and frequently tied to the case of the week. Instead, the detectives' personal investment in the cases is reasonably slight. But every once in a while, I need some high drama from my procedural shows, and this episode felt like a bit of a wasted opportunity to give us that. In other ways, I do still admire the restraint... let's take a look.

Cons:

The case involves Joan's medical license being used to write out fraudulent prescriptions. I was really enticed by the possibilities of this plot thread, but the guilty doctor is quickly found, and Joan's personal investment in the case is quickly pointless. It would have upped the stakes if Joan's reputation had really been on the line, but as it was, there was nothing much going on here for her personally. That's not to say I didn't enjoy the case, but it went down an avenue it really didn't need to go down. We already had a compelling stake in events.

Speaking more specifically about the case, I thought the outcome was fairly obvious from early on. I was actually rolling my eyes at Sherlock et. al. for not realizing it was the son who had shot his mother. That's never a good sign.

The Big Bang Theory: The Birthday Synchronicity (10x11)

A decent episode with a heartwarming new addition to the family. Say hello to Halley Wolowitz!

Cons:

I feel like a broken record saying this, but I have to point out that Raj and Stuart have been useless at best and infuriatingly annoying at worst for most of this season. While Bernadette is about to give birth, we also have to contend with Raj and Stuart competing over who has the more pathetic life. Not. Interesting.

Also, there was this moment when everybody was in the hospital waiting for Bernadette to give birth, and they all discuss the progress they've made in their lives. Leonard brings up the government contract, which ended up annoying me because we literally have not heard a word about that in weeks. What is with this show's inability to have a through-plot?

Modern Family: Snow Ball (8x09)

This episode was kind of just... meh. Which I feel like I've been saying a lot about this show lately. There were a few really lovely elements, and then a lot that just had me shrugging my shoulders.

Cons:

Phil seeks validation in his relationship with Jay, again, and Jay is annoyingly aloof when it comes to his needy son-in-law, again, and then there's a vaguely sweet moment of connection between them, again. Nothing new here.

The framing device of this episode is that Luke and Manny organized the school dance, and the adults are chaperoning. There's this plot thread where Claire and Gloria try and set up one of the uptight manic mothers with the principal. Principal Brown is hilarious, but the mother was just your generic high-strung helicopter mom. Just a little uninspired.

Elementary: It Serves You Right to Suffer (5x09)

The other day I was talking to my friend who watches this show, and he asked me where the A-plot was in this season. I sat there and I thought about it, and then I realized that if anything is an A-plot, it's the philosophical divide between Sherlock and Joan, and how it subtly affects their partnership. It's not big or showy, but it's undeniably interesting, at least to this viewer. However, that doesn't mean this episode or this season have been flawless. Far from. Let's discuss!

Cons:

This episode was, for the most part, solid due to the chemistry and charisma of the actors playing our two leads. Nelsan Ellis as Shinwell is also doing a fantastic job. However, even the stellar acting is not quite enough to cover up a fairly predictable plot. The bad guy was beyond obvious, especially since the promo told us there was going to be a corrupt agent involved, and we already saw the guy pull a gun on Shinwell in an earlier episode. The fact that we're supposed to be shocked by this "twist" is beyond laughable, given how the episode plays out before that.

I also found the ending just a tad bewildering. Essentially, Sherlock decides to help Shinwell out by wiping the prints on a gun that would have sent him back to jail. That's interesting, and I might have even put it in the "pros" section were it not for the fact that I don't understand where Sherlock is coming from with all of this. For most of the episode, Sherlock behaves like a man who is above the entire situation. He's really only stepping in out of respect for Joan's personal investment. And yet he's willing to break laws to help Shinwell? Because of a one minute conversation with Bell about how easy it is to break bad when put back into jail? It felt a little rushed, and that's disappointing coming off of a very nuanced performance form Johnny Lee Miller through the bulk of the episode.

The Walking Dead: Hearts Still Beating (7x08)

I've been saying it all season: this show has a pacing problem. Hell, this show has had a pacing problem practically since the first season, but it's only recently that it's been irritating to me. That being said, this episode on its own did have quite a few lovely things going for it, and I definitely want to make sure to talk about those things, too.

Cons:

The plot follows pretty much the entire ensemble again. We see Daryl escape (yay!), we see Richard from the Kingdom try and convince Caorl and Morgan that they need to strike against the Saviors (yeah, good luck with that), we see Maggie solidifying an unofficial sort of leadership at Hilltop, we see Rick and Aaron continue their treacherous supply run, we see Michonne go on a drive and see that Negan has a lot of men, and we see Negan wreaking havoc at Alexandria. Surprisingly, the episode didn't feel crowded, even with all of this material in it. I do have some problems with it though...

First of all, in subplot news, I was annoyed that Carol and Morgan felt so shoe-horned and separate. Why bother to even show the Kingdom if there's no resolution or forward motion? We didn't even get to see the glorious CGI tiger. Then there's Michonne: she drives in a car, sees that Negan is really powerful, and then comes back, teaching us absolutely nothing about her as a character, or about the bad guys either. Talk about pointless. And what about Rick and Aaron? Aaron almost gets killed in a lake full of Walkers, but he survives. Rick and Aaron find supplies, and take them back to Alexandria. This felt a bit like a plot cul de sac. I didn't feel a lot of tension for Aaron, since I doubted they'd kill him, and even if they had, he'd be a cop-out kill. It felt like a red herring. Uh oh, will Aaron be the one to die in this episode? Nope. We've got some other equally uninteresting deaths to attend to.

The Vampire Diaries: The Next Time I Hurt Somebody, It Could Be You (8x07)

You know what's weird? I should really hate this development. I should, and I know it. And I... kind of do? I mean it's certainly repetitive, and it's certainly predictable. But for some reason, I'm actually still invested? I don't know why.

Cons:

It was of course insultingly obvious that Damon wasn't going to stay dead, but apparently his death was such a non-issue that they don't have to show his resurrection on screen; he can just come prancing in to the Salvatore house with Sybil, ready for a Christmas dinner. So. That's annoying.

Also, Christmas dinner? Really? Stefan tells Caroline that he wants to spend his final day with her by hosting a party with all of their friends. Seems weird. And like a really flimsy excuse to have another "event" based episode, which this show loves to do. It used to be a cool way for a midseason or finale episode. We could have school dances, town events, etc. etc. and things could be dramatic and suspenseful and all the characters could be together. This dinner party was just lame. It starts with Damon luring Stefan upstairs and killing him so that he can spend some time with Cade, their new boss. Okay... that's bound to shake things up, right? Nope! Caroline and everybody else just continue to sit around, drink egg nog, and pretend to be civil.

Supernatural: LOTUS (12x08)

I'm not... unhappy with this episode, but there were a lot of details that were a bit bewildering to me.

Cons:

So, the basic plot is that Lucifer has now possessed the President of the United States, a man named Jefferson Rooney. With help from Cas, Crowley, Rowena, and Mr. Ketch from the British MOL, Sam and Dean manage to come up with a plan to get to the president through his secret girlfriend Kelly. Using a MOL McGuffin, Sam expels Lucifer from the president's body, and Rowena uses her witchy powers to banish him back to Hell. Ta da!!!

So, some issues straight up: The British MOL have been useless all season, and then Mr. Ketch, who they were building up as this really intimidating assassin dude, shows up with a grenade launcher, hands them a magic object, and then just leaves. Pretty weak payoff, I must say. I'm not totally giving up on the MOL becoming interesting, but so far I've been a tad disappointed. Also, this show has a McGuffin problem. I hate it when magical objects conveniently show up and save the day. At least make the characters work for it, like with Colt back in earlier seasons!

The president's secret girlfriend, Kelly, was a perfectly fine character, until the very end. See, the group explains to her that her boyfriend is now Lucifer. Kelly is horrified, confused, and also... did I mention... pregnant? With the devil's child? Oh, great. Sam expels Lucifer from Jeff's body, and then Kelly runs off, escaping Cas' protection and then calling him to tell him she won't be getting rid of the child. This makes very little sense, considering that just hours beforehand, Kelly definitely saw her boyfriend's eyes flash the devil's red. She saw the whole exorcism go down, so she definitely understands that she's carrying Satan's spawn. This feels like a cheap way to give our leads something to chase down for the rest of the season.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: The Laws of Inferno Dynamics (4x08)

An interesting mid-season finale, in that it seems to be really wrapping up everything we've been doing thus far in the season. Next year it looks like we're jumping back in with something completely different. And... I like that! Let's take a look.

Cons:

Mack and Yo-Yo finally get their act together and share a smooch, which is long overdue. I guess the thing that's annoying me is that Mack didn't really explain his hot-and-cold behavior with her very well. He was being all weird and protective, which is crazy since Elena's the one with superpowers. It's a small quibble, but I wanted to feel happier about this resolution. Instead, it felt frustrating coming at the end of so much back-and-forth.

Pros:

The main plot can be stated very simply: Daisy, Robbie, and Yo-Yo go in to try and take out Eli Morrow, and... they succeed. Robbie goes up in flames along with his evil uncle, thanks to assists from the Inhumans Daisy and Elena, but also thanks to scientific assists from Fitz, Simmons, and Aida. Coulson and Mack round out the team, and victory is won, with a heavy price.

I'm not going to talk too much about this, but suffice it to say that the action was awesome, especially the stuff with Yo-Yo. I also liked the tragedy here with Eli's downfall. Even as Robbie is determined to get his revenge, he continually calls him "tío" and tries to talk to him about what happened. That made for a very sad conclusion. I also really appreciate the fact that they've left the door open for Robbie's return. This could have been the end of his story, but it certainly doesn't have to be. I hope we see him again. This actor had a great presence and he really added a lot to the show.

The Walking Dead: Sing Me a Song (7x07)

Okay. Okay, so... I have some thoughts. I'm going to try and proceed with some semblance of coherence, but it's difficult to talk about what exactly is annoying me so much with this episode.

Cons:

A character like Negan only works in moderation. Jeffrey Dean Morgan is hamming it up to perfection, but using him too much instantly makes him less threatening. There were one or two legitimately intimidating moments in this episode with Negan, but every other time he was on screen, I wasn't at all freaked out by him, and that's a problem. With all the Negan stuff, we also got a rehash of Negan's compound. We saw the same stuff play out. Dwight is subservient, but he and his former wife Shelly are still drawn to each other. Negan is creepy towards women. He tortures people, but they respect him. Daryl gets abused. Negan makes speeches. This might have been an effective episode to introduce Negan's whole situation, but we already did that back in the Daryl-centric episode! I don't need to see this stuff twice!

Also, holy sexual assault, Batman. Trigger warnings up the wazoo. I mean, you don't actually see Negan touch any of these women other than one super creepy kiss with Shelly. But we do walk in and see his harem, and he keeps them all well-groomed and wearing slinky black dresses, and it's just... deeply disturbing. Now, I know what you're going to say: it's supposed to be deeply disturbing. And, sure, I'll agree with that. But I always get very suspicious and perturbed when shows use sexual assault or rape as a shortcut to showing how despicable somebody is. Like, we get it. You don't really have to fall back on that. Women are sexually exploited enough on TV as it is.

Once Upon a Time: Wish You Were Here (6x10)

From a structural standpoint, this season has been sort of... off. But from an individual episode standpoint? I'm pretty happy!

Cons:

So. Structurally. What about all the other people from the Land of Untold Stories? Are we just done with them? Why have Aladdin and Jasmine interwoven into the story, just to send them off again? We're contending with like a bajillion subplots here, and now we're adding in an alternate reality to boot? It's messy and it's overcrowded.

But setting that aside, we should look at this episode for its individual merits. I only have one really big complaint, here, and that's that Aladdin was way underutilized as the genie. These characters are idiots! So, first, the Evil Queen gets hold of the lamp, and wishes for Emma to not be the Savior anymore, which sends Emma to the Enchanted Forest and an alternate reality where her parents defeated the Evil Queen and she was raised as a princess. No curse, no Savior. Okay, fine. But then Regina figures out that she can make a wish too, because she and the Evil Queen are the same person. What does she wish for? To be sent to wherever Emma is. Why couldn't she wish to bring Emma back to Storybrooke? That wouldn't be undoing a wish! She still wouldn't be the Savior, right? And then David gets the lamp, and wishes that the Evil Queen "get what she deserves" which is super vague and ends up doing nothing at first, but then later she gets turned into a snake and trapped in a cage. Weird.

The Vampire Diaries: Detoured On Some Random Backwoods Path to Hell (8x06)

Huh. I'm actually having trouble deciding what I thought of this episode. I guess I'll just write my thoughts out and see where they take me.

Cons:

Seline's plan, in kidnapping the twins, is apparently to offer them up to Cade in exchange for her and her sister Sybil. That way, Cade will still have two supernatural beings to be his servants on earth, and the two sirens can go free. Cool idea? I guess? But Seline seems totally incompetent here. She nearly gets caught several times in this episode, and seemed to have no real plan beyond getting the girls and taking off. Did she really think she was going to pull this off? (Hint: she doesn't).

Our heroes are obviously all frantic to find the girls. Alaric and Caroline take off while Matt and Stefan stay behind and... work with the police. Which actually does prove to be effective, as an Amber Alert goes out, and blockades are set up. But then Seline just sings her horribly pitchy siren tune and everybody lets them go by. I guess the annoying part here is that these characters don't generally turn to law enforcement, and it felt sort of awkward to bring people in here who are not in the know, supernaturally speaking.

Supernatural: Rock Never Dies (12x07)

Aw, man. I really, really wanted to like this episode. It had such promise. Our guys all together, fighting off Lucifer, some comedy with the '80's rock cliches... but what I got was kind of a snooze-fest. I just wasn't impressed with most of this episode.

Cons:

So, the story is that Lucifer returns from where he was banished to the ocean, and drinks in the glory of being adored as Vince Vicente. He makes one of his die-hard stalker fans cut herself to prove her devotion, and plans on hosting a reunion concert with his band so he can trap a bunch of people in a concert hall and kill them all. Crowley, Cas, Sam, and Dean all go to LA to try and head him off. They succeed in rescuing the crowd, but Lucifer flees Vince's breaking body and escapes their grasp.

A basic plot, which would be fine if I felt like it was going somewhere. The thesis of this episode, if you will, is that Lucifer has no plan. He's just chaotic evil, now. Wasn't that kind of Amara's thing? She just messed with the world because it was there to mess with? Sam contends that Lucifer not having a plan is scarier than Lucifer with a motive, but I just don't see it. He's simply not threatening. I never got the sense that any of our characters were in actual danger, here. With Mark Pelligrino, Misha Collins, or even Jared Padalecki playing Lucifer, I knew that shit could get very real very fast. But in this episode, Rick Springfield's Lucifer barely even dented Cas and Crowley. I mean, sure, Crowley got pretty bloodied up, but why didn't Lucifer just kill them all on the spot? Or at least kill Crowley and Cas, and maybe Dean? I could understand Lucifer's fascination with Sam stopping him from just snapping his fingers and having done with it, but that doesn't mean he has to be such a wimp!

The Big Bang Theory: The Property Division Collision (10x10)

Hey, I actually thought this one was fairly cute. Elements that have tended to annoy me in the past actually got better, and there was an actual big step being made by a couple of the characters.

Cons:

I do wish some of these ideas could be pushed further, though. Some of this stuff felt repetitive. Raj and Stuart are fighting over who gets to be the third wheel with Bernadette and Howard. It's decently entertaining, actually, and has a good emotional payoff, but it feels like retreading the same old ground. I want to see Raj with his new love interest, or see Stuart find some meaning in his life outside of his sad-sack ways. Instead, we got a whole subplot to remind us that the writers often don't really know what to do with these characters to make them distinct individuals.

Pros:

That being said, there were a lot of really funny lines with this setup. Howard and Bernadette selfishly take full advantage of Stuart and Raj fighting over who gets to help more. I also loved Raj's line to Stuart: "this pregnancy had an emotionally needy third wheel long before you came along!" Stuart asks why there can't be four wheels, and Raj is angry with him for making such a good point. And like I said, this plot thread actually had an emotionally satisfying payoff. Bernadette goes into labor, and Raj and Stuart instantly put their squabbling aside and spring in to action. They're all part of Team Baby, after all.

Modern Family: The Alliance (8x08)

This was probably my favorite episode of the season thus far. Modern Family works well when it has some heart to back up its comedy, but it also works well when it has a tight concept and it mines that concept for all of its comedic possibilities. This episode did that perfectly.

Cons:

The centralizing plot in this episode thankfully took up almost all of the time, but there were a few subplots hovering around as well. These subplots weren't horrible, but they were pretty bland, and just took time away from the better ideas going on elsewhere. In one, Haley meets Rainer's teenage daughter, who is disdainful of her father's latest fling. In the end, Haley finds her inner mom and disciplines the girl for wanting to go out to a party dressed provocatively. In another subplot, Jay is upset that the club has banned smoking cigars in the main building, and he tries to get people to sign his petition complaining about the ban. He unwittingly uses Luke as bait to get an older woman to sign the petition, making Luke massage this cougar and ignoring the uncomfortable fact that Luke is being forced to work at this woman's house shirtless. Finally, in another subplot Claire is still having trouble making decisions at her job without relying on her father's expertise. She wants to get out of his shadow. This plot thread doesn't really go anywhere, although Claire does decide to make a decision on her own after Jay tells her to trust her gut.

So... nothing terrible here, and there was even some fun potential with Haley trying to act like a mom to a girl pretty much identical to how she was as a teenager. But none of these stories really went anywhere. In fact, Jay's cigar thing just sort of tapered off at the end with no resolution at all. Claire's story was just a rehash of things we've seen a thousand times, which was a tad frustrating.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Deals with Our Devils (4x07)

This episode kicked ass! There's so much to talk about!

Cons:

So, the main plot is that Coulson, Fitz, and Robbie are stuck in a different dimension, and they can see everybody else but nobody can see them. The whole team comes together to find a way to get them back. I loved almost everything here, but you know what's annoying? Jemma wasn't there for any of it. She was off in a little subplot, which I didn't mind in terms of the subplot's content, but... I wanted her to be there! I wanted her to fight to get Fitz back just like Fitz fought to bring Simmons back! It feels like a bit of a wasted opportunity, if we're being honest. But that's a nitpick.

Pros:

I'll start with Simmons' subplot really briefly. Basically, she is brought to Senator Nadir's brother, who is encased in rock. She uses her expertise about terrigenesis to help free him from his imprisonment. Of course, Jemma is kept in the dark about who this guy is, and just as she starts to free him, she's ushered away. I love the possibilities, here. We know that Nadir is blackmailing Mace, and we know that her brother has been trapped for months. But Jemma knows none of this, and it seems like Nadir's brother might be a pretty cool guy. He certainly seemed thankful to Jemma for helping him. I can't wait to see where this goes.

The Walking Dead: Swear (7x06)

So this is intentional, then. Each episode taking place with a different group. The first episode resolved last season's cliffhanger, and then we've gone, in order, to the Kingdom (with Carol and Morgan), the Savior's post (with Daryl, Negan, and Dwight), to Alexandria (with the bulk of our ensemble), to Hilltop (with Maggie and Sasha), and now to another community, this time with Tara. I'm getting whiplash!

Cons:

Like I just said, I'm getting whiplash. It's an interesting idea to have each episode focus on a different community, but there's a problem here. There's no buildup. No rising tension. Each episode is its own little plot cul-de-sac, and as such there's no sense of how these pieces are all going to come together. I suspect that they're going for a really cool payoff when all of these disparate communities come together to take down Negan. That could be really awesome, but it's frustrating that the buildup is so choppy and slow.

Also, it's frankly a little ridiculous that it took us this long to get back to Tara. I get that everybody has had other things going on, but it's been bugging me that nobody has even mentioned her all season. My parents, who are casual yet loyal watchers of the show, couldn't even remember who Tara was at first when they were watching this episode. It's not a good sign when the viewing audience starts forgetting members of the core cast.

Once Upon a Time: Changelings (6x09)

This episode had a lot of really high points, but it also had some moments that didn't make sense, and the result is a bit of an unbalanced episode.

Cons:

Most of this episode is about Belle and Rumple, with a little dash of Emma and Hook thrown in. That's all fine, but there are also two little subplot things that are shoved in awkwardly and don't seem to move the story forward.

First of all, the Evil Queen tries to kill Zelena, on Rumple's orders, but Regina saves her. Why? Because she's a hero now, and heroes save people, even people who might not deserve it. Regina tells Zelena that she'll never forgive her for Robin's death. Zelena has been beyond useless as a character all season, and this moment just cemented that for me. I thought we were going to go with co-parenting sisters who could learn to heal old wounds and be a family again. That would have been decently entertaining to watch. But no. Regina gets a million chances to change her ways, while Zelena does not. And I can't blame Regina for not forgiving Zelena, since Zelena doesn't seem at all repentant. What a poorly handled character!

The other subplot is Aladdin and Jasmine's. Jasmine and Snow briefly talk about their work at the school, bringing up that plot thread for the first time a while. Then Jasmine reveals that Aladdin has the Genie's lamp, but that she's nervous about using it to get back to Agrabah - what if there's a price to pay? Snow encourages Jasmine to be a hero. But, it's a moot point. The Genie has already been freed from the lamp. Aladdin decides to imprison himself, turning himself into a Genie so that he can help Jasmine get home.

Elementary: How the Sausage Is Made (5x08)

Can you guess what I'm going to say? ... The subplot was more compelling than the main story.

Cons:

In fact, the main story lost me a couple of times. It wasn't horrible, but it didn't really grab me, either. Some scientists create a meat product that's grown in the lab, and hope to make a bunch of money off of it. The only trouble is that "Big Meat," as Sherlock keeps referring to them, doesn't want this new product on the market as a competitor. I won't really get into the specifics here. In the end, one of the bad guys is arrested for murder, while his co-conspirator gets to go free.

Pros:

The best part of the case was the way it started - Sherlock and Joan go to the morgue see a guy who was killed by horse tranquilizer. But he didn't ingest this tranquilizer directly - he ate some sausage that ends up being human meat... Ugh! And that meat has the tranquilizer in it. This was a really clever, albeit disgusting, way to get the case started.

The Walking Dead: Go Getters (7x05)

Damn, Maggie! Damn, Carl! You guys don't mess around! I guess you're the "Go Getters" mentioned in the title.

Cons:

Despite the fact that I'm very impressed with a couple of our key characters here, I will admit that this episode dragged on a bit. I was getting sick of Negan, but now in an episode without him I felt like all of the tension was gone. And, another problem is that none of these episodes really build on top of each other. You've got everybody spread out so far that there's no rising tension or advancement of larger plots. In almost every episode, we've got to start back at the beginning. First it was with Carol. Then with Daryl. This week it's Maggie and Sasha. I think I've said this before, but episodes like this can stand pretty well on their own, but they don't help the feel of the season as a whole.

We're at Hilltop this week, which means we're back with Jesus (yay!) and Gregory (booo). Gregory is just too much of a cartoon villain. I mean, Negan is too, but with Gregory there's not even a hint of impressiveness to go along with it. He's sexist, he's racist, he's a coward and a traitor. Not exactly a guy I want to spend a ton of time with, and this episode kept spending time with him. He's a dick to Maggie and Sasha, wanting them to leave as soon as possible so that the Saviors don't find out that they're harboring anybody. Later, one of Negan's representatives shows up with a group of men and has a talk with Gregory, who cowers and plans on giving up Maggie and Sasha on the spot. There's just nothing all that compelling about such a wimpy scumbag. And the group of Saviors didn't feel very threatening to me at all, especially without Negan or Dwight there to lend some gravitas.

Elementary: Bang Bang Shoot Chute (5x07)

I surprisingly really did not enjoy this episode. It was filled with weird stereotypes and stupid twists that didn't really add up to anything. The subplot was good, though, which always makes me happy.

Cons:

The main case involved a guy who was "murdered twice." While jumping off of a building, he is shot out of the sky. Later, Sherlock discovers that the man's parachute was sabotaged prior to his jump, so even if he hadn't been shot, he still would have died. This means we have two potential killers with two different motives. A really compelling concept, no? Well, sure, but they totally wasted it. The saboteur ended up being the victim's pregnant wife, who discovered her husband was having an affair, and so decided to kill him. This is a wife that we see for like 30 seconds in the second act and who isn't brought up again until she's revealed to be guilty.

The other killer is the brother of the woman who the victim was having an affair with, trying to shoot down the big bad white man for sleeping with his sister, because... oh, did we mention? He's an illegal immigrant, and he's Taliban. Cool job, Elementary. What great timing you have. This was just so uninspired. I kept waiting for them to put a fresh spin on it, or maybe to explain in more detail the plight of the refugee, and the struggles that immigrants in this country have to face, given the political turmoil back home and here. But... nope. Dude was Taliban. Dude was terrorist. Dude was illegal immigrant. Case closed?

The Vampire Diaries: Coming Home Was a Mistake (8x05)

This was an important episode in that it escalated the plot and really set things up for a strong push. This season is only sixteen episodes long, so we're about a third of the way through already. It's time to pick up the pace, and I think we've accomplished that.

Cons:

A lot of stuff is going on in this episode that I'm really interested in. One thing I'm not really interested in is Matt's relationship with his dad. There's no buildup here, no real stakes. Matt's nonexistent dad was never really an issue with his character before this point, or if it was, I certainly forgot to care about it.

Stefan and Damon have a confrontation in this episode, which I loved. What I didn't love was Stefan telling Caroline that he needed to do this alone, that he needed to keep her safe, etc. etc. If he can't understand that they're a team, what does that say about their impending marriage? Caroline ends up showing up to save his ass, anyway. Stefan needs to drop the martyr thing.

Over on the Sybil side of things, Alaric leaves the all-important job of hitting the tuning fork to one of his interns. This is supposed to cripple Sybil and stop her from breaking out. The intern, of course, has no idea why he's being asked to hit a tuning fork periodically, and when he gets a call regarding the missing Georgie, he leaves the "experiment" behind. This lets Sybil escape, which in turn lets Sybil find Damon, who Stefan had just successfully captured and tied up in his coffin. Way to go, Ric. Seriously? You're that lax about Sybil staying imprisoned?

The Big Bang Theory: The Geology Elevation (10x09)

This was a dud...

Cons:

The main plot involves Bert winning a McArthur Grant, and Sheldon spending the episode feeling jealous. He injures himself by throwing a rock and attempting to punch a water fountain, and then Stephen Hawking shows up over the phone and tells Sheldon that he's too brilliant to be jealous.

How many times can I complain about this show wasting its opportunities? Sheldon is jealous of somebody else's professional success. This could be an opportunity to delve in to the fact that Sheldon has been struggling with his career recently. We could bring up the navigation system, how Sheldon was stalled on a major problem. But no. We don't bring any of that up. Instead, Sheldon injures himself in slap-stick-y ways, all of which happen off-screen so we don't even get to appreciate them. Then, in the end, Sheldon gets praised by Stephen Hawking and instantly all of his turmoil is gone. He and Bert go to sit in the studio audience on Ellen. Okay... nothing got done, here. The Ellen bit was really shoe-horned in, too.

Grey's Anatomy: You Haven't Done Nothin' (13x09)

Is it winter finale time already? I feel like all of these shows just came back on the air! This was a great episode of Grey's Anatomy, escalating various plot threads, resolving some dangling ones, leaving some cliffhangers, setting up some new ideas. All of this is centered around a very cheesy and appropriate metaphor in the shape of a big disaster that has our doctors scrambling.

Cons:

There were a lot of elements to this episode, a lot of different stories to tell. There was bound to be one that slipped through the cracks, and unfortunately this week that was Owen and Amelia. Owen and Riggs talk about their pasts, which I liked, but then we get a moment at the very end of the episode where Owen comes home and finds that Amelia has left him. She just... leaves a note and runs off. I'm very frustrated about this. It seems like there must be something better to do with Amelia at this point than just have her screw up her life again. I get it. She's unstable and unhappy. But at some point doesn't that get old? Owen is a sad martyr and Amelia is a pathetic train wreck. So what else is new?

This episode also had a couple of logistical problems, which are so not a big deal, but they still bother me. First of all, I live in Seattle. When did this earthquake supposedly happen? There hasn't been an earthquake bad enough to crack building foundations in the area since like 2001. The other thing is about Alex's trial. They were all acting like the trial was going to take one day. For a case like this, you're looking at probably two weeks. And Jo gets called to the stand last minute? Nope. Nobody does that. She would have been deposed and questioned long ago if either side planned to put her on the stand. It's unrealistic.

Supernatural: Celebrating the Life of Asa Fox (12x06)

Oh my God, what?! That episode was absolutely amazing! Jody Mills! A group of hunters! Mary Winchester! Even Billie made an appearance!

Cons:

Uh... okay. I will admit that this episode required some suspension of disbelief. And I don't mean the standard "there are demons" suspension of disbelief, or even the "how many times can these two guys be in perilous situations and still make it out alive" suspension of disbelief. I'm talking about the fact that this episode featured a whole group of hunters trapped in a house together, and they were soooo ill prepared. They didn't have holy water, or weapons other than a few knives. I would think that hunters would all be over-prepared for a situation like this. Also, hasn't this show established that you can just say "Christo" to reveal demons? Oh, and why do they all not have anti-possession tattoos? Doesn't Dean still have his, anyway? Shouldn't that mean that he couldn't have been a suspect, even at the beginning? I'm willing to put up with a little convenient incompetency for the sake of the plot, but this did stretch my belief just a tad.

Modern Family: Thanksgiving Jamboree (8x07)

This episode didn't really do a lot for me. Often times Modern Family can really pull out big wins for holiday themed episodes. But much like this year's Halloween episode, I felt that this Thanksgiving story was lacking any real punch. That's not to say that it sucked, but it didn't wow me either.

Cons:

The whole family gets together for a "Thanksgiving Jamboree," which is a big Southern to-do that normally Mitchell would hate, but Cam is really excited about it. Claire thinks that Mitchell is only going along with it because he did something wrong, and it turns out that she's right: Mitchell accidentally got rid of Cam's Fizbo costume. When Mitchell finally tells Cam this, he reacts calmly, which makes Claire and Mitchell suspect that maybe he's the one hiding stuff. Indeed, he is. Cam spent all the money set aside for an upcoming romantic getaway in order to make the Thanksgiving Jamboree.

I'm sick of plot threads like this, that are built on the comedy of spouses lying to one another. For Cam to spend a big chunk of money like that without talking to Mitchell is actually pretty serious, and if this weren't a sitcom it would be a sign of a deep fundamental problem in their relationship. As it is, we're meant to laugh at it.

The Walking Dead: Service (7x04)

I wish I could be more effusive with my praise of this episode... there were a lot of individual elements that were just fine, and totally built the tension. And yet... I don't know if I'm fully on board.

Cons:

So, Jeffrey Dean Morgan is doing an excellent job as Negan, and from an acting standpoint I totally get that he's super scary, and I also totally get that Rick is broken, and he's decided to do whatever Negan wants, in order to protect his people. But my logic keeps kicking in and disrupting my ability to buy into this stuff. They have SO MANY GUNS, okay? I just keep thinking that Negan is the only thing holding this operation together. Couldn't they have had people posted on the wall with guns, and then just take him out the second he appears? I feel like a lot of the Saviors are loyal to Negan because they're broken, or because Negan's got the best stuff and the most men. But Rick had all the guns! That's a very real advantage, and I don't fully believe that Rick is so defeated that he wouldn't even contemplate retaliation.

This all comes to a head when Rick makes Michonne give up her rifle, which Negan had no reason to believe she had. I get that he's worried one of Negan's people would see her with it and somebody would die. But... just... bury it. Or save it for when you have a plan. What is with the utter defeat?

Elementary: Ill Tidings (5x06)

The character work in this episode was exquisite, as is often the case with this show. The actual plot was adequate, but nothing special. That also tends to be the situation with Elementary. I hope this show survives beyond this year. There are so many other things on TV right now that I would prefer to see cancelled. We'll have to hold out hope for higher ratings going forward.

Cons:

The main case was one of those where the twist comes so far out of left field that instead of feeling shocking, it just feels ridiculous. Somebody is murdering people using snake venom, and at first you think it's got something to do with cyber security. Then, it turns out to be an art heist of the New York Stock Exchange. This feels more like a setup for Leverage than for Elementary, and I've got to say, it doesn't work to the show's favor.

There was one moment that could have been really intense, but instead it went nowhere. The team has been hunting down this venomous snake, and they find it - in the apartment of one of the bad guys. It's free from its cage, and it's right behind Joan's foot. We cut to commercial, and when we come back, Joan and Sherlock are back at the Brownstone, and the snake is safely contained. Is it too much to ask for just a little drama? Was Sherlock scared for Joan's safety? How did they get everybody out of that situation safely? That's the kind of thing I'd like to see play out on screen.

Once Upon a Time: I'll Be Your Mirror (6x08)

Regina and Emma are an awesome team, okay? I may not ship them romantically, but I totally get where all the Swan Queen people are coming from, and episodes like this are a big reason why.

Cons:

There was a subplot in this episode about Belle, Zelena, Rumple, Jasmine, and Aladdin, and it got just a little bit muddled. Basically, Belle asks for Zelena's help in getting out of Storybrooke, because she's afraid that Rumple will use the Shears of Destiny on her child. Zelena says she needs the magic wand that Rumple has in his possession, so Belle enlists Aladdin to help steal it. Aladdin sneaks in, steals the wand, and delivers it to Belle and Zelena, earning praise from Jasmine for heroically breaking and entering. Just as Zelena is about to open a portal that will get Belle to safety, Rumple shows up and takes the wand back, putting a bracelet on Belle's arm that traps her, preventing her from fleeing Storybrooke. When Rumple tries to hurt Zelena, he ends up hurting himself. The two are linked from when Zelena saved Rumple's life in New York. (yeah, I hardly remember that, either). Rumple and the Evil Queen have another stomach-curling make-out session in Gold's shop, and Rumple says that he wants the Evil Queen to kill Zelena and get her out of the way once and for all.

Okay, where to start? If Belle was going to enlist Aladdin's help in breaking in to the shop, why wouldn't she ask him to find the Shears of Destiny, instead of the wand? Why even bother to include Aladdin and Jasmine in this episode to begin with, honestly, when they're given negligible screen-time and their story is not advanced at all? Why does Rumple want to kill Zelena so badly? Because Zelena was trying to help Belle escape? Oh, and even better question: why was Zelena willing to help Belle? Because she's mad at her sister for making out with Rumple? In what universe does any of this add up?

The Vampire Diaries: An Eternity of Misery (8x04)

So... we've gotten the Siren backstory. I'm liking it okay, but all in all this episode felt a bit filler-ish, and it made a few decidedly unbalanced decisions.

Cons:

This show used to be really good at surprises and fake-outs. Remember when Katherine first showed up, and kissed Damon, and there was the reveal that it wasn't Elena? Aw man. Good stuff. This week, we learn that Sybil the Siren has a sister. And then we learn that it's Seline, Alaric and Caroline's nanny. This comes completely out of left field, because we hadn't been told that there might be a secret coming up. The fact that Sybil has a sister wasn't built up in any way until this episode. And then they did this charmingly ineffective fake-out, where we think that Georgie is the second siren, but it turns out that Seline is controlling her. I'm totally cool with the hot nanny being a secret baddie, and I'm totally cool with the concept of a second Siren... but I'm not totally cool with their execution of said "twist."

To add insult to injury, Seline finishes off her great big reveal as a villain by killing Georgie, who is then dragged to Hell. Or something. Georgie wasn't this show's most interesting or innovative character or anything, but why spend time building her up for half a second, only to kill her off? What is it with this season and its inability to effectively use character deaths? What a waste of a potentially interesting character.

The Big Bang Theory: The Brain Bowl Incubation (10x08)

Surprisingly, this episode was good. It could so easily have been very bad, but it was not!

Cons:

I thought Sheldon and Amy's plot thread could have been treated with a bit more gravitas, given how serious the situation is. Essentially, Sheldon is inspired by the miracle of science to create a baby with Amy. Amy is not ready for kids, and continually evades his seductive advances. The idea of Sheldon wanting a kid is an interesting one, and of course it would be the pursuit of science that got him there. But I do wish we could have had a scene where maybe Sheldon contemplated what it would really mean to him to be a father. Maybe we'll get that in the coming weeks? I don't know. As it stood by itself, this plot thread was all comedy without any of the heart to ground it.

Supernatural: The One You've Been Waiting For (12x05)

This was the first clunker of the season. It wasn't irredeemably bad or anything, but it also didn't offer all that much in the way of creativity or innovation.

Cons:

To make a long story short, the evil necromancers called "Thule" try (and succeed) in resurrecting Hitler by using a young woman who happens to be Hitler's descendant. They need his blood to resurrect him. Sam and Dean find out about all of this, and Dean kills Hitler.

I think my big problem with this episode is that it felt like it was trying to set something up, but I don't think it was. Hitler's great-great-grandniece, Ellie, was a fun enough character, but it doesn't seem like they were setting her up for a return. And the main bad guy's son turns on his father and his father's men, which could have been interesting, but I don't think we're really setting him up for a return either.

Grey's Anatomy: The Room Where It Happens (13x08)

Huh... a bottle episode. A decently effective one, at that. Although I did think it got a bit silly in spots.

Cons:

The premise here is that Owen, Meredith, Stephanie, and Richard are all working on a patient who was in a car accident and whose liver is totally shredded. Everybody is exhausted except for Richard, who comes in the middle of everything and wants to play a game where they make up a backstory for the John Doe on the table. They end up creating a character, Gail, who plays violin, works two jobs, has three kids, etc. etc. Throughout, we also see the other characters have flashes to traumatic parts of their own lives as they work to empathize with the patient.

Lots of stuff was good about this. But Richard continually interjecting in the middle of medical discussions to ask about Gail was a little distracting. I get what they were going for, but it felt beyond irritating, like Richard was this doddering old fool who doesn't know when to shut up and let the more competent surgeons get back to work. There might have been a way to balance this out a little better, if I'm being totally honest.

Modern Family: Grab It (8x06)

Eh... well, I didn't hate that, but I also forgot virtually everything that happened the second it happened, so that doesn't bode well. It's also possible that I have other, much bigger, stuff on my mind and am too upset to look on the bright side. Whatever.

Cons:

So, Jay's plot involved Phil wanting to become a member of his club. Jay agrees to sponsor Phil, thinking that Phil will fall on his face and that the guys will never accept him. Instead, Phil is a total hit. In the end, Jay admits that the club is his one place to be alone and away from the pressures of the rest of his life, and he's jealous of Phil's ability to fit in anywhere. This plot thread annoyed me because it was about a straight rich white guy feeling like his space was being invaded. I mean come on. Pulease. Oh, and also, apparently Luke has a job at the club and he's doing really well, which just kind of confuses me. Are we supposed to think of him as competent now?

Gloria's plot thread was really forgettable. She planned on having a relaxing night to herself, since Manny was going to a party, and she planned on putting Joe to bed early. But the party ends up going poorly for Manny, and so he comes home early, and Joe drinks espresso and gets all wired, so Gloria's night is ruined. This plot thread wasn't bad or anything, it was just so bland that I hardly remembered it even as I was watching it.

Once Upon a Time: Heartless (6x07)

An episode focusing on Snow and David's love? Sign me up! This felt like the good ol' days, and it was nice and comforting.

Cons:

I seriously want to throw up when I see the Evil Queen and Rumple making out. It's terrible. But beyond the terribleness, I hate the fact that it was used as an excuse to put in more drama with the Evil Queen and Zelena. This whole plot thread is going nowhere and going there fast. Get a grip, Zelena. Seriously.

One of the critical moments of this episode happens in a flashback, as we see that Snow and Charming came very close to meeting once before they actually did meet, back when David was still living with his mother on the farm. There's this moment where Snow says that it's dangerous for him to see her, because she's made a lot of enemies, so they never actually see each other's faces. This is fine in theory, but I felt like Snow's reasoning was poorly explained. Why would seeing her face make things more dangerous for Charming? Was she worried that somebody was going to find out about this encounter, and then somehow identify Charming, and torture him because he saw her face? I guess I'm fuzzy on the logic here. Normally I wouldn't mention something so small, but it was sort of a big thing in the plot.

The Walking Dead: The Cell (7x03)

I'm going to sound like a broken record, here. Unfortunately, this episode took the problems I had with the first episode, and combined them with the problems I had with the second episode. That doesn't mean I hated it, though.

Cons:

As you'll remember if you read my previous reviews, my problem with the premiere was that it was just too much in its gruesomeness. The impact was dulled by all the disgusting imagery and brutal treatment of these characters. The second episode was a narrowly focused character episode, with Carol and Morgan meeting a bunch of new people, and no look at all at the rest of the ensemble. And then here we see what Negan and his people have been doing to Daryl, and we've got the brutal nature of episode one plus the ignoring of the ensemble and narrow character treatment of episode two.

I want to see Rick and the rest of the gang, dang it! I love Carol. I love Daryl. They're probably my favorite characters at the moment. But I don't want to keep things so isolated! And I don't much want to see Daryl getting tortured continuously. It's not fun, and it doesn't really add much to the story, either. I think they've done enough to convince us that Negan is bad news, haven't they? I mean, yeesh.

Elementary: To Catch a Predator Predator (5x05)

I actually wasn't as big a fan of this episode as I have been the last couple. It wasn't anything terrible, but it just sort of passed me by.

Cons:

The main case was about sexual predators and cat-fishing. The whole thing was just unpleasant. We've seen many stories where Sherlock feels morally superior to the people he's investigating, but often it's because the people are wealthy businessmen who don't care about the little man. There's some real honor in rejecting wealth. Being disgusted with perverts is not exactly a stretch, though. Of course they all hate men who prey on teenage girls. But what did we learn?

The end result of the case was that a victim of sexual assault was the murderer. As far as twists go, it was fairly well executed. I, like Sherlock, rather liked the girl who ended up guilty. But it felt like such a dissatisfying way to end things. I wanted to lock up some monsters, not a young woman who went through terrible trauma as a child. I get that we're not always going to get a happy ending wrapped up in a bow, but this conclusion left me with a sour taste in my mouth.

The Vampire Diaries: You Decided That I Was Worth Saving (8x03)

Okay, so... I really like this season, actually, but I cannot condone the utter stupidity of one big element in this episode.

Cons:

Tyler Lockwood came back for a very, very awkward final scene, and then Damon killed him. It was supposed to be the final act of depravity, the one thing that Damon could never come back from. It happens at the very end of the episode, proving that despite the gang's recent successes against Sybil the Siren, Damon is still fully under her control.

Okay... but nobody cares about Tyler. Nobody ever cared about Tyler, or at least I didn't. And we haven't seen him in such a long time that the impact from his death was pretty much nonexistent. It could have been more emotionally affecting if they had done the scene better, but it was way too... talk-y. Tyler tries to give Damon a pep talk, and encourages him to walk away and break free. He then tells Damon that if this is how he's meant to die, at least he hopes it will snap Damon out of his funk. Since when is Tyler a martyr? And isn't he a werewolf? I mean I know he can't transform whenever, but you would think he could have at least tried to bite Damon on the arm or something. I'm not sure how it all works, but he certainly didn't try very hard to get away. The whole thing was just strange, and did not have the impact it was meant to.

The Big Bang Theory: The Veracity Elasticity (10x07)

This episode had a lot of really funny one-liners. I did take mild exception to one of the plot threads, though.

Cons:

Basically, the plot is that everybody keeps secrets from each other. Penny's secret is that she's been moving Leonard's collectibles out of the house and into storage slowly over time. Leonard finds out and is angry at first, but then says that Penny should decorate their room however she wants, so that she feels at home. She proceeds to completely redo the room in pink with hearts and stuff, taking out all of Leonard's stuff. Leonard is then seen hiding Penny's stuff. I get that this was all supposed to be funny, but I was getting really angry on Leonard's behalf. It's one thing for Penny to want to change things so she feels more at home. I get that. It's another thing for her to just take her husband's belongings and hide them away. Like, what the hell, Penny? There was a brief mention of using Sheldon's now-empty room as a place for Leonard to put his stuff, but this idea got pushed aside. Hopefully Leonard finds a way to assert himself in this relationship too. I'm not cool with Penny having that much control.

Grey's Anatomy: Why Try To Change Me Now? (13x07)

I'm gonna be quick about this. I'm sooo busy.

Cons:

Leah Murphy's return has thus far been rather uninteresting. What's she doing here? I don't get it. I'm hopeful that it'll get better, but I just don't get it.

Oy vey. The continuing drama of Amelia and Owen. She spends the episode avoiding him and sleeping at the hospital. When he confronts her about it, she blurts out that she doesn't want kids, and ends up showing up at Meredith's place to spend the night. I'm heartsick for Owen, that he managed to be married to another woman who doesn't want children. And while I was all ready to support the hasty marriage thing, I'm now just super annoyed that they didn't talk about this before tying the knot. That's a pretty big conversation not to have. It makes them both look like idiots.

Supernatural: American Nightmare (12x04)

Wow. I'm impressed by how solid that episode was. We got mentions of both Cas and Mary, which I always appreciate.

Cons:

An ongoing complaint with this show is how incompetent Sam and Dean can be. I get that they're trying to raise the stakes by putting their lives in danger all the time, but come on. Sam gets kidnapped? Again? Yikes.

A bigger complaint is that Magda, a psychic, ends up getting killed by Mr. Ketch at the very end of the episode. The British MOL rear their ugly heads once again, and with mixed results. I want Mr. Ketch to be something more than just a ruthless assassin. I also basically want the MOL to stay out of this season, since they've proved such a disappointment thus far. Magda did deserve a second chance, and it felt like a cheap shot to kill her off just to escalate the threat of the MOL for Sam and Dean.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: The Good Samaritan (4x06)

Uh oh. Not good.

Cons:

I don't mean that the episode is not good. The episode is just fine, actually. I do have one large-ish complaint, however.

Eli, Robbie and Gabe's uncle, is a villain. We see a lot of flashbacks in this episode as we learn what happened with the Darkhold and Momentum Energy Lab. Turns out, Joe and Lucy were getting a little power-hungry, and Eli was worried about them. But then it turns out that Eli actually just wanted to the power for himself. In the present day, he's thrilled that Lucy has led him straight to a place with enough energy to transform him, and as the episode ends he is so transformed. He now has the ability to create matter from nothing, effectively making himself a god.

The flashbacks showed Joe and Lucy as slowly corrupted scientists, and then flipped the script on us to show us that Eli was the bad guy all along. My problem here is that we don't have a big emotional investment in Eli as a character, so I didn't really care that he turned out to be a villain. Also, this episode had a big problem with spelling things out too easily. Multiple characters tell the audience what we're smart enough to already figure out. In a flashback, after Lucy sees that Eli has done away with her other colleagues, she says something like "you just wanted the power for yourself!" And in the present-day, as Eli locks himself in the chamber ready to make himself a god, Coulson says "It was you all along!" Like... yeah... we got it, thanks very much.

The Walking Dead: The Well (7x02)

I mean, I definitely liked it better than last week's unnecessarily gory murder fest, but just because this episode didn't kill off any main characters doesn't mean it gets a totally free pass.

Cons:

If I look at this episode on its own, isolated from everything else, I think it works pretty well. But when I look at it as part of a larger narrative, I immediately distrust every potentially positive thing we saw tonight. Carol and Morgan find another community, called the Kingdom. Now, I don't mean to be a cynic, but what on earth would convince me that this place is actually going to be good? Every other group that our main characters has encountered has had some twist, some "we're not who seem" vibe to them. Even Alexandria, the closest to being genuinely good, had at its core a bunch of naivete and incompetence. For the entire six seasons this show has been on the air, the characters go through the same cycle. They find a place. They think it's legit. It's not legit. People die. They run. They find a place. They think it's legit. It's not legit. People die. The Governor's community, Alexandria, Terminus, even the prison, are all examples of this infuriatingly cyclical narrative. And now we've got the Kingdom.

I'll say this - if the Kingdom sticks around, and if we can reincorporate Alexandria, Hilltop, and maybe a few other new communities, and if we can actually focus on the inter-community politics going on here, then we might be on to something. But that means that Negan and the Saviors have to become a realistic threat instead of a mythological sadistic bunch of impossible-to-destroy villains. It means that Carol has to have a realistic motivation for stuff again. It means that Morgan has got to stop being a wise philosopher before I punch him the nose. Seriously. It's just... I've been burned before, you know?

Once Upon a Time: Dark Waters (6x06)

I'm a pretty happy camper. I mean, this episode was designed to please me. Lots of Hook and Henry bonding, with a dose of Regina being a bad ass to top it off? Yes please.

Cons:

Ummmmm okay so the Evil Queen and Rumple kissed in this episode, and I felt my soul leave my body. Nobody wanted to witness that with their own two eyes. See, here's the thing. The Evil Queen and Rumple both have really confusing motivations right now, and it's making it hard for me to lock on to their story lines. The Evil Queen has been running around playing trickster for the past couple of weeks. This episode's evil mission was to put a wedge between Hook and Henry, which didn't end up working out for her. What is her purpose in stirring up all this silly family drama? Well, she tells Rumple that she wants Snow White's heart.

Still. This is Season Six, people. But, okay, let's say you're on board with the Evil Queen's endgame being revenge against Snow White. I'm okay with that. What I don't understand is why she feels the need to stick her nose into Emma, Killian, Henry, and David's business to get what she wants. I feel like the straightforward approach might do the job here, silly. Just kill her, okay?

Elementary: Henny Penny the Sky Is Falling (5x04)

The constant refrain continues: the subplot was the highlight!

Cons:

There was this one moment at the end that, surprisingly, felt a bit like cop propaganda. Gregson talks about how proud he is to work with such a great department, and says that he's tired of seeing such terrible things go on in the world. He cites as his specific example that "cops are getting killed." Which is a thing that I know happens. But I would have liked it if he had said "cops are killing people" which is by far the bigger and more common problem. Maybe I'm overly in tune with this issue, but it definitely stuck out to me, especially since Elementary is usually very political.

The Vampire Diaries: Today Will Be Different (8x02)

Okay. Still enjoying this season quite a lot, surprisingly!

Cons:

So, our siren is named Sybil and she's a hot young lady. I'm a little tiny bit sick of the villains on this show all being either hot Elena look-alikes, or hot mysterious sexy dudes. I mean I know that's this show's whole... thing, but Sybil is much less intimidating now that she's got a face and a voice and all that. I liked her being an unseen force living in a pool of blood and human remains. Much less predictable.

Alaric's subplot with the Armory continues, and I'm really enjoying it for the most part, but I do have one little question: how is he running this thing like an academic research center, complete with interns, and then also not telling people that it's full of supernatural energy? His intern Georgie doesn't seem to know that things like vampires even exist, which seems super odd. How did Ric get the money to set this place up, anyway?

The Big Bang Theory: The Fetal Kick Catalyst (10x06)

A very solid episode, with actual growth for a couple of the characters. Always a pleasant surprise with this show!

Cons:

The most predictable and least exciting plot of the night goes to Bernadette, Howard, and Raj. Howard feels the baby kick and goes into panic mode, convinced that they are not ready for a baby. He and Raj go out and buy baby supplies, including a crib, and they even bring a minivan home for a test run. Bernadette is slightly annoyed that they did all of this shopping without her. Howard hurts his back trying to lift the crib out of the van, and Bernadette drives him to the emergency room, eventually deciding that the minivan might be a good idea.

This plot thread was your classic sitcom fare with no real variation. A father gets nervous about having a kid and starts going overboard. Boring. And for this show, so many of the elements were same-old, same-old. Howard acts like a baby. People think that Howard and Raj are a couple. I've seen it all before, people!

Supernatural: The Foundry (12x03)

Ugh. Blarg. No.

Cons:

I should be more articulate. I actually didn't dislike this episode for the most part. But what I do dislike is the fact that Mary and Cas have both been given side quests that conveniently remove them from the story proper. I hate this. I wanted them to stick around. I wish we could actually keep characters in the main story line other than Sam and Dean. With Cas, it's another lame excuse about needing to find Lucifer by himself, since it's his fault that he's free. Okay... seriously? How many times has Cas helped with something that was totally the Winchesters' fault? With Mary, the reason is a lot more compelling. She's feeling lost, like she doesn't belong. She's pulling a Buffy Summers, actually. Being pulled from Heaven is messing with her head, and she needs some time alone. I don't mind this in theory, but wouldn't it be more interesting to have her stick around so that we could actually watch her go through these growing pains? I want to see her develop and come to terms with her new reality. Instead, it seems that all of that potential growth will be happening off screen somewhere. Mary will pop back in to the A-plot at some point later on, and we'll miss out on a ton of really valuable stuff.

Mary is still struggling to adjust to the present day in terms of technological advancements, which I quite enjoyed. There was this one really annoying moment, though, when she called the county records office and the guy asked why she couldn't use the website like everyone else. It was unrealistic for the dude to be so rude to her, honestly. No subtlety there.

Grey's Anatomy: Roar (13x06)

Okay. Solid Grey's Anatomy fare, with a lot more heartbreak than is typical for this show. I mean, I know what you're thinking... more heartbreak?! But think about the patients this week and you'll see what I mean. Lots of tear-jerkers.

Cons:

Leah is back. I'm reserving judgment before I decide if I hate this or not. I guess my problem is that of all the characters who have departed this show, I felt really good about Leah's exit. I liked that for once, we got a surgeon who couldn't make it in the program. She was still going to be a physician, but not a surgeon. And hey, there's nothing wrong with that! Leah was always pretty bland except for her fling with Arizona, and... oh my God. It literally just occurred to me that Leah might be the love interest we've been promised for Arizona. Please God No. Anyway. We'll see.

Jo and DeLuca are boring. The trial date has been set for Deluca v. Karev, and DeLuca tells Jo about it. Later, he sees Jo and Alex talking, since they're working on a case together, and he gets all weird, saying that he can't talk to her about the case anymore. He says that Jo deserves better than choosing guys who hurt her, like Alex. It seems that perhaps we are going the romance route with these two, and just... no. I cannot think of anything more painfully boring.

Modern Family: Halloween 4: The Revenge of Rod Skyhook (8x05)

In comparing this episode with previous Modern Family Halloween specials, unfortunately it falls a little short. I mean, who can forget the haunted house episode with Gloria trying to force her voice into an American accent? However, this episode wasn't horrible, either. It was just kind of... standard.

Cons:

This show still does not know what it's doing with Alex. She stays home on Halloween while Luke is having a party, and ends up making out with her ex-boyfriend Ruben for some reason. I really wish they would send Alex back to school and let her have her own plot threads.

Cam and Mitchell's plot thread was all about Cam getting revenge on a little kid who took a whole handful of candy instead of just one piece. The kid, dressed as Darth Vader, runs away from Cam, who's dressed as Batman. I liked elements of this thread, which I'll get to in a second, but in some ways it felt overcrowded. There was this shoe-horned thing where apparently Cam was mad at Mitchell for never standing up for him, and then in the end Mitchell did stand up for him, and that sort of went nowhere. Also, Cam blames the kid for throwing an egg at him but it was really Claire, even though I have no idea when Claire had time to run over and throw eggs, since she was involved in her own plot thread. And Cam ate too much candy and had a sugar crash. All perfectly fine ideas, but unfortunately they all struggled for lack of screen time.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Lockup (4x05)

Woah. Intense! The action is really heating up (no pun intended) and the plot twists keep on coming.

Cons:

I guess I spoke too soon when I said that Fitz and Simmons were on solid footing. This week, we start the episode with the two of them bickering over Aida and all the lies. I'm a little miffed that we're actually going this route, but hopefully it won't go too far.

Daisy started to annoy me just a teeny tiny bit this week. I liked the concept of her going rogue and hanging out with Robbie Reyes, and I liked that S.H.I.E.L.D. then brought the two of them in. What I'm not crazy about is Daisy's continual self-hatred and martyr complex. I don't really get it. At one point she literally locks Coulson and May out of a fight so that she can take on a room of bad guys by herself. Why? Because she doesn't want anybody else to get hurt. It's "her fight." Except... no? In this case, the fight was about the Darkhold, and so Daisy really had no reason to take it all upon herself. I get that she lost her bland white boyfriend Lincoln, but I don't know that that justifies all of this behavior.

Elementary: Render, and Then Seize Her (5x03)

Surprise, surprise, I found the subplot more compelling than the main story.

Cons:

I think my problem with the case of the week is that it tried to incorporate too many elements, and thus ended up having a weird amount of red herrings. Like, the nudist colony? What did that have to do with anything? I won't go over the whole plot, but suffice it to say it involved a kidnapping that ended up being staged by the abductee herself, highly valuable CGI technology, altered surveillance footage, old mob families and their long-past dramas, and more. A lot of interesting stuff, but maybe a bit too cluttered.

Pros:

There were a couple of good things about this case, though. First of all, when the "kidnapped" woman tells her story, she says she was kidnapped by a couple of Pakistani men. Sherlock calls this made up story a "racist tale of woe" and a "bigoted fantasia." Ah, Sherlock. Your wordplay is a wondrous thing to behold.

The Walking Dead: The Day Will Come When You Won't Be (7x01)

Oy vey. This was just an hour of torture porn. I'm going to go ahead and put the entire review under a cut, just in case you don't know yet.

Once Upon a Time: Street Rats (6x05)

I'm pretty okay with the way things are going right now, and sometimes that's all you can hope for. Although I'm generally not a fan of certain secret-based conflicts, I actually find the current atmosphere very compelling.

Cons:

The subplot this week involved the Evil Queen taking her sister Zelena on a spa day, and encouraging Zelena to embrace her wickedness. The Evil Queen has this idea that baby Robin will support her mother as long as she's not lied to - if Zelena is always wicked, then there's no way to disappoint her. This is a silly idea, and this whole plot thread was pretty moronic. I'm so done with Zelena flip-flopping. Pick a lane, girl.

Emma finally tells her family the truth about her visions and her shaking, which is great, but she only does it because the Evil Queen disguises herself as Archie and tells everybody that Emma has a secret. This would have been a much stronger moment if Emma had decided on her own to come clean.

The Vampire Diaries: Hello Brother (8x01)

Huh. Okay. I enjoyed that.

Cons:

The plot thread I care about the least so far is the one with Alaric, Caroline, and the kids. In short, one of the Armory people from last season tries to kill the nanny and the kids, but Caroline shows up in time to stop it. Apparently this all has to do with the "thing" that Damon and Enzo let out of the Armory's lockup. While potentially interesting in how it relates to the main story, I still don't much care for Caroline the Family Gal. She's just not as compelling a character to me when she's focused on the kids. Also, her romance with Stefan is still pretty bland in comparison to what this show has had in the past.

Grey's Anatomy: Both Sides Now (13x05)

Lots of good stuff, but one or two bad things as well. Also, the centralizing theme of this episode got a little muddied.

Cons:

What do I mean by that? Well, I think this episode was supposed to be how it was too hot out or something. First of all, they said it was Fall. And it's Seattle. We don't generally have blistering heat, here. But whatever. The other cohesive theme was about babies, I think. There was a pregnancy, a possible pregnancy, and a new baby all in this episode. But nothing really tied them together.

The patients of the week all ended up connecting: one old woman is finally getting her new liver, to Bailey's delight. Meredith's patient needs an emergency liver transplant, but her twin sister can't give it to her because she's pregnant. Maggie and Stephanie's patient dies on the table during a very risky heart surgery, and it turns out that his liver is a match for the dying twin, so... that's good, I guess. My problem with this was that the minute I knew the 25-year-old needed a liver, I knew there was going to be drama about her getting it from the old woman. And then I guessed that somehow another liver would magically show up so that both of them could be saved. I wish this hadn't be so transparent.

Supernatural: Mamma Mia (12x02)

Okay. So. I'm really, really thrilled with some things, but very frustrated with others.

Cons:

This British Men of Letters thing is still baffling to me. Last week, I asked why Toni needed to torture Sam for information, when she could have just asked for it. Beyond that, if she's able to learn so much about Sam and Dean, shouldn't she be able to crack the code on the other hunters as well? This week, we learned that Toni and some other members of the British MOL believe that American hunters have been corrupted in some way, and are working alongside monsters. This idea has the potential to be intriguing, but it still doesn't change the fact that Toni is a moron. In what universe does she think that torturing these guys is going to get her what she wants? Why on earth would she use this tactic, instead of trying to infiltrate? Like, why doesn't she pose as a hunter looking for connections in America, and become an ally to Sam and Dean in order to ferret out the secret conspiracy she thinks is lying beneath?

Also, one of Toni's torture techniques was to put a spell on Sam to make him think the two of them were in bed together. That was just... weird? I don't know. Toni is on my list of the most incompetent, least threatening villains we've ever had on this show, and that could be a big problem.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Let Me Stand Next to Your Fire (4x04)

Daisy's back with the team, and it feels so right. Let's dive straight in.

Cons:

This was a pretty flawless episode, other than one "plot twist" that I found a bit ridiculous. Daisy and Simmons pair up to try and figure out how the Watchdogs have been tracking down and killing Inhumans. Their search leads them to James, aka Hellfire. Then, the twist is that James has been working with the Watchdogs, allowing them access to the tracking bracelet that S.H.I.E.L.D. makes him wear. The twist was obvious from a mile away, and that always bothers me. James is a cool enough character that I was a bit disappointed to have him used in this way.

The Big Bang Theory: The Hot Tub Contamination (10x05)

Of the many things I habitually complain about on this show, one of the most aggravating is the constant telling, rather than showing. In my opinion, this episode is a perfect example of that problem.

Cons:

The main plot is about Sheldon and Amy and how they have a hard time living together. Sheldon and Penny end up going out to get away from the fighting, while Amy and Leonard stay in. Sheldon complains about Amy, and Penny finds herself sympathizing, while Amy complains about Sheldon, and Leonard finds himself sympathizing. In the end, Sheldon apologizes for being so contrary, and agrees to try and compromise more.

Here's the problem: we spend the whole episode hearing Sheldon and Amy talk about living together and how hard it is. We don't even see them in the actual apartment they're living in until the very end! It would have been much more fun to watch them actually living together. To see these complaints play out on the screen. Instead, we just get to hear about how hard it is, and then in the end Sheldon and Amy are back on good footing, and nothing has really changed or moved forward in any way for the plot or the characters.

Once Upon a Time: Strange Case (6x04)

Well... huh. That was unexpected. But in a good way!

Cons:

Before we get to the main plot of the episode, which I liked, I want to talk about the setup in this episode for our Aladdin story, which I didn't like. Snow is back to work as a teacher, and she has a new teacher's aid, a woman from the land of untold stories. This is Jasmine, which is painfully obvious from the second she appears on screen. She helps Snow to incorporate her new self into her old role as a teacher, and connect with the kids from the land of untold stories in brand new ways. Then, as the episode ends, Jasmine meets up with the oracle who showed Emma her death. The oracle is apparently looking for Aladdin in Storybrooke, but has been unable to find him yet.

My problems are many. First of all, Snow's whole "I need to learn to be a good teacher again" thing is weird and kind of out of nowhere. I liked the idea of her opening up a school for the kids, but I thought we were going to see her planning and developing that idea, and then opening things back up eventually. Instead, the school is just... up and running all of a sudden. And Snow suddenly sucks as a teacher? I don't know. It just felt like a shoe-horned reason to have a "find yourself" plot. Jasmine, who went by a different name for the majority of the episode, inspires Snow with a sad story about a princess who couldn't accept who she was, and who let her kingdom down because of it. It was all just so generic, and it didn't make me feel excited about learning Jasmine's story. (Although I did love Galavant, so the actress is already a hit with me).