His Dark Materials: Betrayal (1x08)

Dafne Keen is going places. She's phenomenal. This show... just... wow.

Cons:

I liked the way the daemons were integrated into this episode; they definitely got better about that as the season went on. But now I have to register a related, yet slightly different complaint...Pan is always in the same damn form. I mean, not always, but enough that it's distracting. I think in the book that was definitely his preferred form, but since it's a very important plot point that Lyra's daemon hasn't "settled" yet, I think some more variety would have been nice, just to emphasize that. Is this a nitpick? Yes.

Also... I missed Lee. A lot. I wish we could have seen more of him, although I understand why time constraints would limit his role towards the end of the season.

Pros:

While I'm not sure I'd ever recommend this show to someone on the basis of its effects/action sequences, I will admit that the final battle scene was pretty cool, with all the moving pieces of the bears, the Magesterium, etc. coming together in one bombastic final confrontation. Bodies are flying around, lights and noise and chaos... and Lyra, running through it all, just trying to get to Roger. I really felt the tension and urgency here.

His Dark Materials: The Fight to the Death (1x07)

Lyra Silvertongue! Oh man, this was a good, good episode.

Cons:

My main and really my only complaint is something that I think the budget is responsible for. It's been a while since I've read the books, but I remember the fight between Iorek and Iofur being outdoors, in this big arena with all the other bears watching. I've been mostly very impressed with the CGI in this show, and the bears in particular look great - the fight is truly impressive. But it doesn't have the grandness of scale I was maybe hoping for, in my ideal universe.

I'll just lodge my regular complaint that daemons need to be more ubiquitous. The man in the prison cell with Lyra didn't have any significant interactions with his daemon, for example. I don't mean to nitpick, but come on.

Pros:

This is the best episode of the show thus far, though. I really, really liked it. I think I'll start with Will, before we get in to the main story of the week. Boreal is getting impatient, and tries to talk his way into the Parry household. He tells Elaine that John might still be alive. She freaks out and runs to Will, and it looks like Will is ready to believe that there's something more going on here, besides his mother's paranoia. He takes her to a trusted neighbor and then hides out in the dark in his own house, awaiting Boreal's men. They break in, looking for his father's belongings and notes, and Will pushes one of them over the banister, killing him, and then runs off.

Supernatural: Our Father, Who Aren't in Heaven (15x08)

I'm screaming.

Cons:

Buckleming episodes usually piss me off, but this one was actually really great. It was still plagued with the same pacing problems I always see in their episodes, though. A lot of great stuff happened here, but it didn't necessarily have a ton of room to breathe. Some of it did - the Cas and Dean stuff, the Michael and Adam stuff. And maybe that's the most important. But it might have been nice to have a longer beat with Rowena, or a bit more buildup with Eileen and the case. For an episode written by these two chuckle-fucks, though, I'm honestly really, really impressed.

Donatello is an okay-ish character, but his presence here felt mostly unnecessary. Didn't we have enough to juggle, without introducing him into the mix? Eileen, Cas, Rowena, Chuck, Michael, Adam... there's a lot going on here. It probably could have been done without him.

Pros:

I really don't know where to start, so let's start with Eileen. Just the fact that she's in this episode warms me from head to toe. She's... actually in the show. She's here, in the mid-season finale, where important Plot Stuff is happening. She's a real player in events, and after she came back from the dead, she stuck around in the bunker. Like she's... really in the show, you guys. Three episodes in a row!

Modern Family: The Last Christmas (11x09)

Yeah, this was a pretty decent installment, even if one or two things still had me rolling my eyes.

Cons:

Manny is so annoying. I actually liked the idea of Luke having genuine feelings for Sherry, and how that might affect the whole family. There was this idea of Manny's parents and Luke's parents defending their sons, and Luke developing emotionally, and Manny having to learn to be more mature as well, and get over his heartbreak in an adult way... but no. We get some setup and promise in that direction, and then it all blows up immediately. I'm just so exhausted by Manny as a character.

I like it when Modern Family does big ensemble stories like this, because it means even if every plot thread doesn't it the mark, there's enough going on that it doesn't matter. That said, I didn't care about Jay trying to get Claire to work with him in his dog bed company. It was just entirely shrug-worthy for me.

Pros:

Haley was actually my favorite part of this episode, even though she didn't really have a story-line of her own. Essentially, she is done breastfeeding and so she's drinking wine and meddling in other people's drama. She had the two best jokes. One, when she compared Joe to a "sad ham" and then apologized because she's drunk and upset. Her line delivery really cracked me up. The second is when she talks to Mitchell about Cam's family being poor because they "eat plants and animals they find in their backyard." Ha!

His Dark Materials: The Daemon-Cages (1x06)

Dang, a ton of stuff happens in this one episode!

Cons:

In theory, I'm glad we've got a fast pace. There's a lot to cover in just eight episodes. There was plenty of great material in this episode, and for the most part the resonant moments really landed. But I have some complaints.

So, first of all, the fast pace felt kind of awkward when we had these really brief cut-aways from what was happening with Lyra. We've got a scene of the Gyptians on their travels, and a scene of Will watching a video of his father. These scenes cut through the main action and were pretty awkward and unnecessary.

I know I've said this before, but it's really annoying that the daemons are not more ubiquitous in this world. In this episode, we are meant to understand the visceral, painful horror of children being separated from their daemons. So then why are daemons so much an afterthought in the filming and atmosphere? Why can I remember the girl that helped Lyra hide from Mrs. Coulter, but not the presence of her daemon? Why don't we see the children snuggling and petting their daemons in the cafeteria scenes? Where's Pan when Lyra falls out of the balloon at the end? It bothers the heck out of me that the daemons aren't a bigger part of the visual storytelling.

Supernatural: Last Call (15x07)

My heart is so full, y'all. Damn.

Cons:

Will you just let Eileen and Sam kiss, though? The slow-burn is charming to a point, but we're running out of episodes, here. Let's get this show on the road. They are so freakin' cute.

I love Christian Kane so much and I loved his performance. I do think it's a little silly to shoe-horn this awesome friend into Dean's past like this. I get it - this was someone he used to hunt with on occasion when he was younger. That part I'm fine with. But they talked like John was a father-figure in this guy's life, that he took them both out on hunts together, played them music, etc. That's not the kind of friend I thought Dean had in his life. It feels like too much of a retcon, in some ways, to introduce that idea now.

Also... this is a small thing, but it was hilarious to me how easy it was for Dean to break out of his bonds when Lee had him trapped. Come on, guys. The Winchesters are always getting in to trouble, and it's always dumb luck or mistakes from the bad guys that let them escape with their lives. Isn't Lee supposed to be a former hunter?

Modern Family: Tree's A Crowd (11x08)

This episode sure does... exist. It's not strictly speaking terrible, for any specific reason... but it slipped out of my brain pretty much the second I watched it. Just... bland.

Cons:

The blandest and yet somehow still the most annoying plot thread goes to... Jay, Gloria, and Manny. Big shocker there. Apparently Manny has been dumped by Sherry Shaker, and Gloria wants Luke to go to Sherry and talk Manny up so she'll take him back. Instead, Luke is charmed by her improv comedy skills and ends up kissing her. This is paired with a plot where Gloria accuses Jay of being unfeeling, so Jay tries to find Manny a new girlfriend. The climax of this thread comes when Jay tells Luke to get out, that he's disappointed in him, because Luke kissed Sherry. This is supposed to prove that Jay does have empathy.

First of all, I made myself bored just writing out that plot thread. Second of all, Manny is truly insufferable as a character. I mean it. Whenever he's onscreen I'm just prepared to cringe. I also hate it when they take something stupid and try to make it poignant. I think we were supposed to feel genuine emotion about Luke betraying Manny and Jay standing up for him, but it just did not work for me. If I thought they were going to spend some real time on it, explore Luke and Manny's relationship from this point forward, I'd be more on board. But it's not going to happen. Any amount of connection I felt to Manny's character died long ago.

Arrow: Purgatory (8x07)

Arrow has decided to lean firmly into the nostalgia camp for this final season, and I for one am all for it!

Cons:

I'm going to say this one more time, just because I want to have it on the record. I'm not letting the CW pull me in to their fun crossover shenanigans. I like Arrow just fine, but I don't have the time or the bandwidth to watch all of the other shows in this extended universe. It's a good marketing technique, sure, but I am not going to be watching all of the crossover episodes. This means that I will next check in with Oliver in January, and be super confused as I'll be coming in to part... 4? 5? of the Crisis on Infinite Earths story. This isn't really a "con" of this episode in particular, but I just wanted to make my stance on this crystal clear. If you're in to all the other shows, cool. But I can't be fussed. And it annoys me slightly that this final season of Arrow, with only three episodes remaining, is using one of those episodes to tell a story that's not really about Oliver and his gang, but is instead about all of these other shows and their characters as well. After that, the penultimate episode is the backdoor pilot one, and then the finale... it really feels like a lot of real estate is being used for things that are tangential to Oliver's journey, but not central to it. And that's a bummer, even if the other content is good.

I was happy that we got some explanation about Lyla last week, but I have to admit the relationship between her and Diggle is kind of baffling. Why did Lyla have to be so circumspect about everything? She kidnapped William, Mia, Connor, Oliver, John, and Laurel. She straight up kidnapped them. She seemed perfectly able to convince Dinah, Rene, and Roy to come under their own power, so what is with the drugging? They've justified it somewhat by saying that it's all part of the effort to make Oliver understand his role in the coming Crisis. But even that doesn't quite do it for me, especially now that Lyla has been taken over and has become "the Harbinger," whatever the hell that is. It's just a little too wonky for my taste.

His Dark Materials: The Lost Boy (1x05)

Will?! What the heck! Let's discuss.

Cons:

I am not at all unhappy with the introduction for Will and his mother. I think both actors did a good job, and the story is intriguing and feels natural here. It makes perfect sense that Will would be introduced so early, given that they've already revealed the existence of multiple worlds, and Lord Boreal is already hanging out in Will's world, looking for info about John Parry (aka Grumman). All that said... I do have some worries. Is introducing Will here going to diminish some of the most powerful parts of the story, that don't come up until much later in the books? Well... inevitably. I still think this could work alright. I'm not willing to say they've made some big huge mistake by making such a big change. It makes sense to expand the world and add in these details, but there is definitely something lost by doing so.

I've brought this up before, but is bears repeating here in this episode specifically. The daemons need to be ubiquitous. They need to be there always, a part of the environment, always around. There are so many moments when we see a human without their daemon clearly visible. It's not breaking the rules - their daemon could be something small, hiding in their clothing. That's fine. But the problem is, we get moments like when Ma Costa runs up to Billy and immediately starts asking where his daemon is. She clearly noticed the daemon was missing immediately. Can people sense that? It just doesn't work unless the absence of a daemon is immediately apparent to a viewer, not just the characters.

Arrow: Reset (8x06)

Oh, I have feelings about this. Oliver my sweet precious hero friend.

Cons:

The idea that the Monitor has just been testing Oliver to get him ready for his final mission is... kind of silly? I don't know. Is this just me? It feels like what's really going on here is that they had to fill out a whole season, but needed to tread water until the actual "Crisis" plot thread could take over.

Pros:

This episode felt like old-school Arrow in a way I really admired. Oliver having to balance his public image as an important figure in his community, with his vigilante identity. Oliver going to a glitzy event and then having to don the suit to stop some bad guys. Oliver getting advice and help from his trusty side-kicks, but also learning a humbling lesson about his own limits. All very early-season vibes, in a way I really appreciated.

This is a Groundhog Day episode, where Oliver is stuck in a time loop that seems to reset when Quentin Lance is killed. Turns out, Laurel is also in the same loop. This is a pretty standard setup, but one thing I really liked about it is that first Lance, and then Diggle, both believe Oliver right away when they're told what's going on. As they both point out, their lives are crazy, and include time travel and resurrections and all sorts of bizarre crap. Why shouldn't they believe Oliver in this situation? They both have reason to trust him on something like this.

His Dark Materials: Armour (1x04)

Yessss. I loved this episode so much. Lots of stuff going on, a fast pace, world-building, new characters, a mission introduced and completed all in a single hour.

Cons:

I love our new characters so very much. I do wish we could have been a little more clear on Lee Scoresby's motivations. He feels he owes something to Iorek, but we are not told what, and we are not told why he has chosen now of all times to seek him out. It's a small thing, but it's the kind of plotting issue that seems like they just needed to get all the chess pieces on the board, so they forced it to happen.

Pros:

But whatever, that's such a small thing. Before we dive in to our new characters and all that noise, I'll briefly touch on what our villains are up to. We don't get a ton of movement here, just some small shifts. We learn that Mrs. Coulter has managed, with the assistance of some armoured bears, to capture Lord Asriel. She is using Asriel as leverage with the Magisterium to maintain her position as the head of the General Oblation Board. She is also leveraging Iofur's desire for baptism in order to keep him in line. Mrs. Coulter is so expertly playing everyone else in this episode, as we see her negotiating and threatening and manipulating various important people in order to position herself in the best possible placement. I love it. I love how evil she is.

In the main story, we've got a quest. Basically, Lyra and the Gyptians are looking for the assistance of an armoured bear named Iorek Byrnison. Also looking for Iorek is Lee Scoresby, a Texan aeronaut. We also hear talk of a witch who might be able to help our heroes on their quest, named Serafina Pekkala. This is essentially an "ally gathering" episode, and it does a lot of work in a short amount of time, invigorating the story with fun new faces and planting seeds for lots of future exciting stuff.

The Walking Dead: The World Before (10x08)

I hate it when smart characters have to act like morons for the sake of the plot.

Cons:

So, Carol has this crazy trigger of running off into danger because of her need to kill Alpha. She's so intent on this goal that she risks her own life and lots of other peoples' lives more than once, and seems completely unrepentant about it. In this case, she ran after Alpha and into an obvious trap. And then Daryl sends in everyone else after her, and then follows himself. So now they're all trapped in an underground cavern filled with the Whisperers' hoard. And this is the big mid-season cliffhanger we are left with. How... lame. How uninspired. How stupid of Daryl and the others to let this happen. I was cool with them scouting for the hoard, but to run blindly into danger like that was just so uncalled for.

We learn Dante's backstory a little bit, but I'm still not totally happy with it. He was brand new to the Whisperers, and went in as a valuable spy because Lydia wouldn't recognize him. But what ties him to Alpha, then? Clearly, their philosophies line up, somewhat. Dante believes that communities like Alexandria are giving their people false hope. But Alpha is supposed to be a cult of personality, and Dante has no reason to be so loyal to her that he'd risk his own life in this way. We needed more to understand why he was so die-hard for the Whisperers. If he's new, he hasn't been indoctrinated. It's also annoying that he was able to infiltrate so easily, because it just makes Alpha and the Whisperers seem all-powerful in a way that reminds me of the Saviors.

Grey's Anatomy: Let's All Go to the Bar (16x09)

No. NO. Negatory. Nopity nope nope. Yoikes. Cannot do it. I cannot go through this again.

Cons:

I'm talking about Amelia's baby. I will nottttt. Apparently Amelia got pregnant four weeks before she thought she did, which means it might not be Link's baby. Meaning it might be Owen's. We didn't get to see any more of this revelation play out, but it's going to cause drama and my brain is going to explode if we stretch this out any longer. Why can't Amelia and Link just have a kid together and be happy? I am UPSET. Owen doesn't deserve to have another baby! He has enough babies, okay?!

In fact, almost all of the relationship drama this week was just irritating in the extreme. There's an exception, but I'll get to that in a moment. You've got the "who got Amelia pregnant" nonsense. And then you've got Tom telling Teddy that he loves her and wants to marry her, and that Owen hasn't even popped the question yet. You all know my feelings about the way they've navigated Tom's character this season, but the thing is... the dude is right. Owen doesn't deserve Teddy. Owen is annoying as hell.

And then you've got Richard and Catherine's nonsense. My feelings about Catherine have always been less than positive, so it's a hard sell to get me to care about her. And now I'm in a situation where I'm annoyed with her for not giving Richard the benefit of the doubt, and I'm also annoyed with Richard for not putting a hard boundary between himself and his friend. Even if they aren't technically crossing any lines, Richard knows there's something there. He needs to get a grip. The marriage between Richard and Catherine is a mess.

The Good Place: The Answer (4x09)

Holy mother of God. I am - emotional.

Cons:

Literally the only thing I can think to complain about is that this episode went by too quickly. Because it was so good. I feel like I blinked at it was over. Just... wow.

Pros:

This incredible half hour of television takes place in the snap of a finger. Michael wakes Chidi up, and as he does so, we get a glimpse of Chidi's life, of the moments that shaped him, as he searches for "the answer" over the many long and confusing years of his life(s) and afterlife(s). We are brilliantly shown key conversations with people that helped him to understand that there is no answer, even as he fights against this truth.

From Jason, he learns that sometimes you just need to act, that weighing all of your options isn't always going to work.

From Tahani he learns that it's okay to make mistakes, that you'll learn from them.

Supernatural: Golden Time (15x06)

This episode has made my soul ascend to heaven!

Cons:

Could have used more sign language. This is totally a nitpick, totally a personal preference thing. I love ASL and I love the idea of Sam learning it for Eileen, and I wanted more, more, more. Also a personal preference thing, but I totally wanted them to kiss? Can Eileen just like... be in the rest of the show and go on hunts with the Winchesters and start dating Sam and... yeah. More Eileen please and thank you.

Pros:

See, I couldn't even properly complain about anything before jumping straight in to the Eileen of it all. We all know Supernatural has a crappy track record with its female characters. So many of them have been fridged, or even at best killed off in a less fridge-y way, but the end result is that there is a dearth of ladies in the Supernatural universe. Eileen was a particularly difficult and senseless death, as there was no reason why she had to die to prove the point that things were getting rough. And then here we have a mission - find a way to help Eileen, who is a ghost that doesn't want to go back to Hell. Sam finds a compromise solution, but it's not ideal, and then he discovers that Rowena was working on a way to make a spirit corporeal. They can bring Eileen back! Cue some witches who come in as obstacles, some reminiscing about Rowena, and then bam! Sam gets a win. Eileen is alive once again.

Modern Family: The Last Thanksgiving (11x07)

This was pretty fun. If Modern Family wants me to feel feelings, it needs to lean heavy on nostalgia. Holiday episodes are a good way of doing that!

Cons:

Manny is insufferable. I know that's supposed to be the joke, that he's annoying everyone by talking about a girl that is giving him trouble. But just because he's supposed to be irritating doesn't stop him from being really freakin' irritating. Also, the jokes about his super tall and strong basketball girlfriend felt vaguely sexist, like the joke is that she's so desperate for a boyfriend that she won't let Manny leave. Yeesh.

At the beginning, there was the setup of Haley, Luke, and Alex making Thanksgiving dinner for everyone. Haley talks about how she wants to do something nice because of everything Claire has done for her with Dylan and the babies. But then this part of the episode ended up being about Alex's weird chef boyfriend. This stuff wasn't strictly bad, but I was expecting something else and wanted Haley to have more to do here.

Also... where was Lily?!

Arrow: Prochnost (8x05)

If there is one character on this show that I love as much as Tommy Merlyn, it's Roy Harper. Looks like the boy is back!

Cons:

We've only got five episodes left of this show. And one of them is a backdoor pilot, and one of them is the gigantic crossover event that I really don't care about... and all I keep thinking is that there's not time to wrap everything up in a way that's going to feel satisfying to me. It also still doesn't make any sense that Oliver doesn't go and see Felicity. There is actually not a good reason for staying away at this point.

There was one moment when Mia and Oliver got captured, and someone said Oliver's name, and Mia said "how do they know who you are?" and it was such a stupid thing to do that I kept waiting for a reveal where this was all part of some bigger plan. But no, apparently Mia just didn't realize it was a bad idea to confirm her father's identity when he was keeping his mouth shut. Maybe this is a nitpick, but it really bothered me.

Diggle and Roy have a subplot that was honestly pretty boring. A standard mission where they're looking for some plutonium, and Roy has to learn to not give in to his blood lust. I loved seeing Roy, but the actual mission was very blah.

His Dark Materials: The Spies (1x03)

This was a great episode, and gave me high hopes for where the rest of this season is going to go.

Cons:

I think this might be a legacy problem from the book, although it's been so long since I read it that I'm not sure. But isn't it a little odd to set Lyra up as an orphan in the first episode, and by episode three she already knows that her parents are both alive, and she knows who they are? I feel like she didn't discover the full truth until later in the narrative, in the books. Maybe I'm wrong.

The stuff with Boreal in our world is just not as exciting or atmospheric or cool as the stuff with Lyra in her world. It doesn't help that he made no real progress on his goals. He's still looking for Grumann, we don't have any new answers, and very little new information. Maybe knowing that this stuff is added and isn't in the books is making me judge it more harshly, but thus far I'm just not gripped.

Pros:

The thing that made me happiest about this episode is that it slowed down. There were multiple scenes contemplating the nature of daemons. We saw Lyra start to work out how to use the alethiometer. She learned more about her past, about the rules of the world. We got to spend time getting to know the psychology of certain characters. When you've got a show like this one, where there are so few episodes to get through the plot, there's always a tension between getting to all the important details, and letting stuff sink in and linger for a while. This was a lingering episode, and I think it came at the perfect time.

The Walking Dead: Open Your Eyes (10x07)

So obviously a really shocking thing happened in this episode, and I wanted to be totally impressed and on board and all that, but I have some problems.

Cons:

Siddiq was actually a super interesting character and I really wanted to explore his PTSD and get in to his role in the community. So, predictably, he now must die. I'm going to praise some aspects of his death in the "Pros" section, but for the most part it just doesn't track for me. There are so few genuinely interesting characters left on this show, why kill this one?

Also, Dante being a secret Whisperer doesn't make any sense at all. I wanted to be pleased with the twist, because it was certainly unexpected and that can be refreshing, but here's the problem: I thought one of the big tensions going on here is that Alpha's cult of personality would be ruined if anyone knew that Lydia was still alive. Dante knows, and is still loyal to the Whisperers. Who is this guy? We have no investment in him as one of Alpha's loyal followers. I liked Dante and found him interesting on his own merits, but now I'm having to deal with the fact that he was just there to be a setup for a twist!

Grey's Anatomy: My Shot (16x08)

Oh, Grey's Anatomy. You wouldn't be you if you didn't have manufactured coincidences popping up around every corner. I loved this episode, for the most part! Let's take a look.

Cons:

So, the thing about doing a medical drama/soap opera is that a lot of really unrealistic stuff has to happen in order to keep the drama quotient up. The characters in this show have been through more trauma than is remotely realistic for any group of people, and over the sixteen seasons of this show, every single character has done stuff that's super illegal and messed up and bad. When you have an episode like this, where Meredith's past gets dredged up, you're forced to realize how completely improbable it is that Meredith would still be allowed to practice medicine in the first place. Or frankly, how Richard and Alex would be allowed to continue, what with committing assault, breaking the law, the list goes on. And that's fine, it doesn't matter most of the time on this show. But when a spotlight is shone on all of the things that have happened over the years, it starts to feel a bit more shark-jumpy than I'm comfortable with.

Also, I can take some cheesiness, but all the patients rushing in to testify for Meredith, and the letter from Cristina, and letters from Addison, Callie, Arizona, April... come on. That's a little much, don't you think? I wanted this to be more grounded in reality. Meredith probably should be taken to task for a lot of what she's done. There could have been a better balance there, with some of her bad behavior actually being condemned. I think they tried to do that with Bailey, but for me it didn't quite stick the landing.

The Good Place: The Funeral to End All Funerals (4x08)

I am having EMOTIONS. This was my favorite episode of the season so far.

Cons:

I suppose it was a bit short? I mean, does that count as a complaint? I loved seeing our core group of characters spend time with each other, but I'll admit it threw into stark relief how much I've missed that dynamic. We didn't get to see Simone or John or Brent, and Chidi was unconscious the whole time. But even without Chidi, this episode had the energy of the Soul Squad in full force, and it's putting into perspective how much I'd been missing it all season. I guess the good things about this episode made me retroactively less pleased with some of the earlier episodes?

Pros:

The funerals were adorable and sweet and exactly the kind of life-affirming thing I needed here, as we shift to yet another big change for the show. The experiment is over, and whatever is coming next is sure to be just as wacky... so of course we should spend the first part of this episode celebrating the friendships, the growth, the real kindnesses done by the Soul Squad over the years. It was so sweet to hear Tahani, Eleanor, and Jason share their feelings about one another, and about Chidi. Even Janet got to speak up about how she felt about Jason, and about how her friends had helped her to grow as well.

Supernatural: Proverbs 17:3 (15x05)

Ooh the parallels! The meta! The heavy-handed foreshadowing, and then the acknowledgment of said heavy-handed foreshadowing. And Lilith! Let's dive in.

Cons:

I've talked about this before, and I think it's pretty standard criticism of Supernatural, but it's still kind of funny to me when Sam and Dean get flung around the room and knocked unconscious all the time. There's no way Sam doesn't have concussion syndrome at this point. To not only get hit on the head, but to be knocked out because of it for several minutes? That's a serious, serious injury. It's always so funny to me when the boys get knocked about so easily in every episode, because it seems like dumb luck that they're still alive.

The episode was only slightly past the thirty minute mark when the werewolves were dead, so it was so obviously telegraphed that there was more to the story. I would have wanted just one more twist thrown in for good measure, to try and trick audiences into maybe falling for the C-plot setup just a bit more. As it was, everything was so standard, so predictable, that I was primed for a big twist from the start.

Pros:

But honestly? This episode kicked ass, and it furthered the main plot, and if the worst thing I can say about it is that maybe it was slightly too predictable, I think we've got a winner on our hands.

His Dark Materials: The Idea of North (1x02)

Okay, we're really getting into some stuff!

Cons:

I feel much less intrigued by the Lord Boreal plot thread. I mean, this is the one thing they're doing differently from the books, thus far. They've introduced the idea of parallel worlds so early. In the novel, that reveal is teased out so gradually and doesn't really come to a head until the second book. I'm ready to have my mind changed, but so far seeing Lord Boreal in our world with all of our modern technologies, sitting there having coffee with someone, isn't actually all that interesting to me.

There was a lot going on in this episode, and along with Boreal's detour, we also got a brief glimpse of the Gyptians on their continued quest to find Billy and the other missing children. There was absolutely nothing wrong with the brief scenes we got, but I think the episode might have been better if it had had a tighter focus, maybe just following Lyra and Roger, without the distractions of these other little hints.

His Dark Materials: Lyra's Jordan (1x01)

Oh boy! It's been a while since I've started reviewing a brand new show. I think Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy is one of the finest examples of young adult fiction that has ever been written. So when I heard there was going to be an adaptation of it, I was nervous. But I also knew there was no way it could be worse than the horrific movie, so... what are my first impressions?

Cons:

The young lady who is playing Lyra is doing a pretty darn good job, but there are spots here in this first episode where her performance feels a bit uneven. Most notably in her first scene with Asriel. I felt like she was reciting lines instead of reacting genuinely. This was the only scene where I had that problem, though, and I think overall we've got a strong leading lady on our hands.

So, the Gyptians are clearly analogues for Romani in the real world, and there's absolutely no getting around that association, no matter what we do. On the one hand, I appreciate that this world is a lot more racially diverse, that we've got black men in positions of power, that the Gyptians are not uniformly brown. But there are implications here. It reminds me of The Handmaid's Tale in some ways. They made a decision to strip away the significance of race in the story, but they can't actually fully erase it. It's early days, so maybe we'll get more of this touched on later.

The Walking Dead: Bonds (10x06)

Things are happening, but they're happening slowly. That might as well be the slogan of The Walking Dead, if we're being honest about it!

Cons:

The thing about Carol behaving in a concerning manner is that it makes everyone else look like idiots. I could buy in to Daryl being fooled by her whole "recon" mission, if this were the first time Carol had acted a little unwisely. But she tried to shoot Alpha in the face, and she's been hallucinating. So the fact that Daryl is indulging her in such a dangerous activity is actually really annoying and makes him seem like a moron.

The creeping threat of an illness sweeping through Alexandria is a good one, but I thought Siddiq and Dante's little argument was pretty pointless. I wanted more from this, or I wanted it cut completely. Let's focus our Siddiq time on exploring his PTSD. We got some of that too, and it looks like we'll be getting more, but the spat with Dante felt like padding.

Grey's Anatomy: Papa Don't Preach (16x07)

Big yikes... poor Maggie.

Cons:

I think all of the love triangle stuff going on right now is pretty dumb. So we have some really serious drama going on with Richard and Maggie's family, but we also have to deal with Maggie still complaining about Jackson, and then Richard's weird situation with his wife and his friend who kissed him. I think the intent was supposed to be that the tragedy overshadows all the petty stuff, but instead I felt like other things just got in the way.

The stuff with Richard's niece was straight up tragic, of course, but I think it would have worked better if this was a character who had been around at least somewhat. I didn't even realize Richard had a brother. It's totally possible that he's been mentioned in passing before, but the fact that Richard has this whole branch of his family that he's practically estranged from, is really brand new information. Imagine how much more tragic this death would have been if this young woman had been a recurring character, at least in a smattering of episodes before her death?

The Good Place: Help Is Other People (4x07)

I have some concerns, actually.

Cons:

So, I have always admired this show's ability to mix things up, change the game, constantly adapt. But the thing is... these first seven episodes were supposed to be about an experiment with the humans. Apparently now the experiment is over, and I did not get to feel any of that progress or really sink in to what it all meant. John was a nothing character. And Brent? Maybe he was about to have a breakthrough, but I need to see more of that. I need to explore the implications of what he's finally realizing. Even Simone became pretty one-note, driven only by her desire to find out the truth, and nothing more. I'm disappointed in how little time we got to spend with these characters. I wanted to explore their relationship dynamics further. I wanted to turn them from caricatures into fully realized human beings, like what happened with Tahani, Jason, Chidi, and Eleanor. But Brent and John still feel extremely one-note to me. That's disappointing.

I suppose I should lodge my continued complaint that Tahani and Jason haven't had that much to do all season. There have been sparks here or there, and last week's episode was a good one for both of them in some ways. But I still feel like the show is struggling with ideas for what to do with these two characters.

Supernatural: Atomic Monsters (15x04)

I love it when Supernatural goes meta. Seriously, I don't think I've ever seen a show do it better. It's goofy and yet still thematically appropriate. And it's respectful of the once-in-a-lifetime fandom experience of being a person who watches Supernatural. Who grows up watching it. Let's talk about it.

Cons:

There is one thing that this show can't make its mind up about, and it's when it's cool to murder people. Like, yeah, the kid in this story was a vampire who had killed a young woman and was worried about losing control and killing again. But this episode also featured a (kind of) return of Benny, reminding us that vampires can be allies and friends, too. We've done this so many times over the years - Sam and Dean have had many debates about whether well-meaning monsters can control themselves enough to be left alive. And they've allied with people who under normal circumstances they might have just killed. Rowena. Crowley. Benny. Even Cas, if you want to get technical about it. It was painted as extremely tragic that the young man in this episode had to die. But I wanted there to be at least a conversation about it beforehand, where Sam and Dean said that yes, a normal life probably wasn't possible... but death wasn't the only option. If we can't live in the middle-ground, where exactly are we going with all of this?

I'm not surprised that Dean and Sam didn't talk about Cas in this episode. It makes sense because Misha can't be in the whole season, and Destiel just broke up in episode three. They're going to draw this sucker out just a little bit. But yeah, on a selfish note, I admit I was hoping for at least a mention. Maybe Sam could remark that Dean's good mood seems like a front, given how upset he's been about Cas. Oh well. I'm choosing to remain optimistic.

Modern Family: A Game of Chicken (11x06)

Hey, they gave Luke something kind of new and potentially interesting to do! Who would have guessed!

Cons:

Gloria trying to secretly baptize the twins was... really crossing a line, and also didn't really add anything. Gloria's characterization is all over the place. I did like one part of this plot thread, which I'll discuss in a moment, but overall I wasn't a fan. The super old priest didn't add any real comedy, although I guess it was nice to have a scene in Spanish for once.

Similarly, there was a moment or two that I enjoyed in Cam and Mitchell's plot thread, but the over all story was pretty shrug-worthy. Mitchell attacking a teenager in a dolphin costume, while wearing a chicken costume, should have been really funny. Instead it was kind of rote - there was nothing unexpected about what was happening here. Just a manufactured situation designed to look absurd. Cam having his feelings hurt by the school mascot isn't really related to the bigger question of whether Cam and Mitchell are going to move away for a new work opportunity for Cam. That's a more interesting story, and one I wish we could spend some time exploring.

Arrow: Present Tense (8x04)

I felt more emotion from William, Mia, and Connor in this episode's opening scene, than I ever have from any of them in the past. Let's dive in.

Cons:

Timeline stuff is always going to make things confusing and weird, but it gets even worse when you add in the logistics of stuff outside of the show's control. Because of the actress's decision to depart, Felicity can't be in this episode. But the longer that Oliver spends on his own earth in his own time, the weirder and stupider it becomes that he wouldn't be able to check in with Felicity and baby Mia. Last season we had this whole story where Felicity raised Mia in isolation, separated from Oliver because Oliver was already dead, or at least so inaccessible that it came to the same thing. Then, here, we see Oliver about to call Felicity on the phone, and he only decides not to because William says that time travel is confusing and they shouldn't bring her into it until they know more. That... is stupid. That is a lame excuse.

Also, Curtis coming back is always a treat, but he felt pretty useless here given that William can be a stand-in for any and all computer wizardry that might be required. I like that these two gay men get to be bad-asses and spend some on-screen time with each other, but I'm a little annoyed that William's sexual orientation gets trotted out occasionally but that we never really see him with a romance arc. Give this guy a boyfriend, stat!

The Walking Dead: What It Always Is (10x05)

Well... okie dokie, then. Negan has become suddenly relevant.

Cons:

There's some logistical weirdness with Kelly going out alone to hunt - isn't that incredibly stupid? And then we don't really see how she manages to survive. And the cache of food stored away is a really, really big betrayal. I'm hoping we get more out of that than just Daryl lying to cover it up because Connie asked him to. That's fine or whatever, but this is a huge deal and it needs to be talked about more.

Magna and Yumiko are characters that I want to like, and I think maybe I do like them, but it's just annoying how little time we've spent getting to know them. Here we have a scene where there's a rift that's grown up between them, and we've got bits of backstory and lots of other juicy details... and it's all underpinned by a relationship that hasn't had time to breathe or develop.

Aaron offering something to a Whisperer was weird... and now it looks like maybe Gamma is going to be a mole and help gather information? I don't know. I'm still interested in the Whisperers in theory, but as always the glacial pace of this show isn't doing any favors to the current plot elements at play.

Grey's Anatomy: Whistlin' Past the Graveyard (16x06)

As always, there is a lot to cover.

Cons:

I continue to be annoyed by everyone hating on Koracick, although there were things I liked about him this week and I'll get to that in a moment. Owen and Teddy still bore me. I like the idea of Teddy carving an identity for herself as a surgeon who isn't going to be sewing costumes for her kids, but Owen and Teddy's relationship just seems really unstable and uninteresting.

Jo's fake-out about being pregnant was uncomfortable. It felt like a meta joke, because Amelia and Bailey are both pregnant and people have been worried about more pregnancy story-lines. But that feels like the kind of weird joke that could backfire. Does Alex not want kids? Does Jo not want them? Have they discussed this? I don't know. That moment just felt very strange, and totally took me out of the cuteness of their Halloween marriage ceremony.

Pros:

I liked all of the Halloween-themed chaos at Alex and Richard's hospital, with Jo wandering around as a zombie bride, an old burial ground being uncovered, patients in danger for no apparent reason. Alex manages to hold on through the chaos, and impresses the board members with his management skills. He gets the funding he was looking for, and then goes off to marry his wife, for the second time! Very sweet, very triumphant. And Jo looked great in her costume.

The Good Place: A Chip Driver Mystery (4x06)

This episode had some structural issues, and there was one thing about it that actually kind of broke the magic of the show for me, at least in a small, temporary way.

Cons:

Another review pointed this out, and I kind of can't get it out of my head now. The reason that Eleanor believed she was in the Good Place in Season One is that Tahani and Chidi were believably people who might end up in heaven, at least superficially. It therefore made sense that Eleanor and Jason would believe there had been some kind of a mistake. So why do Simone, Chidi, and John not realize that Brent couldn't possibly be in the Good Place? Why don't they challenge this at all? It's going to keep bugging me until they address it.

On a more thematic note, I really liked Simone's question to Eleanor about why she and Tahani should have to be accommodating and kind to someone like Brent. Why should they take on that emotional labor? It's a big and important question, one relevant to real life. And the episode didn't really bother to explore it in any way. Eleanor thinks about it, comes back, and suggests they try to be more constructive when criticizing Brent's book. So she basically just says they need to tiptoe around this racist, sexist white man's feelings. And things predictably blow up, and we don't really get back to the very legitimate question at hand.

Modern Family: The Last Halloween (11x05)

Maybe my expectations were too high, as Modern Family is known specifically for its Halloween episodes. This wasn't bad, but it didn't blow me away.

Cons:

Okay, let's talk about Gloria's plot thread here. Because... yikes. Gloria thinks she's old, because people start believing that she's Jay's wife, or Manny's mother. It makes her insecure. And then in the end she wins a drag queen contest and she's super excited, but she doesn't know that they're drag queens... ahahaha the joke is supposed to be that she thinks she's still desirable but she's not because people think she's a DUDE. Like, what year are we living in here? This was just such a cheap, uninteresting concept. It added nothing.

Just as uninteresting and uninspired was the part where Jay is trying to track down an old candy bar because he wants to share the holiday with Joe, who is off trick-or-treating with another family. Apparently it's all about how Joe is starting to grow up and forge his own path. And then Manny has this trite line about how kids always come back eventually, even if they have to make dumb excuses for it. So it's like he was wanting that closeness with Jay again. I wish I found this touching, but I don't, because Manny is flat-out insufferable as a character, and none of it is earned.

Arrow: Leap of Faith (8x03)

Well that was... unearned.

Cons:

Zoe's death was melodramatic, and Mia is holding her and crying and she's saying to say goodbye and apologize to her father... and the whole time I'm just like... I never got to know this girl. I knew her as a little kid, but as an adult, what do I know about her? What is earned about Mia having such an intense reaction to this? We never got to see them actually being friends. I'm sad she's dead, because I never got to know her. I should be sad that she's dead because I knew her and will miss her. This was really over the top and, as I said, unearned.

Also in the flash-forward world, we see J.J. going around murdering people, and Connor is all devastated and fighting back, yadda yadda. In present day, we see Lyla and John working to help Connor and his mother, but we still don't have the full story of Connor being adopted, or what happened to John and Lyla in the future. It's so annoying to be kept in the dark about these details, when there does not seem to be any good reason for it. I guess I don't care enough about this show to track all of the details, so now that we've got more time travel shenanigans going on, I'm probably going to be even more confused.

The Walking Dead: Silence the Whisperers (10x04)

This was a good episode, but it's one that reinforces my desire for the show to end. Let me explain.

Cons:

There were so many good things about this episode, so many moments I enjoyed, interesting themes and character beats. But it's all in service to a story that has overstayed its welcome in a pretty major way. We have Ezekiel and Michonne sharing a moment, and that was nice in isolation, but it's just another story about a leader having problems leading in this crazy world. We've seen it. We've seen it with Michonne and Ezekiel in the past, in fact. We've got characters dealing with PTSD (Siddiq) and we've got a community turning even further against Lydia and Negan, setting up a cautionary tale against mob mentality. We've seen this before. We've got Aaron voting to execute Negan, as a formerly generous and kind man is turned hard by grief. Seen it. A kid wanting to be more useful, and a parent starting to accept their child's role in the world. We did this with Carl. Now it's Judith's turn.

And I could go on. So even as I praise many aspects of this episode, there's still the inevitable pull of ennui, as we retread over plot points that have been explored in earlier seasons. It doesn't mean it's bad now, it just means it's not fresh.

Grey's Anatomy: Breathe Again (16x05)

This episode... hmm... it's hard to pin down exactly how I feel about it, actually.

Cons:

This episode continues the story about Jo's mental health. There was so much I adored about this, truly. But Carly, one of Jo's therapists from her time in the facility was... a lot. She was too quirky and perfect and was just too annoying for me to take seriously as a character. I really, really liked watching Jo work through her issues, and I thought the resolution, where we find out that her "Capital-T Trauma" has to do with her being abandoned as a baby, was actually very fitting. They didn't make it out like it was a magical solution to all of her problems, and it didn't feel trite. All of that should really be in the "Pros" section, I know, but what I'm getting at is that I liked the substance of Jo's story a lot. But I found the personality of the therapist herself to be grating. She was very... Grey's Anatomy-ish. And I love this show, but there's a way that the characters have of talking, a certain quirk to their dialogue, that can come across as too whimsical in some cases. That's how I felt about the character of Carly.

So we have this weird subplot where Richard's friend Gemma takes him out for breakfast and then tries to hit on him, and even kisses him, while Richard is saying no. It's... really strange. Because Gemma points out Richard's dating history. He's been a cheater in the past, and Gemma is basically playing on that to say that she's available, since he and Catherine are in a bad place. And it's just not fun to watch? Or interesting? Am I supposed to think Richard is kind of a horrible person for the way he's behaved in his past relationships? Because honestly yeah I do feel that way, especially when the show decides to remind me about it. I'm no fan of Catherine Fox, but I hope Richard doesn't cheat on her. That would be a not-fun thing to happen.

The Good Place: Employee of the Bearimy (4x05)

So much fun! As always!

Cons:

Derek is a really funny character, and I'm genuinely amused by his antics. But with that said, I'll admit that I don't really get what his purpose is, in the larger scheme of things. If he's just there to be comic relief, I guess that's fine, but he kind of feels superfluous to the story that's being told. I'm prepared to eat my words. This show has certainly surprised me in the past. But right now, he's kind of just shrug-worthy for me.

Pros:

I've been complaining about Tahani not having much to do, and then we get this episode, where we discover that the character herself is having some anxiety about her usefulness! Great timing. While the others are all planning big things to proceed with the mission, Tahani is basically tasked with babysitting the humans and being a party planner. She's insecure about the fact that this is all she seems to be good for. But Eleanor, in a very Eleanor-ish style, tells her to suck it up. She reminds Tahani that cultivating an environment for these humans to bond and form friendship is literally what is going to save all of humanity. Tahani has lived a life of privilege, and she's never had to fight very hard for what she wanted. But now, she's realizing that she wants to do something more "worthy" with her time. I loved this element of Tahani's characterization, because on the one hand, it's great that she wants to expand her horizons. And on the other hand, Eleanor is sure to point out to her that her current skills aren't worthless. There's real skill and knowledge required to host events like Tahani does, and that shouldn't be dismissed out of hand.

Supernatural: The Rupture (15x03)

Well... damn?

Cons:

In the first two reviews of this season, I talked a lot about how this season was going to lean really hard into the nostalgia. I had high hopes about the return of some of these characters, and while I did really like this episode, I'm getting a bit concerned. Last week, Kevin showed up only to immediately leave again. This week, after Ketch's close call last week, he's killed off, Rowena dies, and then Belphegor also bites the dust. So a lot of stuff that was just getting set up is suddenly off the table. On the one hand, I like it when things are unpredictable and move at a quick pace. On the other hand, this feels a bit too familiar to me. Supernatural has a pattern. The first three episodes are all A-plot focused, and then we've got to ratchet back the tension so we can do some monster-of-the-week stuff. That's fine, that's expected. But we've already rushed through so many of the things I thought this season was going to focus on, and I have a feeling that the tension and drama is going to drop off. We've only got seventeen precious episodes left! I don't know if it was Rowena or Belphegor or even Ketch's time to go just yet.

Yo... Dean wicked needs to apologize to Cas. That was rough stuff. I loved the angst, don't get me wrong, but I hope Dean is held responsible for his actions. I hope we get a real in-depth look at Dean's anger issues and he realizes that he's the one in the wrong here. This isn't so much a problem with the episode as it is a worry for the future - I hope they do this plot thread justice.

And for my one and only petty complaint - it bothers me that they insist on sticking to their guns with the stupid idea of spelling Castiel's name "Cass." Like... stop. It's wrong. We all know it's wrong.

Arrow: Welcome to Hong Kong (8x02)

Tatsu! China White! Lyla! The nostalgia continues.

Cons:

You know what this episode doesn't have? An explanation as to why Oliver needs to stay away from Felicity. I understand that the actress left the show. I understand that she's staying in the safe house with baby Mia or whatever. But Oliver is back in his own world. Are you telling me there's no way he could go and check in on her and on his kids? The excuse feels very flimsy, and I wish I understood the reasoning more firmly.

The flash-forward stuff isn't all awful, but it still just doesn't compel me as much as the main story-line. If they were to try and spin off William, Mia, and the others into their own show, I don't think I'd be checking it out. The drama between JJ and Connor should be really compelling, and the actors are really giving it their all... but I still don't really understand Connor's role in events. This drama with the family, John and Lyla prioritizing Connor over JJ... we're hearing about it here, but we didn't get to see it, and the drama doesn't really land for me. Also, are John and Lyla dead? If they're dead, why don't they just say that?

The Walking Dead: Ghosts (10x03)

A lot of stuff happened in this episode, technically speaking, but so much of it was annoying to me, and so little progress was made, that it feels a bit like treading water. Can we please pick up the pace?

Cons:

In theory, the idea of Carol having these hallucinations could have been interesting or frightening. But most of them fell flat. I thought the moment where she was hanging up-side-down and fighting off the Walkers was bound to be a hallucination, but that turned out to be real? I guess it's effective in that it subverted my expectations, but what a truly bizarre action scene. The thing is, Carol is clearly in a bad way here, and it makes no real sense that Daryl and Michonne would let her come to meet the Whisperers, or let her stay up on watch by herself. They seriously dropped the ball, and I wish we could have an explanation for that.

I'll talk in a minute about the Aaron and Negan stuff, and what I liked about it, but I did think it was kind of stupid that Aaron went temporarily blind. That felt like an extra contrived circumstance, basically only there so that Negan could save Aaron and prove himself to be trustworthy.

I'm glad that Eugene realizes that his pursuit of Rosita is creepy and wrong, but I hate that this plot thread is still centering on the experience of Eugene. He realizes that Rosita is never going to change her mind and fall in love with him - something she's been telling him over and over again - and he is crushed by the realization that their entire relationship is based on a false premise. Like... sorry, dude, but Rosita is the one who deserves to feel hurt, here. You've just confessed that you don't value her friendship in and of itself, and only wanted to be with her romantically. She is the one who should feel betrayed, here.

Grey's Anatomy: It's Raining Men (16x04)

Jeez what a dark episode title, given what happens in this hour of TV!

Cons:

What the heck is this show trying to do with the character of Tom Koracick? It makes no sense. I have been so staunch in defending him over Owen, but it's like they made a decision that Owen is going to be the good guy now, so they have to make Tom a ridiculous jerk in order to compensate for that. It's not funny, it's not clever, it's frustrating in the extreme! Setting aside the love triangle of it all, Tom was a multi-faceted character whose love for Teddy was actually quite sweet and charming. And now he's pretty much a villain and everyone hates him. He antagonizes Owen, and tries to prey on a scared family in order to drum up good publicity for the hospital. There's a moment of nuance when Schmitt calls Jackson to task, but for the most part Tom is just an unimaginable asshole here. I don't like the direction they are taking this character at all.

Also, Bailey's pregnant now too? I feel like they've run out of ways to add drama to the lives of these characters, so they're just giving everyone a baby story-line. Please don't let Maggie or Meredith or Jo get pregnant, I seriously couldn't take it right now.

The Good Place: Tinker, Tailor, Demon, Spy (4x04)

I laughed a lot at this episode and I also had feels. So great!

Cons:

I don't really root for Janet and Jason as a couple, so I'm not sure how I feel about the revelation that it was Bad Place Janet who broke up with Jason. I liked the exploration of Janet having a romantic relationship, as a theory, but I've never bought completely in to the reality. So this is sort of a wait-and-see situation. They could always do something interesting with it, but it remains to be seen if I'll enjoy it or not.

Pros:

Eleanor and Chidi are giving me all the feels. I loved their conversation over nachos, and how Eleanor can be there for Chidi and help him with his anxiety and doubt. It's so nice to see her as a good person, who is confident and willing to be there for the people she loves. It's also so fascinating to see this version of Chidi, who is slowly being made a better person, and yet who doesn't remember Eleanor. You can see a connection between them, but there's distance there because of Eleanor's role as "The Architect." For obvious reasons, Chidi isn't going to think of Eleanor as a romantic prospect. It's just so tragic but also lovely to see them being there for each other in the only way they are currently able.

Supernatural: Raising Hell (15x02)

I swear, every time I see Buckleming's names attached to an episode of Supernatural, I try to keep an open mind. I try to believe that they'll pull out a decent episode, which on occasion, they have managed to do. But this one... Gosh. I don't even know where to start.

Cons:

So crowded! Always with the so, so crowded! There are so many things going on in this one episode that it's like I can't even catch my breath. And I do not mean that in a good way. We've got Rowena, we've got Kevin, we've got Ketch, Amara... all of these reappearances should have been really fun to see, but instead they are all so jumbled up and very few of the moments actually have the impact they should.

A main example of this is Kevin. What a lackluster return for such a beloved character! He's there, the boys are glad to see him, he depressingly leaves because apparently he can't get into Heaven since he's been in Hell this whole time. So that's... sad, and pointless. We find out in this episode that all this time, when we thought Kevin was at peace in Heaven, he's actually been in Hell because... Chuck is a dick, I guess? There's no explanation given for why God put Kevin in Hell. And now he's here, he's used as bait, and he decides to leave and wander the earth as a ghost because it's better than going back to Hell. Why would you bring back a fan favorite just to make his ending much sadder?

Modern Family: Pool Party (11x04)

It was certainly fun to hear Lizzo. And there were a few cute things here.

Cons:

If this show makes one more stupid joke about young people being "triggered" I am seriously going to blow a gasket. And yes, I'm aware of the irony. I hate that Modern Family has decided to repeatedly mock the idea of people trying to be more accepting and understanding. It's such a cheap shot.

Same thing with the repeated references to Gloria's tough life back in Columbia. There's some gag in here about how she worked for someone as a shake-down artist and as a reward, her cousin got to keep one ear. It's just like... come on. Is this what we're doing? Really?

I didn't hate Claire's plot thread with Alex and Haley, but I didn't like the specifics of what they chose for the workplace catastrophe. Apparently the company's "Smart Closets" have been taking videos of people without their consent, while they are undressed. This feels like a bit too sensitive of a topic to really be tackled in such a casual way... it feels like the writers realized that privacy concerns in a digital age are a thing, and then thought that just putting in a reference would be enough to "comment" on it. You actually need to have something to say.

Arrow: Starling City (8x01)

Tommy! This show knows how to hook me, and really there's only one reliable way nowadays: Tommy Merlyn.

Cons:

Going in to this season, I was feeling pretty skeptical about my level of interest. And while I greatly enjoyed this premiere, a few of my fears did indeed prove to be founded. For one, I do not watch any of the other shows in the Arrowverse, and I honestly don't think I'm going to. There's this whole "Crisis" thing that all the shows are building to for their big crossover event, and I just refuse to get looped in. I'm sure it's cool for those who also watch Flash and Supergirl and Batwoman and whatever else, but for me, the looming crossover just detracts from the stuff happening in this specific show, with these specific characters.

Also, we see Oliver's journey from where we left him at the end of last season, and we also see the future stuff, with Mia, William, et. al. All of last season, I kept waiting for things to snap into place so that I could enjoy this future of Star City. All the time, I thought the point was to prevent such a dark future, but instead we're just... there now. And there's nothing really interesting or compelling about it. See, I like Mia and William well enough. But I really don't know anything about these other characters. It's probably my fault for not paying enough attention last season, but there were so many moments where I couldn't remember why certain characters were behaving the way they were. Why is J.J. evil? And Connor is his... brother? Are they both John and Lyla's sons? Was this explained last season and I was just watching with glazed-over eyes and missed it? Where is John Diggle in the future? Did we ever get a firm answer on that? It's annoying to still not be clear on the circumstances of this world.

The Walking Dead: We Are the End of the World (10x02)

I suppose this episode wasn't bad, but it just wasn't all that entertaining for me personally. Let's dive in.

Cons:

We spend the whole episode with the Whisperers, as we learn what they're up to in the present day, and also see a flashback of how Alpha and Lydia first met Beta and began the Whisperers. I remember in the earlier seasons, the episodes that focused very narrowly on one character or one story-line were kind of... "prestige" episodes. They were these special events and were the Emmy-bate episodes. But honestly, if we're being real about this, I think they kind of drag. There have been some good ones over the years, but for my money they are always momentum killers. Why couldn't we see Alpha's flash-back stuff and also cut between this story and what our leads are up to? When you mix and match the plot elements, everything moves faster and we're not stuck in the mud with just one character.

I also feel like we don't learn enough new information from this episode. We see Alpha and Beta meet, sure, and maybe that's kind of interesting. We learn that Beta knew the man whose face he now wears as a mask. That's creepy. But we don't really get anything new out of how Alpha operates, the ideology of the Whisperers, her troubled relationship with Lydia... this was stuff we've already been told, or stuff we could have inferred, from what we saw last season.

Grey's Anatomy: Reunited (16x03)

I'm going to try and rapid-fire this review... there is always so much to talk about!

Cons:

Maggie continues to make everything about her. There's a moment when she's lamenting to her octogenarian patient that love isn't worth all of the backstabbing and pain, and it's like... Maggie, honey. This isn't about you. This is about an old man reminiscing about his life. Calm the heck down. I like Jackson and his new girlfriend fine, but mixing in the drama with Maggie is unnecessary.

I have been a Tom Koracick fan for a long while, but now he's acting like a whiny little baby. I don't really get his game here. When he was meeting Teddy's baby, he was totally sweet to her and said he'd wait for her when Teddy and Owen's relationship fell apart. But now he's behaving in such a way that it's hard to imagine Teddy taking him back, no matter what. The restraining order thing is mostly being played for laughs, but that doesn't really work. It's absurd.

I'm always glad to see Schmitt get some material, but this week he messed up something simple in a surgery and DeLuca had to swoop in and save the day. DeLuca is acting like a bit of a dick also. He's mad at Bailey for effectively benching him, because he believes it's on account of his relationship with Meredith. But he's coming across really condescending to his peers. I don't care if he is better than all of them. The way he behaved with Helm and now with Schmitt is not painting him in a very good light.

The Good Place: Chillaxing (4x03)

Yay, Tahani and Jason had stuff to do! Joy of joys!

Cons:

I missed Simone this week! And while I like that we learned more about John and his journey towards improvement, it feels disjointed to not be checking in with all four humans each week. That might just be a consequence of the season's overall pacing... I should probably be patient and wait for more of the story to unfold.

Pros:

In order to get Chidi to start improving himself and others, he needs to be tortured and put into a stressful situation. Eleanor takes to this task with a little too much relish, and Chidi does indeed start falling apart after they make Jason pretend once again to be a monk, and then reveal his secret to Chidi and beg for his help. However, Eleanor then has a breakdown about the pain she's putting Chidi through, and reveals to Michael that she is feeling irrationally angry with Chidi for leaving her, even though obviously he made a great sacrifice for the sake of them all.

Supernatural: Back and to the Future (15x01)

We're back! Man, this show. Say what you will about it, but you have to admit it's an institution. I'm already pretty emotional about the fact that this is going to be our last season. And it looks like the showrunners are going to be leaning hard into the nostalgia factor. I for one am super okay with that.

Cons:

I know it's mandatory that everyone who dies in this show gets brought back, and that every actor gets to play different characters. And I can't even be that mad about Jack's body being possessed by some random demon, because Alex Calvert is clearly having so much fun. But I want to take this opportunity to express some healthy skepticism about this Belphegor character. Hopefully I'll like where this is going, but for now it just seems like a shoe-horned excuse to keep Calvert around, and a convenient work-around for any insurmountable problems that Team Free Will faces. If they don't know what to do next, convenient demon buddy happens to know just the spell to help. I can see that getting really old, really fast, even if the character seems like a lot of fun.

Pros:

And... yeah, the character does seem like a lot of fun. He's quippy but in his own unique way, he self-describes himself as a clock-puncher from Hell. He's not some super-powered mega-monster. At least, as far as we know. He's just part of the fabric of Hell, and he wants things back the way they were before Chuck screwed everything up. He's flirty with Dean, which is hilariously uncomfortable, and he's picking up hard on the lover's spat between Dean and Cas, which is just so much fun to watch. I could definitely be convinced to spend some more time around this character, as long as his ultimate purpose makes sense and isn't completely contrived.

Modern Family: Perfect Pairs (11x03)

I doubt I'm ever going to watch another episode of this show that actually excites me ever again, but that doesn't mean there's absolutely nothing of merit here.

Cons:

It really skeeves me out that Luke is still dating this much older woman, and the show is doing nothing to comment on that. It's such a gross running gag and it's the only character trait Luke has left, and it really bothers me.

Alex similarly has nothing to do. Apparently she's applying for a job at NASA? If this show were better, I would say I was interested to see where this is going. But let's be real - it's going absolutely nowhere.

I don't strictly hate Claire's story this week, or Gloria's, but both just bored me, for the most part. I feel like we're seeing nothing new, nothing insightful, nothing memorable. Claire is overly ambitious, and wacky hijinks ensue. Gloria is mistrustful and conniving, and ends up misinterpreting a situation. Even Jay's story is just about him making friends with a landscaper/gardener dude to prove to Manny that he's not snobby about money. The whole thing is slightly in poor taste, and there really isn't a single good laugh in the whole plot thread.

The Walking Dead: Lines We Cross (10x01)

I did not actively dislike watching this, which is about as good as it gets for me when it comes to The Walking Dead. Objectively, this was a pretty good premiere!

Cons:

I do not blame the child actor for this, but the little boy they have playing RJ is... bad. I know some people who say Chandler Riggs was bad as Carl, but I always thought he did a serviceable job, even in the early seasons when he was just a little kid. But RJ is just wow. Distracting. Every line delivery stilted and strange. Especially when he's compared with the girl playing Judith, who actually does a pretty good job.

I have a theory about the Carol/Daryl situation. At the end of last season, they signaled romance between the two of them very hard. But in this premiere, they seem to be splitting the difference, trying to cater both to the shippers, and to those who see them as only friends. There was an almost sibling-like banter to Carol and Daryl for a lot of this episode, as Carol makes fun of Daryl for calling her his "best friend." But then the language shifts to them talking about "running away together," which is pretty romantic, no matter which way you look at it. I feel like they're trying to have the best of both worlds, falling into the classic TV trap of "will they, won't they" to keep audiences on the hook. This is Season Ten. It's time to stop messing around with long drawn out character arcs that make so little progress you can barely see them moving.

Grey's Anatomy: Back in the Saddle (16x02)

Lots of stuff going on, as always!

Cons:

Someone hitting Maggie's car with a scooter and then nearly dying and then Owen accidentally shocking Tom in the balls was all... a lot of weirdness. This plot thread was about people being torn up and conflicted about my least favorite romance stories in the show. Maggie is pissed at Jackson for an insensitive social media post about how he's "free" now. And Owen and Tom are having a pissing contest over Teddy, who was conspicuous by her absence this week. You all know I'm team Tom Koracick, and I actually don't mind that he's being a bit of a dick right now. The guy has feelings and he's having trouble processing them. But watching him and Owen have this fight was just... so uninteresting to me. And now Tom is getting a restraining order against Owen? I'm annoyed because the writing and the framing here are meant to make Owen the reasonable one, and Tom the bitter crazy one. But Owen sucks. Yeah, Tom, is acting like a dick, but Owen sucks. I'm just so annoyed.

Maggie's rant to her patient's girlfriend about moving on from a bad relationship was just so annoying. Once again, Maggie makes every little thing about her. Her and Jackson somewhat smooth things over later in the elevator, but Maggie is still feeling mighty bitter. It's just... I don't like either of them when they're with each other. I need them to step back and have other story-lines with other characters for a while, please.

The Good Place: A Girl from Arizona" (Part 2) (4x02)

Kristen Bell is a talented actress.

Cons:

Not much to say, other than that I wish Tahani had more to do. She's been very underutilized these first two episodes, but hopefully we'll see that turn around soon.

Pros:

Jason made me laugh more than anything this week. He's never been my favorite character, but the line delivery and comedy from this guy is often a delight. The breakup with Janet worked for me because I don't really like them as a couple, but also because we get to see Jason exploring some emotional hardship and coming to terms with what that means for his future. Also, the poor boy got some bad news about his favorite sports team...

I really liked Tahani comforting Jason. I feel like their friendship is one of the unexplored gems of this show. If we could get the two of them to spend more screen-time together, I would be quite happy.

Modern Family: Snapped (11x02)

So... um. This was mostly bad.

Cons:

Let's start with the worst of the plots. Phil tries to push Gloria in class because he thinks she has an innate talent as a realtor. But he then worries he's pushed too far and that she's "snapped" by hitting another top student with her car. There's one joke here, and it's bad. It gets even worse when Luke and Phil start to wonder if Gloria really is who she says she is, maybe she's crazy and a liar! It's an uncomfortable moment, when Luke immediately says he's always been suspicious of this "exotic stranger" who came into their lives. He then says that everyone has their breaking point, and says the other family member they might have something to fear from is Lily. Can you think of anything about Lily and Gloria that differentiate them from all of the other characters on the show?? Hmm, could it be that they are people of color? Yeesh, Modern Family. Get your act together.

Claire's plot thread was inoffensive but boring. She has an interview with a magazine about being a female CEO, and she contrives to get all of her kids out of the house so they don't embarrass her. The kids keep barging in, so Claire pretends to be sick, and sends them away. Again, there's only one joke here, and it's just that Claire has to lie to the interviewers and to her children. It comes to a head when the kids all catch Claire in the lie, but then Claire says that she's allowed to be embarrassed by her kids just this once, because of all the times they've all been embarrassed by her. Nothing really comes of it. I was bored.

Grey's Anatomy: Nothing Left to Cling To (16x01)

Oh boy, we're back! This show is one of the hardest that I review, because there are just so many characters and so much going on.

Cons:

I'm never going to be on board with Owen and Teddy! I can't do it! You can't make me! Amelia and Link are fine, Teddy and Tom are adorable. Owen can go be a single dad for a while. Yeesh. There's that scene at the end where Owen finally figures out how to help Teddy - he lists the house and finally seems to be hearing what Teddy needs. And the whole time I'm just like - ugh I don't know if this dude deserves this. Teddy is more annoying with Owen, and much more fun with Tom. I like that Tom is planning on fighting for her, but I feel like it's going to be fruitless.

This is half a complaint, and half a hope. We see Jackson starting up a potential relationship with an EMT, as he and Maggie are firmly broken up. I hope that sticks. I do not want to get back on the Jackson and Maggie merry-go-round. These two characters are at their worst when they're together. I like them both so much better when they're alone, or with other people. Also, it was weird that the hiatus hook was all about Jackson being in peril, but he wasn't, at all. He was helping some climbers who had gotten injured, and he is safe. I thought at first the episode was going to flash back and show all of the drama that had happened in rescuing the hikers, but no. It was practically a footnote on the way to other things. Kind of an odd narrative choice.