Barry: 710N (3x06)

Well dang! As always, I never have any idea where an episode of this show is going to take me.

Cons:

As I've been saying all season, Fuches is definitely the character that I feel the least interested in. His stuff isn't bad, it's just never as gripping as everything else going on in a given episode. I was shocked when he got shot right at the start of this episode, but then his journey for the rest of it was just kind of boring to me. He's staying with a kind family who cares for him, at one point it looks like he's giving up on revenge on Barry, but then he decides he's not done yet, and contacts Detective Moss's father to speak about her death. So ultimately, Fuches ends this episode on the same crusade as he started it on, with very little to speak for after his detour.

We didn't see much of Noho Hank this week, which makes me sad, and time spent with the police detectives also feels like it's pulling focus from the most riveting stuff the show has to offer. Like I said, none of it's bad, it's just not where I feel the most glued to my seat.

Grey's Anatomy: Out for Blood/You Are the Blood (18x19/20)

Owen went back to annoying so quickly!! Okay, this is the finale, so a lot happens, but I'm going to do my best (ha) to be brief about it all...

Cons:

It just feels like they haven't properly examined the logistics of Owen's whole scandal with helping veterans to death with dignity. Washington allows physician assisted suicide. I get that some of the patients are from other states, okay, fine. But this just feels so contrived and it reintroduces the angst into Owen and Teddy's relationship that I find so truly insufferable to witness. Owen wants to help a man with his dying wife who's in pain, and Teddy says no, and then the man turns Owen in and Bailey finds out and the whole time I just felt like... "ughhh we don't have time for this, there are so many other stories and characters I care about more!" I'm not nervous about Owen's fate, send him to jail for all I care. I'm sorry, but it's just Owen. He's annoying anyway. And what exactly is the plan now? Owen and Teddy, two young kids in tow... what are they supposed to do? Are they going off the grid? Fleeing the country? Jeez.

Meredith spends a lot of time with Nick in this episode, which annoyed me mostly because he's boring, but also because I want to see her interact with the other characters on the show. She's felt so isolated this season, which would make sense if she's leaving Washington, but it's just not satisfying to see as a viewer. The big surgery felt like drama for drama's sake. We've never met this patient and her elderly aunt with dementia before. I don't feel connected to them, to be honest! So when things go wrong with the blood, my heart wasn't in my throat the way it might have been with other patients and other stories, like Simon and his pregnant wife. I did find the ending moving, but more because of Meredith's personal baggage. The idea of Nick being this thing she's afraid to lose just does not sit right with me.

Barry: crazytimeshitshow (3x05)

Oh my god... that kid at the end...

Cons:

We saw a brief glance of Fuches continuing on his quest to turn the families of people Barry has killed against him. Since we have the story of the mother and the son, further Fuches material in this vein seems kind of unnecessary? It's not bad, it just doesn't seem to add an awful lot.

We also see that an FBI agent has shown up to try and help solve Moss's murder. Again, I don't have a huge problem with this, but spending time with these characters is far less interesting to me than everything else that's on the table, so I was always hoping we'd switch back to one of the more pivotal characters soon.

Grey's Anatomy: Stronger Than Hate (18x18)

Ah, a classic dinner party episode of Grey's Anatomy. I love the gentle chaos.

Cons:

A full episode built around the premise of "everyone getting to know Nick" is bound to be irritating to me, because Nick is still the boringest boring to me. Like he's helping out with the cooking and cleaning, which is meant to be charming, but just seems bland. He talks to Maggie about his own difficulties with a sibling who is troubled and takes advantage, and that's meant to teach Maggie something about Winston's struggles with his brother. But instead I'm just thinking I'd rather spend that time with Winston, exploring how he's feeling about all this. When Amelia is talking to Nick about Kai, and about Meredith possibly leaving, I was struck by the contrast between all of Meredith's interesting friends and family in Seattle, and the boring guy she might be leaving them all behind for. I don't want to feel this way. This show has gotten me to appreciate and admire so many new characters over the years, but Nick is still not clicking with me at all.

There were some tonal problems with this episode that stopped it from being one of the more iconic Grey's episodes... I like the big group scenes where we see the characters hanging out socially, but we kept cutting from that, over to the hospital where we were dealing with a) Richard learning to accept that Catherine might be dying, and b) a hate crime against an Asian woman, and the Asian staff at the hospital responding to it. So the tonal stuff there was a bit odd to me.

Barry: all the sauces (3x04)

Soooo much good stuff to get into here!

Cons:

I'm not 100% clear on why Barry decided to let Mr. Cousineau off the hook here. Maybe I missed something, but so far this season I've been able to follow Barry's completely twisted and bizarre logic. He's trying to make it up to Gene for killing his girlfriend. I suppose he thinks he's succeeded now that Gene has a bigger part on the show? So why was he motivated to take the job from Hank? Because Fuches got under his skin? I'm fine with not being completely clear on every step in Barry's thought process, but I thought I'd mention that I was a little fuzzy on why he'd relax his hyper-fixation on Gene so quickly.

Pros:

Where to even start? I've mentioned that I don't really enjoy Sally as a character all that much, but mostly in a way that I think the show intends for me not to like her. This episode was the perfect encapsulation of that. Her utter delight at her success grates on my nerves, even as I try to push back against that instinctive irritation. Why shouldn't she be pleased about what she's accomplished? On the other hand, could she be nicer to the people around her while she's accomplishing it? I loved her breaking down in tears as she was speaking at the premiere, that was the perfect blend of stressful and funny and genuinely moving to watch.

Grey's Anatomy: I'll Cover You (18x17)

Lots of development!

Cons:

There's this moment when Bailey is grudgingly complimenting Nick and she says "he seems like a good teacher." Literally after she said "he seems..." I thought she was going to say, "like a person who exists, I guess." Like, Nick is still SO uninteresting to me! I don't want to feel this way, but I do. I guess I liked the moment where he helped Levi through a tough spot in surgery, but I liked that moment because of Levi, not because of Nick.

Speaking of characters I don't like and never will, we find out at the end of this episode that Catherine's cancer is getting worse. I've never liked Catherine, she's never felt like a very satisfying, interesting character to me. I'm sorry! Of course I'm sad for Richard that she's sick, but honestly I don't feel all that invested in this journey for the character.

While there were elements of Maggie and Winston's story that I didn't mind, one pet peeve I've always had about this show is when the personal problems parallel the case so much that the doctor starts freaking out and acting wicked unprofessional during work. I could see Winston being grumpy and terse with the patient, but for him to go that extreme? It just didn't feel realistic to me that he'd be provoked in that manner.

Barry: ben mendelsohn (3x03)

I mean, it's a good show, what more do you want from me?

Cons:

I'd say that Fuches is probably the main character in Barry who offers me the least when he's onscreen. The stuff between him and Barry, the whole fucked up nature of their relationship, great television for sure. Their phone call was captivating. But when it's just him talking to other minor characters, being weirdly settled in his exile, I find that my interest is less than fully held. It's a minor thing, I just think the character type is slightly less captivating than most of the other things going on.

I wouldn't call this show "subtle" necessarily, but one thing I really admire about the performances and the script is how usually the audience knows the inner turmoil of the characters, but it's in-universe believable why other characters don't pick up on certain things. One moment that didn't quite work for me on this level was when Sally's young co-star was asked about Sally's new stable relationship. Her reaction was so awkward and stilted and clearly showcased that there was something to hide. A little over the top for my taste.

Grey's Anatomy: Should I Stay or Should I Go (18x16)

Oh man, lots of sadness in this episode! Jeez.

Cons:

I love me some good angst, but honestly I feel like Levi is being a tad unreasonable? He did in fact break up with Nico. Yes, he was going through trauma, and yes, I'm sure Nico realizes that the circumstances are extreme. But I'm sorry, if someone says "we're over, leave me alone," is Nico really such a monster for listening to him? I hope we get some satisfactory resolution for these two. I like the drama, but I don't know that Nico really did anything wrong! I feel so bad for him.

I felt like the unifying theme of this episode, this idea of burnout, was sort of weakly used... it was basically just Bailey being worn out, and then taking vacation days, and Catherine being grumpy about it. Considering how much Catherine annoys me as a character, there just wasn't all that much to grab onto here.

Barry: limonada (3x02)

Well, gosh, this is a good television show.

Cons:

So far, the stuff with Hank and Cristobal feels very disconnected from everything going on with Barry, Sally, and Mr. Cousineau. I suppose we'll get more of a connection between these elements as we move forward. I like all the pieces we have so far, but I wish they were woven more closely together.

Pros:

To start with that subplot, I love that Cristobal and Hank's love story has many of the conventional beats of any couple trying to learn how they're going to be with each other, but this one just comes with crime bosses and lots of murder. Cristobal's father-in-law shows up to take down the Chechen operation, but Cristobal warns Hank, saving him and his people. He then breaks up with Hank, though, telling him to run to get away from the Bolivians. I'm curious to see where this will go: for now I'm delighted by the absurdist mix of comedy and drama, given that the stakes of this relationship include drugs and murder on the regular.

Outlander: I Am Not Alone (6x08)

I love Claire's short hair, it looks super cute! Just thought I'd mention before we get into all this craziness.

Cons:

I mean... I don't know. This episode was pretty great. I guess my only complaint is that it's a finale and now we're left on such a cliffhanger until season seven comes along? There's so much setup happening, and we're going to have to wait to see the payoff.

I suppose along the line of more significant complaints, I think structurally this short season had some issues with pacing. While this episode in isolation did a great job, I was perhaps missing maybe one more hour of content prior to it, to pad out some of these elements. The various subplots that had to be wrapped up and set aside, the little things here and there that weren't given a ton of room to breathe.