Elementary: A Burden of Blood (4x08)

I liked this one. It was fairly basic, pretty straight-forward, and had a subplot featuring Bell. I'm always complaining about the lack of Gregson and Bell, so I was pretty happy. Let's take a look.

Cons:

Despite what I just said, I wish that the Bell subplot could have had potential for further expansion. Basically, he's studying with Joan and later with Sherlock for the sergeant's exam, but he doesn't really want the promotion. He just wants the extra money to help his mother, who lost her job. Sherlock and Joan manage to find a way to get his mother the money before the episode is up, so there's some missed potential there for further development. I hope I'm wrong, and that we see Bell continue to grapple with the possibility of promotion, and what it would mean for his career.

The Big Bang Theory: The Empathy Optimization (9x13)

This was mostly a good episode, but it had a really icky opening moment that just made me cringe. Let's jump in.

Cons:

The episode opened with a brief joke that was just so stupid and sexist. The girls are sitting around talking about superhero movies, commenting on Batman, Iron Man, Superman and more. It cuts to Howard and Leonard staring on in amazement as they watch their wives discuss "nerdy" stuff. Then they switch to talking about romantic movies and how they should have a girl's night and watch all the romances, and the guys are like "ah, yes, that's back to the status quo." The implication is that women are never interested in pop culture nerdy stuff. And I, for one, am freakin' sick of it. This show has been making the same tired sexist jokes from the very beginning. WOMEN SOMETIMES LIKE COMIC BOOKS. This joke is stupid and boring.

Modern Family: Spread Your Wings (7x11)

This episode contained one stand-out plot thread and two that were so-so. Let's take a look!

Cons:

The weakest thread of the night was Mitchell throwing a slumber party for Lily and her friends from her Vietnamese dance troupe. Jay comes over and teaches Mitchell that the goal of a sleepover is to exhaust everybody so they go to bed early. This plot thread intersects with Cam and Gloria's, as they enlist the girls' help to create their sauce that they're trying to finish in a rush. All the girls end up asleep before eight.

Now, the main reason I didn't like this plot thread is because it lacked focus. At first it seemed to be about Mitchell's inability to win over the parents of the other kids. But that was quickly abandoned in favor of Jay teaching Mitchell how to throw a proper slumber party. Mitchell didn't seem to have a problem with the kids being too rambunctious until Jay told him that it would be a problem, so that felt unbalanced. We got a scene of all of them dancing to a Jane Fonda work-out video, which tied in with the fact that Jay apparently feels like he needs to lose a few pounds. All of these different ideas might have made for a funny plot thread, but when put together it felt unfocused and crowded.

Elementary: Miss Taken (4x07)

This was an excellent episode. Full of mystery, character development, humor, and angst. Let's just jump right in.

Cons:

Honestly I don't have any serious flaws to name. The only thing I might say is that the subplot focused on Joan discovering that her step father had written a book about her and Sherlock, and I wish we could have spent a bit more time developing this. Oftentimes Elementary does such a good job with both the main story and the subplot that I wish we could have separate episodes for each story. There have been some missed opportunities.

Pros:

Let's start with the subplot, though, because it really was quite good. Joan is furious upon learning from Gregson that a book has been published about a Chinese-American woman and a British man teaming up together as detectives in New York. She quickly discovers that her stepfather, using a pseudonym, has published the book. She angrily demands that he talk to his publisher and recant the book. When she talks to Sherlock about it, she's shocked to discover that he already knew about the book, and that it doesn't bother him - he's inspired other fictional accounts in the past, after all. Joan admits that one of the reasons she was so angry is because her stepfather had an affair, and she's never quite forgiven him. Later, her stepfather admits that part of the reason he wrote the book was because he missed Joan. Joan shows up and agrees to let him publish the sequel, and even decides to help him out with it.

The Big Bang Theory: The Sales Call Sublimation (9x12)

This episode was full of very cliche and predictable plot threads. I mean, that often happens with this show, but for whatever reason I really noticed it this time. Let's jump in.

Cons:

Bernadette and Howard's plot line was all about Stuart finally moving out of the house. He leaves without much ceremony, and while Bernadette and Howard are discussing what to do with his now-vacant room, they reminisce about him, talking about him as if he were their child who has moved out of the house. They realize they miss him. This is just... well, it's clearly part of the half-assed story line about Bernadette and Howard having kids some day, but it didn't pack a punch, didn't get a lot of laughs, and felt totally obvious from the second Stuart said he was moving out.

Similarly, Leonard and Penny's plot line offered no real surprises. Penny has had a hard time getting in to see a psychiatrist about a new drug her company is selling, so she gets Leonard to sign up for a session with the woman so he can pretend to be a patient, and lay the groundwork for Penny making her sale. Inevitably, Leonard ends up getting a lot of meaning out of his session, as he talks about his relationship with his mother, his problems with Sheldon, his marriage to Penny, etc. When Penny comes in to do her sales presentation, the psychiatrist ends up giving her an impromptu session as well, where they begin to unpack Penny's issues. People who don't think they need psychiatrists actually needing to talk to somebody is a tired cliche and most sitcoms have used it at some point or another. Off the top of my head, I can think of an episode in Scrubs and an entire plot thread from How I Met Your Mother that employ this same setup.

Modern Family: Playdates (7x10)

This was one of those cute middle-of-the-road episodes with nothing to complain about, and a few solid laughs. All in all, I enjoyed it.

Cons:

The weakest link in terms of plot threads was Lily and Cam's. The family boarding with Mitchell and Cam's family has a little boy about Lily's age, and Cam thinks that Lily has a crush on him. He gives her advice on flirting, but when the family comes down for dinner, it turns out that Lily has a crush on the dad, not the son. There were actually a lot of good individual laughs in this plot thread, but the setup itself was very weak. I knew from the second Cam and Lily started talking that Lily was going to like the dad instead of the son. It's one of those "misunderstanding leads to comedy" routines that feels just... lazy, or something.

Sherlock: The Abominable Bride (Winter Special)

This was Sherlock on drugs. But no literally it was Sherlock on drugs, and Sherlock on drugs, and it was weird... and... I guess I liked it a lot? Let's get right to it, because of course I wouldn't be me if I didn't have some complaints.

Cons:

This is not an episode for a casual viewer. Now, being a not-so-casual viewer, I greatly enjoyed it. But as a critic, I place this episode in the same bucket as "The Sign of Three." Squeal-inducing awesomeness if you're a hardcore fan, but sort of confusing and silly if you're more of a casual viewer, or even a fan that doesn't engage in fandom. There has to be a balance between catering to the dedicated fans and creating a balanced story in its own right. I just didn't get a lot of balance out of this episode, even if I did have a good time watching it.

I'll ramble on in shock and glee about this episode's feminist message in a moment, but unfortunately I have to say that the message, while expertly handled in the Victorian period, didn't hit home enough in the episode's conclusion. Once Sherlock is out of his mind palace and we're back in the present-day, the most feminist thing we get is Mary chastising John for pretending he has any authority over her. It was a small moment, and not nearly enough to make the message hit home. I'm probably a tad oversensitive to this issue, but to me it felt like this whole "women are ignored and need to be given a bigger voice" idea was isolated to the special, and the second we were back in the story proper, it was like "alright, enough of this feminist agenda, back to Sherlock saving the day with his giant Man Brain."

Doctor Who: The Husbands of River Song (2015 Christmas Special)

Miracle of miracles, this episode actually made me a little bit emotional about River Song. I'll try to forestall my usual complaints about her character, because most people have heard it before, either from me or from somebody else. In any case, this was a really proper sendoff for her character, even if it does cause some (more) continuity errors in terms of River's first appearance on the show, and last adventure with the Doctor in "The Silence in the Library." This installment wasn't all that Christmas-y, but it was fun and it was touching. Let's take a closer look.

Cons:

The basic plot of this one has the Doctor stumbling upon one of River's adventures pretty much at random. River doesn't recognize him, because he doesn't have one of his twelve known faces. Adventures ensue, fun times are had, and then when River is in danger, the baddies think that the Doctor might show up and try to save her. She gives a big impassioned speech about how the Doctor isn't stupid enough or in love enough to risk anything for her. He's a monument, a god, greater than any mere mortal. He wouldn't waste his time on her. The worst part is... she seems to believe what she's saying. When she finally realizes that the Doctor is the Doctor, she's shocked.

Elementary: The Cost of Doing Business (4x06)

Yikes. Morland Holmes is not messing around here. This was a seriously intense installment of Elementary, but most of that intensity was concentrated in the last two minutes. The rest of the episode was a bit more standard. Let's take a look.

Cons:

Most of this episode focused on Sherlock and his father, which I loved, but as a result, Joan's role in events was very diminished. There were a few reminders of Joan's distaste for Morland, and Sherlock told her to make her own opinion now that he was really in their lives, instead of hating him on principle. All of this was very interesting, but it was such a very brief part of the episode as a whole. I would have loved to have seen some more interactions between Morland and Joan, because they've started to set up a very delicious rivalry there. I think we might see more as the season progresses, with Joan and Morland each holding on to Sherlock and basically fighting over his soul. This episode might have been a good place to set up some of this, but the opportunity was missed.

Insert standard complaint here about the lack of Gregson and Bell - similarly to Joan, they got pushed to the side this week. I'd love to see these two interact with Holmes Senior as well. Basically, stick Morland in a room with any of our characters and I'd love to see the result. I think we need to start integrating Morland into the story proper with a bit more strength.

The Big Bang Theory: The Opening Night Excitation (9x11)

Talk about free advertising for Star Wars, huh? I mean, not that they need it. Record breaking opening and all. I still haven't seen it, but now our characters have! What did they think, and what did I think of this episode? Let's take a look.

Cons:

This week, the guys go to see Star Wars. Sheldon stays behind because it's Amy's birthday, and so Howard, Raj, and Leonard bring Wil Wheaton along with them. Normally I love the simple humor he adds to an episode, but here his jokes fell rather flat. He came to the Star Wars premiere dressed in a Starfleet uniform, remarking that he wanted to maintain his loyalty to Star Trek. He then tells the boys to stop thinking so hard about the new movie. Whether it's great or it sucks, life will go on exactly the same. While I suppose this is sound advice for people who let their emotions become too entangled in pop culture, I can't help resenting the message a little bit. The Big Bang Theory clearly has no real concept of the importance that media can have on the real world. Things like Star Wars do matter, for what they say about the society that produces and consumes this type of media. Why do we, as a culture, feel drawn to this type of story? Should we ignore the reactions from fans to the casting of a black lead, and what that says about the racism still prevalent in American society? I think media often requires deeper thought than most people would like to give it.

The Big Bang Theory: The Earworm Reverberation (9x10)

At first glance, there are a lot of things to praise about this episode, but there are unfortunately some overlaying problems that cloud my ability to be totally complimentary. Let's take a look.

Cons:

Well, the big thing this week is that Amy and Sheldon have gotten back together. While I liked the way this episode portrayed the reunion, I'm a little disappointed that the show didn't try to get more out of the separation. We were starting to see hints that Sheldon understood his mistakes of the past, and that Amy was starting to learn to stand up for herself. But I could have done with a lot more of that before the inevitable reunion. The Big Bang Theory has been notoriously bad at prolonging A-plots, so I guess this was as good as we could hope to get. But still. There was more that could have been done.

The other "Con" is a bit more nebulous. Has anybody else noticed that Penny and Leonard have had nothing to do since the beginning of the season? They've become comedic side characters, with less screen time than Raj and Howard. I hope that the second half of this season focuses on them again. I'd like to see them actually settling in to married life and perhaps getting away from Sheldon once and for all.

Elementary: The Games Underfoot (4x05)

This was one of those episodes of Elementary that just hits you right in the sweet spot. It wasn't one for the history books, but it was exactly what I wanted at this point. Something comfortable and solidly good.

Cons:

The actual twist in the case this week ended up derailing a lot of the buildup. Basically, for most of the story you believe that the victim was murdered over an old rare video game collectible, but then it turns out the guy accidentally stumbled upon an evil business man's money-saving toxic waste scheme. It felt a tiny bit out of left field. Not enough to be distracting or a huge problem or anything, but definitely not my favorite resolution to a mystery.

The Vampire Diaries: Cold as Ice (7x09)

This was a good episode. Not a great episode, but a good one. It certainly ended with a bang, and I'm really anxious to see the next installment.

Cons:

Caroline and Alaric have a subplot where they deal with Caroline's mystical pregnancy. It seems that pregnancy hormones for a vampire cause a lot of blood cravings and a quick temper. Her behavior isn't so different from an ordinary pregnant person's mood swings, but because she's a vampire it's getting dangerous. Alaric tries to be comforting, but Caroline freaks out and nearly attacks him. Caroline ends up visiting her mother's grave to talk it over. See... it's not the actress's fault, but I just don't find this "pregnant Caroline" story line at all compelling. Knowing where it ends up makes me uncomfortable. I don't like the idea of Caroline and Alaric as an actual couple. I think what bothers me the most about this is that it feels so disconnected from the main plot of the week. If they want to do this whole "Caroline is pregnant" thing, shouldn't Stefan be a central player in this? He's off dealing with Julian, and as such the pregnancy subplot feels totally underutilized and awkward.

For the first time, the flash-forward is in the "Con" section of one of these reviews. The only new piece of information we get is that Stefan and Valerie are apparently an item in the future. I mean, I guess I'm not really all that surprised, but I also don't care. I don't see the chemistry between them and I'm far less intrigued by this surprise pairing than I am by the whole Enzo/Bonnie thing. Which we saw none of this week, by the way. Stefan is gearing up to go after the mysterious female adversary who has kidnapped Caroline and Damon. He very condescendingly leaves Valerie behind for her safety, even though she'd undoubtedly be useful to him and she's a bad ass vampire witch. That was annoying.

Modern Family: White Christmas (7x09)

Great episode, with a few weaker threads to deal with. Let's jump right in.

Cons:

The plot involves the entire family going to a cabin in the woods for Christmas. Mostly this worked really well, but there was a subplot with Luke, Manny, and Lily involving the two boys trying to scare Lily by telling her the house was haunted. The episode tag shows that Luke had locked himself in the perpetually locked room by accident, as his family leaves him behind. These little glimpses of horror-parody clashed pretty badly with the idea of Christmas spirit that they seemed to be going for overall. It wasn't awful, but it just didn't fit.

Alex's subplot got a little lost in the shuffle as well. She ends up befriending a woman named Fig, who came to the cabin because her family comes there every year. Apparently they all took off to Hawaii without her, and she didn't even know about it. Cam kindly invites Fig to stay with them. She's an overwhelmingly negative woman, and Alex immediately gravitates towards her. Fig is the smartest in her family, and has alienated herself from everybody else. Alex declares that this woman is her ghost of Christmas future, and she tries to be less negative. There were things I loved about this plot thread (see below!) but it sort of tapered off into nothing. It would have been nice to have some sort of emotional resolution, and show some real growth for Alex's character. As it was, nothing really progressed because of this plot thread.

Supernatural: O Brother Where Art Thou? (11x09)

I mean I'm not surprised, but I am heartbroken for Sam. Seriously I'm so scared for him and I just love him so much I want to wrap him in a blanket and protect him from the world.

Cons:

So, the main thrust of this episode is that Sam insists on talking to Lucifer, and Dean grudgingly agrees they don't have any other option. While Sam is busy with that, Dean gets caught up in following Amara's trail. Turns out that Amara has started to up her game, and is killing people. She ends up whisking Dean away to where they can be alone, and then proceeds to be very creepy and tell Dean they belong together and actually kiss him and ewwwww. Honestly, I have no problem with a romance between Dean and Amara in theory, but in execution everything about this feels wrong. I'm hoping that we're supposed to feel profoundly uncomfortable. As far as I can tell, Dean is under some sort of magical compulsion when it comes to his weird connection to Amara. That is not consent. The actual Dean Winchester, with all his faculties about him, wouldn't be engaged with Amara in this way. It's freakin' disturbing and I can hope it's handled with grace and proper consideration for the issues of sexual assault that are being raised. I'm not optimistic, though.

No Cas this week! I don't care about him not being in the C-plot episodes, but it's a little unpardonable that he wasn't even mentioned this week. Not for any love I have for his character, but for the fact that the Winchesters are dealing with Rowena, Crowley, Amara, and Lucifer here, some of the most powerful players on the board. Why would Cas not be involved? Why would he not be consulted? It's a plot hole.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Maveth (3x10)

What the what?! Did they just... I'm not sure if I'm okay with this, in all honesty. There's a lot of stuff to be concerned about. Let's just jump in.

Cons:

The main thrust of this episode takes place on the alien planet, as Ward leads the Hydra team, with Fitz, try to find the monster and take it back out through the portal. Fitz finds Will, and convinces Ward that they need him to get back out. All goes well, as Will and Fitz manage to take out the other Hydra agents, leaving Ward behind and injured. However, as they get closer to where the portal will reopen, we get a surprising twist - Will isn't Will at all. It's the Inhuman monster, inhabiting Will's body. Apparently, Will died saving Jemma. I'll talk in a minute about the excellent execution of this twist. But at the same time, I can't help thinking... what the heck was the point of all that? Will was introduced as nothing more than a love interest obstacle for Fitz and Simmons, and after all that buildup now we learn that he's dead? Ugh! What a waste of all of our time! As much as I do ship Fitzsimmons, I was actually looking forward to seeing what they could do with his character once he got out of the alien world and started interacting with our team. That was a squandered opportunity.

Similarly, it looks like Ward is actually, seriously, dead. That's... that's just HUGE. And I don't like it. There's something sort of lazy about introducing an incomprehensibly evil force and then having it conveniently house itself in a human receptacle to make it easier for our heroes to interact with. The same sort of thing is happening in Supernatural right now with the Darkness, and I am just not a fan. Ward is way too cool of a villain to be dead. It just sucks because I felt like even after all this time, we had only scratched the surface of what could have been one of the greatest TV villains ever to grace the small screen.

Once Upon a Time: Swan Song (5x11)

Holy Hell. That was... that was... well, it wasn't anything that particularly surprised me, but it did its job in terms of landing an emotional blow. I won't be shaking this one off in a hurry. And now we have to wait until March to see what's next?!! Argh!

Cons:

While this episode hit me in all the right emotional spots, and all my favorite characters had great moments, I would be remiss if I didn't point out a rather disappointing fact. This episode was a huge mess where the plot is concerned.

First of all, this was not at all an adequate wrap-up to Season 5A. I hope that in 5B we continue to resolve some of these dangling plot threads, because there are a lot of them. Most significantly, there's Arthur. The entire presence of Camelot in this plot thread led up to exactly nothing useful, other than Merlin supplying the origin story of the first Dark One. What about Arthur's evil hold over all of Camelot? What about his bewitching of Guinevere, and the forbidden love between Guinevere and Lancelot? None of that was at all resolved.

Same goes for Merida. While I truly enjoyed the moments she had on the show, particularly the last few times we saw her, what was the point? She fed into the main story very infrequently. I can only hope that her character has more to do in the future, because thus far there hasn't been a satisfying reason for her presence whatsoever. Everything with Merida feels like a weird, disjointed one-shot. Very well done in its own right, but what does it have to do with anything?

Doctor Who: Hell Bent (9x12)

I don't know... I mean, that was certainly much better than I would have expected given how poorly last week's episode went, but at the same time, I'm still annoyed. It's frustrating because I wanted to be moved and impressed and all that... but I can't quite manage it. This was much better than I had any hope to expect, however. Let's take a look.

Cons:

The Doctor, now on Gallifrey, is out for revenge against the Time Lord's high council for indirectly causing Clara's death, and for trapping him in the time loop castle of doom last week. Basically, the High Council is terrified of retaliation from the Doctor. First they send troops to try and bring him in by force, then they send envoys who bow down to them. When Rassilon finally turns up personally to get the Doctor to come forward, the Doctor wins the loyalty of his troops, because he's a "war hero." He effectively takes over the High Council and banishes Rassilon from the planet. See, the problems I have with this are difficult to describe, but it all goes back to one of my main complaints against Moffat - it's all too epic. The Doctor's uber-importance is emphasized again and again. All of Gallifrey is in awe of him. He's called a "war hero." I don't know... it seems counter to the very essence of what Doctor Who is supposed to be.

The Vampire Diaries: Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me (7x08)

Oh boy. Next week's episode looks like a doozy, and I can't wait. But for now let's talk about this week's adventures. Things are certainly heating up!

Cons:

But before we talk about the good stuff, let's talk about the annoying stuff. First of all, Enzo got a little subplot this week. It goes something like this: he asks Lily to run away with him so she'll be safe from Julian if things go wrong with Stefan and Damon's plans to kill him. Enzo and Lily share a kiss, but Enzo doesn't get the girl in the end, as Lily decides to stick around and help her sons. Enzo, depressed, decides to feed on a girl to achieve a "buzz." Matt stops him just in time, and tells him that he's totally useless and nobody wants him. Enzo retaliates by saying that Matt is pretty ineffectual too, as he has no real chance against Julian and the gang. Enzo goes outside, and is immediately hit with vervaine darts and carted into a truck. Matt appears and says he's enlisted some help to rid his town of evil. Enzo asks who these people are, but Matt says that Enzo should wait until they introduce themselves.

Modern Family: Clean Out Your Junk Drawer (7x08)

Okie dokie. No Luke and Manny this week, but we had lots of stuff going on with everybody else. Let's dive in.

Cons:

The main plot this week is that Gloria won a session with a couple's therapist at an auction, and this woman comes over to do her program with Gloria and Jay, Phil and Claire, and Cam and Mitchell. I liked a lot of stuff about it, and I'll talk about that in a moment. But there were definitely some missed opportunities, especially with Cam and Mitchell. Their discussions about coasters and leaving the light on didn't lead to anything deeper, and I didn't feel like their relationship shifted in any way by the end of the episode. This was a contrast to the other two couples, who had surprisingly real moments mixed in with the humor.