Modern Family: Blindsided (8x03)

A solid episode of Modern Family. Nothing ambitious or tricky, just some good setups and a lot of funny lines. I quite enjoyed it!

Cons:

The only thing I didn't like was Phil's weird promoter friend. Haley is starting a new job as a club promoter, and Phil introduces her to this guy because he wants her to have a more "serious" job. The guy just didn't make me laugh. It wasn't anything egregious, but it stood out in an episode that otherwise didn't have any problems.

Pros:

So, Haley's quest for a new job has led her to club promotion. She leads a group of young women around and they take selfies and post stuff about clubs. Phil doesn't think it seems like a real job, but Haley proves him wrong. Phil has been trying to sell a house where the previous family was murdered, but he hasn't been having any success. Haley and her friends post about the house on social media, and suddenly tons of eligible buyers are showing up. I liked this plot because it commented on the strangeness of millennial culture. A lot of young people don't have any money, but there's a growing portion of people who are making their livings doing things that didn't even exist when their parents were their age. Haley points out a girl who makes money playing video games, and a guy who invented an app and is now super rich. These types of people exist. The social media/internet age has really revolutionized the job market. Specifically, I like seeing Haley find something that she's passionate about. Club promotion is actually a tough gig, and I think she proved that just because she gets to dress up and go to parties, doesn't mean that it's not real work. Phil trying to sell the murder house was also pretty hilarious.

The Big Bang Theory: The Dependence Transcendence (10x03)

So... not a bad episode, actually. But I still feel a tad frustrated by one big thing.

Cons:

The main plot is, unfortunately, where my problem lies. See, Sheldon, Howard, and Leonard are putting in long nights in order to meet the impossible deadline in their government contract. Sheldon spends the episode experiencing the high of his first energy drink, and then worrying about becoming addicted. In the end, however, all of this distraction was merely a way to cover up for the fact that Sheldon is stumped on the math. I liked elements of this, but here comes the annoying part: the three guys go to talk to Colonel Williams about how they can't meet the deadline, and they say they will need two years. He says that's fine. The problem is that the tension and forward motion of this plot instantly goes out the window. I was actually looking forward to sustaining an A-plot of this sort, but now they can put off talking about it for two more seasons of this infernal show. Is it bad that I'm praying really hard that they don't get renewed?

Once Upon a Time: A Bitter Draught (6x02)

Hm. Some things are going in interesting directions... but I have to be brutally honest. There are a lot of things I'm not too happy with here.

Cons:

The C-plot story of the week concerns the Count of Monte Cristo. I really liked it, but it ended too quickly. I'll get there in a minute, but I wanted to have more time with this character. I hope that some of the other characters from the Land of Untold Stories can stick around a bit more.

Emma is still hiding things. I already complained about this last week, so I'll keep it short: I'm sick of watching Emma retreat back behind those walls. When is she going to realize she can trust her family completely?

Zelena is annoyingly inconsistent. Do we really have to watch her flip-flop over and over again? You know what would be more interesting? If the Evil Queen showed signs of the good Regina, just as the good Regina still has signs of the Evil Queen. That way, Zelena could feel a connection to the Evil Queen because she wants to help her, or something. But this way, we just see Zelena going back and forth between good and evil. It's not interesting anymore!

Elementary: Folie a Deux (5x01)

I thought this was a pretty solid premiere. We're not setting up any "Big Bad A-Plot" stuff, which is sometimes typical for a procedural's opening episode of the season. Instead, we're focusing on some character stuff that I think might be quite fun to explore.

Cons:

I guess I don't have anything big to complain about. As is often the case with Elementary, I do sort of wish that Gregson and Bell could be given meatier material. They are such non-entities in this show sometimes.

Grey's Anatomy: Catastrophe and the Cure (13x02)

I'm really liking this season so far. But I miss Arizona. Are we going to see her soon? My efforts to be brief might be thwarted today, but I'm going to try...

Cons:

Maggie and Meredith. I'm sorry, I just... I don't care about the love triangle, and I'm kind of mad at Meredith for not coming clean to Maggie. But then I'm also annoyed at Maggie for being so whiny and self-centered, talking about Riggs all the time. Maggie does get the courage to ask Riggs out, but he had pre-warning from Meredith and immediately says no, trying to let her down easy by saying that he's not ready to date anybody right now. Meredith tells Alex that she slept with Riggs, and Alex looks on with amusement as Maggie shows up, ready to drink away her sorrows at getting rejected. This keeps getting more complicated, and while I know that this kind of plot line is typical fare for a show like Grey's Anatomy, I think it's just bothering me because it seems so petty compared to everything else that's going on.

Modern Family: A Stereotypical Day (8x02)

Okay. A stronger episode than the premiere, but there were still elements that I wasn't thrilled with.

Cons:

The Dunphy plot involved Phil getting stuck in a closet after an open house for work, and then suffering from PTSD about it. This could have been really funny, but they didn't spend enough time on the part where he was actually in the closet. There was a lot they could have done with that and I feel like the opportunity was wasted. Also in the Dunphy plot, we learn that Alex has mono and has to stay home from school. This is fine, since they've done nothing with her college plot line anyway, but I do wish that this show could decide what to do with Alex. Haley lost her job and is hiding it form the family, which isn't really funny. It mostly just seems like an unraveling of her character development. I don't know... there was a real attempt in some of the other plot threads to explore some more serious themes. The stuff with the Dunphys fell flat in comparison. Especially since PTSD isn't funny.

There were a few cringe-y jokes in an episode riddled with contentious land mines. They avoided most of them, which I'll talk about more in a minute. But Jay misunderstanding the phrase "by the way" as an exotic African name? Ugh. I call foul.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Meet the New Boss (4x02)

Things are heating up (no pun intended) in this season, and I'm loving it. So many interesting developments to talk about! I'll try and keep it brief.

Cons:

Unfortunately, the least successful part of this episode was one of the potentially more compelling mysteries: the weird ghosts. Basically, the "ghost" at the very beginning of the episode was very successful indeed, appearing in a family's home and attacking a man. Later, when we see things from this ghost's point of view, things start to fall apart. She wakes up other ghosts being held in containment fields and they all talk about finding a book and killing the man responsible for their current conditions. Lucy, the main ghost, thinks that she can reverse whatever it is that's happened to them. Fitz and Mack, investigating the lab where these ghosts were held, get into an altercation with one of them. I'll talk in a minute about the many good things that came out of this plot thread, but I think the actual effectiveness of the incorporeal beings was really undercut the second you started having them talk to each other. Ghosts and things like that are always scarier when you view them as an outsider, unable to gain access to their thoughts. This is a case of "less is more." I didn't want things spelled out for me quite so clearly.

The Big Bang Theory: The Military Miniaturization (10x02)

I actually found this episode to be leaps and bounds better than the first episode of the season. However, given that this is The Big Bang Theory, my expectations are always super low.

Cons:

As is often the case with this show, I felt that in some cases they didn't go quite far enough. There are two principal plots here, one with the girls and one with the guys. In Penny and Bernadette's plot, some actual tension broke out, and Bernadette was seemingly facing discrimination in the work place. However, instead of capitalizing on this, the whole thing was brushed aside too quickly. This could have been a chance for the show to actually take a stance!

Similarly, the boys meet with Colonel Williams this week about their invention. They seem to be nervous about its military applications, but the Colonel shuts them down. The rest of the plot thread ends up being about Sheldon's big mouth, and how they have to work super quickly to make their design much smaller. Not a bad concept, but not as interesting as wrestling with the moral implications of using science to help people kill each other more efficiently.

Once Upon a Time: The Savior (6x01)

Is it just me, or are we retreading familiar ground here? It's too early to say for certain, but there's a part of me that's mighty concerned about what I just watched. Let's get started.

Cons:

Basically, my main complaint here is that many of the characters seem to be reverting.

Emma starts getting tremors in her hands, and strange flashes of a mysterious battle. Hyde seems to know something about it, and Emma visits him in jail where she and the other heroes have captured him. She then follows a red bird, per Hyde's suggestion, to a woman in the woods who calls herself an oracle, who tells her that her visions are of her own future. She sees herself fighting a cloaked figure, and being stabbed and killed. Honestly there were things to like about this, but Emma hiding stuff from Hook and her family is so old hat. I'm tired of hearing about how Emma's walls are up and then she lets them down because of her family and Hook, and then she puts the walls back up again when something unexpected happens. It's tiresome.

Grey's Anatomy: Undo (13x01)

Things are picking up right where we left off in last season's finale, which is kind of cool. Lots of drama, most of it pretty interesting. Let's jump in. This show is the hardest one to talk about succinctly...

Cons:

The Meredith/Riggs/Maggie love triangle isn't grabbing me. I was ready to give it a chance last season, but this week it fell flat. It's just that there are a lot of more important things going on, so listening to Maggie whine about Riggs vs. DeLuca when other people's lives are being ruined... well, let's just say that I love Maggie a lot, but I wasn't thrilled with her this week. I especially thought it was annoying that she kept talking about her past with DeLuca while he was in the operating room potentially about to lose the use of his eye. I mean, get a grip Maggie. This is so not about you.

And Riggs went around being the nice guy, checking in on Meredith every step of the way. This little thread felt like a distraction from everything else that was going on. I don't need to know about Meredith's confusing relationships right now. I need to know about Alex. Meredith herself seemed a bit fed up with Riggs popping in to ask her how she was all the time.

Modern Family: A Tale of Three Cities (8x01)

To be perfectly frank, I was a little underwhelmed with this premiere. Last season was a low point for Modern Family, and I was hoping to feel a revitalized energy in this season's premiere. Instead, I got an episode that was just... meh.

Cons:

Two of the three plots failed to capitalize on some really funny setups. Cam and Mitchell are in the mid-west with Cam's family, holding a vigil around Cam's dying grandmother. When Mitchell is alone with her in the room, she seems to wake up for a minute and grab Mitchell's hair. This leads to the family walking in as Mitchell is saying "let go." The old woman dies, and Cam's family blames Mitchell. Mitchell goes home and is upset, until he realizes that he too tends to side with his family against Cam sometimes. This plot thread could have been so much funnier. I wanted the grandma to wake up and talk to Mitchell, or something. And we could have done a lot more with Cam's hilarious family, and how they all reacted to Mitchell's supposedly treacherous words to the dying grandmother. The "moral of the story" bit, wherein we learn that sometimes you side with your family over your spouse, also fell pretty flat. In the end, the grandmother left Lily a racist present in her will, and Mitchell "the sissy" got grandma's old lipsticks. If this was meant to be funny, it didn't work.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: The Ghost (4x01)

It's back! And it's darker and more intense than ever. Before we dive in, a PSA: I'm starting night classes which means my free time is decreasing. A lot. So expect these reviews to be rather pithier than usual for a while. Thanks!

Cons:

This episode may have been a little crowded, what with catching us up on everybody. There are a lot of different plot threads to capture. We've got this mysterious new director, the splintering of our team, Radcliffe's AI, Daisy's illicit activities, the introduction of Ghost Rider, and more. It's simply a bit difficult to give each of these plot threads time to breathe. I felt like the most underutilized character here was Yo-Yo. We see that she has signed the Sokovia Accords and is following the rules, but slipping information to Daisy on the sly. I wanted a bit more time to understand her divided loyalties, but unfortunately that was sacrificed for other things.

The Big Bang Theory: The Conjugal Conjecture (10x01)

Oh boy. It's back. Honestly this show is kind of a social experiment for me. I don't actually enjoy it, but it fascinates me. Specifically, the fact that it's so popular even after so many years of mediocre content. Let's jump in to the Season Ten premiere!

Cons:

The biggest complaint I have is that this episode was actually trying to do too much. That's not my usual complaint about a show that tends to play it safe. But here we had too many guest stars, and not enough focus on any one element. The plot threads are numerous: Howard is still nervous about being contacted by the government about his invention, Sheldon and Leonard are horrified at the prospect of their parents hooking up, Penny's family is in town and they are worried about being judged, and then finally there's the "big event" - Penny and Leonard tie the knot. Again.

I actually found some details of this quite funny. Penny's family was a delight, for example. But everything was mixed up in such a haphazard way that I felt like very few of the elements here had proper time to breathe. Particularly egregious was the treatment of the subplot with Howard and Raj. I actually want some answers as to what the government wants with Howard's invention, but we got basically nothing here. Howard has a meeting with a member of the air force, but we have to wait to find out the contents of that meeting.

Suits: P.S.L. (6x10)

After an entire summer centered around Mike being in prison, this week Mr. Ross takes a back seat. I actually found it rather refreshing!

Cons:

Okay, to nobody's surprise, I'm going to complain about Louis and Tara. Guess what? She's pregnant with her ex-boyfriend's baby. Louis insists that he wants to be with Tara and raise the child, but Tara thinks that they both need more time to think it over. In the end, Louis shows up and proposes to Tara, and she says yes. Okay... so I'm going to talk in a bit about how the final few minutes of this episode were gorgeous and awesome for a lot of reasons. But I still can't get over the fact that Louis and Tara just met, and Louis is still so annoying, and I don't get how either one of them could possibly think this is a good idea. I miss Sheila. I guess I just feel like there were a lot of ways to build out Louis' character and try to set up a good romance. I just didn't buy the way they ended up doing it.

Stu is leaving?! Okay, I'm of two minds about this. I actually liked the scenes with Stu and Donna, and then Stu and Louis. Turns out, Stu and his company have the opportunity for some free real estate because Sutter's company owed them money. They can't turn their backs on that, but it means backing out of their lease and leaving Louis, and PSL, in a rut. While there's nothing wrong in theory about this little plot thread, it does make me wonder... why waste a character like Stu? Why remove him from the story when things were just starting to get interesting with him? It reminds me of the show's treatment of Julius, Mike's prison counselor. So much potential, and then pretty much no follow-through. It's a bummer!

Suits: The Hand That Feeds You (6x09)

Only one more episode before the hiatus comes and significantly dampens my eagerness for Wednesdays. I'm happy, as always, with many developments in this episode. But I wouldn't be me if I didn't have some complaints.

Cons:

Surprise, surprise... I'm still not feeling the Tara and Louis thing. Donna acts as the relationship counselor here, as she tells Louis to stay calm and not jump to conclusions about what Tara is up to with Joshua, her boyfriend. Tara tells Louis that Joshua proposed to her, and she told him that she couldn't marry him when she has such strong feelings for another man, which leaves Louis and Tara together. Ugh. I mean I don't think I even need to really get in to what I don't like about this, right? It's the same crap I've been saying since Tara was introduced. It would be so much more interesting to see Louis growing and developing as a character through the plot device of an unconventional relationship. But nope! Apparently Louis is irresistible to a smart, beautiful accomplished woman like Tara for some reason... and now she's throwing away a three year long relationship for him because their love is so strong or whatever. The whole thing annoys the hell out of me. And Donna gets sidelined again which sucks.

Mike and Rachel have a quick phone call in this episode, where Rachel talks to Mike about her death row client. She wants Mike to tell her what it's like to be in prison. Now, this phone call isn't a bad moment or anything, but it just highlighted one of the biggest weaknesses of this season for me: we actually haven't seen what prison is like for Mike, and the scene cuts away from Mike and Rachel's conversation before we can get any real insight. I wish the show would push harder on this issue instead of shoving it under the rug. Also, the brevity of this phone call just highlights again how little screen time Mike and Rachel have been getting. Can she not go visit him in prison yet?

Suits: Borrowed Time (6x08)

Very solid episode, with some real forward motion. I'm very happy about most things, but there were a few things I was not so happy about as well.

Cons:

Louis and Tara's subplot might have been okay, but I still don't buy the idea that Tara would even go for Louis in the first place, so it's hard to get invested. Basically, the two of them go out again, despite Louis not being comfortable that Tara has another man in her life. Louis then immediately tells Tara that he doesn't want to share her, and Tara tells Louis to take her home. The next day, Tara says that her boyfriend is coming into town, and she hasn't made up her mind if she wants to break up with him or not. My problems with this are as follows: 1) I don't believe Tara would be interested in Louis. 2) This had the potential to be interesting if we had already seen Tara and Louis' relationship blossom into something more serious. Then, when Tara finds out her boyfriend is going to be in town, it could be a real dilemma about what she's going to do. As it was presented, it just made Tara seem like a bad person for leading them both on. 3) An alternate route would have been interesting as well - what if Louis actually tried to adapt to being in a poly-amorous relationship? There could have been some real exploration of this slightly unconventional dating scenario, and potential for some real growth out of Louis' character, but that was cut off at the pass, as Louis can't even start their second date without declaring that he won't share Tara with anyone. What a waste.

Then there's the other romance of the evening... Jessica Pearson and Jeff Malone. Ugh. Anybody who has read my reviews knows of my distaste for Jeff, but let's set that aside and just focus on what this episode gave us. Basically, Jessica and Jeff run into each other, and they go out to dinner. Jeff says he wants to take things slow, and Jessica then finds out that he's in the process of interviewing for a job in Chicago. Jessica has to remain dedicated to her firm, and Jeff has to go back to Chicago. It looks like there won't be any second chance for these two. (Unless Jessica decides to give up PSL and move to Chicago, which, given Gina Torres is leaving the show after this season, isn't impossible). See, my issue is this: if I were a casual viewer with a short attention span, I might have forgotten entirely about Jeff. And this brief little moment isn't enough for me to remember what they had, and why Jessica would be looking at him so longingly. I'll talk in the "pros" section about Jessica's characterization, because I do like where the show is taking her this season. But I just don't think Jeff is a good enough catalyst for a deeper exploration of Jessica's character.

Suits: Shake the Trees (6x07)

Oh no... poor Harvey. That's my main takeaway with this episode, even though Harvey is straight up breaking the law and I probably shouldn't be sympathizing with him quite this much. But still. Poor Harvey. In all, this may have been the weakest installment of the season thus far, but there was still a lot to enjoy.

Cons:

I've been complimenting the speed of the central plot for the past few weeks, but this week I noticed that we're getting a lot of repetition. Harvey shows up at the prison, Mike is surprised to see him, Harvey tells Mike a new piece of information, Mike still has nothing to report back about Kevin. Cahill and Harvey collude, it looks like Sutter might win anyway, Harvey has to do what he can to make it look like he's supporting Sutter while undermining him all the while... I feel like the events of this episode basically recapped what we already knew was going on. Of course, things did move forward, and they moved forward in a few really big ways. But in terms of the pacing and the structure of this episode, I sort of feel like we're getting more of the same.

I'd say my least favorite part of this current plot thread is Mike's characterization. There's this moment where Kevin accuses Mike of regretting taking a deal to save Harvey. Kevin says that he doesn't regret the deal that he took, because he did it to protect his wife, who he loves. It was an interesting moment, and I feel like maybe we're supposed to get the idea that Mike does resent Harvey a little bit for being out and about while he's trapped inside. He even admits something like that to Kevin. But if that's what they're going for, they're just not doing enough to flesh out Mike's character and his motivations. Why is he acting so short and testy with Harvey? Shouldn't he be just a tiny bit grateful that Harvey has been working so hard to rescue him? As tired as I am of seeing Mike in prison, I'm starting to wish we could spend more time with him just in prison, dealing with the daily challenges and maybe learning something about himself from his awful experiences. That doesn't seem to be what's happening, and it's a shame.

Suits: Spain (6x06)

This show, man. It does not pull its punches. Let's dive straight in.

Cons:

In subplot news, Louis and Tara's relationship is just gross. Louis gets the house he wanted, but Tara wants to see it before the closing is over, meaning that Louis has to find a way to get her in there to look around before the previous owners have officially vacated. Louis gets Donna to help him out, and they go to look at the house. But the previous owners come in while Tara and Louis are there, ruining the plan. At first, Tara is pissed off, and rightfully so... but then she seems to think it's romantic that Louis bought a house just to spend time with her, and it looks like she has feelings for Louis, too. Ugh. Stop romanticizing deceit 2k16. I really wanted to like this relationship, because I'm a fan of turning Louis from a bumbling annoying failure to a competent adult worthy of his wealth and power. But alas... I can't get behind this relationship. Tara finding the whole thing romantic was really annoying to me. Wasn't she just the least bit creeped out? This plot thread also didn't do any favors for Donna, as she spent the episode supporting Louis in his crazy plans and acting like she deserved a medal for it.

The main plot continues to focus on the delicious mess between Mike, Kevin, Harvey, Cahill, Sutter, et. al. I really like where everything is heading, but I do have one complaint. Mike is struggling to handle the fact that Kevin was arrested for drunk driving, since Mike's parents were killed by a drunk driver. I like the idea of exploring this tension, but the episode started off with Mike having a dream where Harvey came to tell him that Rachel was dead, and that Kevin had killed her. This was just a little on the nose to me. The whole sequence didn't feel like a dream at all. It felt awkward and forced. Usually, even if my dreams are manifesting as a result of my current life circumstances, it's not quite as cut-and-dry as this. There might have been a cool way to have Mike dream about his parents' death, and Kevin's arrest, and even Rachel being in danger, without having it be so spelled out for us.

Suits: Trust (6x05)

And we're back. I'm going to dive right in to this one without much preamble. I liked it, though!

Cons:

Louis has a subplot where he asks Donna for her help in buying him a house in the Hamptons, so that Louis can have Tara remodel it. Last week, I said that Louis' thing with Tara had the potential to actually be sweet, but this whole idea of spending absurd amounts of money to lie to a woman in order to eventually court her... it just reeks of the old Louis, the one who always skeeves me out in his behavior towards women. And Donna spent the episode helping him find the house, which relegates her back to a position of Louis' little helper. She's not even supposed to be working for Louis anymore! And in the end, Louis tells Donna that he misses her, and that's enough for Donna to forgive Louis for being a jerk and present him with the perfect house? It felt like a sloppy retread of the same old ground with Louis. The whole thing annoyed me.

Suits: Turn (6x04)

Rarely have I been so torn about an episode of this show. Generally I think a certain episode or plot development is either so-so or fantastic. This week, there were some things I really loved, but a few things that I flat-out hated. Let's dive in.

Cons:

So, my two big complaints about this episode both center around Mike's story line. In short, Harvey tells Mike that he has to inform on Kevin and then he can get out, and Mike says no. Harvey wants to tell Rachel to get Rachel to change Mike's mind, but Donna says no - if Rachel finds out that Mike turned down a deal like this, she'll be heartbroken. So then Harvey arranges with Cahill and the warden to drug Mike, pretend it was Frank Gallow, get him out of prison for a short period of time so he can talk him in to taking the deal. He's supposed to go to Cahill, but instead Harvey takes Mike to Rachel. They spend a few hours together, and Mike tells Rachel about the deal, and agrees to take it.

Okay. Where to even start? This whole keeping Rachel in the dark thing is driving me crazy. There's this moment where Donna says that if Harvey tells Rachel what's going on, Rachel will leave Mike. That's... insane. Rachel knows all about Mike's loyalty. If they could get through Mike's decision to go to prison to protect Harvey, Louis, and Jessica, then surely they could get through this too. Then, later, Harvey has Mike lie to Rachel about how he got out of prison for six hours, which is just gross. I get that we're supposed to think everybody cares about Rachel and wants what's best for her... but that's not what I get from this at all. The fact that Harvey has gone to see Mike multiple times, and that we only just now got a phone call between Mike and Rachel in the fourth episode is really annoying. I feel like everybody else is treating her like a child that needs to be coddled and protected. She deserves to have all the information. It sucks that Harvey and Cahill are the only two people in this whole episode who think Rachel deserves to hear the truth. Also, and I hate saying this, but Rachel is just a stronger character without Mike around. Her life is finally moving forward in a way it hasn't been able to in such a long time. There's this sick little part of me that doesn't want Mike to be free, because it'll give Rachel a chance to get her life onto stronger footing without him around to drag her down. Sorry, not sorry. I love Mike, but Rachel might deserve better.