Grey's Anatomy: Games People Play (14x14)

April is a hot mess right now. Yikes. Also, this is one of those episodes where there are like thirty different plot threads going on at once, so I'm going to try and be really brief with each element.

Cons:

I'm still not feeling the Maggie/Jackson thing. Sorry, I'm just not. And with the news that April will be leaving the show after Season Fourteen, I'm just generally bummed about the direction this is all going. Why can't April and Jackson just find their way back to each other? Plus now April is going to be hooking up with Dr. Douchebag, and... eh. Just not super interested in that.

Amelia and Owen decide it would be a great idea to have sex. I am less convinced this is a great idea, and I'm also not convinced it's going to be interesting. I've never thought all that much of them as a couple.

The Big Bang Theory: The Athenaeum Allocation (11x17)

We're making progress on Amy and Sheldon's wedding, and taking a look at life with two kids for Howard and Bernie. Let's dive in.

Cons:

I know I'm a broken record, but the lack of forward progress in Penny and Leonard's relationship is really bothering me. They're such useless characters nowadays.

Howard and Bernadette's plot thread was mostly really fun, but I'm a little disappointed by the resolution. I liked the idea that Howard would take to being a stay-at-home dad for a while, while Bernadette would be eager to get back to work. The fact that in the end they both decide to go back to work as originally planned left me feeling a bit let down. I want to see Howard stuck in the domestic role for a while, especially since we've seen Bernadette on bed-rest for most of the season.

Modern Family: Spanks for the Memories (9x15)

There weren't very many things actually wrong with this episode, but I found the entire thing mostly shrug-worthy. Let's dive in.

Cons:

I just don't find Gloria and Jay's bedroom misunderstanding particularly funny? Again, like I said, there was nothing horrible and wrong with it, but it was just... meh. I hate it when people overhear parts of a conversation and get the wrong idea... it's such a tired cliche.

Claire trying to get into a women's business magazine was another plot thread that just didn't really grab my attention. There could have been some actual commentary here about why Claire is in the line of work she's in, how important recognition is for her and for women in general, but instead it just kind of floats by and she dresses up in a cocktail dress and does a prat fall.

The Walking Dead: The Lost and the Plunderers (8x10)

I'm just not feeling it, you guys.

Cons:

As annoyed as I am that Carl is dead, and as ham-fisted as last week's goodbye was, I was expecting a bit more grief from this episode. Michonne and Rick are just kind of... subdued about the whole thing. Shouldn't there be a bit more of a manic energy to them, especially Rick, in the face of such a loss? We spend a great deal of the episode on these little side quests with Enid and Aaron, with Simon, with Jadis... and it's like Carl never even existed.

Enid and Aaron's side adventure was annoying and pointless. Enid kills the matriarch of that secluded group of women, but then the granddaughter decides to let them go, but refuses to help in the fight against Negan. Aaron decides he'll stay and keep trying to convince them, while Enid needs to go back and tell Maggie what's going on. Snore. Killing the leader lady was completely pointless, Enid's reaction to it was entirely tepid, nothing is actually changing, and we're now staring down the barrel at yet more pointless scenes of people debating whether standing up to the Saviors is the right thing to do. I'm sick of it.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: All the Comforts of Home (5x11)

... Oh my God.

Cons:

I'm not thrilled that there's another weird silicone alien being around. I was never too pleased with Enoch as a character or a concept, and this new guy isn't shaping up to be much better.

I hardly remembered that S.H.I.E.L.D. agent girl who sort of betrayed them but then didn't - was I supposed to feel more connected to her? Because I didn't.

Okay, so... I'm having mixed feelings about Deke being here. I was sad about his death, and I think I had mixed emotions about that as well. It felt like we were just starting to get to know this guy. The problem is that if this episode is an indication of the kinds of things we're going to be getting to know, then I'm not too excited about that. He is immediately thrilled to be on Earth and experiencing all of these things he's never experienced before. I get that, and there were some funny moments, but I also felt like there should have been a bit more gravitas to Deke's arrival. Shouldn't he be a bit shell shocked? I know his life sucked, but there were people there that he probably cared about, and he must realize that everything he's ever known is gone for good. I feel like a bit of a freak-out would be in order. Maybe we'll get that more later, but his antics felt a bit too comedic for my taste.

Once Upon a Time: Secret Garden (7x11)

I think it's the right decision to end this show, honestly. And that's not a total diss on the new season. It's just that for all that they tried, I don't think the new cast can recapture the magic of the original. So, I suppose we're going to have to look at Season Seven as an epilogue of sorts. Honestly, I'm pretty much good with that.

Cons:

I find myself a little muddled on the various plots going on here. There are a couple of reasons for that: one, there's a ton going on; two, it's been several months, and three, I just don't care quite enough to pay super close attention sometimes. And that doesn't exactly bode well, does it? Every time Hook - I mean Killian - I mean Rogers went back to have a talk with Rumple about "Eloise Gardner," I found myself waving my hands at the TV, hoping for things to move along faster. I want things to move forward so we have time to actually see the happy endings that everybody has been promised. When are Hook and Alice going to realize they are father and daughter? Let's get to it!

There was a great deal of focus on Robin and Zelena's mother/daughter relationship, which was great... but I was sort of hoping that an episode about Robin would also tell the story of Robin and Alice's romance. Maybe we'll get there soon?

Grey's Anatomy: You Really Got a Hold on Me (14x13)

I'm going to dive right in. Apologies for being a bit brief.

Cons:

April is clearly spiraling out of control, and it annoys me how superior Arizona was to Jackson when he expressed concern about it. She acted like she should know better than Jackson. I didn't like the implication that April was reserved or hiding some part of herself when she was with Jackson. After all, the two of them were friends before they ever got together.

For all that this episode was meant to introduce us to our new lead in the spin-off, I don't feel like we actually spent enough time with her. I've already decided I won't be watching the spin-off, because I have too many shows going on right now. But still - I think I needed a bit more from her. She was fine, but kind of generic.

The Big Bang Theory: The Neonatal Nomenclature (11x16)

This is an odd thing to say about this show after eleven seasons, but this episode just felt so painfully... hetero.

Cons:

So, like, I get it. A bunch of straights sit around and talk about how they're all going to have babies one day. I wish there was a relationship on TV that had a loving couple who were not interested in ever having children. I like the Bernadette and Howard family stuff a lot - in fact, it's probably my favorite part of this stupid show. But why is it just a given that Sheldon and Amy will have kids, and Penny and Leonard? Why not show different ways that relationships can play out?

Bernie really wants to name her son "Michael," after her father, but Howard doesn't necessarily like that idea. I wish we'd had some sense as to why. Why does Bernie want to name the kid after her dad so badly? It would make more sense if her father weren't around anymore. I don't know... is it just me, or was it kind of weird how much she loved that idea, especially when Howard was against it?

Supernatural: Good Intentions (13x14)

Cas... oh my God.

Cons:

I could have used a bit more development of the apocalypse world. When Mary and Jack were taken in by Bobby to join a group of humans fighting for survival, I got really excited. But we don't take any time to get to know any of the other people at this camp. So when the angels attack and all hell breaks loose, we don't really have an emotional investment in anybody but Jack, Mary, and Bobby. It's a small thing that would have made a strong part of the episode even stronger.

Similarly, there's the stuff with Zachariah torturing Jack with false memories and all of that... I guess I just wish that all of these people popping up in the alternate universe felt more closely connected to the characters we knew back in earlier seasons. This Zachariah does not feel like another version of the same Zachariah. Ditto Michael. Ditto Kevin when we saw him a while back. Maybe it's a nitpick.

Modern Family: Written in the Stars (9x14)

Yeah, this was a good episode. Maybe even great!

Cons:

There was the plot thread where Joe has a crush on Claire. And look, I get it, he's a little boy, but Claire is actually his sister, so... maybe can we not? Despite the weirdness factor, there's also the fact that the Joe material actually wasn't that funny or inspired. It was very cliche kid-in-a-sitcom stuff, and I've come to expect a bit more out of Joe lately.

Pros:

The Joe story did have a cute resolution, however, where Phil asks Joe if he could back off of Claire because he knows he can't compete, and he doesn't know what he'd do without Claire in his life. Claire is of course listening right outside the door, and this scene perfectly showcased how sweet Phil is as a husband and as an uncle talking to his young nephew. Very sweet. Phil and Claire are both wacky and they are quite different from each other, but episodes like this showcase the fact that they genuinely love each other and are passionate about that love. So often in sitcoms with married couples, there's such a terrible amount of animosity between husband and wife. I like that Claire and Phil defy that trope.

The Walking Dead: Honor (8x09)

Spoilers under the cut.

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend: Nathaniel is Irrelevant (3x13)

I can't believe how blessed we are with this show honestly. I mean can you believe what is going on here? Can you believe how perfect this finale was?

Cons:

No! No complaints! I mean, I suppose that if this ends up being the final season (which it probably won't be) I would have complaints, because there are a lot of loose ends. But in some ways that's another plus, because they didn't try and do that dumb thing where they try and close all the doors just in case there's no more show, so the next season then feels like some weird extra epilogue... this finale elevates the show in a new way, and it makes me all the more excited for whatever they come up with next.

Pros:

Before I get in to the two plots, I'll just say I loved how this episode referenced tons of previous songs by dropping their titles in as dialogue. That was a neat way to make this feel like a finale and really tie it together with all of the various themes over the years of this show. As we'll see in Rebecca's plot, there was a lot of reckoning with past behavior going on here, and mentioning the song names really helped to highlight that.

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend: Trent?! (3x12)

Well, I suspect everyone will be tired of reading this by now, but... another great episode!

Cons:

I will say, that I probably rank this one just a tad bit lower than most of the ones we've gotten this season. In the scheme of things, that still makes it a great hour of television, but there were some qualms here and there. The main one is that we have a pretty trite and cliche moment where Rebecca shows up at the office with Trent, faking that she's his girlfriend, and Nathaniel sees them, and is heartbroken that Rebecca has moved on. This is too close to one of those "misunderstanding" plot threads and feels like the sort of thing that could be easily explained away. Nathaniel takes this as a sign that he really does need to move on and dedicate himself to Mona. I'm not sure how I would have done it differently, but I guess I wish there had been a less predictable way to get to this same point.

I also felt like Rebecca and Paula's song "Back In Action" was one of the weaker ones. Again, this is all comparative - it's not like I thought the song was bad, by any stretch of the imagination. Usually I feel compelled to go re-listen to the new songs immediately after an episode, and this one just had me shrugging. I think part of it is that Paula's lack of enthusiasm was a bit catching. I think that part of the point of this plot thread was that the whole "caper" idea is pretty ridiculous and un-funny when put into the harsh light of reality. So it makes sense that the song would capture some of that depressing atmosphere. Unfortunately, that also makes for a song that's not all that exciting to listen to.

Supernatural: Devil's Bargain (13x13)

Okay. I... Hm. I have some thoughts.

Cons:

So, I went into this episode having seen the promo, and obviously I knew Danneel was going to be in it, but somehow I had missed that it was a fucking Bucklemming episode. The minute I saw their names on the screen I cringed, ready for the worst. The odd thing is, I actually thought things were going... okay, at first. Sure, I could detect that typical stilted nature to the writing, and there were moments where the cool factor was deemed more important than the "consistent" factor or the "follows logical path" factor. But I can put up with all of that. When Danneel Ackles' character, Sister Jo, first appeared, I didn't hate her either. I was ready to see what came next. And then... creepy sexual vibe immediately with new female character. And she's evil, of course. Oh, great. So we're doing this. Oh, and in case you were missing another staple of Bucklemming, we've got stupid McGuffins that pop right the hell out of nowhere, like an "archangel blade" that can only be wielded by another archangel. Okay? What?

It baffles me that they keep hiring these two guys to write episodes. Literally why. I always feel like the characters revert back into former versions of themselves, the plot is always presented in this very hokey, over-the-top way, the women are over-sexualized, people are bad-ass for the sake of it to absolutely no end... it's just so frustrating.

Grey's Anatomy: Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger (14x12)

This was a crowded episode of Grey's Anatomy. Let's get right to it.

Cons:

Maybe... too crowded? It's not like I had a hard time following along with the plot, but there was just so much happening, the whole ensemble was involved, every little character had a moment or a scene, and I had trouble figuring out what I was supposed to care about the most. For example, Owen has a little through-line about how he decides not to enter the medical contest, because he realizes that patents and grants and all of that aren't what he wants to spend his time on. This probably gets less than two minutes of total screen-time in the episode. We see De Luca and Sam continue their little flirtation, leading pretty much nowhere, and I just couldn't help but think that this could have been saved for another episode.

Bailey's plot thread has her sitting at home on bed rest, as she harasses Glasses (Shmidt? Should I learn this kid's actual name?) to help her with her project. There's sort of this weird thing where he thinks she's setting him up for some weird sex thing? I don't know. It didn't go far enough to be truly hilarious, and so it just kind of sat in this weird comedic black hole of nothingness.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Past Life (5x10)

Well... alrighty, then!

Cons:

I will admit to a sense of frustration about a lot of the side characters we've met so far this season. Obviously I don't know yet if we'll see them again - time travel makes everything very confusing. But Enoch and Deke are both dead, and Tess and Flint are left to pick up the pieces of a world that's still in dire straits, even if they hope our heroes will change it back in their own time. It all feels a little bit fruitless. Enoch especially - I get the sense that I'm meant to feel some sort of an emotional reaction to his death, but I didn't know enough about him to care. In the last few episodes especially, he's been reduced to this weird watered-down version of Spock or Data or something. It's just not working for me in the slightest. And if that's really all we get of Deke, then he's a bit of a disappointment as well. I'm still waiting for the other shoe to drop about his parentage.

On that same note, I've complained in the past about how all of this stuff in the future feels hard to connect to - the Kree family drama, the new characters, etc. While I liked certain elements quite a bit, I still ultimately find this entire scenario to be... well... fleeting. If our heroes succeed in their mission, which I believe they will, then none of this stuff even matters. For some reason, I felt a much stronger connection to the Framework story, because of the psychological elements for our core cast of characters. Here, it's a bit more difficult.

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend: Nathaniel and I Are Just Friends! (3x11)

I... just... this... show... is incredible.

Cons:

None? I mean, the only thing I can think of is that I do wish there were more time for certain elements. We spend a lot of time with Hector and Heather in this episode, but we don't get to see how Rebecca, who lives in the same house as them, is involved in this dynamic. And Valencia has a new relationship, but we don't really see anybody else interact with her significant other. White Josh spends some time away and then adopts a dog, but we don't see him interacting with the other characters. This is yet another example of my ONLY COMPLAINT being that I want more. I enjoy what I have, and I wish I could see even more of it. That's not a bad problem to have.

Pros:

Where to even START?! This episode features an eight month time jump. I wasn't expecting it, but it worked perfectly to accelerate certain characters along their paths.

Grey's Anatomy: (Don't Fear) the Reaper (14x11)

Bailey-centric episode! With back-story! Yes yes yes!

Cons:

This is such a minor thing, but I needed a tiny bit more build-up to Bailey realizing that she's having a heart-attack at the beginning. As it stands, it's really, really hard to blame the doctors for being hesitant in the beginning. Obviously as it goes on and they continue to ignore her, I no longer have any sympathy for their position. But right at the start, it's hard not to think "horse, not zebra." Maybe if we'd seen just a slight amount of Bailey's symptoms affecting her - like, she says she's nauseated, so can we see her worry she might throw up? I don't know if I'm making any sense with this.

The random woman who Bailey saves and who is next to her in the hospital is fun or whatever, but nothing came of her and she felt rather out of place. I like the idea of Bailey having a blank-slate stranger character to riff off of until some of her friends actually show up at this other hospital. But I wanted a bit more of a payoff.

Supernatural: Various & Sundry Villains (13x12)

Good! This episode was actually good! When I saw the promos I was a little nervous. I predicted that Jensen would be hilarious, but that there would be some cringe-y moments and we'd sale through a C-plot episode with a little dash of B-plot in the form of Rowena, and then we'd get back to real business in the future. But no! That's not what this episode was at all!

Cons:

Apparently Cas has been "calling to check in every day," which is a detail I find utterly delightful. But I'm also really bummed that we didn't get to see how that plays out exactly... does Asmodeus force Cas to call? Does somebody imitate Cas to the boys? It annoys me that the Winchesters wouldn't have figured out that something was wrong by now. They do know Cas pretty well at this point.

The two witch sisters in this episode were played as kind of ditzy and stupid, and while I think that could have been fun in another universe, I don't think it was executed very well here. I wish we had seen evidence that their valley-girl attitude was a put-on, or that despite how they talked and dressed, they were really both very intelligent. Maybe that's what they were going for, but in execution they sounded just as air-headed when it was just the two of them as they did when they were conning men with magic. I also think there was a bit of a missed opportunity here, because two siblings desperately trying to save a parent, conning people out of money, doing increasingly desperate things to get what they want... that's a Winchester brother parallel if I ever saw one, and they didn't really take advantage of that opportunity.

The Big Bang Theory: The Novelization Correlation (11x15)

This week, we get an example of The Big Bang Theory actually addressing an issue with its lead character, and I'm honestly pleasantly surprised. Does that make the episode good? Well...

Cons:

Leonard's plot involves him working on his book about a bad-ass scientist who solves crimes. When Bernadette and Penny read it, they each believe that the main female character is based on the other, and they think she's a little too mean. When Penny realizes that the character must be based on her, she gets pissed off, but then Leonard talks to his mom on the phone and realizes that the character is actually based on his mother.

The scenes where all of the people from Leonard's life are inserted as characters in his book were just really unimaginative and not very funny. There was so much more that could have been done with this concept, you know? And then there's the fact that this was an opportunity to perhaps address some actual issues with Leonard and Penny's relationship, and once again that opportunity was entirely wasted. Are they ever going to feel like an actual part of this show again, instead of the weird side-characters that nobody knows what to do with?