Brooklyn Nine-Nine: Game of Boyles (8x07)

That was a solid installment, I will say. Probably because it stayed away from the precinct and police work and didn't make me think about all the messy ways this season has tried to grapple with serious issues.

Cons:

The fact that Jake is on suspension barely seems to register in this episode. He has a moment where he's too caught up in Charles' family drama because he misses being on the job, but other than that brief mention, this episode doesn't feel any different than any other. I want consequences to matter on this show.

I really don't understand including this late game... twist? I guess? That Charles is the product of an affair and thus not a "real" Boyle? It's the kind of thing that a better show would contemplate as an actual psychological factor in Charles' life, but here it's introduced and doesn't matter by the end of the episode. Just kind of clunky.

The Walking Dead: Acheron: Part II (11x02)

Hey so I'm sorry but I don't care about Maggie.

Cons:

This episode, much like the last one, had large stretches where Maggie, Negan, Daryl et. al. are just wandering around dealing with Walkers in the dark and there are zombie noises and it's hard to see and I just... zone out, waiting to see who, if anyone, gets hurt or dies. And in this episode, there are characters who lose their lives whose names I literally never bothered to learn. Like the guy who says "tell my kids I didn't die a coward" - who was that? I don't know and I also do not care!

I also feel like the stakes are a little hard to grasp when we haven't checked back in with Alexandria in these first two episodes. I want to be reminded of the home base they're all fighting for, so I understand what the risk and what the reward is. That's a small thing, but it's there.

Brooklyn Nine-Nine: The Set Up (8x06)

Repeating myself here, but it is a tough pill to swallow, watching this show try and muddle its way through these serious topics.

Cons:

I think one of the things that's started to rub me the wrong way more and more is how... gleeful Jake is about his job. He's excited about a bomb on a bus because it's like a movie. His whole childish delight in the potential for disaster is supposed to be an immaturity thing, and I get that, but it's also kind of gross. Because they're trying to show the corruption in the system, the fact that Jake is so eager for a "cool" case that he ends up arresting an innocent man is... well, I know the episode paints it as a problem, but for me it was hard to root for Jake at all in this episode, and I do think that's an issue.

Pros:

That said, this is probably the strongest episode of the season thus far, at least in terms of addressing corruption in a real way and also being funny. O'Sullivan is cartoonishly evil in his desires, so the moment when he's offering Jake help really shines a light on how anyone can get pulled into the corruption. I like hating this character; the delivery was excellent, I loved the repeated blackmail attempts that didn't work.

Brooklyn Nine-Nine: PB&J (8x05)

Okay... is anyone else just over it all?

Cons:

Somehow the whole Doug and Jake friendship thing is rubbing me the wrong way when you have a black criminal and a white cop and they're such good buddies but like... Jake is still taking him to prison for five years, and then he has to stop him from escaping... does anyone else get like, weird vibes from it? It's not that I hate Doug, but I kind of hate the whole cat and mouse thing when it's a comedy parody of a black man with a family desperately, frantically, trying not to get locked away for five years. I don't know.

Then there's the whole "Jake might lose his job" thing. Are they trying to set this up like that's the outcome at the end of the season? Jake and Amy and the others all quitting their jobs because being a police officer is bad? I just wish this sitcom wasn't trying to take on the whole weight of police corruption in hits final ten episode season. I want to say it's... admirable that they're addressing it? But honestly it's messy as fuck to try and do this, and I'm not convinced it's working. There's no nuance being added to the conversation, here. Do I think Doug should go to prison? Well, no, but then I'm a fan of abolishing prisons altogether for nonviolent crimes. But should he escape and just be a fugitive? Seems like an unsustainable system, to me. But in setting up these two options as a dichotomy we ignore the fact that Doug is a nice person but undeniably a thief who keeps going back to his life of crime, despite saying he's left the life. They've circled the drain with this character so many times that I don't even know what I'm supposed to think anymore.

The Walking Dead: Acheron: Part I (11x01)

Man, the degree to which I Do Not Care is kind of bumming me out. I'm trying to be excited to see what this final season of the show will bring, but I keep thinking about how this sucker is going to stretch over two years of airing and I'm already tired! Let's take a look.

Cons:

Maggie's plot thread is the one where I found myself not caring the hardest. Basically, she and Daryl and Negan and some other randos are on a mission to find food, because Alexandria is low on supplies. They have to go through a creepy tunnel full of dead bodies-slash-Walkers that keep waking up to accost them as they approach. They're silent because their throats have been slit, so that's adding a creepiness factor to the proceedings, for sure.

A lot of this plot is just silent shots of people walking, killing Walkers, being scared, the screen is so dark I can barely see what the heck is going on... I don't care... then we get a spike of interest with Negan confronting Maggie, and then that stupid cliffhanger where it looks like Negan leaves Maggie behind to die.

Brooklyn Nine-Nine: Balancing (8x04)

This one was just kind of "blah"' to me.

Cons:

The main conflict here is about Jake and Amy juggling between work and childcare. Things get chaotic when an outbreak of lice shuts down daycare and forces them to have Mac with them. Amy is working on a big presentation that could lead to important police reform. Jake is working on a long-running murder case with a murderer who provides fun clues and riddles that Jake loves to solve. I guess I really just noticed the triviality of it all? Especially Jake, upset that he was missing out on the "fun" murder case. Like. People are dead, though? And Amy's reform presentation was unsurprisingly vague, it was just clear that she was a good guy fighting the good fight, while her opposition was one of those bad racial profiling proponents. It all felt a little too neat to me.

The entire concept fell a little flat, too. The struggle was Jake and Amy each having to potentially give up important work moments for the sake of raising their son... but at no point did they go to the obvious solutions. When Charles is standing right there, basically it's like... Jake could take lead on the case or Charles could. Why didn't Charles offer/why didn't Jake ask, for Charles to watch the baby while Jake went? And Amy has Terry following her around as a cheerleader while she's preparing for a presentation. That she's giving alone. Terry seemed to have nothing else to do - why didn't he watch the baby? Meanwhile, Holt and Rosa's subplot is happening in the background - they certainly didn't seem busy! Why not ask one of them? The whole thing just fell apart for me.

Brooklyn Nine-Nine: Blue Flu (8x03)

I'm not sure how to fully articulate the level of distaste I felt at watching this episode. I don't envy the writers the task they have, at trying to keep a liberal show going under the guise of all the main characters being cops, but... this ain't it, that's all I can say.

Cons:

So, the premise of this episode is that a bunch of police officers pretend to be sick in protest for a police officer being "attacked" when he found a mouse in his burrito. They're obviously faking, so it becomes the task of the Nine-Nine to prove that it's a hoax and end the "Blue Flu" so the cops will get back to work.

Um... okay. So. Collective action is one of the most important tools our workforce has to combat unfair working conditions, right? In this story, the cops were striking for a bad reason, pretending to be victims and basically punishing the populace for all the anti-cop sentiment that has been rising up over the last couple of years. But in concept, unions are... good? And the collective power of a strike is... good? I just found it really weird that this story was: "let's stop people from striking." It felt messy to me, when in reality, if we really, really want to be honest about the police: each individual police officer isn't a "bad person", whatever that means. Pretending they're all evil and want to hurt you isn't going to do any political good. If all the "good ones" or whatever could use their collective bargaining power to demand real systemic change... that's a good thing? We should want systems in place allowing them to do that?

Brooklyn Nine-Nine: The Lake House (8x02)

Well... why did we resolve the Kevin/Holt thing so quickly? That was kind of weird!

Cons:

Maybe I just like angst too much, but I would have liked to explore Holt and Kevin's relationship issues a bit more before just saying they're going to try and get back together. Maybe we'll get to learn more about how they're doing in couples counseling? But in that case, why not just frame it that way from the beginning, instead of saying they've separated, which makes it seem way more serious? I don't know. I just thought it was all kind of abrupt.

Maybe because this was a vacation episode where the gang is away from the precinct, but I found myself missing Gina's energy. I hope she makes at least an appearance or two in this final season.

Brooklyn Nine-Nine: The Good Ones (8x01)

And we're back. This is going to be interesting, writing about this show for one final season, given... well, given 2020. Also given the knowledge that this is likely the last time I'll ever watch a procedural cop show. Not that I was ever big into them before, but... yeah, I mean, it's propaganda, it's always been propaganda, and I can't exactly see past it anymore. Anyway. Enough of that soap box, let's take a look!

Cons:

So, part of me just doesn't know who this is for??? Like, this first episode is about police brutality and Jake is painted in mostly sympathetic yet problematic light, where he's going around agreeing with ACAB actually but then in the same breath saying "not all cops! Not me!" So if this is for liberal fans of the show, it's like... do we need to see cops frowning about how hard this has been on them? No. And if it's for conservatives to try and humanize the cops and then show that there are real problems, then... well, there aren't conservatives watching this fucking show in that way, are there? I don't know. It feels messy. This is why most cop shows that touch on corruption within the cops makes the main characters the "good guys" working within the system. This is what this show has done up to now, and I can sort of appreciate them trying something a little more complex, but I also feel like I'm tangling myself up in circles trying to decide what the heck point they're trying to make.

Then again, I have to acknowledge that I don't know what the show could have done as an alternative? I suppose part of me wanted them to quit en masse and started a PI company together, like Rosa did, but that also would have felt like pandering, so... there's basically no scenario that would have pleased me and a lot of other people too, I bet.

The Handmaid's Tale: The Wilderness (4x10)

Oh boy. I don't even know what else to say. Just. Lots of stuff happening here.

Cons:

So, obviously I'm going to talk about the Fred situation, but I actually want to start by saying there was a logistical weirdness with the end of the episode that kind of troubled me. For one thing, and this is just a script decision I don't understand, why does the mailman open the mail and see the severed finger and wedding ring? Why not have Serena opening it so we get the full impact of the horror? That just felt odd to me.

And then... the ending. June comes back to say goodbye to Nichole, and says she's leaving in five minutes. My initial read on this was that she was going to go and face the consequences/get locked up for what she did to Fred. But then I realized that made no sense, and maybe she's instead going back to Gilead to get Hannah? See, the problem here is that a) I'm bored of Gilead and want to keep the story in Canada. And b) June's connections with Lawrence and Nick seem to be able to get her a lot of things... it feels like it would be a relatively simple matter to snatch Hannah and run at this point, wouldn't it? The narrative stakes feel uneven, after what we saw June was capable of orchestrating in this installment.

The Handmaid's Tale: Progress (4x09)

Wellllll.... shit.

Cons:

I've got to say, I'm just not thrilled with watching Janine have to play the part and get sucked back into the whole Gilead lifestyle thing. Poor Esther got caught up in it as well. This doesn't bode well for my continued enjoyment of the show, but I really must say that my attention starts to wander every time we're back in Gilead. I want all that juicy Canadian drama, please and thanks.

The scene where Luke says that June should go and meet Nick was... really weird? It was framed almost sinister, like Luke was blackmailing June into doing something she didn't want to do. And June was clearly very shaken by the thought of seeing Nick again, I get that, but it did feel weird that she wouldn't have brought it up herself.

Pros:

I was so mad when the episode ended and I learned that Fred Waterford was going to go free, in exchange for information on Gilead. So mad that my blood boiled. In other words, it was very effectively done. I like that we see Fred's growing frustrations as he realizes his fellow Commanders in Gilead have forsaken him. Then we just get the news dropped very casually, and Moira and Luke react with anger while June is seemingly pissed but mostly calm. Then she snaps, screaming about how Fred is a rapist. It was the perfect buildup and execution, and the idea of Fred walking around, free... it's chilling to contemplate. What's going to happen?

Grey's Anatomy: Someone Saved My Life Tonight (17x17)

I found so many, many, many things about this episode incredibly frustrating! And I'm frustrated by my own frustration, because I just wanted to have a good time and be done with it.

Cons:

Where to start? I think one of my issues with this episode was the time wasting that happened from last week's installment. Why did we have that whole little tiff between Maggie and Winston about when to get married, if they were going to arrange a quick wedding, then call it off literally during the ceremony, then just have a bigger ceremony later on? What was the point of that whole little run-around?

And even more annoying because the stakes are so much higher... why have Jo denied custody of Luna, then go through all of the drama of having Link foster Luna, and then just show that Jo won and got custody... all happening offscreen so we didn't get to see any of that juicy drama play out? Why not stretch this journey out over the past couple of episodes, and instead of showing Jo getting denied, show that there are difficulties in front of her, and that she needs to fight, then have it be framed through that lens of fighting for what she wants? The Link fostering Luna thing was so absurd and then we didn't even really see that play out at all. Link, a man who wants more children, didn't get too caught up in the fact that he's the legal guardian of a baby? Okay then...

The Handmaid's Tale: Testimony (4x08)

Well, there's certainly a lot to talk about, isn't there?

Cons:

Now that we've got June out of Gilead, I find myself fundamentally much less interested in anything still going on there. Yes, I find Commander Lawrence and Aunt Lydia both to be fascinating characters in their own right, but it's just the same ol' same ol' circling the drain with these two. I'm happy Janine is alive, but, again, what is going to be different about this from every other time a Handmaid has escaped and been apprehended, brought back into the fold? We've got the opportunity for so many fresh stories over in Canada, that the Gilead stuff just isn't as urgent for me as it should be.

Pros:

But honestly, that subplot took up so little time, and the rest of the episode kicked ass. Let's start with the Waterfords.

The moment when Fred speaks out at the hearing was so intriguing to me, because at first I was like "wow, what a dumbass" but then seeing those protesters cheering on the Waterfords at the end? Truly a chilling experience. Here I was thinking that Fred was behaving rashly, but he actually has a lot more political and social savvy than people give him credit for. I don't know that he really believes any of the religious stuff, but he's certainly using it to his advantage in this situation. It was literally hard to watch the people screaming and cheering and holding up signs praising Serena and Fred. It made me sick to my stomach! I would hope that counter-protesters would also be there on June's behalf, but we didn't get to see that this time around.

Grey's Anatomy: I'm Still Standing (17x16)

Going to rapid-fire this review!

Cons:

I don't want more Amelia and Link drama! I hope the kid thing is resolved quickly and without too much angst. Maybe the compromise is Amelia and Link continuing to be involved with Meredith's kids, so Link can be a father-like presence in the lives of a whole gaggle of children. The thing is, I've so enjoyed this lighter, more fun story for Amelia, during her relationship with Link. They bring out this really lovely, happy side in one another and I don't want to abandon that for more angst.

I hesitate to say what I'm about to say because I think people are going to yell at me!!! I've been so wobbly on Nico and Levi because I think Levi is a really fun character, and we just haven't spent as much time with Nico, and he was honestly pretty horrible to Levi, and narratively, yes, he's made amends and I'm not like... mad at the thought of them being together or whatever, but I have to admit a potentially sacrilegious truth that is becoming harder and harder to deny! The actors just don't have that much chemistry with one another! Don't get me wrong, they're perfectly fine and their scenes do the job and aren't like... painful to watch or anything, but I don't have the warm fuzzies about them the way I should when a relationship reaches a milestone like this. So that whole scene with Nico and the candles and the "I think about you all day" should have been a really squee-worthy moment and instead I kind of vaguely thought... "oh, I guess that's nice."

The Handmaid's Tale: Home (4x07)

Dang, that was an intense episode.

Cons:

I think the one portion of the episode that felt too on-the-nose for me was the grocery store moments where June is being triggered by things that remind her of Gilead. The concept is sound, but I think we could have gotten the idea just from June's behavior, instead of the actual flashes of memory from Gilead. A little too blunt, maybe. This is a nitpick!

Also, Moira's girlfriend apparently isn't out of the picture? I'm happy about this, but also we haven't gotten a real chance to get to know this character, and her status as she relates to Moira keeps shifting so I'm just not sure what to make of her yet.

Pros:

This episode doesn't make you wait for anything! June reunites with everyone we want her to reunite with. She gets to see Moira, Luke, and baby Nichole, obviously. And then also Emily, and her son, and Rita. And then in the very same episode, we also get that long-awaited first confrontation with Serena. I appreciated that this episode was full, because there was definitely some slowness in the earlier parts of the season, and now I feel like we're getting the show on the road.

Grey's Anatomy: Tradition (17x15)

Sometimes Grey's Anatomy has something really true and good to say, but they say it in a hokey sort of way. This episode had a lot going on that kinda... jumped the shark in terms of the cheese factor for me. Let's dive in.

Cons:

First of all, Jackson's last episode was kind of a letdown. It was only in seeing it that I realized how disconnected he felt from most of the remaining leads on the show. He had a personal goodbye with Jo, which I liked, and was probably the moment I felt the most connected to Jackson leaving. But when he was talking to Meredith, it occurred to me that these two haven't had any intersecting story-lines that really mattered in years. They kept showing flashbacks to Jackson in his earlier days on the show, surrounded by people who are all no longer there. He doesn't feel woven in with any of the core cast. Then, he drives away at the end, his last conversation as a regular cast member happening with Koracick of all people? I don't know. It just felt like an anticlimax to me.

And speaking of Koracick, was this his exit from the show as well? He's moving to Boston? What a bummer. I've genuinely enjoyed his character so much, and I feel like there was so much left to explore with him. Putting him in a room with any other character really enlivened a conversation. He brought such different energy from any of the other characters. What an unceremonious end, if so. If not, I hope he's a character that pops back in here and there, maybe updates us on Jackson, April, and Harriet. That could be a nice compromise.

The Handmaid's Tale: Vows (4x06)

Huh, I don't know, honestly! This was probably my least favorite episode of the season, which was a bummer because I was looking forward to it so much!

Cons:

So, first of all, the writing seemed a little bit... hokey in the flashback scenes with Luke? It was all too on the nose, and didn't ultimately tell us anything new about Luke and June's relationship, other than the fact that June was insecure about giving him a baby. I get why they did this, and how it parallels that heartbreaking scene at the end, but... something about the actual scenes themselves didn't click with me.

As I'll talk about in a minute, I'm absolutely thrilled that June is out, in Canada. It's the status quo change we desperately need at this point in the story. But this episode itself felt like a lot of stalling. June's not going to leave. Then she's leaving. Then she's willing to be turned in. Then she gets through. Then she's going to escape and go back. Then she's not. I'm not sure anything in this episode was really revelatory enough to justify the buildup. That scene with Luke in the end was "the point" of this episode, and it was a great scene. But there was just a lot of chaff to get through, before we got to that wheat.

The Handmaid's Tale: Chicago (4x05)

Oh, for fuck's sake. If Janine's dead, I'm gonna rage quit watching this show. I mean, not really, but come on. She'd better be okay. 

Cons:

This is a small thing but I thought I'd mention it: they've spent a lot of time in Canada this season, and yet didn't bother to set up why Moira would be in Chicago there at the end - I guess we'll find out later? That just seemed like an odd decision structure-wise.

I wish we understood why Janine changed her mind there at the end. See, this is part of why I'm really worried Janine is dead, because it seems like just the sort of thing this show would do. Make Janine come with June, just to die immediately so that June can feel super guilty for bringing her along. I think she's got the market cornered on survivor's guilt at this point. And it was really sweet when Janine showed up to go with her after all, but I don't get what changed her mind. Janine is her own person with her own motivations, and it would have made sense for her to stay somewhere she felt more or less secure. She made that choice, there was a sweet goodbye, and then an immediate reversal on her decision? I wanted a bit more to flesh that out.

Grey's Anatomy: Look Up Child (17x14)

Well... goodbye, Jackson Avery.

Cons:

Obviously I'm still deep in my feelings about Alex Karev's departure, so I'll probably end up comparing the two a lot... I will say that Jackson is getting a better treatment because of actor availability, and on a personal note I've always shipped Jackson and April, so I'm happy with this sort of open-ended thing of maybe they'll get back together. BUT, at the same time, we have to acknowledge how lazy and repetitive this is, right? Jackson is moving away to do what's best for him personally, and we're given this indication that maybe he can get back together with his ex. Reminds me of Arizona leaving to go be closer to her daughter, and us finding out in an off-hand aside that Callie and Penny had broken up (thus negating the whole reason why Callie had even moved away in the first place). Lazy writing.

We should also talk about Catherine. I've never liked her, as anyone who reads these reviews will know, but is she just... okay with Jackson taking over the foundation? Is there a... larger conversation to be had here? Is he ousting her from her job, or is she just nodding and accepting retirement with grace? As much as I've always felt frustrated by her character, this particular move felt out of character to the point where I feel like I need to point it out. Maybe we'll see her pushing back in the episodes to come? It looks like Jackson isn't quite gone yet...

The Handmaid's Tale: Milk (4x04)

Intense as always!

Cons:

I don't really get why Rita told Fred about Serena's pregnancy. She could have just ghosted them. It felt odd that she'd go to him and, arguably, help him in this roundabout way, all for the sake of getting herself out of the situation. Rita is a character who we haven't gotten to see much of, and I'm excited about the opportunity to explore her more. But while the conversation with Serena was fascinating and horrifying in equal measure, her motivations in going to Fred seemed obscure to me.

Just as like... a general note? This is an extremely white show, and I think it's telling that when they engage with race at all, it's done in this very side-eyeing kind of way. Like... Rita was a slave, owned by white people. And yeah, I get that there are Marthas and Handmaids of every race or whatever, but there's still a choice being made there and the show isn't really stepping up to say anything about that decision they've made. There's also the fact that we meet a new character of color in this episode and then he immediately turns around and demands sex as payment from June or Janine. What kind of message are we painting here? In a show where bad things happen to everyone and most people have committed evil acts, I'm not saying that having characters of color in those positions is automatically a problem. But when you've got a predominantly white cast and a white protagonist... I don't know. It's definitely been a problem this show has carried with it from day one, and I just wanted to name that here.