Doctor Who: Arachnids in the UK (11x04)

This was a fun and standard episode. After last week's incredible outing, there was no way that any followup could maintain that level of quality. This episode didn't, but it was still pretty fun.

Cons:

This would have been a great opportunity to get to know Yaz a little better, and while it was nice to meet her family, I still feel like she's underdeveloped compared to Ryan and Graham. The emotional beats of this episode were still focused on Ryan and Graham, even though it was Yaz's family that was getting pulled in to the adventure. I hope we get a chance to dig in deeper with her and her family.

The villain, Robertson, is a little too on-the-nose for me. Sure, the environmental message of the episode is all well and good, but when the villain is cartoonish, and they even go so far as to have him running for president against Trump, the whole thing gets a little bit too sledge-hammer-y for my taste. Doctor Who has never been known for being subtle, but even so... come on. The part where he talked about how normal humans pick up guns and shoot things? Yeah, we get it. America is the worst.

The Walking Dead: The Obliged (9x04)

Last week's episode added real tension and explored the complexities of various political and moral arguments. This week's episode was... a little bit disappointing.

Cons:

We're back to the unnecessary speechifying. Everybody talks for way too long and sounds way too sage and... scripted. Negan and Michonne especially. I wish that the conversations on this show would flow more naturally, but for whatever reason, it seems like the writers are too eager to try their hand at purple prose.

Also, last week made it seem like Maggie and Daryl were off to murder Negan immediately, but instead we have yet another example of The Walking Dead pulling back on its promises and doing something less exciting. If we're doing this thing, let's just do this thing, then. Instead it's Rick and Daryl talking about it while stuck in a hole, it's Michonne and Negan having long talks back at Alexandria, it's more waiting around.

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend: I'm On My Own Path (4x03)

Once again, great. I feel like there's no way I can think of new things to say about this show at this point. It's just all so good.

Cons:

Not specifically about this episode, no. But I suppose I'm impatient for more screen time from certain characters. I'm glad Heather and Hector get so much focus, and I love Josh's story-line, but we haven't even seen Paula's husband and kids this season yet, and White Josh was absent once more! I'm just being a nag. I know we'll get to see everyone soon enough.

Pros:

Okay. Let's start with the main story - Rebecca goes back to work, but then has a bit of a crisis and decides instead to work at a pretzel shop in the lobby of the building, owned by another former Whitefeather employee - Jim. This is all kinds of silliness, and we follow Rebecca as she wrestles between being a lawyer, something she's trained for and knows she's good at, but doesn't enjoy, and being an employee at a pretzel stand. In the end, she lands somewhere slightly different. She'll open her own pretzel stand, and do her own thing. It's silly, but it's poignant, and it feels right for Rebecca in this moment.

The Good Place: The Ballad of Donkey Doug (3x06)

This. Show. You. Guys.

Cons:

Okay. This isn't a big complaint, but I will say that Jason's brand of comedy is perfect in small doses. A full episode of him and his stupid friend and stupid father was... maybe a little much? It wasn't enough to actually annoy me or turn me off of this episode, but I feel like if there were a second episode focused on Jason in the near future, I'd be over it pretty quickly.

Also, this episode didn't have enough Janet comedy. And if that's the last we see of Simone, I'll be crushed. She is such a fun character.

Pros:

I don't want to sound too critical of Jason's story, though, because there were still a ton of laughs. Donkey Doug, a character Jason has told tons of stories about throughout the show, is apparently his father. The reveal of this information is hilarious, and the laughs don't stop there. I love all of the dumb humor, and the culmination in the oddly sweet moment when Jason's father helps him escape from the police. The interesting thing is, as stupid as Jason is, he actually comes across a little bit more grounded and reasonable when placed next to Pillboi and Donkey Doug. The moment when Donkey Doug says that one day, Jason will perform this same sacrifice for his son, Jason has the awareness to say "I hope not..." And his instincts are ultimately benevolent. He wants to save Pillboi's soul.

Grey's Anatomy: Everyday Angel (15x05)

Ehhhh this episode really annoyed meeee.

Cons:

Meredith and Teddy spend the episode talking about the whole pregnancy situation. Meredith takes the day off of work to talk to Teddy about this stupid love triangle business. Spending a whole plot thread in Meredith's house while she bakes for Zola's bake sale just made me realize all the more how much I don't care about the Amelia/Teddy/Owen thing. I just super don't care. Ugh. Teddy is a cool character, one that I used to like back in the day. Now she spends all her time griping about her undying love for Owen, and I just feel totally uninterested.

We see Amelia and Owen being all happy and parent-like, monitoring Betty at school because they're worried about her, playing with baby Leo in the car. Honestly, if you took these scenes in isolation, they weren't bad at all. In fact, I was actually kind of warming up to this weird little family unit. Or, I would be, if not for the looming disaster of Teddy's pregnancy. All of this time trying to get me invested in Amelia and Owen as a couple is just wasted because I know we're about to undergo some really annoying drama.

The Big Bang Theory: The Imitation Perturbation (12x06)

I liked this episode for the most part, but it could have done more!

Cons:

I really like that Bernadette and Sheldon have a heart to heart about the bullying they experienced growing up. But this whole thing started when Howard participated in a mean-spirited joke at Sheldon's expense, so it feels odd that we didn't get a moment where Howard and Sheldon hashed it out.

Also, are we ever going to do anything more substantial with Penny and Leonard's stagnant relationship? That's not really a complaint about this episode, I guess, more just the show as a whole.

Pros:

I like that Howard dressing up as Sheldon hurt his feelings, and I like the way things escalated from there. It provided a good amount of comedy while also addressing some real human emotions underpinning that humor. That's what a decent sitcom would be able to achieve every single week. The best moment was definitely the conversation between Bernadette and Sheldon at the end, but I also liked Bernadette and Amy discussing what had gone on between their husbands, and how both of them had to learn to let Sheldon take care of himself instead of relying on Amy to do it.

Supernatural: The Scar (14x03)

I'm having feelings.

Cons:

I'm sad that Wayward Sisters isn't going forward. It would have made a great show. But I'm happy that we get to keep the characters around and make them a part of the world in some way. All that said, I wasn't happy with Kaia dying last season, and while I love that Claire/Kaia as a romantic pairing was confirmed, the whole thing is icky when you consider the fact that Kaia died, making this yet another woman, another queer character, another person of color, that Supernatural has decided to kill off. However, I'm withholding my anger a little bit, because there is a version of Kaia still in the story, and I could definitely see a story coming out of this where maybe she and Claire find their way to each other... maybe there could be something there.

I'm still annoyed that Michael!Dean lasted for so short a time. I wish we could have stretched it out a bit longer, honestly. Oh well.

Modern Family: Good Grief (10x05)

Modern Family has always been at its best in fun holiday episodes, but this one took a surprising turn as we learn that Mitchell and Claire's mother, DeDe, has passed away. How did the episode do at exploring this death?

Cons:

Well, I've got to admit that from a marketing standpoint, it's a little bit stupid that they pushed so hard on this "major death" that we would be getting this season. Sure, DeDe was a fun guest character, but it's not like Jay dropped dead or anything. That's not a critique about the episode itself, I'm just saying it was odd to push on this in the buildup to the season so heavily.

There's a really unsettling joke about Haley starving herself in this episode. Basically, in her grief over her grandmother, she starts eating a ton of food, and suddenly she seems to get smarter. Alex hypothesizes that her brain is working for the first time because she's not starving herself. That's... not a funny or cool joke to make.

Doctor Who: Rosa (11x03)

This episode terrified me. I mean, before I watched it. There were about a million things that could go so, so, wrong in tackling this story. And? I... think they pulled it off, actually!

Cons:

The character of Krasko was a little undefined. He's the dude from the future who has come back to mess with Rosa Parks and change history. We know he's a criminal in the future, and it's sort of implied that he's just a lone crazy person, not part of some bigger conspiracy... but in any case, I think I needed some firmer answers about who he was and if he was just a lone racist monster, or if he represented an attitude that still prevailed in the distant future. I could have done with less of him, or... more. As it was, he was just kind of there as an excuse for plot to happen.

Pros:

Okay. I'm going to try to not make this review really, really, long, but I think I need to talk about the good things about this episode point by point, because I had so many fears going in that they were going to screw this up. I want to list some of the things that this episode did right that I really, really worried it would get wrong, and then we can turn to the other good stuff, too.

The Walking Dead: Warning Signs (9x03)

I'm NOT cool with this, Maggie and Daryl. What the HECK.

Cons:

It seems weird to me that we've looped back around to Maggie and Daryl being mutineers like this. It was a stupid idea in the beginning, then they tempered it, now they've ramped it back up. I just... ugh. I know that Daryl has tried to talk to Rick about it a little bit, but I still feel like Daryl and Maggie would need to be really, really pushed to turn their backs on Rick like this, and I just don't know if I feel it.

These Savior characters are very one-note, and it makes it hard to sympathize with them. Obviously it's not cool to just execute people, no matter what they've done. I'm on Rick and Michonne's side. But it would work better for the story if we had some built up positive investment in some of the Saviors before they died.

Gabriel and Anne/Jadis. Still boring. Still dumb. I'm curious about what Jadis is up to, but I don't feel invested in that romance at ALL.

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend: I Am Ashamed (4x02)

Another great episode. I am a broken record!

Cons:

Okay, so this isn't really like a big complaint or problem or anything, but I found it a bit odd that Rebecca had this cathartic moment in the graveyard at the end, and then after that moment, Patton Oswalt pops out of nowhere and a large group number about "shame" happens. It was a great song, but usually the musical numbers help us to understand a bit about why the characters are feeling the way they're feeling, and in this case, we had all of the emotional work, and then the song felt almost like an afterthought. I may be nitpicking just a little bit.

Pros:

Let's start with Darryl and White Josh's story. Last week I got really freaked out when I didn't see White Josh, so I was glad he made an appearance here. Darryl is scared that he won't be able to give his new daughter, Hebecca, all of the advantages she would have if she had a mother, too. He's especially worried about breast milk, and ends up going online to buy some. This leads him to driving all over town and leaving a reluctant WhiJo in charge of the baby. Josh comes over and the two Joshes dress the baby up in a cute Halloween costume and actually have an okay time. As the episode ends, Darryl's ex-wife, and his older daughter, both reassure Darryl that he's a great father and that the baby will be just fine in his care.

Supernatural: Gods and Monsters (14x02)

This episode was written by Buckleming. So.... eww. But it was directed by Richard Speight Jr. So... yay? Where does this episode fall?

Cons:

I actually thought this episode was really good, and did not fall victim to a lot of the flaws that most Buckleming episodes have. But there were still some Buckleming-ish problems. One of the things I always hate about their writing is that it's too plot-y. So much happens, all very important A-plot stuff, and it gets crammed in without a lot of time to let it breathe. Thankfully, this episode didn't follow that pattern, with the exception of the Sam, Mary, and Bobby story. Oddly, while the Michael and Dean situation is undeniably the show's main conflict at the moment, in the structure of this episode, the quest to find Michael took a backseat to the two other plots with Nick and Jack. We see Sam, Mary, and Bobby looking in to a bunch of dead people that were clearly dropped by Michael. We see them discover that these corpses are vampires, and learn that Michael is experimenting on them.

And then at the end of the episode, it's... Dean. Michael let him go. Obviously we're going to learn more about that going forward, but the fact of the matter is, this episode was all go-go-go for Sam and Mary so we didn't get any follow-up on the emotional beats from last week. Cas and Jack have some good talks about the morality of defeating Michael even if it costs Dean's life. We see the emotional toll of everything that has happened. But with Sam, the character whose inner life should be the bigger focus, we get exposition, exposition, corpses, and then Dean is back. Not very satisfying.

The Good Place: Jeremy Bearimy (3x05)

I'm in love with this show.

Cons:

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Pros:

This show never rests on its laurels. It never stops trying new things, expanding its world, going further. Just a few episodes ago, we set up a premise that our core cast of characters would be participating in a study and learning ethics. Now, in episode five, that entire premise is just out the window and we're on to something new. I was just saying how much I was looking forward to the whole group being united and on the same page, and now that Michael and Janet have told the four humans the truth, they can all go forward together without anymore secrets. And, hopefully, without anymore resets.

Also, straight up, this show is so good at teaching ethics. It makes things simple without being condescending. It shows useful examples, and makes those examples stick in your head. I loved watching Tahani, Jason, and Eleanor all try to do good things in the wake of the horrifying realization that there is a "Hell," and that now, because they know the truth about it, they have no chance of making it to the Good Place. Of course, Eleanor starts to backslide at first, and Chidi really backslides, arguably because he's the one with the best grasp on the ethical implications of this new information.

The Big Bang Theory: The Planetarium Collision (12x05)

This episode is a good example of how The Big Bang Theory can sometimes succeed in its emotional beats, and sometimes fail. We get both examples here.

Cons:

Raj and Howard have a plot thread that has an emotional resolution that was kind of sweet. Sure. But the setup of this plot thread did not earn its ending. Here's what I mean: Raj doesn't want to share the spotlight with Howard in his planetarium presentation, because he's worried that Howard being an astronaut will upstage him. That's the conflict. Raj's insecurity. When Howard talks to him about this, Raj decides to let Howard join him after all, because he doesn't want Howard to think he's insecure. Again, Raj's insecurity is the conflict here. When the presentation starts, both Howard and Raj try to out-compliment each other, each listing the other's accomplishments. Raj is trying to show that he's not jealous of Howard's success, while Howard is trying to be encouraging and not brag about himself too much. The emotional beat that ends the conflict is when Raj tells Howard that he's proud of him, and Howard indicates that Raj has never said that before. The two share a hug. So... again: the conflict is that Raj is insecure. And the resolution is Raj encouraging Howard and saying he's proud of him. Those two things don't match. It's sweet to see them hug, but it doesn't resolve the character beats leading up to it.

Modern Family: Torn Between Two Lovers (10x04)

Yeah, this was mostly an okay episode.

Cons:

Manny's girlfriend is super annoying. And I know that's part of the point, but sometimes when a character is meant to be annoying to other characters, the consequence is that they end up being annoying to the audience as well. The joke is basically that Jay and Gloria both want to be the good guy and make the other one kick her out, so they escalate her annoying improv comedy to get the other to crack first. It didn't go far enough to be truly absurd comedy, and it didn't feel grounded enough for me to get to know this person as a real potential love interest for Manny. So in the end, the whole thing was just kind of... meh.

Pros:

Mitchell and Cam's plot thread was also pretty much a throw-away, but it was decently amusing and even a little bit sweet. They go to a dinner party with one of Mitchell's attorney co-workers. They bring Lily and Cal along with, because they believe that this other gay couple also has two young kids. Turns out, predictably, it's actually two dogs. The dinner party turns to disaster when Cal breaks an expensive souvenir. We see Mitchell and Cam longing for the money, freedom to travel, and cleanliness that this other couple has, but by the end of the episode they know that all of the sacrifices are worth it for their kids. Sweet, simple, a few good laughs, all in all not bad. I especially liked how Cam and Mitchell discussed Mitchell's worrying plan to have Cam bite him on the leg and blame it on the dogs, and how Cam seemed bewildered at himself for just going along with it so quickly.

Doctor Who: The Ghost Monument (11x02)

I'm pretty happy so far!

Cons:

I'm still finding the companions, particularly Yaz, a little bit one-dimensional. It's not a huge distracting problem or anything, but I'm not instantly connected to them the way I remember being with Rose, with Martha, and with Donna. Of course, it's dangerous to try and recapture Russell T. Davies-era Doctor Who, so I'm trying not to use that as my yardstick. Still, hopefully an episode coming up can shine a spotlight on who Yaz is as a person. We learn she has a sister. Maybe we could explore some of her familial relationships a little bit more!

The two characters racing to win prosperity for themselves and their tribes were really interesting, but I found the ending where they tie to be a little unsatisfying. Not the end result - that makes perfect sense to me. But the path to get there. We see them argue with each other throughout the episode, but it seems kind of like good-natured ribbing. But as we learn more of the truth, you get the sense that these two really hate each other. It felt odd that it took almost no convincing to get them to split the prize. In fact, we don't even get to see the convincing - it happens off-screen. There was something a bit uneven with how these two interacted with each other throughout the episode.

The Walking Dead: The Bridge (9x02)

I found this episode to be an improvement over last week's premiere. Let's take a look!

Cons:

There's a subplot where Gabriel and Jadis (or whatever her real name is) begin a relationship. Am I supposed to give a crap about the two of them? Nice try. And speaking of couples I still don't really care about, Carol and Ezekiel had a couple of cute moments, I guess, but overall I'm still not invested in them as a couple.

This show is at its weakest when it starts moralizing. When one character monologues about the meaning of life and how we can all make things better... yadda yadda. This episode has Rick talking to a mysterious, unseen figure, discussing the progress of the various communities. It's meant to be a surprise who he's talking to, but frankly that's a little insulting to the audience's intelligence. It's Negan. Duh. The only other option would be Carl's grave or something, but that's clearly not what they were setting up. Rick talks on and on, and then Negan leans into the light at the end of the episode and basically says that this is all for nothing, that things are going to turn to crap again before long. The dialogue is too campy, and Rick's entire argument is difficult to sympathize with... because Negan's probably right. We're already seeing the cracks in the foundation, and every other time these people have found a measure of peace, something has come along to mess it up. Why should we believe this time will be different?

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend: I Want to Be Here (4x01)

It's back! This show is a life-changing, beautiful, incredible journey and I'm so happy that we get to see the story play out as the creators intended, even though I'm bummed this will be the final season. Let's hop to!

Cons:

The only thing I ever have to complain about with this show is that I want more of some of the side characters. So while everything in this episode was golden, we didn't spend any time with Valencia and her girlfriend, we didn't see White Josh going about his life journey, etc. etc. But that's not really a problem of bad writing or anything. It's just that when I watch this show I'm so enamored with every little moment that we get, that I find myself constantly craving more. Not a bad problem to have!

Pros:

I want to talk about the technical proficiency of this show for a second. The songs are just so excellently produced. "No One Else is Singing My Song" is a song that relies in part on tight vocal harmonies not just to make the song sound pretty, but to carry the punchline to a multi-layered joke. And if these talented vocalists, the sound mixers and editors, etc. didn't do a good job of creating these harmonies, the joke would fall flat. In "What's Your Story?" we see how the use of light can make or break a song, and there's an excellent moment towards the end when Rebecca flinches away from a spotlight and breaks the fourth wall, adding another layer to the title of the song itself - this is a story about someone telling their story, and she's not doing it right.

Supernatural: Stranger in a Strange Land (14x01)

And we're back. Let's just dive right in.

Cons:

This was a perfectly serviceable episode, but it didn't have some of the high energy and epic moments and intense emotion that I'm used to from a Supernatural premiere. It's possible I wasn't in the right head space. I think part of the problem is that this show is really at its best when Sam and Dean are onscreen together, or rather when Jensen and Jared are onscreen together. As a necessary part of the story, we don't get that here.

I have been really forgiving of Samantha Smith's performance as Mary Winchester, but I've got to be brutally honest and say that she gives kind of a flat read, and she's often a bit unconvincing. Sam is so clearly devastated by what's happened to Dean, and Mary is supposed to be, too. It's just... not totally gripping me.

I don't ordinarily comment on the direction and editing, but the fight scene between Sam, Mary, Bobby, Jack, and the random girl whose name I haven't learned on one side, and random demons on the other was... badly edited. The pacing was weird, there was odd zooms ans slow-motion... it looked ridiculous. Bad fight choreography and editing and directing. Or at least one of those things.

The Good Place: The Snowplow (3x04)

Oh no! The group might be splitting up!

Cons:

I have something that I want to complain about that I also acknowledge is probably a good thing. This episode skips through months. We don't get to spend a lot of time with the characters getting to know each other again. The "Brainy Bunch" has jumped straight through the period of getting to know each other, and we're now hanging out with them as a group of fully-formed friends. This makes sense in a show like this, that jumps from one high-concept to another. They don't settle, they don't take their time, they shake things up continuously. And we've already seen these people get to know each other in other iterations, so it makes a certain kind of sense that we don't need to watch it happen again. That said, I feel like I'm missing the "comfort" factor. This show is always brilliant, but it's not gentle, if that makes any sense. I maybe need to spend a little more time watching Tahani and Chidi talk to one another, or Eleanor and Jason making jokes. I need to see them just existing in a space together for a while, so I can understand the appeal of the group dynamic as the characters understand it.

Pros:

But like I said, this choice to zip through a bunch of time very quickly makes perfect sense when you look at the narrative as a whole. We're not going to settle into one pattern, we're going to keep pushing, keep exploring, and that is the number one coolest thing about this show to begin with. I'm excited to see what happens if Michael and Janet really can stop with their interference and let the humans do their thing. Of course, now that they've accidentally seen some magical glowing energy stuff, maybe that plan is completely out of the window.