I think I'm going to start including this soft of Mission Statement for the purge at the beginning because it helps to remind me why I am spending so much time doing this.
The Walking Dead "Made to Suffer"
-I almost get the feeling that they introduced "Cutty" from The Wire and the rest of his group in order to even the numbers between the prison crew and the Governor's crew.
-I really have no sense of how big this prison is. How can there be this many unexplored areas and new ways in?
-Based on the way they treated it, I'm guessing that in the comics the Governor has an eye patch. I haven't seen this much attention given to a specific injury since Anakin lost his arm in Episode III.
The first half of this season has been way more solid than I expected (especially when compared to the first half of season 2). It's weird though. I' d actually really like to see a wheel-spinning episode. Part of me would like to see a montage of growing crops and clearing out the rest of the jail, so I could get a new sense of the status quo. Oh darn, I have to deal with action, fighting, and treason instead.
Homeland "Broken Hearts"
Simply put, this episode went completely off the rails. I'm supposed to accept that Abu Nazir has enough of a presence to send an assault force into a small town, then a few weeks later, after one bust, it's him alone in a warehouse? Unless there is one hell of a secret plan in the works no part of this settles with me. It also feels like there'd be a much better fallback plan than hacking pacemaker wi-fi. This episode felt so small (as opposed to focused a la "Q&A") in all the wrong ways after last week's episode. I'll accept that this week struck me a more of a through-line than a destination, so the next two episodes could take care of a lot of what seems like a mess right now, but from where I stand having only watched this, I'm on high alert.
How I Met Your Mother "Lobster Crawl"
A funny thing happened this week. I watch some episodes from season 7, which I largely found disappointing. While rewatching the episodes didn't make me do a 180, it did help me remember that, while the show isn't great these days, it is good. Even better, this week's episode wasn't half bad, so I'm going to accentuate the positive. I quite liked this episode. I like it most these days when it feels like they are burning some jokes that they've not had a chance to use yet ("The Magician's Code: Part 1" comes to mind), so all the Robin plotting to get Barney stuff I quite liked. In addition, I found this to be the most humanizing Ted story in some time. The tag at the end too was one of my favorite uses of the flash-forward in a while, both using the timeline for a joke and reminding us what we are building to with Ted.
Ben & Kate "The Trip"
-Pretty good use of Maddie.
-I like that they aren't dropping the BJ and Ben being married story.
-Yay! Brittany Snow. Considering that the returns Tommy being in love with Kate have been diminishing, it's great to see this new direction with him. The fact that it came with a laugh out loud scene with a dog is all the better.
Happy Endings "P & P Romance Factory"
-So many good individual jokes this week. I especially loved Alex in the bike shop.
-Who knew that a piglet could be used for so many laughs? Apparently, the writers did.
-Generally a story like Penny's would bother me, since a human being would've just explained that she needs the helmet because of a concussion. As always, I forgive contrivance for a good enough laugh (See: Any episode of Coupling) and that gave plenty, especially because it fits her character well enough.
New Girl "Bathtub"
-Holy shit, a Winston-driven story! It didn't even feel forced. This is the first time in a while that him and Jess felt like friends, not just two people in a group of friends (which is sort of how I imagine his relationship with Schmidt). I liked the meth voice and a hated the robbery farce, so we'll call that a draw. However, can anybody tell me how a roof strong enough to, you know, how people, I assume safely, can get a hole so easily? I get the tub was full of water, but it's not like it had more than a foot to gain momentum when the legs broke.
-Olivia Munn alert! I've always liked her, so I say this has potential. My one concern is that I've not seen a lot of range out of her, so I hope they keep this character as close to her personality as possible if this arc is going to last a while.
Go On "The World Ain't Over 'til It's Over"
-One can look at the Jimmy V. setup one of two ways. It's either a contrivance that sets up predictable beats to play out over the next 20 minutes or it's a clever way to use Ryan's sports analogies to hit a broader truth that plays out. I choose to see it as the latter but admit I have nothing to rebuke someone calling it the former. I admire that they are still trying to go through just about every pairing imaginable of the cumbersome cast and resisting the urge to just make cliques and have Ryan move between them. They are all one big, messed up group of friends.
The Mindy Project "Two to One"
-I don't know the last time I saw a show that is so obviously figuring it's cast out. I don't say that as a complaint. Normally the cast is set for a while before they start recalibrating. I'm sort of glad they are not wasting any time when they see things are not working how they want.
-While I realize that can't get the Duplass brothers too often since they are busy doing their own thing, I hope the midwives will come back from time to time.
-It's nice seeing all three of the leads (or lead and two most prominent supporting actors) all sharing a few scenes. Maybe my memory is failing me, but I don't recall many scenes with just them. It was nice and summed up their usefulness to one another (more or less).
-God help me, I really like Morgan. He is way too much, but there's some much earnestness, I can't help but eat it up.
Don't Trust the Bitch in Apt. 23 "Whatever It Takes..."
Oh, they finally burned one of the episodes from last season. I can see why they waited. Unless I see something to change my mind, I think I'm dropping this when the winter/spring semester starts up. I got virtually no joy from this, as much as I like "the Beek" in this and want to like Chloe and June.
The Middle "Christmas Help"
-The matter-of-factness of their financial situation is always a nice change of pace no matter if they oversell it some.
-I am always so impressed by all the running gags this show has. How many shows would be this vigilant about something as small as the comforter in the over?
-Axl's bachelor pad was a nice touch. Each beat was exactly what I expected, but if I can enjoy listening to a song I've heard before, then I can certainly like a joke I've heard before, right?
Suburgatory "Krampus"
I'm a sucker for anything that uses Christmas as a cheap ploy to bring people together, so I feel warm and fuzzy about this episode. Not for a second will I pretend that anything with Ryan Shay was something other than a completely over-the-top mess. Now that I've said that, they refused to take any part of the Ryan Shay mess seriously and even milked a few jokes out of it, and dammit, I was moved when he said "she used tongue." Call me a hopeless romantic, I guess. Alex, so far, has been used very judiciously and I've like both times she's shown up.Unrelated to any of that though, is Dalia's music video...Why was that so funny? When did I start to like Dalia? Why were they dancing on a plane? I have so many questions and I don't want to know the answer to any of them.
Nashville "Where He Leads Me"
I can look at this show as it goes into hiatus in one of three ways:
1) This is act one. We have seen how all the characters are by themselves. We know what makes them tick, what their motivations are, where they came from, and who they naturally associate with. From here, they are all thrown together and we get to see what happens when you mix this many volatile chemicals together. I'm imagining, for the end of the season closing shot Rayna and Juliette singing a duet written by Gunner and Scarlett with Deacon playing lead guitar at a concert with Avery as the opening act, part of a mayoral victory celebration for Coleman as Teddy and Lamar watch on the TV is a smoke-filled back room, stewing and plotting.
2) They continue thinking that the fun of the show is telling all this separate stories, only occasionally crossing paths, as a sort of larger universe assuming people will naturally assume they are painting this into a rich tapestry and saying "this is Nashville".
3) About every three episodes, they have one of the three main storylines (Rayna, Juliette, Scarlett) intersect, just to give us hope that something will finally happen, then spend all the episodes in between distancing them from each other as much as possible...and then throw in some more stuff about an astoundingly off-season mayoral race.
(Hint: One option is what will make me not regret hanging on this long, one will make me delete my series recording on my DVR, and one will keep me watching it and hating every second that I continue watching it. Any guesses about which is which?)
Past Purges:
11/29-11/30
11/25-11/28
11/21-11/24 (Dexter)
11/17-11/20
11/11-11/16
11/4-11/10
10/28-11/3
10/20-10/27
10/13-10/19
10/6-10/12
9/29-10/4
9/22-9/28
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