Past Purges
The Bridge "Old Friends"
Well, it's official, unless the last three episodes of this season shift into overdrive, I will not be continuing past this season. The initial promise of a mysterious killer, playing games with police as part of some social commentary scheme has turned into a big bad who is too good at everything very inconsistent. They don't even bother to explain how Hastings is able to find, wreck, and kidnap Gus while himself remaining unscathed. I have no idea why he pretended to do this all for political reasons for a long time. I wish the performances and setting were enough to keep me going, but I've had my fill on revenge stories and master plans.
Burn Notice "Reckoning"
I wanted this finale to mean a lot more to me than it did. It's tough for a USA show to pull off a good ending since they work best as self-contained unit (at least, shows from the old model which Burn Notice is, despite its efforts otherwise). They handled it as best they could though, with a final hour of callbacks, both funny ("You know spies, a bunch of bitchy little girls.") to the hokey ("My name is Michael Westen. I used to be a spy"). We get one great emotional moment with Madeline (although it was a far cry from the one in the Monk finale (Jeffrey Donovan is no Tony Shalhoub). All the storylines are wrapped up very neatly. I don't think it's a secret though that I've not been a huge fan of this season. It tried too hard to be a tougher show. It worked so hard against its DNA that I barely felt like I was watching the same show. Look no further than the body count this season. Early on, Michael did everything he could to avoid hurting someone. This season, he was downing them like Jack Bauer. I'm not opposed to violence in a show. It just doesn't work for Burn Notice at these levels. Oh well. This was always an enjoyable show, even when it was forgettable. It tried doing things which USA shows hadn't before and succeeded it balancing the episodic and serial elements. As is the case with the best USA shows, the cast gelled so naturally and could save an episode with a well placed yogurt joke. Let's be honest, where else will a find a show with such an infinite supply of C4?
Breaking Bad "Ozymandias"
Oh, so that's how they did it. Suddenly, two hours seems like a wealth of time to meet Mr. Lambert and see Carol again.
For a moment, I was about to call bullshit that Hank was still alive, but it quickly became clear that the show just wanted to give him a more noble end. Quickly, I switched to calling Walt a moron for revealing the location of the money. In his final moments, Hank still manages to make Walt look like a small child and that is impressive. I realize that Hank is equal parts stubborn and moral which is his fatal flaw. Walt telling Jesse about Jane was cold-blooded. Aaron Paul played everything excellently despite very little to do (no non-begging dialogue for him this week if I recall correctly). Walt has to know they'd keep him around for the cooking. Although, I do think at the time that he is so overtaken with emotion and blames Jesse so entirely for this that it's hard to care.
RJ Mitte played Walt Jr. (I'm guessing he'll be going by Flynn permanently now) learning the truth as well as I could've expected. That scene and of course, back at the house, are devastating. Heisenberg could've handled all this, but this episode continually reminds us that Walter White is just a man. He has done and continues to do horrible things but he is not completely a monster. As hard as it is to watch, you can even understand why he steals baby Holly. He is so desperate to keep his family, it is the only thing he can think to do. Maybe she won't hate him. He quickly realizes what he has to do and watching him as he makes that phone call to Skylar is heartbreaking. Sure, he got himself into all this. The opening this weeks reminds us that it began with humble origins. He did do this for his family at first, in at least equal proportion to doing it for himself. Now, he has no family and $11 million to try to rewrite the end of his story. Is there really only two episodes left? That's downright unfair.
Dads "Pilot"
I think I'll give this one more week because I like Seth Green, Martin Mull, and Brenda Song. I can see why virtually every critic hates this show. The comedy is as broad as possible (see: The dads not paying the check) and I think the live studio audience decision is a major distraction. The kind of inappropriate comedy they are going for is probably best used as throwaway lines, not mugged at the camera moments. Maybe that's just me. So much of this felt forced and I have too many other things to watch to follow this on the off chance that it improves.
Brooklyn Nine Nine "Pilot"
I see a ton of potential in this show. The number of actors in this that I've seen before but never enough of (Terry Crews, Stephanie Peretti, Joe Lo Truglio) is enough to make me pull for it. Andy Samberg will need some Leslie Knope fine-tuning but he's not a lost cause. Andre Braugher is going to be the biggest risk/reward character. If they fumble him up, this could be rough, but if they figure out how to maximize his effectiveness, that could really elevate the show. This episode had perhaps the most blatant exposition scene of any pilot I've ever seen and that's not a knock. I rather enjoyed that. I want to see what this will be like from week to week. As is, I'll label this as my first "giving it a full season, regardless" new show of the season.
New Girl "All In"
Well, that wasn't the best way to start the season. It could be much worse, but New Girl is not a show that I'm used to talking about in those terms. It seems like the writers aren't sure what Jess and Nick dating is going to look like so they are stalling for time. That's understandable. A little annoying though on the same week that Schmidt starts the oldest farce in the book (trying to date two women). Winston working on a puzzle is a weird meta-commentary on the fact that the writers still have no idea what to do with him. Lamorne Morrie still plays it like a champ though. Thankfully, this show always has enough jokes in it to let me enjoy it despite even the worst of miscalculations, so I'm just happy to have it back.
Mindy Project "All My Problems Solved Forever..."
I like how the opening basically says "New viewers, don't be scared. We can catch you up." Part of me would like to see this show continue being an amorphous blob with a constant rotation of guest stars, character arcs, and settings since I honestly don't know what to expect each week. A little consistency would be nice though to even things out and allow some casual viewers to keep up. I've said it before and I'll say it again, I love Mindy Kaling's comedic voice and she can certainly write for herself very well, so the more one-liners she gives herself (My favorite this week has to be her response to being Tom Hardy's sex slave) the better as far as I'm concerned.
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