DVR Purge: 4/7-4/13

 A lot more shows are winding down than I realized. I'm getting way behind on my season thoughts (See: haven't done any yet) but I refuse to get past the week mark for my purge. That's simply too much TV.

 
Past Purges

Archer "Archer Vice: Palace Intrigue: Part 2"
Not gonna lie. With this being a two-parter, I really thought this was the season finale. I suppose there's still a couple more episodes to go. The story is certainly getting more convoluted than it's been in the past.

Agents of SHIELD "Turn, Turn, Turn"
This is a show with some confidence now, the kind of confidence that comes with realizing you can't please everyone. I'm a little shocked how much it coincides with Capt.  America since the movie hadn't been out for a week even. I'm glad they went with revealing more because it's pointless to have a show like this if it is too limited. The episode leaves a lot of lingering questions: Why would they make the show knowing that SHIELD would dissolve before the end of season 1? How will the cast function if not as...well, Agents of SHIELD? Is Ward really bad (I for one would love if the whole season so far was a long con with him exposing himself now)? Most important of all though, was anyone clamouring for Skye and Ward to get together? Anyone? At all?

The Mindy Project "Be Cool/Girl Crush"
Here's the Mindy Project dilemma. It is probably at its best when it can play off all the things Mindy Kaling clearly loves about Romantic Comedies. The problem is, those are 90 minutes movies that don't have a deep well of unique beats, so it's not sustainable as a series. Danny and Mindy dating only seemed to have so many beats in it. They had the episode where they want to be together but her other boyfriend is in the way. They've done Danny trying to be the good friend and help her with the earlier boyfriend while he wishes it could be him. They've done Mindy and Danny keeping it a secret from the office now, which led to the breakup and required scene where Danny looks back to her apartment window in hope/regret/immediate wistfulness. The sextape thing last week was new. I'll give them that. The show isn't ready for a Happily Ever After though so we get the breakup very quickly. I'm not a fan of the decision. Then again, my opinion has long been that The Mindy Project is just that: a project, an experiment. I expect Mindy Kaling's next show to be one of the best on TV. This show is when she got everything out of her system. Tried things, seen what does and doesn't work, and learned how to tinker with things to get them to work. I'm not sure if The Mindy Project will ever be able to become a top tier sitcom, so as much as I do enjoy it, I'd kind of like it to get out of the way so Mindy Kaling can do something great with her talent.

The Americans "Arpanet"
I officially have no idea where Nina stands anymore. Then again, when was the last time I did? She's pretty hardcore for Mother Russia right now but that's motivated by revenge. She did want out. Now she's tied to Vlad, although I'm not sure if that's strategic or genuine. With her, it could be both. Great job with the lie detector test. I didn't really doubt that she'd survive it but the tension was still there.

The Big Bang Theory "The Relationship Diremption"
Structurally, some very good writing this week. Howard and Sheldon have mirrored stories this week that both do interesting things with their characters.
Howard and the toilet incident is a reminder of what he was before he met Bernadette: a hot mess. I honestly assumed it would be a much sleazier story than it ended up being. Sure, it's embarrassing. I'm not sure it's true to the character it was. It certainly allowed for some good poop jokes though.
Sheldon on the other hand, is trying to live down mistakes of his own. His utter lack of success in science leads him to move into unfamiliar territory since string theory is the comfortable field of study he's always known. The single biggest laugh of the night is when he wakes up in bed with the Geology book, funny as both a payoff for an earlier joke and due to Jim Parson's amazing reaction to it. Let's just go ahead and say if Jim Parsons wins an Emmy this September, it will be with this as his submission episode. He was fantastic!
Narratively though, I most appreciated the scene at the end between Sheldon and Howard, comparing stories. After addressing the matter earlier in the season, the writers are having them act like friends. Sheldon didn't hold the power in that conversation. They were both, well, hanging out. That's rather rare until now.

Community "Basic Story"
It's hard to rate an episode that is specifically written to be unremarkable. I'm grading this as an incomplete until I see next week's episode. Some good moments, but incomplete.

Parks & Recreation "Flu Season 2"
Well, they successfully zigged when I expected them to zag. The original Flu Season was wonderful and I was immediately excited by this episode's title...and worried. Rehashing always risks diminishing returns so thankfully, they sidestepped it all. Although clearly more of a 30 Rock joke, I loved all of country-singing Chipp's songs and Craig is growing on me. I'll say that much. I'd still like a character that's more than yelling every line as the punchline, but this added a couple shades to him. I didn't recognize Jeff Tweedy as being from Wilco, but it's comforting to know I can spot a musician doing a guest spot by line delivery alone. The return of Other Ron was delightfully over the top and I feel downright spoiled to have it intersect with drunk-Ben. Of course, I'm burying the lead here: Leslie's Pregnant!!! I must say, that is an effective way to get in the way of taking this new job that I didn't see coming, although sitcom tropes should've made me more ready for it.
Sidenote: NBC is dead to me right now for setting the DVR to cut off the last moment of the episode, when Leslie tells Ben that she is pregnant.

The Crazy Ones "Love Sucks"
Here's what I'm thinking. The writers of the show got a note from the casting department that said "We got Pam Dawber on board. Make it happen." They already had Brad Garrett signed on to do something, so the decided to go for broke and pulled in David Copperfield (who, let's be honest, hasn't been relevant for years and I wonder how many people would even know he's a magician if not for that being the punchline every time her shows up). As a result, we get this episode. Not great, I'm sorry to say. It's saddened me that I'm not consistently enjoying the show because I really do love the cast.

Parenthood "I'm Still Here"
Hard to believe the season is almost over. The stories are getting tied up pretty appropriately. After settling all the business with the house last week, I notice that Zeek and Camille took the week off, which is fine since there were a lot of other moving parts. By way of Crosby, Joel gets a hard reminder that it's harder to leave the Braverman's than you think. At the rate this season is going, I don't assume we'll be seeing Joel moving back into the house by the end of the season. My guess is that the writers want the summer to figure out the best angle for this since many things, such as Penny Meredith hitting on him never worked as well as they intended. Crosby gets his house back. Yeah, there hasn't been much story for him and Jasmine this half of the season. It happens. It's a big cast. Sarah and Hank inch ever closer to being together. As great as Hank's side has been all season, the show hasn't done right by Sarah, in my opinion. She's the supporting character in that story. As someone familiar with just trying to get her to decide if she likes you, I feel for his story. As for Drew on the opposite end of the spectrum, he finally gets over himself and allows himself to have that hot, cool girlfriend who has been throwing herself at him for several episodes. At least that's over, hopefully. Amber gets a token story with Ryan so far, but it does allow her season arc to come full circle (I can't tell if I'm mixing metaphor there or not) and I assume she'll have more to do next week. Finally, the writers milk yet a few more tears out of the cancer arc with Kristina's cancer friend dying. Don't get me wrong, it was a touching story and I like that the show isn't trying to forget that something as major as the cancer story happened only a year ago, but at times, it does feel a little manipulative for a show that has so many different ways to hit you in the gut to keep returning to this specific one.

Hannibal "Yakimono"
Will Graham is kind of a confident guy. Here he is, fresh out of a mental institution after being framed for serial murder, walking into the office of the man who framed him via brainwashing (or wiping), only out of confinement because that same man framed a different man in an even more convincing manner. His plan: to outwit Hannibal Lector. A man has to be very sure of himself to do that. And, you know what, I like his odds.

SNL "Seth Rogen/Some Guy Who Sings"
Like Anna Kendrick's episode last week, I can't identify exactly why, but the episode didn't do it for me. Cochella, Undercover Sharpton, and A Very Smokey 420 Time were simply not good sketches. I like that they brought back Jacob the Bar Mitzvah Boy and made that a Cecily interview. The Blue River Dog food was nice and crazy and even though they are reaching diminishing returns I'm always glad to see another Shallon sketch.

Mad Men "Time Zones"
It's nice to have Mad Men back even if the humbling density of every episode makes it impossible for me to write about an episode enough to do it justice. I'll move back to bullet points for this:
-Poor Peggy. Her glass ceiling is steel reinforced and it seems that she's lost all the men who championed her. Now she's stuck with this guy who looks to be more of a contemporary of Cooper's.
-I love that Don is using Freddy to still make pitches. For how distracted by things he got last year, I'm a little surprised that it only took 2 months for him to break and get someone else to deliver his pitches for him.
-Poor Ken. He is not having a good time.
-You know who is having a good time? Pete. Uncomfortably so. I worry that him being in California is going to get in the way of more Trudy time, which is no good.
-I should go ahead and assume that we've seen the last of Bob Benson.
-I'm surprised to see Megan is still a regular. I fully thought she was getting the Betty treatment. It's probably for the best since there aren't enough episodes to do any other full arcs for Don's romance. Not sure how much I'm interested in her story at this point, but I'm ok with checking in.