Past Purges
The Middle "Orlando"
This is how a Heck vacation to Orlando would go. At first, I was disappointed that the whole episode wouldn't be in Disney. Then, I realized that would deprive me of an episode with some of my favorite things in the series, such as the oft mentioned blue bag, the death napkin, and a delightful car discussion that quickly morphs into something out of hand. I'll ignore that business in North Carolina and leave it up to the writers to make it matter next season. It was perfect, PERFECT for the tickets to be for Disney Land instead. I can't think of anything that sums up the Hecks' collective experience over the past five years. Not even getting to ride anything the first day, also brilliant. Mike's reason to want to go to Epcot was sweet. Brick spending hours selecting a hat and continually losing track of it couldn't fit him more. I giggled all the way through them discovering the wonders of their luxury suite (anyone else half expecting it to be the room in Cinderella's Castle?). This is the kind of episode that Modern Family has relied on to keep things fresh for years but The Middle has held back from doing and it was well worth the wait.
Modern Family "Wedding Part 2"
Last week was funny but very busy setting up stories for this week and the conclusion predictably fell short of tying them all up effectively, or at least entertainingly. If you've been keeping up, I haven't been crazy about the stuff going on between Jay and Mitchell, partly because you know it's going to get neatly solved in this episode and it very predictably did. I've heard a lot of people found Jay walking Mitchell up the aisle sweet. I was too irritated by the mechanisms at work to find much to appreciate. The wedding location moving was a running gag without a punchline and felt more like a plot mechanism than anything. Phil got a great moment with Claire when delivering the vows...that's about the only genuine moment in the episode. I particularly found the Manny/Luke "marriage" to be a poor choice considering the arc of the season involved the legitimacy of Cam and Mitchel's marriage and that undercut it. That does remind me, Cam and Mitchel got along the whole episode and functioned like a good couple. That's two episodes in a row. Could the streak continue into next season? I doubt it. I was originally indifferent about the episode, but then a friend got me thinking about it a little more. This was a season finale and an "event episode". It should've been so much better.
The Americans "Echo"
Phenomenal season. I'm laughing at my assumption that not much would happen in the finale and that a lot of loose ends would still be around. Rather effectively, they resolved a lot of the stories in impressive fashion. Larrick's gone but not before revealing that he was out to turn himself, Phillip, and Elizabeth in, not kill them. Jared is already working for the Russians and it turns out he killed his family. WHAT?! I didn't not see that coming. Marth has a gun now to go along with everything else we learned from last week. Stan's still a company man and leaves Nina to fend for herself. That fits his character but still sucked to see because I like Nina. Hopefully they'll find a way to continue to use her without hitting the reset button on the whole story and giving her a magic way out. This second generation program has potential to create a major rift in Phillip and Elizabeth now that she's leaning back into "true believer" mode. Finale's of great shows have been deflating me some lately (Breaking Bad, True Detective) so it's nice to see a show having a great season end on a high note like this too.
Hannibal "Mizumono"
There are times when watching this show when I simply don't feel smart enough to be watching it. The latter half of this season and the finale in particular were like that. I'm not sure I fully understood what was going on, but boy was it pretty to watch. I've gone this entire season assuming Will was fully on the side against Hannibal but there were times at the beginning of the episode where I began to wonder. Why was he coaching both sides and how did they know that there would be a fight. And how was Abigail still alive? And can we assume she is dead this time? And who else is dead? And how long has Gillian Anderson's character been on Hannibal's side? And who is going to take care of Will's dogs now that his entire support system is, at best, in the ICU? I fully understand why this show can't pull in better ratings. It is an isolating show that challenges its audience. I've taken to just letting it wash over me rather than try to fully understand what I'm watching. It's a good thing it is getting a third season, because things are too open-ended right now. The number of questions I have may actually lead me to reading some of the Thomas Harris novels just for some context, even if the show keeps changing things up (which is fine). Regardless, a wonderfully odd season.
Mad Men "Waterloo"
I'm a little divided about this episode. On one hand, how many more times is the company going to be bought out, escape buyout, or combine with another firm? Perhaps it more accurately reflects how those places work but it's getting stale at this point. On the other hand, everything else was as perfect as the show gets.
Peggy...wow. She Don Drapered the crap out of that pitch. I laughed when one of the Burger Chef guys was brought to tears. It was so great that I worry if anything left in the final 7 episodes can match that for her.
I'm going to be Bert Cooper. He got a find send-off though. At first, I was bothered by the song-and-dance but that quickly changed. I don't know why it was fitting. It just was.
One of John Slattery's strongest episodes in a 7 episode run surprisingly full of them. He and Bert was seemingly always at odds but he really did look up to Bert and it's a big loss for him. When he calls Don to let him know...that was killer.
The entire scene at the end with the partners discussion the sale was pitch perfect. Roger's delight at excluding Harry. Pete and Joan counting the amount of money they're set to make. Don summing up everything he's learned over the past couple seasons to convince Teddy. Even Cutler's reasoning of being on board because "It's a lot of money".
We got more Sally and it didn't mean we got more Betty than we needed. That's a balance I like.
It looks like we are finally seeing the end of Don and Megan. Let's be honest, this was inevitable and she mostly got in the way this year. I will be sad if we don't see more of Jessica Pare though.
It's absurd that were are all ready out of Mad Men episodes for the year. This [half] season started off a little sluggish. It made up for that with two very good episodes at the end that leave me excited for how they close it out next year.
Louie "Elevator Parts 4 & 5"
This is only going to end rough, isn't it? The end of the second episode with Amia leaving isn't encouraging although it's hard to tell considering, you know, she speaks a completely different language. I still spend far too much of their time together trying to figure out how they spend so much time together unable to converse traditionally. I'm assuming that the hockey game they went to was with the tickets from "the fat lady" a couple weeks back which is funny in a sad way. This week was less focused on the arching narrative though and opted for a couple of side stories. The first aside is a flashback, presumably to the night that Lily was conceived, which shows how doomed that marriage was. The second aside is a triumphant story by Todd Berry Barry about a random day in the life of a lonely, single man. All of this matches up with the feelings of loneliness that Louie has that really seem to be the focus on this Elevator story. Very curious to see where this is going in the final act next week.
Fargo "Who Shaves the Barber?"
I want to punch Lester in the fucking face. Damn he played the cops well. Kind of like Malvo's frame-job last week, I think it came together a little too perfectly. Once it did though, I was all about hating his face. No offense to his wife, but who would cheating on Clueless the TV series' Rachel Blanchard with her? Lester is getting very confident lying his way into revenge sex with Hess' widow. As much as I hate him now, a little part of me wanted to fist bump him for living it up. Kate Walsh, again is excellent in the smallest of roles.
I don't know which pleased me more, that Molly was not only fine, but barely scathed or that Gus immediately admitted it was him. In both cases, they established themselves even more as the heroes of this series.
Malvo's rampage was a thing of beauty, following the less is more approach in spectacular fashion. That is coincided with the introduction of Key and Peele as hapless FBI agents made it all the better.
And I'm so happy they explained the fish tornado. As I asked last week though: that really happens?
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