Past Purges
Gotham "Spirit of the Goat"
This episode took care of a few needs in the series so far. Harvey Bullock gets a background. Revealing that he used to be a do-gooder like Gordon can only help down the line as a guide for what pitfalls Gordon should avoid to come out of this city, virtue in tact. Nygma's finally a character. That was nice. His interactions with Ms. Kringle were slight but certainly telling. I'm happy that Cobblepot fully revealed himself, because he hasn't been "in hiding" basically at all and the longer it took for this to fall back on Gordon the less plausible it was.
Scorpion "True Colors"
I was hoping this would be a Rashomon structure, hearing multiple points of view for the same story. That's not what we got though, which, when I think about it, is probably for the best. We don't know any of the characters well enough to have fun with that and it's too early in the show to do anything that experimental. Instead, it's about getting caught up on a story that already happened and getting a scene or two from each character for shading them a little more. They are pushing toward Walter and Paige heavily, which is expected. I love when they put something in an episode where all of the suddenly the characters are supposed to realize that Paige is drop-dead gorgeous. I get why it's done within the show, but c'mon. She's stunning in a waitress outfit. Oh, and I liked the little NCIS: LA crossover with Linda Hunt stopping by. That's how you do it. Don't make it take over the episode but have some fun with it.
Agents of SHIELD "A Fractured House"
It's kind of heartbreaking seeing Simmons being unable to figure out how she should be around Fitz, especially since Triplett has figured out how to. It'll be interesting to see what Ward gets up to on the loose now. I hope he gets to go heel again. His earnest "I won't lie to you" shtick is getting old and is beginning to oversell how much his and Skye's relationship means (or ever meant) to the audience. I'm burying the lead hear. I could watch Adrianna Palicki kick ass all day. I know she's not being added to the cast, but I'd like to watch a version of the show in which she is a regular.
The Middle "Halloween V"
That was everything I could want from The Middle. Frankie and Mike worry about how Brick is doing with his new potential girl-friend-thing. I do like the idea of him taking their advice toward the end. Sue takes another hit from the world when almost no one comes to her Halloween fund-raiser then promptly gets over it when the old man gives her that sliver*. Best of all, they take something slight like Axl getting locked in the library and use it as a chance to reveal his fears about the future to "Lebron". It's a satisfying humanizing scene and one that would feel uncomfortable if any other show tried it.
*By the way, there was something deeply unsettling about Sue breaking down her college education into how many 'slivers' she needs and how to pay for semesters and years of college, we're still talking about hundred or thousands of 'slivers'. Oh debt, you fowl beast.
Arrow "The Magician"
Oops. Missed this one entirely. I'll get around to it soon enough.
Modern Family "Halloween 3: AwesomeLand"
A lot of good throw-away jokes, from Luke in the straight jacket ("I think I fell asleep. I think this is like a Temple Grandin hug."), to "It's like August Osage County up here", or the house of whores. I never stopped finding Cam's inability to find Waldo funny. This was simply a good use of all the characters and an episode dense with jokes. This season has been on a roll.
Black-ish "The Prank King"
Halloween episodes are always fun. You knew where this episode was going with all the trickery and switching things up on one another, but it didn't matter since it was still fun. Frankly, the biggest surprise for me was that Pops didn't come out of nowhere at the end for one last prank on everyone.
Big Bang Theory "The Misinterpretation Agitation"
Billy Bob Thorton killed it! Beginning to end, his weird energy took over the episode and worked perfectly. I didn't even realize he was going to be in the episode. Big Bang tends to user guest stars as well as any show on TV (Bob Newhart and James Earl Jones come to mind immediately). I'm not sure I ever need to see him again, but for an episode, this was great.
A to Z "E is for Ectoplasm"
According to reports, A to Z is dead and will only get as far as "M is for...", so the pressure is really off to fully cover my thoughts of the show. Instead, I want to focus on the best moment of the episode: when Stu scoffs one too many times and Andrew thinks that it's his peanut allergy. That was as perfect a moment as I saw all week. It's unexpected, funny, and more than anything the show has done yet painted a clearer picture of their friendship. Based on the other four episodes, this was probably a fluke, but there's been small clues like this that once it settled in, this show could be very entertaining.
Parenthood "Too Big to Fail"
While I don't want to encourage not seeing characters every week, this week did have some breathing room that really helped it. That and all the stories were simple and small. Hank is trying to understand his daughter (with an assist from Amber talking some sense into her for at least a day). Kristina wants to make sure that Max's new friend isn't taking advantage of their hospitality. Adam and Crosby deal with financial troubles. Drew worries about his future and his major dictating his life. Just a great episode of Parenthood.
Saturday Night Live "Chris Rock/Prince"
Ugh. That was not a great episode. Prince was nice. Chris Rock doing stand-up is good. Taylor Swift Vertigo is funny. Overall, this was flat though. None of the sketches were great. The Anniversary sketch was tone-deaf even without Leslie Jones missing her cue. Bank Robbery went long. The ISIS Shark Tank joke didn't have the balls needed to reach the tipping point from offensive to biting.
Brooklyn Nine Nine "The Mole"
Is an embedded car commercial a requirement for all Fox shows now? Are The Simpsons exempt from it at the very least? It doesn't bother me much. It's more of a curiosity. This season keeps chugging along. Terry's concern with making sure his daughters were getting the right education, "'sup, Rosa' followed by "nevermind", Holt explaining how he knew about Boyle and Gina, and Holt's middle name being Jacob were all highlights. As I've said many a time about Parks & Rec., Community, and 30 Rock, I wish I had more to say, but when it's so good, there's not as much to chew on.
The Walking Dead "Slabtown"
This is about the right time for another solo episode. Beth has been gone for so long that it felt right for it to be about her. In the last season, they did a great job of building her into a real character, so it wasn't even a stretch to have it be just her. Christine Woods and Tyler James Williams are welcome to be around for as long as they want. I'm assuming Noah is the person who Darryl has with him and we'll get to see what happened to Carol soon. Until then, it'll be fun to see how Beth destroys that hospital from within. I nearly thought she got it overran this week. I can't believe that after all this time, it looks like we are heading back to Atlanta. Maybe this journey hasn't taken us so far after all.
Mulaney "Sweet Jane"
Ok, now they're just fucking with me, right? Motif is literally getting obsessed with Friends, there's a jump cut to Elliott Gould, and they don't even acknowledge it. That's too overt to be an accident. When coupled with the Seinfeld quip, I have to say that I appreciate the brazenness of the show essentially predicting the criticism of the show, but I wish this attitude came along with a show I enjoyed more fully. Almost every conversation sounds like the dictation of a stand-up set. It's so unnatural. If I could remember to go ahead and delete this series recording from my DVR then I'd stop watching it now.
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