Agents of SHIELD "Ye Who Enter Here"
I can never argue with splitting the team up into more digestible parts, especially when those digestible parts include all of Patton Oswalt's brother characters. I wish they would let up on Ward's obsession with Skye. I stopped caring about that before it even started.
New Girl "Girl Fight"
I forgot how much I missed Nadia. Having her in the background as Jess and Cece had years of pent up arguments was the little bit of spice I needed.
This is going to be a weird question, but does Tran's granddaughter remind anyone else of Leslie Mann? Obviously, not in looks, but in mannerism and speech.
The Mindy Project "What About Peter?"
I sure hope this isn't the first sign of a breakup. Mindy and Danny have been a stabilizing force on the show. The apartment hijinks were fun though, from Peter's old roommates, to Mindy describing her dream apartment as having a "Strawberry shortcake meets Sadaam's palace vibe".
It's good to see them give Jeremy a little something to do, even if it drive toward that stupid love triangle with him and Peter. I did like Jeremy's British lullaby.
Arrow "The Brave and the Bald"
I didn't catch the Flash episode and it looks like it's less important to see for the plot than to get half of the side comments by the non-leads. I have to say, I didn't realize that The Flash had a Panabaker on it. I'm a little more interested now.
I do have one question about that final scene. Oliver is seriously firing arrows at Barry? I sure hope that means he officially has ceded his claim to being the better of the two, because what's the best case scenario if he does hit Barry?
The Middle "The College Tour"
As always, much like Frankie and Mike, I'm going to ignore what was going on with Brick, since ignoring him has been an angle the show as always enjoyed more than I have.
Mike + emotional beat = gold. I love how they can take something simple like Sue botching a series of college visits* and make my heart swell by having Mike worry that he hasn't been a good father. Neil Flynn is such an unheralded weapon on this show.
Frankie and Axl is more par for the course. Those two don't get along, but they really kind of do. If the whole thing was an excuse to fit a Devin Levin scene in (Axl dedicated the fumble to her), then I'm perfectly fine with that.
*I have to stop getting excited into thinking they'll actually go on location at IU.
Modern Family "Strangers in the Night"
The Dunphys: Sitcom 101. At some point, the depth of the joke has to overcome the tiredness of the joke of the boyfriend that no one believes Alex has. It came close doing that and Phil and Claire's instant worry about the boy when they meet him was funny.
The Tucker-Pritchetts: Apparently all it does take for me to enjoy a season of this show is Mitchell and Cam being on the same side. I wonder if casting Kristen Johnson began with the thought "We need a women who is too large to fit on their old couch" and became obvious from there.
The Pritchetts: "I was just reading off the DVD box." Best closing thought in a while.
Blackish "Colored Commentary"
Dre honest to god can't understand Bo's rules. It's not a power play. He doesn't throw her under the bus to make a point. He just doesn't get it. The 90s version of this would have it be a battle of wits with each side trying to get the upper hand, yet the wife ends up being the mastermind (See: Everybody Loves Raymond). I'm glad that we've evolved the family sitcom past that. This is more an issue of the difficulties of communication than anything.
Girl Meets World "Girl Meets Home for the Holidays"
I was giddy like a school girl to see Shawn (and the Matthews parents) come back. Any person of the age of 20 is watching Girl Meets World for 100% nostalgia reasons and this was the payoff for the investment. I kind of wish I could watch this with a 10 year old (Let me explain!), to see how much of the episode landed. They ran head-on into the Corey/Riley and Shawn/Maya parallels to good effect. I remember hearing that Rider Strong wasn't thrilled about returning to the Boy Meets World universe (perhaps those were only rumors) but he fit right in perfectly. I'm glad we get at least one more week with him.
...Now I really want to watch Boy Meets World again.
Saturday Night Live "James Franco/Nicki Minaj"
As with any episode, this was a mixed bag. The hip hop Christmas and deleting memories sketches were my favorite because I love stuff like that, that is essentially a collection of quick jokes or impressions featuring a lot of the cast. The geriatric Stars Wars a great response to what the teaser trailer left out. I think the Peter Pan sketch will only get funnier once I finally watch the Peter Pan Live on my DVR. Oh, and Grow-a-Guy was delightfully weird. Then there's the welcome return of the former Pornstars (a sketch I really should be more tired of by now than I am). Then there's Weekend Update's righteous Indignation over the Staten Island grand jury ruling. You know, maybe I did really like this episode, come to think of it.
Brooklyn Nine Nine "The Pontiac Bandit Returns"
The first Pontiac Bandit episode was a turning point for me in season one. While I already liked the show, in my mind, that was when it all clicked for me for the first time, so I was excited as soon as I saw the title. To my delight, it was just as good. Craig Robinson is in his sweet spot playing both a super nice guy and someone you really can't trust. He and Peralta get along frustratingly well and they tie is into Diaz's investigation so we get to continue with his infatuation of her.
They continue to find new ways to mine material from Santiago tirelessly seeking Holt's approval. Jeffords punctuates every beat of that too.
I wasn't crazy about Boyle and Gina with the present and parents, but does a C-story really need to blow me away.
Scorpion "Revenge"
A little surprised to see Sylvester survive an explosion like that in such close proximity. Then again, it is CBS.
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