Once Upon a Time
Thanks, Canadian television, for cutting off the ending. It's not like I needed to see any more after Emma told Henry she needed to ask him something very important. It's a good thing we have internet; for anyone else who missed it, she asked him if he wanted to get away from Regina and live with her, he of course said yes, and she decided they would leave Storybrooke. Anyway, seeing this episode puts last week's into an interesting perspective, because it was sort of the same father/son story with the same outcome, but with the roles reversed. But I like the idea of a humanized Pinocchio slowly turning back into the puppet. I can take or leave some of the twists they've put on the fairy tales, but I like that one. Plus Miss Blanchard's speech to Regina was awesome.
Glee
It only proved what a pale and unnecessary imitation Coach Roz is when her character entered the episode spouting a whole string of unfunny insults, and all Sue Sylvester had to do at the top of the very next scene was call her "Black Sue" and I was laughing. It's not just Roz's lame jokes; Jane Lynch has way better comedic delivery than anyone else in the cast. I think they stunted themselves with the NYADA stuff, because while having Rachel and Kurt do nothing but talk about NYADA all season to show how important it is to them, it also made me sick of hearing about NYADA, and so I cared even less than usual when Rachel flubbed her big audition. She and Kurt have been a little ignorant about it anyway; there's more than one way to make a showbiz career. Not getting into some prestigious arts school doesn't mean your entire future is ruined, but apparently those two felt there was only one path and made no backup plans. Mr. Schue would have done better to prepare them for that rather than force the dud students to have goals. And then there was the whole domestic abuse thing. Apart from not handling issues seriously enough because Glee likes to cram them into an episode in small doses and then never mention them again (much like they do with some of the characters), the presentation of it didn't have me taking sides on the issue. I mean wife-beating is never okay, but giving that storyline to the manliest woman on the show and then downplaying it by telling us the reason was something small and the dude was drunk when he hit her, it took the gravity out of it. If he only hits her when he's drunk, the solution is for him to never drink again. If he can make that decision and actually stick with it, then I don't think it would be all that unfortunate for Bieste to go back to him; granted it's a big "if", but under those optimum circumstances I wouldn't consider it a step back for feminism. And anyway, Bieste is literally as strong as Cooter is, if not stronger, and I'm not saying that makes it okay to hit her, but it does make her less of a sympathetic victim, and probably less relatable to domestic abuse victims because not a lot of women are built like she is. I get that the message was that it can happen to anyone no matter how unlikely it seems, but what's the point of that message? Fear-mongering? Bieste may be an emotionally vulnerable person, but physically she is a tank and should be able to handle herself. That's why this storyline is not helpful to the women who can't defend themselves. It would have worked a lot better if they'd done this storyline in season one, with Ken Tanaka hitting Miss Pillsbury over his jealousy of her and Mr. Schue, who then would have cared a little more and brought the issue to the attention of all the students, not just the females, and thus it would have taken up more of the episode and gotten the air time it deserved. This crap writes itself, Glee, where were you back there?
New Girl
It was cool to see Paul back, because it went well with the Nick/Caroline hookup. Although it also seemed to push Jess closer to Nick, which I'm still not on board with. Some good jokes about Winston's different earrings and the unusual things that give Schmidt boners (Asian Jess is an understandable one, though). Bonus points to Jess for the Battlestar Galactica reference, and to the writers for remembering Coach with a little meta shout-out to Happy Endings.
Survivor: One World
Alicia thinks she's the most powerful player in the game? What? Kim has been controlling things since Colton left, and has an idol. You're dumb, Alicia. Kat's relationship with her cousin is disturbing, but her ridiculously low intelligence and misuse of the word "touche" will make for an amusing highlight reel at the reunion.
Community
I was struck by how many jokes they packed into the first few minutes of this episode. I don't think Community's jokes per minute ratio is usually as high as that, and it was fun to see. Was not expecting group expulsion to happen in the course of the series, although it may be a good excuse to prolong Community's time at Greendale if they get back in and have to repeat a year (and if the show is able to avoid cancellation). I thought it was funny how nobody really cared about Star-Burns' death: Jeff mourned more for his summer than for the deceased, Pierce thought the comb Star-Burns stole from him might be inside his urn, Britta kept trying to put her Psych major to use, Shirley just wanted to sing "Ava Maria" at the funeral, etc. Not that it's surprising, because they didn't care about him when he was alive, either. The reference to "Remedial Chaos Theory" was very welcome because that episode is already a classic, and the Star-Burns tribute video was hilarious. He probably has done all of those things...during acid trips.
30 Rock
On principle, I'm disappointed that 30 Rock re-did two of their concept episodes from last season (the live episode and the "Queen of Jordan" reality show - especially when laughtracks and reality shows are two of my least favourite forms of television), but on the other hand they managed to work because this season's live episode was funnier, and this season's "Queen of Jordan" still had more reality show tropes to make fun of. Like Community's Law & Order episode, you can still get the jokes just by having a general sense of a very cookie-cutter genre, so I enjoyed them pulling out the sappy music when someone cried; referencing an unseen character and then explaining her lack of screentime by having her describe herself as someone who "pays her mortgage on time and handles conflict appropriately"; insulting audience memory by showing black & white flashbacks to something that happened only a few minutes ago; and exaggerating conflict wherever possible, like Kenneth vs. the cord he tripped on. I think the story with Jack and his mother in-law's web of lies was a little dry, though, and I didn't like that it led to a Liz/Jack kiss. Even if fake, it was too weird given the nature of their relationship and how unattracted to each other they are, and knowing that Tina Fey is opposed to those two ever hooking up. Even Jack's nano-second kiss with D'Fwon was less weird.
The Office
While I didn't mind this episode, I didn't really like that they're retracing their steps in having Andy do something similar to the Michael Scott Paper Company. They already gave him Michael's job and transformed his personality somewhat to be more Michael-like, now they're going to start giving him Michael's old plotlines, too? I know it's not exactly the same, but it's close enough that they shouldn't have bothered to do it at all. And, again, the Nellie scenes just felt like the writers trying to backtrack and say "Wait, wait, you should like her!", and while I found her less annoying this week, she's still not sympathetic. But I did really like Jim and Dwight teaming up, because it's a rare thing and it's always fun when it happens. Actually, Dwight teaming up with anyone tends to be interesting since he is more of a lone wolf who considers himself superior to everyone.
Parks and Recreation
I never get tired of Burt Macklin. Andy's nicknames for everyone, and his treating the pie-throwing mystery like a puzzle when there wasn't really anything to piece together (and somehow solving it anyway) were awesome. Also got a good laugh at the dancers coming out when Leslie learns of Nick Newport Sr.'s death, largely because I still find that "Get on Your Feet" song from earlier in the season to be really funny.
Awake
It was obvious that Hannah would turn out to have been right about Rex's girlfriend, but what this episode nicely set up was a reason for Mike not to move, resulting in the dramatic irony of him not knowing he's just endangered himself. But I hope the conspiracy against him is more than just that his presence prevents some dudes from selling drugs. That would be an inadequate reason for trying to kill his family. P.S. Forgot to mention last week the joy of having a guest appearance by "Dr. Marvin Candle".
Fringe
Nice, another Lost castmember! As cool as that episode in the future was, the problem with peeking into the future is that it sometimes ruins surprises when you go back to the past, like the reveal of Bell in this episode, Peter and Olivia contemplating a child, and Astrid getting shot (which actually was a little shocking, but we know she's not going to die because we saw her in the amber years later). I'm wondering if it might have worked better to put that future episode after this one, and then we'd get that retroactive foreshadowing to set up the stakes for next week's season finale. This Olivia's powers are way cooler than previous Olivia's. However, she has apparently never seen Ghostbusters. For shame!
Hero of the Week: Andy as Burt Macklin from Parks and Recreation, for solving the case, even if pie security failed.
Douchebag of the Week: Coach Roz from Glee. Possibly the worst character on the show, and that's saying a LOT.
Thanks, Canadian television, for cutting off the ending. It's not like I needed to see any more after Emma told Henry she needed to ask him something very important. It's a good thing we have internet; for anyone else who missed it, she asked him if he wanted to get away from Regina and live with her, he of course said yes, and she decided they would leave Storybrooke. Anyway, seeing this episode puts last week's into an interesting perspective, because it was sort of the same father/son story with the same outcome, but with the roles reversed. But I like the idea of a humanized Pinocchio slowly turning back into the puppet. I can take or leave some of the twists they've put on the fairy tales, but I like that one. Plus Miss Blanchard's speech to Regina was awesome.
Glee
It only proved what a pale and unnecessary imitation Coach Roz is when her character entered the episode spouting a whole string of unfunny insults, and all Sue Sylvester had to do at the top of the very next scene was call her "Black Sue" and I was laughing. It's not just Roz's lame jokes; Jane Lynch has way better comedic delivery than anyone else in the cast. I think they stunted themselves with the NYADA stuff, because while having Rachel and Kurt do nothing but talk about NYADA all season to show how important it is to them, it also made me sick of hearing about NYADA, and so I cared even less than usual when Rachel flubbed her big audition. She and Kurt have been a little ignorant about it anyway; there's more than one way to make a showbiz career. Not getting into some prestigious arts school doesn't mean your entire future is ruined, but apparently those two felt there was only one path and made no backup plans. Mr. Schue would have done better to prepare them for that rather than force the dud students to have goals. And then there was the whole domestic abuse thing. Apart from not handling issues seriously enough because Glee likes to cram them into an episode in small doses and then never mention them again (much like they do with some of the characters), the presentation of it didn't have me taking sides on the issue. I mean wife-beating is never okay, but giving that storyline to the manliest woman on the show and then downplaying it by telling us the reason was something small and the dude was drunk when he hit her, it took the gravity out of it. If he only hits her when he's drunk, the solution is for him to never drink again. If he can make that decision and actually stick with it, then I don't think it would be all that unfortunate for Bieste to go back to him; granted it's a big "if", but under those optimum circumstances I wouldn't consider it a step back for feminism. And anyway, Bieste is literally as strong as Cooter is, if not stronger, and I'm not saying that makes it okay to hit her, but it does make her less of a sympathetic victim, and probably less relatable to domestic abuse victims because not a lot of women are built like she is. I get that the message was that it can happen to anyone no matter how unlikely it seems, but what's the point of that message? Fear-mongering? Bieste may be an emotionally vulnerable person, but physically she is a tank and should be able to handle herself. That's why this storyline is not helpful to the women who can't defend themselves. It would have worked a lot better if they'd done this storyline in season one, with Ken Tanaka hitting Miss Pillsbury over his jealousy of her and Mr. Schue, who then would have cared a little more and brought the issue to the attention of all the students, not just the females, and thus it would have taken up more of the episode and gotten the air time it deserved. This crap writes itself, Glee, where were you back there?
New Girl
It was cool to see Paul back, because it went well with the Nick/Caroline hookup. Although it also seemed to push Jess closer to Nick, which I'm still not on board with. Some good jokes about Winston's different earrings and the unusual things that give Schmidt boners (Asian Jess is an understandable one, though). Bonus points to Jess for the Battlestar Galactica reference, and to the writers for remembering Coach with a little meta shout-out to Happy Endings.
Survivor: One World
Alicia thinks she's the most powerful player in the game? What? Kim has been controlling things since Colton left, and has an idol. You're dumb, Alicia. Kat's relationship with her cousin is disturbing, but her ridiculously low intelligence and misuse of the word "touche" will make for an amusing highlight reel at the reunion.
Community
I was struck by how many jokes they packed into the first few minutes of this episode. I don't think Community's jokes per minute ratio is usually as high as that, and it was fun to see. Was not expecting group expulsion to happen in the course of the series, although it may be a good excuse to prolong Community's time at Greendale if they get back in and have to repeat a year (and if the show is able to avoid cancellation). I thought it was funny how nobody really cared about Star-Burns' death: Jeff mourned more for his summer than for the deceased, Pierce thought the comb Star-Burns stole from him might be inside his urn, Britta kept trying to put her Psych major to use, Shirley just wanted to sing "Ava Maria" at the funeral, etc. Not that it's surprising, because they didn't care about him when he was alive, either. The reference to "Remedial Chaos Theory" was very welcome because that episode is already a classic, and the Star-Burns tribute video was hilarious. He probably has done all of those things...during acid trips.
30 Rock
On principle, I'm disappointed that 30 Rock re-did two of their concept episodes from last season (the live episode and the "Queen of Jordan" reality show - especially when laughtracks and reality shows are two of my least favourite forms of television), but on the other hand they managed to work because this season's live episode was funnier, and this season's "Queen of Jordan" still had more reality show tropes to make fun of. Like Community's Law & Order episode, you can still get the jokes just by having a general sense of a very cookie-cutter genre, so I enjoyed them pulling out the sappy music when someone cried; referencing an unseen character and then explaining her lack of screentime by having her describe herself as someone who "pays her mortgage on time and handles conflict appropriately"; insulting audience memory by showing black & white flashbacks to something that happened only a few minutes ago; and exaggerating conflict wherever possible, like Kenneth vs. the cord he tripped on. I think the story with Jack and his mother in-law's web of lies was a little dry, though, and I didn't like that it led to a Liz/Jack kiss. Even if fake, it was too weird given the nature of their relationship and how unattracted to each other they are, and knowing that Tina Fey is opposed to those two ever hooking up. Even Jack's nano-second kiss with D'Fwon was less weird.
The Office
While I didn't mind this episode, I didn't really like that they're retracing their steps in having Andy do something similar to the Michael Scott Paper Company. They already gave him Michael's job and transformed his personality somewhat to be more Michael-like, now they're going to start giving him Michael's old plotlines, too? I know it's not exactly the same, but it's close enough that they shouldn't have bothered to do it at all. And, again, the Nellie scenes just felt like the writers trying to backtrack and say "Wait, wait, you should like her!", and while I found her less annoying this week, she's still not sympathetic. But I did really like Jim and Dwight teaming up, because it's a rare thing and it's always fun when it happens. Actually, Dwight teaming up with anyone tends to be interesting since he is more of a lone wolf who considers himself superior to everyone.
Parks and Recreation
I never get tired of Burt Macklin. Andy's nicknames for everyone, and his treating the pie-throwing mystery like a puzzle when there wasn't really anything to piece together (and somehow solving it anyway) were awesome. Also got a good laugh at the dancers coming out when Leslie learns of Nick Newport Sr.'s death, largely because I still find that "Get on Your Feet" song from earlier in the season to be really funny.
Awake
It was obvious that Hannah would turn out to have been right about Rex's girlfriend, but what this episode nicely set up was a reason for Mike not to move, resulting in the dramatic irony of him not knowing he's just endangered himself. But I hope the conspiracy against him is more than just that his presence prevents some dudes from selling drugs. That would be an inadequate reason for trying to kill his family. P.S. Forgot to mention last week the joy of having a guest appearance by "Dr. Marvin Candle".
Fringe
Nice, another Lost castmember! As cool as that episode in the future was, the problem with peeking into the future is that it sometimes ruins surprises when you go back to the past, like the reveal of Bell in this episode, Peter and Olivia contemplating a child, and Astrid getting shot (which actually was a little shocking, but we know she's not going to die because we saw her in the amber years later). I'm wondering if it might have worked better to put that future episode after this one, and then we'd get that retroactive foreshadowing to set up the stakes for next week's season finale. This Olivia's powers are way cooler than previous Olivia's. However, she has apparently never seen Ghostbusters. For shame!
Hero of the Week: Andy as Burt Macklin from Parks and Recreation, for solving the case, even if pie security failed.
Douchebag of the Week: Coach Roz from Glee. Possibly the worst character on the show, and that's saying a LOT.
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