Last Week in TV - Week of March 23 - Episode Awards and Reviews

With the close of last week, 2 more of my weekly shows ended their seasons. It's about that time I guess. Hellatus will be on us in full-force soon. Luckily TV is starting to embrace a more open schedule so new ones keep cropping up as well. This week that was Surviving Jack, an episode that made me laugh several times but I'm not sure why. It gets a full 3 episodes from me to figure it out. Also this week I looked at 2 nominated shows, mostly because one of them was Arrow. I debated awhile about whether to consider it already reviewed since it was a weekly show but it was chosen 2x by the random number generator so I took it as a sign that I should. The other nominated show was Psych, which had me rolling with laughter - a truly funny episode. If you would like to nominate a show for me to watch, please fill in the 2 question form at the end. It takes very little time. I promise. Until next week, happy viewing!



Overall Awards:

Best Season - Teen Wolf - 3B

I may be jumping the gun here but no other TV show's season, except Sleepy Hollow, has come close to the excitement and intensity of Teen Wolf. In its third season, it improved dramatically in every aspect of TV. Well maybe not CGI, but I blame the budget for that. Teen Wolf dominated this viewing season with a fast-moving, thoroughly engrossing storyline involving my favorite character. Best yet it allowed all characters to shine throughout the season and did a good job with mixing up the character interactions. By doing so it allowed us to see different facets of these characters and shook up the status quo a bit. This finale did justice to how intense the ride has been. I also like how they keep upping the ante and by making Stiles both the victim and the Big Bad, they allowed Dylan O'Brien to showcase his talent. It was a powerful portrayal that had my heart aching for him and then instantly had me scared for the other characters. I particularly like how they built on the Scott-Stiles bond and proved that nothing could separate their brotherhood. Kudos all around to the cast and crew for making this one Hale of a season - terrible pun completely intended. I can't wait to see what June 23 has in store for us.

Best Character Interaction - The 100 - 
Clarke and Bellamy

I admit I am not 100% sold on The 100 yet. Its premise is intersting but its execution remains to be seen. I am however 100% sold on the interaction between Clarke and Bellamy. They are fascinating as two very different people trying to lead the 100 in opposite directions. Clarke, the determined, brusque hero wants to ensure everyone's survival, including those on the Ark. Bellamy, the would be murderer, knows that if the Ark's residents do land on earth, he will be hunted down and executed. His #1 objective is to keep that from happening. To further make things interesting, each has proven to be a master manipulator and has often used the situation to accomplish their own goals. Clarke makes Bellamy (and more importantly his gun) accompany her to rescue Jasper by playing on his fear of losing the crowd's respect. Bellamy takes sole credit for the food they all brought in order to get people to remove their wristbands and make the Ark think they've died. It will be interesting to see what happens when two diametrically opposed natural born leaders continue to clash. The best thing The 100 has working for it is the interplay of so many characters with different needs and the way they justify their actions - both on Earth and on the Ark.

Best Action - Once Upon a Time in Wonderland - Jafar vs. Amara magic fight

There were a lot of good action scenes this week. Teen Wolf took the fight to Narnia as Scott and Kira battled the Oni, while outside it was the pack in a fight for their lives. The Musketeers decided a convent would be more interesting and livened up the place with alcohol explosives, guns, swords, and even a beehive. Those nuns sure take home security seriously. However, even with my affinity for sword play, this week the award goes to the sorcerers. Sure the CGI was bad, but I've been missing a Harry Potter fix and this was balm to the wound. Besides, 4-headed snake, people! What really made the scene though was that for the first time, the match was evenly balanced. Amara was slightly more powerful, but Jafar got the win by being clever. He figured out Cyrus was Amara's son and used it to his advantage. Witty villain repartee, flying glass, a mother's love, and a "divine move" trump all the others. Plus, there was a little swordplay in between scenes.

Most Improved Character - The Blacklist - Tom

Let's face it. Tom was the most bland, uninteresting character in The Blacklist. Oh what a difference a couple of weeks make. While I never bought that he was actually attending all those conferences and heading out on job interviews in the middle of the school year, I did figure he was going to be a red herring in a show that loves to teast the audience. Instead he's a straight-up, stone cold killer, who is working for the same people as the guy who bugged their house. Last week he killed Jolene and the Cowboy with nary a blink. This week he coldcocked his wife and left her bleeding on the ground. Tom is not someone to mess with and I hope Liz realizes that too now that she knows. I have yet to figure out why anyone would want to go so deep undercover in Lizzie's life, but I can't wait for the reveal. I know it has something to do with Red and I hope they come up with an intriguing yet plausible story. Could Tom be part of the reason why Red decided to partner with the FBI at this particular juncture? I have no answers, but I do know that for the first time I am eager to have more Tom on my screen instead of less.



Nominated / New Shows:

Nominated Shows:

Arrow - 2.15 - The Promise

It appears that when I gave up Arrow to marathon over the summer instead, some people felt that I gave up on it too soon. Therefore it quickly became the most nominated show in the spreadsheet. Sooner or later it was bound to be chosen with the random number generator I use. I debated a lot over whether this should be considered eligible since technically I have already reviewed Arrow several times. In the end I decided that since it came up, not once but twice in the random number generator, to go ahead and review it but to have a second nominated episode as well. However, Arrow cannot be the nominated show again this season according to the rules of nomination.

As far as The Promise goes, I think making the decision to go on hiatus worked well for me. This episode is far better in the rewatch since I've had time to break from the elements of Arrow that really annoy me. It also helps that those elements were pretty much shunted off into a corner. There was little of Felicity and she was shown to be competent, which helped a lot. Plus the main focus was the brilliant scenes between Oliver and Slade. They did a great job playing off each other in both the past and the present. I love the added tension because Oliver couldn't say anything in front of his family, and then how he turned it around on Slade when Sarah, Diggle, and Roy showed up. Well played, Team Arrow! It was great to green light this Big Bad story line pace and even better to hold shipping to a minimum. This is an Arrow back on track from the muddle of made of itself from State vs. Queen on. I am now more looking forward to watching it this summer than I was last week.


Grade: B+
Ranking: 3

Best Scene - Team Arrow show up at the Queen mansion to confront Slade

Best Quote - Oliver: "I told you I'd come back." Anatoli: "Fantastic. We're saved."

Best Reason to Watch - Slade and Oliver interactions, both past and present

Best Snark / Best Character Return - Anatoli Knyazev

Worst Character Return - Oliver's Abs

Best Moment - Oliver tries to stab Slade but Slade disarms him and then Thea walks in / Slade grabs Oliver by the heel as he tries to jump overboard

Least Surprising - Slade used the house tour to get video surveillance on the Queen house

Biggest Awww Scene - Oliver makes Sarah promise if he dies, to tell Moira and Thea that he was a better person and Sarah makes Oliver promise to tell her family she died on the Gambit

Best Part of the Flashbacks - Oliver isn't perfect at his archery skills yet

The "Say What?" Award - Ivo, you murdered Shado. No question about it. The only thing Oliver should be suffering from is survivor's guilt. He did nothing wrong in this case.

The "You Tell Him, Momma" Award - While Oliver had every right to be upset that Slade was there, he has been a real douche to Moira. If she won't Gibbs head slap him, then telling him off here works just as well.

Psych - 6.02 - Last Night Gus

BWAH! This episode had me howling with laughter. I had seen bits and pieces of Psych over the years, but I never really kept up with it. It was on my perpetual hiatus list somewhere below Alias and above Robin Hood, always just below the radar. Now I'm more anxious than ever to marathon the show. In this episode the main guys wake up unaware of what happened the night before. They all have to work together to figure it out and who really killed two guys associated with them. It's a hilarious plot device that really works because it allows all the characters to be full of themselves and then slightly deflated. It also helps that Gus is spotlighted and from what I've seen, he and Lassiter are my favorite characters. In addition, this was my first time to enjoy Woody, whom I know better as the ultra douche angel Zachariah from Supernatural. Wow is this a completely different character. It actually took me a minute to catch up. Overall this episode was pure fun, a bit of silliness to brighten the day. Thanks to whomever nominated this because I have a new stress relief show for those long work nights.


Grade: A-
Ranking: 4

Best Scene - Gus repeats everything the murderer says and is super chill in the middle of the shootout before he knocks the guy out

Best Quote - Lassiter: "Oh dear Lord, please tell me this is a dream."

MVP - Lassiter

Funniest Moment - Gus freaks out about his car

The "Say What?" Award - How did someone miss a cell phone in the dead guy's pocket? That's beyond shoddy police work.

Best Use of Slo-Mo - The foursome's silent prowl into the bar like they own the world

Best References - Jon Cryer, Tom Wopat, Ed Lover, "It's hard out here for a pimp", and probably many more I was laughing too hard to catch




New Show:

Surviving Jack - 1.01 - Pilot

I am surprised by how much I laughed in this episode given that sexual humor doesn't really do anything for me. Still I liked this one enough to give it 3 episodes. Generally it will come down to whether the Jack character can manage to remain this sarcastic and still be relatable and caring. It's a tossup right now if that will happen. Surviving Jack follows the recent trend of family comedies based on the creator's real experiences with voiceovers from the adult version of the main kid. See The Goldbergs and Growing Up Fisher for other examples. In this case the story takes place in 1991, when the mother (Joanne) goes back to school to be a lawyer and the father (Jack) takes over most of the parenting duties to their 2 teenage children. It wants to be a more modern, snarkier version of Growing Pains, but the pilot has some rough spots as all pilots do. I would like to see them broaden the humor so not everything is built around sex and they definitely need to make sure Jack comes off as sympathetic. The show won't work if he isn't. I'd also like to see the daughter's role fleshed out, which the pilot really had no time to do. What the pilot did extremely well was snark and the soundtrack. This may be the best pilot soundtrack since Supernatural, featuring a variety of 80's and early 90's music trends. If anyone has the playlist, let me know because I have some more downloading to do. I haven't heard Violent Femmes in ages.

Grade: B-
Ranking: 3 (after the first 3 episodes)

Best Scene - Jack teaches Frankie to drive through extreme pressure

Best Quote - Jack: "I think everything everyone says is stupid. Tell me anyway."

Biggest Aww - Jack tells Frankie that no one can ever take the memory of your first kiss away

Funniest Scene - Jack pays a homeless guy to scare Frankie and his friends to keep them from stealing

Best Payback - Joanne gives Jack the spoilers on how Jurassic Park ends to punish him

MVP / Best Reason to Watch - the soundtrack. I'm not being facetious here. The soundtrack to this pilot was awesome. Violent Femmes, The Cure, and so much more. I'd download it on iTunes.

The "Say What?" Award - Frankie digs a hole in his yard to bury his stolen porn. I was never a teenage boy. Is this common? I thought it was all about the mattress.

The "Flag on that Play" Award - Joanne blames Jack because their daughter had a boy in her room. That is all on the daughter. She should have known the rules and followed them. No need to call out dad in front of the kids. Time for a united front. Not holding kids accountable for their own actions is why they have become entitled. Stand up. Be a parent. Your kids' teachers will thank you for it.

T-Shirt Fad I Completely Missed as a Teen - According to Surviving Jack and The Goldbergs, t-shirts that changed color when you touched them were all the rage when I was in high school. Who knew? I don't remember anyone wearing those.

Biggest Nostalgia - Ah, Christian Slater love. I remember that time. For all my friends it was Heathers. For me it was the "blink and you missed it" gem, Gleaming the Cube. Seriously, check it out. Or maybe not. My taste in high school was pretty bad.



Weekly Shows:

Resurrection - 1.03 - Two Rivers

The show is still short on plot and long on characters, but so far the characters make it worthwhile. Henry and Lucille are beautifully crafted characters played by pros in the nuances. Their scenes together are believable and heart aching. Still I wish we were working towards answers instead of just adding another resurrected person each week.

Grade: B

Best Scene - Henry and Lucille talk on the porch about their dead Jacob

Best Quote - Marty: "Okay, did anything good ever happen on this road?" Maggie: "Well as it turns out, when you die it's not an irreversible condition."

Best Character Interaction - Marty and Maggie

Best Reason to Watch - how the townspeople react to the revolving Resurrectee of the Week

Longest Slow Pan Ever - Jacob's coffin…twice, and we still didn't see anything

Best Shout Out - Mizzou vs. KU game and Mizzou is winning. Woo hoo! And apparently it's March Madness because that's not either of their stadiums.

Most Manipulative - Sheriff who acts like he's talking to the bartender but is really threatening the man who committed adultery with his wife

The "Oh Joy, It's Hollywood's Favorite Theme" Award - I am really tired of Hollywood portraying Christians as hypocrites every time they bring them up. As soon as I saw there was a preacher in this show, I knew it was going that route. It's predictable, boring, and now oppressive.

The "I Thought You Were a Cop" Award - While Marty gets kudos for at least not touching the evidence, he really should know to have Maggie call for backup when chasing a suspect.

Not the Most Bizarre Theory Yet - Ray thinks it's aliens. I'm good with that. For now.

Crisis - 1.02 - If You are Watching This I am Dead

Crisis remains the most intriguing March-debuting show this season. I have no idea what's going on but I like that there is both larger questions and some resolution. Giving the ambassador back his son was a great move and I am okay if it continues in a Kid of the Week format while laying the groundwork for the larger picture. I have to give it a few more weeks to be sure but right now Crisis makes my top 10 new shows list.

Grade: B+

Best Moment - Meg sits surrounded by millions of dollars and is so nonchalant about it

Best Quote - Ian: "It'd be pretty messed up if you were going to run away and ended up getting kidnapped."

Most Important Player - Francis Gibson

Best Character Interaction - still Anton and Finley, even if they only had one scene together

Best Man for the Job - Dr. Olsen, who stops playing politics and puts Riley and Dunn together

Best Scene - Anton calls out the FBI guy on bad facts

Least Improved Player - Susie Dunn

Most Annoying - Luke and Dunn

Blacklist - 1.17 - Ivan

The Blacklist was a brilliant twist marred by the most idiotic genius ever. I hope Red recruits him and then knocks some commonsense into him. Complicated romantic gesture? This was hormones on steroids. Despite the low-rent, teen stalker subtext, there was a lot that went right here. I like that we are coming to a head on Tom and the guy who played Real Ivan is a favorite. I loved him as Dmitry on Royal Pains. I should love the scene where Red holds Lizzie best, but everything is about Tom for me right now. Nothing intrigues me more.

Grade: B-

Best Scene - Tom acts concerned about Liz when she tells him about being attacked

Best Quote - Tom: "Don't beat yourself up. You could never have known this. You never really know people, do you?"

MVP - Tom, who has become the most interesting character

Best Plot Twist - The silly toy scene from the beginning was actually a key piece of the episode

The "Say What?" Award - What exactly kind of school does Tom work at that lets him jaunt off to conferences all the time? Thus far I see little evidence that he is indeed a teacher, unless his school takes winter off and works through the summer.

Villain Mistake #2 - Only secondary to the longwinded villain monologue is a villain tagging his or her own work. Come on, Ivan. Cocky means busted. Just ask Neal Caffrey or Curtis Hagan on White Collar.

Best Cat and Mouse - Lizzie and Tom dancing around in an elaborate game of hide-and-seek

The "You and Me Both Honey" Award - Lizzie: "Just once I'd like to hear the whole truth from you."

The Scariest - Our government's most secret cyber weapon was stolen by a teen as a byproduct of his stalking tendencies. Yeah, that sounds really secure.

The Harry Potter-like Award - NotIvan uses the skeleton key like an Deluminator.

Star-Crossed - 1.06 - Stabbed with a White Wench's Black Eye

Whenever the love triangles take over the sociopolitical climate of Star-Crossed, the episode suffers. This is one of those cases. While there was plenty of intrigue and character growth, they kept stopping the story for more teen emoangsting and well "star-crossed" romance. It's tiresome and at this point leads to nonsensical storytelling. Why didn't Emery give Roman a heads-up that there was a Cyper leak? Shouldn't that be the first step? Why would a journalist store his video in only one place? Does the cloud not exist anymore? The logic of this episode was fairly non-existent and it bugs me to no end. On the plus side though, Grayson and Drake saved the hour. Both of them are caught up in circumstances beyond their control and both had powerful choices to make. I am still slightly suspicious of Grayson, but he has really grown on me. Drake has always been fascinating as an Atrian who wants so much for things to be different but who cannot fully support either side's solutions. In the end, Emery is still the weakest link of Star-Crossed. Scenes are better when she's not in them. That's a big millstone to overcome. Also, every episode needs some Teri. Just saying.

Grade: C

Best Scene - Drake and Roman vs. Zoe

Best Quote - Drake: "We should kill her. If we don't, she could tell the Trags and they'll come after both of us." Roman: "We can't do this." Drake: "Yeah maybe you can't. I'm a warrior." Roman: "Warriors protect Atrian lives. Whether we like it or not, she's one of us."

Most Missed - Teri. I really wanted some snark between Taylor and her.

MVP - Grayson / Drake

Best Character Interaction - Drake and Roman

Best Reason to Fast Forward - anytime Emery and Roman are together or either of them are talking about the other

Best Cold Open - Zoe stops some Red Hawks from blowing up the sector

The "Well Duh" Award - Talking about top secret things out in the open came back to haunt you. Really? What a surprise! Perhaps you should start calling Cyper "Czechoslovakia."

Biggest Plot Hole Plan - What kind of journalist would not back up his video to several places to ensure something like this wouldn't happen? Surely 10 years from now we'll still have technology crashes…and the cloud.

Best Future Spy - Jules, she can talk info out of the dumbest people on the planet Sounds like spy work to me. Well, according to Michael Westen.

Best Diss - Taylor looks like she's going to talk to Drake but veers off for the waiter at the last minute

Teen Wolf - 3.24 - The Divine Move (season finale)

Grade: A-

Best Scene - DarkStiles stalks Lydia and Stiles down the hallway and rants about how they cannot kill him

Best Quote - Danny: "Dude, it's Beacon Hills." Talk about 4 words that sum up the entire show.

MVP - DarkStiles

The "Are You Kidding Me?" Award - The Oni are killed by silver and the nogitsune didn't know that? I thought he was over 1,000 years old. Shouldn't he have
been pursuing his enemy's weaknesses?

Best Moment - Melissa holds a crying Scott

Best Action - the fight scene in Narnia / fighting the Oni outside the school

Biggest Douche - DoucheDad who wants Melissa to tell Scott he bailed and then plans to send a follow-up e-mail…to his SON. Argh!

Wicked Mad Ninja Skills - the Oni who deflected every bullet Parrish shot with his sword

Most Simpatico - Lydia and Stiles both feel time is running out as the Oni take out the police station and the hospital

Best Song-to-Scene - Bad Moon Rising during the hospital slaughter

Best Reason to Watch - the pack works together to take down the Big Bad

Biggest Shock - Danny knows about werewolves

Worst Surprise - Kate Argent is back

Most Nerve-racking Moment - Stiles falls unconscious / Melissa's bloody teeth

Best Continuity - Pan in on the Wanted poster

The Musketeers - 1.09 - Knight Takes Queen

I'm tired of adultery as a way of life on The Musketeers. It alone dropped my grade a letter. I'm losing respect for characters right and left these days. Soon I'm going to have to root for barkeep #12. How hard is it to keep it in your pants? I did however like the nuns joining the battle and the fact that they are wrapping up the Cardinal's storyline. I do think it is very much out-of-character for the Cardinal to be so stupid. One of the reasons why he made a good villain is because he was so clever. Without that, he's just a moustache-twirler.

Grade: C+

Best Allies/Scene - the nuns who take out several mercenaries themselves, including 3 by beehive

Best Quote - Athos: "If it's any consolation Mother Superior is next door praying for our immortal souls." Aramis: "Right now it's my mortal body I'm worried about."

Best Action - castle fight

MVP - Mother Superior

Best Character Interaction - Athos and Gallagher

Best Reason to Fast Forward - Aramis and the Queen

Biggest Misstep - The Cardinal takes the king's drunk ramblings as a plan. I'm surprised at you Cardinal.

Best Reason to Have Servants - never having to eat the Queen's cooking

The "Say What?" Award - Why would Gallagher give the promissory note to a minion instead of keeping payment on himself at all time? World's worst criminal.

Biggest Question - Will the Cardinal be killed or exiled so he can go play Doctor Who?

Growing Up Fisher - 1.05 - Work with Me

Joyce may be the most obnoxious, oblivious person on TV, including any animated character and fans that make the Jumbotron at sporting events. She does manage not say or do anything inappropriate with her children in this episode but that's the only plus. She's way too over-the-top as a character and they need to tone her down. I find I like Growing Up Fisher in direct proportion to how much I can tolerate Joyce and in this one, it wasn't very much. In fact, she got twice as bad in the rewatch. I find myself feeling sorry that this family has had to put up with her for so long, even though Mel can be a condescending schmuck too. As always, the kids make this show. I want to really like Growing Up Fisher, but the parents keep getting in the way.

Grade: D+

Best Scene - Janice and Joyce bond over making fun of Mel

Best Quote - Katie: "Go be you."

Best Character Interaction - Henry and Katie

Most Obnoxious - Joyce. It's hard to believe anyone on the planet could be as clueless as she is.

The "Say What?" Award - I've never heard anyone ask for directions of a random stranger in the mall, much less a group of people. Does this mall not have a directory? Or regular customers?

Biggest Stalker - Henry. If I were Jenny, I would be scared.

Scene Stealer - Runyen, every time

Best Moment - Katie tells Henry to do things his way

Sweetest Moment - Jenny leaves Henry orange soda

The 100 - 1.02 - Earth Skills

The 100 was actually better in this episode than the pilot. The characters were less annoying, especially Octavia, and the conflict deepened. I find the stand-off between Bellamy and Clarke riveting. Both actors are doing a great job. The real work is going to be to keep them from falling into patterned clichés, cardstock good vs. bad characters. So far they have done an excellent job of fleshing out Bellamy, but they need to do the same for Murphy. If I am going to have Thug #1 on my screen each week, they have to give me some hook into his character. Floating his dad doesn't cut it because that seems to be a fairly normal occurrence for the 100. Given the improvement in Atom and Octavia, I have hope that while I will probably continue to root for Murphy's death, I won't be irked every time he appears on my screen which is the case now. As for the Ark, the best thing that happened was the introduction of Raven. She is already intriguing and I think her scenes with Abby were fantastic. I look forward to seeing more of them. Kane also is growing on me because while I can hate his methods, he does make a good point. I would hate to be the Chancellor. He's stuck between two very different ideals with no way to know which will ultimately gain the best results. All in all, this episode of The 100 made me even more curious to see what will happen next.

Grade: B

Best Scene - Wells tries to keep Murphy from hurting a kid, Bellamy challenges him to fight over it, and Wells wins

Best Quote - Murphy: "Whoa, wait, wait, wait. What? You think you play by different rules?" Finn: "I thought there were no rules."

Best Moment - The Grounder who watches them eat from the trees

Future MVP - Monty, who has the best chance of actually being helpful to them all. It also means he has the highest chance of Bellamy killing him.

Best Manipulator - Bellamy, who is miles more advanced at this than Kane

Best Stand-Off - The Chancellor and Kane

Best Speech - Bellamy. He sucks but he is definitely persuasive.

Best Leader - Clarke. She tells Monty to stay behind because he is too important to the 100. It was a tough call but the smart one. She also manipulated Bellamy to find Jasper, showing she has a better grip on how to handle him than Wells, and guilts Finn into going too. She definitely knows how to get what she needs.

Best New Addition - Raven

Most Insightful - Atom, who reminds Octavia that she had her brother even when everything else sucked

Wonderland - 1.12 - To Catch a Thief

In all honesty I expected this to be my least favorite episode of them all. The prospect of making it through an episode without the Red Queen or Will snark to alleviate the drippiness made me shudder. Imagine my surprise then when we got Will snark in spades due to the flashbacks. They rode me through the lesser scenes as did the Jabberwocky, a character I now find interesting. I still think this show would have been better with less Alice and Cyrus, but I'm glad I've stuck with it until now.


Grade: B

Best Scene - Will tells Alice that hers isn't the only story worth fighting for

Best Quote - Knave: "Watch your tongue lass, or else you'll lose that as well as your head." Alice: "That's a little redundant, don't you think?" Knave: "Depends on which one you lose first."

Best Character Interaction - Knave and Alice

Best Reason to Watch - Knave flashbacks starring…..Snark! My favorite player.

Worst Sounding Plan - Let Jafar win

Best Humor - Will can't figure out which way he wants to go

Most Improved Character - The Jabberwocky is finally interesting

Best Twist - The Jabberwocky allies with Alice and crew

Best Back Story - Will's tale of his dead sister explains a little more about why he's been willing to do so much for Alice

Least Surprising - Amara ends up casting the spell with Jafar in order to save her son's life

Enlisted - 1.09 - Paint Cart 5000 vs. the Mondo Spider

Come on people. This is the last episode I get to see of Enlisted for awhile. How disappointing! This show has done a great job of showing heart and laughs. The episode was half poo jokes. Not worthy of Enlisted at all. The only redeeming part was Derrick and Cody and even part of that was cringe worthy. I'm going to have to go back and watch Homecoming to get the stench of this episode off of me.

Grade: C-

Best Scene - Cody gives Derrick career advice

Best Quote - Cody: "I need a photographer who's going to tell me the truth." Derrick: "I don't want to be here." Cody: "The job is yours."

Best Character Interaction - Derrick and Cody

Best Manipulator - Randy plays the little brother card

Best Reason to Fast Forward - the entire poo storyline, so a good portion of the episode

Helix - 1.13 - Dans L'Ombre (season finale)

Helix just isn't the same without Daniel. I miss the complicated relationship between Hatake and him already. However, this episode had some great plot twists, like Peter working for Ilaria, and I think the big time jump is needed if they are going to have an engrossing season 2. Alan appears to have changed and that can only be a good thing. They are now in France though, so that means my current favorite character, Anana, may not have a place in the story now though. Overall Hatake was still the best thing about the episode, although he is a complete douche for suggesting that adopted kids are less important than biological kids. What the heck, Helix? You all suck! All kids are equally important! Urgh! It's one more mark against me watching your season 2. The other part is that all the uber-annoying characters are still alive. Alan, Sarah, and Peter get a pass, while Doreen, Daniel, Constance, and even Julia's mother die? Why? Are you trying to kill your own show?

Grade: B-

Best Scene - The Inuit come back to get the scientists out

Best Quote - Scythe: "What is this? Good scientist, bad scientist."

Best Character Interaction - Anana and Tulok

MVP - Hatake, even if he is a douche

Biggest Douche - Hatake admits he prefers Julia over Daniel because Julia is his flesh and blood. Way to prove what a douche you are, Hatake. No child is more important than the other.

Biggest Twist - Peter is working for Ilaria

Best Character Growth - Sergio comes back to get the list of kidnapped Inuit children and where they are

Biggest Awww Scene - Hatake and Jane reunite

The "Oh Great, Helix is Now a Soap Opera" Award - Sarah is pregnant with Alan's baby

Best Plan - Skipping forward over 200 days for season 2







Screencaps by Digital Spy, Pinterest, Hollywood Reporter, SpoilerTV, Zap2It, Sidereel, TV Addict, TV.com, Mary Sue, Warez LTD, So I Pondered, TVline, Den of Geek, Seat 42F, and NBC.

About the Author - Dahne

One part teacher librarian - one part avid TV fan, Dahne is a contributing writer for SpoilerTV, where she recaps, reviews, and creates polls for Sleepy Hollow, Arrow, White Collar, Grimm, Teen Wolf, and others. She's addicted to Twitter, live tweets a multitude of shows each week, and co-hosts the Warehouse 13, Sleepy Hollow "Headless," and Teen Wolf "Welcome to Beacon Hills" podcasts for Southgate Media Group. Currently she writes a Last Week in TV column for her blog and SpoilerTV. ~ "I speak TV."