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Last Week in TV - Week of May 17 - Reviews and Episode Awards

May 26, 2015

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Welcome back to Last Week in TV after our one-week hiatus. I had planned to spend most of my time marathoning TV on my to-watch list but I was just hired for the summer session so chances are I'll only get to half of regularly airing summer TV as it is. If you are marathoning something that you're really enjoying, please nominate it in the short form below so I don't miss it. This week's nomination was Dexter and talk about a show that's easy to marathon. Netflix really makes it so you don't watch just one. I ended up watching Dexter for several hours straight. It was far better than I ever expected it to be, mostly because they don't glorify the antihero like a lot of shows and they don't make excuses for him. Still he has a code of honor that he does not deviate from and that gives him some boundaries. I recommend Dexter to anyone who hasn't tried it, even if you are skeptical about it like I was. Other than that, I am still a bit behind on a couple of shows like Community and AD, which I will add in to this post as I have time. Usually I do a season wrap-up column with overall awards and another one with a wish list for returning shows. I'm not sure I'll have time for that at this time but if I don't, I'll combine them with the summer wrap-up and post it in August. Thanks for joining me this season as we talked TV together. I love hearing your ideas and awards too so if you have any special awards for this week or this year, sound off in the comments below. Until next time, happy TV viewing to all.






Show of the Week:


The Flash - 1.23 - Fast Enough (season finale)

I know I always compare The Flash to Arrow, but that's the closest touch point I have for it. Usually The Flash comes out miles ahead of Arrow. I mean just compare Barry to Oliver or Wells to Merlyn. The Flash is simply better in their characters alone. Add its camaraderie and lighter tone and you have a superhero show I can get fully behind…even when they add time travel to the mix. Here though, it is different. The season 1 Arrow finale is one of the best episodes of TV I have ever seen and although this is an excellent episode, The Flash finale doesn't quite get there. In some ways it is similar. A cataclysmic event happens in both after they think they have stopped it. A secondary character saves the day and dies in the process of doing it. Both are overstuffed when they should have let the episode breathe a bit more. The big difference is the pacing and the ending. In The Flash's finale they added in stuff that makes no sense. Why throw in a random wedding? It also felt less like the end of the season than the beginning of the next one. In Arrow's season 1 finale, everything culminated to demolishing the city and Arrow fighting Merlyn. It felt like a definite end. This was far more like The 100's finale, in that the penultimate episode was more of a finale than the finale was. The fight with Wells lost some of its punch by putting it in last week's episode and making it only a small piece of the plot when it should have been the main event. I blame the need to crossover with Arrow and tie into the spin-off series. The Flash is much stronger when it plays out on its own terms and is not saddled with trying to boost other shows. I also think that Eddie's death didn't have the emotional pull of Tommy's on Arrow. In great part this is because Eddie and Barry didn't have the relationship that Tommy and Oliver had, but it is also because they forced his reconciliation with Iris into an episode that already had too much going on. It too felt rushed and thus a little less satisfying.

Still this is the best finale of the 2014-2015 TV season so far and it is in large part because of 4 very well done scenes. The opener with Barry confronting Wells set the tone off nicely. I love how Wells tells Barry that he looks on him with pride and love while at the same time telling him how much he hates Barry's future self. It is a rich dichotomy that Wells' whole mission is to kill the man he helped create. While they cheated us out of what has to be rich back story, what we do know is already powerful. Then to see Barry's reaction when Wells explains that he loves Barry too? Wow! That was some great acting there. The second scene that grabbed me is when Joe tells Barry that he should risk going to the past so he can have both parents in his life. I believe Joe is the most noble character on this show and to watch him risk his entire relationship with his son in order to give Barry a chance at his dream is both heartbreaking and inspiring. To give up your child, even to make them happy, has to be excruciating. While I was still trying to recover from the emotion of that scene, The Flash went and hit me hard with Barry's other father. I love how they set these scenes up back-to-back because it showed that both of them only wanted what was best for Barry and they would give up whatever they had to in order to give Barry what he needed. Henry telling Barry that nothing, not even saving his mother, was worth possibly risking the awesome man that Barry has become was just as heartbreaking. By reassuring that Barry's mother would have been proud of him too, Henry also makes the ultimate sacrifice to do what's best for Barry. Although the two men disagree on what Barry should do, they both have pure motives that speak volumes of their love for their son. Finally, we also get an amazing scene in which Cisco confronts Wells about the alternate timeline. I'm no fan of super-powered Cisco. I like him how he is, but the sheer pain and betrayal on Cisco's face when he relates what happened to Wells is like a sucker punch to the gut. Then Wells has the audacity to just brush off killing Cisco like it means nothing at all. It was startling and yet very much in character. If only a couple of these scenes had been in the episode, it would still have been strong. Having all 4 made it the best episode of The Flash yet. I don't get emotional in TV very often but there were several places in this one that got to me and that's the hallmark of a good episode.

Grade: A

Best Reason to Watch - a freaking black hole was created, which pretty much raises the tension
Best Scene - Cisco confronts Wells
Best Scene (runners-up) - Barry confronts Wells in the beginning / Barry tells Joe that if he time travels, he will lose Joe as a father / Barry and his dad at the jail
Best Pep Talk - Stein to Eddie
Biggest Shock - Eddie kills himself to keep Wells from killing Barry
Biggest Awww Moment - Harry at the prison telling Barry how proud he is of him / Joe reassuring that Barry will never lose him
Most Unselfish - Joe and Henry, who both give Barry conflicting advice because they think that is what is best for him even though their advice would hurt them
Best Change - in the opening spiel, we don't have the normal stock footage and Barry says that today's the day when he gets justice for his dad
Most Confusing - Future Barry has to save Young Barry before Barry-Barry saves his mom. Ugh, time travel.
Most Pointless - Barry traveling back in time did nothing but create a huge time travel problem
Biggest Psycho/Best Manipulator - I can't tell if Wells is trying to manipulate everyone or if he really believes the crazy he's spouting. One thing's for sure, his definition of love is way off everyone else's.
Biggest Huh? - I have no problem with Caitlin and Ronnie getting married, but what in the world made the PTB decide that the finale was a good place for it? There is far too much going on here. Save it for season 2. It's not like you don't have plenty of episodes left to create a memorable wedding scene.
Biggest Surprise - Iris and Eddie did not meet through her dad but through a mugging
Biggest Irony - Thawne had to create the very thing he set out to kill
Biggest Cheat - Wells says it doesn't matter why The Flash and he are enemies in the future but Barry and I really want to know
The "Nope, Still Not Interested" Award - Iris is not any more interesting than she was a few episodes ago
Biggest Ho Hum - Wells' villain monologue about always winning
The "What? Was There No 911 Back Then?" Award - I have no idea why Barry doesn't call 911 first and then have a heart-to-heart with his mom. Actually I have no idea why he time traveled in the first place except to help the spin-off along, which is a terrible reason to make such a huge cliffhanger.
The "Only on The Flash" Award - soda is once again used to figure out when things are happening
The "I Told You So" Award - Let me guess. Thawne figured out The Flash's alter ego because they were talking about secret identities in public places again. Or maybe he overheard the 1.2 billion times they call him Barry on missions. Actually he could just listen to the archived prison phone calls since they talk about Barry being the Flash in EVERY SINGLE ONE of them these days even though they know all prison visits are recorded and monitored. There is NO cone of silence, people!
The "Well That's One Way to Fly" Award - creating a black hole seems a bit extreme to satisfy your inner Superman
Biggest Name Dropping - Wells mentions Rip Hunter
Best Reference - The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Best Quotes -
1. Barry: "I thought you were the sure one. I was kind of banking on that when I made my decision the first time." Joe: "I was faking it. Sometimes parents do that. Most of the time parents do that. Look, of course I'm scared but I didn't want you to not help your mother because you're worried about me." Barry: "Well I'll always worry about you Joe just like you'll always worry about me. I'm sorry but you can't stop that. Do you think I can do this? Do you think I can save my mom? I mean do you think I'm fast enough?" Joe: "Yes, I know you are." Barry: "You know I've…I've dreamed my whole life about saving her, freeing my dad, and…I never thought I'd have to lose another parent to do that." Joe: "Barry..." Barry: "Joe, it's true. It's true. I've always been so focused on everything that I lost that night but I gained so much too. I was born with one father and that tragedy gave me another and I don't think I can lose you." Joe: "You won't ever lose me. Ever, you hear me. Ever."
2. Barry: "Dad, look I know this sounds crazy." Henry: "I think we're way past crazy, slugger."
3. Barry: "We're gonna need something else too." Cisco: "Really? And what's that? 'Cause I don't know about you guys but I'm not at all interested in helping you get yourself killed." Barry: "I need you to build a time machine." Cisco: "Go on."
4. Wells: "I don't belong here in these barbaric times. It's like living amongst the dead." Cisco: "Is that what you told yourself when you killed me?" Wells: "What? What did you say?" Cisco: "It was an alternate timeline, one that Barry reset. I never forgot it. It just kept coming back to me and I can still picture the way you looked at me when you called me a son and you crushed my heart with your fist." Wells: "Cisco, I'm sorry." Cisco: "Yeah, it sucked." Wells: "Yeah, not for killing you. I'm sure I had a good reason."
5. Ronnie: "Now we just need to put it together." Cisco: "Ronnie, I love you but this is a time machine not a bookcase from Ikea."
6. Stein: "Once the collision happens a wormhole forms, opening a gateway into time itself. It's at that moment I plan on shouting something along the lines of 'Eureka!" or possibly "Excelsior!" I am uncommitted."
7. Barry: "I can save mom." Henry: "At what cost? You said time would change. What if it changes you?" Barry: "Well I don't care." Henry: "I do. I am in awe of the remarkable man that you are becoming. All the things you've achieved and not just as the Flash but you, Barry. Your honesty, your heart. You were always a hero and your mom would be just as proud and if she had a say in this, if she thought for one second that you going back to save her would mean you losing what makes you so special, she would never want that. Barry, what I hope for you, maybe the greatest thing that a father can hope for his son, is that one day you will become a father yourself and then you will know how much I truly love you."
8. Wells: "Well sure there's a bit of a risk." Stein: "I would hardly refer to causing an extinction-level event as a bit of a risk." Joe: "Yeah and your accelerator has been about as reliable as the beater I drove in high school."



Nominated Show:


Dexter - 1.01 - Pilot

Note: This review is based on the first 4 episodes. Later on there is more nudity and sex.

I didn't know what to expect from Dexter and in many ways I still don't. For a pay cable show, it is remarkably tame. There is little nudity and what there is doesn't show much. There's no sex thanks to a rape-trauma victim girlfriend, although there's enough sexual harassment to keep a seminar company in business for years. Even the violence is more tame than some of the crime procedurals on TV given that most of it is heard and not seen here. Criminal Minds has more graphic violence. Dexter does have plenty of gratuitous language though. What else it has is a premise more intriguing than I expected. I don't like Dexter and I'm not sympathetic to him but it's rare to see the world from a sociopath's viewpoint. To watch Dexter try to fit in an alien world reminds me a little of Monk but less funny and more creepy. It's sold by Michael C. Hall's stellar acting. I see why everyone was raving. Still the best part is the pacing. The show moves fluently between the serial and procedural elements with very little drag in between. So much so that I watched the first 4 episodes in marathon (all episode awards are from the pilot). If ever there was a show built for Netflix, it is this one and as long as it stays more in the PG-13 rating range than R-rated, I'm willing to see where it takes me.

Grade: B+
Ranking - 4
Audience - people interested in crime shows with a pretty big twist or character studies with a unique view

Best Reason to Watch - you rarely see things from a sociopath's point of view so it is intriguing to see how Dexter navigates a world in which he doesn't care about anyone but pretends to
Most Intriguing Character - Rita
Most Annoying Character - Deb, who may be the most annoying character I've seen all season
Best Perks of the Job - if you're going to be a serial killer, then there's no better way to get new job tips than to run the crime scene
The "Say What?" Award - His cop foster father helped him get away with murdering people? Trained him to be a successful serial killer? Is this what you're telling me, show? Was he a serial killer as well?
Most Creepy - serial killer violating your house and putting a dissected doll in your fridge
Most Adept - Dexter, who plays a human very convincingly what with his doughnuts and joking
Most Interesting Need for Clarification - Dexter assures us that he did not kill his foster parents
Most Disturbing - the sound of the drill is even more creepy than the guy screaming as he dies
Most Gratuitous - in a show about a serial killer, it's strange the most gratuitous thing is the language and not violence, sex, or nudity
Most Inconsiderate - all those people killing on weekends and making cops work instead of getting it on
Worst Decorating - blood spatter artwork for your office cubicle
Most Screwed Up in the Head - You think it's Dexter, right? Nope. It's his foster dad who encourages him to kill people and animals.
Biggest What the Heck - Dexter is driving and the guy just tosses a head at his car. Miami is screwed up.
Biggest Hmmm - Dexter is worried about driving with both hands on the wheel but he isn't at all bothered about killing neighborhood animals as a kid
The "Welcome Back" Award - Julie Benz from Defiance and No Ordinary Family / James Remar from State of Affairs
Best Quotes -
1. LaGuerta: "So then he must have already had the head with him in the front seat. Hhn. That's weird. Why would he keep it there?" Dexter: "I don't know. So he could use a carpool lane?"
2. Dexter: "There's something strange and disarming about looking at a homicide seen in the daylight of Miami. It makes the most grotesque killings look staged, like you're in a new and daring section of Disney World - Dahmerland."
3. Dexter: "Normal people are so hostile."
4. Dexter: "All in all it was a good night. One less amateur filmmaker polluting the internet."
5. Dexter: "Clean and easy. This guy knew how to use a blade." Cop: "So we're looking for a sushi chef." Dexter: "Yes, sushi chef is possible. It wouldn't be my first choice, but hey, you never know."



New Show:


Wayward Pines - 1.01/1.02 - Pilot / Do Not Discuss Your Life Before

Wayward Pines is definitely the most bizarre new show of the season. Its premise starts with an agent waking up in a small town hospital after being in a car accident. As he gets to know more about the town, it gets more bizarre and nothing adds up. Is it a hallucination? A nightmare? A psychotic break? An effect of concussion? Or a real place that reads like a cross between The Stepford Wives and The Hunger Games? I'm honestly now sure what this is, but I can't see how it can just be a hallucination when things are happening outside Ethan's perspective. I have no idea what the Secret Service has to do with all this either. Despite having a whole stock of questions and zero answers, the show's pacing is amazing in that just when I start to lose a little interest something new happens to get my heart racing again. I cannot believe they killed off Beverly like that. Is the entire town insane? Kudos to the director, cast, and crew for making a pilot this intriguing and a second episode that's even better. I can't wait to see the rest of this ride.

Grade: B+ / A-
Ranking - 1
Audience - anyone who likes creepy settings and "Say what?" twists

Best Reason to Watch - this is one of the few shows where having no clue what's going on actually makes things more interesting, for now
The "What the Heck" Award - people just stand around and clap while the sheriff kills Beverly
Most Nonchalant - the sheriff, about a dead body
Most Cryptic - Beverly says she "always believed" Ethan, like they've met like this before
Best Voice Mail - The Burke message says they are sorry to miss the call unless it's a telemarketer. Ha!
Biggest Ouch - duct tape as a bandage
Least Surprising - partner affair because it wouldn't be TV without one
The "Say What?" Award - if he breaks the glass like that, Ethan should not be able to grab it in his hands without cutting himself
Worst Plan - Ethan putting his tracker in his hotel bed sounds like a good idea but if anyone sees him elsewhere, the jig is up and so is the plan to escape
The "Little Warning Please" Award - Ethan digging out his tracker from his own arm
Creepiest Rules: Do not try to leave. Do not discuss the past. Do not discuss your life before. Always answer the phone if it rings. Work hard, be happy, and enjoy your life in Wayward Pines.
Biggest Huh - What does Adam in the real world have to do with Ethan in Wayward Pines?
The "Welcome Back" Award - Malcolm Goodwin from iZombie / Matt Dillon from my childhood and all-around 80's guy / Carla Gugino from Spin City and Karen Sisco / Toby Jones from Hunger Games and the voice of Harry Potter's Jar Jar Binks / Reed Diamond aka the bad guy in almost everything including SHIELD / Tim Griffin from Covert Affairs and Burn Notice / Juliette Lewis from Secrets & Lies / Terrence Howard fresh from Empire fame / Jarod Joseph from The 100 / Lindsay Hollister from Cold Case
Best Quotes -
1. Pam: "Oh we don't have anything of yours but I can certainly put on my Nancy Drew detective hat and check into that for you."
2. Ben: "Okay, get a room." Ethan: "Get a room? The last time we got a room, we ended up with you."
3. Sheriff: "You didn't make it too far, did you?" Ethan: "How do I get out of here?" Sheriff: "You don't."
4. Ethan: "Look, I'm a government agent." Sheriff: "Yeah and Mary Poppins is your grandmother. You're a guy with no ID, no badge, who just stole that car."
5. Sheriff: "We cannot tolerate people who don't play by the rules."
6. Pam: "Hold still Mr. Burke or I'll jam this bad boy straight to the bone."



Weekly Shows:


Battle Creek - 1.10 - Stockholm

It's not often that you feel bad for the good-looking, successful guy in a TV show. He's usually the douche to be honest. Yet I always feel bad for Milt because Russ is just so unlikeable to him but Milt keeps trying anyway. Even the escaped convict is a nicer guy than Russ. In fact, he's the reason to watch this episode. I loved the scene where he's walking his niece down the aisle with Russ attached to him with handcuffs. Ha! Battle Creek is a good combination of humor and action, which I'll miss when it ends.

Grade: B+

Best Reason to Watch - the convict, who was a pretty amazing man
Best Scene - Russ handcuffed to Ford as he walks his niece down the aisle and Russ and Milt tearing up about it
Best Awww Moment - Milt offers to trade himself as hostage for Russ / Russ and Milt hug when they find each other
Biggest Douche - Russ turning Milt down about going for a beer
Best Twist - the fugitive broke out of prison to walk his niece down the aisle on her wedding day
"The "Yeah, Definitely NOT an Idiot" Award - Ford slips Russ' phone into the car next to him at the gas station to get the Feds off his track
The "You Tell Him" Award - Ford gives it to Russ straight about what a douche he's being about Milt
Dumbest Kid on the Planet - What kid sees handcuffs and a guy mouthing "911" and does not get that something's wrong? Of course, it's a good thing that he doesn't because it was a stupid plan in the first place given that the convict has Russ' gun.
The "Does Such a Thing Exist?" Award - Are there people who get high off insulin? I never heard of that.
Best Plan - Russ says he's diabetic and needs insulin
Most Desperate Plan - trying to get the dog to fetch a hacksaw
The "Welcome Back" Award - James Le Gros from Justified and Ally McBeal / Kathleen Wilhoite from Gilmore Girls and Quarterback Princess, one of the few After School Specials I remember
Best Quotes -
1. Ford: "I feel sorry for you. I have more people that care about me in prison than you have out."
2. Russ: "I can't go through the rest of my life knowing that man saved me. He's a narcissistic, manipulative a** who the whole world treats like a god when he's really just the exact opposite." Ford: "Can I give you some advice?" Russ: "Sure." Ford: "Stop being a douche. What that guy did back there, you don't do that to manipulate somebody. You do that, you sacrifice yourself because you care." Russ: "No you see, you don't know him, okay? Milt always needs to be the hero. You know how many times this guy has had his picture in…" Ford: "It's a federal case and he asked for your help, right?" Russ: "Yeah he asked me because he knows that I'm better at it than he is." Ford: "Shut up. He didn't ask you because he needs your help. He isn't being a hero. He's being your friend. Lighten up. Loosen your sphincter for 20 minutes. Go have a beer with the guy. Let him into your life. Maybe get a life."
3. Milt: "You trust him? You….trust someone that I don't." Russ: "I'm just following the evidence, man."
4. Milt: "Is there anything you can tell us about the escapee…uh, Mr. Ford?" Warden: "Sure. He's an idiot. That's why I don't think I'm gonna need your help. He's gonna do something stupid and get himself caught."
5. Russ: "It's just a pointless, futile gesture to make him look good…" Ford: "Who cares? Sometimes the only way to care is with a pointless, futile gesture."



Battle Creek - 1.11/1.12 - The Hand-Off / Homecoming

While I care not one jot about Russ and Holly' relationship, these 2 episodes were interesting despite the time spent on them. I particularly like the latter one on the strength of the confession scene. The acting alone was powerful and it's one of my favorite scenes from Battle Creek. I am however shocked and annoyed that the principal wasn't more upset that her teachers were selling grades. Who else is getting grade hikes and for how much? That's some terrible leadership there on all levels. As for 1.11, the best part of it was the twist at the end. Nice job there, Battle Creek writers.

Grade: B- / B+

Best Reason to Watch - Font's back and the cases are interesting
Best Reason to Fast Forward - the awkwardness that is Holly and Russ
Best Scene - Larry Duncan talking about watching his son's brain deteriorate while playing football
Best Reaction - Guz to Holly's new look
Best Case for Body Snatchers - Russ is the empathetic one who allows a woman to cry on his shoulder, literally and bases his opinion on love
Best Twist - the victim paid the hit man to kill his wife and then took the bullet to save her
Best PSA - football and post-concussive syndrome
Biggest Ouch - Russ outs Holly's leaving
Biggest Shock - someone calls Russ "sensitive" and they are NOT being sarcastic / the football quarterback doesn't want to play football because he wants to be pre-med
Least Shocking - Kowalski is a hit man
Worst Principal - Did she even care that her teachers were making up grades? Really?
Smartest Cop - Niblet because he's right that someone hiring a hit man would have an alibi
Most Surprising - Milt's drawer of broken phones, which shows he has a temper
Biggest Side Eye - Russ broke into Milt's apartment to get his laptop? Hmm. You could have called.
The "Um, Huh?" Award - Why, oh why are they having sex in the evidence room? I still haven't figured out why Holly is into Russ period.
Best Blackmail - Milt tells the NSA guy to do him a favor or he'll leak the news that the guy was using spyware to see if his wife was cheating on him
Best New Insult - dink whistle
The "Welcome Back" Award - Alex Carter, who played one of my favorite characters on Burn Notice / Annette O'Toole, who raised Superman / Eddie McClintock formerly of Warehouse 13 / Michael Beach from Secrets and Lies / Michael McGrady from American Crime Story
Best Quotes -
1. Funk: "Russ actually looks happy." Font: "There's a miracle."
2. Russ: "Yeah about that, you know…boy, Milt you didn't have to cover for me. You know that?" Milt: "I'm just doing what anyone would have done, Russ." Russ: "No, you did what no one would have done. Everyone else, they would blame someone else…like me."
3. Jaycocks: "Do you want me to be the sitting duck?" Niblet: "No, you're a girl so you won't fool him and you're a girl so I should do it." Jaycocks: "The word is woman and…uh, thank you or screw you. I'm not quite sure."
4. Holly: "I mean everyone loved Zuransky." Guz: "Deductive reasoning tells me at least one person didn't."
5. Milt: "You truly believe Derek lost so much money that somebody paid Kowalski $50,000 to have him killed. Seems like a lot of money to pay somebody because you didn't get paid."



The Royals - 1.07-1.10 (season finale)

The Royals is a soapy mess of a show in best way possible. It's addictive in the same way Empire is and the characters are largely just as despicable. I don't know if I will watch season 2 or not, but I do fear for England under King Cyrus. No fictional character needs to die more than he does right now. Still I don't think he's behind Robert's death. That seems too subtle for him. The stabbing of his brother sounds more his speed. I'm guessing Joan Collins is behind the whole thing because…well, she's Joan Collins and she always plays the most manipulative and cunning character in the room. The question becomes why does Liam have the same domino symbol around his neck as the letter Helena receives. She's obviously in league with whomever it is. I get that it means the fall of the royal house but under whose direction and what is the plan afterwards? As long as it ends in killing Cyrus, I'm good. Just don't kill Liam. He's the only real hope for the monarchy and the show now that King Simon's gone.

Overall Grade: B, but Cyrus is a deal breaker for me as is killing off the only good character

Best Reason to Watch - lots of soapy twists and turns
Best Character - Queen Helena, who is running more things than is suspected
Biggest Twist - Cyrus outs Queen Helena and claims Liam and Eleanor are not legitimate heirs of the crown
Best Advice - Gemma is really, really good at public relations
Best Moment - Liam says he has to go back to avenge his father's death
Worst Moment - King Simon dies
Most Cathartic Moment - Liam punches out Cyrus
Best Speech - King Simon calls for a referendum to abolish the monarchy
Worst Time to be Tardy - when you are supposed to have a heart-to-heart with your father, The King
The "Say What?" Award - Prudence is now evil too and carrying King Cyrus' child. Say it isn't so!
Most Childish - Eleanor spray painting over national art
Most Needing to Die - Cyrus, as always
Most Surprising - Helena and Cyrus were working together to stop Liam's coronation
Worst Way to Drown Your Sorrows - drunken karaoke
Best Bromance - Marcus and Liam
Best Alliance - Queen Helena and the leader of the antimonarchists / surprisingly Jasper and Eleanor
Best Casting - Joan Collins as the Grand Duchess of Oxford
Best Revenge - Eleanor hits the panic button to have Jasper arrested after finding out he slept with Helena
Best Confrontation - Simon tells off Helena and Cyrus
The "Okay Then" Award - Robert's murderer just out and out tells Eleanor that he murdered her brother
Biggest Laugh - Liam singing, "I Just Can't Wait to be King" after hearing that Simon is not his father
Best Point - Gemma is right in saying that Ophelia didn't care about her feelings when she and Liam got together so Gemma doesn't care about Ophelia's feelings
Most Kind - Jasper takes Eleanor to see her father
Most Intimidating - Eleanor's new bodyguard



Stalker - 1.19/1.20 - Love Hurts / Love Kills (series finale)

Too much relationship, not enough Janice, fan unfriendly cliffhanger. That's pretty much the summary for the series finale of Stalker, which is a real shame because they had the bones of a great 2-part case. The idea of a serial killer who stalked the victims of previous stalkings had a lot of merit, even if I guessed the killer right away. Finding victims through sex addiction meetings was pretty brilliant too. I would have liked to see them develop this story more, but instead it felt rushed and incomplete because they spent so much time on Jack and Beth and more awkward conversations than any 42 minute show should ever have. To be honest, the powers that be really screwed over the fans. They should have ended with Beth's kidnapping and the killing of Ray and put this storyline more midway through. It was clear that Stalker wasn't going to get a second season fairly early on, what with all the bad press it got. They should have put fans first instead of this disappointing finale.

Grade: C+ / C-

Best Reason to Watch - the case
Best Reason to Fast Forward - Jack and Beth's relationship
Best Character Who Never Got Enough Screen Time - Janice
Most Overrated Character - Jack
Worst Odds - Beth had a stalker-killer ex. Vicky has a killer ex. Jack stalked his ex. If Janice or Ben have old flames in the psycho business, I'm going to start thinking it's the TAU.
Worst Plan - If you are being stalked, you have someone wait to walk you out to your car. You don't tell everyone to go home while you're in the building alone. It's self-preservation and common sense.
Best Detective - Janice, who uncovers a serial killer. My money's on Kristoffer Polaha or the missing Rachel.
The "Well That's Not at ALL Suspect" Award - the serial killer is wearing a stocking over his/her head outside in the daylight where anyone could see him/her
Scariest Thought - it's super easy for someone to get a picture of you putting in your alarm code The "Welcome Back" Award (character) - Ben, I've missed you. Glad you're okay.
The "Welcome Back" Award - Adam Kaufman, formerly of State of Affairs and Without a Trace / Kristoffer Polaha recently of Backstrom and Ringer / David Anders aka the bad guy in everything including iZombie / Sam Witwer from Being Human
Best Quotes -
1. Pam: "These gifts don't fool me. He's one love song away from snapping. He's not right in his head."
2. Clay: "Why does everybody think the worst about me?" Jack: "Because you're kind of creepy."
3. Janice: "Drinks?" Ben: "I have painkillers." Janice: "Fun."
4. Jack: "I need friends at the NSA."
5. Beth: "How's it going?" Jack: "You know a stalking here, a threat there."



iZombie - 1.09 / 1.10 - Patriot Brains / Mr. Berserk

My love of iZombie episodes largely depends on who Liv's eating in them. I wasn't impressed with either of these two brains. Objectively Patriot Brains was better but it gets major points deducted for killing off Lowell, a lovable character with a lot of potential. Mr. Berserk was just stupid, as in Liv was stupid. I don't need that in a main character so I will be happy to be done with Alcoholic Brain for good. It did push forward the story in a great way though. In fact both episodes did so that's why they aren't in the C range for grades. I hope that NOT telling Major comes back to haunt them all though. If there's one thing I've learned watching supernatural shows, it's that keeping secrets from loved ones never works in the end. (See Supernatural as a prime example.) I'd love to see Major become a zombie hunter since he's currently the most loyal, courageous, and downright good character on the show. Having to deal with the hunting world would shake up his. Other than that, Liv and Ravi's friendship continues to be a high point but I’d like to see Liv spend more time with Clive like she used to.

Grade: B- for both

Best Reason to Watch - Major is about 2 episodes away from believing in zombies and figuring out Liv's secret / the Max Rager story gets back on track
Most Intense Scene - Liv confesses her role in Lowell's death to Ravi and then breaks down over Lowell's body
Best Moment - Clive and Liv take out notebooks in tandem to take notes on the roommate's story
Biggest Douche Bag - It's not Blaine this time. Sketchy D-Bag is the correct name for the debate douche.
Biggest Psycho - Sebastian, who somehow makes the typical villain monologue even more creepy
Biggest Cause for Concern - Clive thinks Liv's brain salad smells good
Biggest Applause - finally someone says that Blaine must die…because well, he does
Biggest Turnaround - Liv goes from sobbing in grief to bloodthirsty revenge in about 1.5 seconds
Best Call - Ravi basically saying Liv is being a hypocrite for calling Lowell out on his brain consumption
Worst Call - Ravi did not tell Liv that he got bit by ZombieRat
Worst Plan - killing off Lowell just when he got interesting / not telling Major the truth
Least Use of Brain Power - Liv, who meets with the head of Max Rager to confront him instead of waiting like Clive asked her to, giving him a heads up on the investigation. Then she goes off with the assassin like a newbie.
Most Likely to be a Problem in the Future - crazy zombie assassin
Best Addition - Scott E, who finally mentions the "Z" word
Best Friend / Most Amazing - Major, who takes care of a drunk Liv even though she's being a lousy friend to him
Best PSA - Liv is proof positive that alcohol makes you a moron
Worst Trade Off - If we keep Blaine and lose Lowell, I'm going to be ticked. Blaine is wearing on my last nerve as the Big Bad with all his strutting and poser-ing. We need someone higher up the food chain right now.
The "Welcome Back" Award - Steven Weber, who specializes in smug douche bags these days
Best Quotes -
1. Julien: "Major? Blond pretty boy who looks like he fell out of a Nicholas Sparks movie?"
2. Ravi: "A journalist slash raging alcoholic. Her cerebral spinal fluid practically came out on the rocks with a lemon twist."
3. Liv: "We could just go door-to-door asking where the sketchy d-bag is." Clive: "Half of them are law students. We'd be here all day."
4. Ravi: "After the boat party, whenever you woke up in a body bag, how did you know you were a zombie?" Liv: "The craving brains didn't really speak to werewolves."
6. Clive: "Dr. C., you mind if I take your assistant on a field trip?" Ravi: "I'd sign her permission slip, but my hands are covered in viscera."



Younger - 1.08 / 1.09 - Sk8 / I'm with Stupid

Grade: B- / B

Best Reason to Watch - Kelsey and Liza / Maggie and Liza
Best Scene - Kelsey tells Liza we all have deal breakers
Dumbest Subplot - Liza thinking Josh is dumb
Most Interesting Tactic - I never thought of book club reviews being that powerful before. I guess if you're having trouble finding a publisher, the next stop is Goodreads.
Best Babysitter - Liza
Biggest Name Dropping - Philip Roth
Biggest Guts - Kelsey tells Anton's wife that they are having an affair in the middle of an award ceremony
The "Oh This Won't End Well" Award - hints of something developing between Charles and Liza mean big problems between Diana and Liza down the road
The "Say What?" Award - Just because people think Liza's a lesbian doesn't mean they have the right to accost her and kiss her. Back off, drunk lady.
Most Fun - zombie attack or skateboarding home
Least Fun - I'm with Liza here, dodgeball
Most Talented - Liza with her ability to navigate NYC while reading a book
Best Quotes -
1. Liza: "There was nowhere to run. It was like being trapped in a cage with rabid hipsters. If there's such things as artesian steroids, I'm pretty sure they were on them."
2. Jake: "So you're a videogame virgin." Liza: "Is that a big deal?" Roman: "Not if you're Amish."
3. Charles: "So now we're taking pleasure in other people's misery." Liza: "No, we're taking solace in other people's misery and we should do it frequently in order to maintain our sanity."
4. Liza: "Messes make people interesting." Charles: "They do?" Liza: "Yes, the messier the better. Name any great artist."
5. Liza: "Do you think Josh is dumb?" Kelsey: "I'm sure he's dumb. He's a guy." Liza: "Josh dropped out of college." Kelsey: "So did Mark Zuckerberg." Liza: "Kelsey, he doesn't read." Kelsey: "Well if that's important to you, then that's important. I mean we all have our deal breakers."
6. Diana: "You have no idea what it's like to be single and in your 40's. It's like trying to rent out a beautiful apartment where a murder took place. Everyone's spooked."



The Flash - 1.22 - Rogue Air

So was this supposed to be the backdoor pilot of the new spin-off show? Are all these people going to be on it or only Cold? Was this episode to fan service something going on in Arrow? The penultimate episode seems like a weird time for a bad guy reunion unless they are going to be featured in the finale as well. I was also surprised that they captured Wells already. Unless he escapes in the next episode, this is going to be one very different finale than what I was expecting. Still this episode had a ton of action and that automatically raises my appreciation. Plus there was good teamwork. While it didn't work as a penultimate episode for me (which might change when I see the finale), it was a lot of fun.

Grade: B for action

Best Reason to Watch - lots of action
Best Teamwork - Barry, Oliver, and Ronnie
Best Continuity - I didn't even remember some of these villains so it was nice that the writers did
Most Important Crime Fighting Accessory - soda, which only on The Flash is a bad guy sensor
Best Save - Iris, who apparently they are trying to make less useless
Worst Plan - Barry goes to Snart to help him transport the prisoners
Smartest Plan - Snart wants everything about himself erased from all files so he can start again
Biggest Face Palm - Why the heck would Barry ever want to be like Oliver the Douche? The reason I'm watching your show is because you are NOT Oliver, Barry! (And this show isn't written like some daytime TV Maury Povitch special…yet.)
Most Vaguely Ominous - Oliver tells Barry that he might need a favor
Best Question - I like that Joe questions how they are different from those they are pursuing because it means that the show has a conscience. Most superhero shows drive me to distraction because it is increasingly hard to tell the "heroes" from the villains and I never want that to happen here.
Best Quotes -
1. Cisco: "Really not enjoying being one of the good guys this week. Really not."
2. Lisa: "How come you haven't given me a code name. I heard you came up with Captain Cold. What do you think I should be called?" Cisco: "Female inmate."
3. Barry: "You know I just learned the hard way not to trust the bad guy."
4. Joe: "You know the difference between right and wrong and you weren't willing to blur the lines between the two. That's the kind of man you are and that's what makes you different than the Arrow. So please, no more walks on the dark side. Agreed?"
5. Joe: "Damn. You can't get that at Radio Shack."



CSI: Cyber - 1.11/1.12/1.13 - Ghost in the Machine / Bit by Bit / Family Secrets (season finale)

I really don't understand why this show gets so much hate. Yes, it is ridiculously predictable in some ways. In every episode Krumitz and Nelson will have a cute bromance moment, Avery will tell us something we all already know in a PSA manner, and some nerd will run, causing Mundo to chase after him or her. It's a crime procedural. They all have certain things you know will happen. Therefore the only reason I can guess for why this one is particularly loathed is either because it got renewed in place of its parent show or that it is really nothing like it. That doesn't make it bad. In fact, I prefer it to CSI. I like the relationships on Cyber, especially Krumitz and Nelson's bromance, and I find the tech side fascinating if a little scary. I didn't realize there were so many ways for hackers to ruin your life. Identity theft is just the beginning, folks. Add to it a lot more action than I ever figured would be in a computer geek show and CSI: Cyber pleasantly surprised me. What didn't was throwing in the random murder of the guy who killed Krumitz's parents. It felt like the writers were surprised by the renewal and had to find some kind of cliffhanger. Really the show did not need one. This episode was a nice wrap-up to Avery's introduction to cybercrime and had some good emotional scenes throughout. They should have left well enough alone.

Grade: B (until 10 minutes left in the season finale)

Ghost in the Machine Awards:
Weekly Tech to be Afraid Of - game consoles and kids who are smarter about tech than their parents / your computer network / blue tooth hacking guns
Smartest Hacker - Raven realizes the game console is how the kid heard from the gun dealer
The "Yikes, We're Screwed" Award - if kids are so concerned about their stuff in the videogame world that they'd do favors for strangers in real life, we're in big trouble when they're old enough to vote
Biggest Dummy - the video game kid who thought he could leap from one rooftop to another because he did it in a videogame
Most Fun - the team plays a video game together to celebrate their win
Least Surprising - the gun that Viper tries to shot Avery with is unloaded
Most Surprising - Devon decides to have Mundo move back in
Biggest Misnomer - super cookie sounds like a delightful dessert not a tracking device
The "Say What?" Award - If several vehicles come in to the park with sirens flashing and people with FBI vests come pouring out, would you just keep going about your business? Why is no one staring at this spectacle and asking what's going on? Better yet, why aren't they gathering their families and getting out of there?
Most Awkward - Nelson and Simon trying to fistbump/shake hands/hug
Biggest Shenanicanon? - Either it's another day or Trigger stays an awful long time on a library computer, given that Krumitz and Nelson have to fly to Tampa to be there. I can't believe that Trigger would be there any longer than he has to be, given the public setting where anyone can see what site he's on. I'm also not sure why they would chance him being spooked and not returning to the library when they could have the FBI near Tampa get him on that day.
The "I Totally Agree" Award - Mundo is right. Anyone who thinks what they do in the game world they can do in real life is crazy.
Biggest Facepalm - Mundo asks if Avery thinks the perp made them. They are wearing big vests that say FBI on them so it's not like they were trying to go undercover.

Bit by Bit Awards:
Best Scene - Krumitz takes out the bad guy
Best Character Interaction - Krumitz and Nelson
Best Awww Moment - Nelson gets his devices back and sees a digital picture of his parents / Avery convinces Nelson to call his parents
Most Fun - Nelson and Avery sing his mom's favorite song together
Worst Luck - nothing like having the family photos rat your alibi out
Biggest Surprise - Krumitz can run and kick butt when he wants to
The "Say What?" Award - No one told the kid not to go back home? Are they nuts? I would have gotten my kid and made sure he was with me through this. Plus, no one saw the kid heading to his house and stopped him? Are they not surrounding the house?
Best Music - How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You) by Marvin Gaye

Family Secrets Awards:
Best Reason to Watch - Avery's original hacking problem is resolved
Best Awww Moment - Krumitz gives Avery a burner phone with all her contacts already uploaded
Best Twist - Avery's patient killed her other patient instead of the ex-husband
Most Intense - Logan damages the laptop in anger against Avery
Best Backstory - Simon's best friend died in front of him in a car accident / Avery's ex-husband
Biggest Hmm - This episode pretty much ended at 37:30, so why did they tack on the murder of the man who killed Krumitz's parents?
Biggest Foul - no one called Avery out for ditching her team and scaring them all like that
The "I Don't Think So" Award - a few sweet nothings doesn't excuse worrying Raven and possibly getting her in trouble at work, Nelson
Least Surprising - Krumitz's sister killed the man who killed their parents
Best Casting - David Dastmalchian, who played Logan, embodied creepy in this episode
Best Plan - Simon doesn't share personal information on any of his agents
Worst Plan - not bringing your team in on your plan
Best Advice - Simon tells Krumitz that he can't hang on to his anger over his parents' deaths
The "Oh Come On" Award - If he's trying to poison you with carbon monoxide, the first step after dialing Mundo should be to throw that beautiful name plate through the windows and let the monoxide dissipate. You are smarter than this, Avery.
The "Welcome Back" Award (character) - Krumitz's sister

Best Quotes -
1. Krumitz: "So this is your place, huh? Nice, homey." Avery: "Well what did you expect?" Krumitz: "Oh I don't know. Uh, drum set, velvet Elvis, pet alligator." Avery: "Well he's at the vet."
2. Nelson: "Wait a minute. There's a Cyber Most Wanted List. Well what number was I?" Raven: "Um, you didn't make the list." Krumitz: "Hey in my heart, you were always #1."
3. Avery: "Well if you brought me here for a session maybe we should start with your delusional fantasies and your obsessive behavior."
4. Simon: "You're never going to get rid of the loss but you have got to get past this anger because that 10 year old kid who lost his parents is now a 28 year old man."
5. Nelson: "You think he really went to go shoot this guy? I mean if I was 15 years old and somebody told me to go kill someone, I couldn't do it. I'm a grown-a** man and I couldn't even do it now." Krumitz: "Really? You're fully grown?" Nelson: "The best things come in small packages, Krummy."



The Goldbergs - 2.24 - Goldbergs Feel Hard (season finale)

I loved The Goldbergs last year when it seemed like few people knew about it and I felt like I was constantly trying to promote it to new viewers. What a difference one year and a whole lot better time slot makes. The Goldbergs is a hit and up almost 30% in the ratings. Woo hoo! It's the one comedy success story I have from last year. If anything, The Goldbergs has only gotten better this season. Sure there were a few episodes that weren't my favorite, usually ones involving Beverly going way over the top at school. Still, overall the balance between comedy and heart has been outstanding and this episode is no different. I adore Murray overhearing Erica saying how much he means to her. It was a sweet father-daughter moment and he wasn't even in the room. I'm not sure what season 3 will bring, but I can't wait to have more of the Goldbergs on my TV.

Grade: A-

Best Reason to Watch - family and all its ups and downs
Best Aww Moment - Erica tells Beverly that she loves Murray while he's listening from the hallway / Barry puts his arm around Adam and asks if he's okay
Saddest Moment - Adam learns Dana is moving to Seattle
Best Reaction - Erica to Murray telling her that he loves her
Weirdest Fight Ever - Murray and Erica in an "I love you" battle
Most in Need of Remedial Geography - Barry, who thinks Seattle is in Canada
Biggest Facepalm - Adam plans to pull the fire alarm instead of getting Dana's combination from a friend
Best Save - Coach's over the top locker drug search to get the letter back for Adam
Best Montage - extended end segment placing the real video next to the show video
Best Music - If You Leave by OMD
Best Quotes -
1. Murray: "Okay, you're rage cleaning. Before you wipe a hole in the counter, tell me what I did." Beverly: "Why can't you just tell the kids you love them?" Murray: "You tell them a hundred times a day. How much love do these people need?"
2. Erica: "He's my dad. I love him more than anything. Trust me. He knows."
3. Erica: "Mom, stop rage juicing. If you want to talk, I'm right here." Beverly: "How could you?" Erica: "I've done some questionable things lately, so if you could just say out loud what I did first…just so we're all on the same page." Beverly: "Your father said, 'I love you,' and you didn't say it back." Erica: "Yes, that is definitely the worst thing I've done this week."
4. Laney: "When my mom left, it crushed my dad so I swore I'd never be so dumb to fall in love myself but you're just so dumb you made me fall in love with you anyway."
5. Murray: "I tell the kids I love them every day by putting a roof over their heads." Beverly: "Yeah, well what's gonna happen when Erica leaves for the summer? Where's your fancy love roof then?"



Supernatural - 10.22 - The Prisoner

Generally I'm not a fan of Supernatural's penultimate episodes. They are usually where the emotional fall out consumes all the time so they're low on action. Not in this case. I loved seeing Dean going turbo mode on the Stynes and I have no problem with the throw down with Cas either. I do have a problem with him being a huge hypocrite though. After all the fallout of Dean trying to save Sam multiple times, he has no right to speak harshly to Sam even about Charlie's death. Speaking of, I'm glad she got a hunter's funeral. It's a good way to send off a character that was mostly good for the story, once they stopped having her save everyone that is. I am a bit disappointed that the Styne storyline was over so quickly. They could have made good season-long Big Bads.

Grade: B

Best Reason to Watch - Dean goes off the deep end
Best Scene - Sam vs. Crowley
Best Action - Dean kills Monroe and the others / Dean and Cas fight
Best Consistency / Best Speech - Sam brings up how Dean never let him die
Most Anticlimactic - Dean shoots Eldon in the head, which was smart but less cathartic
Most in Need of Fleeing - Rowena, because a ticked Crowley on your tail is never pleasant
Biggest Cheat - not letting us see Dean take down the others
Biggest What the Heck - Never thought I'd hear folk music on Supernatural. This is like when they played Fall Out Boy in Bloody Mary.
Biggest Overreaction - kidnapping the kid who knocked your cousin down and dicing him up for spare parts
The "It's about Time" Award - Crowley is finally acting like the King of Hell. This softer side of Crowley wasn't working for me, although the snark always does.
Quickest Escape - Dean doesn't lie so if he says he's getting out in 30 seconds you better just hand over the keys and put your hands up
Most Sane - Cyrus Styne, who wants out of his family stat
Biggest Hypocrite/Jerk - Dean, who would have done the same thing in Sam's place. Don't you dare throw this in Sam's face after whining about him not looking for you in Purgatory.
Biggest Gasp - Dean kills the kid. I knew he was going to and it still affected me anyway.
Best Quotes-
1. Sam: "Cas look, I've been the one out there messed up and scared and alone and Dean…" Cas: "Did whatever he could to save you." Sam: "Yes. I mean it's become his thing. I owe him this. I owe him everything. Look I know he pretends that he can ride the mark out but you and I know the truth. We know what happens if we don't cure him. We both know where that road ends." Cas: "Black eyes and blood." Sam: "Yes. Go. Find him, Cas. Keep him safe."
2. Crowley: "You're right. I am the monster and I've done bad. I've done things you can't even imagine. Horrible, evil, messy things…and I've loved every damn minute. So thank you Sam for reminding me who I really am."
3. Sheriff: "Oh you can't take on the Stynes. They own this town. They're practically gods around here." Dean: "Yeah, well I kill gods."
4. Sam: "When it's done with you, you won't be you anymore. Dean, you're all I've got so of course I was going to fight for you because that's what we do."
5. Dean: "That's for lying to me….and that is for my Baby. Now, who're you talking to?"



Supernatural - 10.23 - Brother's Keeper (season finale)

I have no idea what just happened here. I've stopped trying to make sense of Supernatural but this is way beyond that. All I know is that if Baby dies, the darkness is going down. As for this being the finale, well it was all about the brothers and that's exactly what Supernatural should be. I am not wildly crazy about Swan Song like most of the fandom but this reversal of it was well done. It was Sam's chance to give everything for his brother, albeit with pictures instead of the Impala. I love how Sam would not stop telling Dean that he was a good person, even when Dean was hitting him. Of all the things this season got right, it finally fixed the brothers after the disaster that was season 8. I liked Sam far better this season and it was a nice switch to make the season arc about Sam having to save Dean for a change. This wasn't classic Supernatural by any stretch. It will never be the quality of SPN season 1-3 again, but this was the best Supernatural has been since Jeremy Carver took over and that's enough for me these days. I'm still rooting for the return of the real king though. Eric Kripke, come back and save your show from the pretender!

Grade: B-

Best Reason to Watch - Sam fights for Dean with everything he has in a reversal of Swan Song
Biggest Fake Out - I was about to be even more irate with Jeremy Carver than usual when the acapella version of Carry On Wayward Son started. Not that I think it's bad because I don't. You just don't mess with tradition. When we got the real thing, I was appeased.
Biggest Adios - no getting the deposit back on that motel room
Biggest What the Heck - Mark or no mark, since when is Dean okay with sacrificing Sam? Oh yeah, in the same Carver-afflicted universe where Sam doesn't search for Dean. Bah and a pox on your whole house!
The "Well It Made Sense at the Time" Award - with a problem like the mark, it does seem better to bring out the big guns and take the consequences
Least Shocking - Supernatural is blaming God for Lucifer as well. Huge sigh.
Most Surprising - Well I guess Death is not going to reap God after all. Dean Winchester killing Death. That's not going to come back to bite them at all I'm sure.
The "Say What?" Award - Why is Crowley's way not negotiation? It seems like giving him Rowena would be a better platform for discussion.
The "Liar, Liar" Award - Dean can say it until he's blue in the face but he's nowhere near good
Most Nostalgic - the picture of Mary, John, and the boys survived
Worst Negotiation - Rowena says she gets her freedom AND the codex after doing the spell
Most Handy - Dean can suddenly cook authentic Mexican. Cool.
The "Um, I Don't Think So" Award - Dean did not just give away Baby. Nope. Unnh unh.
The "Nice to Meet You" Award - Rudy, may you not be like Garth. That is if you even make it through the next 37 minutes. (Nope, you didn't even last 10 minutes. Oh well.)
The "Welcome Back" Award (character) - SPN is the only show where I miss Death
The "Welcome Back" Award (clothing) - Dean's black t-shirt not hampered by flannel
Best Continuity - so now everyone's summoned a crossroads demon / Death's love of junk food
Best Memory - Death remembers how the Winchesters have screwed him over in the past
Best Meta - Oscar is going by Seth at this time, which is coincidentally Adam and Eve's third child after Cain kills Abel
Bets Quotes -
1. Sam's whole 8 minute speech about how the Winchesters are good
2. Crowley: "Who summons anymore? Couldn't you call?" Cas: "You're not in my contacts list."
3. Dean: "No games, no second thoughts. I know you know what this is. I know you know what it can do. Now I've tried to fight it. I've tried to beat it on my own and I…I can't. I've got no moves left except you." Death: "Well I never thought I'd see the day. My goodness, Dean Winchester has tipped over his king. But I won't kill you, Dean."
4. Death: "Our conundrum is simple, Sam. Your brother cannot be killed and the mark cannot be destroyed, not without inciting a far greater evil than any of us have ever known." Sam: "What evil?" Dean: "The darkness." Sam: "What the hell is that?" Dean: "What does it sound like? Does it sound like a good thing?"
5. Seth: "How do you know all this?" Crowley: "A hamster told me."
6. Crowley: "Forbidden fruit. Well for starters it’s a quince, you dummy, not an apple. Not a problem. Golden Calf or what's left of it. Check. Something Rowena loves?" Cas: "I would have thought it would have been you but…" Crowley: "Spare me. I lived it."



Young & Hungry - 2.08 / 2.09 - Young & Sandwich / Young & Pretty Woman

Ugh! Just ugh! I care not one jot about Gabi and Josh hooking up. I just want to laugh and nothing about 2.09 did that. It might be time for me to drop this show. Will they-won't they does nothing for me. Hooking up with your boss does nothing for me. Right now I want to fast forward every time Josh or Gabi is on screen and only watch the parts with Yolanda, Sofia, and Elliot. Sadly they are usually on screen with either Gabi or Josh. Once again, I wish there was a spin-off. We're about halfway done with this season but the next 3 episodes will tell me all I need to know.

Grade: B- / D

Best Reason to Watch - Yolanda, Sofia, and even Elliot
Bets Reason to Fast Forward - Cooper-Gabi-Josh love triangle
Best Trick - Yolanda gets Josh to sweep the floors while he's distracted
Most Nosy - Gabi just cannot butt out of other people's business
Biggest Hypocrite - Sofia who is also keeping things from Gabi so she can't exactly be upset that Gabi kept something from her
Least Likely to End Up on Dateline - Sofia does background searches on the guys she dates
Best Revenge - Cooper tells Gabi all about Josh making Sofia lie to her
Best New Addition - Alan
Worst Judgment - Josh sleeps with Caroline again
Worst Timing - Josh tells Gabi that he loves her after Cooper comes back and moves in with her
Most Nostalgic - Zima
Best Quotes -
1. Marco: "I haven't seen you since the Madonna concert." Eliot: "That was a terrible place to dump me. I haven't been able to listen to her music since." Marco: "Honey, no one has."
2. Gabi: "Hey Cupid, meet Sofia Maria Consuela Rafaela Rodriguez. This is gonna be an AutoCorrect nightmare."
3. Eliot: "Well Alan showed me his big surprise. He liquidated his retirement account and bought a karaoke bar. I'm gay and Asian and I still think that's a stupid idea."
4. Gabi: "You know what's breaking bad? Your dating life."
5. Gabi: "Yes, I know what an orgasm is. I just didn't know that you could register for one."



Elementary - 3.24 - A Controlled Descent (season finale)

Elementary has been by and large disappointing to me this season. It hasn't fallen off the rails completely like Sleepy Hollow or become some hollow image of its former sense like Grimm, but things have been off all season. The real appeal to this show besides twisty cases is the relationship between Sherlock and Watson. When that gets damaged the show suffers and sadly their relationship has been off all season. The best part of season 3 was the introduction of Kitty and they sent her packing far too soon. Now it feels like they are throwing everything at the ideas board to stave off cancellation. The writing smells like desperation and I'm afraid hooking Sherlock back on drugs is the final last ditch effort. One I am not a fan of by the way. I have no need to watch a semi-comatose Sherlock struggle his way out of heroin. I'd rather have the old camaraderie back and continue with some great, twisty cases. Elementary has lost its way as surely as Sherlock has and it's time to brush off those season 2 DVDs and get the magic going again. Oh and as always, find a way to bring Moriarty back. She's the best part of Sherlock.

Grade: C+

Best Reason to Watch - hopefully this gets rid of Oscar for good since he has to be locked up for kidnapping
Best Moment - they find Alfredo alive
Most Cathartic - Sherlock beats the heck out of Oscar
Worst Twist - Sherlock starts using again
Best Part of the Cliffhanger - maybe we'll see Sherlock's dad
Biggest Douche - the guy who thinks his Charger is stolen
Biggest Lowlife / Most Desperate - Oscar, who isn't happy until he's bringing everyone else down with him
Most Amusing - Sherlock trying to bond with Alfredo over Abbott and Costello flicks
Best Continuity - Sherlock brings up Alastair's death
Least Welcome Return - Oscar, who is always annoying
Best Quotes -
1. Oscar: "What? It doesn't bother you - the shooting gallery last night. Seeing everything that you saw. Wow. You're like…you're like cured now?" Sherlock: "That's one of the dumbest things I've ever heard you say and I've known you a long time."
2. Sherlock: "You seem quite certain that if he is in trouble, it's of his own making." Alfredo's Mom: "I'm not but if life with my son has taught me one thing, it's that you need to be ready for anything. If he did fall, I don't want him dragging you down with him. He wouldn't want it either."
3. Watson: "If Oscar thinks that taking you to a shooting gallery is going to help you find his sister, he's not just deranged. He's an idiot."
4. Sherlock: "There are methods of torture that even your pathetic frame could endure."
5. Sherlock: "I'm not really a fan of sharing, Oscar. I have no intention of opening up now."



Grimm - 4.22 - Cry Havoc (season finale)

This has been a topsy turvy season for Grimm. While Trubel was around, it was decent. There was more action and fast plot movement. Then Trubel left and besides Sleepy Hollow, I've never seen a show disintegrate into a hot mess faster. It has become clear that the writing staff on Grimm has no more ideas on what to do with the characters. How else can you explain the sudden vilification of Juliette and the current sanctifying of Adalind? Adalind apparently doesn't need to redeem herself from ALL the junk she's pulled. She just needs to get pregnant and get rid of her hexenbiest powers. Then all of a sudden everything's forgiven and she becomes instant Juliette 2.0. What the heck, writers! Since when have all the characters undergone a lobotomy? Ugh! This is just poor writing, period. There's refreshing the story and giving it new life. Then there's hoping the audience has amnesia and just goes with all the out-of-character junk you throw at them. Season 5 is likely my last with Grimm (and possibly NBC's if the ratings don't stop dropping) since the only good thing that's happened in this last half is that you finally brought Trubel back on and maybe gave her a plotline.

Grade: B+

Best Reason to Watch - they offed Juliette (but sadly not Adalind)
Best Reason to Have Season 5 - Trubel, who's the most interesting character they have
Best Action - Nick vs. Kenneth / fight at the Royals' rental
Best Plan - Nick, for once, has a smart plan where everything goes right. Hiding the severed head in Prince Kenneth's room was inspired.
Best Scene - Trubel shoots Juliette
Most Intense - Nick throttles Juliette
Most Gruesome - Nick plunges a spike in Kenneth
Biggest Heartache - Nick over his mom
Worst Subplot - Adalind's freaky purple eyed kid
The "Guess That Didn't Work" Award - They kill off all Nick's neighbors so they can surround the house and yet Hank, Trubel, and Nick just walk out the back door. So much for overkill.
Biggest Say What? - I don't get it. Is Trubel working with the FBI: Wesen Squad? What did Chavez means when she said, "Get her."?
The "No Truer Statement Has Ever Been Said" Award - Trubel: "I never should have left."
The "Too Cool for Weapons" Award - Monroe doesn't need to bring anything to a fight. He is the fight.
The "Yet Another Reason Why Adalind Must Die" Award - Rosalee is stuck babysitting again
The "Oh Please" Award - King Frederick tries to tell Juliette that the royal family has always been on the side of hexenbiests when Renard's life clearly shows otherwise
The "I'm with You" Award - Trubel to hearing Adalind is pregnant with Nick's baby and Juliette's a hexenbiest. That's the same face I was giving the writers right before I facepalmed.
Best Reaction - Nick figures out that Juliette set up Mama Grimm
Worst Reaction - Adalind, who overreacts badly whenever questioned about the head
Best Plot Twist - Meisner kills the king and takes Diana
Best Save - Monroe attacks the Wesen who attacks Hank
Best Indiana Jones Moment - Wu starts with the 3-prong dagger but ends up going shotgun
Biggest Huh - Why did Trubel drop her weapon? It's the beginning of the fight and even still you'd want to take the evidence with you, not leave it at the crime scene. Urgh! Portland is wearing off on Trubel and that's never good.
Biggest Facepalm - Adalind, when dropping off a head in your hotel room to frame a prince, use gloves so your fingerprints aren't all over the plastic wrap. It'll be hard to pin the murder on Kenneth if you're so careless.
Best Cheers - Rosalee and Monroe try to relax after a long day of getting rid of Jack the Ripper and cutting up bodies for potions
Least Sympathetic - King Frederick, who is just as likely to feed you to the lions as reward you
Most Done with This - Wu, who kicks Kenneth in the knee to get him down and then pushes him over when he protests
Most Useful - Kenneth, who started forward plot movement when he came and tied up a moronic loose subplot with his death
Biggest Vigilantes - Team Grimm, who completely bypass any semblance of law or police work to take down the Royals
The "Welcome Back" Award (character) - Meisner, who's the only thing interesting about the Royals plot
Best Quotes -
1. Trubel: "Goodbye, Juliette."
2. Hank: "He's kind of dead, Nick. I don't think he's going to be answering any questions."
3. Wu: "Okay this is crazy. I'm going back." Hank: "No, no, no, no. This is the way Nick wanted." Wu: "Okay I'm sure Nick can handle this guy but he killed Nick's mom. What if he kills Nick?" Hank: "Then we finish what he started."
4. Hank: "We're gonna need you on this." Trubel: "You've got it. I never should have left."
5. Meisner: "Down with the king."



The Messengers - 1.05 / 1.06 - Eye in the Sky / Metamorphosis

The Messengers is progressing nicely, adding in little twists I didn't see coming. For instance, I had no idea another "angel" would be joining them. Currently I don't know what to make of Koa but I'm with Raul. I don't trust her and I don't think the others should either. You cannot make someone get on board with teamwork and common goals. Still she could go either way as a character. If she continues to make things harder, I'll want her gone. If she just adds a bit of tension and a new skill set to the team, then welcome aboard.

Grade: B / B-

Best Reason to Watch - the plot is getting more engrossing all the time
Best Character Interaction - Nadia and Peter
Best Twist - Pestilence is a computer virus
Least Surprising - Peter keeps the car from leaving / Richards is in charge of the meteorite now
Most Surprising - Nadia shoots Ronnie
Most Fun - story time with Raul
The "Say What?" Award - Why does the screen show Koa's wings but not Rose or Raul's? Do they only show up sporadically?
Worst Plan - Shouldn't they let someone who knows how to use a computer go meet the hacker? It seems strange to give that job to Rose when Nadia is the one who knows her way into the hacker scene.
Most Disgusting - Raul's burned hand
Biggest Oops - Peter pulls off the bathroom door when he's embarrassed by walking in on Nadia
Biggest Psycho - Erin's husband, Ronnie, who is paranoid about their safety
Biggest Huh? - How many winged people are there on this show? Who is this lady?
Biggest Mistake - don't tick off a fallen angel because they get answers by any means necessary / not telling Alan the truth
Biggest Face Palm - Does no one on Team Thwart the Apocalypse know how to Google it? How hard can it be to get an old lady's address?
Most Helpful - Nadia with her gun and computer skills
Best Reference - The Hunger Games
Best Quotes -
1. Raul: "It's a vision." Rosa: "No, it's a blackout." Raul: "Well I'll drink to that."
2. Nadia (to Raul giving her a gun): "You're kidding me, right? You want to give me a pack of smokes and some tequila while you're at it?"
3. Peter: "It's kind of hard to have faith in anything when you don't know where you come from." Nadia: "Maybe for now it's enough to know where you belong."
4. Peter: "I swear she was just here. She said we need to follow the signs." Erin: "What's that supposed to mean?" Peter: "I don't know. I barely passed algebra."
5. Raul: "Tell me you didn't just heal that kid." Erin: "What can I say? I'm a mother."
6. Alan (after braining someone with a rock): "What? It's in The Hunger Games."



Community - 6.09 - Grifting 101

Grade: C+

Best Reason to Watch - the group goofy dancing together
Best Scene - Britta punches out the grifting teacher
Most Vulnerable - Jeff, who says they're always picking on him
Best Use of Music - retooling the Community theme in the style of The Sting's theme song
Best Meta - talking about how The Sting is an awful movie
Best Continuity - bringing up how study group started
Best New Addition - Ryan Ridley
Best Reference - The Sting
Best Quotes -
1. Abed: "I'm starting to think that real grifts only happen in the movies and even in the movies they barely make sense."
2. Elroy: "That's something even I can mock and I live in an RV. I'm judging you and my dinner table folds down from a wall."
3. Frankie: "Okay. How many times have I told you people the faculty lounge is not a bar. Alright, pack it up people. Come on. You don't have to go teach a class but you can't stay here."
4. Annie: "You can't expel Britta. She's been here 6 years. 3 more and she'll have her 2 year degree." Abed: "Britta keeps me grounded in reality. You can't expel her with 4 weekisodes left in seasonmester."
5. Abed: "Jeff, you haven't even looked at the new course catalog. I'm like a kid in a candy store." Jeff: "The candy has lost its appeal now that I work at the store. You might say becoming a teacher here gave me diabetes."
6. Abed: "I've always wanted to learn more about grifting ever since I saw 1990's The Grifters starring John Cusack, Anjelica Huston, and almost no grifting."


Screencaps by TV Fanatic, TV Fanatic, and Battle Creek Enquirer.


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 The 100, Grimm, Teen Wolf, and others. She's addicted to Twitter, live tweets a multitude of shows each week, and co-hosts the 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."
Recent Reviews (All Reviews)

72 comments:

  1. Whew! Nothing like 2 weeks worth of TV to supersize an article. This being pretty much the end of the 2014-2015 season, how did your TV year go? What shows surprised you the most? Which ones disappointed you? Any new favorites fromthe year?

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  2. I agree with a lot of what you said about the Flash finale. The plotline was iffy, but they certainly made up for it with the emotional hits. The characters and relationships - at least when they aren't forcing romance - have been simply awesome this whole season and it was great to see that culminate in the finale.


    "Biggest Surprise - Iris and Eddie did not meet through her dad but through a mugging" I think this happened in the pilot episode, before the particle accelerator exploded? Iris had some bag stolen, Barry ran after the mugger but got taken down by him, and then Eddie saved the day. Iris was pretty unimpressed with him at first, but by the time Barry woke up from a coma they were dating.

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  3. Characters and their interactions are definitely The Flash's strong point and that strength can get me through some rough plot points like you said. I think that is the key to The Flash's success. It's so easy to care about these characters and even easier to root for them. They have a positive outlook when most comic book adaptations are mired in gloom.


    I didn't remember the mugger scene but I like how she talks about Eddie while Barry is in the coma. That scene I remembered because Iris made me laugh. I guess this meet cute surprises me most because it felt like Joe and Eddie had been partners for quite awhile. I never got that "getting to know you and how you operate" feeling with them.

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  4. I think you may be assuming a lot with regard to Adalind's treatment on Grimm. She's not acting like an enemy now, but that doesn't mean they've accepted her. Right now they've been acting as though she were any person who needed help at the time. The main characters are decent people, so they're not tossing her out on the street. But it doesn't mean everything is okay or forgiven, they've just been busy.

    Look at Renard. They've been awkwardly wary around him since season two. They help him when they can, but he's not part of the fold. I imagine it'd be the same for Adalind (assuming she doesn't go bad again).

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  5. "Biggest What the Heck - Mark or no mark, since when is Dean okay with sacrificing Sam? Oh yeah, in the same Carver-afflicted universe where Sam doesn't search for Dean. Bah and a pox on your whole house!"


    It's been years and people still fuss over this. Sam did search for Dean for a time. You can spot maps and everything on a wall inside the cabin when Sam goes back to it.

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  6. Your thoughts on Dexter are interesting! I hate to say it, but the violence and nudity does get...increased. And you think Debra's annoying? Man, she's one of my favourite characters. And I love Dexter as a character. I relate to him in some weird ways, which of course seems disturbing, but it's mostly to do with the things he says on voiceover. Glad to see the pilot intrigued you so much that you kept watching. Season 1 is pretty good but Season 4 will have you obsessed! Personally I love Season 5 but a lot of people do not. Haha.
    I'm definitely interested to hear more about your thoughts later on.

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  7. Goodish TV year for me. Two new favorites (Grantchester, Daredevil), one satisfying send-off (White Collar) and few disappointments.

    Most disappointing: Arrow
    Most surprising: Broadchurch. I didn't want there to be a Season 2, but it was quite different from Season 1 and I still loved it. Now I'm annoyed that it was renewed for Season 3, but maybe they'll impress once again.
    Most improved: Doctor Who, though it was a case of "nowhere to go but up." I would still applaud a showrunner change.
    Most inconsistent: Supernatural, as usual. But despite the bumps, I was still engaged and excited (almost) every week, moreso than last season. Guess Carver and Co. are still doing something right (or at least Ackles and Padalecki are). There were some truly outstanding moments this season, including the scenes between Dean and Sam in the finale. Season 11 has a lot of promise; let's hope Carver can deliver. Wonder who will replace Glass and how that will shake things up. Edlund, you free...?


    Thanks for doing these reviews every week – I always appreciate your clever ways of breaking down the shows. Til next fall!

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  8. Thanks for reading and giving your feedback. I've never heard of Grantchester so I'll have to look that one up. I miss White Collar, especially Mozzie, but I agree that the ending worked and while I wish they had had more episodes in the final season, it was satisfying. I often think of the Carver years as Supernatural 2.0 and I don't expect as much out of it as I always did in seasons 1-7. This season however I went back to watching it weekly instead of just watching all the episodes in the summer like I did with season 9. I think this year was much better than season 9 and vastly better than the disaster that was season 8. The brother scenes in the finale attest to them finally fixing the brother relationship and that was #1 on my SPN wish list. I have big hopes that season 11 will continue improving.

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  9. I think the writer's like Adalind and so they keep finding ways to push her into the story. By killing Juliette, removing Adalind's hexenbiest powers, and makingher the mother of Nick's child, I think they are starting a redemption arc for Adalind that very much includes having her take Juliette's place. That being said, I don't think Nick and she are going to jump into a relationship and I think they made that very clear in the finale. Still they have already made Adalind the go-to person for any research that Rosalee doesn't know, similar to what they did with Juliette earlier. They show more concern about her than someone who they are simply helping, given their past circumstances too. I don't think they are going to become buddies with her right away but she's clearly being established as having an important role and that bugs me to no end.


    In some ways, I disagree about Renard as well. I think of him as a full-fledged member of Team Grimm, as much so as Wu. He's always in the loop (except when possessed) and usually there in a big battle. If something's going down, he's there and he helps out in whatever way he can, including his conflicts. In fact, I was extremely puzzled why they didn't have him in the battle at the royal's rental. I know he had been hurt previously by the rubber bullets but that seems like a copout given all they've been through before. For me the only real awkwardness between them comes whenver Diana is mentioned and that's a sore spot for everyone.

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  10. I will always "fuss" over this because it was the single most out-of-character shift I have ever seen when a new show runner has taken over in all the years I have watched TV. Carver obliterated Sam's character in a way that was incredibly hard for the show to come back from. Carver said on record that Sam did not look for Dean, multiple times. Sam said in canon that he did not look for Dean. They made up a whole new supposedly canon philosophy about NOT looking for each other that had never been the brothers' code before Carver took over and yet it was there written into the episode as if it had always been the way things happened. I have never seen a main character thrown so thoroughly under a bus in the period of one episode of a new show runner in my life. Canon from the season 8 of the show clearly states that Sam did not look for Dean. So yes, it still ticks me off.

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  11. Two things:
    1. Dean gave Baby to Sam before (or at least packed up the keys when he was going to say yes to Michael)
    2. In the pilot episode of Flash we see Eddie and Iris meeting after her laptop got stolen because Barry ran after the mugger too...that wasn't surprising because obviously we saw it...


    That is all! Otherwise, nice job

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  12. I agree on the Arrow front.

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  13. And yet, as I mentioned...what do you see in Rufus' cabin? Those maps just magically appeared?


    Yes, Sam stopped looking for Dean, but if you want to pretend that Sam just left that very same night and decided to not look for Dean, then everything you can think of will ruin the series for you.

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  14. I know the nudity and sex increases because I have watched all of season 1. I probably will drop it if it increases much more though because that's not really my thing. My problem with Debra is that she whines all the time. Whenever someone doesn't agree with her, she pouts and throws a fit even if they have a valid point. She takes every criticism personally and then throws a temper tantrum, literally screaming about how they are out to get her or don't have her back. For me, that is absurd behavior for an adult and it makes me like others who do equally repellant things more. I was kind of hoping that Debra would die with the Ice Truck Killer but I see she makes it through the whole series.


    I think the show does a good job of trying to make Dexter more sympathetic than a serial killer has a right to be. My biggest problemis the idea that he simply must kill. Harry never tried to get him psychological help and that's on him. He created his own personal avenger and then trusted that the moral code he instilled in Dexter would be enough. Many times I agree with Dexter's voice overs too and there were a few times when I genuinely felt sorry for him, but I cannot get over the fact that he kills people, even bad people. In that, I don't think I will ever sympathize with him although I do find him fascinating. So much so that I actually watched the whole first season when I was supposed to be catching up on AD, The Blacklist, and SHIELD. I do thank you for nominating Dexter because there's no way I would have ever checked it out by myself and it was a lot more gripping than I imagined it would be.

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  15. Until it is canon changes, Sam did not look for Dean. Maybe he did for a bit but the Sam of seasons 1-7 would never have stopped looking for Dean and finding a way to rescue him. The fact that he literally said that he did not look for Dean is canon and until Jeremy Carver changes that in a big old retcon, that is the foundation Carver laid for his take on Supernatural.

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  16. I am not looking forward to marathoning this season of Arrow. With all I have heard about it, I don't think I will like it. It's very likely that it goes to the bottom of the list under "If I Have Time".

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  17. I know that Dean has given Baby to Sam before. Every single time it's elicited a big NO from me. It was really funny when Sam put an iPod jack in her though. The look on Dean's face was priceless.


    I don't remember seeing Eddie and Iris meet. As I said to Hey There below, it surprises me because it felt like Eddie and Joe had been partners for awhile. There didn't seem to be any hesistation between them, like they had time to get to know each other and learn how the other ticks. I also seem to remember that Joe didn't know about Eddie and Iris' relationship in the beginning so that strikes me as odd. You'd think that with Iris and Joe being so close that she would have met his partner pretty close to the time when they became partners. Maybe I misread or don't remember it right though and maybe they had just become partners in the pilot.

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  18. "Maybe he did for a bit "


    That's all I needed to hear. So even you can suggest he did for a bit.


    But it's also not shocking that he stopped if he fell in love with someone. He hasn't been in love since Jessie, so that is understandable. At least Sam actually falls in love other than Dean who just lived with Lisa just because, lol.


    Again, it's whatever you want to think, really. If you want to believe that those maps are from other hunters, then go right ahead....unless proven otherwise, since we have Sam leaving to go back to that cabin, everything actually suggests that those are from Sam himself.

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  19. I must say Debra matures and grows a lot throughout the series. Season 1 she's still a bit insecure and unsure of herself, but as the show progresses she becomes a lot more confident and less whiny. I see what you mean about Dexter, and I try not to sympathize with him too much. And I also agree that maybe there was another way to control his urges (they address this a bit in Season 8 of all places). Alas, he is who he is and he's got this dark passenger he can't control. The voiceovers are by far my favourite thing about the show. They are consistently amazing throughout. I do hope you continue to at least Season 4 (if not 5) because it is fantastic. Although there is some nudity in that season. And I thank you for checking out this show! Crazy that it took over your life temporarily, haha.

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  20. Canon says he didn't. I'll stick with canon. Since we obviously will not agree, I'm agreeing to disagree and moving on.

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  21. I am so glad to hear Debra improves. I wanted to like her but her temprament didn't work for me. I too see Dexter as a vigilante but I think I'm a bit more calloused against antiheroes. Typically I just want them locked up or dead. Dexter gets a bit more leeway because he is murdering some truly horrific people but it's a slippery slope in deciding who lives and dies. If he crosses that line to me, I will be rooting for his end.


    I do want to continue watching Dexter but I can't make any promises right now because of my job. I simply won't have much time. However I've enjoyed it so far so it's near the top of my list. If I do get to keep marathoning it, I will mention it in the column or do a Ranker article.

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  22. We're in that transition time again between broadcast season and Summer, and as I always do I go back and give shows I had dropped another shot as well as pick up new shows I had missed during the season and watch the shows that got thrown on the binge-watch pile. Dexter was a show I tried ages ago but it wasn't for me.


    Agent Carter Season 1 - I loved this more and more as it went along! I really like everything about it, I'm glad I went back to it and that it got renewed.


    Penny Dreadful 2x03/2x04 - What can I say, this show just tops all others, 2x03 was absolutely superb, the acting, the directing, what they did with the surroundings was brilliant too, it all felt perfect. This show is defying the rules by having flashbacks episodes that are a treat to look forward to.


    The Royals 1x06-1x10 - This show changed quite a bit in the second half and I really liked it. I'll be back for season 2 for sure.


    Wayward Pines 1x01/1x02 - I really loved the pilot a lot but the 2nd episode wasn't as good imo. I still enjoyed it though.


    Between 1x01 - I wasn't sure about this since it just seemed like a really cheap virus show, but it added a nice twist to make it different and I enjoyed it.


    Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt Season 1 - I picked this up after everyone said such good things about it and Netflix recommended it for me and I was surprised to like it so much, I was hooked straight away.


    Game of Thrones - Every year I go back to this at some stage because I'm never able to get past the pilot so I can't really say I gave it a fair try. This time however I made it to season 2 and the show didn't grab me at any point so I dropped it for good this time.


    The Flash - I seem to be the only one on the internet that thinks this is the worst show ever. I dropped this early so I went back to it and it did pick up a lot in the second half, and then the plotholes arrived, Iris became unbearable, the romance speeches dragged on, the crossovers were overkill and I found the last 3 episodes just plain boring. I was just facepalming and eye rolling so much, then they threw in a random wedding and killed my favourite character like Arrow did in it's season 1 finale. The only plusses were they dialed down the cheesiness a lot and the acting improved. The blackhole was really really cool as well but I won't be going back to this show for season 2.
    I don't know if I'll watch LoT or not because other than Caity Lotz I really love the cast, in fact Wentworth Miller, Robbie Amell and Victor Garber are the only reason I was able to stick with The Flash up to the end. Although the way they have Wentworth Miller talking is so annoying.


    Awards:
    Most surprising new show: Scorpion & 12 Monkeys
    Most disappointing new show: The Flash & Red Band Society
    Best returning show: OUAT & The 100
    Worst returning show: Sleepy Hollow & AOS
    Most improved from last season: TVD
    Best finale: The 100

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  23. I had an okayish year in television:

    Revenge: A-
    Overall i enjoyed the season. The first half was a bit shaky so i Would give it a B but the second half was excellent. Episodes 15-23 were all brillIant and it had a very satisfactory series finale. I will miss the show

    OUAT: A-
    This was a brilliant season of OUAT. I Would give it an A but i felt like the frozen storyline was a bit anticlimatic but i really enjoyed it and loved the way the story developed. The second half gets an A. I adored the Queens of darkness. They were fantastic. Furthermore, the author storyline was very interesting. It all lead to the fantastic season finale with an amazing cliffhanger, setting up the story very well for next season

    HTGAWM: A+
    I was hooked right away! The pilot was fantastic and so were all following episodes. The mid-season finale was completely out of this world and delivered an excellent hour of television. I thought that after that it would be boring but of course it was not. It became better and better and the season finale blew my mind completely!! Bring on season 2!

    The 100: A+
    What an excellent season. It was so action-packed yet character-driven qnd had its emotional moments. I could write so much but it would be too Much. LOL

    Scandal: C
    This season was a mess. It started off very well but turned out to be hugely disappointing! B613 started dragging and becoming boring. Tje kidnapping storyline was thrilling but completely anticlimatic. I am Glad they dissolved the B613 storyline in the finale

    Arrow: C-
    I hated this season and Almost gave it a D. I hated the villain and every character started becoming unlikable. I quit at one point but decided to pick it up again

    The Flash: A
    I started watching thr Flash with no high expectations! Fortunately, it was an excellent season. I love barry, he is such a likable character and they created incredible episodes

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  24. Dexter is one of my favorite shows ever. I am glad you gave it a try and that you enjoyed it. I think Dexter Morgan is one of the best written and best developed characters ever, he truly is remarkable. And while Season 1 Debra is indeed annoying and looks mostly like a spoiled brat, the characters goes through a lot over the course of the 8 seasons of the series and she grows tremendously and becomes a favorite of mine in the process too. Dexter is not a perfect show and had some really weaker seasons in between (Season 3 and, especially, Season 6, were really subpar imo) and has a lot of issues later in its runs with secondary arcs for the supporting characters, but despite the inconsistency in the overall quality, the way the characters were written in such a consistent and superb way is phenomenal. If you liked Season 1, you are in for a spectacular ride. Season 2 raises the stakes a LOT and is a phenomenal year although I suspect you in particular will struggle a lot with a new character that you will hate. And then Season 4 comes along and that is just incredible, such a phenomenal season of television. Despite the amazing writing throughout it all, I still think Dexter's best thing ever is the acting displayed by Michael C.Hall and Jennifer Carpenter (the later from Season onwards, especially Seasons 5 and 7), who in my humble opinion should have been clearing the awards every year they were on.

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  25. Fantastic! :D Haha. I'm also curious to know what other shows you'll be reviewing. I've nominated a few more, which I hope you'll get around to seeing.
    As well, your thoughts on Battle Creek's episodes are interesting. I must say I LOVED Stockholm, thought it was the best of the season by a long shot, and the finale was just as good.

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  26. *laughs* Oh yeah, /that/ character comes in Season 2. I often forget to mention how much i love Season 2. It was one of the most thrilling experiences I had when I watched it the first time. Obviously Season 4 is the greatest but I do also enjoy Season 5 quite a bit, and it's nice to hear someone who doesn't bash it. Agreed about Season 6, however that cliffhanger was one of the best ever made. Season 3 was okay, kind of boring in comparison to the others. I have quite a few problems with Season 7, but those first four episodes are phenomenal. And then there's Season 8, which I guess should be forgotten about...forever. Haha. Also agree about Deb, she's a great character, so layered. And MCH and Jennifer are extraordinarily talented, but there were always other shows they were nominated against that I could say the same about (mainly, Hugh Laurie with House. I thought him and MCH should both win every year).

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  27. I just wrote out this entire rant and reply and it got deleted. Heh. Forgive me for being a bit angry. Do you have a Twitter? I would love to continue this discussion elsewhere and talk about each season individually with you.

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  28. Oh no that sucks. I hate when that happens to me! And I was looking forward to your answer lol, that's too bad!

    I do not use twitter no, I am afraid!

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  29. I loved the Flash finale, for all the reasons you mentioned and more. Unlike you I am looking forward to Cisco's future and can't wait to see him explore that side of himself. I get the feeling it's not going to be a straightforward acceptance, even though he geeks out around other superheroes I think it's something he's going to find hard to cope with in himself. Without Wells being around, Barry needs someone who will understand what's going on when the show explores time travel, so I can see the two of them becoming even closer too.


    I also have to argue that the time travel was pointless, I think that Barry needed to say goodbye to his mum. Without that I don't think that he was ever going to totally move on as a character after the season long build up. It's also possible that next season could be a reset from that point in time, possibly with Barry being the one in jail instead of his father - hence that image of him in handcuffs as he ran in the collider.


    Eddie's death caused a paradox, so if Barry does manage to close the black hole then Reverse Flash's deeds would still have had to happen even though he still didn't exist, perhaps. If that were the case, then that talk with his mother would have been important for him to have as a memory too. Plus, Cisco would also retain memories of the other timeline, and could help course correct, which would be awesome.


    And, Hitchhikers quote so close to Douglas Adam's anniversary, such a lovely gesture!




    iZombie - Major so needs to be told, like you say it's getting ridiculous now. Lowell's death was terrible, but I can see why it necessary to push the show forward. What happened to Liv's brother applying for a job at Blaine's shop though, has that been forgotten about?

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  30. Damn. That sucks. Yeah, it just happened again haha. It's always when I get around to talking about the finale. IT'S A SIGN! :P

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  31. Ahah which you hated I am guessing

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  32. How to Get Away with Murder is my pick for Most Addicting. For all the noise Empire made, I think H2GAwM was crafted better, had a tighter story, and was better acted. It also managed to keep me completely engrossed even though I disliked all the characters and most of the clients. It had several episodes that blew me away.


    The 100 is the Best Drama of the Year for me. It had such a good first year that I was expecting to like the second season but not as much as the first. Then this season blew me away. Episodes like Sapcewalker were brilliant and tense but even the episodes with less spectacular/less flashy subject matter were well done. There is only an episode or two that I didn't think was amazing this season. Truly an underappreciated and underknown show.


    Arrow keeps getting farther and farther down my to-watch list. If it weren't for the spin-off, it probably wouldn't be on it at all.


    The Flash is currently in the running for my Best New Show award. I'm going back and forth on it. It definitely had the strongest end. Like you, I was leery goingi in although I loved Barry's turn on Arrow. For me it was the idea of metahumans that caused me concern. For all the shows I watch based on comic books, I'm really not into the superhero genre and I was coming off being burned by Supernatiural and Arrow. I was wary about The Flash to say the least. Then the pilot was so much fun and Barry was such a nice guy that I knew I would be watching at least 2 more episodes. After that I was hooked. I really enjoyed The Flash this season.


    I don't watch the other shows but I am really glad that Revenge had a good ending. That's so important after fans dedicating that much time to the show. I'm glad it didn't disappoint.

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  33. I only have two show left on the air.
    For Izombie, looks like next week, sorry tonight, Major is onto Liv so thankfully no more secret(toward Major at least).

    I didn't find the season final of Elementary very enjoyable either. And even though I can believe Oscar would want to bring Holmes down with him, I find highly unbelievable he could actually pull it off. I don't think he is even smart enough to pull it off, on his own, in two days, or sober enough for that matter. And a guy twice his size... and a pro at breaking into cars (or out of, 'cause I seriously doubt you can lock Alfredo in a car, or the trunk of a car and expect him to stay there).
    And why even took Alfredo? Probablty because he was Sherlock sponsor, and unlike Watson didn't live with him... In any case, I didn't find that episode very believable. I don't find his "relapse" very much believable either.

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  34. I agree with everything you have just said. I forgot Empire in my list. LOL! I was pleasently surprised. I told my mother: Oh by the way, you might want to Check out this musical drama on FOX called Empire. I thought it would be cancelled after one season. But look what happened! It is thr highest rated drama on Network television. I really enjoyed the first season, while having its mediocore episodes, it sure was addictive.

    The 100 and HTGAWM are definitely the clear winners of the year!

    Reagarding Arrow, I Would definitely give it a try still. There are people out there that loved this season, which I do not understand at all!! It Has many big OMG moments but suffers from an anticlimatic storyline IMO! I do know that next season it will all change! That gives me hope at least

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  35. Canon says he did.

    I also looked this up jut now and this proves those those maps were from no other hunters too.

    Bobby says this to both Sam and Dean in "The Girl Next Door":

    "C-rations and dust. I don't think he'd been here in years. So, I got to go round up my old library."



    If Rufus hasn't been there in years, how can we possibly assume that other hunters started to use the cabin now? Nothing has been mentioned.

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  36. I haven't seen the finale of BC yet. Glad that you liked it. Stockholm was one of my favorites too largely in part of Ford. He was such a great character and the whole thing had good twists. I'm sorry that Battle Creek did not catch on because it made for an interesting entry to the crime procedural category. I thought both it and Backstrom were much better than the ratings showed.


    As for other nominated episodes, I currently have 28 show nominations that I have not gotten to which is better than the 38 I didn't get to last year. I'll take a short hiatus from the column until summer TV swings into full gear (and probably until my summer job comes to an end). Over that time I do not do nominated shows since I am so busy getting caught up on shows I dropped during the year, preparing articles for the launch of a new Teen Wolf season, getting the Character Cup ready, and previewing shows as I can get screeners. When the column starts again, I will pick up one nominated show at random each week like usual until the time for the fall season to start. Then all nominations are cancelled and I start out fresh again. I did have some shows nominated last year that got re-nominated this year and finally came up in the random number generator, so if your nominations are not picked this year please re-nominate them in the fall. I try to get to as many shows as possible but it's hard giving how much time I devote to weekly shows.


    Thanks for nominating multiple shows. I love how I experience shows I would never otherwise know about or try through this process. I have found some real gems with it.

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  37. I am glad to hear that Major is finding out so soon about Liv. I tend to hate when they drag these things out. Plus I'm really interested in seeing how Major reacts. He's been such an amazing standup guy throughout everything but I think even he cracks at the idea of a zombie girlfriend.


    I completely agree about Elementary. There was so much wrong about the entire premise of the episode. I don't see Oscar being able to do everything they said either. I never thought about how Alfredo should have been able to break out of the car either. He is experienced. I want to say that Oscar took Alfredo because the writers wanted to emphasize that they were starting to become actual friends, although I haveno idea how Oscar would know that. It wasn't until the second time I watched the episode that Joan's line about how addicts hold on howeve they can to the relationships still in their lives really stuck out to me. I think that was supposed to be Oscar's motivation, weak though it was. He had just lost the last real relationship in his life and since he recently ran into Sherlock, I think his wacked out mind thought that if he could get Sherlock using again then they could be buddies. It makes no sense of course but neither does Oscar. I also think the writers wanted to take Sherlock down a notch and make a powerful statement about how addiction is an always thing even if you've been sober for years. Actually I really think the writers have run out of ideas and are desperately trying to bring ratings back up with this last ditch Hail Mary and I think it's going to backfire big time on them.

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  38. I REALLY didn't want to hate it, and Season 8. I tried my hardest not be like everyone else who was tearing it apart. But I cannot stand this finale. It was so completely unsatisfying to the show, and I do not understand anything they were trying to do there with it. There were a multitude of ways they could've taken it, all of which would've been better than what we got. From the first second right until the last second, it was just so utterly disappointing. Don't get me wrong, I still love the show, but this finale completely put a damper in the series. I haven't seen it again since the first time I saw it, and I don't really have any intentions to watch it again. I just /really/ despise it.

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  39. We can't be sure he actually going to know but the trailer made it sound like he tried to push Liv to tell him she is a zombie. Key word being "sound like" because with promos it never what it looks like.

    I hope next season Elementary will be back on track. I really don't know what it's going to look like, between dady Holmes and Sherlock relapsing...

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  40. I think I nominated White Collar and Suits, which I now realize you probably won't do, because Suits is still on the air, and I think you used to review White Collar each week, am I right? I also nominated Psych, but I recall you picked an episode I never would've nominated, which was interesting to me. That leaves House. I nominated an episode called Three Stories, which I do hope you get around to seeing because it truly is an incredible experience.
    Yes, Ford was very interesting, and I love how he tried to talk some sense into Russ (although it didn't help). The finale was truly amazing and I'm so sad it was cancelled.
    I haven't checked out Backstrom yet, and I think I might, although I'm hesitating because it's yet another show I'll probably love that got cancelled.
    Same with Stalker. I haven't even seen the finale yet. I'm in such denial, heh.

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  41. I have a love-hate relationship with Empire. I hate most of its storylines and characters but it's impossible to look away from. It's the most spectacular trainwreck on TV. It's no wonder it has climbed the chart. For me it is the biggest surprise of the season because like you, I never expected it to get this big. I'm very curious about whether it can sustain itself next season or if it will burn out because of the fast plot pace.


    I have a whole lot of TV winners this year and that's a relief. It's like there was a lot to love in a lot of unexpected places this year. Much of the new stuff I loved while most of my returning shows crashed and burned. It's usually the opposite for me so it's been an interesting year.


    I have 4 main problems with Arrow that make me unexcited about watching it.


    1. Malcolm Merlyn's return from the dead was a complete dealbreaker for me. I think he is one of the worst TV villains of all time. His motivations were ludicrously weak, the writing for him was cheesy even by Arrow's bad villain monologue standards, and it was terrible, over the top acting. Yeah I get a lot of flack for that one, but John Barrowman consistently made horrible acting choices for this character in season 1 and what I remember of season 2. He made Merlyn into a cardstock cartoon character almost as bad as Count Vertigo.


    2. I hate shipping and fan pandering and Arrow's writers are the worst at it. The idea of having to sit through any more "Olicity" scenes makes me nauseous. They completely ruined Felicity's awesome character in season 2 and I hear it gets even worse in season 3. Felicity is a fantastic example of how shipping ruins characters.


    3. Oliver is a douche. It's that simple. Every time I think Oliver is getting tolerable and I get even remotely sympathetic to his character, he pulls some boneheaded loner junk, yells at the people who are trying to help him, and/or throws a pity party and feels sorry for himself. Generally I want to Gibbs slap him in every episode and I cannot watch a "hero" show if I can't root for the hero.


    4. There are no consequences for their actions,which make the drama laughable. Moira Queen was on record for being complicit in the murder of hundreds of people for the cirme of being poor. To have her campaigning for mayor in that very same place in the very next season may be the single most ludicrous plot twist I have ever seen. Arrow pridesitself for being grounded in reality but I could believe in flying monkeys before I can believe this. Moira should have been run out of the country by the sheer volume of hatred towards her. She should never have been able to leave her house without bodyguards protecting her every move much less parading around in public in The Glades. Argh!


    5. All the great characters get sidelined with nothing to do. I think Diggle's whole job in season 2 was to frown in the Arrow Cave and fold his arms. There was no purpose to his character except for a bone or two they threw him in very special episodes like with Deadshot. Why was he even there? Thea became equally pointless in season 2 although I hear they stepped things up with her. Sarah was killed off for...yeah, I still don't know why. It's not like the writers could write a decent storyline for Laurel before her. Talk about a character that got shafted one episode after another. It's no surprise she became vilified in the fandom, even if it wasn't deserved,


    For me the entire appeal of Arrow came down to the fight scenes which were one of the very best in the business. Other than that, Arrow left me mostly frustrated and unhappy. Hearing all the tidbits about season 3, I don't see things changing much.

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  42. CW promos are notoriously bad at seeming to push one thing when something completely different actually happens. As long as Major doesn't become a world class douche, I'm good.


    I am actually intrigued about Daddy Holmes appearing. He's been such a vilified character that I'm interested in seeing if it's the truth or just Sherlock's version of the truth. My perceptions of Mycroft were vastly different than Sherlock's after all. Sherlock's relapse better take no more than 2 episodes to turn around though because I have zero interest in watching him half baked and trying to solve crimes. That would be a sad waste. Mostly though I need them to fix Sherlock and Watson because they still feel off to me and it's permeating throughout the whole show.

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  43. That's my main problem with HTGAWM, I did not really like any of the character beside Wes and Rebecca. None of them are very likable. I seriously don't get all the fuss around Connor...
    It's actually very ironic the only character I liked are the killer and the drug dealer. Okay admittedly I like Rebecca way better than Wes. Except that now she is dead.

    That the magic of this show, the pacing and writing makes you come back every week. (the acting helps too)

    Oh wait, I actually don't mind Laurel too (I could have done without all the Frank stuff though...).


    Now that the only character I liked is dead, I am not sure whether I'll continue or not. And the final episode wasn't amazing.

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  44. I usually sacrifice sleep for TV so I can catch up! Being done with college helps too.


    I loved the character interactions on AC as well, I was surprised there was a fair amount of shipping in the fandom but not an annoying amount. Hopefully it doesn't escalate to AOS levels.


    I agree about The Royals, I'm having a hard time figuring out how they'll keep the quality from dropping. Given all the power the characters have doing a big scandal or cover up shouldn't be too hard but they've set the bar high by killing the king. The domino symbol has me interested though.


    UKS was originally intended for NBC (I think) and it definitely feels more like a broadcast comedy to me rather than a cable one.


    I didn't mind 12 Monkeys way of explaining things, the way they tied it up at the end was pretty satisfying I thought. With The Flash in the finale I couldn't help but compare the portal jumping and time travel explanations to OUAT and Stargate which did a great job of explaining it. I felt like The Flash was treating it's viewers like they were 5 year olds, it's a problem I had at the start of the season as well with the acting and super cheesiness of it. That might be a reason so many like it too I guess, the light fun tone of it.


    I think what you need to know about Ray will be explained in LoT, most of it was in The Flash anyway, Arrow fans seem to hate Ray so watching Arrow to get to know him might be a bad idea. That could just be because of shipping though.


    I liked RBS at the start but the romance killed it for me. Thank YOU for writing these columns, I loved reading them and I enjoyed the discussions as well :)

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  45. I acutally review nominated shows that are both on and off the air so Suits could definitely come up. Depending on the White Collar episode, it may not still be in the nomination pile because it was a weekly show throughout the whole of this column and therefore not eligible. Plus I did do recaps of White Collar so if I recapped that particular episode I would probably just put a link to the recap in the opening paragraph if it came up.


    Basically the spreadsheet I use is color coded. Anything I watch on a weekly basis becomes yellow and is automatically not included in the potential nominees category since I already review it. This is where half of all nominations fall. There were 28 nominations for Forever and 31 nominations each for The 100 and Supernatural alone. I also get a lot of nominations for shows I've already reviewed in that season, which become green. They are also not eligible by the rules of the column. This year OUaT was the most renominated with 11 times, followed closely by Revenge with 10. Last year it was Beauty and the Beast with 29 times. Surprisingly The Shield pilot was nominated 6 times alone. Shows that were reviewed the previous season are in blue but that's generally just for my information since they are eligible to be reviewed again. It helps me keep track of how much variety the nominations are providing. All nominated shows not already reviewed stay white. All nominations are numbered with white and blue shows moved up to the top. I use a random number generator to choose which nominated episode (in blue or white) is reviewed for that week. Any other nominations for the same show automatically become green and drop down below to the ineligible pile. And there you have FAR, FAR more information about the nominating process than you ever wanted to know. Sorry about that. I have been meaning to clarify the nomination process and I guess I'm using this response to do it. Sorry.

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  46. At least Izombie's promos don't have any voice-over and/or promotional writing, those are the worst.



    Well, with Daddy Holmes we have at least one thing to look forward.

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  47. Haha, thanks for the info! This is all very interesting!
    I'm glad there's a possibility you'd check out Suits, and I'd definitely recommend the pilot.

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  48. I've managed to avoid all the shipping fandom in Agent Carter, which is actually pretty surprising. I converse about it on Twitter with just a small group of people who tend to be a little into shipping as I am. Plus I was far too busy during Agent Carter's run to go to threads and chat about it so that helped too. Sometimes I think a little fandom is the best thing for a TV show. Too much fandom and it can completely ruin the experience.


    The domino symbol is what will bring me back to the season 2 premiere of The Royals. I'm very intrigued by who is pulling the strings in this conspiracy and what if anything the phone call to Liam has to do with it. Still Cyrus is way over the top evil for me and if they don't tone him down, it will be a deal breaker as far as weekly viewing goes. It would become a marathon show for me.


    Good to know about UKS. I will try to check it out but time wise it may be a show I see only if it gets picked as the nominated show of the week. I am shy a few good comedies these days though. My favorites keep getting cancelled.


    I think Stargate handled time travel the best out of all the shows I've seen but I tend to have real problems with the logic of it in all shows. I prefer more of a Sliders twist where they use parallel worlds instead. I find that more fascinating with far less plot holes and logic issues in the premise alone. I'm pretty sure it is the light, fun tone of The Flash that is making it such a hit. It's different from the largely depressing other superhero shows on air right now. My guess is that we'll be seeing a lighter tone in much of the others, like Arrow and Supergirl, because of that success.


    Ha! I did see that Ray became the new Laurel on Arrow. Such a shame because Routh played a great guy on Enlisted. Maybe I will try skipping Arrow and seeing if it makes sense in the pilot. Why sit through 23 hours of irritation just to learn about a new character if the title sequence can explain it? As for RBS, I totally agree that the teenage romance sucked the momentum out of every scene it touched. Still I liked the characters enough to put up with it. For me it was surprising because of all of the humor in it. I think part of the reason I loved RBS so much is because I never expected to like the pilot or stick around long enough to root for the characters. It is a show that definitely benefitted from my low expectations and then it grabbed my attention and wouldn't let go.

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  49. I was shocked by how much I enjoyed Dexter. It's totally not my kind of show but the acting and writing sucked me in in spite of myself. It's also one of the few shows where the vocie over is a plus instead of a negative. The only other shows I've liked voice overs in are Burn Notice and a couple cancelled comedies. I'm glad to hear you think Debra improves over the series too. For me she is the weakest link so I look forward to seeing her character development as I get time to watch season 2. I'm a little nervous about this new character now. I really want to have time to watch it right now but I'm already behind on the shows I need to catch up on so I'm hoping for end of summer or maybe in July if the Character Cup isn't too time consuming this year. Dexter is one of the best surprises that has come out of this column for me and it along with Merlin and Vikings have made the must watch list because of nominations.

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  50. I really wanted Cisco to remain normal, mostly because he's such a great character that I think this can only ruin things. I am one of those weird people who while loving The Flash and iZombie, really does not love the whole superhero genre. I love sci fi and fantasy but somehow when it is taken out of the human context it tends to go south for me too quickly. Plus there's such an oversaturation of it right now. One of the appeals of Arrow to me was the promise to stay grounded, which it pretty quickly threw off by the way. I need the human element in the midst of a superhero show in order for it to stay relatable and Cisco and Joe are those characters for me. I can see this bringing Barry and Cisco closer but I would hope that wouldn't mean that Caitlin is shoved even more to the side than she already is. I want them to stay a trio with Joe functioning as de facto dad to them all.


    Character wise, I agree that Barry saying goodbye to his mom was poignant and I can see where it is important to his character. Still the whole time travel/black hole plot felt like it was more needed to launch the new series than it felt like proper closure to this show's season. It felt like a rip off to what has been a great season overall and I think The Flash deserved better. It's still an excellent finale but it could have been that much better if I didn't keep getting the nagging feeling that everything was setting up Rip Hunter's epic journey through time and space. Everything in the finale should have been about Wells vs. Barry and that became an afterthought in both the penultimate episode and the finale, I felt shortchanged in both.


    I have no idea how Wells' death is going to change things but I will actually feel better if it does. If things continue like normal then I'm going to be calling shenanicanon loud and long. It's the downfall of time travel shows that logic is whatever the writer wants it to be and that would sink The Flash faster than anything for me. If Wells is dead, he should not be able to kill Barry's mom period. If it ends up he still does, there better be one heck of a good explanation for it. I'm also not convinced that we've seen the last of Eddie given that his body conveniently was transported to the future. That's the only way I can see Nora remaining dead. If they fix Eddie up and send him back with Rip then the whole finale gets a cosmic do-over and it wasn't worth the time it took. I trust the writers of The Flash more than any other comic book show (except Rob Thomas of iZombie) so I'm excited to see what comes next but I can't say I'm not incredibly nervous. After such a great first season, I can't have it pull a Sleepy Hollow and falls to pieces at the seams in the second season.


    iZombie - I think Liv's brothers new job will come in the last 2 episodes and will likely bring their confrontation to a head. I can't see them not having Blaine and Liv in a standoff and the only 2 people I can see logically forcing the issue are Major or Evan. As for Lowell, I guess for me there was way too much to explore there that has now gone unanswered. I'm not for shipping but I think the dynamics of two people who change every time they get a new meal trying to maintain a relationship was a fascinating take on things. I wish that the season was a bit longer so we could have seen them develop that more. Unless Major becomes a zombie (which I do see happening down the road), they've lost a unique part of the zombie experience that isn't touched on in other zombie shows. Plus they were able to do it so far without corrupting Liv's character and making her just some stupid love triangle piece. That's remarkable these days. I do see Lowell's death as plot movement but for me the Max Rager storyline did that more effectively.

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  51. I checked out of this conversation pretty quickly and won't read anything else in this part of the thread, so feel free to discuss as freely as you want to guys. I know what it's like to want to talk about a past TV favorite and finally find someone to do it with. Spoil away. I'll be moseying off elsewhere.

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  52. The growing fandom is what started to kill Teen Wolf for me so I definitely like small fandoms as well. I didn't know you watched Stargate, I agree it did time travel best, it's alternate universes were pretty cool too! The tone of the superhero shows seems play a bigger part in my enjoyment of the show than others shows do for me for some reason. Daredevil and Agent Carter are the only ones to get it spot on for me. If it comes to it I'm sure someone who's watched it could explain Ray to you or maybe google his character. There's still half a season more of Arrow and The Flash before it starts too. The certain cancellation of RBS made it pretty easy to drop it for me, I loved the pilot as well though.

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  53. I've actually seen the first 3-5 episodes of Suits. I'm not sure where I stopped. Suits wasn't for me in what I watched because I found Harvey thoroughly obnoxious and irritating. I spent the whole time wishing someone would Gibbs' slap him. Mike was only a little better. For me it was the two female assistants (Donna and I forget the other one) who kept me watching past the second episode. I wanted to like the show because I used to be a big fan of USA Network before it changed its tone. However I have trouble with shows where I don't like the main characters.

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  54. H2GAwM is in rare company with me. It's one of the very few shows where I can dislike every character and still find it engrossing. Gang Related was another such show last summer. I too cannot understand what anyone finds appealing about Connor. He alternates from using people like a sociopath to whining about everything all the time. The only time I've truly liked him is when he breaks down at Oliver's after killing Sam. I used to be pro-Wes but by the end I disliked him as well. For me it was Rebecca and occasionally Bonnie who stick out as decent. Laurel is growing on me (minus the Frank stuff too) but she could pull a Wes very quickly.


    I too have concerns about H2G when it returns. A lot has to do with killing Rebecca. It's not just that she was my favorite. I have a hard time even Annalise can juggle two dead people in this conspiracy. The cops cannot be that dumb or else we've hit The Following levels of incompetency. This show has always been a house of cards and I'm concerned that the extra body will cause it to crumble. If there isn't at least some realism in how they proceed, it will tarnish Annalise's character and the show cannot take that blow. She is the show.

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  55. I'm holding back from saying some things as I don't want to spoil you on what could happen in the future on Flash if they go by the canon of the characters, lol. For me, the finale was about more than just Eobard and Barry, how events will effect other characters in the show was important to my overall enjoyment of it. But saying that, I totally understand your point of view on it coming from the other side of the spectrum as a non-superhero genre lover.


    As for Barry's mum being dead if there's no Eobard, that's the paradox which caused the wormhole to appear after Eddie shot himself. Time and space doesn't add up correctly so it started ripping itself apart. If Barry can stabilise the anomaly and closed it, I imagine that wouldn't stop the paradox from existing, it would just stop the universe crushing in on itself. I do wonder how they will approach it in S2, with all the hints about Cisco I can't help thinking that we will be looking at a parallel universe for at least part of it.


    Yeah, I can see Major becoming a zombie down the line too. I sort of hope it's not Liv turning him as a way to save him from death kind of situation is all. I would have liked a longer season for the show too, it's hard to believe it's nearly over already.


    Oh, btw, I have seen someone on Twitter (iirc) suggest that Ravi could get scratched, only to not turn due to the rat bite making him immune. I thought that was a very interesting theory, many inoculations historically start off coming from animals after all.

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  56. Mike's my fave, and I like Harvey too, but I can see why people might not like him so much. USA is pretty much my home, haha.

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  57. My TV year was a mixed bag. The new shows were good, the returning ones often had me shaking my head. What is it about this year that had so many of my shows take disappointing directions/plots? - By that I mean more than usual. Usually I'm happy to roll with my shows but this year several went too far (Sleepy Hollow, Grimm, and Supernatural being the worst offenders - I dropped SH and usually I never drop shows after the first season).

    New shows: 12 Monkeys, The Flash, and iZombie. I'm thankful those 3 survived, sorry I Iost Forever and Constantine.

    The Flash surprised me - I thought it would be too cheesy for me, but it has the right balance. IZombie surprised me for the same reason. 12 Monkeys surprised me because I watched it for 6 episodes before I realized I loved the show and bought the past episodes. I think going on my computer during the episodes really messed up my enjoyment of it. After rewatching the episodes I was a fan. Forever was also better than I could have hoped for.

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  58. Arrow's ones of those shows I tend to roll with and I still had issues so yeah, I'm willing to bet you'll have plenty of issues with it.

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  59. I am glad you seemed to have enjoyed Dexter so much. I don't think I would have ever recommended Dexter to you from what I know of your tastes, so that is a nice surprise to me too. In regards to Deb, I think most of the fandom agrees that Season 1 Deb is the worse phase of the character but that she really gradually improves a lot throughout the series. In a way, her evolution is even more poignant than Dex himself. So I think we needed that vulnerable, annoying, disconnected Season 1 Deb for the full journey to be felt, I am happy with the way they did it.

    And I agree about the voiceover. I don't actually dislike it on principle as most people do. I loved it in Revenge for instance and I hated that they removed it from Season 4. But usually we only get them them at the beginning and ending of episodes (like in Revenge); Dexter is great since we get it throughout the episode and it really adds another dimension to the character. It is so hard to get in his mind already that it is necessary to have the voiceover there to help us navigate it.

    For the record, in case you can't tell, I am getting quite nostalgic about Dexter lol. There are many shows I adore but more often than not I don't feel they are that interesting to discuss, but Dexter was one that due to the complexity of its main character and the metaphors it kept on using was always fascinating to discuss to me.

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  60. I understand. To me, I don't mind the message that despite trying every possible way out - marriage (Seasons 3 and 4), vigilantism (Season 5), friendship (Season 3), family (Season 8), religion (Season 6) and love (Season 7 and 8) - the conclusion was that he didn't fit and that, in his immortal words from Season 4 finale, he is what's broken and that won't fit in the world. I think they could have gone for a different thing and allowed for the happy ending if they wanted to, but I think this was a feasible option as well, although not my preferred choice. And if they were going to go through this route, it seems in line with the overall tone of the series that Deb's death was the only catalysis that would have had Dexter being able to realize that himself (the alternative was killing of Harrison but I think this suited the series better).

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  61. I've pretty much decided to drop it for good. With the sudden lack of time and the issues I've been hearing about it, it doesn't seem like a productive use of the time I've got.

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  62. Returning shows were my main problem this season too. That and the dearth of good comedies after they axed all my favorites. I'm not sure what happened with returning shows but most of them seemed off. I actually liked Supernatural again but I agree with Sleepy Hollow and Grimm. I'd add Elementary as well. The highlights were the new shows for me.


    The Flash and iZombie do make a good pair because of their lighter, more fun tone. The Flash surprised me too in how much I loved it, but I had high hopes going into iZombie from the start despite my general take that zombies are the least interested supernatural creature. I love how eating people's brains changes Liv because it makes her character fresh and interesting every week. Rob Thomas continues to shine as a show runner and writer. Losing Forever was sad but at least we got a good ending.

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  63. I try to ignore the larger Teen Wolf fandom. There are trigger words that if a post or tweet uses them, I autmoatically ignore them. That includes all the shipping names. There are also certain people who I never read what they write about Teen Wolf because I know it will just annoy me and still others that I've blocked altogether. It's made my enjoyment of Teen Wolf and the fandom so much better. I have a Twitter list of Teen Wolf fans that I enjoy conversing with when I live tweet and I usually use that feed instead of the main one.


    My family and I used to watch Stargate together every week. It was part of our family night so I'm very nostalgic about it. I still think it was one of the best sci fi shows ever created. As for Arrow, I've decided to drop it. I don't have the time and most importantly I don't have the interest. If you have to watch Arrow to understand LoT, then that will be one less show I have to worry about come midseason.

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  64. I wouldn't have recommended Dexter to me either given how much I hate antihero shows and generally pay cable shows. I'm not sure I will ever appreciate season 1 Deb like you but I am glad to hear she's got a great character arc.


    As for voiceovers, I have a love-hate relationship with them. I generally like them in comedies, especially coming of age comedies like The Goldbergs and Surviving Jack. It's dramas where I usually hate them. They bugged me to no end on Arrow and I'm getting tired of them on The Flash as well. Burn Notice always made them educational and interesting so that was one show I really looked forward to having them. Who could forget (paraphrased) - Guns make you stupid. Duct tape makes you smarter. I loved that voice over. With Dexter, I agree that they are vital. Without the voiceovers we would lose most of our insight into Dexter's character. Without that insight, the show could not have lasted. It helps to humanize Dexter from teh monstrous things he does. It's also the reason Dexter is so fascinating to me. I like hearing about how he's trying to manuever in the world as a human when he doesn't feel anything normal humans do. It's that challenge that fascinates me and keeps me coming back.

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  65. This is my whole problem with time travel. Noneof it makes any logical sense to me. I guess I'll just have to wait and see what happens in season 2. Fingers crossed that they can continue to make it as good as season 1was even with this whole time travel thing.


    I don't want Liv making Major a zombie either. There's too much "kill you to save you" in genre shows so I would rather see Blaine, the CandyMan, or the next Big Bad do it. I completely think Ravi is immune, although I can see it going two ways. Either he is naturally immune or he is because of the rat. Either way, it makes him essential to the cure, which I love.

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  66. I was in a small group of people who spoke about it as well but we all eventually either dropped it or left twitter/tumblr. I loved Stargate as well, It's by far my favourite sci-fi show. I hope the new movie trilogy does it justice. I hope LoT works out for you, I probably won't make it a decision on it until it's much closer to airing.

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  67. See, if Deb had to die, they could've and should've done it in SUCH a better way. A freakin' blood clot? Are you kidding? This badass character deserved a WAYYYYYYY better death than that! It was so completely unsatisfying! And Dexter surviving the hurricane? Wouldn't it have been better if he, I don't know, fell overboard and drowned along with Deb's body? Didn't they have an idea where he wakes up about to be in the electric chair, and his life flashes before his eyes? I liked that idea so much better!

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  68. See, I prefer him being the one who chooses to go into isolation because of the element of choice in there. This was his own admission that after having tried everything and after Deb's death, he really wasn't made for this world and couldn't belong in it. I suppose him turning himself in (and not being caught) would have produced the same effect, but I feel that people who disliked this ending would dislike that one all the same, so we would have the same problem. I really feel that Dex being the one who decides to end his societary life is a fundamental part of the ending. I would have been unsatisfied had he been killed by a random hurricane or caught by the police - i wouldn't have felt closure for the journey of the character. Does this make sense to you?

    As for Deb, I do agree with you that they could have come up with a better way of her dying but they were a bit constrained I feel. But in a lot of ways, the true death of the character happened in Season 7 finale when they morally corrupted the character up to a point from which it would always be very hard for her to come back. Someone once suggested to me that the blood clot was a metaphor for the fact that the problem with her was already within her and that she was already broken inside. I don't think the writers had that in mind and I think this is pushing it but it is a nice interpretation anyway. They could have still have given her a more badass death but there was only so much they could have done IMO because it was necessary that her death was pointless and avoidable for it to have the necessary impact on Dexter. They couldn't have made it a big heroic gesture in which it was almost her call to go down that way I think. So while they could have done it better, I don't think it was such a fundamental part of it that it would ruin the overall thing for me.

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  69. Yeah, no matter what finale they went with, people would've been disappointed. I just think that for this show, they way things were being set up nicely, (until the second half of Season 8 where nothing was really happening) they could've made much better choices.

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  70. For me, I don't think it would make sense to have Renard take part in the finale battle with the royals. Granted, he is part royal himself, but they kept him fairly busy with his horrendously ridiculous subplot & he really didn't have any reason for involvement with the Hexenbiest Juliette/Royals battle, other than being a member of the royal family & Diana's Father. Now honestly. I would have preferred for the Captain to have a better storyline than all that spirit possession crap he went through. But he certainly wasnt among the main players in the big plot, if only for the reason of bad writing.

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  71. sigh...that was a really, really bad season for me. Too many shows which fell off the rails, and some of them even to a surprising degree. The only bright spot was for me was how much Agent of Shield improved. Yeah, I know you disagree, but man did all the time spend on it pay off. I actually went back to rewatch season one, and boy was this a different experience. It was like watching The sixth sense or the usual suspects a second time.
    It's a good thing that shows like Agent Carter and Outlander kind of fill the void left...kind off, because I gravitate more and more to shows with short seasons and a dense narrative.

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