This week in television kicked off with a two-hour episode of Once Upon a Time, the Thanksgiving episode of Brooklyn Nine-Nine, and a perfectly tense hour of The Good Wife. Monday featured a fantastic semifinal of Dancing with the Stars and Castle and Beckett’s honeymoon on Castle. On Tuesday, Jess got closer to a gorgeous new teacher on New Girl, and Danny read Mindy’s diary on The Mindy Project. Wednesday’s Nashville made me angrier at Luke than ever before, but that was balanced with a whole bunch of happy Avery/Juliette feelings. And Thursday’s night of “TGIT” midseason finales gave us an episode of Scandal filled with crazy twists and the revelation of Sam’s killer on How to Get Away with Murder, and both episodes featured cliffhangers to keep us talking and guessing until their hiatus is over.
There were so many great moments on TV this week—from Alicia and Peter in the limo on The Good Wife to Avery and Juliette finally holding hands again on Nashville. However, my favorite moment of the week came from Once Upon a Time‘s two-hour extravaganza. This show has made a point of showing how all kinds of love are equally strong and important, and in “Smash the Mirror,” another kind of love was put in the spotlight: loving yourself. Learning to love yourself for exactly who you are is such an important lesson that doesn’t get shown to people—especially women—enough in the media, so I’m thrilled that Once Upon a Time took such a major episodes and used it to show the beauty and magic inherent in accepting and choosing to love yourself. Emma faced the parts of herself that scare her the most, and she chose to believe that she could save herself from that darkness.
It was wonderful to see the push she needed to do that come from Elsa, a woman who has faced her share of self-doubt and fear, but has finally come to accept herself and love herself. To see Elsa, a character once defined by her fear, help Emma stop being afraid, was beautiful. It was a moment of huge growth for both women, and it was a moment that showed what genuine, true friendship is all about—supporting someone as they work through the growing pains of learning to love themselves. It was such a powerful moment, and I’m sure I’m not the only one who was incredibly inspired by its message of self-acceptance and the power we all have to be our own saviors.
What was the best thing you saw on TV this week?
Nerdy Girl Notes 
I still need to catch up on Brooklyn Nine-Nine – I was able to catch last night’s episode live (thanks to the AMAs) but I missed last week’s. (It’s so annoying to have to wait 8 days to see an episode on Hulu – especially when you just miss an ep here and there. Luckily B99 doesn’t need to be watched in order.)
But HTGAWM… that’s a different matter. I missed one episode entirely, and I didn’t pay enough attention to the details of any episode, so I’m definitely taking them up on a rewatch during the hiatus to catch all the clues I missed first time around 🙂 Especially considering how that episode ended. wow.
I laughed at New Girl, which almost felt like the good old days. I enjoyed reminding my hubby that Ryan’s last name is “Goes-in-you!” I laughed at Mindy too. I enjoyed Nashville and NCIS.
But Once was my favorite, as always. I loved the slower pacing, giving us a chance to process everything that was going on. I loved the love yourself message and that Elsa was the only one who could deliver that. And I loved the sexy Regina/Robin scene, and the way Killian greeted Emma after she had her magic back under control. As always I’m excited to see what comes next.
I always look forward to your comments on these posts because we watch so many of the same shows! 🙂
I watch a bunch of other shows that you don’t watch too… I guess I watch a LOT of shows! lol. I am coming to conclusion that I should probably just watch all of your shows. If only I had enough hours in the day/a DVR.