Category Archives: Television

The Best Thing I Saw on TV This Week (10/13 – 10/20)

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This week in the television world got off to a fantastic start with another excellent episode of Once Upon a Time that introduced Tinker Bell, forced Regina to confront her own fear of happiness, and had all of us crying with Mulan over her unrequited love. Monday’s Dancing with the Stars allowed all of us Saved By the Bell fanatics to relive its infamous “I’m So Excited!” scene, and Castle had quite possibly its strongest episode of an already strong sixth season. Tuesday’s New Girl wasn’t the show’s finest hour, but The Mindy Project made up for it with a hilarious episode featuring a lot of naked Danny. Wednesday’s Nashville was a fantastic exploration of Maddie’s relationships with the adults around her, and Thursday’s Once Upon a Time in Wonderland hinted at a very interesting backstory for the Knave of Hearts. Thursday also featured a fun new episode of Parks and Recreation and an incredibly tense hour of Scandal.

Some shows soared this week, some faltered, and some gave us moments we’ll remember even after this season is behind us. One of those moments was Maddie and Daphne’s duet at the end of this week’s episode of Nashville. Any scene featuring Lennon and Maisy Stella singing is a great scene, but what made this scene special was the emotional power of it. To watch Maddie singing her father’s song with the sister who loves her no matter who her father is was beautiful, but it was even more moving to watch Rayna’s reaction to her daughters bonding over Deacon’s music. Connie Britton can do so much without words, and this scene is another perfect example of that.

What was the best thing you saw on TV this week?

TV Time: Once Upon a Time in Wonderland 1.02

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Get ready for another trip down the rabbit hole—Leah is back with her latest review of Once Upon a Time in Wonderland! 

Once-Upon-a-Time-in-Wonderland2-620x385

Title Trust Me

What Happened? As we follow Alice and the Knave on their continuing journey to find Cyrus by finding his bottle, Alice sets a trap with the purpose of knowing whom she is up against—something Cyrus once told her is essential to any battle. Meanwhile, the Red Queen and Jafar continue to struggle for dominance in their relationship, and the Red Queen makes a move that puts them on more equal footing.

Favorite Lines
“The one thing you can count on in Wonderland is that you can’t count on anyone.” (Alice)

“Very nice dungeon you have here…I can really see you enjoy dampness. Remind me to tell you the value of keeping pretty things around.” (Red Queen)

“I thought when you truly loved somebody, you didn’t need any proof.”
“You don’t, but it’s still nice to have.”
(The Knave and Alice)

My Thoughts
In my opinion, this episode was a major improvement on last week’s pilot episode. The characters all gained more depth, and the plot gave you just enough information to move the story along while not revealing everything all at once.

I found myself pleasantly surprised by Alice in this episode. While I already liked her from what we saw of her in the pilot, I did not expect the trap she set in this episode. Alice may seem naïve and foolish to the outside observer, but she’s got more to her than that. She showed us in this episode that she also has cleverness and creativeness, and is perhaps not quite what everyone first perceives her to be. She’s an optimist, yes, but she also knows what it is like to feel left behind by a loved one, as she tells us that her father has “moved on” from her. It was nice to see that even someone as persistent and optimistic as Alice sometimes has doubts, and has things in her past that haunt her.

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TV Time: Parks and Recreation 6.05

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Thanks to some strange scheduling from my local NBC affiliate, I still haven’t been able to watch this week’s episode of Parks and Recreation. Luckily, my own personal beautiful tropical fish, Heather, came to the rescue with this great review! 

Title Gin It Up!

Two Sentence Summary Donna accidentally sends a salacious tweet from the Parks and Rec Twitter account and Councilman Jamm turns it into a scandal to use against Leslie. Tom gets a crush on a doctor who comes in to reserve a park (guest star Tatiana Maslany), and Ben helps Ron create a will.

Favorite Line “Ben, your heart’s in the right place. Your heart and your butt.” (Leslie)

My Thoughts While I enjoyed the episode, there were parts that fell flat for me and kept me from enjoying it as much as I think I could have. I loved Ben helping Ron with his will and was pleasantly surprised by the appearance of Tatiana Maslany, but once again, Leslie’s plot just didn’t quite work for me.

As a whole, I haven’t loved the story about Leslie’s recall election. Her election and the arc leading up to it in season 4 is one of the best things the show has done and to see that victory and her excitement taken away is hard for me as a viewer who loves her. That said, I don’t actually think this episode did anything to further the recall plot, other than to remind the viewers than Councilmen Jamm and Dexhart are the worst. It worked better as a skewering of the politicians who are more concerned about politics and getting their way than actually doing good for their community. While timely, I wanted more.

They tried to give us more by reading Donna’s tweets to the court (but primarily Leslie). It provided a little more insight into Donna and it also forced Leslie to confront the idea that she can be annoying to others. It just didn’t feel genuine. First, it didn’t quite fit into the characterization of Donna I have in my head. Second, of all the things Leslie has asked her employees to do, putting stickers on signs hardly seemed like an extraordinary effort.

Realistically, unless they were still acting as her campaign team, she shouldn’t have asked her Parks employees to do that as part of their Parks jobs, but I can hand-wave that away. Leslie knows she can be too much for the people around her sometimes. This week just didn’t feel like one of those times for me. She wasn’t over-the-top like she was last week, and she wasn’t being passionate about a cause in a “heroic and inspiring” way. It just didn’t all work together for me the way this show usually does.

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TV Time: New Girl 3.05

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Title The Box

Two-Sentence Summary After Nick inherits a large amount of money from his deceased father, Jess tries to convince him to use it to pay the pile of bills sitting in a box in his room, which doesn’t go over well with bank-hating, tax-evading Nick, who also refuses to pay Winston back the money he loaned him a long time ago. Meanwhile, Schmidt’s crisis of conscience only worsens after he saves an injured bike messenger from choking to death.

Favorite Line “I performed Heimlich’s maneuver on him.” (Schmidt)

My Thoughts I know this is a little different from my usual New Girl reviewing setup, but I think this broader format will help me share my thoughts a little better than what I’d normally use for a post about this show.

I didn’t like “The Box.” I didn’t like it at all. Don’t get me wrong; I laughed really hard at some points: Winston—who would have been Episode M.V.P. had I used my usual format—wishing for more candelabras; Schmidt sprinting down the street; Schmidt yelling “YOLO!” and singing Hebrew songs; Jess’s night peanuts; “Bobby’s pins;” and the return of Outside Dave. And the scene with Winston telling Schmidt that good people sometimes do bad things did manage to find the balance between sweet, honest, and funny in a way that has come to define my love for this show.

However, the bright spots in this episode (and they did exist) couldn’t make up for its glaring problems with characterization, tone, and continuity. Writer Rob Rossell didn’t seem to have a handle on who these characters really are beyond their more cartoonish qualities, especially when it came to Nick. His script lacked the depth and nuance that a writer like J. J. Philbin brings to her episodes, and, instead, it felt like an exercise in pushing the characters to their worst possible extremes.

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Pilot Review: Once Upon a Time in Wonderland

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Today at NGN, we welcome back the lovely Leah with her thoughts on the pilot of Once Upon a Time in Wonderland!

OUAT-Wonderland-Title-Card

Title Down the Rabbit Hole

Watch It Live, DVR, or Skip It DVR

What Happened? In the pilot episode of Once Upon a Time in Wonderland, we are introduced to Alice, her situation in a Victorian-era world, and the main plot for the season: Alice’s journey to reunite with her love, Cyrus, while battling the Red Queen and Jafar.

Favorite Line “This is humiliating…I’m gonna die like a bloody s’more.” (The Knave of Hearts)

My Thoughts In my opinion, this was a solid—but not amazing—start for this Once Upon a Time spin-off. It properly introduced us to the main characters, and it set up the basic goal for Alice while she’s in Wonderland (finding Cyrus). I felt this pilot established Alice’s personality pretty well, and gave us a good explanation for why our Alice is so much older than the traditional Alice of Lewis Carroll’s tale: This Alice has been looking for proof of Wonderland to bring to her father for years and somehow just hasn’t quite succeeded. All her talk of the magic of Wonderland along with her multiple disappearances to the land make her father fear that she is losing her mind. He commits her to a psychiatric ward, which is where we find Alice.

For me, the love story between Cyrus and Alice was a tad boring. Their relationship bordered on saccharine at times to the point of annoyance, and that’s saying something, as I’m generally a fan of sappy romances. I think most of the reason I don’t care much about the love story so far is that I feel like we barely know Cyrus. He needs to be developed more into his own character and we need to see more of those two together in scenes that aren’t focused solely on their romance before I’ll really, truly be rooting for their love to succeed. I have faith that the show can make it happen, though, because the crew behind this spin-off has created some beautiful and complicated romances on the main show.

The aspect of the show that most interested me in this pilot was Alice’s friends, especially her relationship with the Knave of Hearts. To be completely honest, I found her banter-laden and complicated relationship with the Knave more interesting than her relationship with Cyrus. The Knave felt like a fully fleshed-out person and had hints at intriguing backstory throughout the episode. He’s also certainly loyal to Alice, but he isn’t going to blindly follow her anywhere. And he’s got a streak of selfishness with some recklessness in him that makes for a very interesting combination. I hope we’ll get to see and learn more about him as the show goes on.

While the pilot didn’t blow me away, I think it definitely has potential, and I’ll continue to see where the story goes as we get further into Alice’s journey.

TV Time: Castle 6.04

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Number One Fan

Title Number One Fan

Two-Sentence Summary When a woman with a dark past appears to have mudered her boyfriend, she takes a group of people hostage until her favorite mystery author—Richard Castle—can prove her innocence. Castle and Beckett team up with Ryan, Esposito, and Captain Gates to uncover a tangled web of people willing to do anything to expose the truth and others willing to anything to keep it hidden.

Favorite Lines
Beckett: Listen, I’m kind of looking forward to spending the rest of my life with you, so don’t do anything stupid in there, okay?
Castle: Hey, don’t worry. I think I already hit my “stupid quota” for the day.

My Thoughts Most of my favorite Castle episodes include some combination of these factors: a case that’s different than your standard procedural fare; guest actors who make you truly feel the weight of the case; at least one moment with Castle’s family; a real sense of love and trust between Castle and Beckett; some quality time with the entire 12th precinct family; and a strong balance between all of the genres that make this show a very unique success. In most cases, even the strongest Castle episodes can only fulfill some of those requirements. Imagine my surprise, then, to see that six seasons after Castle first premiered, it was able to produce an episode that so effectively incorporated all of those factors. “Number One Fan” was the best episode of this young season, and it proved to me that the new, confident tone I was so impressed with in “Valkyrie” is here to stay.

The episode began on a high note and never looked back. The tone of the first scene was perfect. I feel like this season’s writers have shown a really strong grasp of how to integrate Castle and Beckett’s relationship into the rest of the show. The opening scene with the two of them in bed talking about her lost job was filled with the easy domesticity and natural feeling that should come from the interactions of an engaged couple. It allowed Stana Katic and Nathan Fillion’s unforced chemistry to take a simple scene of exposition and wrap it in the kind of warmth that feels right for where these characters are in their relationship.

Of course, the tone of the scene shifts from sweet to silly the second other characters begin parading in and out of their bedroom, but that’s what I love about Castle. The tone can turn on a dime, but that’s the way real life works. I still don’t understand Pi’s purpose (and I feel like he’s taking away from Alexis as a character right now), but I did have to laugh at the way his presence brings out the snarky side of Castle like nobody else. And I couldn’t stop laughing at Martha in her stage combat outfit. The way this scene’s comedic tone escalated reminded me of the opening of last season’s “After the Storm,” and I mean that in the best possible way.

It was a good thing this episode began with such a silly moment of comedy because, once the action really started, it was one twist, turn, and emotional moment after another. This episode had one of the strongest cases in a long time, and so much of it came from the emotional connection we were able to build with Emma and the way it utilized so many things we’ve come to learn about Richard Castle as a character. I love when the show reminds us of Castle’s work and his fame, and this episode took that a step further. It wasn’t just a reference; it was what the plot of the entire episode was based around. I loved the way it was hinted that much had been written about Castle and Beckett’s working relationship outside of just his books—because that would be true of a bestselling author who has such an interesting relationship with his muse. And I liked that Emma’s knowledge of Castle’s experience with the NYPD was what motivated her to ask for his help clearing her name. Castle is the kind of person who follows his gut and looks for the story even when the facts all point in another direction, and it makes sense for Emma to hope that he of all people would be able to solve this case.

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TV Time: Once Upon a Time 3.03

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OUaT 303

Title Quite a Common Fairy

Two-Sentence Summary In Neverland, the Charming Family (and Hook) try to form an alliance with Tinker Bell, who has a complicated history with Regina, which is shown in flashbacks to a time when Tinker Bell tried to help the lonely queen find a second chance at love. Second chances at love is the theme of the episode in the Enchanted Forest, too, as Neal uses Robin Hood’s son to get back to Neverland and Mulan decides to confess her own romantic feelings before discovering that the object of her affection is about to start a family with someone else.

Favorite Lines
Regina: Trust me, my staying out of her sight is probably best for Operation Henry.
Emma: Operation Henry?
Regina: That’s what I’ve been calling it in my head because…
Emma: …Because that’s what he’d call it.
Regina: He’d have a better name.

My Thoughts Another week, another excellent episode of Once Upon a Time. This season seems to have found a formula that works for moving the plot along (both in the flashbacks and in the present-day storylines) while still giving us a wealth of character-driven moments, especially between characters who have been long overdue for some meaningful interaction. Those moments allowed the show’s strongest actors to shine in this episode, and they brought out the best in actors who I felt hadn’t really been given shining moments until now. As soon as I saw that this was an episode penned by Jane Espenson, I knew it was going to be a great showcase for the actors, and I loved that I was proven right. It’s no secret that Espenson knows her craft like few others in the fantasy genre, and her gift for realistic dialogue, nuance, and layered characterizations and relationships was once again on full display in “Quite a Common Fairy.”

The big selling point of this episode was the introduction of Tinker Bell, and I have to say I wasn’t disappointed at all. Rose McIver played the innocence, spunk, and darkness in this fairy perfectly. I also liked the twist on the idea of believing in fairies to keep them alive. Changing it to believing in the specific fairy in order for them to have magic makes it feel more realistic and fits in really well with the running theme of this season: believing in the people we care about. Part of the reason Tinker Bell lost her magic because Regina didn’t want to believe in the happiness she was offering, but she really lost her magic because the Blue Fairy didn’t believe in her abilities. Losing her magic made Tinker Bell lose her sense of self; it made her feel isolated and alone, and we’ve seen time and again on this show what the absence of love and support (aka belief) does to a person. Tinker Bell’s story fit in perfectly with the thematic narrative of Once Upon a Time.

One of my favorite parts of Tinker Bell’s story was the way it forced Regina to confront her own destructive sense of self-pity. For so much of Season Two, the only thing I liked about Regina’s story was Lana Parrilla’s acting. I hated being told I was supposed to feel bad for this woman who did so many terrible things all because she felt her life was ruined by the honest mistake of a little girl. In this episode, Regina finally had to admit that she had no one to blame but herself for refusing to choose the happiness Tinker Bell was offering her. There was no deflecting blame or “I was a victim” in that scene between Regina and Tinker Bell in the cave. There was only a broken woman finally coming to terms with the fact that she was afraid to be happy because she didn’t know who she would be without her grief and anger.

That scene was the first time in a long time that I felt genuine sympathy towards Regina. I liked that the episode began with Rumplestiltskin once again pulling the strings and planting the idea in Regina’s head that she needs her anger to be powerful. The way he manipulated Regina for so much of her life all for the sake of his own plan continues to horrify me even as it adds depth to their interactions and the show as a whole.

Regina’s fear of happiness and desperation to cling to her self-pity are such relatable emotions. I love when Once Upon a Time takes fairytale characters and puts them in real, human situations, and that’s what Regina’s story was all about. She was afraid to be happy, afraid that loving someone again would make her weak—and I understood those motivations, even as I was internally screaming at her to go through that door and take that chance to be happy again.

But I think we all know she’s going to take that chance someday—because now we’ve seen her true love. I’m so happy it’s Robin Hood because he’s the perfect mixture of idealism and realism (he wants to give to the poor but he’ll steal in order to do it). Also, he’s a loving father who lost his first love. I think he’s going to be a great match for Regina, and I can’t wait for them to finally meet. I know I shouldn’t be rooting so hard for the happiness of a woman who’s done some really terrible things, but the thing that’s so great about Regina is that we know she is still capable of goodness; we’ve seen it. We saw it in this episode when she and Emma were talking about Henry. To see those two mothers bonding over their shared love for their son was a moment I’ve been waiting such a long time so see. Regina’s love for Henry is such a defining part of her character; it’s what makes her so complex and human. Like Emma, Regina found a chance to learn to love again through Henry, and I think it’s about time these broken, all-too-human women shared a moment to gently connect over the boy they both miss with their whole hearts.

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The Best Thing I Saw on TV This Week (10/6 – 10/13)

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This was another fantastic week in the world of television. On Sunday, Once Upon a Time reminded us just how wonderful Snow and Charming’s relationship is while setting the stage for a relationship between Emma and the surprisingly sincere Captain Hook. Monday’s Dancing with the Stars convinced me that this might be the most competitive season yet, and Castle upended Beckett’s professional life while showing us that her life with Castle is more stable than ever. Tuesday’s night of TV started off with my favorite Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. episode so far, and it continued with a strong episode of The Mindy Project and a New Girl episode that made me fall even more in love with Nick Miller. Thursday gave us a funny Parks and Recreation, an intriguing pilot episode of Once Upon a Time in Wonderland, an emotional 200th episode of Grey’s Anatomy, and an even more emotional episode of Glee.

That episode of Glee may have been hard to handle at points because of its raw emotion, but there is no denying that it was the best thing I saw on TV this week. “The Quarterback” gave all of us a chance to mourn the tragic loss of Cory Monteith through an episode that saw the characters mourning the loss of Finn Hudson. The episode was filled with brutally powerful moments: Santana’s confrontation scene with Sue; Sue’s brilliant monologue, which allowed Jane Lynch to show once again just how good she is; Puck’s statement that the dash between birthdate and death date is so small but has to represent a person’s whole life; every moment where you could see the real grief bleeding through the actors performances; and, of course, the heartbreaking moments when Lea Michele was onscreen. You could tell that so much of what Rachel was saying about Finn was what Lea really felt having to bury the man she loved at such a young age. And her painfully beautiful performance of one of my favorite love songs (“To Make You Feel My Love”) reminded me just how strong and brave this young woman is.

The most heartbreaking scene in the whole episode, though, belonged to Finn’s family. Watching Burt, Carole, and Kurt go through his things was such a honest moment of the reality of death and the pieces left to be picked up by the ones left behind. For as amazing as Mike O’Malley and Chris Colfer always are (and they were characteristically amazing once again), this scene belonged to Romy Rosemont. Her portrayal of a mother’s all-consuming grief was so raw and so powerful. The moment when she says she still has to be a parent even though she doesn’t have a child was the moment that completely broke me. I still want to cry just remembering it. Rosemont’s performance in this one scene was better than any performance I’ve seen from another actor so far this television season.

What was the best thing you saw on TV this week?

TV Time: Parks and Recreation 6.04

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Sorry for my delay in getting this review posted—maybe I need an Eagleton counterpart to help with all of my writing!

Parks-and-Recreation-Doppelgangers

Title Doppelgangers

Two-Sentence Summary The merger of Pawnee and Eagleton brings new faces into the parks department as Ron, April, Tom, Donna, and even Ann meet their Eagleton counterparts. In the middle of these big changes comes another major shift in Leslie’s life, as Ann tells her she’s planning to leave Pawnee to raise her baby with Chris.

Favorite Line “Pawnee has the very first documented case of mega-diabetes. And the only known occurrence of Lou Gehrig’s other disease. We’ve been written about in textbooks.” (Leslie)

My Thoughts This episode was an important one, but I can’t help feeling it wasn’t as good as I was hoping it would be. Yes, it was funny, and I loved almost all of the Eagleton characters. Yes, it had some great Ben Wyatt moments (a surefire way for a Parks and Recreation episode to win my heart), and it did some really great things with Ben and Chris’s relationship. However, the central plot of this episode—Leslie’s reaction to Ann’s decision to leave Pawnee—was written to go for the funny bone instead of the heartstrings, and I think it was missing something intangible because of that reason.

I understand that Leslie is overdramatic, overbearing, and idealistic to a fault—especially when it comes to her personal life. Leslie is the most devoted and passionate character I know of on television, and she expects that same devotion (or at least a small percentage of it) from the people she loves. That’s not news, and that’s actually something I love about her. However, I get uncomfortable when the show takes Leslie’s reactions and makes them so over-the-top that it’s hard for us to sympathize with or even really relate to her. I know it’s a matter of taste, and I’m sure most people find it funny. I’m just not one of them. I’m okay with a childish outburst or some ridiculousness for a little while; I just don’t like when it becomes the focal point of the episode.

This episode reminded me of Season Four’s “Smallest Park,” which is interesting because I love that episode and feel less positively about this one. Both feature Leslie acting ridiculously because she wants something she can’t have from a person she loves (a relationship with Ben in one and for Ann to decide to stay in the other). However, what made “Smallest Park” work was the scene at the end, where the emotions ran raw and real, making the resolution feel earned because we got to really see both Leslie and Ben talking through things together. We got to feel Leslie’s pain and Ben’s, which made her actions more understandable. In “Doppelgangers,” everything felt rushed between Ann and Leslie. There was very little nuance, which is something this show usually does quite well. I wish we could have seen more of the scene between Leslie and Ann at the end of the episode. It felt like the episode was tied up with a nice little bow, but it didn’t feel as earned or as heartwarming as I wanted it to feel.

Don’t get me wrong; this storyline had some great moments. I loved how Ann knew exactly how to break the news to Leslie—with waffles and shirtless Joe Biden. I loved the way the rest of the parks department called Leslie out on how ridiculous she was being with the loyalty contracts. And I really liked the contrast with Ben’s reaction to Chris telling him the news. Adam Scott’s delivery was characteristically perfect—you could feel his surprise and sadness, but you could also sense how happy he was for his friend to find happiness. That scene between Chris and Ben hit all the emotional beats I wanted from the last scene between Leslie and Ann. In fact, I really think Chris and Ben’s friendship (and adorable working relationship) is my favorite thing about Parks and Rec right now. The writing for them and the performances by Scott and Rob Lowe are firing on all cylinders right now.

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Happily Ever After: The Best of Snow and Charming

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My Parks and Recreation review will be up sometime tomorrow—I needed to make a detour to Storybrooke on my way to Pawnee this week. 

Ginnifer-Goodwin-and-Josh-Dallas-Once-Upon-a-Time

In case you haven’t heard, today is a pretty good day if you’re a fan of fairytale romance. Ginnifer Goodwin and Josh Dallas, who play Once Upon a Time’s Snow White and Prince Charming, are getting married! The pair announced their engagement this morning and followed that up with an adorable confirmation of the news via Twitter.

Goodwin and Dallas showed a uniquely intense and genuine chemistry from the pilot of Once Upon a Time onward, and it’s been a real joy to be a fan of theirs and watch their real-life love story develop. Both actors seem like good people, and I add my name to the many today wishing them the happiest of beginnings for their life together.

Today I’ve decided to take a little trip down memory lane and relive some of the best of Goodwin and Dallas’s onscreen love story to celebrate this next step in their off-screen love story. So without further ado, here are my top 10 Snow White and Prince Charming moments, and I hope they serve as a nice little reminder of just how happy “happily ever after” can make us feel.

10. The Reason I Go to Granny’s… (Season One: “7:15 A.M.”)
This is one of those scenes that makes you want to hold your breath during it because you’re afraid to break the spell it’s casting. When I think of this scene, I think of Goodwin and Dallas’s adorable commentary track for this episode on the Season One DVDs, because during this scene they talked about how they’re each others favorite scene partners—and it shows. It’s filled with such quiet intensity and vulnerability, and the way Dallas looks at Goodwin during this scene will never fail to give me the best kind of goose bumps.

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