Category Archives: TV Time

TV Time: Castle 7.17

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This week’s Castle post is brought to you by one of my favorite fellow Kate Beckett fans, Heather! 

Source: tvfanatic.com

Source: tvfanatic.com

Title Hong Kong Hustle

Two Sentence Summary At the news of a friend’s promotion, Beckett questions whether she is doing enough to have the life and position she wants at work. A murder that brings the very talented Hong Kong Chief Inspector Zhang together with the NYPD furthers those feelings of failure, until Beckett realizes that her balance now might not look like she’d once imagined it would.

Favorite Line “You cannot leave behind what is always at your side” (Castle)

My Thoughts There are some characters who I just love a little more than all others and feel incredibly protective over. Kate Beckett is one of those characters. She has proven herself to be strong (both physically and mentally), she’s incredibly good at her job, and I honestly can’t think of a character who has looked better in love than she does. She’s also extremely driven and competitive and is therefore prone to moments of doubts and insecurity that make me want to wrap her up in a hug and tell her how amazing I find her.

The case in this episode wasn’t bad. It was a little overly complicated again, and I’m not sure the human trafficking element was entirely necessary. However, this episode was really all about Kate Beckett and who she thinks she should be and what that means for her future. This episode was the perfect example of the way a procedural (which is inherently plot-based) can pull off a character-driven episode if that character has a strong enough foundation.

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TV Time: Once Upon a Time 4.14

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Source: tvfanatic.com

Source: tvfanatic.com

Title Enter the Dragon

Two-Sentence Summary As Regina attempts to gain the trust of the Queens of Darkness in order to go undercover for Snow and Charming, flashbacks show Regina and Maleficent’s first meeting. Meanwhile, Rumplestiltskin uses Hook and Belle’s new friendship in order to get his hands on the Dark One dagger, which he uses to bring back a familiar face.

Favorite Line “For now, Will makes me smile.” (Belle)

My Thoughts “Setup episodes” are a fact of life for TV fans. There are going to be episodes every season on every show where the focus is on establishing plot points and moving pieces into place for overarching storylines rather than on small moments of character interaction and development. Given the choice, I will always take episodes that focus more intensely on characters than plot, but that’s not how TV works. For every “Unforgiven” (where very little actually happened plot-wise), there has to be an “Enter the Dragon,” which put the chess pieces into play for what’s to come this season. And while setup episodes aren’t my favorite episodes on any given TV show, as long as the plot is interesting and seems to be heading in a compelling direction, I can appreciate them. “Enter the Dragon” featured enough fun twists, intriguing developments, and fun character combinations to make for an entertaining hour of Once Upon a Time—even if it was a little light on the emotional beats I love so much.

While this episode wasn’t heavy on the emotional content I crave, it was heavy on something else I love with all my heart: interactions between complex female characters. I love the way the Queens of Darkness are putting a spotlight on the fact that Once Upon a Time has always been a female-focused show. While romantic love obviously plays a huge role in the series, there’s something to be said for the fact that many of the show’s deepest and most compelling relationships are relationships between women—as family members, friends, adversaries, unlikely allies, mentors, and sometimes all of those things wrapped up into one relationship. So many TV shows have trouble writing one interesting relationship between female characters, but Once Upon a Time is brimming with them—especially with the introduction of Maleficent, Cruella, and Ursula.

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TV Time: Broadchurch 2.02

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Today, the lovely Leah is back with her thoughts on the latest episode of Broadchurch. 

Title Episode 2

Two-Sentence Summary The preparation for and the beginning of the trial occur, which results in Joe’s confession being excluded from evidence. Alec and Ellie convince Claire to meet with Lee in the hopes that he’ll reveal something incriminating, but their plan goes awry when Beth unwittingly provides a distraction that lets Lee escape and take Claire with him.

Favorite Line “Because my life, my old life, is gone. And I made so many mistakes—some big ones. And I need to put something right. We could do it together.” (Ellie Miller)

My Thoughts I want to admit something, so you know where I’m coming from while I discuss certain parts of this episode: Personally, I am not a fan of shows that focus on courtroom scenes or the technicalities of the legal system. They usually infuriate or annoy me in some way—probably because of the way the victims or their families are often treated on the stand and because the audience usually has to spend a lot of time with the guilty party (or their lawyer) making smug faces. Thus, because of my bias against those types of scenes, I felt a fair dose of annoyance along with the enjoyment of other aspects of this episode.

Since I prefer to end things on a positive note, let’s start with the storyline that annoyed me more: the trial. A lot of this episode was spent in following the setup for and then the start of Joe Miler’s trial, and we got to see Jocelyn scolding a lot of people and the first witnesses giving their testimony. Most of the trial scenes were centered on one aspect of the case that the defense would attack heavily: the circumstances around the arrest of Joe Miller. Here is where my annoyance starts, and a lot of it is from what I touched on in my review last week. In going through this trial realistically, the show is asking me to apply reality (or at least some version of it) to the very emotional events of the Season One finale, which felt to me to have more impact because of the decisions made to not have it follow strictly realistic police procedure and instead let it play out in a more dramatic way.

When I look at Joe’s arrest from this new point of view, it’s no surprise to me that Joe’s confession was tossed out as evidence. Despite knowing that the confession was not coerced, I thought that Sharon provided a strong enough argument to create reasonable doubt that his confession was made freely. Unsurprisingly, this will make the case a lot harder to prosecute. It will be interesting to see what evidence Jocelyn focuses on in making the prosecution’s case, since I feel like, without Joe’s confession, most of the evidence that we know of is circumstantial.

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TV Time: The Americans 3.07

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Title: Walter Taffet

Episode M.V.P: Alison Wright
“Poor Martha.” That’s been a common refrain for fans of The Americans for a long time now. However, has it ever been more applicable than it was in this episode? “Walter Taffet” was the episode when Martha’s world began to cave in around her—when the secrets that once seemed exciting and romantic suddenly became overwhelming and terrifying. In this episode, “Poor Martha” wasn’t something I said out of pity; it was something I said out of genuine fear for this woman and what she was immediately going through. I felt Martha’s fear and growing sense of unease about her marriage intensely, and it was all because of the stunning work of Alison Wright.

It seems that every actor on The Americans has the ability to make magic happen in silent moments, and Wright is no exception. Martha didn’t say much in this episode, but it was her story and her emotional turmoil that meant the most to me throughout the hour. From the moment the curtains closed around Agent Gaad’s office to her final moments with “Clark,” I couldn’t have taken my eyes off her face if I wanted to. But why would anyone want to when so much was being conveyed with each breath and blink?

Fear is a difficult emotion to play because it so often leads to overacting—excessive hand-wringing, heavy breathing, looking like a caged animal, etc. And for some people, that’s an honest depiction of fear. But for others, fear manifests itself in quieter ways. I loved that Martha cried more than once in this episode from the weight of the stress she felt. It felt incredibly honest and made Martha once again a tangible link to humanity in this cold world of espionage. Each time Wright wiped her eyes (in the realistic way we as women often do to keep our mascara from running and giving us away), my heart broke for Martha. But watching her fight those tears made me feel something besides heartbreak, too—and that was admiration. For all the realistic, palpable fear Wright put into her performance, she also took great care to show that Martha was strong enough to keep that rising fear at bay when she needed to. It reminded me of the old adage that bravery isn’t the absence of fear; it’s being terrified and choosing to keep going anyway.

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TV Time: The Mindy Project 3.19

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Source: newsbusters.org

Source: newsbusters.org

Title Confessions of a Catho-holic

Two-Sentence Summary Danny and Mindy attempt to charm the new pastor at Danny’s church, who happens to be someone Danny knows from his old neighborhood. Meanwhile, Jeremy tries to pull off a one-man show about his childhood.

Favorite Lines
Mindy: How old was Father Francis? Was he Jesus’ roommate?
Danny: No! Jesus didn’t have a roommate. He lived with his Ma.

My Thoughts Religion is a very tricky topic to tackle on television shows—especially comedies, and especially comedies as typically silly as The Mindy Project. Yet somehow, even at its most ridiculous, The Mindy Project has always done a really wonderful job balancing the humor to be found in Danny’s devout Catholicism with its genuine importance in his life and his family. It’s easy to turn someone being religious into a joke, but the TV comedy landscape is filled with enough one-dimensional, satirical portraits of religious people. However, what The Mindy Project has done so well is acknowledging the humor inherent in some of the sillier aspects of organized religion while still respecting the place that organized religion has in many people’s lives. Danny isn’t made out to be a better or worse person because he’s Catholic; it’s simply one of many facets of his complex character. And that’s rare on television.

Before we go any further, I just want to state for the record that I’m a practicing Catholic. I went to Catholic schools through college, and I still go to Mass on Sundays. So I knew going into this episode that I was probably going to love it. Every single Catholic joke told on this show in three seasons has landed with me. And I’ve always found Danny’s Catholicism to be a really interesting part of his character—especially because he doesn’t fit into either of the two main stereotypes about Catholics: He’s not ultra-conservative in his moral views and behaviors, and he’s also not just someone who identifies as Catholic but doesn’t go to Mass. Danny is a person trying to balance living his life the way he feels is right for him with his religious upbringing and beliefs, and that’s both incredibly relatable and incredibly deep as both a source of character growth and comedy—both of which were explored to their fullest potential in “Confessions of a Catho-holic.”

Once again, The Mindy Project did a great job addressing a common question people in relationships must tackle in order to grow together: How does religion factor into this relationship? This is especially important when there’s the issue of bringing a child up in a particular faith that needs to be talked about, which is exactly what Mindy and Danny were going through in this episode. And once again, this show tackled this point of relationship growth with big laughs and also genuinely sweet moments of sincerity. That combination brings out the best in The Mindy Project, and it was on full display here.

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TV Time: Once Upon a Time 4.13

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Source: onceuponatime.wikia.com

Source: onceuponatime.wikia.com

Title Unforgiven

Two-Sentence Summary Ursula and Cruella’s arrival in Storybrooke forces Regina, Hook, Snow, and Charming to confront past moments of darkness. Flashbacks to the Enchanted Forest reveal that an encounter with the Queens of Darkness led to Snow and Charming becoming aware of Emma’s potential for darkness, a potential that’s keeping them from revealing this secret to their daughter as well as one more: They were responsible for Maleficent losing her child.

Favorite Lines
Emma: I’m going to choose to see the best in you.
Hook: And I with you.

My Thoughts If “Unforgiven” had a subtitle title, it would be: “Secrets, secrets are no fun. Secrets, secrets hurt someone.” It seemed like everyone was keeping secrets or being asked to keep secrets in this episode, and it was all at Emma’s expense. However, this episode ended with one of those secrets at least partially revealed (Hook coming clean about the fact that he and Ursula have an ugly past that he isn’t quite ready to share) but another (Emma’s dark potential and its connection to the loss of Maleficent’s child) being guarded more closely than ever by Snow and Charming—and now Regina, too.

If last week’s “Darkness on the Edge of Town” was about self-awareness, then “Unforgiven” was about whether or not the way we see ourselves matches the way others see us. In some instances, this episode showed examples of people doing things to change the way others saw them for the better. There were also examples of people doing drastic things to keep others from seeing hidden darkness. And in the episode’s most powerful moments, it gave us pairs of characters who accept each other for every part of who they are and could be.

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TV Time: The Americans 3.06

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Source: tv.com

Source: tv.com

Title: Born Again

Episode M.V.P.: Holly Taylor
Paige Jennings could have been insufferable. Instead, Paige is complex, she’s interesting, and she’s important—not despite the fact that she’s a teenage girl who cares deeply about things but because of that. Part of the credit for that needs to go to the writers, who have created such a strong character in Paige. But part of the credit also needs to go to Taylor, who just had her finest hour in “Born Again.”

Yes, Paige rolls her eyes at her dad’s “be true to yourself” speeches, but the impressive thing about Paige is that she rolls her eyes because—at this point in her life—she doesn’t need that speech. Paige is driven by the courage of conviction that Taylor brought to life so beautifully in Paige’s two scenes with her mother in this episode. What was so impressive about what Taylor did in those scenes was her restraint and gentle touch. Like the cast of fantastic adult actors around her, Taylor didn’t reach for the dramatics. Instead, she played Paige’s faith and desire for her mother to understand her beliefs with a simple honesty and sincerity that reminded me how young this character really is.

This episode focused heavily on the similarities between Paige and Elizabeth—their passion, their belief in fighting for what matters to them, their desire to affect change—but it also focused on their differences. And one of the biggest differences is Paige’s innocence. Sometimes innocence can come off as annoying in the media, but Taylor has made Paige anything but annoying. In this episode, she showed Paige’s innocence through an openness fueled by belief. When she talked to Elizabeth about praying, there was no sense of preaching or moralizing, just a daughter sincerely trying to help her mother because she believes prayer genuinely helped her. And much like Philip with Kimberly, what makes Elizabeth’s development of Paige as an asset so troubling is the way she’s going to have to corrupt that innocence.

The final scene between Elizabeth and Paige was such a great showcase for Keri Russell, but Taylor matched her every step of the way. Taylor made me feel Paige’s confusion and hesitation to embrace what her mother was telling her—because no teenage girl wants to hear they’re just like their mom. Taylor played that scene perfectly because Paige has no idea that this means so much more to Elizabeth than just a walk down memory lane. To Paige, this is her mother telling her they’re a lot alike but she still knows what’s best because she did braver things for her beliefs. And to Paige, that hurts—just like we know it hurt Elizabeth to feel like Paige wasn’t accepting what she was trying to say.

In typical The Americans fashion, this moment relied heavily on the facial expressions of its actors in order to create emotional depth, and Taylor brought a depth to her work in this scene that proved to me she’s been taking lessons from Russell and Matthew Rhys—two of the best to watch and learn from—and the lessons are paying off.

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TV Time: Broadchurch 2.01

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The lovely Leah is back today with the first of her Broadchurch episode reviews!

Title Episode 1

Two-Sentence Summary Joe Miller sets the whole town into chaos when he unexpectedly pleads not guilty at his hearing, and new characters are thrown into the mix as legal teams are hired and begin to prepare for the trial. Meanwhile, Alec’s past with Sandbrook is looming even larger than last season as Ellie discovers that not only has Alec been protecting a key witness from Sandbrook all this time, but the suspected Sandbrook killer himself is in Broadchurch as well.

Favorite Line “Knowing the truth and getting justice is not the same thing.” (Jocelyn Knight)

My Thoughts This episode did a good job of setting up the rest of the season with the introduction of new information and new characters, all without managing to lose the nuances in behavior and the emotional impact that make this show so good. Two main plotlines were introduced in this episode that will likely be our main arcs throughout Season Two: Joe Miller’s trial and the reemergence of the Sandbrook suspect.

The first major event of this episode was Joe Miller’s hearing. Joe’s plea appears to have broken the fragile, peaceful equilibrium of the town, and there is definitely some emotional fallout. Everyone was expecting to gain some closure that day only to have it unexpectedly denied, and Joe is inflicting another wound on the Latimers and this community by forcing them to go through a trial.

While time has passed, the main people affected by Danny’s death are still hurting. Ellie is seeing a psychiatrist and feels guilty over the whole mess—not to mention that her own son blames her so much that he’s not living with her and doesn’t even want to see her. While the Latimers have started to move forward with their lives and prepare for their new baby, Beth is still blaming Ellie and herself, and Mark is escaping from his family for hours at a time to play games with Tom. I feel like at some point this season the Latimers (or at least Mark) may collapse under the weight of the emotional strain. I can already see potential for a major outburst, especially in Mark’s reactions in the courthouse and at the graveyard. My heart breaks for them, especially because I don’t think they quite understand what this trial is going to bring about. As we see with the exhumation of Danny’s body at the end of the episode, this trial is going to hurt.

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TV Time: The Mindy Project 3.18

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Source: spoilertv.com

Source: spoilertv.com

Title Fertility Bites

Two-Sentence Summary Mindy’s new clinic is struggling to find its footing, which leads to drastic measures and a big misunderstanding about Danny’s fertility. Meanwhile, the nurses band together against Dr. Bergdahl—until they find out he’s been sleeping in his car.

Favorite Lines
Dr. Bergdahl: Anybody else want anything? The nurses are making sandwiches.
Tamra: Do I look like I work at Au Bon Pain?

My Thoughts The Mindy Project is a very funny television show. And sometimes that’s all it needs to be in order for me to enjoy it. However, there are other times when the show’s desire for laughs asks me to turn my brain off, and I get frustrated because I know it’s better than that. “Fertility Bites” was a funny episode; I’m not going to say otherwise. However, it came by those laughs at the expense of logic and through clichés that I’m getting a little tired of, if I’m being honest. But, like more than a few episodes of this show, it was saved by a strong ending and the overwhelming charms of its cast.

I actually think I liked the B-plot more than the A-plot this week. There’s something to be said for surprising moments of kindness, and that’s what we saw with the nurses in this episode. I had absolutely no fun at all watching Dr. Bergdahl treat the nurses so poorly, but it did give us Tamra’s great line about Au Bon Pain, which almost made his over-the-top nastiness worth it. And the body-odor jokes were a little juvenile, but I still giggled at Danny saying he should take the nurses out for “coffee or deodorant.” In the end, though, this story wasn’t about Dr. Bergdahl so much as it was about the nurses. It was about giving these supporting characters a chance to show real kindness toward someone who wasn’t in the inner circle of the practice, and I really liked seeing that. I’m still not sure Dr. Bergdahl is going to be a great fit with this cast of characters long-term (which his stay at Mindy’s apartment seems to be hinting at), but maybe he’ll grow on me. After all, Peter went from being a character I didn’t like at all to one of my favorite characters on the show. Sometimes The Mindy Project takes a while with characters and stories to find its groove, and maybe that’s what’s happening here.

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TV Time: Once Upon a Time 4.12

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Source: imdb.com

Source: imdb.com

Title Darkness on the Edge of Town

Two-Sentence Summary Rumplestiltskin uses Cruella and Ursula to get back into Storybrooke, while flashbacks reveal how the two women originally teamed up with Maleficent after being betrayed by Rumplestiltskin. Their entrance into the town coincides with the arrival of a new monster, which preys on the heart with the greatest potential for darkness.

Favorite Line “I suppose we should go out and see what’s killing the property values this time.” (Regina)

My Thoughts Self-awareness and what we do with it are major themes on Once Upon a Time. The only way its characters can truly become their best selves is by coming to terms with both their best and worst and choosing to be their best. The classic hero’s journey in mythology typically involves a trip to the darkest parts of the underworld, and on Once Upon a Time, that underworld is often internal—these characters face the darkness in themselves and either choose to embrace it, hide it, or work to be better than it. We all have darkness inside of us—even the most heroic—but it’s what we do with that darkness that determines who we are. “Darkness on the Edge of Town” set up a lot of things for the rest of this half-season, but perhaps the most important thing it established was this idea of knowing your darkness and choosing what to do with that knowledge of your worst self.

In an episode that dealt heavily with the idea of self-awareness, it helped to have writing that was also wonderfully self-aware. This was the funniest and most purely entertaining Once Upon a Time episode in ages. Maybe I’m just saying that because absence makes the heart grow fonder, but I honestly had so much fun watching this episode that the hour flew by. For as wonderful as Season 4A was, it was pretty heavy, with little comic relief (besides Elizabeth Lail’s Anna). Therefore, it was nice to start Season 4B with some very sharp humor from so many characters—from Hook calling the Internet a magic box and Regina wondering about property values to Rumplestiltskin eating ramen and Ursula being fed up with him mooching off of her in New York.

There was something so delightful about the “Villains: They’re Just Like Us!” angle this episode took when dealing with Rumplestiltskin, Cruella, and Ursula. It’s what makes this show so special, and it’s something I think gets lost from time to time as the plots get more complicated and dark: This is the only show on television where Rumplestiltskin, Ursula, and Cruella de Vil can take Cruella’s car through a drive-thru and order fast food. (Who caught the Lost shout-out with the franchise they visited?) It sounds like the setup for a horrible joke, but it’s that kind of multi-fairytale/real-world mash-up that made Once Upon a Time so unique in the first place. In an episode filled with highly entertaining moments, nothing could top those supervillains picking up fast food like it was the most normal thing in the world. Even Queens of Darkness need to eat.

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