Tag Archives: recaps and reactions

TV Time: Broadchurch 2.05

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It’s time once again for the lovely Leah’s weekly take on Broadchurch!

Title Episode 5

Two-Sentence Summary The prosecution and defense teams trade off in witness wins with Susan and Nigel, and we start to finally get some sense of what the defense is going to provide as the alternative to Joe. Familial strife is abundant in this episode, and Ellie dives deeper into the Sandbrook investigation and manages to find a new clue.

Favorite Lines
“Look, Tom, I know you want that to be true, and I know you blame me. But your dad killed Danny. And if I could’ve spotted what was going on or if I could go back and make it un-happen I would, but I can’t.” (Ellie)

“I was reading about another family. They were saying that a trial was as bad as a murder, and I thought that can’t be right. But then going in there every day, seeing our lives get turned inside out…when all we did was love our son. I get it.” (Mark)

“Because I didn’t like you enough. And I always knew you’d blame me if you lost. Because that’s what you always did, every time you didn’t win, every time you missed out on a big brief—you always blame someone else.” (Jocelyn)

My Thoughts The more time we spend out of the courtroom, the more I tend to enjoy these episodes, and this hour was no exception. I also found myself enjoying the Sandbrook case more now that we’re focusing less on Lee and Claire, and more on the case itself.

The trial feels like it’s beginning to finally narrow in on a conclusion now that we know the basics of the alternative theory the defense will present to the jury. I am already dreading seeing Mark being attacked on the stand, but I do think that, from an outsider’s perspective, it’s a credible theory on some level. Tom’s testimony is probably going to be both frustrating and painful, because I’m not sure he understands what he’s getting himself into. From his conversation with Ellie, it seems like he doesn’t know very much about the details of the case and has tried to avoid dealing with the emotional fallout that would happen if he accepted that his dad killed Danny, so I wouldn’t be surprised if he ends up hearing about a piece of evidence in court and has a moment of painful realization or (equally painful for the audience) denial.

Mark hit on the thing that I hate most about trials in his conversation with Jocelyn—that in some ways it’s as bad as the murder. When someone is killed, there are other people left behind who become victims as well. Trials too often feel to me like a reinjuring of those who are already devastated by the original event. It’s one of the worst parts of our imperfect justice system, and this second season is highlighting that through the way the Latimers have been attacked in this case, as well as Ellie, Alec, and a few other members of their community, too.

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TV Time: The Americans 3.10

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Once again, I wan to apologize for taking an unplanned week off from my The Americans posts, but I’ve returned this week to talk about an episode that demands discussion!

Source: spoilertv.com

Source: spoilertv.com

Title: Stingers

Episode M.V.P.: Holly Taylor
The Americans had made many brave and bold storytelling moves in its first three seasons, but perhaps its bravest move was placing a teenage girl at the center of an entire season’s plot. Many TV shows—especially TV dramas—have no idea how to create compelling young female characters, so they often leave them in the background if they exist within the show’s universe at all. However, The Americans decided that Paige wasn’t just going to be a big part of the story this season; she was going to be the story this season, and that decision has made a great show even better. In order for Paige’s prominent story to be as successful and engaging as it has been, the young actress playing her needed to be not just good but great—and Holly Taylor has proved she’s worthy of being one of the main focal points of as brilliant a television season as I’ve ever seen.

Taylor has had strong moments throughout this season of The Americans, but those moments were nothing compared to the performance she delivered in “Stingers.” To be as young as Taylor is and have the talent to share a scene with Matthew Rhys and Keri Russell and command an equal amount of the audience’s attention is no small feat. Taylor absolutely broke my heart in this episode, and she did it in so many ways. When Paige first confronted her parents about her desire to know the truth, Taylor nailed Paige’s sense of righteous anger over spending so much time believing she was crazy because of their lies. What was so moving about that moment was that it never felt like a teenage girl whining; it felt like a profoundly adult desire to know the truth about her parents and thus the truth about herself. The hair and costuming forTaylor added to her sense of maturity in this scene; Paige has never looked more like an adult.

As secret identities were revealed, what was so stunning about Taylor’s work was her use of silence and stillness. The dinner table scene between Elizabeth, Philip, and Paige was as brilliant as it was because all three actors were playing on the same level, and that says so much about Taylor’s ability to hold her own against two of the most nuanced performers on television right now. Taylor said so much in Paige’s quietest moments—from her hesitation on the phone with Pastor Tim to her silence in reaction to her mother speaking Russian. And that silence was heartbreaking because it contrasted so clearly with who Paige has always been—a young woman of action, passion, and strong opinions that she readily voices. Seeing her shocked into silence by the truth of who her parents are felt so realistic—more so than any hysterics would have felt. It reflected the episode’s title in a wonderful way, too. “Stingers” happen when people are hit and experience numbness afterwards. Paige just experienced the most profound stinger imaginable. And the way Taylor played that numbness with real depth and not just emotionless acting fit into the overall tone of the show perfectly and made Paige’s harsh transition into adulthood feel as honest as it was painful.

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TV Time: Castle 7.19

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This week’s Castle post is brought to by the lovely and talented Heather!

SEAMUS DEVER, NATHAN FILLION, STANA KATIC

Title Habeas Corpse

Two Sentence Summary The precinct prepares for a talent show, creating a rivalry between the teams of Esposito/Ryan and Castle/Beckett. Meanwhile, after a personal injury lawyer is found dead, the team discovers a conspiracy he was on the verge of uncovering before his death.

Favorite Lines
Beckett: I didn’t want you to think less of me. And I really didn’t want anyone else to know. So, stupid.
Castle: No, not stupid. Just human.

My Thoughts What a fun episode! This is exactly the sort of stand-alone episode I love. The case kept me interested, and it gave me plenty of great character moments and interactions. In its seventh season, Castle has faltered a bit when it comes to the actual cases. But it more than makes up for it in its understanding of its characters and providing new and fun situations to put them in. As someone who has watched more than their fair share of procedurals that have run for multiple seasons, that’s all I ask of them. I don’t care if the cases are especially creative, but I do need to continue to love the characters. And Castle does this really well.

Let’s start with the case. Personal injury lawyers get such a horrible reputation for being greedy and representing everything that is wrong with the legal system, both in real life and in popular culture. So it was a nice surprise that the victim turned out to be a genuinely nice guy who was actually trying to get justice for those who would normally be overlooked. This simple trope inversion did wonders for my investment in the case.

First, it let the case be relatively free of twists that seem to come out of nowhere. Everything built on the information that came before it, and tiny leads that seemed to be insignificant at the time actually went somewhere. It felt like a better constructed case than many on this show because the writer had a clear idea of who the victim was. Second, it let me care about the victim. With just the little pieces of information we learned, I was genuinely sad that this man was dead. I believed that he was trying to do good in the best way he knew how, even if some of his methods weren’t entirely legal. He spent his life making up for the harm he did as a corporate lawyer and ultimately died trying to pursue justice.

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TV Time: Broadchurch 2.04

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Leah is back with her thoughts in the latest episode of Broadchurch!

Title Episode 4

Two-Sentence Summary Joe’s trial continues, with each side introducing a surprise witness that throws a wrench into the other’s case. Claire and Lee reunite, while Alec and Ellie continue to look into the Sandbrook case by visiting the town and end up discovering new information that points them toward the grieving father.

Favorite Lines “Is that why it got to you? Because you could never be sure.” (Ellie to Alec, about the Sandbrook case)

“Willie Pep: 241 fights, 229 wins. Reportedly claimed he could win a fight without throwing a single punch.” (Ben to Jocelyn, about Jocelyn’s prizefighter metaphor)

My Thoughts This episode gave us some new information along with a few surprises. I enjoyed this episode a bit more than last week’s, probably because my favorite character (Ellie) wasn’t being attacked, and because I enjoyed learning more about the Sandbrook case as well as Alec’s psyche. I’m going to try a slightly different format this week, taking a look at some of the themes I saw in this episode.

First, a quick recap of the new information we learned: Joe’s trial introduced two new witnesses that provided a big hit to each side’s case. Jocelyn brought in Joe’s old paramedic shift partner, who told the story of a night when Joe snapped and seriously hurt a man, providing evidence of Joe’s temper and capability for violence. Sharon ended the episode dramatically by calling Susan Wright to the stand and revealing the defense’s alternative killer: Nigel. Meanwhile, Ellie and Alec traveled to Sandbrook to do some more investigating and discovered that Ricky Gillespie’s alibi is not as solid as it seemed, giving Alec doubts about whether he made a mistake going after Lee. Claire and Lee reunited, and the audience learned that Claire is definitely withholding information from Alec and Ellie about something she and Lee did in the past.

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TV Time: Once Upon a Time 4.16

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Source: ign.com

Source: ign.com

Title Best Laid Plans

Two-Sentence Summary When Rumplestiltkin’s plan to turn Emma’s heart dark is revealed, Snow and Charming realize they have to tell their daughter the truth about what they did to ensure she would be born a hero: stealing Maleficent’s child to transfer any of Emma’s future darkness onto the baby, who was then sent into a portal and grew up to be Emma’s childhood friend Lily. With her emotions running high, Emma decides to let the Author out of the book to question him, even though August told her this Author was the only one of the many throughout history who started manipulating events, which led to his imprisonment in the book.

Favorite Line “No one—not Rumplestiltskin or some Author—gets to decide who I am.” (Emma)

My Thoughts “Best Laid Plans” was an episode about free will and the importance of it—but also the uncertainty that it causes. There’s a beautiful freedom in knowing someone can choose to be whoever they want to be, but there’s also a fear of making the wrong choice. What helps abate that fear? Hope. As such, “Best Laid Plans” was also an episode about what happens when we lose hope—in ourselves, in the people we love, and in the ability for good to always defeat evil. On Once Upon a Time, hopelessness often leads to desperation, and desperate people do terrible things. Even good people do dark things when they lose hope, and that was the message at the very heart of “Best Laid Plans.”

It seems desperation is the driving force for Rumplestiltskin’s quest to get his happy ending, and I’m very intrigued by what his conversation with (unconscious) Belle implied about his future. While it made me uncomfortable to see him kiss her hand without her consent (especially knowing she’d never give him that consent at this point had she been awake), it was interesting to see that he needed to confess to someone about his motives and chose her—even if I wish he could be brave enough to tell her while she was awake. His statement that things must happen quickly raised the idea that he feels he’s running out of time. Is he dying? Did his resurrection have a time limit no one knew about? Or was he simply talking about Belle moving on? Whatever is actually going on, this much seems clear now: Rumplestiltskin has become that desperate soul he used to be so good at exploiting. And that makes his increasing darkness feel like it’s coming from a more believable place.

Regina is another character whose desperation for her happy ending has her seeking out the Author to get him to change her fate. However, while her desperation might still be blinding her to the idea of simply changing her fate by her own choices, it’s not pushing her toward darkness the way it’s done to Rumplestiltskin. However, Rumplestiltskin apparently has something up his sleeve that he believes will make her desperate enough to give in to her darkness again. (I’m guessing Robin is in danger, and Rumplestiltskin knows it.)

I have a feeling, though, that Rumplestiltskin is underestimating Regina’s growth. She’s not the same woman who craved darkness after losing the hope of getting Daniel back. Instead, she has people around her who want to keep her from becoming completely hopeless, and at the center of that support system is Henry. I loved the way those two characters were able to read each other in the scene in which Henry gave Regina the fake page. Their relationship has changed so much from its earliest days. And so much of that growth came from Regina letting go of her need to control her son. Regina kept Henry in the dark about everything for so much of his life, but instead of letting that define him and drive him to darkness, he forgave her and grew into a resourceful and genuinely good young man (who actually had some important stuff to do in this episode!). I know that the situations aren’t exactly the same, but if Henry can forgive Regina for making him feel crazy, then it’s not impossible to believe Emma will be able to forgive her parents eventually for their attempt to take away her agency before she was born.

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Grading the Season Finales 2015: The Mindy Project

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Source: spoilertv.com

Source: spoilertv.com

Before we start talking about last night’s finale, I just wanted to say a quick thanks to all of you who’ve joined us here at NGN to talk about The Mindy Project this season. It’s been a true pleasure writing about this season and discussing it with all of you!

Title Best Man (3.21)

Written By Mindy Kaling

What Happens? Mindy invites Danny to meet her parents at a going-away party before they spend a year in India. However, when Danny gets stuck at the hospital for longer than he expected, he decides to stay in New York instead of making the effort to get to Boston. Mindy then takes this as a sign that she was right not to tell her parents about Danny. With his commitment issues and her history of failed relationships, she didn’t want to introduce them to someone who wasn’t going to stick around.

Mindy reveals all of this to Peter while he’s in town to pick a new best man for his wedding. She explains to him that her parents think that the father of her baby is just an ex-boyfriend she’s no longer dating anymore. Naturally, Morgan overhears this part of the conversation and believes there are now questions about the paternity of Mindy’s child.

During a surprise baby shower at Annette’s house, Morgan has a surprise of his own for Mindy: a lineup of her former boyfriends whom he believes could have fathered her child. Forced to confront the fact that she kept information about Danny from her parents, Mindy reveals that she was scared because—as the lineup of men Morgan found proves—she hasn’t been great at picking guys who stick around. As truths start to come out, Danny has one of his own: He doesn’t think he wants to get married again.

While Mindy and Danny discuss their different stances on marriage, they realize they’re on opposite ends of a debate in which there’s really no middle ground. Mindy doesn’t think it’s crazy to want to get married, but Danny thinks the institution is meaningless. After Mindy leaves, a conversation between Annette and Danny allows Danny to open up about why his parents’ divorce and his first divorce left him so scared of getting married again: He doesn’t want to end up hating Mindy. However, Annette reminds Danny that maybe the problem both of them had was that they married people who weren’t deserving of everything good about marriage.

While Mindy stays home from Peter’s wedding due to her preeclampsia (and tries to write to her parents about the real father of her baby), Danny appears to be on a plane to Austin. However, when Mindy gets a call from Morgan, he tells her that Jeremy took Mindy’s place as Peter’s best man, and Danny isn’t at the wedding. Instead, Danny flew to India, where he introduces himself to Mindy’s parents and tells them he’s in love with their daughter.

Game-Changing Moment While I think many would (not incorrectly) see Danny showing up in India to introduce himself to Mindy’s parents as the biggest moment in “Best Man,” I think the most important moment was the conversation that led to Danny taking that big step: his conversation with his mother. Danny isn’t good at vulnerability. But with his beloved Ma, he could finally open up about how damaged he is by the failed marriages he’s seen and been a part of. And it’s only through that open confronting of his fears that he could begin to heal in a way that allowed him to get on the plane at the end of the episode. Without his mother’s guidance and support, Danny would never have found the courage to be the man Mindy deserves. As Annette said so perfectly, if Danny doesn’t believe in fairytales, he picked the wrong girl to start a family with. Mindy deserves the things Danny was scared to give her, and Annette helped her son see that. And in giving her son guidance without pushing him, Annette showed us why Danny became the good (if understandably flawed) man he is: He has a Ma who wants nothing more than for him to be happy and to be his best self. Without Annette’s words of wisdom, there’s no big gesture to end the episode, so I’d consider her this finale’s ultimate game-changer.

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TV Time: Broadchurch 2.03

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Leah is back with her thoughts on the latest episode of Broadchurch!

Title Episode 3

Two-Sentence Summary Lee continues to cause trouble for Alec, and Ellie gets Claire to tell her what really happened the night the Sandbrook girls disappeared. Meanwhile, Beth gives birth to new baby Lizzie, and the trial continues with Ellie’s testimony.

Favorite Lines “I am sick to the back teeth of taking flack for stuff I haven’t done.” (Ellie)

“Ellie, listen. The world is screwing you over right now. You owe you something.” (Claire)

My Thoughts This episode seemed like one in which not much actually happened, but I was glad to get a bit more information on how all the characters are doing mentally and emotionally. I probably enjoyed this episode more for that reason, though I am still tired of Ellie being the show’s punching bag, and I hope this does not continue through the whole season.

One of the storylines I enjoyed most in this episode was the birth of baby Lizzie. I was glad Ellie stayed with Chloe while Beth was in labor, and their conversation on the stairs was one of my favorite moment, in which Chloe simply asks whether Ellie knew what Joe was doing instead of screaming at her like Beth has been doing. Meanwhile, Mark was absent for hours on end without being reachable on his phone. You would think with a wife who is ready to give birth any day that he’d answer his phone when it rings, but if he was spending time with Tom, then maybe he feels so guilty every time he’s there that he ignores all calls. The most emotional part of this for me was when Mark first held Lizzie. He broke my heart with his teary promises to take good care of her, as well his assurances that she was wanted and loved and that they wouldn’t make the same mistakes this time. Mark clearly still has a lot of guilt over feeling like they failed Danny as parents, and he wants to make sure they don’t fail Lizzie, too. I loved how realistic the emotions from Mark felt in that moment, because the show is showing us how losing your child in the way the Latimers did changes so much about your life, including how you feel about yourself as a parent.

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TV Time: Castle 7.18

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Title At Close Range

Two-Sentence Summary Ryan finds himself in the middle of a murder investigation when a philanthropist with political connections is killed at an event where he was working as a member of the security team. Things get even more complicated when Ryan’s brother-in-law, who got him the extra work, becomes a suspect.

Favorite Lines
Castle: Is it One Direction? You’d tell me, right? Are they in town?
Esposito: No, they’re in Hong Kong.

My Thoughts Sadly, non-NGN responsibilities have forced me to be brief with this week’s Castle post. So instead of a full recap, here are Five Fast Takes from “At Close Range,” and I can’t wait to talk about this episode in greater detail with all of you in the comments!

1. Castle and Esposito being One Direction fans was one of the greatest side conversations on this show in a long time. I think I’ve re-watched that one little exchange five times since last night. Nathan Fillion and Jon Huertas had great timing with their line delivery, and sometimes a silly moment like that just lands perfectly, which this one did for me.

2. I love Kevin Ryan. I don’t know if it’s the way he’s written or if it’s the earnestness Seamus Dever brings to him or if it’s some combination of the two (I’m guessing that’s it), but I find Ryan-centric episodes to be some of the show’s finest hours. My favorite thing about Ryan is how deeply he cares about doing the right thing. It makes him an easy character to root for. I also love how perfectly in-character it is for him to be burdened by guilt and a sense of failure when things go wrong on his watch. Ryan has the one-two punch of Irish-Catholic guilt working against him, and that makes his sense of devotion to doing the right thing even more believable.

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TV Time: Once Upon a Time 4.15

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Source: onceuponatime.wikia.com

Source: onceuponatime.wikia.com

Title Poor Unfortunate Soul

Two-Sentence Summary As Regina watches the Queens of Darkness and Rumplestiltskin attempt to get information out of August, Hook also tries to get information out of Ursula by giving her the happy ending she lost as a girl because of his selfish pursuit of revenge. As more information about the Author becomes clear, it’s revealed that Rumplestiltskin’s plan involves more than just him (or her): It all hinges on turning Emma dark, so she’ll act as the savior for the villains.

Favorite Lines
Emma: Wait—if you’re afraid of losing your happy ending, that means you’ve found it. What is it?
Hook: Don’t you know, Emma? It’s you.

My Thoughts “Poor Unfortunate Soul” was an extremely well-balanced episode of Once Upon a Time. It moved the plot forward in important ways, but it also connected that forward plot momentum to intensely emotional moments. And all of that development—for both the characters and the plot—was centered around one common theme: happy endings. “Poor Unfortunate Soul” was a thematically cohesive episode, with each moment dealing with the overarching idea of happy endings in some way: how we define happy endings and how that definition can change as we change; the means we take to find and protect our happiness; and what all of those things say about heroism and villainy.

Everything about this episode—and it seems everything about this half-season—was summed up in its final moments. August revealed that he’d kept an important truth from Rumplestiltskin and the Queens of Darkness that he was willing to reveal to Emma, Regina, and Henry: The Author is trapped in the storybook. This powerful person that almost every character on the show seems to be searching for has been right under their noses the whole time, literally in their hands. This was an amazing twist and also a symbolic one. The key to a happy ending is often closer than you think it is; it’s often right under your nose, but sometimes you need help to see that. And people will only help you see it and find it if you act in a way that shows you’re deserving of it. The villains keep trying to get closer to their happy endings via force, but if August’s ability to keep information from them even in the face of torture showed us anything, it’s that force isn’t going to work. Happiness can’t be achieved through dark methods; kindness is the key to happiness.

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TV Time: The Americans 3.08

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the americans divestment

Title: Divestment

Episode M.V.P.: Matthew Rhys
One of the most underrated aspects of a great performance is how an actor reacts to what’s going on around them. Matthew Rhys isn’t a just a great actor; he’s a great reactor, and that is so important on a show that relies on subtlety and nuance as much as The Americans does. In “Divestment,” Philip was mainly reacting to the situations and people around him—from Reuben’s brutal way of killing to Martha’s living room interrogation. And the way those reactions built from silence to a powerful use of rhetoric allowed Rhys to use every weapon in his acting arsenal.

I loved what Rhys was able to do with silence once again in this episode. The set of his jaw and the direction of his gaze in the effective close-ups during the brutal fire scene said so much. And the stunning way he was shot in profile as he listened for news from Afghanistan allowed Rhys to show Philip’s overwhelming worry for his son without needing to spell it out for us. And his powerful silence in that scene made the revelation of his son’s name—his real name—feel as important as it needed to feel for Elizabeth’s request to be believable later in the episode. In just a few lines, Rhys and Keri Russell communicated so much to the audience and showed that Elizabeth and Philip can read each other’s reactions so well without any words.

That powerful silence between Elizabeth and Philip contrasted brilliantly with his final scene with Martha. While Elizabeth and Philip often don’t need any words to understand each other because they’ve built up so much trust together, “Clark” often needs to be a smooth-talker with Martha to keep her happy because that same intimacy isn’t there. As Martha finally confronted “Clark,” I loved that Rhys allowed us to see Philip panic for one barely perceptible moment. This was his worst nightmare coming true, and he needed to think on his feet to keep everything from crashing down around him. Rhys does such a brilliant job of showing the wheels turning in Philip’s head without making it seem obvious, and that was put to great use here, as we saw him grasping at straws to say everything he felt he needed to say to appease Martha and save them both.

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