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The Best Thing I Saw on TV This Week (10/5 – 10/12)

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This week in television started with another stellar Sunday night, featuring a second episode of Once Upon a Time that was even better than the season premiere, a fantastically funny look at Jake and Terry’s friendship on Brooklyn Nine-Nine, and another wonderful episode of The Good Wife. (Who knew Christian arbitration could be such a comedy gold mine?) Monday’s Castle gave us some more clues to Castle’s disappearance. On Tuesday, Selfie‘s second episode improved on its pilot, and New Girl and The Mindy Project both took on some racy material, with divisive results. On Wednesday, Black-ish continued its strong first run of episodes, and Nashville continued to break my heart with Juliette’s story and Deacon and Maddie’s father/daughter perfection. And Thursday gave us another hour-long master class from Viola Davis on How to Get Away with Murder.

I’m going to be honest with you: I knew what my pick for my favorite thing on TV this week was going to be as soon as I saw it almost a full week ago. Sometimes you see an episode and just know nothing else is going to be able to top it because it gives you everything you could ever ask for as a fan of a certain character. And I think everyone who is a fan of Emma Swan found a million little (and big) things to love about the latest episode of Once Upon a Time.

As many of you know, I’ve spent a lot of time writing about Emma Swan. To say this character makes me feel very strongly is probably the understatement of the year. We all have those characters we want happiness for so badly because we’ve watched them struggle with believing they were meant to be unhappy, and Emma is one of those characters for me. From the pilot of Once Upon a Time, we’ve watched Emma grow from a woman who believed she was better off alone to a woman slowly learning to accept and tentatively reach out for love in her life. And in “White Out,” we got to see just how many people Emma has in her life who love her and genuinely want to take care of this woman who spent so long with no other option than taking care of herself.

In this episode, we got to see Emma surrounded by her father, her son, the man who’s in love with her, and a new friend. It was beautiful to watch Emma and Elsa instantly begin a friendship based on learning that they things that made them feel isolated from everyone else are things that can connect them—not just as people with magic but as women struggling with a life they didn’t choose. And it was also beautiful to see Emma—this woman who spent so long feeling like she was unable to trust anyone in an intimate way—embrace Hook’s love to the fullest extent we’ve seen yet, letting herself be completely vulnerable with him and leaning into him instead of pulling away from his obvious devotion.

As someone who has spent a lot of time thinking and writing about Emma Swan’s journey towards accepting love after so many years without love in her life, I was so happy with her story in “White Out” that I still smile just thinking about it. From being a lost girl who didn’t think she would ever matter to being a woman literally surrounded by love, Emma Swan has come so far, and I am enjoying every moment spent watching her embrace so many different kinds of love in her life.

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

TV Time: The Mindy Project 3.04

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Source: enstarz.com

Source: enstarz.com

Title I Slipped

Two-Sentence Summary When Danny tries something new in the bedroom without asking Mindy first, Mindy worries that she’s not adventurous enough for him. Meanwhile, Morgan tries to mediate Peter and Jeremy’s feud over Lauren.

Favorite Line “Oh cookie dough, please solve my problems.” (Mindy)

My Thoughts I’m going to be honest with you right off the bat so you can choose whether or not to keep reading this review: I didn’t like this episode. On many occasions when it comes to divisive episodes of television, I fall on the “love it” side of “love it or hate it.” This time, however, I didn’t hate “I Slipped,” but I definitely didn’t love it. There were some parts I genuinely enjoyed, but there were also some parts I am still struggling with over 12 hours later.

Let’s start with the biggest positive surprise to come from this episode: I found the B-plot very entertaining. (Maybe I just love references to The Parent Trap?) I thought Ike Barinholtz was used just enough to be really funny. His excitement over Mindy’s vacation idea was perfect, and I thought him calling Peter and Jeremy “two basics having a bitch-fest” was one of the funniest moments of the episode. His pronunciations of “etc.” and “exclam” (aka exclamation points) made me laugh, too.

It was also nice to see a resolution to the Peter/Jeremy fight—at least within the confines of the practice. Mindy was right; it was unprofessional and needed to stop. The water throwing/singed eyebrows highlighted how idiotic their fighting was, and I liked that we were supposed to see it as dumb and immature.

However, I also liked that I was able to see both sides of Peter and Jeremy’s feud after this episode. Yes, I was genuinely sad for Peter when Lauren chose Jeremy, but Peter still has a lot of growing up to do, which this episode highlighted. He’s Mindy’s “most perverted friend,” and he definitely has a long way to go towards understanding and really respecting women. I thought Jeremy stating that he didn’t “steal” Lauren was a good way to get viewers to see that he’s not really a villain (that and the adorably sad banjo playing). Lauren made a choice; she wasn’t stolen. It was nice to see a TV show address that kind of problematic rhetoric head-on.

In a surprising turn of events, it was the A-plot that bugged me this week. I would have actually taken a lot more of Morgan complaining about nobody celebrating him becoming a nurse practitioner (and the rest of the practice scrambling to give him awful gifts) and less Mindy and Danny trying to convince me that their relationship was becoming stale already.

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TV Time: Castle 7.02

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Title Montreal

Two-Sentence Summary As Castle and Beckett attempt to return to a normal life after his disappearance, they investigate the murder of a toy company CEO who went undercover to prove his toys were being used to smuggle drugs. However, things are still far from normal for Castle, who is given some disturbing new clues about his disappearance and memory loss.

Favorite Line “It’s Canada. How risky could it be? And need I remind you, I’m a grown man. I don’t need to ask your permission. That being said—please?” (Castle)

My Thoughts After last week’s question-filled season premiere, I was concerned that Castle would want to take the focus off show’s newest overarching mystery and instead return to its typical procedural format, with just a few mentions here and there of what had happened before the inevitable sweeps week episode that pushes it to the forefront again. Thankfully, “Montreal” proved that my worries were unfounded, at least for this week. There was none of the tonal whiplash that Castle can sometimes have after “important” episodes, and I think a lot of that came from the way this show directly addressed the concept of being unable to return to normalcy after the events of “Driven.”

Was I particularly interested in the case of the week? No, but I don’t think I was supposed to be. This could become a problem if a divide between Castle and his mystery and Beckett and her job continues, but, for this episode at least, the case worked more as a symbol of normalcy than an actual case. It allowed for moments where Castle could be his playful self (the Big moment on the piano), and it allowed Castle a chance to offer his theories again after everyone voiced that they missed them. But it ultimately was a case that felt much less important than the larger mystery surrounding Castle, and it was supposed to. It represented a life that Castle wanted to embrace without hesitation before discovering that the questions about what happened to him won’t let him simply focus on trying to have a normal life. In the same way, we as viewers can’t just focus on the “normal” cases while we know there’s still a more important mystery out there.

It’s even harder to focus on anything but the mystery surrounding Castle’s lost two months when it’s allowing the actors to do such great work. Last week was Stana Katic’s turn to shine, and she had plenty of wonderful moments in “Montreal,” too. But this episode belonged to Nathan Fillion. When he’s given good dramatic material to work with, he tugs at my heartstrings like no other actor on television.

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TV Time: Once Upon a Time 4.02

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Source: spoilertv.com

Source: spoilertv.com

Title White Out

Two-Sentence Summary In her desperation to find Anna, Elsa creates an ice cave that knocks out Storybrooke’s power (which Snow is left to fix) and traps Emma in fatally freezing temperatures. To help free his daughter, Charming digs into his past and a life-altering meeting with Anna to inspire Elsa to control her magic, but there are more sinister forces than Elsa afoot, as we meet a Storybrooke resident with her own chilling set of powers.

Favorite Lines
Emma: Aren’t you cold? I’m freezing.
Elsa: It’s never bothered me.

My Thoughts I love Once Upon a Time. I love its ability to be a little bit ridiculous and not take itself seriously all the time—this is a show about fairytales, after all. I love its unashamed optimism and the fact that it wears its heart so blatantly on its sleeve. I love its focus on love—between friends, romantic partners, and family members. And, more than anything, I love that it makes me feel. “White Out” was an episode that highlighted all of those things that I love about Once Upon a Time, and it did so by focusing on the family that was the reason I fell in love with this show in the first place and the sisters that had me so captivated in last week’s season premiere.

I was a little apprehensive after “A Tale of Two Sisters” about the sheer number of storylines being set up for this season and how that would affect the time spent developing the characters and relationships on the show. Thankfully, this episode chose to focus its attention on one angle—the Frozen arc and its connection to Emma and her family—instead of trying to cram too much in. For Rumplestiltskin and Regina fans, I’m sure it was a bit disappointing to see so little of your favorites. (Although both did have good moments.) However, I’m sure their time will come to take center stage again, and I for one really enjoyed this episode’s sense of focus, especially given how broad the scope of the premiere was. (But I’ll admit that my bias towards all things “Charming Family” probably helped with my enjoyment of this episode.)

When I saw that “White Out” was a Jane Espenson-penned episode, I knew we were in for a treat in terms of self-aware humor because she’s the best at weaving in funny and genre-savvy details throughout her episodes. From Emma making a “cool” pun with Elsa to Henry’s little comment about how Google doesn’t have answers for what to do when your mom has a breakup like Regina’s, I thought “White Out” had just the right amount of humor to balance out its emotional depth. And Bo Peep as an evil warlord was the kind of campy perfection you just have to embrace as a fan of this show. It was ridiculous, but that’s why it worked—kind of like Josh Dallas’s Fabio/80s hair band/Beyoncé wig. And it gave us the perfect detail of Bo Peep working at a butcher shop in Storybrooke. Between that and “Any Given Sundae,” it was nice to have some fun new details emerge about how Enchanted Forest personas transferred over to Storybrooke.

Also, you can’t talk about fun details in “White Out” and not talk about the plethora of perfect Frozen references. There was the cold not bothering Elsa (“Let It Go”), Anna loving sandwiches (“Love Is an Open Door”), and Anna’s alias being Joan (“Do You Wanna Build a Snowman?”). Each one made me smile.

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The Best Thing I Saw on TV This Week (9/28 – 10/5)

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This week in television featured another group of strong season premieres, which began with a great first episode of Once Upon a Time‘s fourth season on Sunday. That night also saw Brooklyn Nine-Nine return with just as much humor and character development as ever, and it gave us an episode of The Good Wife with almost an embarrassment of riches in terms of great moments. Monday’s “movie night” on Dancing with the Stars was just the kind of light entertainment I needed before the season premiere of Castle broke my heart as it kicked off the season with a great mystery. Tuesday’s series premiere of Selfie was cute enough to keep me tuned in for another week, and both New Girl and The Mindy Project had their fair share of funny moments (and, in the latter’s case, one very sweet one involving a nightstand). Wednesday’s Black-ish was a strong follow-up to its hilarious pilot, and Nashville tugged at my heartstrings with some wonderful moments between Deacon and Maddie. Finally, Thursday’s night of Shonda Rhimes was once again impressive, with a standout, fearless performance by Bellamy Young on Scandal and another fascinating episode of How to Get Away with Murder.

In a week of television filled with great moments, the most satisfying came from The Good Wife. Watching Diane leave Lockhart/Gardner the way she did reminded me that no one does elevator scenes better than this show. It was also such a great parallel to last season’s exit by Cary, Alicia, and those they took with them. Christine Baranski’s ability to captivate with her subtlety was used perfectly in that scene. Her whispered “Goodbye” as she left for a fresh start was incredibly powerful in the myriad of emotions that crossed her face in that one short moment. My campaign for “Baranski for an Emmy” has begun once again.

This episode of The Good Wife also can’t be discussed without bringing up Cary and Alicia’s hug. After seeing so much tension between them and so much tension in Cary’s story in general, it was such a beautiful moment for both the characters and the audience. Sometimes you just need to see something warm and happy on television where you’d least expect it, and that hug was the most pleasant surprise imaginable.

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

Fangirl Thursday: A Perfect One-Two Punch

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The only thing better than a great season finale is a great season premiere to build on the foundation laid in that finale. It’s a perfect one-two punch: the shock that often comes with a brilliant finale and the catharsis often granted by an equally brilliant premiere.

In my years as a dedicated TV fan, I’ve seen plenty of great finales and premieres, especially from mythology-heavy shows like Once Upon a Time, Orphan Black, and Lost. However, I’ve never seen a more powerful finale/premiere duo than the knockout combination of Alias’s “The Telling”/“The Two.” Those two episodes set the standard for me in terms of shocking cliffhangers and premieres that dealt perfectly with their fallout.

Alias’s second season was pure brilliance. And its finale was exactly the kind of ending such a phenomenal season deserved. It featured one twist after another (“Francie doesn’t like coffee ice cream…”) until the final minutes gave way to what I still consider the most blindsiding cliffhanger I’ve ever watched.

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TV Time: The Mindy Project 3.03

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Title Crimes & Misdemeanors & Ex-BFs

Two-Sentence Summary Mindy is forced to ask her ex-boyfriend Cliff for legal help after getting served for not paying her taxes, but he only helps her after she lies about her and Danny ending their relationship. At the practice, Peter and Jeremy fight for Lauren’s affections with disastrous results for one of them.

Favorite Line “I can never repay you, and I don’t plan to.” (Mindy)

My Thoughts Sometimes I watch TV shows to intensely analyze every little detail, but sometimes I watch them for no other reason than they make feel good. The Mindy Project makes me feel good—it makes me laugh and smile and sigh in a way that is probably ridiculous at the wonderful stuff happening between Mindy and Danny. Yesterday I was having one of those days where I needed a little boost of happiness, and “Crimes & Misdemeanors & Ex-BFs” gave me exactly what I needed. Any other day, I might have found myself more annoyed with some of the strange things that happened plot-wise in this episode. But I can’t get too annoyed at a show that managed to make me genuinely feel good after a very long day.

Even the B-plot this week had at least one shining moment, which came to us courtesy of Adam Pally and his parade of horrible accents. I was in tears laughing at this; it may have been the funniest scene I’ve watched on TV so far this season. The rest of that plot suffered from the episode switch. (This was supposed to be the second episode.) We already knew Lauren chose Jeremy thanks to “Annette Castellano Is My Nemesis,” so this plot mattered even less than usual. But Peter’s accents and everyone’s exasperated reaction to Morgan claiming he didn’t make enough money to be taxed helped me enjoy the ensemble much more than I did last week.

Although the switching of episodes affected the timeline of the B-plot quite a bit, I can understand why the network chose to air things out of order. “Annette Castellano Is My Nemesis” was a stronger episode than “Crimes & Misdemeanors & Ex-BFs” for more reasons than just Rhea Perlman. The plotting was tighter, and the characters were a little more grounded than they were in this episode.

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TV Time: Castle 7.01

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Welcome, fellow Castle fans, to my first episodic review of the season. I can’t wait to discuss every twist and turn along the way with all of you, because if this premiere was any indication of what’s in store for us, it’s going to be an emotional roller coaster!

SEAMUS DEVER, JON HUERTAS, STANA KATIC

Title Driven

Two-Sentence Summary As Beckett, Ryan, and Esposito embark on a two-month investigation into Castle’s wedding-day disappearance, they come across some disturbing evidence that points to him faking his own abduction. Castle’s reappearance raises more questions than answers when he wakes up with no memory of the two months he was missing.

Favorite Line “We’ll get there. We’ll find our way home.” (Castle)

My Thoughts I was in the camp of Castle fans who did not like last season’s finale at all. In fact, I disliked it so much that it made me approach this premiere with extreme caution. However, I would like to go on the record and say that I loved this premiere. It wasn’t perfect, but it genuinely captivated me. As I’ve said so many times, as long as I care about the characters, I can handle unanswered questions and even plot holes. And one thing “Driven” did remarkably well was make me feel for these characters—especially Beckett.

I can see where some might be frustrated at the plot of this episode. Like I said, it wasn’t perfect. My biggest complaint was the way everyone was so willing to believe the only explanation for Castle dropping the money in the dumpster was that he was doing this of his own free will. Did no one think he could be coerced in any way to do this stuff? You don’t need to have a gun pointed directly at your head to be threatened enough to do the things Castle did in this episode. I would have thought a group of detectives and the FBI would know enough to at least consider that possibility.

Also, Castle is a show that often likes to put its overarching plots on the backburner and balance them with “fun” episodes, which is usually okay, but won’t work in this case. This is one of those things that needs a presence in every episode until the mystery is solved. That doesn’t mean I don’t want to see lighter Castle episodes, too (although I do favor the heavier stuff), but even those lighter episodes need at least one reminder of this mystery. I have faith, though, that it’s going to happen.

If nothing else, “Driven” was something new. It genuinely left me guessing from beginning to end, and for a show to still be able to do that in its seventh season is no small feat. All of the uncertainty felt a little much at times, but in the light of day after the episode aired, I think it’s cool that the mystery writer is now part of his own mystery. And let’s just get this out of the way now—it has to be 3XK, right? Who else would mess with these characters on such a personal, emotional level? The twisted nature of everything that happened—not just to Castle but even more so to Beckett—points towards 3XK, at least in my opinion.

Although “Driven” felt like something new for Castle, as an Alias fan, the last act of the episode felt like a story I know all too well. Were any fellow Alias fans having “The Telling” flashbacks, or was it just me? From Beckett telling Castle he was missing for two months (in almost the exact tone Vaughn used when he said, “You’ve been missing for almost two years.”) to Castle’s lack of memory, I just wanted it to be revealed that his name while he was missing was “Julian Thorne.” I suppose I just need to thank my stars that Beckett didn’t get married while he was gone (forever bitter about that little Alias twist). Maybe that’s why I wasn’t so worried about all of the plot stuff in this episode: I’ve been down this road before; I’ve watched shows with more questions than answers so many times. And they’ve been some of my favorite shows ever because—like “Driven”—they made me feel things beyond just confusion about the plot.

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TV Time: Once Upon a Time 4.01

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Welcome (or welcome back), friends, to my Once Upon a Time reviews! I’ve been looking forward to writing this since the Season Three finale aired in May, so let the fun (and the discussion) begin!

Source: spoilertv.com

Source: spoilertv.com

Title A Tale of Two Sisters

Two-Sentence Summary As Elsa finds herself in Storybrooke, flashbacks show what happened when she discovered a journal that revealed her parents’ fatal journey was undertaken to figure out how to deal with their magical daughter—a journey that Anna decides to retrace, leading her to the Enchanted Forest. Elsa isn’t the only new arrival from Emma and Hook’s trip to the past to cause problems in Storybrooke; Marian’s presence forces Regina to confront whether or not she can ever have a happy ending and whether or not she’s still the “monster” she once was.

Favorite Lines
Emma: Want to go home and see what’s on Netflix?
Hook: I don’t know what that is, but sure!

My Thoughts Remember when last season ended and I was worried about how the Frozen storyline was going to be handled on Once Upon a Time? It’s amazing how great casting can make all the difference in the world. I know it’s only been one episode, but the Frozen characters were some of my favorite parts of this Once Upon a Time premiere. That might also be because so much was going on in Storybrooke that the Frozen flashbacks gave me a chance to breathe in the middle of the present-day chaos and revolving door of new plot developments.

Don’t get me wrong; one of this episode’s biggest strengths was the way it laid a solid foundation for all of the major storylines to come this season (or at least in this half of the season). It served as a great introduction for people tuning in for the first time because of the Frozen hype, and it attempted to quell some of the unrest surrounding both the Neverland and Wicked Witch arcs last season—sometimes it felt like the characters were going in circles (on occasion, quite literally) with only one major conflict to deal with.

However, anyone who’s familiar with my feelings about Once Upon a Time knows that I would rather have a hundred episodes of characters walking through the Neverland jungle—doing little to advance the plot but growing tremendously as characters—instead of a repeat of Season Two’s plot-heavy mess. I’ll withhold my judgment on the sheer number of major stories introduced in this premiere until I see if they turn out as disjointed as they could be or as connected as I hope they will be. If nothing else, they made for a fast-paced premiere filled with plenty of new mysteries to uncover—one of which I’ve been waiting for since I first saw the pilot.

The Frozen flashbacks also have their own central mystery: Who were Anna and Elsa’s parents going to see in Misthaven (or is it Mist Haven?)—aka the Enchanted Forest? My guess is Rumplestiltskin, and that’s where all the trouble will come with Elsa ending up in his vault and Anna’s necklace being in Mr. Gold’s shop. I liked that these flashbacks did what Once Upon a Time does best; they showed what happens after the story as we know it ends, making Anna and Elsa feel like real people and not just fairytale princesses (or a princess and a queen if we’re being technical).

I was most impressed with how faithful the writers and actors were not just to the details of Frozen but to the very essence of what makes these characters so unique. Of course, it was fun to see the nods to the film in everything from the beautiful costumes and the surprisingly good CGI for Grand Pabbie to the perfection that was Sven (Who knew a real reindeer could be so sassy?). But what I loved the most was the care taken to get Anna and Elsa (and Kristoff, too, in the little we saw of him) just right.

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The Best Thing I Saw on TV This Week (9/21 – 9/28)

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This week marked the return of even more network shows and the premieres of a number of highly-anticipated pilots. The string of strong season premieres kicked off on Sunday with an episode of The Good Wife that took a turn no one expected, as Cary ended up in jail with no easy release on the horizon. Monday featured another fun episode of Dancing with the Stars and the first part of a two-night premiere for the engaging new series Forever (starring the almost criminally charming Ioan Gruffudd). New Girl and The Mindy Project both aired their second episodes on Tuesday, with the former introducing Jess to the stress of online dating and the latter introducing Mindy and us to Danny’s ma. Wednesday’s series premiere of Black-ish was very strong, and the season premiere of Nashville was filled with more drama than ever. And Thursday’s night of Shonda Rhimes shows included a fast-paced episode of Scandal and the incredibly compelling series premiere of How to Get Away with Murder.

It was wonderful to have an abundance of shows to watch and an abundance of moments to choose from for the best of the week. However, my pick for the best of the best isn’t just one moment but an hour’s worth of new moments from my favorite pilot of the season so far: How to Get Away with Murder. Everything about this pilot clicked: It had a very defined style (which I expected from one of Rhimes’s shows), it featured so many twists and turns that it left me breathless, and its characters all have much more meat to them than most pilot characters. Add to all of those things the magnetic performance of Viola Davis and one heck of an episode-ending cliffhanger, and there’s no way I’m missing this show for the foreseeable future.

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