Tag Archives: television

The Best Thing I Saw on TV This Week (2/2 – 2/9)

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February sweeps got off to a strong start this week with a handful of great episodes of television and some equally great sports moments. Sunday kicked off with the Seattle Seahwaks huge Super Bowl victory over the Denver Broncos, and it continued with strong post-Super Bowl episodes of New Girl and Brooklyn Nine-Nine. Monday’s Castle was an excellent exploration of Kate Beckett’s character growth and moved Castle and Beckett’s wedding plans along in some major ways. Tuesday’s New Girl used both Nick and Jess’s exes to bring Nick to a confession almost two years in the making, and Brooklyn Nine-Nine introduced us to Captain Holt’s husband, wine drink, and the wrong way to eat crab. Wednesday gave us an episode of Nashville featuring some excellent music (from Deacon and Will), genuinely sweet romance (from Avery and Juliette), and a crazy cliffhanger (from Teddy and Lamar). Finally, the Winter Olympics began on Thursday, and there have already been plenty of great moments to watch and discuss already—from the new team figure skating competition to the pomp and circumstance of the opening ceremonies.

Both New Girl and Brooklyn Nine-Nine had two chances to impress viewers this week, and I think both shows made the most of those opportunities. In fact, I have to especially commend Brooklyn Nine-Nine for using these two chances to so clearly show its voice, which is remarkably well-developed for a freshman comedy.

“The Party,” Tuesday’s episode of Brooklyn Nine-Nine, was full of the show’s awkward charm and genuine humor throughout, but it was the episode’s ending that was my favorite TV moment of the week. I was surprisingly moved by the reveal that Captain Holt’s husband didn’t want to warm up to the Nine-Nine team because of the prejudice that had been directed at Holt during his time with the NYPD. In giving such a peripheral player real, human motivations for his behavior, this show once again proved that it has more of a handle on its characters than some sitcoms that have been on TV for ages. And the episode’s final scene, with the team joining together to give their captain and his husband a romantic dinner was something so warm and unashamedly kind that it felt like an ending to Parks and Recreation (and I mean that as the highest compliment), while still using each character in just the right way to maintain this show’s unique tone.

I couldn’t find a video of the end of “The Party,” but here’s another highlight of the episode—and my favorite line—”Stop eating crab wrong!”

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

TV Time: New Girl 3.15

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Title Exes

Two-Sentence Summary Nick and Jess debate the validity of friendships between exes after Nick runs into Caroline and Jess reveals she’s still close with her ex-boyfriend Berkeley. Meanwhile, Schmidt’s attempt to get his mojo back is thwarted by Winston and Coach.

Favorite Lines
Nick: She cut off the power!
Berkeley: No, Nick, that was you. You turned off the light. All the other lights are still on.
Nick: My bad. Thank you.

Episode M.V.P. This episode had a lot of fun moments for all of the actors, including its guest stars. (Well hello there, Adam Brody, it’s nice to see you again after you stole my heart all those years ago as Seth Cohen.) But “Exes” was at its best when the focus was on Jake Johnson. It’s no surprise that the best New Girl episodes of this uneven season have done the best job balancing Nick’s more broadly comedic character traits with his surprising depth, and that happened again in this episode. All of Nick’s moments of panic over interacting with Caroline again were phenomenal—What if she hurts me physically? What if she hurts me with words? I especially loved his increasing paranoia over her texts.

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TV Time: Castle 6.14

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Castle Dressed to Kill

Title Dressed to Kill

Two-Sentence Summary The death of a famous magazine editor’s assistant brings Beckett back into the world of high fashion after her brief period of time spent working as a model. A wedding dress modeling session and a discussion of venues and dates causes Beckett to come to terms with the fact that her mother won’t be present for her wedding day.

Favorite Lines
Beckett: Do you know what else I wish she could have experienced? You.
Castle: Really?
Beckett: She would have loved you.

My Thoughts Sometimes life gives you moments of reflection, moments to stop and think about how much you’ve grown and how far you’ve come. “Dressed to Kill” gave Kate Beckett one of those moments—a moment to literally look in the mirror and see who she has become in the last six years—and, in doing so, it gave us as fans a chance to reflect on this character’s journey and the way it has changed from a story of loss to a story of love.

To be honest, I thought the majority of this episode was standard, midseason Castle fare. It featured a great guest star (Frances Fisher, whose presence gave me a case of some serious Titanic nostalgia), a pop-culture inspired plot (in this case, The Devil Wears Prada), and a series of elaborate twists and turns before cycling back to name a character introduced near the beginning as the murderer (who I totally called as the killer as soon as I saw him—not to brag or anything).

I didn’t feel much emotional attachment to anyone related to the case, which was strange considering how much time the episode spent trying to get me to feel invested in the relationship between Beckett and Matilda. I understand that Beckett modeled for her for a brief time, but I had difficulty believing Matilda would care enough about her to give her a wedding dress and make “daughter” comments about her. I wish we could have seen those wedding dress scenes with Martha instead, because that’s a relationship between Beckett and a mother figure that I actually care about. I know the show wanted to make the most of Fisher’s appearance, but her scenes with Beckett felt forced to me rather than familial.

I suppose my larger problem with Beckett and Matilda’s scenes might boil down to one basic fact: I really don’t like the wedding dress, and I like it even less when I think of it as Kate Beckett’s wedding dress. It actually took away some of the emotional power of seeing Beckett in a wedding dress for the first time—that’s how much I don’t like it. Part of my problem with it is that it was kind of forced on Beckett; she didn’t get to choose her wedding dress, which seems wrong to me. My other issue is that it just doesn’t feel at all like something Kate Beckett would wear.

I have been feverishly following Beckett’s fashion choices for quite some time, and what I’ve always loved about her style is that it’s so simple and so effortlessly elegant. I always expected her wedding dress to be a simple white or cream sheath—not that mess of tulle and print. The bodice might have worked without the tulle, but it still would have felt too opulent for the no-nonsense woman we know Beckett to be. I never thought there would be a dress Stana Katic couldn’t pull off, but I think they actually found one. My only hope is that the dress is a big red herring, and Beckett ultimately wears something more suited to her character.

Let this be a lesson to all future TV creators and costume designers: If you give audiences a character with as a well-defined a sense of style as Kate Beckett, don’t be surprised if they don’t like it when the most important garment the character will ever wear doesn’t fit that style at all. It’s not just dialogue and actions that can be out-of-character; clothes can be, too.

I suppose I should stop playing “fashion police” and actually get to what the wedding dress represented for Beckett—because it was so much more than just a dress for both her and the audience. Perhaps that’s why I bristled at Matilda giving Beckett the dress; in an episode that focused on mothers (with Martha being ever-present in the wedding planning and Johanna being gone) the gesture seemed to overstep some boundaries. I wanted Beckett to politely send the dress back and do something like alter her mother’s wedding dress, invite Martha to go dress shopping, or even go by herself (or with Lanie) to pick out her own dress. But there’s still time for something like that to happen.

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TV Time: New Girl 3.14

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Hello, fellow Roomfriends! I hope you all had a nice Super Bowl Sunday (especially all of you who are Seahawks fans—Go Hawks!), and I especially hope you all tuned in for FOX’s post-Super Bowl comedy showcase last night.

I’ve been thinking a lot about my New Girl reviewing format lately, and I decided to add a new section to my weekly list of talking points—Question of the Week. Many times this season, I’ve been left with a question about a character’s motivations or why an episode had the tone it did—or even bigger questions about where New Girl is going as a show. I hope this allows me to still keep these posts a fun, quick breakdown of each episode while voicing any pressing concerns/questions I have as they come to me. Feel free to ask your own questions, too!

Title Prince

Two-Sentence Summary The guys attempt to crash a party at Prince’s mansion after Jess and Cece get an invitation. At the party, the host himself helps Jess work through her anxieties following Nick’s unplanned, first “I love you.”

Favorite Line “Hey, guys, how are we going to transport all this cargo? Oh, great, we have Nick’s pants—we’re saved.” (Schmidt)

Episode M.V.P. “Prince” was a fun ensemble piece that introduced each of New Girl’s characters to a wide, post-Super Bowl audience by showcasing what they do best. Max Greenfield pronounced things strangely and swerved between d-bag tendencies, awkwardness, and sincerity with the dexterity only he possesses. (Schmidt in Prince’s tree was a personal favorite moment of mine.) Jake Johnson screamed like a little girl, gave audiences a taste of drunk Nick, and disarmed us all with the way he looked at Jess like she was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen. (Seriously, Jake Johnson, you need to stop having such a perfectly expressive face. It’s not helping me set realistic standards for the male gender.) Hannah Simone was the queen of reaction shots (and ping-pong, apparently). Zooey Deschanel had some fun moment of physical comedy and got to show off her great comedic timing opposite one of music’s biggest stars (the whole pancake scene was just zany, fun TV gold). And even Prince himself was a fantastic treat for viewers—not taking himself too seriously and proving himself more than capable of holding his own with such a talented comedic cast.

But the true stars of this episode were a little duo I like to cal Fire and Ice. Lamorne Morris and Damon Wayans Jr. proved just how great they could be as a comedic duo in “Birthday,” and I hope their continued pairing off in this episode is a sign of things to come. These two actors have very complimentary comedic energies, and putting them together seems to finally have given both of these characters something both fun and productive to do on the show. From the “warm water!” unveiling of Fire and Ice to their interrupted flirting session with supermodels, these two were a dream team. If I were a first-time viewer, I would want to tune in again just to see what antics Winston and Coach would be taking part in next, because whatever it is, it’s sure to be hilarious.

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The Best Thing I Saw on TV This Week (1/26 – 2/2)

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This was a relatively slow week in terms of new episodes of my favorite shows, which was fine with me—because one episode used up an entire week’s worth of feelings for me. Sunday’s Grammy Awards showcased some memorable performances—from Beyonce and Jay Z’s too-hot-to-handle opening to what was quite possibly my favorite Taylor Swift performance ever. Wednesday’s episode of Nashville pushed Scarlett to her limit and brought Avery and Juliette together at last. Thursday’s Parks and Recreation allowed us to say goodbye to Ann and Chris. And last night’s episode of Saturday Night Live brought back the incredible Melissa McCarthy for yet another hilarious turn as host.

If you thought anything I saw on television this week would be better than Parks and Rec‘s perfect little tribute to the love stories we create with our friends, then you must be new to NGN. From Ben and Chris’s heartfelt farewell to April admitting she loves Ann, everything about the way this episode handled the friendships between the show’s characters was perfect. And then there was Leslie and Ann’s perfect sunflower of a friendship, getting one last glorious moment in the spotlight—a place where it has been much more often than female friendships on most other television shows. Their conversation while waiting to break ground on Pawnee Commons was such a beautiful, honest look at female friendship and the way our platonic soul mates can change us for the better just by being our friends. Even more than the episode’s conclusion, this moment—when Leslie tells Ann, “You totally changed me, you know?”—makes me cry every time I watch it (which has already been more times than I should probably admit).

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

TV Time: Parks and Recreation 6.13

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leslie-ann-goodbye

Title Ann and Chris

Two-Sentence Summary As Ann and Chris prepare to leave Pawnee, their friends try to find the perfect way say goodbye. For Ben, that means getting Chris a gift that’s as thoughtful as his goodbye gifts to all his friends, and for Leslie, that means trying to finally break ground on Pawnee Commons and make good on a pinky promise she made Ann at the very beginning of their friendship.

Favorite Line “Oh Ann Perkins, you perfect sunflower. You totally changed me, you know?” (Leslie)

My Thoughts This season of Parks and Recreation has been about big changes: Leslie got recalled, Ben became city manager, Ron got married, Tom took on a new role as business liaison, Andy spent time working in Europe, and even Pawnee itself underwent a huge change by merging with Eagleton. And then there were Chris and Ann—starting a family, getting engaged (and un-engaged), and deciding to move to Michigan.

Many of those big changes didn’t amount to much in terms of emotional impact for the audience, which is strange considering Parks and Rec’s ability to shoot for the heart unlike any other show on television. But I should have known better than to doubt this show—even after a weak episode like “Farmers Market.” When Parks and Rec swings for the fences in terms of emotional impact, the result is never a strikeout. In fact, it’s usually a homerun. And in some cases, like “Ann and Chris,” it’s a walk-off grand slam.

(Sorry about all the baseball references. Sometimes I just really like extended sports metaphors.)

“Ann and Chris” was—like the best episodes of Parks and Rec—an episode about love. But what made it so unique was that it focused on the kind of love that the media ignores way too often: the life-altering, soul-bonding love between friends. There is a special kind of joy in finding a best friend, and there is a special kind of grief in losing one (even if you do plan to call each other whenever you have thoughts on Jennifer Aniston’s future). For as much focus as the media places on romantic relationships, it shouldn’t be forgotten that our first soul mates in life are often our best friends. Before we find “the one,” our best friends are the people who help us to change for the better, to see the best in ourselves and to harness it, to balance our desires for personal happiness with our desire to make someone else happy, and to never settle for less than what we deserve.

Parks and Rec has never forgotten that. Even though Leslie and Ann (and even Ben and Chris) didn’t share a lot of screen time this season, it all culminated in this beautiful little love letter to power of friendship. When it really mattered, Parks and Rec delivered, and, as a fan, that’s all I can ask for.

The episode’s plot was really just a way to get all of the important characters (both regular and recurring) to say goodbye to Ann and Chris. Like “Leslie and Ben” did so successfully last season, “Ann and Chris” let the characters drive the plot rather than vice versa. The result was an episode that featured emotional highpoint after emotional highpoint, until I was left sobbing on my couch long after the final credits rolled.

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The Best Thing I Saw on TV This Week (1/19 – 1/26)

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This was a thoroughly entertaining week in the world of television. Sunday started the week off on the right foot with two great NFL playoff games. Monday’s Castle finally gave us the end of Alexis’s relationship with Pi as well as a very public engagement confirmation from the very private Beckett. Tuesday’s FOX comedies had an excellent week: Brooklyn Nine-Nine introduced us to the term “gymfiltration,” New Girl reminded us all why Nick Miller is the best boyfriend ever, and The Mindy Project‘s midseason finale was sealed with a kiss. Wednesday’s Nashville showcased the great chemistry between both Rayna and Deacon and Juliette and Avery. On Thursday, Parks and Recreation introduced us to Johnny Karate and introduced Ron to the iPod. And Saturday Night Live used Jonah Hill and Leonardo DiCaprio to reenact Titanic‘s most memorable scene.

When all is said and done, though, there’s only one moment this week that I’ve watched and re-watched an embarrassing number of times—only one moment that changed the entire direction of a show and had me screaming at my TV, “WE HAVE TO WAIT UNTIL APRIL AFTER THAT?!” And that was Danny and Mindy’s first kiss on The Mindy Project.

I’ve been hoping for Mindy and Danny to get together ever since he showed up to her Christmas party last season with a gingerbread house and helped her through her cheating boyfriend crisis. They have the kind of relationship all the best romantic comedies are made of: the bantering, the bickering, the challenging, and, ultimately, the influencing each other to be their best selves. As Danny told Mindy so beautifully, that’s how you know someone is right for you—they force you to be your best self. The beauty of Mindy and Danny’s relationship is that neither is actively trying to change the other, but they still push the other to be their best. Danny grounds Mindy, and Mindy brings life and passion into Danny’s world. Danny makes Mindy more of a realist, and Mindy makes Danny more of a romantic.

Mindy wants to live in a romantic comedy, and Danny gave her the ultimate romantic gesture when he found her in the back of the plane and kissed her like I’m sure many of us watching have always wanted to be kissed. There were so many things to love about that kiss: the way Danny’s thumbs grazed Mindy’s cheekbones when he pulled away, the way Mindy shyly nodded to give him permission before he kissed her again, Danny’s hands as the kiss went on (thank goodness for full-body shots!), and the fact that these two passionate people kissed each other for the first time with such surprising tenderness.

If you ever want to remember that Danny Castellano is hotter than we ever imagined he could be, watch this again and again.

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

 

TV Time: Parks and Recreation 6.12

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Sorry for the delay, fellow Parks and Recreation fans. I hope all of you had an excellent weekend that didn’t involve chard shots! 

Parks-and-Recreation-Farmers-Market

Title Farmers Market

Two-Sentence Summary Leslie oversteps her bounds as she tries to use Ben’s position as city manager to remove a chard vendor with questionable advertising techniques from the Pawnee farmers market. Meanwhile, Ann needs an outlet for her frustrations about what pregnancy is doing to her body, and Andy finds a potential new career as a children’s party performer.

Favorite Line “Tom put all my records into this rectangle…The songs just play one right after the other! This is an excellent rectangle!” (Ron)

My Thoughts I spent a lot of time this weekend watching old episodes of Parks and Recreation as I rested a bum shoulder on my couch. I laughed and cried as I made my way through my favorites—“Flu Season,” “The Debate,” “Win, Lose, or Draw,” and “Leslie and Ben”—and I spent a lot of time thinking, too. Something has been missing in recent Parks and Recreation episodes, including this week’s “Farmers Market,” and I finally figured out what it is: a likeable protagonist. Don’t get me wrong; Leslie’s overzealous personality and steamroller tendencies aren’t out-of-character traits. But after too many episodes this season of Leslie being the antagonist in a storyline, I’ve missed those lovely days of Parks and Rec past when I could root for Leslie Knope on a weekly basis.

I know that too many episodes spent celebrating Leslie would make the show feel too sappy, but I feel like this season has spent a lot of time highlighting Leslie’s worst traits without enough time spent on her best traits to create a strong balance. And while people may argue that another episode of Leslie and her friends rallying around each other would feel repetitive, I would say that these storylines, with Leslie overreacting towards one of her friends (or in this case her husband) because she can’t get her way, are even more repetitive.

For example, we’ve already seen Leslie and Ben at odds like they are in “Farmers Market” in this season’s “The Pawnee-Eagleton Tip Off Classic.” So while this storyline had some funny moments (Ben running away from Leslie to avoid conflict, Ben’s fear of dying in the fountain, and especially anything involving the actual farmers market—from the Chard Bodies to the cabbage saleswoman unbuttoning her blouse), it ultimately felt like a rehash of something we’ve already seen: Leslie overreacts, Ben gets her to see reason (because he’s literally the perfect husband for her), and they come to a conclusion that works for all involved. Yes, the laughs in this part of the episode felt original, but the emotional component—the thing that separates Parks and Rec from all other comedies—felt stale.

I’m tired of watching the warmest character on television be outlandishly petulant. Yes, Leslie can be overly forceful and ambitious in every aspect of her life, but she used to somehow manage to be those things without ever coming across as selfish. In fact, Leslie used to be defined by her selflessness, her desire to do everything she could to make the people around her happy. In “Farmers Market,” though, Leslie came across as selfish—plain and simple. And this wasn’t a kind of selfishness that could be attributed to a broken heart like in “Smallest Park” or even a sense of feeling left out like her story with Tom in “New Beginnings.” Instead, it was just another episode of Leslie being forceful without any of the warmth and kindness that used to be able to balance out her character. I may be guilty of an overreaction of Knope proportions here, but I think Leslie’s character has regressed this season; she’s lost some of the subtlety that the writers used to let Amy Poehler so brilliantly weave into her characterization.

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TV Time: New Girl 3.13

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tumblr_mzkak57j991s4hq1ko1_500

Title Birthday

Two-Sentence Summary Jess’s high expectations for her birthday lead Nick to plan the ultimate surprise evening for her, but first he has to get through the morning and afternoon without any birthday plans. Coach and Winston work through their competitiveness in their efforts to make the birthday surprise run smoothly, and Schmidt helps Cece with her bartending skills.

Favorite Line “A lot people never graduated high school: Einstein, Bill Gates, Anne Frank…I’m going to take back that last one.” (Schmidt)

My Thoughts Earlier this year, I tweaked my New Girl reviewing format because my dislike of “The Box” called for more space than my usual style allowed. This week, I’m tweaking the format again, but for the opposite reason—“Birthday” was so good that it can’t be confined by my more limited New Girl review setup.

Instead, here are 10 reasons why “Birthday” was the best episode of New Girl’s third season (so far).

1.) It balanced the characters’ more broadly comedic aspects with grounded emotions.
The worst episodes of New Girl reduce its characters to caricatures. Yes, their more over-the-top traits are parts of their personalities, but they’re much more than those things, too. What “Birthday” did so well was it gave us just enough of each character’s quirks to make us laugh while also reminding us that, at their best, these characters should be written to feel relatable. So while Jess’s sobbing over Nick not making plans for her birthday may have been a tad bit ridiculous, it was a comedic look at people (myself included) who still care a lot about their birthdays even as adults. There’s a difference between over-the-top and out-of-character, and this episode did an excellent job of remembering that.

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TV Time: Castle 6.13

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KELLY MCCREARY, SEAMUS DEVER, NATHAN FILLION, STANA KATIC, ALEXANDRA CHANDO, LOLA GLAUDINI

Title Limelight

Two-Sentence Summary After a troubled young celebrity is believed to have been murdered, the team at the 12th precinct discovers that the dead body actually belonged to her body double. As they’re dealing with the twists in this murder investigation, Castle and Beckett discover that the press is starting rumors about him rekindling his romance with Gina (his ex-wife and publisher) and Alexis comes to a disheartening realization about her relationship with Pi.

Favorite Quote “There’s no one I’d rather share a headline with. But just in the interest of accuracy, does it say we’re getting married in space?” (Castle)

My Thoughts “Limelight” had all the makings of a traditional, midseason “filler” episode of Castle: the celebrity-centric case, the possibility for jealousy between Castle and Beckett, and a side plot devoted to Alexis and her romantic life. However, this episode took each of those common Castle tropes and revamped them just enough to show how much these characters and this show have grown over the years. Because of that, what could have been a boring hour of television turned into an hour that revealed character growth, allowed the audience to become emotionally invested in the case of the week, and actually moved the storylines along for multiple characters in concrete ways.

I love when a Castle case not only keeps me guessing but keeps me emotionally engaged. I thought Alexandra Chando did an excellent job balancing the snark and softness in Mandy Sutton. She made me laugh, but she also made me just want to give this young woman a hug. I had a feeling from the start that her mother was going to be behind the murder, but that didn’t make the journey any less interesting. In fact, it made me even more eager to unwrap each layer of the case to see what would drive her mother to commit murder. The fact that it was all because she wanted to keep Mandy from finding personal stability and happiness (in order to keep her in the spotlight) made their final scene together all the more painful. I like when Castle causes me to look at the world around me a little differently, and this episode certainly made me even more skeptical of all of those “momagers” in Hollywood.

My favorite thing about this episode’s case was the way it moved Alexis’s storyline forward and into better and brighter territory. I thought Chando and Molly Quinn played off each other really well; the scene where Alexis is ranting to Mandy while the latter is emptying the hotel mini bar’s contents into her mouth was one of my favorites in the episode. Both young women felt trapped—Mandy by her fame and Alexis by her relationship. Both were victims of situations that progressed too quickly, but, unlike Mandy, Alexis realized she still had the power to get out.

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